Chapter 171 Will the Truth Hurt People (Part 4)
Yongzheng never thought that he would be so angry with Huo Chong that he lost his mind. Knowing that he would lose his composure if he continued like this, Yongzheng simply left the meeting of his trusted ministers in the middle of the meeting and let the ministers discuss it on their own.
The ministers did not know where Yongzheng was going, and they did not dare to ask, let alone leave. They could only continue the meeting under the chairmanship of the Thirteenth Prince Yi.
Everyone looked very solemn. Huo Chong's actions had been exposed to the ministers. These ministers were all smart and wise. Huo Chong's tricks not sophisticated at all in their eyes. Because of this, the ministers felt that it was almost impossible to crack.
Because Huo Chong made extremely generous choices in the areas where he could make decisions. He did not massacre the prisoners, nor did he abuse them, and he did not even take away the money from the prisoners.
The ministers were silent, so Prince Yi had to speak up. He knew that if he said nothing, these ministers would use their self-restraint to the utmost and wait for Yongzheng to return without saying a word.
As Yongzheng's younger brother, Prince Yi guessed where Yongzheng had gone. It must be the Buddhist temple. It would take several hours for Yongzheng to return to normal through chanting Buddhist scriptures.
"Everyone, I think Huo Chong deserves Nian Gengyao's evaluation. He is elegant in using troops and solid in fighting. What do you think?"
The emperor's most beloved Prince Yi had spoken, and the ministers breathed a sigh of relief. If someone else attached so much importance to what Nian Gengyao said, it would definitely make Yongzheng unhappy. But if Prince Lian said it, there was no problem, and Yongzheng would only think that Prince Lian said everything out of sincerity. ... And this was also true.
Zhang Tingyu thought for a while and sighed, "Huo Chong is such a traitor and a villain. Shandong has been completely defeated this time. I'm afraid we have to dispatch experienced and prudent generals to carefully eliminate him."
"How about Yue Zhongqi?" Ma Qi suggested immediately.
The ministers didn't say anything, but a name came to mind: Prince Lian, the Eighth Master.
Before this battle, Yongzheng had been making things difficult for Prince Lian as usual. Prince Lian responded by recommending Yue Zhongqi as the commander-in-chief, on the grounds that although Yue Zhongqi was a fierce general, he was also calm and composed. With Yue Zhongqi's calmness against Huo Chong's elegance, the imperial army had a huge advantage and could deal with Huo Chong.
The defeat of Huo Chong this time was a failure. Judging from the intelligence we have received so far, Huo Chong has used his military skills to the extreme. A dozen miles outside Jinan City suddenly surrounded 20,000 government troops. If it had not really happened, the ministers would not have dared to believe it was true.
I thought to myself, but no one dared to mention Prince Lian's name. If Prince Yi was mentioned in front of Yongzheng, then everything would be right. If Prince Lian was mentioned in front of Yongzheng, then everything would be wrong.
Prince Yi thought Yue Zhongqi was a good candidate and did not comment on it. However, the matter of Jinan City was not over yet, and it was this problem that made Yongzheng so angry that he could not control himself. He took advantage of Yongzheng's absence to bring up how to deal with the matter in Jinan, "Chen Shiguan is not a person who can command troops. It is not appropriate to let him guard Jinan."
The ministers thought this was correct. It couldn't be said that Chen Shiguan had made any mistakes, but he certainly hadn't done anything to help the war situation. As the governor of Shandong, he had to take responsibility for this defeat.
In this case, they had to find a crime for Chen Shiguan. The Minister of War, Fu Hai, immediately said, "The rebellion of the surrendered soldiers is all Chen Shiguan's fault."
That's right, this guy is called Fahai. But he is not the Fahai who suppressed the White Snake Lady Bai Suzhen. This Fahai is Tongjia Fahai, a member of the famous Tongjia clan. As a member of the clan of Yongzheng's adoptive mother, Tongjia Fahai can also be regarded as a member of the clan of Yongzheng's maternal uncle.
No one objected to this charge. Prince Yi wanted to say something, but he thought it would be best to say it to his brother Yongzheng in private. Rather than saying that Chen Shiguan was wrong, it would be better to say that Huo Chong was too insidious. This was what Prince Yi was most worried about.
At this moment, Zhang Tingyu said to Fang Bao, who had been silent, "What do you think, Mr. Fang?"
Everyone's eyes fell on Fang Bao. Fang Bao was dressed in ordinary clothes, and compared with the core ministers of the Yongzheng Dynasty who wore flowered feathers, his status was obviously too low.
But no one dares to underestimate Fang Bao.
Fang Bao was the cultural leader of the Tongcheng School. In the 50th year of Emperor Kangxi's reign (1711), Deputy Chief Censor Zhao Shenqiao impeached Dai Mingshi for his Nanshan Collection and Jieyilu, which contained treasonous words. The impeachment memorial involved Fang Bao's clan grandfather Fang Xiaobiao.
One of the famous literary inquisitions during the reign of Emperor Kangxi, Dai Mingshi and Fang Bao were from the same county, and both were good at classical Chinese. Fang Bao had written a preface for Dai Mingshi's collection of essays, and was implicated and imprisoned in Jiangning County. Soon after, he was escorted to the capital and sentenced to death.
In the 52nd year of Emperor Kangxi's reign (1713), the case was concluded and Dai Mingshi was sentenced to beheaded. However, due to the efforts of the important official Li Guangdi to rescue him, Emperor Kangxi personally wrote a note that "Fang Bao's knowledge is well known to the world", and he was spared from death and released from prison.
After being pardoned, Fang Bao was assigned to the Han army banner and was ordered to work for the court. Kangxi only "pardoned and exempted him from punishment", not that he was innocent. He also appointed Fang Bao to work for the court, which was equivalent to "labor reform".
However, Fang Bao was sent to Kangxi's Southern Study to work, and he met Kangxi day and night, and discussed various matters with Kangxi more often than the chief minister, even Mingzhu and Suo'etu, the powerful ministers in Kangxi's reign.
In addition, Kangxi actually treated Fang Bao very well, almost giving him free food and clothing. Therefore, Fang Bao was also considered a commoner prime minister. No one dared to call Fang Bao a "labor reform element" to treat him. After Kangxi's death, Yongzheng also retained Fang Bao.
Hearing Zhang Tingyu's question, Fang Bao sighed thoughtfully, "Great villains must be wise and brave. I am not only worried about these. Although Chen Shiguan was at a loss this time, under Huo Chong's arrangement, as long as Chen Shiguan gathered the defeated troops, it would be like this. How could the Green Camp let go of so much silver? If the defeated troops are not gathered and allowed to do whatever they want, the people of Shandong will surely suffer. Everyone, Huo Chong is a bandit, but he can restrain his subordinates from robbing the prisoners of their property. This is what is terrifying."
Prince Yi was shocked. Some things are hard to say, but Fang Bao's identity made him not hesitate, so he said it directly.
Huo Chong's insidiousness was that he expected that the Green Camp of the Qing Dynasty would not let go of the silver, so Huo Chong left the defeated soldiers their own silver. If this matter spread, those who did not understand the situation would ask a question, "Why did the rebel army not rob the prisoners of their property, but the government troops robbed the government troops who survived the desperate battle."
If we have to explain it, we can only say that Huo Chong had evil intentions.
However, some things cannot be discussed. For example, Huo Chong is a sinner and everything he did was wrong. If we discuss the details, those who participate in the discussion are not really standing on the side of the Qing emperor, so they will notice that Huo Chong did a lot of things right in the details, and even think that what Huo Chong did was very righteous.
If Huo Chong is benevolent and righteous, then what is the Qing emperor? A tyrant who suppresses benevolent and righteous people?
Prince Yi knew very well that Huo Chong was able to do this because of his great wisdom and courage. And Huo Chong was trying to use his great wisdom and courage to subtly discredit the justice of the Qing Dynasty.
If Huo Chong really persists for a few years and even becomes on par with the Qing Dynasty, then all of Huo Chong's previous benevolence and righteousness will become a huge help in overthrowing the Qing Dynasty.
Prince Yi knew that the ministers who attended this meeting were all ministers that Yongzheng valued, and their loyalty was definitely not a problem. But even so, this issue could not be discussed too much. After all, Huo Chong now called himself a great man, which was clearly a direct confrontation with the Manchus in power in the Qing Dynasty.
In the Qing Dynasty, the number of Manchus was too small. It was only one percent of the Qing Dynasty. Once the Han people thought that the court established by the Han people could also be benevolent, it would be the time for the Qing Dynasty to fall.
So Prince Yi interrupted the discussion about this, "Huo Chong is so cunning, it's all because of Chen Shiguan's stupidity and incompetence that Huo Chong's evil plan succeeded. Chen Shiguan can't escape the blame."
Seeing that Prince Yi had already set the tone, the ministers stopped talking. Given how much Prince Yi was favored by Yongzheng, let alone Chen Shiguan, even if Chen Shiguan had done nothing wrong, Prince Yi's words could make Yongzheng kill Chen Shiguan.
Thinking of Nian Gengyao's fate, the ministers stopped talking. Facing an emperor like Yongzheng, it is often better to say nothing.
Yongzheng read Buddhist scriptures all night, and took a nap after the court session the next day. When he woke up in the afternoon, he immediately called Prince Yi to ask about the discussion yesterday.
Prince Yi simply told Yongzheng the result of the discussion. After hearing the reasons for severely punishing Chen Shiguan, Yongzheng breathed a sigh of relief and was very satisfied. Prince Yi was worried that Yongzheng still loved talents, so he briefly mentioned some reasons that could not be discussed. Yongzheng nodded repeatedly, "Thirteenth brother, you did a good job. This is all Chen Shiguan's fault. There are also some other Green Camps that have lax military discipline and poor military preparations. They should be severely punished! This time, no compensation will be given!"
After hearing this, Prince Yi wanted to persuade him, but he still said nothing. Yongzheng did this to kill the chicken to scare the monkey, and put all the blame on Chen Shiguan and the 20,000 government troops who were suppressing the bandits, so that he could get rid of the court's responsibility.
...Moreover, tens of thousands of government troops died in this battle, and many of the remaining thousands of surrendered soldiers were killed. If they were to be compensated, it would be difficult to identify them, and it would cost too much. With this money, it would be better to give it directly to the Qing army for the next expedition.
However, when he heard that the ministers recommended Yue Zhongqi to lead the army to attack Huo Chong, Yongzheng immediately frowned. After thinking for a while, Yongzheng said unhappily: "You must have remembered what Lao Ba said, right?"
Prince Yi quickly advised: "Your Majesty, Yue Zhongqi is capable of this task. As long as Huo Chong is wiped out, everyone will still remember the decree issued by Your Majesty."
Yongzheng was annoyed for a while, but finally agreed reluctantly. He also ordered Prince Yi to quickly determine the cost of the next military expedition.
As soon as Prince Yi left, someone brought another gift. Yongzheng had been reading Buddhist scriptures all night and had a good sleep, thinking that he was calm now. However, after reading only half of it, Yongzheng was so angry that he jumped up from his chair. He looked around and saw no one to vent his anger on, so he kicked the eunuch serving next to him.
After kicking, he still felt unsatisfied, so he simply kicked over the desk. The inkstone broke into several pieces on the ground, memorials fell to the ground with a clatter, and the wolf-hair brush bounced on the ground with a crackling sound.
Seeing this, the eunuchs who were not beaten were ready to ask Prince Yi to come back.
