Chapter 214: The End of an Era (Part 4)
When the Fourteenth Old Man heard the footsteps outside, his face turned grim. He had been locked up at home by Yongzheng for several years. This house was not small, but he had reached the point where he could have no problems with his eyes closed.
The footsteps were definitely not from our family. Now the outside was completely blocked, and the Fourteenth Old Family surrounded it tightly in the name of "protection". Someone came in at this time , I guess they were going to rush in and arrest someone, right?
Familiar footsteps sounded, it was Old Fourteen's servant. He was surprised and rushed to Old Fourteen and whispered, "Fourteenth Master, Eighth Master is here!"
Old Fourteen was shocked and quickly stood up to greet him. He saw a man wearing the Eight Banners cotton armor walking into the house with the help of others. Old Fourteen carefully identified it and it was indeed Old Eight. The two brothers had not seen each other for several years. Old Fourteen stepped forward and held Old Eight's arm, only to find that Old Eight's arm was not as strong as before. Looking at Old Eight's haggard face, Old Fourteen had tears in his eyes, "Eighth brother, these years...how have you been!"
The Eighth Brother also grabbed the Fourteenth Brother's arm and said, "Fourteenth Brother, I didn't expect that I could still see you alive. This time I came here to ask Fourteenth Brother to save me!"
"What are you talking about, Brother Myna?" Old Fourteen was a little surprised.
The Eighth Elder didn't waste any words and went straight to the point, "Fourteenth Brother, the Emperor was killed by the traitor, and my death is imminent."
"What?" Old Fourteen was stunned.
The Eighth Brother simply told the Fourteenth Brother the news he "heard", that Yongzheng was killed, and it seemed that it was Huo Chong's people who did it.
"Really?" Old Fourteen had tears in his eyes and a look of surprise.
Seeing that the Eighth One nodded in confirmation, the Fourteenth One couldn't help but burst into laughter, with tears falling on his chest.
However, after laughing for a while, the Fourteenth Prince suddenly burst into tears. He showed no sign of hiding his sorrow, but it was unclear how much of his crying was due to the death of Yongzheng.
Lao Ba looked gloomy, and he was also unaware of the complex elements in this gloom.
After the Fourteenth Brother stopped crying, the Eighth Brother spoke up, "Fourteenth Brother, I have survived this time, and I no longer have any desire to fight for the throne. Now that the Emperor has passed away, I am still alive. I don't know how many people want to kill me. Fourteenth Brother, as long as the Queen Mother is still alive, no one will dare to touch . Now that the Ninth Brother is dead, you are the only one who can save my life. I came here to ask you, Fourteenth Brother, to save my life."
After saying that, Old Eight knelt down straight in front of Old Fourteen.
The fourteenth brother was shocked and rushed forward to help the eighth brother up. While his brothers were helping him up, there was another commotion outside. After a moment, the gatekeeper rushed back and shouted, "Fourteenth brother, it's bad! There are many people outside!"
Before he finished speaking, he heard the sound of the door opening. Someone had forced his way in. The men were holding torches, lighting up Old Fourteen's yard as bright as day. Everyone was holding a weapon in their hands, gleaming brightly, and they were really murderous.
The fourteenth old man pulled up the eighth old man and protected him behind him. At the same time, he asked someone to fetch his weapons and strode to the main hall door.
The men outside made way for a man to walk in. It turned out to be Old Thirteen.
Seeing Old Thirteen, Old Fourteen felt all his old hatreds well up in his heart. He wiped the tears from his face, jumped to the door, pointed his knife at Old Thirteen, and shouted, "Thirteen, are you here to kill us?"
The Eighth Brother did not expect that he would be blocked here. He walked to the Fourteenth Brother and shouted to the Thirteenth Brother, "Thirteenth Brother, I came here by myself. You can arrest me and take me away. Don't touch Fourteenth Brother."
Hearing this, Old Fourteen became furious and stood in front of Old Eight, "Thirteen, if you want to capture Eighth Brother today, you have to kill me first." Because he was too excited, his voice was already filled with tears.
Seeing that the Fourteenth Brother was provoked by the Eighth Brother's words, the Thirteenth Brother sighed inwardly. Just as he was about to speak, he could not help coughing. After coughing for a long time and barely catching his breath, the Thirteenth Brother said, "Fourteenth Brother, do you know that the Emperor has passed away?"
When he heard that Yongzheng was dead again, the fourth brother was no longer happy. His nose felt sore and he wiped away his tears. Then he shouted, "What? Do you want me and my eighth brother to be buried with the fourth brother?"
Thirteenth Brother shook his head, "Fourteenth Brother, do you think the hatred between us brothers is greater? Or is the hatred between us and the bastard Huo Chong who killed the emperor greater?"
"Hmph!" Old Fourteen just snorted.
"Fourteenth brother, the Queen Mother wants to appoint you as the governor of the Nine Gates. The ministers in the court have some doubts in their hearts. I came here this time to talk to you about this matter. I didn't expect that Eighth Brother is here too, so why don't we go inside and talk."
Hearing this, the Fourteenth Brother was very surprised. Unexpectedly, the Eighth Brother said, "I am now Aqina, not a member of the Aixinjueluo family. Fourteenth Brother, Thirteenth Brother, I am satisfied if you are willing to call me Eighth Brother. You can go into the house and talk. I will wait outside."
"Thirteen, if you touch my starling, I will never let you go!" Fourteenth Old Man shouted.
Old Thirteen smiled bitterly and turned around, ordering his men, "All of you get out. No one is allowed to come in without my order."
After all of Old Thirteen's men had retreated, Old Thirteen went into Old Fourteen's main hall alone.
Old Fourteen wanted to bring Old Eight in, but he didn't expect Old Eight to resolutely refuse. Seeing that Old Fourteen's attitude had softened, Old Eight whispered to Old Fourteen, "Brother Fourteen, as long as you have me, your Eighth Brother, in your heart, I have nothing to fear. You go, it's really inappropriate for me to go."
There was no other way, so the Fourteenth Brother had to ask his men to invite the Eighth Brother to the back room, and he went into the main hall. At the Thirteenth Brother's request, the door to the main hall was closed.
Lao Ba waited slowly, thinking about his plan in his mind. Before being rescued, Lao Ba had already felt the atmosphere of death around him getting thicker and thicker. Just when he was desperate, he didn't expect someone to send a message that someone would come to rescue Lao Ba.
Even such a completely nonsensical news made Lao Ba feel a little hopeful. However, Lao Ba never expected that the one who came to rescue Lao Ba was Huo Chong. And saving Lao Ba was just a side job for Huo Chong, whose real purpose was to assassinate Yongzheng.
Thinking back to what happened, Lao Ba felt a throbbing sensation again, which was only slightly less than the throbbing he felt when he first heard about everything that happened.
Logically speaking, Huo Chong had to kill Yongzheng in order to survive. But this was regicide, and killing the emperor was completely beyond Lao Ba's imagination. Lao Ba heard that Huo Chong personally led the team to Beijing to assassinate Yongzheng. This man is really bolder than the sky! When he secretly contacted Huo Chong before, he only regarded Huo Chong as a useful knife, but he didn't expect Huo Chong to be such a person!
After thinking it over, Lao Ba organized his thoughts.
However, after waiting for a long time, I didn’t see Old Fourteen finish his talk.
After waiting for more than an hour, I heard footsteps. I saw that there were traces of tears on the face of Old Fourteen, probably because he couldn't help crying while talking with Old Thirteen.
"My dear, you can rest here now. Don't worry, no one dares to touch you. I will go to the palace to meet the Queen Mother now. My dear, wait for me to come back."
After saying that, Old Fourteen went out and followed Old Thirteen.
The next day, when the court was in session, the empress dowager issued an edict to restore the status of the eighth and ninth sons as members of the royal family. Upon hearing this edict, the ministers all breathed a sigh of relief. This edict was to show that the Aisin-Gioro family no longer wanted to fight among themselves, and at least on the surface, they had restored their attitude of seeking stability and unity.
Afterwards, the Queen Mother issued another decree, appointing the Fourteenth Prince as the Governor of the Nine Gates. Some officials disagreed with this appointment. However, Prince Yi next to them did not say anything, and the ministers also kept their mouths shut.
It was a well-known fact that the Queen Mother favored the Fourteenth Brother. The Fourteenth Brother had been a great general and had led troops outside. It was not incompetent for him to be the governor of the Nine Gates. If they had to object, they would have to reveal the past between the Fourteenth Brother and the Fourth Brother. No one wanted to offend him at this time.
Later, the Queen Mother appointed Prince Thirteen as the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, which made the ministers feel relieved. No matter how much the Queen Mother loved her son, as long as Prince Yi was still the most powerful minister in the court, there would not be any major changes.
Seeing that the Queen Mother was about to leave the court, someone stepped out and said loudly, "Your Majesty, I have something to report."
Everyone looked over and saw that it was Sun Jiagan, the Imperial College's chief academic officer. Seeing this man come out, the ministers' expressions fluctuated a little.
As early as the first year of Yongzheng's reign, Sun Jiagan had submitted a memorial, "Be close to the brothers, stop paying tribute, and withdraw troops from the northwest."
All three of these were undoubtedly suspected of being against Yongzheng. Yongzheng was furious and summoned the ministers to show them Sun Jiagan's memorial, scolding them: "How can the Hanlin Academy tolerate such a madman?" Grand Secretary Zhu Shi was standing by and replied slowly: "Jiagan is indeed crazy, but I am impressed by his courage." Yongzheng laughed for a long time and said: "I am also impressed by his courage!"
Afterwards, Yongzheng appointed this "courageous" man as the chief academic officer of the Imperial College.
However, just after an imperial examination, Yongzheng asked his officials how many types of people there were in the world.
All the officials did not know how to answer, but the Imperial Academy's chief academic officer stepped forward and said, "People come here for profit, and they go here for fame. In the whole world, there are two kinds of people: one for fame, and the other for profit."
All the officials were shocked, and they all held their breath and looked at Sun Jiagan, a brave man. Did everyone think that Yongzheng would definitely kill Sun Jiagan?
Sure enough, Yongzheng asked Sun Jiagan in a tone of obvious sarcasm, "My dear Sun, are you a person who pursues fame or profit?"
All the officials were waiting to see the show. Anyone who openly admitted in the court that he became an official for fame or profit would end up in a terrible situation.
Unexpectedly, Sun Jiagan wiped the sweat from his forehead and said four words: "I don't love money!"
Yongzheng was stunned and laughed out loud. From then on, he was particularly fond of Sun Jiagan. As expected, Sun Jiagan was an honest official, and all the ministers knew that Sun Jiagan would be of great use.
Now this brave, fame-loving, talented and humorous fellow came forward. All the officials were looking forward to him saying something that would excite everyone.
"What's the matter?" asked the Queen Mother.
Sun Jiagan knelt on the ground and said, "Empress Dowager, may I ask who will be in charge of the emperor's funeral?"
The Thirteenth Prince did not speak, but he was very satisfied. As long as the funeral for Yongzheng officially began, the next thing to do would be to mention the succession. Everyone knew that the Queen Mother loved the Fourteenth Prince, and if the Queen Mother could make the decision, then naturally the younger brother would succeed the elder brother.
But the Queen Mother had no political connections, and as long as time was running out, she would not be able to stir up any trouble.
No matter how many people questioned the legitimacy of Yongzheng's accession to the throne, in the current Qing Dynasty, Yongzheng's son Hongzhou was undoubtedly the most legitimate candidate to succeed him. The new emperor must be enthroned as soon as possible to stabilize the Qing Dynasty under the impact of the emperor's assassination.
