Chapter 742: "Loyalty to the Lord"

Yuanjiakou, the imperial boat.

Kangxi sat on the couch, his face covered in frost. He threw the fold in his hand on the ground and shouted, "You are so crazy, what is this?"

The third prince knelt on the ground, and was already in panic. He picked up the note tremblingly. When he opened it, he saw the letter "Yu Zhengjian, the governor of the left deputy censor of the Censorate, reported that a villain had a false claim to Prince Cheng to travel to Shanxi and other provinces."

The third prince thought of what the fifteenth prince said a few days ago, and it was really stormy. Did he really lose his favor and the emperor began to deal with him?

Although the court has a ban, the prince and the prince are not allowed to make friends with court officials, the rules are dead, people live, and no one has many servants and slaves.

It has not been a year or two since I went out, and I showed my master's name, visited local officials along the way, and carried out a favorable task.

As early as before the prince was deposed, the eldest prince's disciples and the prince's disciples competed to go to the south of the Yangtze River to scrape the land. It is well known.

In the 51st year of Kangxi, the third prince had a servant who went to the place under the name of purchasing. The "filial piety" he received from outside was also one of the sources of money for the third prince's mansion. After all, he did not have the ability to make money by the ninth prince, but for the sake of good popularity, he raised many disciples and guests.

This is not new at all. Why is it that my wife has been mediocre for so many years and now she is in front of the emperor?

Thinking of the fate of the eldest prince, the second prince, the eighth prince and the others, the third prince couldn't help but tremble. He raised his head and happened to meet Kangxi's cold eyes. He was shocked and bowed: "Emperor, my son is wronged, my son is wronged..."

The sixteenth prince stood beside the fifteenth prince, watching all this coldly, knowing that the third prince had some small braids for the emperor to catch.

Seeing the third prince "calling for justice", the sixteenth prince was thrusting. The third brother was not old yet, so he was confused? Could it be that the emperor's father was full and taught his son a lesson if he was full?

At this time, it is better to beg for mercy than to beg for mercy.

Sure enough, he heard a "bang" sound, Kangxi slapped the table and said angrily: "Are you wronged? Meng Guangzu is not your slave? Isn't you the famous post when I go out and take it? Isn't you the commander to accept the gift ceremony with the local governor?"

After all these series of shouting, the third prince was already ashamed and didn't even dare to beg for mercy.

If you want to add a crime, there is no reason to worry about it, let alone he has a small braid outside. Does the emperor want to settle him?

After a while, the third prince raised his head and said in a tremolo: "Emperor, Emperor, Erchen..."

The Sixteenth Prince was by his side and he already knew about it. Meng Guangzu, the slave of Prince Cheng’s mansion, was swaying outside because of the name of the prince’s mansion, and he also heard about it.

It seems that a censor came to the front of the imperial court.

Things are good things, but the timing is wrong. It seems that the censors know a little about the emperor's preferences and are shameful to the prince to seize power, but they don't know how to pick the time.

A tiger poison does not eat any children.

Even if the emperor was afraid of the deposed prince and cut off the prince's wings, he did not place the charge of "desire to force the palace" on the deposed prince.

In the heart of the emperor, the eighth prince is certainly incomparable to the deposed prince, but he is also a family of the Tian family.

The eighth prince died less than half a year, and the pain of losing his son has not subsided. The emperor's father is kind and honest, so how could he blame the third prince?

Sure enough, Kangxi snorted coldly and said, "Are you stupid to study books? You let your servants do whatever they want outside, and you don't know how to restrain them, so what kind of convention is..."

The capital, the west mountain, the reclining Buddha temple.

Today, Cao Yong accompanied his father to Xishan to worship Buddha and listen to Zen. During the past few months of Cao Yin's resignation, Cao Yong was always worried, afraid that his father would be bored and not adapted.

Therefore, when he was in the break, he spent half a day long, either playing chess with his father or accompanying him out of the house to listen to the opera. The father and son spent more time together than in the past.

When he was in a good mood, Cao Yin would recall his youth with his son. He was also disappointed and regretful in his words. In his life, he gave up his ideals and preferences for the sake of "the kindness of the king" and "family", and went with the flow.

If he had not been born in the Cao family and was just an ordinary family's son, he would have entered the official career through the imperial examinations and then entered the Hanlin area. In his heart, he also wanted to stand in the court, discuss military and national affairs with the emperor and officials, make achievements and become famous.

Today, seeing the weather is sunny and the spring breeze is pleasant, the father and son left the city and went to the Silk Buddha Temple in Xishan to listen to Zen.

The master here had hanged a list in Qingliang Temple in Jiangning in his early years, and was considered an old friend of Cao Yin. After hearing the Zen and using vegetarian food, the father and son left, Cao Yong remembered Zhiran and wanted to ask the master if there was any news. However, after hesitating for a moment, he still did not mention it in front of Cao Yin.

After leaving the mountain gate, Cao Yong sighed in his heart as he looked at Cao Yin's white hair. In the past two years of Zhiran's visit to Beijing, he advised him to return to the secular world with sincerity.

Seeing that his son was silent, Cao Yin asked, "Yi'er is worried about the matter of the Ninth Prince?"

Cao Yong shook his head and said, "No, the son will remember his father's explanation and always forget the word "loyalty to the emperor" in his heart."

This is not Cao Yong's attitude towards life, but it is the philosophy of life that he is willing to abide by.

Any speculation has risks. Only by posing as a "loyal" attitude can one stand the most steadfast.

Seeing this, Cao Yin nodded with great relief and said, "This is great. As long as you keep this, even if you occasionally make mistakes, it will have nothing to do with it."

"Well, my son knows." Cao Yong replied, "Father, will the emperor agree to it after reading his son's memorial? The Office of the Internal Affairs can make a profit if you are serious."

"If we are not allowed or not, we cannot decide whether to agree or not. However, Yong'er is still stable and has not been dazzled by the silver. He knows that this silver cannot be made." Cao Yin looked at his son and became more kind.

Cao Yong smiled bitterly and said, "Buying official positions and selling titles is not only a bad reputation, but also a crime. Don't say that our family is not short of this money now, even if it is short, his son will not do such a thing."

The father and son were not in a hurry to rush to travel, chatting all the way, and only entered Beijing at dusk.

As soon as he returned home, he heard from the doorman that Yiduli, the head of the Office of the Office of the Internal Affairs Office, visited and waited in the living room for a long time. The father and son looked at each other and knew that what had happened before was settled.

Cao Yin nodded and ordered Cao Yong to see the guests, but he went directly to the second gate.

In the living room, Yiduli kept looking out with excitement.

It is no longer a rule to visit the door without submitting a post. Because he and Cao Yong were close friends, he and Cao Yong were colleagues for many years, so he did not pay attention to that.

Even after coming over, he heard that the Cao family and his son had not come back yet, but he was still waiting here just because he couldn't wait.

Today, the emperor's decree arrived in the capital and ordered the Office of the Interior to discuss the "gold donation" in the capital with the Ninth Prince, Cao Yong and others, and the Office of the Interior and the Ninth Prince were in charge.

This is the first job after the Idu Legislative Council signed the Office of the Internal Affairs, so I was naturally very excited. In addition, there was something about Cao Yong, which made Idu Li feel much more at ease and knew that it was time to make contributions.

I don’t know if it’s related to money, but Kangxi’s will is so fast. Cao Yong kept complaining in his heart and stepped into the living room.

When Yidu saw him coming in, he stood up and said happily, "Furuo."

"Uncle." Cao Yong saw him wearing a regular dress and saw him in a private ceremony: "I don't know that my uncle is coming. Cao Yong is late to come back, so don't blame him."

Yidu stood up and said the order of his superiors, his eyes shining: "Fru, the emperor's intention, this year's business of donating officials will be purchased by the Office of the Interior and the Ninth Prince. Is it? Before coming, I had checked the industry of the Interior Department. Although there are many shops in the capital, there are no gold shops. Look, do you need to requisition?" After saying that, I rubbed my hands, full of excitement.

Seeing this, Cao Yong felt something was wrong, so he heard Yi Duli continue: "It just so happened that Yang's silver building has been doing gold business in the past six months. Together with the ninth prince's name, two gold shops are enough..."

Cao Yong was shocked when he heard this, and quickly waved his hand and said, "Uncle, no!"

Yidu immediately saw Cao Yong stopping him, and was not surprised. He smiled and said, "Would Fu be afraid that I would offend others? If the Ministry of Internal Affairs comes forward, it will cut off the wealth of other powerful officials and will definitely offend others. But it's okay, the sky falls, and there is a tall man who is holding me. Besides, I still have my life, who can say "no"?"

It is not because of offending people, but because it is careful to remove the donkey, or it is regarded as a scapegoat. If there is any accident or inappropriate incident in donating gold, it will be pushed to punish it.

Cao Yong and Yiduli are in-laws, colleagues, and friends.

Although his temper and nature have different aspects, Cao Yong has regarded him as a friend after years of interaction.

"Uncle, think twice. You can just take the order to assist the ninth prince in this business of "gold donation". It is not advisable to show up at home and get too many people involved. If you are too masters, you will inevitably be slandered by villains. Wouldn't that be worth the loss?" Cao Yong thought about it and said earnestly.

After hearing this, Yiduli hesitated for a moment and said, "Furuo, now that this errand has fallen on me, even if I am innocent, I will still think I am greedy... It is better to take on a name for nothing..."

It seems that in the past six months, Yiduli made money by "changing gold" and thought it would be easy to make money.

"Sir, two masters have forgotten that Prince Yijiu is a generous person. The second emperor can't hear anything on the dragon throne, can't you see it?" Cao Yong saw that he was jealous of money and couldn't help but say bluntly, with solemnity in his words.

Yiduli is also a smart person, but he is just the word "limited" and is confused for a moment.

After hearing Cao Yong's words, he woke up, patted his forehead, and smiled and said, "It's all my stupidity. After being urged by Yang, he started to feel dizzy. After all, he is a woman with long hair and short knowledge, and he can't believe it..."

Speaking of this fat and shortage, how can anyone compare to the errands of the Ministry of Internal Affairs?

Seeing Yiduli's determination, Cao Yong was a little worried and recommended him to promote him, not to harm him. Cao Yong could not help but tell Yiduli again the "loyalty to the emperor" that the father and son had just said.

Although Yiduli is older than Cao Yong and has higher seniority than him, he is very humble and has been taught very much, and he has been called...

Jiubeizi Mansion, study room.

After hearing the disciple's report, the Ninth Prince knew that the decree had arrived at the Ministry of Internal Affairs. He snorted and said to himself: "Cao Yong, you are not greedy..."

He thought for a while, called a manager and ordered: "Give me your name and send it to Cao Yong's mansion. He said that I have something to do and ask him to come over to have tea after I fall into the yamen tomorrow."

The manager responded and the ninth prince stood in front of the window with his hands behind his back, looking at the blooming Magnolia on the branches outside, with no joy on her face.

He didn't know what he wanted or what he was trying to do. After the Eighth Prince died, he felt that he had no backbone and could not even raise interest in making money...

He remembered something, turned around and walked to the desk, took out a scroll from the bookshelf and spread it flat on the desk.

On the picture, there is a young woman in green with a light makeup, and only a plain hairpin is left on her head. There is no charm between her eyebrows and eyes, but instead it adds a coldness, making people feel desecrated without blasphemy.

"You are also a poor person..." The Ninth Prince stroked the portrait gently and added a little pity to the picture.

It seems that in this world, not only is he lonely...

Cao Mansion, at the gate.

Seeing Yiduli's back moving away, Cao Yong couldn't feel relieved.

The imperial court lacks silver and money, and using donations to fill the national treasury is a way to quench thirst. Take this person who donated officials for example. What is the purpose of spending thousands of taels to buy a county magistrate? Is it the salary of dozens of taels of silver every year?

Being an official for thousands of miles is just for wealth. If you are an official who is on the right path of the imperial examination, you may not be greedy for standing a archway. Like Ma Jun, who has read too many books of sages, he still has a conscience and morality in his heart.

These donated officials are unconcealed in their purpose, just for money.

Scraping the land and adding various donations to various names has caused local people to go bankrupt and sold land by divine families. After a while, fewer and fewer self-cultivated farmers have been made, and the land is concentrated in the hands of bureaucratic landlords.

These bureaucratic landlords rely on their fame and fortune, mostly do not have to bear taxes. In this way, the treasury revenue will only decrease but not increase.

This is a vicious cycle.

It was born for a while, and there was no other way to replace donations.

The prosperous era of Kangxi is, this is the "prosperity"!
To be continued...