The fourth elder brother was waiting for His Majesty to see him, and he was also feeling uneasy.
Call me here at this time. Does the Ministry of Accounts have any urgent errands?
Or was it about the prince’s knighthood yesterday?
Brother Si had a straight face, but his heart was a little complicated.
It's not that he is angry at the third elder brother for being promoted to the king of the county, but he is a little worried about the third elder brother.
The brothers have grown up next to each other since childhood, so there is a certain affection between them.
But this time he was not simply worried about his third elder brother, but worried about the relationship between father and son.
Sometimes, rewards are more terrible than punishments.
Punishment does not mean lack of love, and reward does not necessarily mean love.
The prince is still fine, but in the past two years he has begun to bite the third elder brother. Now that the third elder brother has been promoted to the prince, it is too much for the prince.
At this moment, Liang Jiugong came over and bowed: "Four Belles, the emperor's biography is here."
Fourth Brother nodded and followed Liang Jiugong in.
In the room, there were Ma Qi and two officials.
They are all familiar to the fourth elder brother. One is Li Guangdi, the governor of Zhili, and the other is the minister of the Ministry of Hubu.
The fourth elder brother's heart was settled, and he respectfully wished you holy peace.
Kangxi waved his hand and shouted, pointing to a gray stone two and a half feet high next to him, and said to his fourth elder brother: "The embankment stones presented by Li Guangdi can be used to repair the river embankment. I plan to use this to trial build a section of the Yongding River. It will cost two taels of silver."
It is also estimated that it will not exceed 200,000 taels. The Ministry of Revenue will assign two people to supervise this matter. If successful, I plan to use it on both sides of the Yellow River..."
Having said this, he asked the Minister of Hubu: "How many thousand taels of money have been saved in the Hubu?"
The Minister of Household Affairs bowed and reported back: "I have saved fifty million taels."
Nowadays, the national treasury collects about 30 million taels of silver per year. After excluding expenses, there are still several million taels of silver left every year.
This amount has been saved for 20 years.
Kangxi's face showed color.
You must know that in the early years of Kangxi's reign, the national silver inventory was less than three million taels, but now it has increased more than ten times.
Many of these were saved by Kangxi. Let’s not talk about anything else, just the expenses in the palace. Earlier, the Ministry of Works needed to allocate 600,000 taels of silver. Later, the palace reduced manpower and expenditures, and the number of eunuchs and maids also decreased.
Most of the money was spent, and many expenses were allocated from the internal treasury. The amount of money that the Ministry of Accounts needed to support was reduced to 70,000 taels.
He said to Ma Qi: "If the stone embankments are effective and can be used to regulate the river, starting from Xuzhou and ending on both sides of Qingkou, we will build stone embankments. It will only cost tens of millions of taels. If it is successful, we can ensure that there will be no trouble for a hundred years."
Ma Qi bowed and said: "Your Majesty's move is indeed a once and for all solution. I'm afraid it will cost more to transport the stone."
Kangxi laughed loudly after hearing this and said: "This embankment stone is not dug in the mountains, but made of mortar. We will choose sites in Xuzhou, Shandong and other places to build two mortar kilns. Even the shipping cost
Save half the price!”
Ma Qi hurriedly said: "Congratulations to Your Majesty, Congratulations to Your Majesty for having such a good thing for flood control..."
Kangxi was also in a good mood and said: "This is from Jiu Beile. Brother Thirteen already tried it in opening a kiln in Xishan last year..."
Everyone listened and thought about the ninth elder brother's decision to seal Baylor, and everyone had their own concerns.
Somewhat low.
Kangxi looked at Si Age and said: "Since we have to build a dike on the Yongding River, it will only take half a year. The results will be seen in the second half of the year. Over at the Ministry of Revenue, there is a reserve of 10 million taels of silver for the next step."
Half the year is spent on river fortifications.”
The fourth elder brother bowed and responded.
Kangxi waved his hand and asked several ministers to retreat, then asked the fourth elder brother to sit down and said: "How about the ninth elder brother learning errands at the Ministry of Household Affairs? Are you planning to change houses?"
The fourth elder brother said: "The ninth elder brother first read the files of the Eight Banners Division, and now he is looking at the files of the Cangchang Yamen. He is familiar with the errands of the household department, and he is quite diligent. The affairs of the house are handled by his son. The east chamber is shady, and the ninth elder brother coughs."
Once, my son asked someone to pick out the north room and move out a few rooms."
Kangxi listened, his expression softened slightly, and said: "Brother Jiu is the most lazy. He was like this when he was in the study, and it was also like this in the past few years in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Now that he has arrived at the Ministry of Household Affairs, you are the elder brother, so teach him more.
Errand."
Fourth elder brother stood up and responded.
Kangxi asked again: "Yesterday, the third elder brother was promoted to the county king. Did anyone say anything outside?"
The fourth elder brother thought for a while and said after careful consideration: "My son was at the Ministry of Finance yesterday and came home in the evening. He didn't hear anything with his own ears. He was just thinking that the third brother had military merits. He was made a county king back then, and there were others later.
Khan Amma punished him for his improper behavior, and now that the third brother has gained new merits, it is appropriate for him to be promoted back to the county king."
Kangxi looked at his fourth elder brother and said, "Is this what you think?"
The fourth elder brother nodded and said: "In the thirty-fifth year, I went to war with Khan Amma. The eldest brother and the third brother both made real contributions. On the contrary, my son is just making up the numbers. He has no merit. It's all because Khan Amma loves his son.
Only then can I attribute the credit for holding the red flag to my son."
Kangxi snorted softly and said: "Didn't I teach you how to ride and shoot? As a result, you can't compare with the brothers above, and you can't compare with the brothers below. A loving mother is a loser!"
The fourth elder brother said shamefully: "It's none of Enie's business. It's because my son is not as strong as his brothers. He is also impatient and has no patience to study archery. His performance in riding and archery is only marginal."
When the deceased was mentioned, both father and son fell silent.
Kangxi thought of Queen Xiaoyi's tenderness and considerateness. Although the Tong family was scandalous and suspected of interfering in palace affairs, Kangxi never doubted Queen Xiaoyi.
When Queen Xiaoyi entered the palace, it was already the fifteenth year of Kangxi.
By the time Empress Xiaoyi was granted the title of Imperial Concubine and took charge of palace affairs, it would be the 20th year of Kangxi's reign.
After that, few princes died young.
Moreover, Queen Xiaoyi and the Tong family have long been at odds with each other.
At that time, Empress Xiaoyi had no children, and the little Tong family had not yet grown up. The Tong family once wanted to send another concubine of her to the palace, but Empress Xiaoyi refused.
Later, when the little Tong family got their hairpins, the Tong family came up with this idea again. They once planned to send the little Tong family into the palace on the pretext of illness, but were rejected by Queen Xiaoyi again.
When Queen Xiaoyi passed away, she left most of the palace's savings and manpower to her fourth elder brother.
Whether it was Kangxi or the fourth elder brother, they could separate the Tong family from Queen Xiaoyi.
Kangxi looked at his fourth elder brother and said: "Tong Guowei passed away and mentioned the Duke of Cheng'en and wanted to leave it to his youngest son Qingtai..."
The fourth elder brother couldn't help but frown after hearing this.
Tong Guowei had eight sons, the eldest son, the second son, the fourth son died of illness, and the third son, Longkodo, died the year before last.
The four sons died without heirs, and the first three eldest sons all have grandchildren.
The last four sons are all infants.
Especially this young son, who was still in his infancy when he came out of Beijing in the 38th year, and is now in his early childhood years.
"Khan Ama, this...isn't it too childish? Even if Shun An is not good enough, Yue Xing'a will become a man in a few years..."
Fourth Brother said.
Among the eight sons of the Tong family, only the eldest son and the third son are direct descendants, and they are the brothers of Empress Xiaoyi.
Fourth elder brother didn't like Longkodo, but he had no ill feelings towards Yue Xing'a.
In the past two years, he has also asked people to pay attention to Yue Xing's mother and son, so as not to be bullied and neglected.
Kangxi's face was gloomy and he said: "It's just a villain's heart. I'm afraid that my older children and grandchildren will not allow me to ascend the throne."
Kangxi did not like this candidate to inherit the title. There were two legitimate grandchildren, and the concubine should not be promoted.
Even if we don't mention the grandchildren, we only talk about the four living concubines, including the elder and younger ones.
The fifth son of a concubine has also reached the age of adulthood, and is a few years older than the one in front of him.
As for Yue Xing...
Kangxi frowned.
Longkodo's sudden death was due to bad luck, but he had quarrels with the princes before his death.
In this case, it would be difficult to promote Yue Xing Achengjue, lest he gain power and develop bad thoughts.
Compared with him, Shun Anyan, the eldest grandson of the Tong family, was frivolous and shallow, but after all, he was born as the ninth elder brother's companion and studied in the upper study room for more than ten years, so he knew better rules.
As for the fact that Jiu Gege, who was originally supposed to be pointed out to Shun Anyan, was pointed out to another room in the Tong family, Kangxi didn't care whether Shun Anyan would be embarrassed.
That's fine. In order to promote his mother's family, Kangxi was willing to keep the two first-class sons of the Tong family, but he did not want the Tong family to remain as powerful as before.
Being able to separate the two houses and inherit their own inheritance is also a kind of preservation for the Tong family.
Kangxi was biased in his heart, but he did not mention it to his fourth elder brother. He only said: "I will send Elundai to Shengjing to take care of Tong Guowei's funeral. As for the matter of inheriting the title, let's wait until the Tong family's filial piety period expires!"
The fourth elder brother listened without comment.
When he said this to Yue Xing'a, he was already overstepping his bounds and it was not appropriate to say anything else.
As for the other Tong family members, he was not familiar with them, and whoever inherited the title had little to do with Sibeile Mansion.
When he came out of Changchun Garden, Brother Si got on his horse.
So, why did he come in Gozenden?
For ten million taels of silver?
Since the Minister of the Ministry of Finance is here, just send the message later?
For the first-class inheritance of the Tong family?
That's not something that a prince brother of his would suggest.
The fourth elder brother looked towards the west garden, looking for the title.
This is the royal family. Even if they are biological father and son, they talk in circles now.
Brother Si couldn't describe what he felt in his heart...