The swansong of the swansong

Chapter 4: Full of bad intentions
This is in front of the majestic Qianqing Gate, not the vegetable market in the outer city. Kangxi is not far away inside the gate.

If you find someone to chat with here and get too excited and say something you shouldn't, you're just asking for trouble.

It is better to keep silent than to speak a thousand words. Yinyu implemented this rule very thoroughly in the palace. If you can keep silent, try not to speak, so as not to bring yourself into trouble.

Just as Yinyou was reading, the ninth, tenth and fourteenth brothers walked into the study room one after another.

When the Fourteenth Prince passed by Yinyu, he pretended to be careless and deliberately knocked over Yinyu's pen holder, and more than a dozen brushes were scattered all over the floor.

Wu Lin was frightened and without thinking too much, he quickly squatted down to pick up the pen and pen holder that fell to the ground.

However, Yinyou did not lose his temper on the spot and openly fall out with the Fourteenth Prince.

Because Yinyou knew that the Fourteenth Prince had evil intentions and was deliberately trying to provoke him.

The footsteps outside the Shangshufang were almost inaudible, and Yinyou guessed that Kangxi had come out to "hear government affairs at the imperial gate."

At this critical juncture, if Yinyou had a quarrel with the Fourteenth Prince, he would definitely be in trouble.

"Oh, fifteenth brother, I'm sorry, I bumped into you accidentally, please don't take it seriously!" Seeing that Yinyou didn't react at all, the fourteenth brother slowly clasped his hands and pretended to be very apologetic.

Yinyu smiled faintly, stood up, clasped his hands, and said softly: "Fourteenth brother, look at what you said, how could you do it on purpose?"

"Of course, of course." Old Fourteen laughed it off, trying to get away with the situation.

When Yinyou sat down again, he saw that the Thirteenth Master's face was full of disdain.

Obviously, the sharp-eyed Old Thirteen also saw Old Fourteen's despicable behavior.

In fact, before the crown prince was deposed, the Thirteenth Prince was not only the most trusted brother of the crown prince, but was also particularly favored by Kangxi.

Before the Crown Prince's downfall, Kangxi liked to take the Thirteenth Prince with him wherever he went.

Soon, all the princes arrived. Everyone sat quietly in their seats, either resting with their eyes closed or flipping through books, and no one dared to whisper to each other.

At this moment, a light cough was suddenly heard outside the Shangshufang door.

Yinyou turned his head and saw Xu Yuanmeng, the master of the Shangshufang, standing at the door with a stern face.

Led by Lao Jiu, all the princes stood up, bowed their hands, and said in unison with great respect, "Greetings to Master Xu."

Xu Yuanmeng, from his name alone, you can't tell that he is actually a bannerman belonging to the Plain White Banner Manchu.

The most famous thing about Xu Yuanmeng's deeds is that he couldn't even draw a bow, but he told Kangxi that riding and shooting were not good enough and that governing the country with culture was the right way to go.

Kangxi was so angry that smoke came out of his nostrils. He ordered the guards to take whips and beat Xu Yuanmeng all over his body.

Yinyou remembered very clearly that Kangxi had always taught them that the Qing Dynasty's conquest of the Central Plains did not rely on the illusory so-called popular support, but on the invincible Eight Banners Army.

Although the princes studied together, everyone's progress was different.

When Xu Yuanmeng was lecturing on Mencius, only the ninth, twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth older princes could keep up with the progress of the lecture.

Yinyu had memorized the Great Learning, the Doctrine of the Mean, the Analects and the Mencius by heart, so he simply opened the Wei Ji, Volume 9, and continued to read it with great interest. Sima Guang was exiled to Luoyang when he wrote the Comprehensive Mirror, feeling depressed and frustrated.

Therefore, in "Tongjian", Sima Guang's various private opinions about his jealousy of the new policies are hidden everywhere.

Kangxi once made a brilliant comment that the Northern Song Dynasty was actually destroyed by Prime Minister Junshi. Because, how could the wealth of the world be fixed?
The Southern Song Dynasty only had half of the country left, but its fiscal revenue was not inferior to that of the Northern Song Dynasty. The fundamental reason was the supplementary income from overseas trade.

As a prince, Yinyou received a systematic education that was all about pragmatism, and completely abandoned the restrictive dregs of the eight-legged essay.

Only when the superiors are wise and the inferiors are foolish can there be long-term peace and stability. This is what Kangxi really wanted to tell his sons.

Yinyou remembered very clearly that Kangxi had taught them that the three most important things in the world were military affairs, finance, and knowing people.

The last emperor of the former Ming Dynasty, Chongzhen, was neither good at military affairs nor at amassing wealth, and even less good at judging people. He was the culprit who caused the Ming Dynasty to lose its territory!
Kangxi loved science and believed in Western medicine. He understood everything, but he deliberately closed the country to the outside world. His purpose was very clear: the Aisin-Gioro family would rule the country forever, which was above everything else!
After close observation, Yinyou knew better than anyone that among all the emperors in history, Kangxi was the one who was harboring the most evil intentions!
At noon, after the cultural classes were over, Yinyou did not leave in a hurry. Instead, he pretended to be hungry and sat in his own seat, drinking tea and eating steamed buns.

The ninth, tenth and fourteenth brothers must leave first, to avoid getting together and causing trouble.

Seeing that Yinyou was enjoying the cake, Yuzhu drooled and said, "Master, Aunt Zhang's skill in making cakes is really good."

Praising Nanny Zhang for her good craftsmanship is equivalent to praising Yinyou for his good eyesight and his ability to teach the servants around him!

Yinyou ignored Yuzhu, slowly ate a piece of cake, drank half a cup of tea, then got up and walked out.

Yuzhu quickly cleared the cups and remaining cakes on the table, picked up the five-layer red lacquer food box, and followed Yinyou towards the "Shooting Hall".

The Shooting Hall, located on the open flat ground east of Jingyun Gate and south of Fengxian Gate, was where Kangxi and the princes practiced horseback riding and archery.

Back then, after Emperor Shunzhi took power, he felt that the Qing Dynasty had won the world with bows and horses, and was worried that his descendants would neglect the basic skills of riding and archery, so he specially ordered people to build a shooting hall.

Later, after Yongzheng ascended the throne, he reorganized the Archery Hall and renamed it "Arrow Pavilion".

The princes in the palace studied Manchu, Mongolian and Han cultural knowledge in the Shangshufang from the early morning to noon.

From noon to 3 p.m., the princes had to go to the Archery Hall to practice horse riding and archery skills with the Manchu or Mongolian masters.

An Da means master.

The basic national policy of the Qing Dynasty was to ally with the Mongols to control the Han. What was rather strange was that the Chinese teachers could confidently stand and accept the greetings from the princes.

However, the masters of Manchu language did not have such a high political status. When the princes saluted, they had to bow deeply in return.

As for the cavalry archers serving in the Archery Palace, the treatment they enjoyed was only slightly higher than that of the bondservants of the upper three banners.

As soon as Yinyou appeared in a corner of the archery hall, he saw a horse galloping towards him at lightning speed.

When they were about ten feet away, the knight on the horse quickly dismounted and trotted to Yinyu's front. He stabbed deeply and said respectfully, "Your servant Fu Jing, wishing the fifteenth master good health."

Fu Jing, whose surname was Jueluo, belonged to the Bordered White Banner Manchu. His uncle was actually the Grand Secretary Ma Qi.

Yinyou has always been a little puzzled. With Ma Qi's tremendous power, wouldn't it be easy to promote his nephew Fujing?
However, with the twelfth brother as a reference, Yinyu was not surprised.
Think about it, the Twelfth Prince's wife is Ma Qi's eldest daughter. However, Ma Qi not only does not support his son-in-law, but is instead a core member of the Eighth Prince's party.

(End of this chapter)