Qing Yao

Chapter 111 Not even as good as a seventh-rank official

"What could make you, Heshen, so happy? Bring me the memorial so I can see it."

The old man was too old to turn over easily, but without the help of the eleventh prince standing nearby, Heshen swiftly helped the old man sit up.

Prince Yongxing, the eleventh prince, did not mind at all that He Zhongtang was performing filial piety for him. He smiled and looked at his father, the emperor, who was sitting upright, and nodded to He Zhongtang, who was turning his head to look at him.

Heshen nodded in acknowledgment, but his gaze towards the eleventh prince was noticeably more affectionate than when he had looked at the fifteenth prince kneeling on the ground earlier.

The reason was that Heshen placed his bet on Yongxing, who was known in the palace as "Prince Wufutang" even before he was given a name.

Yongxing, who was just promoted to prince last year, certainly has the best chance of winning, because his title "Cheng" in Manchu means capable and talented.

The title "Jia" of the fifteenth prince Yongyan, who was also granted the title of prince, means happiness in Manchu.

It's not hard to see from these two titles who the old master favored. To become the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, one must be capable, not just a lucky person.

Happy people are only suited to be peaceful princes.

In addition, Yongxing's wife was the daughter of the late Grand Secretary Fuheng. Heshen felt that if his master did not favor Yongxing as the next crown prince of the Qing Dynasty, there would be no need for Yongxing to marry Fuheng's daughter.

It should be noted that Fuheng's two sons, Fukang'an and Fuchang'an, were both alive. Fukang'an held military power and fought for the Qing Dynasty in the north and south, while Fuchang'an was a Grand Councilor who managed the affairs of the ministry and took over the Chongwenmen tax last year.

The fact that he assigned two powerful and influential brothers-in-law with great prestige in the army to Yongxing was nothing short of the master deliberately cultivating power for the future emperor to consolidate his rule after his ascension to the throne.
Another thing that made Heshen even more convinced that Yongxing was the person hidden in the secret box behind the plaque of "Upright and Bright" was that his master took Yongxing with him whether he was on a southern tour or an eastern tour.

The fifteenth prince, Yongyan, was not so fortunate. He was unable to go to the Summer Palace to celebrate his father's birthday. Instead, he stayed in the capital with Grand Secretary Agui to handle matters related to the birthday celebrations.

The master is, after all, an octogenarian. Since ancient times, seventy years old has been rare, let alone eighty.

The idea of ​​a hundred-year-old emperor is just a joke between the emperor and his subjects. Do they really expect their master to live to be a hundred?

As shrewd as Heshen was, he naturally had to bet on the crown prince for the future. Since he believed that the eleventh prince was the next master of the Qing Dynasty, he should also become the most important minister by the new emperor's side. For this reason, last year he gave Fukang'an, who did not take him seriously, a warning.

Li Tianpei, the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner of Hubei, abused his power for personal gain, using his trip to Beijing as an opportunity to transport private timber to Fukang'an, the then Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, by official boat.

This matter was originally a minor one, but Heshen wanted to seize this opportunity to strike at Fukang'an and force him and his younger brother Fuchang'an to become his cronies. So he instructed his younger brother Helin, who was then serving as a censor in the Ministry of Personnel, to submit a memorial impeaching Li Tianpei.

After the memorial was submitted, Heshen whispered in the old master's ear, resulting in Li Tianpei being exiled to the frontier, and Fukang'an, who was greatly favored by the old master, being fined three years' salary as governor and ten years' salary as public servant for indulging his subordinates.

This was a huge blow to Fukang'an, who had become a third-rank official at the age of 16 and a first-rank general of Jilin at the age of 24. He also realized that although the emperor valued him highly, he was still inferior to Heshen, who was by the emperor's side all day long.

To make amends for his past disrespect towards Heshen and to ease tensions between the two, Fukang'an immediately negotiated a reconciliation with Heshen through his younger brother, Fuchang'an. He also instructed his subordinates to submit a memorial praising He Lin, who was serving as a censor in the Ministry of Personnel, for his great talent. As a result, He Lin was promoted to the fourth-rank Grand Secretary of the Inner Cabinet. Last month, Fukang'an, who was far away in Xi'an, once again submitted a memorial to the court, stating that He Lin was a steady person with knowledge of military affairs and could assist in the military affairs of the Northwest.

On one side was his "nephew" whom he treated like his own son, and on the other side was a favored minister he could no longer live without. How could the old master refuse? As a result, He Lin was promoted to the second-rank position of Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War and concurrently served as Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works.

Thus, the two Fu brothers formally formed an "alliance" with Heshen, which can also be called the Eleventh Prince Party.

Because the eleventh prince, Yongxing, was their common bet.

Since they've already bet on the Eleventh Prince, the Fifteenth Prince should naturally be kept as far away as possible. After all, the Fifteenth Prince was also granted the title of Prince last year, and there are people in the court who are secretly betting on Prince Jia.

Before the mystery was officially revealed, no one knew what it was. To be on the safe side, Heshen had no choice but to do everything in his power to suppress the Fifteenth Prince, including the Fifteenth Prince's faction surrounding him.

This included Zhu Gui, the teacher of the Fifteenth Prince.

Just when he was worried about how to stop Zhu Gui from becoming the Governor-General of Sichuan and winning over Fukang'an, an important "ally," the Fifteenth Prince made a foolish mistake. He failed to understand his father's grief and sorrow for his eldest son who had passed away more than fifty years ago, and actually said that it was improper for a younger brother to pay homage to his elder brother.

Heshen didn't mind kicking the fifteenth prince when he was down, completely depriving him of the chance to compete for the throne.

Since ancient times, loyalty has been inseparable from filial piety, and filial piety has been inseparable from loyalty!
Since you, the Fifteenth Prince, are unfilial, then the Grand Secretary can only set a great example of loyalty for you, the Fifteenth Prince.

The "loyal professor" mentioned in Zheng Bowen's memorial to the emperor, the salt commissioner of Lianghuai, undoubtedly stands in stark contrast to the "unfilial" fifteenth prince kneeling on the ground.

In comparison, where is your loyalty and filial piety, Fifteenth Prince?

Lacking both loyalty and filial piety, what right does he have to be the crown prince!
For no apparent reason, the Grand Secretary's fondness for Zhao Youlu, that sycophant, deepened. It was as if the kid knew in advance what was going to happen, always managing to deliver surprises for him and the Grand Secretary with perfect precision.

The old man reached for a magnifying glass but found it wasn't there, so he laughed and said, "I won't look at it. Heshen, you read it to me."

"Yes, master."

Heshen hurriedly opened Zheng Bowen's memorial and skipped over the preamble, reading at length to the old man about the "Loyal Professor" who had emerged in Yangzhou.

"My lord, this Zhao Youlu was previously just a junior clerk at the Yangzhou Prefectural School, and even a student of the Imperial Academy. It was only because of Your Majesty's great favor that he was promoted to professor at the Prefectural School. I never expected him to have such a sincere heart of loyalty to Your Majesty and to our Great Qing. This servant is delighted to see him like this."
"Your Majesty, listen to this teaching: 'To live in the Wenhua Hall and die in the Ziguang Pavilion.' Even this humble servant cannot comprehend it. If all the scholars of our Great Qing Dynasty were to aspire to this, wouldn't our Great Qing Dynasty last for ten thousand years?"

As they spoke, Heshen glanced casually at the kneeling Fifteenth Prince Yongyan and pleaded for him: "Your Majesty, Prince Jia has been kneeling for a while. Shouldn't we let him get up and speak?"

Upon hearing this, the old patriarch, who was listening with great interest and delight, suddenly remembered something like a child. He turned to look at the fifteenth prince kneeling on the ground and said angrily, "Even a minor official of the seventh rank is extremely loyal to me. Yongyan, you are my son, so why are you less loyal to me than a minor official of the seventh rank? This is unfilial to me, and unfilial piety is disloyalty!"

(End of this chapter)