Qing Yao

Chapter 59: No Loss If You Are Wrong

"Prince Jia?"

Old Wu didn't take the banknotes on the table, but just looked at Zhao An in confusion.

Prince Jia is the fifteenth prince Yongyan, who was canonized as a prince last year.

"Yes, Prince Jia."

Zhao An's tone was very certain because he knew that this Prince Jia was the Emperor Jiaqing five years later.

"Are you saying that the new ruler in five years will be Prince Jia?"

Old Wu seemed to be thinking about something, then nodded slightly, "This guy does have more opportunities."

It seemed extremely incongruous that two strangers were discussing the choice of crown prince. But in fact, twelve years ago, when Emperor Qianlong publicly issued an edict that he would only be emperor for sixty years, who would be the next emperor of the Qing Dynasty became the biggest topic of conversation among people all over the world.

The ministers and the people were guessing, especially during the emperor's 80th birthday, the topic of the crown prince was even more of a "hot search".

Qianlong himself did not mind his subjects discussing this topic, and even hoped that his subjects would guess wrong and take sides, although he had secretly determined the fifteenth prince Yongyan as the crown prince as early as the 38th year of Qianlong's reign.

This is the emperor's mind.

The secret of who was the crown prince was known only to Emperor Qianlong himself, not even his most beloved Heshen.

However, Emperor Qianlong, who was celebrating his 80th birthday, could never have imagined that a fake cadre in Yangzhou City, thousands of miles away, also knew about it.

You even know when this perfect old man will fart.

At present, official and public speculation about the next emperor of the Qing Dynasty mainly focuses on two people.

Qianlong had a total of seventeen sons in his life, and only the eighth son Yongxuan, the eleventh son Yongyan, the fifteenth son Yongyan, and the seventeenth son Yonglin are still alive.

The oldest, Yongxuan, was conferred the title of Prince Duoloyi by his father ten years ago, while last year his two younger brothers, Yongyan and Yongyan, were promoted to princes by their father, the former to Prince Cheng and the latter to Prince Jia.

The youngest prince, the seventeenth prince Yonglin, only received the title of Beile.

Judging from the title, Yongzhen and Yongyan, both of whom were Heshuo Princes, were undoubtedly the most likely to become the crown prince.

Therefore, the focus now is on these two princes who were promoted to princes at the same time.

Although the eighth prince Yongxuan was older, he had a foot disease and a bad temper. He was repeatedly reprimanded by his father Qianlong and was basically excluded from the list of candidates for the crown prince.

The youngest prince, the seventeenth prince Yonglin, didn't seem to have much chance.

Last year, when his two elder brothers were conferred the title of prince, his youngest son was only conferred the title of Beile. Moreover, when the palace was divided, Emperor Qianlong, as the father, only gave his youngest son a pawnshop, with the principal and interest worth a total of 48,413 taels of silver.

Other than that, there's nothing.

When this news came out, Yonglin was also removed from the candidate list.

There are only the eleventh prince Yongyan and the fifteenth prince Yongyan.

Although Old Wu was forced to observe thirty years of mourning due to the death of a relative, he had visited Zeng's family a few years ago when his family was still doing well. He knew that the eleventh prince was a kind and benevolent man, while the fifteenth prince was diligent in his studies, a serious person, and open-minded.

However, the current emperor is a well-known filial son who attaches great importance to benevolence and filial piety. Moreover, Yongyan's wife is the daughter of the late Grand Secretary Fuheng. Fuheng's family is highly valued by the emperor. Fuheng's two surviving sons, Fu Kang'an and Fu Chang'an, who are Yongyan's two brothers-in-law, are now very popular in the court.

In particular, Fu Kang'an was favored by the emperor to the same degree as Heshen, and his brother Fu Chang'an was in cahoots with Heshen. Fu Kang'an certainly supported his brother-in-law Yongyan, both publicly and privately. These factors combined have led many to believe that the 11th prince might outmaneuver the 15th prince and win the race for the throne.

Old Wu didn't know much about the high-level developments in the court. In his eyes, it was either Prince Cheng or Prince Jia.

50-50 open.

But now this young man who had come to him without hesitation to persuade him to teach at the Imperial College and wait for an opportunity seemed to be certain that the new emperor was Prince Jia, which made Old Wu a little confused.

"What can Lord Yu lose if he is wrong?"

Zhao An smiled and said, "If it is right, and the Lord is willing to listen to me and do what I say, can the disadvantages outweigh the advantages?"

After saying that, he opened the wine and meat he brought, picked up the chopsticks and picked up a big piece of pork head for the unfortunate guy.

Old Wu, who hadn't eaten meat for a few days, smelled the aroma of meat and swallowed unconsciously, and his stomach also rumbled.

The pride of being a Jinshi in the imperial examinations twice prevented Old Wu from eating the tempting piece of pork head right away. Instead, he reached out and tapped the two hundred taels of silver note that Zhao An had given him. "This money can only allow me to register at the Ministry of Personnel, but it won't allow me to successfully reach Beijing."

Zhao An understood that this was asking him for travel and living expenses.

As long as the other party was willing to do as he ordered, Zhao An would not be reluctant to give up a small amount of money. He nodded and said, "Don't worry, sir, I will make the arrangements. But I wonder when you are ready to leave?"

Zhao An is the "little boss" of the Qing Gang, and the Qing Gang is the overlord of the canal. It is no small matter to get a passenger ship controlled by the Qing Gang or take a canal boat to take Old Wu to Beijing for free. Just give him a dozen or twenty taels of living expenses.

Old Wu hesitated for a moment, then said in a deep voice, "The capital is celebrating the Emperor's birthday, so the situation at the Ministry of Personnel should be a bit relaxed. I will leave for the capital in three days."

Zhao An said readily, "Okay, then please pack up for a while. I will come to take you to the capital in three days."

After saying that, he stood up and left.

Old Wu was also stunned when he saw this: "You don't want me to write a contract?"

This is treating Zhao An as a loan candidate.

Zhao An shook his head, bowed to Old Wu, and said, "I am helping you out of selfish motives. If you are successful in the future, you will support me. If you are unwilling to support me, what can a mere contract do to you?"

After saying this, he bowed his hands and left.

Old Wu sat in the room blankly for a while, then without any courtesy, put the pork head in the bowl into his mouth, chewed and swallowed for a while, then poured himself a bowl of wine and drank most of it with a "gulp".

His wife, Zhang, entered the house cautiously. She had heard the conversation between her husband and the young man.

"You can eat too."

Looking at his wife's aging face, Old Wu felt inexplicably sad. If the family had not suffered such a great change, his wife would have been well-maintained and lived a life of luxury. Why would she suffer so much with him?

Zhang did not pick up her chopsticks, but asked her husband in a low voice whether he really wanted to go to Beijing to teach. If so, she would clean up the house.

"At my age, if I don't try my best, I'll only regret it for the rest of my life. Perhaps, teaching at the Imperial College will be a good opportunity. I don't ask for wealth or power, but it will be enough if I can put my knowledge to good use."

Thinking of what the young man had said earlier, Old Wu couldn't help but look sideways toward the door and sighed with melancholy, "Even if I'm wrong, I don't have much to lose."

Seeing that her husband had decided to go to Beijing to teach, Zhang was relieved for no reason. She then said softly, "That young man is very scheming. If your husband's career goes well in the future, you can recruit him to serve you."

(End of this chapter)