My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 129 The Fourteenth Prince Openly Stands Up for Hongli!

Winter nights in the capital are not very dark because of the frequent snowfall.

Especially on moonlit nights, it feels as if it is already dawn and the sun is about to rise.

With a smile, Hongli returned to the inner palace, his footsteps crunching through the snow.

Begonia followed behind.

Because the view wasn't too dark, she didn't look at the path beneath her feet, but only glanced at Nara Minxuan's room out of the corner of her eye.

suddenly!

She discovered that Nara Minxuan hadn't slept either.

He was still facing Hongli, looking nervous.

With the lights off, you wouldn't be able to see anything if it weren't for the moonlight.

This made Haitang sigh inwardly again, and then she smiled helplessly.

"Begonia!"

At this moment, Hongli called out to Haitang.

Haitang snapped out of her daze: "Fourth Master, please give your orders."

“From now on, every day after they finish their morning classes and before I return, you can take them for a run in the yard and teach them the Tai Chi I taught you.”

"Don't let them stay indoors all the time; let them come out and get some fresh air more often."

"Following what I taught you, conduct a physical examination and health record for them as well. To prevent them from remaining silent due to embarrassment about any discomfort, you should proactively check on them regularly, ask them questions, and then tell me!"

"Whoo!"

……

……

The next day.

Just as dawn was breaking, Hongli was summoned by a eunuch from Yongzheng's side, who said he was to have breakfast with the emperor and empress.

Clearly, the forty-five-year-old Yongzheng Emperor, in between indulging in the pleasures of young and beautiful women, also cherished the daily routine of eating and chatting with his wife and children.

However, leisure time flies by.

Time flew by and it was already the first month of the second year of the Yongzheng Emperor's reign.

As a member of the royal family, Hongli naturally had to join Yongzheng and others in the ancestral worship ceremony.

Royal ancestral worship was naturally more elaborate and lively, and of a higher standard, than that of ordinary officials and commoners.

On this day, Hongli looked at the dragon robes and red-topped hats all around him, kneeling and rising to bow, and felt quite solemn and dignified.

However, the first month of the second year of Yongzheng's reign was different from the first month of the first year of Yongzheng's reign.

This year, the ninth son, Yun Tang, and the second son, Hong Chang, were absent from the ancestral worship ceremony.

Because Hongxi was not imprisoned, he was still able to return from Zhengjiazhuang when he went to worship his ancestors.

However, the absence of the Ninth Prince and Hongchang inevitably made some members of the royal family miss them, and even feel a sense of loss for their kind.

Because the third prince, Yunzhi, was extremely jealous of the thirteenth prince, he became even more unhappy under these circumstances. After the ancestral worship ceremony ended and the royal family members left the palace, he deliberately mocked the thirteenth prince in front of Hongli and other royal family members.

"Even tigers don't eat their cubs, yet some people are more vicious than tigers!"

"If such a ruthless and mean-spirited person were to rise to high positions of power, would we have a good end?"

But Yunji didn't say it in front of the thirteenth prince.

He knew that if he said it to the thirteenth prince's face, the thirteenth prince would definitely beat him to death.

But Yongzheng was not Kangxi, so he certainly wouldn't favor him anymore.

Therefore, it was only after seeing the thirteenth prince being led away by Yongzheng that Yunzhi spoke up in front of the other royal family members who were not involved.

Most of these royal family members are juniors, and even those who are not juniors are his peers or younger brothers, so it's not easy for them to do anything to him.

However, Hongli could not simply stand by and watch.

After all, Yongzheng had said that his younger uncles, such as the thirteenth prince, were the ones he would rely on to fight against the gentry in the future, and he needed to win the thirteenth prince's favor.

At the same time, he also needs to let other reasonable members of the royal family know that he will stand up for them, mediate internal conflicts within the royal family, and will not sit idly by while those who stir up trouble within the royal family are dealt with.

In fact, Yunzhi's sarcastic remarks about the thirteenth prince behind his back, showing no respect for him, while garnering support from some royal family members who were dissatisfied with the new policies and sympathized with the ninth prince, did indeed draw glares from many sensible princes present.

Even the fourteenth prince couldn't stand it anymore and sneered.

Even the straightforward Lao Shi couldn't help but open his mouth and walked towards Yun Zhi.

But Lao Ba stopped him.

At this moment, Hongli became the first person to come over and persuade Yunzhi, and said with his hands clasped: "Third Uncle, please forgive my nephew for being presumptuous. Thirteenth Uncle is only doing this for the sake of the greater good and for the future of Cousin Hongchang. That is why I had to ask the Khan to decree to imprison Cousin Hongchang so that he would reflect on his actions. Please don't say anything more. Thirteenth Uncle has no other choice."

"After all, as the Khan's decree stated, my cousin Hongchang even dared to beat the Grand Minister of the Imperial Guard."

“I understand that you feel sorry for your cousin Hongchang, but you should also be considerate of your thirteenth uncle!”

The third prince, Yunzhi, never expected that Hongli would speak up for the thirteenth prince in front of so many people instead of agreeing with him. Moreover, Hongli implied that he didn't care about his thirteenth brother and didn't consider the overall situation, implying that Yunzhi was being petty.

The third brother, who often mingled with scholars and literati, had become like many pedantic Confucian scholars, particularly concerned with Confucian ethical rules in daily life.

Otherwise, he wouldn't still hold a grudge against the thirteenth prince for hitting him over such a trivial matter that had nothing to do with major political conflicts.

Like many Confucian scholars, the third brother felt that as the elder brother, he had violated the rules and been disrespectful and impolite to the thirteenth brother's deceased mother. The thirteenth brother could not hold it against him, but the thirteenth brother beating his elder brother was an unforgivable act of rebellion, which he had to take seriously!

Now, Hongli, as a junior, suddenly spoke up for the thirteenth prince and advised him, which caused the third prince, Yunzhi, to suddenly unleash his anger like a torrent.

The third prince sneered at Hongli and said, "Hongli, although you are the late emperor's most favored grandson, there is no need for you to protect the thirteenth prince! Don't forget, I am your third uncle, and he is just your thirteenth uncle!"

The third brother said this and then turned and left.

Hongli stood there and smiled, then couldn't help but sigh inwardly. This third prince truly hated the thirteenth prince; when targeting the thirteenth prince, he didn't even give face to him, the most favored prince. But Hongli didn't want to lose face like that.

After all, with so many members of the royal family here, if he's going to take the lead, he can't let people think he's not going to stand up for the thirteenth prince.

That would damage his prestige.

Therefore, Hongli looked around and, with his eyes darting around, came up with a solution.

Seeing that the fourteenth and tenth brothers looked the most disdainful, he went to the fourteenth brother.

He naturally wouldn't go to Lao Shi's place.

Because, apart from his noble status, the tenth prince was truly inferior to the fourteenth prince in terms of doing things.

"Fourteenth Uncle, it seems that it's not enough for me to just talk to Third Uncle. I need you to say a few words for Thirteenth Uncle and at the same time, put an end to this bad trend within our royal family."

Hongli then persuaded the fourteenth prince.

The fourteenth prince didn't speak, only smiled faintly. He didn't have much affection for the thirteenth prince either, so naturally he didn't want to offend the third prince for the sake of the thirteenth prince.

"If you want to destroy the Dzungars again in the future, then help your nephew with this!"

Hongli had no choice but to throw out bait and continue to offer empty promises.

He knew that the fourteenth prince's dream was to eliminate the Dzungars!
Later scholars who studied Qing history conducted statistical analysis on the correspondence between the fourteenth prince and Emperor Kangxi. They found that the fourteenth prince discussed with Emperor Kangxi most often in his secret memorials how to quell the Dzungar Khanate.

Hongli was also unaware of how much hatred his fourteenth son harbored towards the Dzungars.

Anyway, there's a saying that many of the fourteenth prince's "haha beads," his childhood friends and comrades-in-arms, were killed by the Dzungars.

The fourteenth brother had little affection for his own brothers, but he was very loyal to his comrades who had fought alongside him through thick and thin, even going so far as to defend them against the parachuting in of people like Longkodo who had connections.

However, the Dzungar Khanate was not pacified during the Yongzheng Emperor's reign, but it was pacified during the Qianlong Emperor's reign.

When Hongli tried to persuade his fourteenth son by offering him help in pacifying the Dzungar Khanate, the fourteenth son became interested and gave a cold laugh.

"Absolutely impossible! His Majesty's fourth brother's mind is not on destroying the Dzungars."

“But if my nephew has the opportunity in the future, he will be willing to pacify the Dzungar Khanate.”

Hongli replied.

The fourteenth prince sighed and said, "By the time you have this opportunity in the future, I'm afraid I'll be too old."

"It doesn't matter that you're old. As long as you train a large number of capable generals for our Great Qing before you get old, we can still pacify the Dzungars through your efforts!"

"If you are willing to support your nephew now, your nephew will definitely suggest that Father Khan establish a high-level martial arts school to train generals for our Great Qing, and let you be in charge of the school."

"Although Father Khan is wary of your military leadership and does not advocate large-scale military operations in the Northwest in the future, he certainly will not object to you leaving behind a group of talented generals for our Great Qing. Because those who can enter the academy are all members of the imperial family and nobles, you cannot bribe them with just a teacher-student relationship, so Father Khan will definitely be at ease."

"In that case, even if the Qing Dynasty cannot expand its territory through your hands, it would still be an honor if it could expand its territory through the hands of your students!"

"Fourteenth Uncle, please stand up for your nephew for the sake of the future of the Qing Dynasty. Besides, if you don't stand up for him and offend some people, Father Khan won't be able to completely trust you to train the martial arts of the imperial family and nobles!"

Hongli said.

"Third Brother!"

The fourteenth prince was persuaded!
He immediately strode forward and stopped the third brother outside the Donghua Gate.

The royal family members who were following them all stopped and looked over.

Seeing this, the tenth brother stopped and asked the fourteenth brother, "What is it?"

"Hongli was right just now. You really shouldn't have spoken of the thirteenth prince like that behind his back!"

"The thirteenth prince had no choice but to imprison Hongchang because he loved his son. Yet you are here distorting the truth. When Hongli tried to persuade you, you responded with sarcasm. Do you act like an uncle?"

"Or is it that you get more confused as you get older?"

Once the fourteenth prince decides to stand up for Hongli, he won't be too polite to the third prince.

Because, unlike the portrayal of the Fourteenth Prince in a certain TV series where Emperor Kangxi said he was narrow-minded, the real Fourteenth Prince was not narrow-minded, but rather proud and outspoken.

The fourteenth prince has always looked down on his brothers, not only Yongzheng, but also the third prince.

Therefore, even though the third brother had tried to win him over before, he remained very indifferent.

Even with the eighth brother, he was only outwardly respectful, but inwardly he looked down on him.

In the heart of the fourteenth brother, none of his brothers were as good as him; they were all trash!
Therefore, he often communicated directly with Emperor Kangxi through memorials and rarely consulted with his brothers, including the matter of vying for the throne, which he seldom discussed with the Eighth Prince.

Just as he showed no mercy to Longkodo.

Therefore, the fourteenth prince immediately began to question the third prince.

This was unbearable for the third brother, who loved to be senior and put on airs. His face immediately turned red, and he felt that his dignity had been greatly challenged.

The third brother immediately pointed at the fourteenth brother, his face contorted with rage, and shouted, "Fourteenth brother! I've put up with you for too long! You useless piece of trash, the late emperor's son wasted! Believe me or not, I'll teach you a lesson!"

The fourteenth prince was most angry when people called him a good-for-nothing.

Prideful as ever, he immediately grabbed the third brother's collar and asked through gritted teeth in a cold voice, "Then let's have a fight?"

"it is good!"

The third brother replied.

The fourteenth brother abandoned the third brother, tucked the hem of his robe into his belt, bent down slightly, and looked at the third brother: "Third brother, when it comes to troop deployment, you are not as good as me, but in one-on-one combat, I am no worse than you!"

Old Eight walked over at this moment: "Stop! What are you doing?"

"Myna, get out of here! Don't pretend to be kind. If we don't give him a good beating today, he'll think I'm easy to bully!"

After the fourteenth brother retorted to the eighth brother, he charged at the third brother, knocking him face-first to the ground. Then, fists the size of bowls rained down on the third brother's face.

The third brother tried to retaliate several times but failed. He just scratched the other's face a few times. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore and patted the fourteenth brother's arm: "Stop hitting me, stop hitting me, fourteenth brother, I was wrong, third brother was wrong!"

Hongli chuckled to himself.

(End of this chapter)