My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 164 Hongshi's Adoption
Hongshi looked alarmed and quickly knelt down, replying, "Father, you are wise. This is absolutely not true. Your son has always been diligent in his studies and has never dared to make connections with court officials."

"Do you only admit it if I confiscate your teacher's property and execute those vixens you secretly favor?"

Yongzheng asked with a cold face.

Hongshi collapsed to the ground with a thud.

His eyes kept rolling around.

Then, Hongshi turned over and knelt back down, bowing his head and saying:

"Father, please calm down. Your son only decided to support your fourth brother because he felt he had no hope of inheriting the throne in the future. However, your son had absolutely no intention of supporting your fourth brother's decision to end the new policies!"

"If you don't have any, then why do you accept the annual tribute of 50,000 taels of silver from the gentry of Jiangnan, which is the usual amount for ice and charcoal?"

"You expect them to prepare lavish gifts for you on three major holidays and two birthdays?"

Emperor Yongzheng asked Hongshi about his arrival.

Hongshi looked even more astonished.

He didn't expect that even Yongzheng knew this.

Therefore, Hongshi became mute for a time.

I don't know how to put it.

"You, like Longkodo, also intend to get your sixteenth uncle out of the Imperial Household Department. You even want to do this through your fourth brother, Hongli, in order to curry favor with the officials and gentry of the country."

"Fortunately, Hongli wasn't that stupid. He just reminded your sixteenth uncle not to fall into other people's traps."

Yongzheng began to speak.

Hongshi suddenly raised his head: "How did Father know that I had told my fourth brother about this?"

Do you suspect that Hongli complained to me about something?

Yongzheng then asked Hongshi a question in return.

Hongshi immediately kowtowed: "Your subject dares not!"

"Actually, I know every word you and your husband say."

After saying this, Yongzheng smiled and turned around to look at the memorial.

But Hongshi felt as if someone had poured a bucket of ice water over his head, making him shiver with cold.

Yongzheng knew every word he and his husband Wang Maohong said.

Doesn't that mean my husband is Emperor Yongzheng's spy?

Was her husband acting on orders to frame her?
Did Emperor Yongzheng know about the treasonous things he said to Wang Maohong?

Hongshi refused to believe it and muttered to himself, "This is impossible, this is absolutely impossible, the master is so good."

"How many good people are there among the literati of Jiangnan?"

Yongzheng asked a question in return, and then chuckled coldly.

“I always tell you to read more books, but you don’t believe me. You think that showing off your skills, currying favor with the powerful, and seeking fame and fortune are the right paths. But you don’t know that in the political struggles of this world, you are always intertwined with me.”

"The teacher I chose for you may appreciate you and be politically aligned with you, but that doesn't mean he won't work for himself and only for you and the powerful and wealthy. Besides, Wang Tan's fate is right here."

“Your fourth brother never speaks the truth in front of his husband, because he knows that anything that can be said is not the truth!”

then.

Yongzheng then calmly began to lecture Hongshi.

"I originally thought that you could just swindle some money from them to improve your lives and that would be enough."

"I never expected you would actually work for those who oppose me!"

"You're still complaining about me behind my back, trying to create conflict between me and your sixteenth uncle. It's one thing to want to cause a rift between me and your sixteenth uncle, but you also want to use the pretext of supporting your fourth brother to turn my father and son into enemies, so that your fourth brother can follow in your second uncle's footsteps in the future!"

"That's fine, but you didn't care about my safety at all. Do you know what situation I would be in if it weren't for your sixteenth uncle in the Imperial Household Department?"

“You can cheat them out of their money, you can rob them of their money, but you cannot do anything for them, because you are a prince of the Qing Dynasty, not their slave!”

Yongzheng continued speaking, and then, in a fit of rage, he laughed: "I never imagined you would be so foolish, unfilial, and so willing to debase yourself."

"Khan Ama!"

Hongshi suddenly burst into tears.

Then, Hongshi said, "This is all thanks to my Eighth Uncle. He told me that I could change my situation by relying on the support of the bureaucrats and gentry who oppose the new policies!"

"Because, my eighth uncle said that I am kind-hearted and readily accept good advice, so even if I don't actively form factions, I will still have people supporting me."

"Therefore, Nian Gengyao would give me gifts, Longkodo would give me gifts, Han gentry would give me gifts, and even gentry from Jiangnan would give me the usual amount of 50,000 taels of silver."

"While they were still collecting silver, they took the initiative to persuade me, through my teacher, to keep a low profile and support my fourth brother. This way, either my fourth brother and the Khan would become at odds over the power struggle, or even if my fourth brother were to ascend the throne in the future, I would still gain his favor."

"Your subject thought that your eighth uncle was indeed a prophet, and that he had guessed the actions of the Han gentry very clearly, but your subject did not expect that your father was even more amazing!"

"Your subject was wrong. Please forgive your subject, Father. Your subject promises that he will never listen to his Eighth Uncle again."

Hongshi remembered that the Eighth Prince had said that if he was blamed by Yongzheng for something and could not defend himself, he should push the blame onto him.

The Eighth Prince's reasoning was that even tigers don't eat their cubs, so as long as Hongshi shifted the blame onto him, Yongzheng wouldn't hold a grudge against Hongshi, but would only vent his anger on the Eighth Prince.

So Hongshi gritted his teeth and blamed all the reasons for his decision on Lao Ba.

At this moment, Yongzheng's breathing became rapid, as if a volcano about to erupt had a raging fire rising in his heart.

Hongshi was relieved and breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that Yongzheng was angry with his eighth uncle and would not blame him anymore.

"Since you listen to your eighth uncle so much, then go and be his son."

But, suddenly!

Emperor Yongzheng then uttered these words.

His tone was extremely flat, yet extremely cold!
Hongshi immediately fell silent.

"Summon Zhang Tingyu!"

But then Yongzheng suddenly shouted.

Not long after.

Zhang Tingyu arrived at Yongzheng's place.

Yongzheng then instructed: "Draft an edict to expel Hongshi from the palace and have him adopted by Prince Lian, Yunsi, as his son. The reasons, the reasons, you find the reasons yourself!"

As he spoke, Yongzheng got up and left the main room.

Zhang Tingyu was stunned for a moment, then replied, "Yes, sir!"

Hongshi felt as if he had been slapped hard across the face, leaving him in an even more bewildered state.

Expelled from the palace?

adopt?

boom!
After Zhang Tingyu had been gone for a while, Hongshi suddenly kowtowed and cried out, "Father, have mercy!" "Your subject... Your subject didn't actually listen to Eighth Uncle. Your subject was just... just foolish and mistakenly believed Eighth Uncle's words! You thought that this would appease you, Father!"

Hongshi finally came to his senses.

He knew that if he were adopted by the eighth prince, it would mean that he would no longer be a prince.

In this way, not only would he completely lose any hope of becoming emperor in the future, but the whole world would also know that he was a person who had been completely abandoned by his own father.

How unfilial must a person be to be abandoned by their own father?

After all, his eighth uncle has his own son.

If his eighth uncle didn't have a son of his own, he could at least use the excuse that his father did this to prevent his brothers from dying out, thus covering up the truth.

Besides, he was the eldest son.

Even if adoption were to be carried out, there would be no reason to adopt the eldest son.

Therefore, Hongshi really didn't know how to face this result or everyone else.

He, who has always been very concerned about his image, was truly panicked.

He could almost hear the whispers of people outside criticizing him, mocking him for being unfilial and immoral to the point of being forcibly adopted.

When Hongshi saw that Yongzheng did not respond to him, he got up and ran out.

But he did not see Yongzheng.

He instinctively wanted to go to the inner palace to ask, but the guards at the right gate of the palace stopped him: "It's not time to pay your respects yet, Your Highness, please go back."

Hongshi suddenly had no choice but to return to the prince's residence.

Hongshi first came to Hongli's place.

He wanted to ask Hongli for help.

But the eunuch Gong Cheng who came out to see him said, "Our Fourth Master has left the capital."

Hongshi had no choice but to run to Hongzhou.

But Hongzhou wasn't there either; he was said to be at the Imperial Workshop.

Hongshi had no choice but to go to the Imperial Workshop.

But before he could go to the Imperial Workshop, Grand Minister of the Imperial Guard Marseille arrived with his guards: "By imperial decree!"

Hongshi immediately knelt down.

“Your nephew Hongshi is not allowed to loiter in the palace. He should move out of the palace as soon as possible. The Grand Minister of the Imperial Guard, Marseille, is hereby ordered to urge him to leave the palace.”

Marseille announced the decree.

"Imperial nephew?"

Hongshi was stung by the words in the imperial edict and couldn't help but pout and cry again.

Seeing this, Marseille had no choice but to have his guards forcibly drag Hongshi out of the palace.

At the same time, Hongshi's family and children were also sent to Prince Lian's residence.

Soon after, the Eighth Prince, Yunsi, also received the imperial decree from Emperor Yongzheng to adopt Hongshi to him.

He was also very surprised to receive the decree.

“I have never seen such a ruthless person in my life. When my father was alive, my eldest and second eldest brothers were so outrageous and made my father so angry, but my father never said that he would disown them.”

The Eighth Prince's wife was also surprised and even spoke up for Hongshi.

The eighth brother sighed and said, "Fourth brother has put a lot of thought into this. He doesn't want those people in the outer court to be harmed! At the same time, he wants to make those people in the outer court give up their desire to use him, and also make Hongshi give up that idea completely."

At this point, Lao Ba gave a wry smile.

"But there's no need for them to be adopted by us, we already have Hongwang!"

"That's what the Eighth Prince's wife said."

The eighth brother sighed again: "It's my fault. I was too close to Hongshi before, which inevitably affected the lotus and the root. In the eyes of the fourth brother, he still blames me for not listening to him and instead leading Hongshi astray."

"He certainly wanted to shift the blame for his failure to raise his son onto you, but I think he also wanted you to make up your mind to divorce me. That way, he could consider not letting you, his adoptive father, have a bad ending for Hongshi's sake."

Knowing that the Eighth Prince hadn't revealed Yongzheng's true intentions, the Eighth Prince's wife spoke for him.

The eighth brother remained silent for a moment, then said calmly, "But how could I divorce you?"

The Eighth Prince's wife smiled through her tears: "My lord, I..."

Lao Ba waved his hand.

"Your Highness, Marseille has brought the Third Prince and his family."

At this moment, Yan Jin, a eunuch from Prince Lian's residence, came to the door and made a report.

The Eighth Prince's expression immediately changed: "Shut up! There is no Third Prince now. He is the master of the Prince's Mansion. Go and tell Hongwang to go out and greet his elder brother!"

Then, the Eighth Prince looked at his wife and said, "Let's go and greet them too."

"it is good!"

The Eighth Prince's wife agreed, "Since he has been adopted by us, he may not feel pain, but we will!"

When Hongshi saw the Eighth Prince and his wife, he didn't dare to speak for a moment, as if nothing had changed if he didn't speak.

"No need for formalities, please come in."

Seeing this, the Eighth Prince took the initiative to pull Hongshi's family in, and asked his wife to settle Hongshi's female relatives, while he took Hongshi and Hongwang to the study.

As soon as he entered the study, Hongshi knelt down before the Eighth Uncle, tears streaming down his face: "Eighth Uncle, please save your nephew!"

"What's done is done, even your eighth uncle can't save you. Your fourth brother, the emperor, has completely disowned you."

The eighth brother replied to Hongshi with a hint of shame.

Although he didn't expect Yongzheng to directly adopt Hongshi to him, he could guess that Hongshi must have mentioned him and it must be related to him, which is why Yongzheng treated Hongshi this way.

Hongshi couldn't say it outright, that he had betrayed Lao Ba, which led to this outcome. He simply asked Lao Ba, "Then, Uncle Ba, what should I do now?"

Lao Ba remained silent for a while.

He couldn't say it outright, but Yongzheng wanted to use this method to force Prince Lian to choose absolute loyalty to the emperor, to be willing to divorce his wife for the emperor, and even to pave the way for the emperor to implement new policies, and to work with Yongzheng to lay a good foundation for the empire for his favorite, Hongli.

After all, having only one royal brother, the thirteenth prince, to support Yongzheng was not enough for him, and it would also make the thirteenth prince too tired!
Otherwise, Emperor Yongzheng would not have been so eager to give the sixteenth prince more responsibilities just because he showed a little political wisdom.

But the Eighth Prince asked himself, no matter how much he admired Hongli, he was still just an uncle, not his biological father, and he was even less willing to wrong himself and his wife for the sake of Yongzheng, or even to ruin the good reputation he had built up among the officials and gentry of the country over the decades.

He could be stripped of all his official titles and ranks by Yongzheng, even imprisoned or executed, but he would not bow down and become Yongzheng's pawn, and therefore would not make such a sacrifice for Hongshi, who had been abandoned by his own father.

"Uncle Eighth!"

After a long while, Hongshi called out.

The eighth brother then said, "You should call me Father now."

(End of this chapter)