My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 190 The Eight Banners are deeply grateful to Prince Bao
Upon hearing this, the thirteenth prince frowned and asked in a cold tone, "Who told you that?"

Hongli could not reveal that he had been investigating Yinzhi's eldest son, Hongsheng, and that he had planted spies around Hongsheng, thus knowing that the third prince had the idea of ​​having Hongsheng take advantage of Yongzheng's dissatisfaction with the eighth prince to put the eighth prince to death, thereby provoking greater conflicts within the imperial clan.

Therefore, Hongli only replied, "My nephew heard it from the streets. Some people were saying that the impeachment of Manduhu was instigated by my third uncle's people, so someone mentioned it."

The thirteenth prince said, "If the third prince really did that, he would be incredibly stupid, because your father wouldn't fall for his trick!"

Hongli nodded after hearing this.

Now, as the new policy is implemented, more people will inevitably take more measures to cope with the situation because their own interests will be more severely damaged.

Members of the royal family were no exception.

Because the fundamental contradictions of Yongzheng's reforms would intensify as the new policies progressed.

After all, his reforms were about adjusting the distribution of benefits.

If more of the people's hard-earned money were to be converted into national funds through taxes, then everyone from the imperial family and powerful officials to gentry would receive far less of it.

After all, from imperial relatives to powerful officials and gentry, these people were not producers; they could only exploit the people's wealth. As their group grew, their demand for the people's wealth also increased dramatically.

Moreover, not everyone can tolerate the loss of benefits, voluntarily reduce expenses, and restrain their desires.

Even if many people only grumble once, the grumbles of millions of people, when combined, can become a monstrous wave that makes people uneasy.

Moreover, Emperor Yongzheng, who currently holds supreme power, is a highly sensitive person.

Any slight disturbance is likely to be magnified in their eyes.

Of course, if Yongzheng hadn't been so perceptive, he wouldn't have been so determined to carry out reforms when the Qing Dynasty didn't seem so bad. Clearly, his perception of the hidden dangers was stronger than others!

Hongli understood Yongzheng's unease, as well as the restless ambitions of many others.

Under these circumstances, he needed to do the right thing at all times so that he could receive the most generous inheritance from Yongzheng when he became emperor.

"I heard that you have now given many of the bannermen under your command jobs?"

The thirteenth prince didn't mention the third prince again at this point.

Because the third brother was the person he least wanted to mention.

So, at this moment, he also asked Hongli about other things.

Hongli placed his hands on his abdomen and said, "I just wanted to do something to stabilize the hearts of the Eight Banners, so I set up a fertilizer factory so that they could produce fertilizer. In any case, they are only not allowed to do business, not that they cannot work."

"It is a rare thing that you can pay attention to the Manchu people at the grassroots level, and it is most meaningful to organize them to work for you, rather than simply winning people's hearts."

The thirteenth brother said with a smile.

Hongli nodded.

He understood what the thirteenth prince meant. Like the eighth prince, he was merely trying to win people's hearts. He had no other purpose than to make people grateful or to betray him when necessary and sell himself for a good price.

What's truly important is being able to organize these people to do big things.

Hongli is not simply helping those in distress now, but is actually mobilizing the manpower under his control to do things that promote agricultural production.

By June of the fourth year of the Yongzheng Emperor's reign, the winter wheat harvest in the Rehe reclamation area had indeed increased.

Many Manchu people thus saved a considerable amount of grain.

The bannermen under Hongli's own command even took the initiative to give some winter wheat to their respective commanders as tribute to Hongli.

According to the unwritten rules within the Eight Banners, Bannermen were required to present gifts to their Banner Lords or Lords during festivals.

The bannermen who were paid a salary had to give a portion of their salary to their banner lord or lord as a tribute, instead of waiting for the banner lord or lord to take it away.

Manchu bannermen who owned land would also contribute their land rent income to the banner lord as tribute.

After all, there was a master-servant relationship between the banner lord or lord and the banner people.

However, this means that although the Manchus did not pay taxes, they were actually paying taxes to their respective masters instead of the imperial court, thus providing the banner lords and local leaders with an additional source of revenue.

Now, the bannermen under Hongli's own command, having increased their grain income through land reclamation, are voluntarily offering grain to Hongli, naturally expressing their gratitude to this Prince Bao.

In their view, this was the increase in wealth brought to them by Prince Bao, Hongli.

Emperor Hongli received a lot of new wheat this summer, which he had made into noodles.

He also presented a portion to Emperor Yongzheng, saying, "This is the new noodles that my subordinates have harvested from the land reclamation. It can be considered a result of the new policies. Father, you can have the Imperial Kitchen make some noodles with this to try."

Emperor Yongzheng was also very interested in this, so he quickly ordered the imperial chefs to make a large bowl of braised noodles with this new dough, and he wanted Hongli and Fuhui to share it with him.

Not long after, Yongzheng served Xiao Fuhui a bowl and said to her, "Try it, this was grown by the Manchus themselves."

Seeing this, Hongli smiled and, after Yongzheng had served himself a bowl, he also served himself one. Yongzheng had already started eating and couldn't help but nod repeatedly: "Very chewy, no worse than the noodles at that Shanxi noodle shop near Huguo Temple!"

"I also sent some to my thirteenth and sixteenth uncles so that they could have a taste as well."

Hongli replied.

Yongzheng nodded: "Very good. You should also send some to your eighth uncle. Send them directly to the Imperial Clan Court and have them make him a bowl of noodles so that he knows that only when the Manchus are self-reliant can he have the good fortune to eat such a decent bowl of noodles."

Hongli smiled slightly, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

Hongli then took out a copy of the newspaper he co-founded with Yunxi, the "Jingshi Xinbao":

"Your subject also arranged for several Manchu bannermen who had a bountiful harvest to participate in an interview with the Capital News. During the interview, they all expressed their support for the new policies and their love for you, Father. They said that if it were not for Your Majesty's good governance and the bestowal of great grace, they would not have had the opportunity to become rich through farming. There were also some educated Manchu bannermen who wrote articles in the newspaper to praise you."

Although the Manchu people in Rehe were more grateful to Prince Bao, who helped them achieve a bumper harvest, Hongli still took the opportunity to guide them to also express their gratitude to Yongzheng.

He also arranged for the Beijing Daily to interview them, and organized several Manchus who had read books and could write articles to express their gratitude to Emperor Yongzheng, which were published in newspapers and magazines.

Because Hongli knew that Yongzheng was very insecure and needed praise from the outside world to be more motivated to do meaningful things. Otherwise, he would easily fall into self-doubt and even think that the people of the world, especially the Manchus, supported the Eighth Prince more.

After all, the Eighth Prince's performance during the Kangxi era was indeed very popular with the imperial relatives and nobles of the Eight Banners, which made Yongzheng, who originally had a good relationship with the Eighth Prince, gradually feel that he was far inferior to the Eighth Prince.

For example, when the fourteenth prince, Yinzhen, once said that if Emperor Kangxi wanted to order the death of the eighth prince, he would also drink poison to accompany him in death, Emperor Yongzheng felt that his own brother was not as important to the fourteenth prince as the eighth prince.

Therefore, Hongli took the initiative to organize the Manchu people under his command to praise Yongzheng.

Yongzheng immediately took the newspaper and began reading its contents while eating his noodles.

Gradually, the more Yongzheng looked at it, the happier he became, until his eyes were almost closed.

"So my people do know how hard I work."

Yongzheng then reddened his eyes and sighed with a solemn expression.

Hongli chimed in, "That's natural. The vast majority of the Manchu people have sharp eyes regarding the new policy of allowing them to cultivate the land. Their hunger and abundant harvests will tell them who made their lives better and better."

Emperor Yongzheng nodded in strong agreement: "The Eight Banners are the foundation of our Great Qing Dynasty. I should trust them and believe that the majority of the Bannermen share my thoughts."

"But unfortunately, they didn't express their gratitude through a memorial to the throne. Otherwise, I could have replied to them and told them that I was very happy to know that they understood my good intentions so well!"

As Yongzheng spoke, a look of regret appeared on his face.

Hongli knew that Yongzheng was driven by a strong desire to express himself.

Lacking affirmation, he has an obsessive-compulsive tendency to reply to what others say to him, often writing lengthy, essay-like responses.

This can be corroborated by many of Emperor Yongzheng's imperial edicts.

Upon seeing this, Hongli suggested, "Although Father cannot reply to them directly, he can respond to them by publishing an article under an alias in the newspaper, under the pretext of evaluating whether their awareness is high enough."

"That's a great idea!"

Yongzheng's eyes lit up, and he sat down behind the table, smiling as he said:
"As the saying goes, it is easier to stop the people from speaking than to stop a river from overflowing, but this does not mean that we cannot guide them. I can use this to guide the people of the world toward goodness."

Yongzheng then picked up his pen and began to write seriously. He instructed Hongli, "After I finish writing, you should copy it and give it to your twenty-first uncle. Tell him to publish it in the newspaper. Don't tell him where it came from; just say that you found it from somewhere else."

"Whoo!"

Hongli waited on the side for Yongzheng to write.

But Emperor Yongzheng truly had a strong desire to express himself, and once he started writing, he couldn't stop.

This meant that Hongli, who had come to pay his respects, had to wait until dark to receive Yongzheng's manuscript.

When Hongli saw that the signature was "Huiqing Jushi", he couldn't help but smile slightly. He knew that Yongzheng had always liked to use pseudonyms such as "Jushi". For example, when he was a prince, he had used pseudonyms such as "Yuanming Jushi" and "Pochen Jushi".

It is not surprising that Emperor Yongzheng used the pen name "Huiqing Jushi" in his name.

Afterwards, Hongli glanced at the contents and saw that while it did not boast, it devoted a large portion to explaining how difficult the new policies were, and also made a sarcastic remark about the Eighth Prince, saying how treacherous and cunning Prince Lian was.

This forced Hongli to admit that Yongzheng's resentment towards the Eighth Prince was truly deep.

At the same time, Hongli also saw that in the article, besides Prince Yin-Yang Lian, Yongzheng was also praising the thirteenth prince excessively.

If Hongli hadn't personally obtained it from Yongzheng, he would have suspected that the article was written by a die-hard fan of the thirteenth prince and a hater of the eighth prince.

"Can this be published in the newspaper? The criticism and praise of the royal family members are far too direct!"

When Yunxi, who was directly in charge of operating the "Jingshi Xinbao" newspaper, saw the copy of the article, he was hesitant to publish it and even asked Hongli about it, since it involved the sons of the two late emperors.

(End of this chapter)