My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 193 After Hongli disciplined him, Yongzheng became obedient!

Emperor Qianlong was not surprised by this.

Because he knew that as long as it didn't affect his reputation in public, Yongzheng was willing to be reprimanded under the guise of concern, and he could also accept others throwing tantrums in front of him.

Therefore, the thirteenth prince was actually more willing to criticize Yongzheng than the eighth and ninth princes, but Yongzheng thought the thirteenth prince was very good.

On the contrary, the eighth and ninth princes, because they did not pay much attention to Yongzheng's concern for face and his sensitive nature, were more likely to be perceived as hostile by Yongzheng.

For example, in history, when the fourteenth prince did not kneel when he first met Emperor Yongzheng, the eighth prince reprimanded him, saying that the fourteenth prince should kneel before Emperor Yongzheng. Emperor Yongzheng later thought that the eighth prince was deliberately showing that he had more authority than him and that he could make the fourteenth prince submit, instead of feeling that the eighth prince was reprimanding the fourteenth prince on his behalf.

The fact that the Ninth Prince sat cross-legged in front of Emperor Yongzheng in front of everyone was something that Yongzheng remembered for many years.

Now, if Hongli were to tell Yongzheng not to neglect his health in his eagerness to have more children, Yongzheng would think that he was also mocking Yongzheng for not having many children.

Therefore, Hongli didn't mention it at all, and simply told Yongzheng to eat properly.

Moreover, Hongli placed several oily, salty, and raw dishes far away, forbidding Yongzheng from touching them, and said to Yongzheng, "Father, it's better to keep breakfast light from now on. Let's change these dishes!"

Yongzheng nodded.

But he only ate a few bites before going to get the memorial to the throne again.

He seemed to prefer communicating with people through written forms, such as memorials to the throne, to alleviate his loneliness.

He finds it easier to express sweet and cheesy words, especially in writing, than in words.

But Hongli then grabbed the memorial: "Read it after you finish eating!"

Yongzheng had no choice but to withdraw his hand and continue eating.

He seemed to have "become obedient."

Su Peisheng couldn't help but chuckle to himself, thinking that the Fourth Prince had his master completely under his control.

After an unknown amount of time, Yongzheng finally finished his breakfast and eagerly picked up the memorials.

However, as soon as Yongzheng picked up the memorial, he frowned and his face turned as cold as ice.

"Father, why are you angry?"

Hongli asked.

Yongzheng said, "The Imperial Clan Court reports that your eighth uncle has requested permission to send that woman to accompany him!"

"He doesn't want the young princess, but insists on having that jealous woman accompany him. He doesn't care at all about his offspring, does he?"

"This is unfilial of him!"

As he spoke, Yongzheng slammed the memorial onto the table.

Snapped!
His expression was cold.

"He's deliberately trying to anger me. He knows I despise Guo Luoluo, yet he still requests permission to send that jealous woman. His wicked intentions are obvious, and he is disloyal!"

Emperor Yongzheng paced back and forth in the room, looking impatient.

Clearly, Lao Ba's request really angered him.

After all, what Yongzheng hated most about the Eighth Prince was that he cared too much about the Eighth Prince's wife. If the Eighth Prince hadn't mentioned the Eighth Prince's wife, Yongzheng wouldn't be so furious right now.

Hongli didn't know whether the Eighth Prince and his wife were truly deeply in love and that even while imprisoned, he hoped she could stay with him, or whether he was deliberately trying to anger Yongzheng and force him to kill him, or whether, as Yongzheng himself said, he wanted to give Yongzheng the unsavory reputation of killing his brother.

But Hongli had to admit that the Eighth Prince really didn't consider his feelings as the Fourth Brother, and was deliberately stepping on his Fourth Brother's sore spots.

After all, with Lao Ba's intelligence, he couldn't possibly be unaware of the personality traits of his fourth brother, with whom he had grown up since childhood.

Hongli, naturally, could only align himself with Yongzheng, and thus said, "Father, we cannot agree to that."

"That's right!"

"I absolutely forbid it!"

"If I grant it, I will be letting down the late Emperor, and I will become an unfaithful and unfilial person."

At this point, Yongzheng was so angry that he laughed and said, "You understand the principles, but your eighth uncle just doesn't. He even disregards his own filial piety and tries to put me in an unjust position. I really don't know where his virtue lies when outsiders say he is virtuous."

"If he won't choose himself, I'll have the Empress choose two princesses from his residence—no, three!"

"I will continue to publish articles exposing his hypocritical side, so that people will know what kind of person your Eighth Uncle really is!"

Yongzheng acted immediately, picking up his pen right away.

Hongli naturally couldn't stop him, so he allowed the *Jingshi Xinbao* to publish Yongzheng's article. At present, besides developing banner affairs and learning political matters, his work also involved assisting Yunxi in managing the *Jingshi Xinbao*.

Yunxi really enjoys this career.

This is because it aligns perfectly with his love of reading and painting.

Now, Emperor Yongzheng rewarded him with 10,000 taels of silver and a 30,000-mu (approximately 2,000 hectares) estate of superior irrigated farmland, which further motivated him.

He was never good at managing other businesses, and now that he had a newspaper business, land, and money, he was happy to focus his energy solely on the newspaper business.

"Hongli, thanks to you, I am now able to serve the court so happily."

Yunxi was especially grateful to Hongli for this, and thus hosted a special banquet for him.

Hongli smiled and said, "This is because my twenty-first uncle is willing to be loyal to the Khan, and it is not my doing alone."

“Now I have followed your advice and adopted many orphans, so that they can earn some income by selling newspapers. I have also set up free schools for them, so that they can pay some money to study at the free schools.”

"At the same time, many impoverished scholars were recruited to earn money by copying and proofreading texts for the newspaper, while also teaching these orphans to read and write."

Yunxi then brought up the work that the newspaper he was currently managing was doing.

Hongli nodded: "That's exactly right. The new policies benefit ordinary bannermen, so naturally, the propaganda should also be geared towards them. This way, Father Khan will know that he is implementing the new policies not only with enemies, but also with friends!"

“Not only Fourth Brother, but even your Twenty-First Uncle himself has come to understand the new policies and Fourth Brother better because of this.”

"You don't know, but seeing those emaciated orphans who were already starving to death grow stronger day by day and begin to learn to read and write gives me a great sense of satisfaction."

Yunxi said this with a smile.

Hongli knew that someone like Yunxi, as the emperor's younger brother, was not lacking in sexual resources. Yongzheng would also give him some nice girls during each imperial concubine selection.

Then, because he was ranked low and did not participate in the struggle for succession, he was not deeply distorted by the power struggle, so he was more innocent and less ruthless. Therefore, he could easily find a sense of value in things that benefited the country and the people, and feel satisfied and happy about them.

Among Kangxi's sons, the older princes, having already tasted the power or been oppressed by it, found it difficult to derive pleasure from things that benefited the country and its people. Instead, they found pleasure in manipulating power or not being manipulated by it.

In short, different circumstances lead to different mindsets.

After seeing the contents published in the "Beijing News," the Fourteenth Prince certainly saw the support of ordinary Manchu bannermen for the new policies and people like "Huiqing Jushi" accusing the Eighth Prince. However, his greater feeling was that the "Beijing News" was vying for the right to guide public opinion and unifying the perceptions of the people!

The fourteenth prince only regretted that he was not the one in control of power, so unifying the world's perceptions didn't mean much to him.

But the fourteenth prince still remembered the promise Hongli had made to him.

Therefore, the fourteenth prince summoned all his instructors and students from the Qing Military Academy and asked them to share their views on the "Beijing News".

The Qing Military Academy was founded in the second year of the Yongzheng Emperor's reign and has been operating for two years now.

Zhao Hui and Fu Peng both became senior students at this school.

Besides Zhao Hui and Fu Peng, there were also other members of the imperial clan, such as Hong Zheng, who studied military strategy and warfare under the fourteenth prince at this school.

It is worth mentioning that Hongsheng, who was nearly thirty years old, had experience leading troops in the Northwest and had made military achievements with the Fourteenth Prince. After being stripped of his position as heir apparent by Yongzheng and ordered to be strictly controlled by the Third Prince, he asked the Fourteenth Prince to recommend him to the academy as an instructor through his connections.

When the fourteenth prince asked them to give their opinions on the "Capital News," before Hongsheng could speak, Fupeng spoke first, saying, "The 'Capital News' has let us know how ordinary bannermen view the new policies. It has shown us the true state of the people, which is quite good."

Zhao Hui chimed in, saying, “Yes, those who follow the right path receive much help, while those who stray from it receive little. We learn how to lead troops in battle at the military academy, but we should also be clear about whether the wars we participate in are in line with public opinion. The ‘Capital News’ has given us an opportunity to understand public opinion and also an opportunity to understand the new policies.”

The "Beijing News" clearly gave many young men from the Eight Banners nobility a new understanding of the new policies and of Emperor Yongzheng.

Because they are not stupid; they can tell from the lines whether the news is logical and whether it is true and reliable.

Therefore, they gradually came to understand new policies such as reducing the number of vests and allowing Manchus to settle and cultivate land, and they felt that these were prerequisites for them to make contributions in the future.

This made it difficult for a few Manchu nobles, such as Hongsheng, who were dissatisfied with the new policy, to speak up. They could only stare coldly at Fupeng and Zhaohui.

The Manchu bannermen who were dissatisfied with the new policies, such as Hongsheng, were generally older and had more seniority.

Because they had truly experienced the life of being frantically fawned upon by local officials and gentry after gaining power, and had enjoyed extremely abundant human, sexual, and cultural resources.

On the contrary, the younger or lower-ranking members of the Eight Banners, such as Fu Peng and Zhao Hui, who were hoping to obtain more resources through their own efforts, did not realize that as long as they colluded well with the gentry and used their noble status to act as their mouthpieces or even eyes and ears in the court, it would be much more worthwhile than fighting on the battlefield to gain resources.

Therefore, even though Hongsheng had trained in the Northwest with the Fourteenth Prince when he was young, as the grandson of the emperor and the heir of a prince, he knew long ago that opposing the new policies with the Han gentry was the best choice, rather than going to the battlefield to exchange blood for military merit.

The fourteenth prince himself knew that colluding with the gentry would be more profitable, but the attitudes of young students like Zhao Hui and Fu Peng still touched him.

Therefore, the Fourteenth Prince later invited Hongli to his residence and told him about it: "The 'Capital News' has a significant influence on the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty!"

(End of this chapter)