My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 228 Seth Black
Hongli and the thirteenth prince exchanged a smile.

He finally fulfilled his promise to the thirteenth prince, that is, to have Hongsheng adopted by the tenth prince and placed under the tenth prince's confinement and supervision.

He has already suggested to the tenth brother that, in order to make Hongsheng deeply realize his mistakes, he should be given a confinement environment that is only slightly larger than a doghouse, so that he can experience what it is like to be locked up in a narrow space, and thus be able to deeply reflect on his mistake of framing his uncles.

The tenth brother was most dissatisfied with Hongsheng's act of framing his uncles, so naturally he did not refuse.

But then the third brother noticed the thirteenth brother's slightly raised eyebrows.

Because the third brother had been secretly watching the thirteenth brother, and even believed that the thirteenth brother was taking revenge on him and his son.

"Old Thirteen!"

"You despicable and shameless scoundrel! I never imagined you would drag the grudges of the previous generation into the next!"

"Hongsheng has already apologized to you, why do you still want to harm him? Are you determined to bring down my Great Qing Dynasty?!"

Therefore, the third son, unable to bear the thought of his beloved son being adopted, broke down on the spot and angrily pointed at the thirteenth son.

Hongli looked over at the third prince of the dynasty.

The tenth and fourteenth princes also looked over.

The thirteenth prince's expression also changed.

Snapped!
But then Yongzheng suddenly slammed his fist on the table, stood up, and walked to the thirteenth prince, clearly the angrier he was:
"Third brother! Don't ramble on and distort the truth!"

"Your Majesty, I have not distorted the truth. There is no doubt that this incident could have happened because the Thirteenth Prince was seeking personal revenge!"

"He disregards the overall situation, insists on dwelling on the past, and is determined to drag the next generation into this feud. He won't stop until the Qing Dynasty is destroyed!"

The third prince explained to Yongzheng with a righteous and solemn expression.

Upon hearing these words, Hongli couldn't help but applaud his third uncle, praising him for his eloquence and ability to find the moral high ground. It was as if Emperor Yongzheng, if he didn't support him, would not be considered a wise ruler of the Qing Dynasty.

Hongsheng was also shocked by the third son's reasoning, and looked at him with admiration, thinking to himself, "Father is indeed father. Even in such a critical situation, he can still use the righteousness of protecting the Qing Dynasty to bite back at the thirteenth son."

“Father is right!”

Hongsheng subconsciously echoed this, then turned to Yongzheng:

"Fourth Uncle, you are wise! It is Hongli who also intends to plunge the Qing Dynasty into ruin!"

Hongsheng glanced coldly at Hongli as he said this: "He has long since joined forces with Uncle Thirteen, and maybe even Uncle Fourteen, or even Uncle Ten, all in order to sideline you so that he can seize the throne as soon as possible. But before that, he has to use the conflicts between Uncle Thirteen, Uncle Ten, and others and my father to bring down my father!"

He clearly remembered that he wanted to strangle the imperial grandson, and only Hongli saw it. So now that Yongzheng mentioned this matter, he also hated Hongli and dragged Hongli into it, saying that Hongli and the thirteenth prince were forming a faction.

"Because my father never intended to collude with him; he only wanted to be loyal to you, Fourth Uncle, and clear away any obstacles that prevent you from implementing your new policies!"

"Please, Fourth Uncle, understand this clearly. What Father forced me to do was out of necessity, and it was for your sake!"

Hongsheng knelt down and kowtowed deeply to Yongzheng.

At this moment, Yongzheng glanced at Hongli.

Hongli sneered inwardly. He wasn't Yongzheng; he wouldn't fall into the trap of proving himself in this matter, and would simply bow to Yongzheng instead.
"Father, you are wise! My cousin is indeed wicked by nature!"

"He wasn't unaware that what his third uncle wanted him to do was utterly heinous; he knew, and he even intentionally cooperated! No wonder he deliberately strangled the imperial grandson!"

Hong Sheng turned pale upon hearing this.

He didn't expect that Hongli would attack him from this angle, saying that he was deliberately cooperating with the third brother to do bad things.

This undoubtedly portrays him as someone as bad as his father.

Unfortunately, this was a hole he dug for himself.

This left him momentarily at a loss for words to explain himself.

The third brother couldn't help but close his eyes.

Yongzheng looked at Hongsheng.

Hongsheng, who had been looking up, noticed Yongzheng's unfriendly gaze and quickly lowered his head, instinctively denying it:

"Fourth Uncle, please forgive me. Your nephew had no intention of strangling the imperial grandson. Hongli is slandering your nephew. He is slandering your nephew!"

"You say I'm slandering you, then why didn't you advise your third uncle to come and celebrate the birth of the imperial grandson sooner?"

"Third Uncle is confused, are you confused too?"

"Or is it that Third Uncle deliberately arrived late, and you also deliberately followed suit, unable to hide your dissatisfaction with the birth of the imperial grandson?!"

Hongli questioned Hongsheng. He didn't bring up well-known matters like who provoked the thirteenth prince first or who framed the fourteenth prince first. Instead, he deliberately asked Hongsheng about trivial matters involving daily life.

Because he knew that Yongzheng cared most about these details and paid the most attention to them.

In the Qing Dynasty, an era of immense imperial power, to ensure that opponents had no chance of reversing the outcome, one had to always ensure that imperial power was on one's side.

Therefore, Hongli did not choose to make a point that would allow the thirteenth, fourteenth, or even tenth princes to achieve their goals, but instead made a point that would resonate more with Yongzheng.

When Yongzheng heard Hongli mention that the third prince was late, he was already furious. He recalled the scene of the third prince arriving late that day, and when he heard Hongli question Hongsheng about why he hadn't reminded the third prince, he agreed even more and hated Hongsheng even more.

Hongsheng then subconsciously tried to justify himself: "I didn't remind Father to come earlier, but Father and I both arrived, didn't we?!"

"very good!"

“Father, did you hear that? He himself admitted that he did not remind Third Uncle.”

"He's either truly disloyal and unfilial, or truly stupid! But based on his distorted and contradictory statements just now, he should be disloyal and unfilial, not truly stupid!"

Hongli continued to label Hongsheng, forcing him to continue to prove himself, and thus used the same methods against him.

Hong Sheng completely lost his temper and flew into a rage, standing up and pointing at Hong Li: "Hong Li! You shameless and despicable scoundrel, you're the one who's twisting the truth here. What difference does it make whether you arrive early or late? Why are you harping on such a trivial matter?!"

"Father, my cousin is truly disloyal and unfilial, how dare he reprimand his son!"

"Your subject is a prince in the country and a cousin in the family, yet he insults me like this; and in his eyes, expressing dissatisfaction with the imperial grandson is a trivial matter that involves etiquette!"

"Your subject originally thought he was just corrupted by your third uncle, but I never expected that he was indeed as you said, inherently wicked. You are indeed more wise than I thought!"

Hongli was overjoyed, and he was just waiting for Hongsheng to break down his defenses and prove himself.

In this way, Hongsheng will expose more loopholes, which he can exploit, allowing him to perform better in front of Yongzheng.

Moreover, Hongli kept seizing on the point that Yongzheng had previously described Hongsheng as "inherently wicked," making Yongzheng, who was always concerned about his reputation and did not believe that his words were wrong, more willing to support his views.

By this time, Yongzheng had completely lost faith in Hongsheng.

In particular, when Hongli praised him with an admiring tone, saying that Hongsheng was indeed extremely wicked by nature, and when Hongsheng said that the things he cared about most were trivial matters, Yongzheng felt even more disgusted with Hongsheng. He felt that Hongsheng's contempt for etiquette had reached a very serious level, so he said coldly, "Hongli is right."

"Such a person is not worthy to be a descendant of my Aisin Gioro family!"

"It's Achina, it's Seth!"

Then, Yongzheng pointed at Hongsheng and shouted angrily, his lips still trembling after he finished.

Emperor Yongzheng's fury shocked everyone present.

Hong Sheng himself was quite surprised.

He didn't understand why his fourth uncle was so angry that he wanted to kill him, even though he had only lost his temper and argued with Hongli. He even called him Aqina and Seshehei, and said that he was not worthy of being a descendant of the Aisin Gioro family.

"Hengchen, draft the imperial edict!"

"Hong Sheng, a member of the imperial clan who has been idle, was described as unworthy even by the late Emperor. Now he is shifting the blame to his father and abandoning his loyalty to the Emperor... Even adoption and confinement cannot punish his crimes. Therefore, the imperial decree is hereby amended to strip Hong Sheng of his yellow sash and rename him Seshehei!"

"I will also compose an inscription to offer sacrifices at the Ancestral Temple, respectfully embodying the spirit of our ancestors in their severe punishment of the wicked, and reverently following the precedent of the previous dynasty's stripping of members from the clan, in order to uphold the ancestral register, to warn against evil, and to serve as a warning to future generations!"

At this point, Yongzheng issued an edict, and once again brought up Kangxi, saying that Kangxi had long disliked Hongsheng.

"As for Yunzhi!"

At this point, Yongzheng also gave Yunzhi a cold look.

"He was originally a muddle-headed and incompetent person, ignorant of the greater good!"

"In the past, my late father repeatedly issued imperial edicts to severely reprimand Yunzhi for his filial impiety and disloyalty. Since I ascended the throne, Yunzhi has acted rudely and made numerous disrespectful reports."

“I think that I only have this one brother now, so I have been tolerant of him. But today, Yunzhi’s angry state in front of the princes and ministers is truly rebellious.”

"However, among my brothers, there are several like this. Therefore, they are so arrogant and insist that I punish them. Their intentions are truly incomprehensible. This is because I have failed to influence them. It cannot be said that all of them are guilty."

"Therefore, Yunzhi was spared the stripping of his title and imprisonment, and was leniently demoted from Prince to Prince of the Second Rank, and five of his military posts were removed, depending on whether he reformed his ways."

Yunzhi took a few steps back, then knelt down in utter despair: "Your Majesty, I thank you for your mercy!"

Hong Sheng had already collapsed to the ground.

A few days later, Hongli came to the Tenth Prince's residence.

The tenth brother pointed to the small house surrounded by newly built high walls and said, "Seth is locked up inside!"

(End of this chapter)