My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 232 Consort Xi Promoted to Imperial Noble Consort
Minister of War Huang Guocai and Jiangning Textile Commissioner Cao Zhaoye were both dumbfounded by Yongzheng's question.

What does this have to do with being an accomplice of the Eighth Prince, Yinzhi?
But when Yongzheng asked them this, the two of them naturally denied it.

So both of them knelt down and vehemently denied having any relationship with Lao Ba, and also denied that their exposure of "Huiqing Jushi" as a traitor was to protect Lao Ba.

But this only made Yongzheng's face darken further, so he slammed the memorial in his hand onto the table and said sternly, "Still denying it!"

"If that's not the case, why make such a far-fetched connection, interpreting the benevolence shown to the Qing Dynasty as an attempt to abolish it?"

"Isn't it just because this person exposed too many of the crimes of Yinzhi and his ilk that he incurred the hatred of you Yinzhi's accomplices!"

Yongzheng glared fiercely at the two of them.

Both of them turned pale.

Cao Zhaoye was even more confused and secretly regretted not listening to his master, the Fourth Master.

The emperor's thoughts are truly beyond my comprehension.

"I have not yet investigated your crime of maliciously delaying the payment of donations and using clever excuses to commit fraud. Now you are using your eloquent words and flattery to falsely accuse others of being thieves. Your wickedness is outrageous!"

"He shall be punished as a false accuser, dismissed from his post and stripped of his official hat, and sent to the Infantry Commander's Office for deliberation!"

"And you, Cao Zhaoye, have not only failed to make up for the deficit, but have also added new deficits, and have even secretly bribed ministers and deceived Prince Yi to gain his trust."

"I bestowed your family upon Hongli in the hope that you would consider the future of your descendants and do your best to make up for the deficit. Not only did you ignore my intentions, but you also hoped to escape responsibility for the deficit by falsely accusing others and gaining merit!"

"I have been extremely kind and righteous to your Cao family, but who would have thought that you, as the head of the Cao family, would have no loyalty whatsoever!"

"Issue an imperial edict to the Grand Secretariat, ordering the fourth prince, Prince Bao, Hongli, to personally go to Jiangning, mobilize the Jiangning troops to confiscate the property of the Cao family of the Jiangning Textile Bureau, and return it all to their masters. All the Cao family members and servants outside the capital shall be arrested and brought back to the capital for their masters to exile. Cao Zhaoye himself shall be sent to the Infantry Commander's Office to discuss his punishment!"

After giving them a dressing down, Emperor Yongzheng issued a stern decree to punish the two men.

Then, the guards dragged the two away.

"Your Majesty, please have mercy!"

"Your Majesty, please have mercy! This servant will never dare to do it again!"

The two men only started begging for mercy as they were being dragged away.

But it was too late.

Hongli soon received an imperial decree from Yongzheng ordering him to confiscate the Cao family's property.

This made Hongli shake his head.

He knew that because of the effect of his actions, the Cao family's property was confiscated several months earlier than in history.

However, there was nothing that could be done about it; Cao Zhaoye was simply too brainless and too eager to take shortcuts.

Historically, despite knowing that Emperor Yongzheng had already warned him, he still went to harass the post stations, which led Emperor Yongzheng to decide to confiscate his property.

In this life, Cao Zhaoye still did this despite being warned not to use the article by "Huiqing Jushi," a columnist for the "Jingshi Xinbao," for literary inquisition.

Therefore, Cao Zhaoye's actions, which led to the confiscation of the Cao family's property, were indeed related to his low political intelligence and his tendency to seek opportunism.

This person only wanted to take shortcuts to evade the responsibility of making up for the deficit, without considering whether the current emperor was someone who could be easily fooled.

In fact, during the Yongzheng era, the most important rule for officials to preserve their lives and even their wealth and status was to achieve tangible results.

Because Emperor Yongzheng himself was a pragmatic and wise ruler.

If you want to carry out literary inquisitions, you have to do it in a way that will produce political achievements, instead of trying to win Yongzheng's favor by taking shortcuts or using clever and superficial power tricks.

Therefore, the thirteenth prince, who understood Yongzheng best, would rather work himself to death than let Yongzheng think he was not diligent enough.

Many people have suffered from this, but many people just don't learn their lesson.

There's no way around it; nobody wants to gain power and status easily, doesn't want to tire themselves out, doesn't want to offend anyone, and doesn't want to spend time working hard to achieve results.

Many people are not afraid of death, but they are afraid of not being at ease.

Hongli himself also wanted a peaceful and leisurely life, so that he could easily accomplish many important tasks.

Regarding this…

He could only lament that many people weren't as fortunate as him.

First, there was no hardworking and diligent father to accumulate enough wealth for the family, but instead, a father who was equally lazy and extravagant left behind a large amount of debt.

Secondly, the lack of information resources from later generations makes gambling very risky.

Finally, it's very likely that he didn't know his body would be long-lived, so he was often in no hurry and not afraid to spend time achieving his goals.

The confiscation of the Cao family's property meant that the Cao family would no longer be responsible for making up the deficit; their assets would simply be liquidated and then all of them would belong to Hongli.

Hongli then summoned his concubine, Nara Minxuan, and instructed her, "In a few days, I will go to Jiangnan to raid the Cao family. Have someone make preparations." Nara Minxuan's eyes widened. She naturally knew about the Cao family in Jiangning, but she did not expect that the Cao family would actually be raided.

However, the thought that the Cao family's property and people would be confiscated and become the private property of her Prince Bao's Mansion also made her somewhat happy.

She knew that this would give her more people and property to control in the inner courtyard, and she would have to be more attentive to prevent Hongli from being distracted by matters in the backyard.

"Whoo!"

Hongli was quite satisfied with Nara Minxuan's recent performance.

Even the housewarming was handled without much trouble thanks to her as a secondary consort, and many of the consorts who came to the mansion to celebrate praised her highly.

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that Nara Minxuan's background and social standing also earned her praise from the wives of princes and ministers.

But at the same time, it also made the wives of these princes and ministers dare not find fault with Hongli when he celebrated their housewarming, and they all became more peaceful and magnanimous.

Although it would take some time before the Cao family was to be arrested and brought to the capital, Emperor Yongzheng had already bestowed the Li Xu family, who were bondservants, upon Hongli. Therefore, Hongli did not need to worry about not having enough servants to serve him after moving to a larger palace.

However, although bondservants were registered household slaves of the emperor or princes, it did not mean that all of them had to work for their masters.

It depends on who the master wants to assign to the task.

Even if the master doesn't need to make arrangements, he can still be the master in his own home and have his servants serve him.

Indeed, many of the bondservants of the Qing Dynasty, though born slaves of the emperor or princes, were not ordinary commoners, but rather landlords.

Many of the bondservants were even large landowners who had been officials for generations, and they had their own land rent income, as well as scholars who served as officials or took the imperial examinations.

Li Xu was once the Suzhou Textile Commissioner and was related to the Cao family by marriage. He owned thousands of acres of fertile land in Fangshan, the capital. His cousin, Li, was the wife of Cao Yin, the maternal uncle of Emperor Kangxi. She is now the ancestor of the Cao family and the prototype of the mother in "Dream of the Red Chamber".

However, Li Xu's family had already been raided in the early years of the Yongzheng Emperor's reign while he was serving as the textile commissioner in Suzhou. His family members had already come to the capital and were placed under the management of the Imperial Household Department.

Now, Yongzheng bestowed Li Xu's family upon Hongli as bondservants, and Hongli then instructed Nara Minxuan to select some suitable women from among them; the selection of men was entrusted to Yuzhu.

Therefore, Hongli asked Nara Minxuan at this time: "Have suitable maids been selected from among the female members of Li Xu's family?"

"Your Highness, the selection has been made. Those who are well-educated and reasonable have been assigned to your academy and study."

"Those skilled in household affairs and good at managing things, I will keep in my own courtyard to assist me."

“The clever and sensible ones were assigned to serve the other younger sisters; the younger and less sensible ones were left in the Begonia Courtyard, where Begonia would take care of them and teach them manners.”

After hearing what Nara Minxuan said, Hongli felt relieved and chose to stay at her place that night.

That evening, Nara Minxuan still took the initiative to ask for new poems.

The next day.

When Hongli came to Yongzheng to learn about government affairs, he informed Yongzheng of his planned departure time from the capital.

After hearing this, Yongzheng nodded: "Sui Hede will go with you. He will take over the position of Jiangning Textile Commissioner. You will bring back the Cao family's people and property."

"Whoo!"

Was the housewarming celebration lively?

Then Yongzheng asked Hongli another question.

Hongli smiled and said, "Thanks to the kindness of Father, Mother and Mother, it's quite a lively occasion, with many people here."

Hongli understood what he meant. Many of the people who came to congratulate him were not doing so to give him face, but to give face to Yongzheng and the Empress.

Emperor Yongzheng smiled with satisfaction after hearing this.

At this moment, Hongli handed over the booklet that he had Yuzhu and Yitonga record: "This is what the princes and ministers said to me when we moved to a new house, as well as what they said at the banquet. I think this more or less reflects the state of governance, so I had it recorded. Now I present it to you, Father."

"Oh, is it?"

Emperor Yongzheng took the booklet with great delight and began to read it carefully, occasionally frowning: "The matter of negotiating the border with the Russian Kingdom, and the matter of renovating the dilapidated houses of the Manchus and building houses to sell to the Han people, it seems that these two things are the two things they are most concerned about."

“What Amma is saying is true; they are ultimately more concerned with land and wealth.”

Hongli replied with a smile.

Yongzheng said, "It's human nature, but it's a good thing that you can always pay attention to their words and actions."

then.

Yongzheng smiled and said, "Because you have always been humble, frugal, filial, and reasonable, the Empress is very pleased and is willing to let Consort Xi manage the official affairs so that she can focus on recuperating. Therefore, she asked me to promote her to Imperial Noble Consort. Now that you know how to keep track of the words and deeds of the officials and report to me, I will grant the Empress's request."

"By imperial decree, at the Empress's request, Consort Xi is promoted to Imperial Noble Consort, to assist in the management of the six palaces!"

(End of this chapter)