My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 271: To protect his son, Emperor Yongzheng scolded his minister until he cried!

Yongzheng then handed the letter from the Russian envoy Langke to the two men, saying, "Take a look for yourselves."

After reading it, Manduhu and Taolai finally believed that the Russian Kingdom had really agreed to Hongli's request and had really "knelt down"!
"How can this be?"

Manduhu muttered something to himself.

Yongzheng chuckled coldly: "What else can you see besides the Eighth Prince's skillful maneuvering?"

"I have allowed you to work in the inner court and continue to participate in political discussions, simply because my late father loved his brothers, and you are a descendant of my uncle, Prince Gong. I hope that you can make progress after my guidance and favor."

"You actually think you understand how to handle practical affairs better than Hongli?"

"Just because you are Hongli's elder doesn't mean you are better at handling state affairs than him!"

"The praise that the Eighth and Ninth brothers used to give to you mediocre relatives was nothing but feigned appreciation! But after spending so much time with them, you actually started to think you were someone important!"

"If you were someone important, would you have let the third brother screw you over?"

"Why are you glaring at me? You're not convinced? If you're not convinced, can you guarantee that you can be as confident and determined as Hongli, so that the Russian Kingdom wouldn't dare to disrespect the imperial dignity and authority of my Great Qing Dynasty?"

Emperor Yongzheng was quite ruthless in his reprimands of his cousin.

Manduhu's face flushed red and then turned pale, and he gritted his teeth and took a deep breath.

But faced with the facts, he had to admit, "Yes, I wouldn't dare make that guarantee, and I never expected the Rakshasa Kingdom to be so cowardly!"

Yongzheng gave a light snort, then looked at Tao Lai: "I know that you and Zhang Tingshu are very close friends and both of you are disgusted by Longkodo's corruption and abuse of power!"

"But I do not wish that you would disregard the nation and engage in factional strife in order to overthrow Longkodo, to the point that you no longer respect the princes who protect Longkodo and even regard them as enemies. If that happens, you dog slave, you truly deserve to die!"

"Please calm down, Master!"

Tao Lai immediately knelt down and kowtowed, saying, "This servant truly did not expect that Fourth Master's actions would lead the Rakshasa Kingdom to compromise. Foreign barbarians are far more cowardly and bullying than this servant imagined. This servant was too timid and fearful of the barbarians, and has failed Your Majesty's grace. I beg Your Majesty to punish me!"

“The same goes for servants.”

Manduhu also knelt down.

"Humph!"

"I never expected you to be so knowledgeable about how to handle the affairs of the realm. I only hoped that you could be more humble and not act like elders of the imperial family or veteran officials of the previous dynasty, thus looking down on my princes!"

"If I can entrust Hongli with the administration of the vassal states, how can I also treat state affairs as a child's game?"

"If I were to do this, wouldn't appointing you as ministers of state or as the Nine Ministers be treating state affairs like a child's game?"

"Kneel down and reflect on your actions!"

Yongzheng waved his hand and then sat back down: "When Hongli arrives, we will discuss the matter of Zhang Tingshu that you mentioned, as well as your faction-forming, trouble-making, and arrogant behavior!"

Not long after, Hongli and Zhang Tingyu arrived at Yongzheng's place.

When Hongli arrived at Yongzheng's place, he saw that Yongzheng was looking angry, and that Manduhu and Taolai were kneeling there. He was quite curious about what had happened.

After Hongli and Zhang Tingyu arrived, Yongzheng asked, "Does Zhang Tingshu's intention to rebel actually constitute treason?"

"Hongli, you speak first!"

Yongzheng knew that Zhang Tingshu was accused of treason because he had offended Hongli, so he naturally let Hongli set the tone first.

"Whoo!"

After Hongli responded, he glanced at Manduhu and Taolai on the ground, and then said, "In my humble opinion, this is naturally considered treason. Their succession should be established, as it involves arbitrarily appointing an heir apparent and usurping the Mandate of Heaven!"

"Minister of State Affairs, Manduhu, what do you think?"

Yongzheng looked at Manduhu.

Manduhu revealed his docile demeanor and said, "This servant believes that Fourth Master is right. Zhang Tingshu should not presume to discuss the Mandate of Heaven!"

Yongzheng then looked at Tao Lai: "And you?"

"Fourth Master is wise and insightful, I admire you to the extreme! Zhang Tingshu deserves to die!" Tao Lai replied in the same way.

Yongzheng then looked at Zhang Tingyu: "In that case, Hengchen, draft an edict to confiscate Zhang Tingshu's property, arrest his entire clan, and have the Ministry of Justice determine their crimes!"

"In addition, Manduhu and Taolai formed a faction and caused trouble, and tried their best to frame and deny the prince in charge of the Ministry. I wanted to punish them, but I thought that they were also worried about the country. Therefore, I spared them and closed the case by demoting them. Manduhu was demoted to Duke of the State, and Taolai was demoted four ranks and transferred."

"Whoo!"

Zhang Tingyu responded and then went behind his desk to draft an imperial edict, which he then handed to Tao Lai.

Hongli knew that Yongzheng was doing this to support him in using Zhang Tingshu as a tool to warn princes and ministers, to let them know the consequences of offending him, Hongli, and this could be considered a reward for his handling of the vassal state affairs.

If Hongli were to characterize Zhang Tingshu as guilty of treason, then it would indeed be a serious crime of treason.

Manduhu and Taolai both understood that Zhang Tingshu was convicted of treason because he had stopped giving Hongli tribute.

The two men knew that Hongli's ability to handle the affairs of the vassal states had been recognized by Yongzheng, so they dared not lie about Hongli's abilities, ignore his achievements, or offend him. After leaving the Hall of Mental Cultivation with Hongli and Zhang Tingyu, they took the initiative to run to Hongli.

"Fourth Master!"

After leaving the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Hongli mounted his horse and slowly walked towards the palace gate.

He is now trying to legally harm Zhang Tingshu.

There is only one purpose.

That is, he can refuse to accept customary gifts, even if he does accept them and gives back double the amount, but he cannot refuse to pay to the princes and ministers who can be legally harmed by him.

Otherwise, all his hard work as the fourth prince, Prince Bao, during the Yongzheng era would have been in vain.

After Manduhu and Taolai ran up to Hongli and bowed respectfully, Hongli naturally guessed why the two had approached him, so he stopped his horse and said, "Uncle and Grand Minister of Justice, please rise."

"Tell me, what's the matter?"

Hongli asked about this from horseback.

"It's nothing more than this servant wanting to apologize to Fourth Master!"

"In the matter of negotiating the border with the Russian Kingdom, it has been proven that Fourth Master is the one with great wisdom. This servant should not deny Fourth Master's ability to handle vassal affairs in front of his master."

"Furthermore, this servant should not think that he is more knowledgeable than the Fourth Prince just because he is an elder member of the imperial clan and older than the Fourth Prince, after being fawned over. In fact, this servant is the stupid and incompetent one, who is too afraid of foreign barbarians and Mongol princes!"

At this moment, Manduhu began to speak to Hongli with great emotion, and as he spoke, tears welled up in his eyes, as if the reprimand that Yongzheng had just given him had really hurt him too much.

Tao Lai chimed in, "This servant deserves to die even more. How dare he question the Fourth Master! Regardless of how stupid he is, he forgot his duty as a servant because of a moment of unease."

Tao Lai started sobbing as he spoke, wiping his eyes with his horse-hoof sleeve.

"It's good to know where your problems lie."

“I am not an unforgiving person. When my uncle first questioned me, I still forgave and trusted him because I knew his loyalty and admired his talent and virtue, and helped him achieve success.”

"One of you is my uncle, and the other is a high-ranking official in the imperial court. If you can repent and turn over a new leaf, I will certainly grant you both great favors!"

Hongli nodded and spoke very kindly, then helped Manduhu up: "Uncle, please get up. From now on, please call me by my name."

Although Hongli knew that Manduhu was referring to himself as a servant in front of him to show that he had truly submitted to him, he still had to show that he was polite and valued family ties.

After all, the Qing Dynasty needed members of the imperial family to participate in government affairs in order to supervise the bureaucratic group.

Because, no matter how bad the imperial clan was, their interests were naturally most aligned with the emperor's. This change was made after learning from the lessons of the Ming dynasty's excessive restriction of the imperial clan's power and considering the realities of their own situation.

"You should get up too."

Hongli then gave Tao Lai another instruction.

"Thank you, Fourth Master!"

Hongli then said, "You should understand the real reason behind Zhang Tingshu's problem."

(End of this chapter)