My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 281 Emperor Yongzheng said that Hongli was blessed and wanted to establish him as the crown prince!
Seltu burst into tears: "What do you mean by this, Master?"

"The reason I can let you succeed Changshou as Minister of Justice is because I promised the Emperor that I would expose Cha Siting's crime of mocking the emperor and father and plotting rebellion when he was the chief examiner of the Jiangxi provincial examination!"

"My recommendation of you was originally intended to have you help the Qingliu faction, so that Hongli, a member of the imperial clan, could not gain a foothold in the Ministry of Rites! It was not to avenge my son's removal from the official register and renaming!"

"But now, the Cha family has actually accused me at this time. So, it's clear that Hongli has also obtained the Emperor's permission to meet with the Cha family in advance, making it impossible for me to have a foothold among the Qingliu faction!"

Yunzhi explained to him listlessly.

Then, Yunzhi blinked his dark circles and sighed, "Hongli is amazing. He thought of sowing discord between the Han gentry and us. And he really knows when to be tolerant and when to be ruthless towards me, his third uncle!"

Sertu nodded repeatedly, wiping away his tears: "This servant understands, but those noble families are despicable. In order to protect themselves, they completely disregard the kindness you showed me in the past!"

……

……

"Prince Cheng was heartless and ungrateful from the start. In order to clear himself of suspicion in front of His Majesty, he actually betrayed our upright gentry!"

"Because if Fourth Master hadn't leaked the information to us, our Cha family would have faced the fate of being executed along with the entire clan!"

"So, for now, I have no choice but to report him."

Zongren Mansion.

When Wang Tingyang, the Vice Minister of the Imperial Clan Court, asked Cha Keshang why he had accused Prince Cheng, Cha Keshang privately told him the reason.

Upon hearing this, Wang Tingyang shook his sleeves and said sternly, "You can't treat Prince Cheng like this!"

"Your Excellency should understand that Prince Cheng is one of the few princes who supports governing the country with Confucianism!"

"Since it's not your family that will be executed, you naturally don't care!"

"But have you ever considered that if Prince Cheng can frame our Cha family today in order to curry favor with the Emperor, he can also frame your Wang family in the future!"

Chuck replied with a cold laugh.

Wang Tingyang was speechless.

But then he said helplessly, "Prince Cheng lacks courage and is prone to betraying his own people when trouble arises. If we Han Chinese scholars were to fight amongst ourselves with the Manchu and Mongol princes who support us, it would ultimately be detrimental to achieving the overall goal of governing the country with Confucianism!"

“Prince Cheng is unreliable, but we can count on Fourth Prince.”

"After all, the Fourth Prince is of higher status and more trusted by the Emperor than Prince Cheng."

Chuck suggested this.

Wang Tingyang frowned slightly: "Fourth Master?"

Chuck nodded slightly: "This time, the fact that Fourth Master was willing to reveal the matter of my Cha family being sued to us clearly shows that he still cares about us Han gentry."

"While he may care, it doesn't necessarily mean that Fourth Master supports governing the country with Confucianism!"

Wang Tingyang sighed after answering.

Chuck added, "It just means we might not support it, not that we definitely won't!"

"Fourth Master is a wise man. As long as we let him know that governing the country with Confucianism is the way to ensure the long-term stability of the nation, that will be enough. We can persuade so many Manchus and Mongols to support the Qingliu faction in power, and we can persuade Fourth Master!"

"Moreover, the Fourth Prince is very likely to be the future emperor. Persuading the Fourth Prince is more meaningful than persuading the other Manchu and Mongol princes!"

"If Fourth Master really becomes the emperor in the future, and the emperor takes the lead in supporting the rule of virtuous men, emphasizing the Hanlin Academy, and abolishing the Eight Banners, then these goals might be easier to achieve!"

After Chuck said that, even Wang Tingyang couldn't help but fantasize about it, feeling that this form of "overthrowing the Qing and restoring the Ming" was indeed better.

Therefore, Wang Tingyang nodded thoughtfully and said, "His Majesty has decreed the establishment of the erudite scholars examination to unify historical theories, compile them into teaching materials, and promote them throughout the country. Fourth Prince, you will be in charge of the Ministry of Rites next, and this is what you need to do. Now, let's see how Fourth Prince organizes the erudite scholars to unify historical theories."

……

……

Hongli believed that, in order to save his own life, Chuck would do as he wished and deceive the Han gentry in the opposite direction.

After all, Chuck had already explained the purpose of the Han gentry to him in detail.

This also made Hongli witness the weakness of the gentry class once again.

Although they are ambitious, cunning, and love to embellish themselves and call themselves gentlemen, their integrity is truly low. They will sell anything when faced with a real threat to their lives!

There's nothing they won't sell: the people, the nation, beliefs, and so on. And now, he still has to rely on this group of people to compile a unified textbook on history, so naturally he has to be careful.

Therefore, after seeing Lady Fucha, Hongli called Li Yu aside and instructed him: "If any officials from the Ministry of Rites ask you to do something in private, agree first, and then report it to me."

"Whoo!"

After giving his instructions, Hongli had breakfast arranged for him, which he ate with Lady Fucha and Fuheng.

While having breakfast, Hongli asked Fuheng about his studies, and he was very satisfied because Fuheng answered fluently. He thought to himself that his brother-in-law was indeed an extraordinary person.

After having breakfast, Hongli greeted Yongzheng.

When Emperor Yongzheng learned that Lady Fucha was pregnant, he was in a good mood and said to Hongli with a smile, "You are indeed blessed. Your offspring are so numerous that even I, as your father, am envious. Perhaps it is Heaven's way of hinting at something to me!"

Hongli was secretly delighted, knowing that Yongzheng intended to curry favor with Heaven and establish him as the crown prince.

After all, people in this era were superstitious and revered the will of Heaven, and the emperor was no exception.

Even Emperor Yongzheng couldn't help but feel that if he followed the will of Heaven, the Qing Dynasty might become even more prosperous!

This could be considered a benefit of Hongli's numerous offspring, which made Yongzheng and others inevitably feel that this was a sign from heaven that Hongli was the one favored by heaven.

Hongli then replied with great humility, "This is all because Father Khan is so diligent in governing the country, which has moved Heaven and allowed me to have this good fortune."

"I dare not slack off, but I cannot slack off either. Go to the Ministry of Rites and take care of your business!"

Emperor Yongzheng smiled faintly and then dismissed Hongli from the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

"Whoo!"

Hongli then went to the Ministry of Rites.

Upon arriving at the Ministry of Rites, Hongli met the newly appointed Minister of Rites, Manchu Sertu.

Hongli knew something about Sairtu, knowing that he was a man of the third prince, Yinzhi, during the Kangxi reign, and later, recommended by Nian Gengyao, he was given important positions by Yongzheng for a period of time.

However, later, due to Nian Gengyao's downfall and Yongzheng's lack of trust in the third prince, he found some minor faults in Sertu and took the opportunity to dismiss him from his post.

Now, Yongzheng is using him again only because of a political deal, and he has no choice but to reinstate him.

Whether Sertu can seize this opportunity and continue to improve depends on himself.

Sertu was very loyal to the third prince, so he intended to say a few good words for him to Hongli. After meeting Hongli, he said to him, "Fourth Prince, before I came to the Ministry of Rites to take up my post, I visited my master and learned something."

"What is it?"

Hongli picked up his teacup, looked up at him, and asked with a smile.

Sertu hurriedly replied, "There was a case where Chuck accused my master of framing the prince and slandering the emperor, and my master has fallen ill and is bedridden ever since."

Hongli took a sip of tea, then placed it on the tea table. He then walked over to Sertu and said, "Is that so? My third uncle has fallen ill because of this. I should go and see him."

"This servant begs Fourth Master not to misunderstand my master and to stop him from being instigated by some despicable Han officials to deal with my master. My master truly did not mean to misunderstand you yesterday!"

Sertu quickly replied.

Hongli couldn't help but sigh inwardly. This Sertu was really protective of his master. He actually went out of his way to tell him not to hold a grudge against the third brother and fall for the tricks of the Han officials.

However, his conflict with the third prince was not a simple misunderstanding; it involved a struggle between the power of the scholar-officials and the power of the emperor, a life-or-death struggle.

Of course, he wouldn't admit that he was involved.

After all, the third son was an elder member of the imperial clan, his uncle.

Therefore, now that Sertu has brought it up, Hongli can only deny it very bluntly and show his anger.

Hongli's expression immediately changed, and he kicked him directly:
"You bastard! What does Chuck's lawsuit against Uncle San have to do with me? Who gives you the right to spew nonsense in front of me?"

then.

Hongli then directly questioned him: "Or is it that your third uncle deliberately told you this, implying that I am the one harming him?"

"answer me!"

(End of this chapter)