My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 283 The Confiscation of Prince Cheng's Mansion: The Power of the Regent Prince!

"I never expected the Cha family to produce such shocking evidence, and I can't immediately determine whether it's true or false."

Hongli feigned surprise and spoke to Yongzheng, pretending to be astonished that the gentry could produce such terrible evidence.

But in reality, he knew that he had achieved his goal of getting Han gentry to betray Yunzhi, and that this would only create a rift of distrust between the Manchu imperial family and the Han gentry.

"You haven't experienced enough, so it's natural to be shocked. In fact, during the Ming Dynasty, there were cases of printing books to spread rumors and slander the emperor!"

Emperor Yongzheng, however, gave a satisfied, cold laugh.

He could tell that Hongli had indeed broadened his horizons as a result.

"Whether it's true or false, we'll find out by conducting a search."

Yongzheng then replied with another sentence.

then!

After thinking carefully for a while, Yongzheng instructed Hongli: "You still have to manage the affairs of the Ministry of Rites. Let Hongzhou go and investigate the documents and records of your third uncle's family. He should also check on his illness while he's at it!"

Hongli knew that Yongzheng no longer trusted anyone except his own sons, including members of the imperial clan.

Of course, the thirteenth prince in the imperial clan was an exception.

However, the thirteenth prince has too many tasks on his plate and is not suitable to be assigned these temporary tasks.

The fact that Yongzheng didn't send him to search the third prince was undoubtedly because he didn't want him to directly confront the conflict between Yongzheng and the third prince.

Since Hongzhou has shown no interest in vying for power, he is well-suited to do things that are obviously ruthless.

Since Hongzhou didn't want to be emperor anyway, he wouldn't suffer any loss even if he offended the third prince and his cronies.

Hongli didn't say much about it, but only asked Yongzheng for his opinion: "Father, how should we deal with Chak?"

"You're right to remind me!"

"Tell him that his family can live, but he cannot!"

Imperial Workshop.

Since his marriage, Hongzhou has spent most of his time here.

Emperor Yongzheng simply put him in charge of the affairs here.

The local officials were more powerful than the county officials, so the officials in the Imperial Workshops became even more eager to please Hongzhou and actively cooperate with him to create all sorts of novel ideas.

Hongzhou, on the other hand, has been cooperating with Hongli's requirements to carry out research and development in the Imperial Workshops.

For example, when Emperor Qianlong asked him to try to improve the Western steam engine, he actually tried to improve it and even used his own salary to subsidize it.

What Hongzhou didn't expect was that even when he was immersed in mechanics and chemical engineering, political matters would still find him.

Hongzhou did not refuse and went to Prince Cheng's residence with the guards assigned by the Infantry Commander's Office.

When Yunzhi’s six sons, Hongxi and Hongjing, saw this scene, they were so frightened that they immediately ran over and told Yunzhi.

Yunzhi was shocked upon hearing this: "What exactly did Chak say to me that made the Emperor want to send troops to search my property!"

When Yunzhi came to see Hongzhou and read out the imperial decree, he pleaded with Hongzhou, "Hongzhou, please protect my third uncle, okay?"

"Third Uncle, if I protect you, who will protect me?"

Hongzhou replied indifferently.

Yunzhi paused slightly, then murmured something.

At this moment, Hongxi looked at Hongzhou and earnestly advised, "Fifth Prince, no matter what, my father is still your third uncle. If you confiscate his property and do not protect him, it will damage your reputation!"

Hongzhou said, "I didn't have a good reputation to begin with, so a little damage to it won't have much of an impact."

"Fifth Prince, do you really want to be secretly cursed as a heartless and useless prince? If that happens, you'll just keep being used as a pawn!"

Hongjing then questioned Hongzhou about this.

Hongzhou rubbed his nose: "Cousin, someone always has to be a useless person. Why can't it be me? Being used as a pawn isn't so bad. It just shows that even useless people have their uses."

Hongjing raised his eyes, but didn't know what to say, so he just exchanged a glance with Hongxi.

"Stop talking!"

Yunzhi then silenced his two sons.

Then, he waved helplessly at Hongzhou: "Take your men and go and copy it."

"Then I'll have to offend you, nephew."

Hongzhou still bowed.

Yunzhi simply closed her eyes and pretended to sleep, ignoring Hongzhou.

This time!

Hongzhou said to Hongxi and Hongjing, "You two go and keep watch, lest some guards take the opportunity to steal the imperial gifts from your residence. We will only copy the documents and documents."

Upon hearing Hongzhou's words, Yunzhi opened his eyes and glanced at Hongzhou. Hongzhou then led the guards to collect documents and documents from Yunzhi's residence.

While Hongzhou led his men to copy the documents and documents in Yunzhi's residence, Hongli was hosting a banquet for the officials of the Ministry of Rites at his residence, as was customary.

As a prince in charge of the Ministry of Rites, Hongli could legitimately host a banquet for these officials, and these officials could also legitimately present gifts to congratulate Hongli on becoming the prince in charge of the Ministry of Rites.

A unique feature of the Qing Dynasty was that members of the imperial family and princes could wield real power.

Therefore, princes, regardless of whether they were born of the principal wife or not, would be given special attention and training.

Princes and nobles with less ability only managed some unimportant government offices.

Those with strong abilities are put in charge of important government departments.

Those who can manage in a coordinated manner can oversee several departments and be appointed as "Prince of State Affairs," participating in central governance, similar to a prime minister.

The stronger one can oversee the country, which means having the ability to become emperor.

As far as Hongli knew, Kangxi's third son, Yinzhi, had served as "Prince Regent," assisting Kangxi in handling military affairs and holding a position of power.

In particular, during Yunzhi's campaign in the Northwest, Yunzhi was in charge of the overall logistics coordination of the Northwest military affairs.

The eighth prince, Yinzhi, was even more capable than Yinzhi, and served as regent during the Kangxi reign.

Tong Guowei, Ma Qi, and other central government officials were no longer his equals as a prince, but became his subordinates.

This is also an important reason why the Eighth Prince's faction later became the most powerful among the princes' factions.

At present, Hongli has only been married for a short time and is still relatively inexperienced, rotating through the management of a single important department.

However, Yongzheng had already made it clear to him that as long as he managed the Ministry of Rites well, he would have the opportunity to become a "Prince Regent" and reach the same level that Yinzhi had once achieved.

At that time, he will be only one step away from becoming regent.

By becoming regent, one would have the opportunity to be recognized by the kings and nobles of the land as having the ability to become emperor.

In the Qing Dynasty, the succession to the throne did not place much emphasis on whether the heir was a legitimate son or a concubine, or on seniority or birth. Succession was either by recommendation of nobles or by imperial decree on the emperor's deathbed.

For example, the first emperor after the conquest of China, Shunzhi, was the result of a compromise and the nobility's recommendation.

Because, logically speaking, it was not in any way the Shunzhi Emperor, who was still a child at the time, should have become emperor.

When Emperor Kangxi died, he was not the eldest son of Emperor Shunzhi, and his birth mother was only a concubine.

The same applies to Yongzheng. Consort De herself came from a bondservant background in the Imperial Household Department, and Yongzheng himself was not the eldest prince.

Therefore, in the Qing Dynasty, whether a prince could become emperor still depended on his abilities.

However, as imperial power strengthened, the power to determine who was more capable gradually shifted from the nobles to the emperor himself.

But this doesn't mean that the nobles had no say at all.

After all, the nobles did not lose their power all at once, but rather through a gradual process.

During the current Yongzheng reign, while imperial power was being strengthened, the power of the nobles had not been completely lost.

Influenced by Confucian education, many Sinicized Manchu and Mongol nobles began to advocate for the establishment of the eldest son as heir, rather than relying on ability, since the latter often exacerbated internal strife.

Historically, Emperor Kangxi himself was influenced by Confucian education and established a crown prince in his early years.

However, later events proved that the Confucian model of primogeniture was indeed unsuitable for the current political environment.

Emperor Qianlong was a conservative emperor in history, so he once supported the principle of establishing the eldest son as heir apparent and established a crown prince early on.

But fate had other plans. Since none of Qianlong's legitimate sons lived to adulthood, he believed it was the will of Heaven and gave up on this idea.

As the prince in charge of a department, Hongli hosted a banquet for the department's officials in order to build rapport and get them to cooperate with him, making them appear humble and subservient.

These officials were happy to take the opportunity to strengthen their ties with princes like Hongli.

When the banquet reached the gift-giving stage, Wang Jing, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, presented Emperor Qianlong with a famous painting.

"Your Majesty, my gift is a painting of five oxen by Han Taichong of the Tang Dynasty. I hope Your Majesty will accept it with pleasure."

After Wang Jing presented the painting to Hongli with both hands, Hongli stopped smiling.

Because he himself also had a painting called "Five Oxen," which was a gift from Nian Fu.

He knew that Wang Jing had given him this painting as a deliberate warning that the Han gentry had already bribed those within ten steps of him, and that he had better not go against them while he was in charge of the Ministry of Rites.

He clearly dared to do such a bold thing because he thought he would not alert the enemy for the sake of the safety of the surrounding area.

Hongli merely sneered at such an audacious person. In his eyes, this person was undoubtedly courting death and had no idea of ​​his, the Fourth Master's, methods.

Then, he stood up and said, "Let's go inside and talk."

"Whoo!"

Wang Jing then followed Hongli alone into the inner room of the Yin'an Hall.

After sitting down in the inner room, Hongli asked Wang Jingzeng directly, "How did my painting end up here?"

(End of this chapter)