My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 286 Hongli is capable of shouldering great responsibilities; I wish to abdicate the throne!

The fact that Prince Cheng suddenly fell ill from fright and subsequently died from it was indeed a significant shock to the members of the imperial family and nobility.

In particular, Prince Cheng, on his deathbed, kept saying that the Han gentry had harmed him and that all of them deserved to be killed, which caused considerable turmoil in their hearts.

Moreover, the strict royal education of the Qing Dynasty meant that although most of them were not extremely learned, they still understood the history of the Chongzhen era and knew that Chongzhen had said on his deathbed that all civil officials could be killed.

Now that Prince Cheng has said the same thing, they are naturally forced to think further about whether there is any profound warning in this.

After visiting Prince Cheng, Prince Heng, Yunqi, and Prince Xun, Yunti, became wary of the Han gentry who came into contact with them.

Even though, of the two, Yunti is a very proud and confident person.

However, when Wu Shixun, a scholar who served as a tutor in his household, came to ask him if he could participate in the erudite scholars examination, Yunti suddenly glared at him with eyes as sharp as knives:
"This is your own business!"

"I have always admired Your Highness's talent and learning, how could I dare to act on my own? I will obey Your Highness's orders!"

Wu Shixun was quite surprised and somewhat disappointed, and could only immediately bow and reply.

He wanted to find out whether Yunti supported the idea of ​​"governing the country with Confucianism" by asking him if he was willing to participate in the erudite scholars examination.

If Yunzhi supports it, then he will naturally support the idea that no one but a member of the Hanlin Academy should be in power, and no one but a member of the Hanlin Academy should be in charge of the Ministry of Rites.

"Don't talk like that!"

Yunti guessed what he was thinking.

But the matter of Prince Cheng made him wary of these Han Chinese gentry.

Therefore, Yunti only gave him this stern reply.

Then, Yunti emphasized, "I am just your employer, not your master!"

"You Han gentry are not Manchu slaves!"

"If you ever become an official, you can only be a disciple of the emperor!"

"So, if you have any ideas, make them yourself, don't come to me!"

Yunti flicked his sleeves and said coldly:
"If you continue to act as if you are going to obey my every command, I will have no choice but to dismiss you and report your situation to my fourth brother, the Emperor, saying that you are intentionally disloyal to the Emperor and your father and are instead flattering me!"

Upon hearing this, Wu Shixun trembled and immediately knelt down, saying, "This junior dares not!"

"Get up! Don't kneel!"

"Don't address me as a junior; we have no distinction of discipleship, only the difference between guests!"

"If you ever kneel before me, a prince who isn't your superior, again, you can forget about being a guest. I don't have such a lowly friend!"

Yunti, with his hands behind his back, began to show his disgust towards him.

Wu Shixun had no choice but to stand up and simply bow in acknowledgment.

At the same time, Wu Shih-hsun felt very disappointed.

Although he came from a respectable family in Jiangnan, and his elder brother was even a Grand Secretary in the Cabinet.

But he longed to be a "servant" of a prince like Yunti!
Because that's how they can have more power.

After all, in the Qing Dynasty, if one was merely a member of a noble family and did not align himself with a prince of the Eight Banners, his power would be greatly diminished.

In fact, this was the Qing Dynasty, an era where even becoming a servant required qualifications.

Therefore, in the Qing Dynasty, being a slave was an honor and a privilege.

Now, Yunti is not letting him be his "servant" and is letting him decide for himself whether or not to participate in the erudite scholars examination, which naturally makes him very disappointed.

Furthermore, this also prevented him from finding out Yunti's political stance through questioning, thus failing to ascertain whether Yunti also supported "governing the country with Confucianism."

So, that very evening, Wu Shih-hsun met with his like-minded friend, Lu Sheng-nan.

Wu Shixun told him about this: "The Prince Xun has been quite different from before. He no longer talks to me about the study of governing the country and benefiting the people, nor does he discuss the political situation. Even when I asked him if he wanted me to participate in the erudite scholars examination, he seemed indifferent."

Like Li Fu and Xie Jishi, Lu Shengnan admired the ideas of the Donglin Party during the Ming Dynasty, which was to govern the country with Confucianism and to have virtuous men in power.

Their views represent a continuation of the Donglin school of thought during the Qing Dynasty.

The Ming and Qing dynasties shared many institutional traditions, and their ideologies were no exception.

After being stripped of his official hat by Hongli and then returned to him, Lu Shengnan felt even more deeply that the Qing court's rule based on Confucianism was not the only harmful aspect.

He felt that it was precisely because the Qing court was not deeply Confucianized that princes like Hongli could bully civil officials like him at will, causing him to lose face.

Lu Shengnan knew that if it were in the previous era when civil officials ruled the country, no matter how noble the princes and nobles were, they could not bully Confucian officials. They only had the right to show respect to Confucian officials and question them. Otherwise, they would be drowned in the spittle of the world.

Therefore, after reflecting deeply on his mistakes, he increasingly missed the era when the country was governed by Confucianism.

In particular, the fact that Emperor Yongzheng was now trying to unify historical theories greatly inspired him, leading him to write "Comprehensive Mirror" a year earlier than usual.

In his "Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government", he mentioned topics such as "On Feudalism", "On Establishing an Heir Apparent", "On Military System", "On Emperor Yang of Sui", "On Rulers", "On Ministers", "On Wang Anshi", and "On the Rule of Non-Action".

The core purpose of all this is to limit the power of the monarch and strengthen the power of local officials.

However, his rhetoric still revolved around restoring the system created by the sages of the pre-Qin period, as the saying goes, "He always refers to the Three Dynasties in his speech and follows the Zhou rites in his actions."

However, Lu Shengnan was not as extreme as Zeng Jing and other proponents of Donglin thought who were frustrated in their official careers. This was because Zeng Jing even advocated that only a great Confucian scholar or sage could become emperor.

In Zeng Jing's view, an emperor must be someone who has undergone rigorous Confucian education and meets the standards of a great Confucian sage in order to become an emperor.

Therefore, the emperor could only accept Confucian education and could not accept other forms of education, and martial arts were unnecessary.

Outlaw heroes and barbarian savages are naturally not fit to be emperors.

However, the "barbarians" Zeng Jing mentioned were not simply a matter of regional or racial differences, but rather a division between "benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom" and "lack of education" in terms of civilization.

According to Zeng Jing's theory, if the Qing emperors did not respect and honor Confucianism, they would still be uneducated barbarians, savages, and should be overthrown.

Therefore, Zeng Jing instigated Yue Zhongqi to rebel in history.

In his letter to Yue Zhongqi, he emphasized that Yongzheng was a barbarian ruler because he "murdered his father, forced his mother, killed his brother, and slaughtered his younger brother," and was not a Chinese emperor but a barbarian ruler.

In short, Lu Shengnan and Zeng Jing were both representatives of Confucianism in this era. A very important reason why the Manchus were able to successfully enter the pass was that the Manchu emperors, starting from the time of Huang Taiji, still showed great respect for Confucianism, opened the imperial examination, trusted Han officials, honored Confucius, and granted local gentry privileges such as tax collection and exemption from corvée labor.

Otherwise, the Han gentry would not have accepted their rule.

However, what the Han gentry were dissatisfied with was that the Manchu emperors had not been thoroughly Confucianized. Not only did they allow princes and nobles from the imperial family and relatives of the emperor to hold real power, but they also frequently instigated literary inquisitions.

Especially after Emperor Yongzheng ascended the throne, he gradually stripped away their privileges of exploiting ordinary people.

However, not all Han gentry were like Zeng Jing, because Yongzheng was even less in line with the Confucian ideal of a Chinese emperor, and they wanted to rebel directly.

As a Han Chinese gentry who had become an official in the Qing Dynasty, Lu Shengnan hoped even more to persuade the imperial princes and nobles to transform the Qing Dynasty into a true empire governed by Confucianism.

That's why he wrote "Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government," following the example of Sima Guang, hoping to persuade powerful people with his theories.

But now, according to Wu Shixun, even Prince Xun, Yunti, who is very influential among the Manchu and Mongol princes, has begun to deliberately distance himself from Han gentry, which naturally makes Lu Shengnan very disappointed.

"This is all Prince Cheng's fault!"

"He actually tried to pin all the blame on us Han gentry."

"Although Cha Ke, a secretary in the Imperial Secretariat among our Han gentry, exposed him, flies don't land on eggs without cracks. Who told him to betray the Cha family first in order to protect himself!"

Lu Shengnan replied with a sullen face.

Wu Shixun nodded in agreement: "In this matter, it is His Majesty who is truly shrewd. If Chak had known even a moment later that his family had been reported by Prince Cheng, he would have been imprisoned and silenced!"

"But he found out so quickly, which can only mean that the Emperor deliberately leaked the secret to kill two birds with one stone!"

"That's right!"

Lu Shengnan echoed in agreement: "This way, we can use the evidence provided by Chuck to deal with Prince Cheng, and we can also use Prince Cheng's words to warn those princes and nobles who are close to us Han gentry, so that they will be wary of us Han gentry."

"As a result, the princes and nobles of the imperial clan would not dare to completely trust the Han gentry, and when they went to various government departments to take charge of affairs, they would probably be wary of the Han officials."

“It’s not just the imperial princes and nobles; the Eight Banners nobles have always been the servants of the emperor and the princes. I’m afraid many of them will also be on guard.”

"Yes, that's killing two birds with one stone!"

"Now, many members of the imperial family and the Eight Banners nobles will surely be happy to see the Fourth Prince take charge of the Ministry of Rites and to see him achieve political success in the Ministry!"

……

……

The Hall of Nourishing Heart.

After Prince Cheng's death, Yongzheng slowly spoke to Hongli:

“You know how to deal with Han gentry, take advantage of their weakness and fear of death, and make them even less able to trust each other with the imperial princes and the Eight Banners nobles.”

"In this way, there will definitely be many members of the imperial family, princes, and nobles of the Eight Banners who will support you in the Ministry of Rites."

"This is undoubtedly a good start for your work in the Ministry of Rites!"

"I am much more relieved now!"

"Furthermore, this also shows that you are good at managing the royal family, nobles, and Han gentry, and are capable of undertaking great responsibilities!"

Emperor Yongzheng laughed when he said this.

Hongli simply replied humbly, "Father, you flatter me!"

Yongzheng smiled slightly, then took the Buddhist prayer beads in his hand and began to twirl them.

The hall fell silent.

The only sound was the occasional cough of Emperor Yongzheng.

"Hongli, I am old and ailing, and I regret that I cannot abdicate the throne to you and go to enjoy a peaceful and happy life!"

"After all, you are in your prime and have many children. Perhaps this is the will of Heaven."

Who knows!

Suddenly, Yongzheng spoke to Hongli in a very solemn manner.

(End of this chapter)