My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 298 A mother's status rises with her son's; rites, music, and military expeditions originate from the emperor!
Yin Jishan was overjoyed, but at the same time he could hardly believe it: "But my birth mother is of lowly status."

"A mother's status rises with her son's; it's only natural."

“My mother still manages the six palaces because of my promotion. Now that you have passed the imperial examination, your mother should also be granted an imperial title and no longer be just a slave.”

"Moreover, I am now in charge of all the official schools. If the outstanding children of the Eight Banners cannot demonstrate their filial piety and virtue through their success, it will not be conducive to encouraging education!"

At this point, Hongli said, "Therefore, we cannot refuse, and Father Khan has already agreed!"

Yin Jishan immediately knelt down with a grateful expression, banging his head heavily on the ground: "This servant kowtows to thank Fourth Master for his great kindness!"

"Get up, this is what your mother deserves!"

Hongli smiled.

With tears in his eyes, Yin Jishan thanked the emperor and stood up.

then.

Yin Jishan returned home, and when he went to pay his respects to Yin Tai, he saw Xu Shi kneeling down before him with tea in hand: "Fifth Master, please have some tea!"

This left Yin Jishan feeling extremely embarrassed and frozen in place.

After all, Xu was his birth mother, and he was taught from a young age that loyalty and filial piety were of paramount importance.

Moreover, he was young and impetuous, and seeing his birth mother kneeling before him to serve tea made him feel as if a thousand arrows were piercing his heart.

Yin Tai was clearly a bit twisted. Seeing Yin Jishan's tearful eyes, he felt much better and came out of the inner room in a frail manner: "Sit down!"

"Whoo!"

Yin Jishan had no choice but to sit down.

"Do you dislike your father's tea?"

Yin Tai asked another question.

"no!"

Yin Jishan quickly replied and then took the tea from the tray held by Xu Shiju.

"When Fourth Master saw me today, he praised you for being shrewd and capable, but when you got home, you were like a lost soul, listless and slovenly! Could it be that you only have eyes for your masters and not for this old man like me?"

Yin Tai began to mock Yin Jishan in a sarcastic and sarcastic tone.

Yin Jishan's face stung.

However, since Yin Tai was his father, and in this era, patriarchal authority was extremely important, and although Yin Jishan was a Manchu, he had been educated by Yin Tai since childhood in the traditional system of ruler-subject and father-son relationships, so he naturally dared not explain or talk back.

After finishing his sarcastic remarks, Yin Tai said calmly, "Get up, all of you."

"Thank you, Ama."

"Thank you, sir!"

Yin Tai frowned when he saw Yin Jishan help Xu Shi up.

"The slaves dare not!"

Fortunately, Madam Xu knew Yin Tai well, so she quickly refused her son's offer of help and gritted her teeth to stand up on her own.

Just now, Yin Jishan had been in a daze for a while, which caused her to kneel for an extended period, resulting in her legs feeling numb and sore.

It was because of this that Yin Jishan instinctively tried to help Xu Shi up, but he ultimately failed. Seeing Xu Shi struggling to stand up made him even more distressed.

Seeing Yin Jishan's ashamed and resentful expression, Yin Tai felt quite pleased with himself.

He was proud that his fifth son had been educated to be very filial.

This fueled his desire to strengthen his control over Yin Jishan and use him to satisfy his lust for power.

Moreover, Yin Jishan is currently working under the Fourth Prince Hongli.

And Hongli was very likely to be the future emperor.

This made Yin Tai quite want to use Yin Jishan to monitor Hongli.

"Have you gone to pay your respects to the Fourth Prince?"

At that moment, Yin Tai asked about Yin Jishan.

When Yin Jishan heard Yin Tai suddenly address Hongli as the Fourth Prince instead of the Fourth Master, he realized that his father might have a problem with the Fourth Master.

This made him even more determined not to tell Yin Taihongli his intention to ask him to request an imperial title for his birth mother, and he only replied, "Fourth Master directly summoned his son to his palace!"

After hearing this, Yin Tai nodded: "Fourth Master values ​​you, but you can't forget the duties of a scholar just because of that. You still need to observe the proper etiquette!"

“Father is right.” Yin Tai then leaned back and said smugly, “Today, when I saw Fourth Master, I asked him to save Lord Lu, but he did not agree. It is clear that Fourth Master has concerns. You should not mention this matter in front of Fourth Master.”

"Whoo!"

Yin Jishan bowed slightly and responded, while glancing at Xu Shi, who could only stand and serve Yin Tai from the side.

Yin Tai intended to strengthen Yin Jishan's education, making Yin Jishan closer to his ideal image of a Confucian official, and thus influence the future emperor, Hongli, through Yin Jishan.

Moreover, Yin Jishan was originally a member of the Hanlin Academy.

Therefore, Yin Tai continued to say to Yin Jishan: "Father and son come first, then ruler and subject. After I pass away, even if you have the opportunity to rise to the highest position, you will still have to observe mourning. If you encounter a situation where you are forced to withdraw from mourning, you must do your best to decline! You must learn from the virtuous ministers of the past and not break the rules of etiquette, like ministers such as Zhang Juzheng. Do you understand?"

Yin Jishan cupped his hands in greeting: "Your son will remember."

Yin Tai's words implied that he was instructing his son to value paternal authority more than imperial authority.

This is not surprising. Whenever the world is at peace for too long, Confucian officials who claim to speak on behalf of the sages will become extremely proud and arrogant, and this will become more and more obvious as they get older.

Yin Tai was no exception, even though he was a Manchu.

After meeting Yin Tai, Yin Jishan went back to his room and began writing a memorial to the throne.

He first wrote a memorial to the throne outlining his suggestions for reforming the Eight Banners official schools, which Emperor Hongli had requested him to complete. Then, following Hongli's advice, he wrote a memorial requesting that his mother, Lady Xu, be granted an imperial title.

Yin Tai admonished Yin Jishan to uphold filial piety in order to make Yin Jishan more obedient to him.

However, Yin Jishan interpreted it as meaning that in addition to being filial to his father, he could not truly ignore the situation of his birth mother.

Moreover, both the emperor and Hongli supported him in doing so.

Therefore, Yin Jishan wrote a very heartfelt memorial requesting that his mother be granted an imperial title.

The next day.

After submitting his memorial requesting the conferment of an imperial title upon his birth mother to the Office of Transmission, Yin Jishan went to see Hongli and gave him a memorial on the reform of the Eight Banners official schools.

Hongli read it carefully and saw that Yin Jishan mentioned increasing the number of school buildings, classifying students, and allocating military funds to provide regular subsidies to poor but outstanding members of the Eight Banners. He nodded in deep agreement: "Your suggestions are good."

"Fourth Master, you flatter me!"

"This servant also made the decision based on Sun Xigong's suggestion and after discussing it with him."

Yin Jishan replied.

Hongli nodded after hearing this and said, "But there are still some things to add."

"Please give your instructions, Fourth Master."

Yin Jishan quickly cupped his hands in a gesture of respect.

"First of all, there must be a stricter assessment system. Anyone who fails to meet the standards in Manchu and Chinese studies, or even horsemanship and archery, in the same period should be dismissed and sent home!"

"Secondly, those who meet the standard in only one aspect of Manchu-Chinese studies are placed into a class specializing in that one aspect."

"Furthermore, if someone meets the standards in both Manchu and Chinese, but not in horsemanship and archery, then they should focus on training in horsemanship and archery. If they still don't meet the standards, then they should be assigned to a teaching position."

"Finally, those who meet all the standards will be rewarded, and graduates will be selected to enter the Xian'an Palace Official School for further training."

“Tell them that I will select the best students from the official schools in Xian’an Palace to enter the Imperial University of Peking, which I have established by imperial decree. At that time, the officials I recommend will be given priority among the students of the Imperial University of Peking.”

When Hongli said this, Yin Jishan was slightly taken aback. He naturally knew that being recommended by Hongli meant that he would be affirmed by the future emperor, which would undoubtedly make it easier for him to rise to prominence in the future.

Therefore, Yin Jishan didn't say much, only bowing respectfully.

Then, Hongli said to Yin Jishan, "I see that you look melancholy. Is something bothering you?"

"This servant dares not lie to Your Highness, my birth mother, Madam Xu, still kneels before me. I truly feel that I am an unfilial person, and thus I was somewhat absent-minded and disrespectful. Please forgive me, Your Highness."

Yin Jishan's eyes reddened as he spoke.

Upon hearing this, Hongli frowned: "This Yin Tai, doesn't he know that rites, music, and military expeditions originate from the Son of Heaven? In our Great Qing Dynasty, a mother can rise in status through her son, but he dares to make a mother kneel before her son!"

"Li Yu, go and summon Yin Tai to see me!"

"Whoo!"

Before long, Yin Tai arrived at Hongli's place.

Hongli then asked Yin Tai in a deep voice, "Why are you tormenting your son like this?"

"I was praising your son in front of you just now, do you know that what you're doing now is also damaging my reputation as a grown prince!"

(End of this chapter)