My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 324: He was given the name Aqina, stripped of his yellow sash, and removed from the imperial clan register!

Hongli was unsure whether Hongshi had truly died of illness or something else entirely.

But Yongzheng only told these princes and ministers that Hongshi had been executed in the afterlife.

Manduhu and Yanxin died in prison, and Yongzheng said that they were "full of sins and could not escape divine retribution."

Historically, the ninth prince was supposed to meet this fate.

But this is because, in Hongli's reign, the imprisoned Ninth Prince was able to utilize his translation skills, so surprisingly, Yongzheng has not yet intensified his punishment of the Ninth Prince.

What Hongli could confirm was that Zeng Jing's affair made Yongzheng even more distrustful of the Manchu Eight Banners and even less willing to differentiate trust levels based on ethnicity or kinship.

That's why Yongzheng said those words to him, namely, "The Manchus and Hans have been united to the point that they have all become disloyal and disrespectful people, which makes him both lamentable and hateful."

Therefore, Hongli said to the fourteenth prince, "If the emperor wants his subject to die, the subject has no choice but to die," and also indicated that no matter how much he was favored, he was still just a prince.

The implication.

Hongli did not want the fourteenth prince and others to expect him to change or stop Yongzheng.

With Yue Zhongqi controlling the Green Standard Army, the most skilled military force in the land, and Ce Ling controlling the Mongol cavalry, while most of the Eight Banner nobles had become corrupt, no one could stop an emperor like Yongzheng who held absolute military power.

Neither his son nor his brothers are good enough.

Even though Yongzheng's sons and brothers were banner chiefs, they could not muster many Eight Banner soldiers who were ready to fight.

Moreover, Hongli had no intention of uniting with the fourteenth prince and other banner leaders; he was simply waiting to succeed Yongzheng.

After hearing what Hongli said, the fourteenth prince did not say anything more, but walked quickly outside.

Hongli chased after him: "Fourteenth Uncle, what are you doing?"

"I'll go beg him, I'll beg him to spare the myna bird!"

"He's already been confined, what more does he want?!"

"It's hard to say. It might be a vicious scheme by the Han people, forcing him to create chaos among us Manchus in order to seize power. He's also lost his mind in his pursuit of supreme power, doing things that hurt his own people and please his enemies!"

As the fourteenth prince spoke, he hysterically roared at Hongli and directly criticized Yongzheng.

The veins on his forehead bulged, as if he was angry that he had to ask Yongzheng for help, and also as if he was angry that Yongzheng had gone too far.

Hongli stopped him: "Eighth Uncle will be fine!"

"If you're already scared because of Hongshi's outcome, what else is impossible!"

The fourteenth prince chuckled.

Hongli said in a deep voice, "Fourteenth Uncle, you need to calm down. If Eighth Uncle were gone, he would have been gone long ago."

"Although Father Khan was disappointed in Hongshi, he had high hopes for his nephew, which is why Uncle Ba has been safe until now."

"Because no one understands Uncle Ba better or cares about him more than Khan Ama!"

Hongli replied.

The fourteenth prince snorted coldly: "That's just what you think!"

Hongli did not argue, but continued to say truthfully, "Moreover, Fourteenth Uncle, you may not be able to get out now."

The fourteenth prince stood frozen in shock: "What do you mean?"

"Fourteenth Uncle, don't you think Guangshan returned to the capital too easily?"

"Xiao Yongzao let him come back to pay his respects to you, and he can return so easily. Is the capital made of paper, or has Father really forgotten his own brother?"

Not long after Hongli finished speaking, Guangshan's eyes widened, and then he knelt down with a thud:
"Fourteenth Uncle, I am sorry, but I did it to protect my family's hereditary title from falling into the hands of a concubine!"

Guangshan started crying as he spoke.

The fourteenth prince was dumbfounded, standing there in a daze.

"Fourteenth Uncle, you have always been a proud person. In your eyes, none of Father's other uncles are as good as you. But in fact, in Father's eyes, you have always just been a child who has not grown up!"

"He only needs to use a little trick to put you in a difficult situation. You should stop doubting him. The Khan has his reasons for doing this. The Qing Dynasty will only become stronger in his hands!"

Not long after Hongli spoke, Aqitu led the men of the Infantry Commander's Office into the Prince Bao's Mansion.

Moreover, Hongchun also came here.

This made the fourteenth prince's eyes widen in fury.

Hongchun first walked up to the fourteenth prince, cupped his hands in greeting, and said:
“Father, I have already informed the Emperor about your visit to the Fourth Prince! I have come here now to request your return by imperial decree.”

boom!
The fourteenth prince kicked Hongchun directly.

Hongchun collapsed to the ground and curled up.

……

……

At this time, Yongzheng was meeting with the Eighth Prince at the Imperial Clan Court: "Haven't you always been close to Han scholars and officials? Why are you unwilling to come out and take the lead in supporting the rule of respecting the emperor and changing the ancestral system of shaving heads and changing customs, so that the Han people will be more loyal to our Great Qing?"

"Fourth Brother, those Han scholars who don't care about ancestral rules are already a potential threat if we keep them around. How can we allow them to revert to Han Chinese attire?"

Lao Ba smiled faintly and replied.

"If you refuse, then don't become a member of my Aisin Gioro family!"

Yongzheng suddenly shouted, turned to Yinzhi, and said, "You shall request to leave the household registration and change your name."

"Then I request that you be named Aqina!"

After a moment of silence, Lao Ba knelt down and kowtowed in reply.

"I will help you!"

"By imperial decree, Yinzhi harbors wicked intentions and has slandered the emperor and father, fabricating and stirring up trouble throughout the land, causing numerous traitors to emerge. I have no choice but to punish him. Therefore, he is stripped of his official rank, his yellow sash is removed, and his name is changed to Aqina!"

After a while, Yongzheng's voice rang out in the dark alley of the Imperial Clan Court.

"Father!" After returning from the Imperial Clan Court, Yongzheng met with Hongli.

Emperor Yongzheng looked displeased, but he still took the initiative to ask Hongli, "Did your fourteenth uncle still go to see you?"

"Upon seeing him, he even kicked Hongchun, who had invited him back."

Hongli replied.

Yongzheng snorted: "He still hasn't grown up."

"By imperial decree, Hongchun is promoted to Beile, and the title of Prince Yu is to be inherited by Guangshan, but his position as Zuoling is to be revoked."

"Furthermore, Yunti privately introduced Guangshan, a member of the imperial clan, without reporting it to the emperor, showing no respect for the emperor and his father. He is hereby stripped of his title and imprisoned in the Shouhuang Palace!"

At this point, Emperor Yongzheng issued a new decree.

Then, Yongzheng looked at Hongli and said, "The only people I can rely on are you and your thirteenth uncle!"

Hongli did not say much about this.

When Emperor Yongzheng issued an edict to suspend the princes' management of banner affairs, he also began to further reform the Imperial Household Department.

The craftsmen of the Imperial Workshops and the imperial physicians of the Imperial Pharmacy were allowed to open shops with investment from the Imperial Household Department to sell their products and skills.

The bannermen of the three banners under the Imperial Household Department were allowed to open shops outside the department and sell its products with investment from the Imperial Household Department.

Both of these methods were proposed by Emperor Qianlong to increase profits by improving the productivity of the Manchu bannermen, craftsmen, and imperial physicians under the Imperial Household Department.

This still falls under the category of making the pie bigger.

To make the pie bigger, you have to motivate the people below, which is why you encourage artisans, imperial physicians, and Manchus to do business outside.

of course!

There was a precedent for this in the Song Dynasty, when the Song court encouraged imperial physicians to engage in external business in order to improve their ability to treat diseases.

Therefore, it's not particularly surprising that Hongli did this.

As a result, the craftsmen, imperial physicians, and Manchus had to work much harder, not only to complete the tasks assigned by the Imperial Household Department, but also to earn money for themselves and the Imperial Household Department.

What's wrong with working harder and earning more money for yourself?

However, although these people at the bottom of the Imperial Household Department were not afraid of hard work, they were afraid of being laid off due to redundant staff.

In particular, those Manchus and bondservants who were to be assigned to open shops outside Beijing to sell products manufactured by the Imperial Household Department.

What they feared most was that after leaving, they would not only fail to make money, but also be unable to return to their former positions in the Imperial Household Department.

After all, the Imperial Household Department was a huge production and management organization, with more than thirty bondservants and captains alone. Many people had become accustomed to life in the Imperial Household Department and regarded it as their own home.

In addition, there have been several precedents of the Imperial Household Department being reduced in size.

For example, the reduction of vests caused many of the Upper Three Banners and Bondservant Bannermen in the Imperial Household Department to lose their vest status, which made many of them feel that the higher-ups never had any good intentions.

Therefore, when Hongli issued such a reform strategy for the Imperial Household Department, the Bannermen of the Upper Three Banners and the Bondservants, who were afraid of leaving the Imperial Household Department, were the first to cause an uproar. They came to Changming and Shangzhishun, the two chief stewards of the Imperial Household Department who were not on duty, to ask if they were going to take the opportunity to reduce their numbers and take away their food and clothing.

Some Manchu bannermen and bondservants even showed off the scars they had sustained during their campaigns, asking the two chief stewards of the Imperial Household Department whether they had lived up to the expectations of those who had risked their lives for their masters.

Changming dared not say that this was the idea of ​​the Fourth Prince Hongli, and could only laugh and deny it, saying that it was to take away their food and clothing, and that it was to reduce their numbers, saying that it was a good thing.

"You think of people like us when things are going well?"

"Whenever something good happens, don't you managers always prioritize those with connections and powerful backers?"

"Now you're trying to find ways to make us leave, so you can make room for your own people, or use us to curry favor with those in power!"

"That's right, don't think we don't know what you're up to! If you really want to force us, we'll go and explain to our master."

"Whenever you make rectifications, aren't you always targeting us? Even the last time you cut down on vests, didn't that make things difficult for us?"

The Manchu bannermen and their bondservants started talking all at once, including many elderly people with silver hair over seventy years old, who were gritting their teeth at the three stewards.

Upon seeing this, the two chief stewards of the Imperial Household Department had no choice but to request permission to postpone the matter.

These Manchu bannermen and bondservants left the place in a huff.

After these people left, Chang Ming sneered at Shang Zhishun and said, "Looks like Fourth Master's new reform strategy is going to backfire?"

"There's nothing we can do. We Manchus have been living a comfortable life for too long, and nobody wants to cause trouble."

Shang Zhishun shook his head with a helpless smile.

"Fourth Master is really something. With the Imperial Household Department's three textile bureaus expanding their operations locally and increasing profits, why bother increasing profits to make life better for the people below!"

Chang Ming then put his hands behind his back and continued speaking with a calm expression.

Shang Zhishun said, "This is all because the master has decided what the foundation of the Great Qing is, and Fourth Master wants to please the master! But in any case, we should hurry up and tell Fourth Master about this, we can't just stand by and watch him make a fool of himself!"

"Of course not, but I hope that Fourth Master will back down when faced with difficulties."

Hongli soon learned of this matter from Changming and Shang Zhishun.

Hongli rolled his eyes at the two of them, saying, "It's clear how little trust you have among your subordinates in the Imperial Household Department."

Chang Ming and Shang Zhishun both lowered their heads.

"Your Majesty summons Fourth Master!"

Not long after, Yongzheng also summoned Hongli.

When Hongli arrived at Yongzheng's place, he saw several old men kneeling before Yongzheng.

"They are all veterans of the Upper Three Banners of the Imperial Household Department. Some of them took a knife for your Khan on the battlefield, and others were my 'Anda'. They have come to complain about the head of the Imperial Household Department, blaming the department for its reforms, and for trying to force them to their deaths."

"You tell them too, am I forcing them to die?"

Yongzheng said.

(End of this chapter)