My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 364 Daring to spend money, daring to overturn the table! Not afraid of arousing Yongzheng's suspicion!

"The Sheng family mansion stands tall, but their hearts are black, cloaked in fine robes."

"Praised as a scholar in public, but a scoundrel in private."

Just then.

A group of children wearing new cotton-padded jackets walked towards Sheng Mingkun, shaking hand drums and chanting nursery rhymes.

dong dong!

And every time a nursery rhyme ends, the sound of hand-cranked drums begins, attracting many people staying in the winter to open their windows and peek out.

Sheng Mingkun's face hardened, and he roared angrily, "Who did it! Who did it!"

But nobody paid him any attention.

He was met with even more people at the windows, who pointed at him and gasped in astonishment.

An elderly woman with keen eyesight pointed at him and began to tell the story to the people next to her in a vivid and exaggerated manner.

Snapped!
Sheng Mingkun then heard someone spit on his head, and he looked up to see that the window was already closed.

He then took off his fox fur felt hat, revealing a glistening puddle of phlegm on it!
Sheng Mingkun immediately frowned and threw away the fox fur felt hat.

"hateful!"

At the same time, he also said this.

Then he fainted and collapsed onto the fox fur hat, furious!
When he woke up, he was at home, with only his wives, concubines, and children by his side.

He couldn't help but ask, "Why are you all gathered here?"

"Master is awake!"

His wife exclaimed in surprise.

Before long, everyone looked at him.

Sheng Mingkun then remembered why he had fainted.
Therefore, he summoned his eldest son, Sheng Chaoqing, to the front and asked, "What exactly is the matter regarding the proclamation against my Sheng family?"

"My son only recently discovered it, and he's about to send someone to inform his father."

"However, it wasn't just our Sheng family that sent invitations; there were also invitations from several other local officials, but our Sheng family had more!"

“We also reported it to the authorities, but they can’t control it all. As soon as we tore it down, they put it back up again.”

"There are also children singing nursery rhymes. I heard that someone taught them to sing them. As long as they learn them, they can wear a new cotton-padded jacket. As long as they wear the new cotton-padded jacket and sing their way around the city, they can get ten steamed buns. In addition, if anyone tries to stop these children, or even if officials go to stop them, the Manchus of the Imperial Household Department will come to the government office."

"There are also storytellers. In the teahouses and taverns run by various bureaus of the Imperial Household Department, there are storytellers talking about our Sheng family, and the government doesn't dare to interfere."

"Now it seems that this is clearly the Crown Prince targeting us."

“He is deliberately making us gentry look ugly in front of the villagers, and he is willing to spend money to mobilize the people for this purpose.”

Sheng Chaoqing replied.

Upon hearing this, Sheng Mingkun's face darkened: "How could the Crown Prince be so despicable as to spend money on the common people!"

"Father, what should we do now?"

Sheng Chaoqing couldn't help but ask.

Sheng Mingkun gave a wry smile: "There's nothing I can do. I can't admit that the slander against the Crown Prince is related to me, and I can't stop it either! Admitting it would be like walking into a trap; stopping it would be like going against the Crown Prince!"

Subsequently, Sheng Mingkun met Yu Hongtu again and bowed deeply to him, saying, "Please, Lord Yu, save me."

"I know everything."

After sighing, Yu Hongtu handed over several proclamations concerning the Sheng family: "Take a look, the writing is excellent, unforgettable, surely the work of a scholar!"

Sheng Mingkun took it and, forcing a smile, looked at it: "This literary talent is beyond my reach, even as a Hanlin scholar! I don't know which shameless scholar would do this for the Crown Prince!"

"We never expected that the Crown Prince would use posters to deal with posters, and even be willing to spend money on the people for this purpose."

"But we can't say there's really no way; we can still find a few scapegoats," Yu Hongtu replied with a smile.

"However, this means we'll have to stop posting notices here as well."

Sheng Mingkun looked at him.

Yu Hongtu gave a bitter laugh: "There's no way around it. Whether it's the emperor or the crown prince, once they mobilize the people, we can only admit defeat and end this. We can't let the emperor or the crown prince truly side with the people!"

"Then it seems we have no choice but to end it."

"Ok!"

……

"Finish?"

"Who said it's over?"

"Some things are easy to start, but the ending is not up to them!"

Late winter of the tenth year of the Yongzheng Emperor's reign.

Yuqing Palace.

When Songshou reported that no more defamatory posters about the crown prince had appeared, and everything was over, Hongli sneered and questioned Songshou.

Then, Hongli asked Songshou and Liu Tongxun, "Do you think I'm greedy?"

"The Crown Prince is naturally not greedy for money. Apart from a few factories and the estates bestowed by the emperor, he has not annexed any land, nor has he opened any other shops, let alone smuggled salt, iron, or other goods. Even the factories he opened were to help farmers and provide jobs for the bannermen and commoners. The profits were not high, after all, the selling price was not high."

Songshou answered first.

Hongli nodded and looked at Liu Tongxun: "Am I lustful?"

Liu Tongxun replied, "The Crown Prince is not lustful and has basically never actively sought out women."

Hongli then asked, "Are you fond of grand achievements?"

"Naturally, I don't like to be ambitious and seek quick success. Everything I do is based on whether it benefits the country and the people."

Seeing that Songshou had not answered, Liu Tongxun took the initiative to reply.

Hongli nodded: "I am neither greedy for money nor lustful, nor am I fond of grand achievements, but I have an income of several million taels of silver every year, both openly and secretly. I can't spend it all, I simply can't spend it all!"

"However, it's not enough for just you to think that way."

"Therefore, I must continue to spend money! Spend more money! Do more good deeds! So that people in the world will not believe any slanderous words, but will think that I, the crown prince, am a good person and can give them a better Qing Dynasty."

At this point, Hongli said to the two men, "I have already issued imperial edicts to the textile bureaus in Jiangning, Suzhou, and Hangzhou, ordering them to continue expanding their workshops, recruiting more weavers, and even establishing textile schools."

"Let the novice weavers weave cotton-padded jackets first. It doesn't matter if the quality is poor. I will buy them all. This will allow these beginners to practice and then produce military cotton-padded clothes and armor after they have mastered the craft."

The Qing Dynasty's textile bureau produced cotton cloth, cotton clothing, and even cotton armor, not just high-end silk fabrics.

The former was mainly used to supply the army, not the royal family.

Hongli is now spending money to purchase large quantities of cotton cloth and cotton clothing. This serves two purposes: firstly, to expand the production scale of the three textile bureaus in order to solve the serious unemployment problem caused by the surge in population during the Yongzheng era; and secondly, to use the extra cotton cloth and cotton clothing as an important tool for him to mobilize the people.

During the current Yongzheng reign, due to prolonged inflation, the prices of daily necessities have been rising continuously. Giving people cotton-padded clothes is more welcome than giving them money, and it can also help to alleviate the problem of people's livelihoods becoming more difficult due to the escalating inflation.

Both men were shocked, and secretly marveled that the Crown Prince was not only not greedy, but also incredibly generous and benevolent! He was also very calm and wise!
No wonder he remained composed when he was slandered before. It is clear that he has a kind heart and no excessive desires, which makes him strong-willed. He is undoubtedly a true gentleman and therefore fearless!
Then, both of them looked at Hongli with solemn respect.

However, Liu Tongxun also took the initiative to remind Hongli: "Your Highness's intention to use the opportunity of spending money to help the people in order to stabilize the hearts of the people and drive out the wicked is naturally an open and aboveboard plan. But such a statement may attract petty people to speak to the emperor, saying that Your Highness is seeking fame and fortune and using money to buy people's hearts."

"Do you think that with Khan's wisdom, he would view his son this way, and would not want his son to do more good deeds for the people?"

Hongli then asked Liu Tongxun a question in return.

He now understands very well that, given Yongzheng's current predicament of being "besieged on all sides," the more popular he, the crown prince, is, the more the people will tolerate the old emperor, Yongzheng.

(End of this chapter)