flstandardbreds Chapter 128 The obese old man, greedy for money, wins again.
Chapter 128 The obese old man, greedy for money, wins again.
Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty
Upon hearing this, Kangxi's expression became somewhat complicated, and his eyes became filled with struggle and confusion. His hands trembled slightly before finally relaxing and falling limply to the ground.
At this moment, a question lingered in his mind.
Did he really do something wrong?
Bao Cheng was like this, and so was Yin Si!
He had never experienced much fatherly love growing up, so he didn't want his children to go through the same thing.
But Fuquan and I are still on good terms, and he has never engaged in any of these nine princes vying for the throne like these kids!
Isn't the brotherly love and respect he envisioned good enough?
Why did these individuals all choose to get involved in the struggle for the throne?
He clearly only wanted Bao Cheng to succeed him in the first place, and cultivating other princes was just to better assist Bao Cheng.
But why did things turn out that way?
……
If Lin Ke knew what Kangxi was thinking, he would criticize him from all sides. He was dreaming too much. He thought that if he could be respectful and loving towards his brothers, his son would definitely be too!
Doesn't he even consider how many sons his father had, or how many he himself had? They can't possibly compare!
Lin Ke continued, "Next is the ninth prince, Yin Tang. He was born in the twenty-second year of the Kangxi Emperor's reign. His mother was Consort Yi, of the Guo Luo Luo clan."
"At that time, Emperor Kangxi had four consorts—Hui, Yi, De, and Rong—so the ninth prince's background was quite good."
"However, according to the Veritable Records of Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty, the ninth prince was fat and bloated and not very popular. His brothers often made fun of him."
"Perhaps the reason why Yinzhen became on good terms with the Eighth Prince later was because Yinsi had never mocked him back then."
"But as far as Kangxi is concerned, who doesn't like things that look good? We usually call this being a 'face-obsessed' person."
"So you probably know how the Ninth Prince, Yin Tang, spent his childhood."
A young master from a prominent family in the Song Dynasty: Poor kid!
A young girl from the Tang Dynasty, who was just observing the drama: It's not his fault that he's not good-looking...
A farmer from the Han Dynasty: But no matter what, everyone likes a good-looking kid!
……
"When he was nine years old, a boil grew on his ear and he had a high fever that wouldn't go down. It was almost gone. The imperial physicians at the time were helpless. In the end, they asked two Western doctors to cure him through surgery."
"This reminds me of Hua Tuo's attempt to open Cao Cao's skull to cure his headache. Such a difficult surgery would not be possible to complete even now, let alone in the late Eastern Han Dynasty."
"It's a pity that Cao Cao was furious after hearing this and killed Hua Tuo! His book, 'Qing Nang Shu,' was also lost."
General Judy: Boss Cao is so confused! Can't he just try to ease the situation?!
Boss Cao: ? ? ?
Zhang Fei, a rough but meticulous man: When are you going to have the surgery? I'll bring my army to come and see!
The legendary healer Hua Tuo: !!!
"Alright, let's briefly talk about the Three Kingdoms period. Ahem, back to the main topic. The Ninth Prince, Yinzhen, had just recovered from a serious illness when Emperor Kangxi suddenly decided to take him hunting."
"This hunt was also the first time that Kangxi took the Ninth Prince out. Later, Yinzhen hunted two deer on his own, which earned him praise from his father for the first time."
"But once Kangxi got into his obsession with looks, he quickly forgot about the Ninth Prince, and that praise was as fleeting as a shooting star, as if it had never happened."
Big Han Liu Zhuzhu: I guess having too many sons is a problem!
Emperor Zhao Zhen, the greatest benevolent ruler of all time: ...
Judy, the Great General Who Conquers the North: In the end, it's just that he thinks the child is ugly and doesn't want to get close to him!
Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty: ...
Upon hearing this, Zhao Zhen from another timeline couldn't help but marvel at just how many sons Emperor Kangxi had!
How enviable! Unlike him, who has to worry about his only child getting hurt!
Nine people are vying for one throne, which is at least his own family's. But he hasn't forgotten that in history, his throne was given to his adopted child!
Sigh, could it be that their male ancestors really did have some kind of problem?
At this moment, Emperor Taizong of Song, Zhao Guangyi, slowly typed out a few question marks: You're the one who's crazy!
……
"That being said, Kangxi did not completely forget about this child. After all, his mother was also a favored concubine. So when Yinzhen was twenty years old, Kangxi sent Qin Daoran, who came from a prominent family in Jiangnan, to the Ninth Prince's house as a tutor to urge Yinzhen to improve his studies."
Emperor Kangxi: If you're ugly, you should study more!
"However, the Ninth Prince completely failed to grasp Kangxi's intentions. Perhaps it's because he grew up being ridiculed, and he's somewhat lost in his own fantasies."
"For example, in the 'Collection of Documents,' Lao Jiu told others that when he was young, he had an earache and was so sick that he was about to die. But when he woke up, he saw many golden-armored gods surrounding him in the palace, and his illness was cured instantly."
"This is definitely a fabrication. If the two doctors from the Western Medicine Department who treated him knew, they'd be crying their eyes out in the bathroom!"
"He not only made up this kind of rumor for himself, but he also made one up for his mother. In short, it was all about him being surrounded by gods, all mysterious and mystical."
Zhu Baba of the Ming Dynasty: Something seems off about Kangxi's son!
Liu Zhuzhu (Big Han): ? ? ? Why did you make this up? Are you trying to seize the throne?!
Li Erfeng of the Tang Dynasty: She's either a fool or quite ambitious! But she seems a bit stupid!
……
"The problem is, anyone with a brain knows why he said that. He just wants people to say he's the popular choice, but people aren't stupid. Who would believe that?"
"For example, Yinzhen once gave Nian Gengyao a gift, but Nian Gengyao's attitude was that he didn't think much of this Ninth Prince."
"This brings us to another of his traits—greed. Let's not talk about the social classes of scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants. Old Jiu's main source of wealth was extortion and smuggling."
"Which prince would do this?! So it's no wonder the officials look down on this Ninth Prince."
"For example, Chen Rubing, a junior official in the Ministry of Personnel, was extorted for 600 taels of silver, and Song Daye, a scholar in the Grand Secretariat, was extorted for 500 taels of silver. Other officials were also extorted for the same reason."
Chen Rubing of the Qing Dynasty: ? ? Why does he have less than me!
Judy, the Grand General Who Conquers the North: ?! You can even compare this to something like this!
Zhu Baba of the Ming Dynasty: This Ninth Prince is such a disgrace! Extorting money from officials! Is he short of money?
……
"That's not all. His extortion skills weren't limited to officials. For example, Yinzhen married his daughter to Yongfu, the grandson of Nalan Mingzhu."
“Mingzhu had already passed away by this time, but the Nalan family’s resources remained. In other words, in Lao Jiu’s eyes, this meant there was money to be made.”
Li Erfeng of the Tang Dynasty: No, what does other people's money have to do with him?
"So Yinzhen, as the father-in-law, extorted 300,000 taels of silver from his son-in-law Yongfu. Then Yongfu had an older brother named Yongshou, so Yinzhen found this brother's wife, Lady Guarjia, and made her recognize him as her godfather."
"After that was done, Yinzhen pulled off his dirty trick: he extorted 80,000 taels of silver from Yongshou."
"Even if it's just a sheep, you can't pluck it like this!?"
Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty (almost died of anger!): You unfilial son... What a disgrace!!!
Judy, the Great General Who Conquers the North: We've seen some oddball grandsons so far! But this guy is the absolute oddball!
Big Han Liu Zhuzhu: This guy is so greedy he'll stop at nothing! Is this also a prince???
All members of the Nalan family: ? ? ?
……