NFBE Chapter 217: Secret Succession Plan
Chapter 217: Secret Succession Plan
Chapter 217: Secret Succession Plan
Kangxi had not expected Hongye to say such a thing and recommend Burhe to participate in this matter. He was stunned for a moment and wanted to refuse, but the next second after seeing Yinreng's expression, he thought that maybe this matter could be feasible.
Then he asked a question that surprised everyone: "Hongye, is your mother's English good?"
Hongye had just been glared at by his father, and he subconsciously shrank his neck, somewhat regretting his impulsiveness. However, since the emperor was asking, he had no choice but to answer, and he had to tell the truth: "To answer the emperor, yes, there are many foreign language knowledge that I don't understand that my mother taught me privately. My teacher once said that my mother's foreign language skills are no worse than his."
"Oh?" Kangxi was genuinely surprised. He hadn't expected his daughter-in-law, who was so unassuming, to have such a talent. Even though foreign languages had been introduced to the Qing dynasty for many years, people today were reluctant to learn them. Firstly, they didn't have any use for them, and secondly, they had no chance to learn them. Without the language environment, there was no motivation to learn.
Now it seems that this daughter-in-law can really help. Thinking of this, Kangxi directly ordered Yinreng: "Second brother, since your wife has this talent, then add her as well. We are all family members, and it will be safer." Then he glanced at the remaining princes and said: "If your wife has any talents, you can also report them. After the success, I will reward them according to their merits."
After Kangxi finished speaking, only Yinreng accepted the order helplessly. The other princes looked at each other. What else can their own wife do besides giving birth to children and managing the government? They didn't know!
Seeing his sons' embarrassment, Kangxi didn't press them any further, but just said, "It doesn't matter if you don't know now. You can wait until you have found out and then come back to me. But one thing is for sure, no word of what happened today can be leaked."
After saying this, he gestured for Yinreng to continue. Yinreng sighed inwardly. His son and his wife were both involved. Even if he didn't make arrangements now, it would be useless.
Yinreng: "Let's skip the foreign language and talk about this lotus cream. As it stands now, we can only send someone over to test it out. I recommend my eighth and thirteenth brothers for this position. They are both very careful, especially my eighth brother, who is very good at dealing with people. When we go to Guangdong and Guangxi, we won't directly clash with them. In addition, my eighth brother was also in the Lifanyuan before, so he is also familiar with diplomacy. When the time comes, we will inevitably have to deal with foreigners. Whether we can hide it from their eyes and find out what is going on in the dark is the key.
Finally, let's talk about the navy. Our Qing navy is weak, and the places we have been able to explore at sea in recent years are not far away, basically only in the coastal areas. This is not acceptable. If nothing else, those foreigners were able to cross the ocean to our Qing, it means that their ship technology is advanced.
It doesn't matter if we can't compete, but we can always narrow the gap. And if a war really breaks out, naval warfare will be necessary, so the navy must be focused. So, I suggest that the tenth, twelfth, and fourteenth brothers train the navy together and supervise the construction of ocean-going ships.
After Yinreng finished speaking, Yinzhi hesitated to speak until Kangxi looked at him. Then he said with a bitter face: "I think my second brother's arrangements are very good and comprehensive. I have nothing to add. I will review it."
After Yinzhi finished speaking, there were constant cries of "Your Highness, I reconsider this," "Your Highness, I reconsider this," until the Eighth Prince interrupted, "Your Majesty, I would like you to go to Guangdong and Guangxi, but I am afraid that my military strength is not enough and I will not be able to convince the people. So I am thinking about asking my eldest and second brothers to accompany me."
After listening to this, Kangxi was also thinking. There was no doubt that the Eighth Brother was good at networking, and he was also a good candidate to go to Guangdong and Guangxi. Just look at the people who were currently being won over in the court to understand his personal charm. However, the Eighth Brother was too soft-hearted. The ministers following behind him were all thinking about waiting for him to take the throne so that they could get a piece of the pie. They were also willing to support him because they saw that he was easy to control.
If they were to go by status and merit, why didn't they choose the fourth brother? Wasn't it because he had a bad temper and was stubborn? He liked to get things done, to get to the bottom of things, and was selfless?
But it would be fine if the eldest son could go and provide military support, but letting the second son go as well would be a waste of his talent. He also wanted to keep the second son in the capital to take charge of the overall situation. After all, there are more than one state affairs. He can divide his attention and make some time to pay attention to this matter, but if he devotes himself to it wholeheartedly, that is not what a qualified monarch should do.
After all, there are no trivial matters in a country. In this vast Qing Dynasty, there are many things that need to be handled and decided by the emperor every day. If every matter takes up all his time, then even if he splits himself into seventy-two parts, it would not be enough.
At this time, Prince Yong Yinzhen also reacted. It turned out that because he was not included in his second brother's suggestions, his eighth brother was a little anxious and wanted to drag his second brother into it as well.
He said, "Old Eight was just impatient, and his methods weren't very clever. How could you be the only one who could spot something like this? The brothers didn't say anything, so how could the Emperor not know? Didn't he see that the Emperor didn't say anything? That clearly meant that they were under the command of the Second Brother this time."
Besides, his second brother had just contributed Hongye, and now his second sister-in-law has also joined. Isn't that enough? Why must he drag his second brother into this? In his opinion, the emperor would definitely not agree.
Sure enough, the next second, Kangxi spoke with finality: "Then let the eldest son go to Guangdong and Guangxi as well, and the thirteenth son will stay in Beijing with the fifth and seventh sons. The second son will not go, but will coordinate in Beijing. He will command your subsequent actions. Is there any problem?"
Kangxi said this without giving anyone a chance to object, so the final result was that Yinreng stayed in Beijing, while the others were busy with their assigned tasks.
After all the princes left, Yinreng remained. Seeing this, Kangxi was very curious: "What else does Yinreng want?"
Yinreng looked around, and Kangxi understood. Liang Jiugong and Wei Zhu stood guard outside the door.
Yinreng immediately launched into a powerful attack: "Father Emperor, are you worried about the succession issue lately?"
Kangxi's pupils shrank, and his expression grew serious. Seeing Yinreng, who didn't take his words seriously and was still smiling, Kangxi pondered for a moment, still confused: "How did you know? What? Are you blaming me for abolishing your position as Crown Prince?"
Yinreng ignored Kangxi's cold face. He had seen a lot of ups and downs in his past life, so a cold face was nothing serious. He sat calmly in his chair, ignoring Kangxi's coldness, and directly gave him a suggestion: "Your Majesty, you are overthinking it. If I had complained, I would not have taken the initiative to accept the imperial edict. No matter what, if I had strongly opposed it, it would not be easy to depose me."
Without paying attention to Kangxi's expression at the moment, whether it was shame or anger, Yinreng continued: "This is not what I am talking about today. I know that Your Majesty has been troubled by this matter recently, so I wanted to give Your Majesty a suggestion. As for whether to adopt it or not, whether to use it or not, it is entirely up to you."
Kangxi: "You say."
Yinreng said: "Why not just write down the imperial edict and hide it, and then announce it a hundred years later?"
Kangxi???!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!