Chapter 38 4. Keep a low profile and avoid being the target of public criticism

Kangxi was a talented and generous monarch. During his 61-year reign, he leveled the San Francisco, defeated the Junggar aristocrat Galdan, and signed the "Nerchinsk Treaty" with Russia. He made outstanding contributions.He has resolved the affairs of the country, but he cannot solve the affairs of the family.For the rest of his life, he has been suffering for the establishment of the prince.In the fourteenth year of Kangxi, Kangxi appointed the second prince Yinreng as the crown prince, but Yinreng's reckless behavior disappointed Kangxi, so in the forty-seventh year of Kangxi, the prince Yinreng was abolished.Kangxi had thirty-five sons. After the crown prince was abolished, they began to compete for the position of crown prince, which caused a storm in the ruling and opposition parties at that time.In desperation, in the forty-eighth year of Kangxi, the second prince Yinreng was re-appointed as the prince. Kangxi's original intention was that after this lesson, Yinreng should change his past and cherish this opportunity.In this way, it also prevented the princes from competing for the crown prince.But this idea finally came to nothing, Yinfeng was no different from before, he still went his own way, and even formed a gang of princelings, and the rest of the princes also had their own forces.Under such circumstances, a secret battle of the court for the position of the prince was launched, and Kangxi was once again faced with a choice.

Under such circumstances, Yinzhen, the fourth son of the emperor, did not join the ranks of competing for the crown prince. When the princes formed cliques and made troubles, Yinzhen had quietly stayed out of the matter.Dai Duo, one of Yinzhen's acquaintances, once told him that being the emperor's son is difficult. If you show your sharpness in your actions, it will easily make the emperor suspicious;Yinzhen pondered Dai Duo's words in his heart, and he summed up four points: first, honesty and filial piety are the first; second, brotherly love; third, diligence and dedication;He believed that as long as these four points were achieved, he would naturally avoid some troubles and thus gain the emperor's appreciation.

In the fifty-first year of Kangxi, the crown prince of the second prince Yinfeng was abolished again.Kangxi was very sad. When he announced the decree, he said: "Yinfeng has let me down again and again. Not only did he not change his past, cherish the opportunities in front of him, but he intensified and did many illegal things. My heart for Yinfeng is dead. It's gone." During this period of time, Kangxi was in a very sad mood, and he didn't think about eating or sleeping for seven consecutive days and nights, neither eating nor sleeping.Because of being too sad, Kangxi suffered a stroke and could not write with his right hand, so he used his left hand to review memorials.The princes did not stop because of this, and the prince's re-defeat further intensified their actions.

Yinzhen has been busy all day in the mansion.He heard that the emperor liked to eat shredded taro, so he ordered the cook to carefully cook several taro dishes, and brought them to Qianqing Palace himself.Kangxi was reviewing the memorials in the imperial study room, and the one-foot-high memorials were piled up on the desk, Kangxi looked very bad.Yinzhen knocked on the door, Kangxi responded, and put down his pen for reviewing the memorial. Yinzhen walked into the imperial study with the dishes and said: "Father is busy with government affairs, don't get tired. I heard that Father likes to eat shredded taro, so I cook it myself and present it to Father."

Kangxi's complexion improved, and he said, "It's rare for the emperor to have such filial piety. I'm very pleased. I didn't expect you to be able to cook." He lifted the lid of the plate with his hands, and a scent of taro immediately overflowed. Kangxi took a deep breath and said, "It's been a long time since I smelled such a fragrant shredded taro." Yinzhen said: "Father is busy with political affairs, so he lacks a leisure time. How can he be like us. My son and minister have nothing to do, and when they are tired of reading books, they want to do other things in their hearts. The shredded taro that I am making now , is what I found out in the "Recipe". Although I can't relieve my father's pressure, I still want to do some small things for my father, which can be regarded as my filial piety."

Kangxi picked up a piece of taro with chopsticks, chewed it in his mouth, and said to Yinzhen, "I'm afraid the taste of this dish can't be made in a day or two. The emperor must have prepared it for a long time, right?" Yinzhen nodded modestly, and said: "I have been preparing for more than a month, and I have consulted many masters in the dining room. I didn't expect this dish to be elaborate and cumbersome, so I wrote it down in my notebook. , try to make it every day when you are free. Father, what do you think of the taste?" Kangxi said with a smile: "I just took a bite and it whetted my appetite. I'm afraid I'm going to finish these two dishes, hehe..." Kangxi let out a burst of hearty laughter, which was heard by a waiter outside. , I thought, the emperor is in such a good mood today, I don't know why.

When walking out of the imperial study room, Yinzhen let out a sigh of relief.Kangxi thought that after the abolition of the crown prince, the conflicts among the princes could be eased. On the contrary, the struggle among the princes for the reserve position became more and more serious.At this time, the faction with the Eighth Prince Yinhu as the core was actively pursuing the camp and carefully planning to obtain the status of the crown prince.There are many Baylor and ministers who support the eight princes.They believed that after the emperor abolished the crown prince, the eighth elder brother Yinhu was the most suitable candidate to inherit the crown prince.Once Kangxi wanted to ask the ministers for their opinions, and the court ministers also noticed that the emperor had a good impression of the eighth prince. University scholar Ma Qi and others wrote an opinion separately, hoping to elect the eighth prince as the crown prince.This is a disservice to Yinhu, Kangxi thought to himself, a princeling party has just been abolished, and now an eighth princeling party has emerged.Angry in his heart, he punished the ministers who had advised him, and gradually alienated the Eighth Prince Yinhu.Yinzhen saw these things in his eyes, kept them in his heart, and did not take advantage of the situation to take any further actions.At this time, the thirteenth elder brother Yinxiang came to Yinzhen and said that he would recommend him.Yinzhen politely refused, and he said: "I know I don't have that ability, so I don't dare to be pretentious. Brothers, if you find one at random, it's much better than me. I'm already in this position."

Yinxiang said: "Brother Huang is too humble to say this. I also think that now is an opportunity, and Brother Huang does have such strength. Yinhu just lost now. Brother Huang must not miss this opportunity. I can guarantee that as long as Brother Huang, use your strength, the position of the crown prince must belong to Brother Huang." Yinxiang's words were quite tempting, and Yinzhen was indeed a little moved, but he suddenly remembered the words of his friend Dai Duo, and he suppressed this thought again.He said with a smile: "There will always be a party who is hurt and a party who gains in this kind of secret rivalry between the royal brothers. If you do this, what can you do even if you win the crown prince? Father has his own ideas. Whoever wants to be the prince is the prince. If he doesn't want to be the prince, no matter how hard he tries, it's useless. Yinhu is an example. He is too impatient, and everyone knows what the result will be! He looked up and looked out of the window, and then said: "Brothers shouldn't be like this. Intrigues and mutual use will only break the brotherhood. We should be united now and don't take some things so urgently, Father." Since we have our own ideas, we just need to do our own things well. Father's eyes are sharp, can you not see it?"

Yinxiang was speechless, thinking that this time it might be in vain, but when he thought about Yinzhen's words carefully, it seemed that it was not unreasonable. He had been busy for so long, and he really had nothing to lose, so he gave up the previous one. idea. Kangxi will assign tasks to the princes from time to time, and test the ability of each prince from the tasks.Yinzhen is very cautious about this kind of thing, as long as Kangxi assigns a task, no matter what it is, Yinzhen will complete it very carefully.He thinks that if you do it, you have to do it well. If you want to show off, it's better not to do it.

Kangxi asked Yinzhen to write a book about people's livelihood, and Yinzhen didn't deal with it casually.He went deep into the folks, learned about the lives of farmers, and obtained substantial first-hand information.Therefore, when presenting the excerpts to Kangxi, Yinzhen's excerpts were very prominent, completely different from those presented by other princes.After Kangxi read it, he praised Yinzhen, saying that his excerpts were very detailed and practical. The back garden of Qianqing Palace is an elegant place with all kinds of flowers, plants and trees. When Yinzhen first stepped into this place, he felt refreshed and in good spirits.Kangxi was sitting in the pavilion, and the waiter next to him was shaking his fan slowly.Kangxi waved his hand, the waiter put away the fan, got up and retreated.

Kangxi said: "Yinzhen, I have nothing else to do with you today. I invite you to come with me to enjoy the scenery of the back garden. These days, I feel so bored and want to talk to someone. Can you understand me?" Yinzhen was a little excited, he came to meet his father today to hand in his homework.Kangxi said that the palace was too dull and wanted to take a walk outside, and asked Yinzhen if he would go with him.Of course Yinzhen couldn't ask for more, so he hastily agreed. "Father takes care of everything and is overworked. It would be great if my son could take some of the burden for my father." Yinzhen said sincerely. Kangxi looked at a clump of lotus leaves on the river outside the pavilion, and a few sparrows fell on the lotus leaves, chirping non-stop, with a very melodious voice.Kangxi coughed and scared the sparrow away.He said: "My health is getting worse every day. Once my health is not good, all the things in my heart will be suppressed. My eyes are not yet presbyopic, so I can still understand some things. You Your daily performance makes me feel at ease. You are different from other princes, and this is what I admire most about you. But..." Kangxi stretched this sentence very long. "Does the emperor have a purpose in doing this?" Kangxi's words were too tentative and skeptical, and Yinzhen didn't know how to answer for a while, his expression changed, and he said: "No matter what you do, I always take seriousness and caution as my motto. What does the emperor mean?" Kangxi said seriously: "I want to establish a new prince, who do you think is the most suitable among the emperor brothers?" Yinzhen said: "There is no better way to know a son than a father. Of course, the father has already chosen someone in his heart, and the sons and ministers dare not make wild guesses." Kangxi couldn't help but heaved a sigh of relief and stopped talking.He stood up, leaning on the guardrail of the pavilion with his hands, and looked into the depths of the back garden.Yinzhen's words resonated in Kangxi's heart. Among the many princes, Yinzhen was indeed very special.This made Kangxi feel relieved. He admired Yinzhen very much, including his words and deeds, which revealed a kindness and generosity invisibly. Isn't this what an emperor should have?Kangxi thought. Yinzhen's approach is deliberate, I have to say this.A persuasion from his close friend Dai Duo gave Yin Zhen his own ideas.It is a very stupid way to compete with the brothers of the emperor for the crown prince, and it is very likely that because of such a thing, the same mistakes as Yinfeng will be repeated.But if you are unknown, it is bound to make the emperor or others look down on you.So he took a compromise method, that is, not to form cliques like other imperial brothers; to be strict with himself, to complete the homework given by the emperor; to put filial piety first, and to have a good relationship with the imperial brothers.Although it may seem cumbersome on the surface, its effect is obvious.If you want yourself to be recognized by others, you must first restrain yourself and leave a good impression on others.In doing this, Xu Zhen is actually paving the way for his own future. Whether it is success or failure, as long as he does it, the result will not be bad.