Chapter 1240: Punch a nail and watch coldly

Facing Yinsi's bow, Su Mingzhe stood up and avoided him, then stopped him and said:

"Eighth brother, what you said is very conspicuous. Not to mention that the emperor is broad-minded and will never be polite to Ruoxi. Just considering Ruoxi's cleverness, she will not be in any danger."

Seeing this, Yinxiang and Yinzhen also came over and supported Yinsi to prevent him from bowing.

After some polite greetings, everyone sat down.

Su Mingzhe then sighed in his heart:

"The Eighth Prince Yinsi is too cunning."

"In order to improve my impression of Ruoxi, I deliberately used ventriloquism to talk to her, to reassure her and tell her not to be nervous."

"Now, Lao Ba is using the trick of 'following closely' to thank me on behalf of Ruoxi, which will alienate the relationship between me and Ruoxi."

"If I were really Yinzhen, I would have to suffer this loss."

Su Mingzhe was secretly annoyed at Yinsi's cunning mind. With the thought of "it's impolite not to reciprocate", he smiled lightly and said:

"Eighth brother, when you were hosting a birthday party for tenth brother last time, you said that your sister-in-law likes to worship Buddha. What a coincidence, when I sent people to look for Zen monks a few days ago, I accidentally found three of the five Shaolin elders: Baimei, Daode, and Wumei."

"Master Wumei is a Buddhist nun. It would be inconvenient for her to live with me! Since my sister-in-law likes to worship Buddha and chant sutras, why not invite Master Wumei back?"

"Old Four is trying to plant a nail in my house!"

Yinsi was not stupid, so he naturally did not want to accept Su Mingzhe's "good intentions" and let others place people around him.

However, he had just brought Ruolan and Ruoxi over to express his gratitude, showing his concern for them.

Now Su Mingzhe used this reason again. If Yinsi directly refused, it would seem that his previous action was too hypocritical, sinister and domineering.

After thinking it over again and again, in order not to leave a bad impression on Ruolan and Ruoxi, Yinsi could only grit his teeth and nodded in agreement.

At the same time, Yinsi's heart was full of doubts:

"This Fourth Brother is really capable. In order to force the Southern Shaolin Temple, which was colluding with the Tiandihui, to surrender, the old man sent 3,000 Cavalry Battalions to besiege and even burn Southern Shaolin Temple, but he was unable to force a single one of the Five Shaolin Elders to surrender. As a result, when the Fourth Brother made a move, he actually recruited three of them!"

Feeling that Su Mingzhe was a little "unfathomable", Yinsi sat for another two minutes. Not daring to stay any longer, he found an excuse to leave and left with the Ruolan sisters.

After the three of them left, Yinxiang and Yinzhen looked at Su Mingzhe in confusion and asked in surprise:

"Fourth brother, when did you persuade the five Shaolin elders to surrender?"

"Not five elders, only three elders!"

Su Mingzhe sighed softly, and then said:

"I heard from people that the two Zen masters, Baimei and Daode, abandoned Buddhism and followed Taoism, and worshipped at Zhenwu Temple in Wudang Mountain, so I had the opportunity to invite them down the mountain. As for Master Wumei, she lived in seclusion in Daliang Mountain... I agreed to her three requests, and then I invited her out of the mountain!"

Yinxiang and Yinzhen both asked with concern:

"What about the other two elders?"

Su Mingzhe thought of Concubine Li's report and shook his head slightly.

"Zhishan and Miao Xian are now hiding in Foshan and Guangzhou respectively, refusing to show up. There is no solution for now!"

Yinxiang and Yinzhen both secretly thought it was a pity when they heard this:
"The Five Shaolin Elders have always supported the anti-Qing and restoration of Ming activities. If we can get the Five Shaolin Elders to surrender, it will definitely greatly reduce the Han people's resistance to our Qing Dynasty!"

Su Mingzhe did not quite agree with the two people's views.

During the reign of Emperor Kangxi, a relatively gentle attitude was always adopted towards the conflicts between the Manchus and the Han people.

During the 61 years of Emperor Kangxi's reign, there were only thirteen cases of "literary inquisition", and only five of them resulted in the execution of the criminals.

In addition, there is a famous "literary inquisition" in the Qing Dynasty - the "Lü Liuliang case". Although the protagonist was a person during the reign of Emperor Kangxi, the case was handled during the reign of Emperor Yongzheng.

This also shows that during the Kangxi period, the imperial court had a very lenient attitude towards organizations that opposed the Qing Dynasty and restored the Ming Dynasty.

Even though Kangxi was so lenient in his attitude towards public speech, he still could not dispel the hostility of the Han people towards the Manchus.

Now Yinxiang and Yinzhen are actually counting on the appeal of the 'Five Shaolin Elders'. That is really wishful thinking.

The three of them chatted for a while, and when it was You time, they came to the front of the Qianqing Palace together.

The Queen Mother has always adhered to the way of keeping healthy and never stayed up late, so she would not come to the evening banquet. Today, there were only Kangxi and his concubines, as well as the princes and their families.

After half of the You hour, Kangxi came with some concubines.

In terms of seating order, those closest to Kangxi were Concubine Tong, Huifei, Yifei, Defei, Rongfei, Liangfei, and Chengfei.

Among them, Concubine Tong was the younger sister of Empress Xiaoyi Ren. She was close to the Fourth Prince Yinzhen and had no children.

And Concubine Hui was the biological mother of the eldest prince Yinzhen.

Concubine Yi, Guo Luoluo, was the biological mother of the fifth prince Yinqi, the ninth prince Yin'er, and the eleventh prince Yin'zhen (who died young), and was also the aunt of Yinsi's wives Minghui and Mingyu.

Defei was the biological mother of the fourth prince Yinzhen and the fourteenth prince Yinzhi.

Rong Fei was the biological mother of the third prince Yinzhi.

Concubine Liang was the biological mother of the eighth prince Yinsi.

Concubine Cheng was the biological mother of the seventh prince Yinyou.

Sitting below the concubines are the princes.

The wives and princesses, along with some children, sat near the stage.

Just like during the day, Kangxi made an opening speech first.

Everyone started to toast Kangxi.

When the Tenth Prince toasted Kangxi, the plot unfolded again.

Under the persuasion of Concubine Yi and Concubine Liang, Kangxi betrothed Mingyu to the tenth prince Yin'e.

This is also compensation for Mingyu being 'bullied by Ruoxi' a few days ago.

Yin'ai likes Ruoxi, so naturally he doesn't want to marry the arrogant and domineering Mingyu, so he opens his mouth to disobey the emperor's order.

However, when the Eighth Prince saw that the situation was not good, he quickly stopped it with his eyes.

In the end, Yin'ai forced himself to smile and agreed to the marriage.

If we don’t mention this matter, how much impact will it have on everyone present.

Anyway, Su Mingzhe was in a good mood and started to toast the Fifth Prince Yinqi beside him.

After the toast, everyone began to concentrate on watching the show on the stage.

Su Mingzhe then began to deduce what events would happen next.

The prince had always been absurd and had no ability to judge people. Under the instigation of some of his confidants, he did all kinds of corrupt and out-of-control things, such as selling official positions, smuggling salt, and manipulating grain stores.

The eldest prince, who was determined to overthrow the crown prince, had great ambitions but little talent and no real ability. He just thought that since he was the eldest prince, he could let Kangxi make him the new crown prince after overthrowing the crown prince.

To this end, the eldest prince relied on the connections left to him by the former prime minister and kept making trouble.

On the other hand, in order to establish his reputation as the "Eighth Wise King", the Eighth Prince Yinsi unscrupulously wooed officials at all levels. No matter whether they were good or bad, as long as they expressed their willingness to submit to him, he would accept them completely.

Su Mingzhe thought that if he wanted to cut the Gordian knot, he could use the eldest prince and the eighth prince.

For example, some evidence of the prince's crimes was handed over to the subordinates of the eldest prince and the eighth prince.

"I believe that once they get the evidence, it will be impossible for the prince to get involved in Ruoxi's affairs again!"

　Lu Liuliang was born during the Wanli period and was a scholar in the Shunzhi period.

　　Later, he proposed a rather sharp theory of "the debate between China and the barbarians" and also colluded and connected with a large number of anti-Qing and restoration organizations.

　　During the reign of Emperor Kangxi, he knew everything about Lu Liuliang, but he never ordered his arrest.

　　The story continued until the Yongzheng period.

　　In order to clear up social conflicts, Emperor Yongzheng set a trap for Lu Liuliang's disciples and tempted them to rebel. He then killed dozens of them and captured hundreds of them and sent them to Ningguta as slaves.

　　For this reason, there is a legend among the people that Lu Liuliang's granddaughter "Lu Siniang" entered the palace under a pseudonym and cut off Yongzheng's head in order to avenge her father.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)