Chapter 1250: Father and son turn against each other, no gain, no early rise
It didn't take Li Dequan much time to look for Su Mingzhe.

In other words, Li Dequan didn't waste any time at all. He had just walked out of the Imperial Study and had not yet left the Southern Study when he saw Su Mingzhe and Prime Minister Zhang Yushu walking towards the Imperial Study, talking and laughing.

"Your servant pays respects to the Fourth Master and to Lord Zhang!"

After bigwigs like Zhang Ying, Soetu, and Nalan Mingzhu left the court, Zhang Yushu became the undisputed head of all officials in the Qing Dynasty.

Li Guangdi, who was more famous than Zhang Yushu, was currently only the Minister of Personnel under the management of Su Mingzhe.

"no!"

As a prince, Su Mingzhe is not as powerful as Zhang Yushu, but his status is higher than Zhang Yushu.

"Fourth Master, the Emperor has summoned you to the Imperial Study!"

After hearing this, Su Mingzhe said goodbye to Zhang Yushu and followed Li Dequan to the imperial study.

When Kangxi heard someone coming in, he thought Li Dequan had come back again, and immediately shouted in a deep voice:
"Have you found the fourth one?"

This old man is very angry!

Su Mingzhe sneered in his heart, but his face remained calm, and he bowed respectfully:
"Your son pays respects to the Emperor!"

"Humph--"

Kangxi looked at his son who stood up on his own initiative after greeting him without waiting for him to speak, and his anger suddenly surged to his head:

"Rebellious son, are you going to rebel?"

"I don't dare!"

Su Mingzhe looked at the broken pieces of the tea bowl on the ground, his tone remained calm as usual, and he smiled lightly:
"Just now, I was discussing government affairs with Zhang Zhongtang, and the Third Eunuch suddenly said that the Emperor had something to ask. I came here immediately, not daring to be negligent in the slightest! I wonder what the Emperor wanted to ask me for?"

Kangxi saw that Su Mingzhe was trying to change the subject, and although he wanted to have this rebellious son taken out and beaten to death, he remembered something very important and temporarily put Su Mingzhe's impoliteness aside, and then grabbed the booklet on the table and threw it over:

"Son, please explain to me what this booklet is all about."

Su Mingzhe took the booklet lightly, flipped through it briefly, confirmed that it was the one he wrote, and explained with a faint smile on his face:
"Father, a few days ago, when my tenth brother got married, I went to congratulate him. I overheard many princes and ministers, and even some royal relatives, saying that my tenth brother and Maertai Ruoxi were in love, and that Guo Luoluo had asked Concubine Yi for help, and instigated Father to grant the marriage on Mid-Autumn Festival, thus breaking up the couple."

"I wrote this booklet to tell those people who are talking nonsense that the Emperor's marriage of Guoluo Luoshi Mingyu to my tenth brother was not a 'forcible separation of a couple', so that they would stop making random rumors and slandering the royal family affairs."

"If Your Majesty thinks that my behavior is inappropriate, please punish me!"

[Since you, my rebellious son, have said so, why should I punish you? ]

Kangxi looked at the rebellious son in front of him with a grim face. If eyes could kill, he would want to kill this rebellious son a thousand times.

He naturally knew that the original intention of marrying Guo Luoluo Mingyu to the tenth prince Yin'e was to break up the couple.

However, he is the emperor, who dares to say he is wrong?

What's more, when he broke up the couple, he also found a scapegoat - Concubine Yi of the Guo Luoluo clan.

Now he has set his eyes on Ruoxi, but just because he doesn't want to be criticized, he wants to wait for Ruoxi to participate in the audition voluntarily and then transfer her to serve him.

As a result, the fourth brother played a trick on himself: "the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind" - he intercepted the prize.

However, the reasons given by Su Mingzhe did not allow Kangxi to find any major faults.

There was silence in the imperial study for a moment.

Seeing that Kangxi's breathing was getting heavier, Su Mingzhe was afraid that he would anger the old man to death. He had no place to complain, so he could only bow and say:

"Father, if you have nothing else to do, I will take my leave. There are still a lot of things waiting for me to deal with at the Ministry of Personnel!"

Kangxi gritted his teeth and finally roared out one word:

"roll!"

"My son, please retire!"

Su Mingzhe was afraid that he would anger the old man to death, so he turned around and left without stopping for a moment.

Kangxi looked at the back of his 'evil son' as he left, and finally uttered a few words from his throat:
"Secret message... the eldest prince is returning to the capital!"

As the princes grew up, Soetu, Nalan Mingzhu and others left, and the Qing court was now divided into the eldest prince's party, the prince's party, and the eight kings' party.

Kangxi was also a ruthless man. In order to maintain checks and balances, he used the "imperial balancing act" to the extreme.

The eldest prince was allowed to take charge of the military and guard the frontier. The prince's party assisted the government and controlled the promotion and demotion of officials.

The Eight Kings Party controlled the Ministry of Revenue and held the purse strings of the Qing Dynasty.

When the three parties were fighting, the princelings gained the upper hand because of their status.

Fortunately, the Prince's Party and the Eight Kings Party are a natural alliance, which enables them to compete with the Prince.

After the three parties established a balance of power, Kangxi would usually sit back and relax on the Diaoyutai, go to the south of the Yangtze River, visit the frontier areas, and enjoy himself.

Now, Su Mingzhe's tough attitude instantly made Kangxi feel a sense of crisis.

Kangxi urgently needs to find someone who can suppress Su Mingzhe.

And in Kangxi's view, this person is only the eldest prince who is commanding troops outside.

It was already December when the eldest prince received the imperial edict and rushed back to the capital.

Kangxi suddenly summoned the eldest prince back to Beijing. People who were sensitive to politics all noticed and realized this.

This day.

The Ninth Prince Yinzhen ran to the Eighth Prince's residence, unable to suppress his joy, and said excitedly:
"Myna, here comes the chance!"

"What opportunity has come?"

Yinsi is now in charge of the Imperial Household Department. Because he is busy with the Spring Festival preparations, he pays less attention to other matters.

When Yinzhen told Kangxi about the secret decree of the eldest prince to return in detail, he continued excitedly:
"Myna, we all guessed that the Emperor asked the eldest brother to come back just because the New Year has passed."

"It turns out that we all guessed wrong!"

"The fourth child has been so foolish this time that he actually offended the emperor for a woman. Now that the eldest child is back, if he wants to deal with the fourth child, he will definitely depose the crown prince first!"

In response to Yinzhen's excitement, Yinsi directly poured cold water on him:

"Even if the crown prince is deposed, the throne will be established by the eldest son, and he will still be the eldest son. What does it have to do with us?"

"Even if we don't establish the eldest son as the heir, but establish the most capable one, do you think we can compare to Fourth Brother now?"

Yinzhen said in confusion:

"My dear brother, are you confused? Now that the fourth child has offended the emperor, how could the emperor still want to make the fourth child the heir?"

Looking at this venomous old ninth in front of him, Yinsi felt a little disappointed and said:
"The 'offense' you mentioned was told to you by Li Dequan, but do the civil and military officials know about this?"

After hearing this, Yinzhen quickly shook his head and said:

"Well... I haven't heard from our people recently. Have you received any relevant news?"

Kangxi originally wanted Ruoxi to enter the palace to serve him. In order to make up for the tenth prince Yin'e, he married him to Mingyu from the Guo Luoluo clan.

Only a very small number of people knew about this matter, such as Li Dequan who served Kangxi and several other people involved.

Apart from this, no one knows the truth.

Outsiders didn't even know that Kangxi wanted Ruoxi to enter the palace, so how could they know that Su Mingzhe had intercepted Kangxi and offended him?
Seeing that Lao Jiu was not too stupid, Yinsi reminded him:

"Since the court officials are unaware of these matters, then tell me, if the emperor asks the court officials to nominate a virtuous prince to be the crown prince, do you think the officials will nominate the fourth prince who has been in charge of the Ministry of Personnel for many years, or me, the eighth prince who has only been in charge of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for less than two years?"

Yinzhen, who was awakened by Yinsi, suddenly began to sweat profusely in the middle of winter:
"My dear brother, I was wrong. I almost made things difficult for the eldest and fourth brother!"

Seeing that the ninth child had regained consciousness, Yinsi finally heaved a long sigh:

"This opportunity is indeed too rare, but unfortunately, we can't seize it!"

"Notify our people that if the eldest prince wants to attack the crown prince, we must not add insult to injury. If necessary, we must lend a hand!"

After Yinsi finished speaking, he couldn't help but sigh.

It was obvious that the wish he had hidden in his heart for many years was to dethrone the prince.

But now an opportunity has arisen, but because he cannot benefit from it, he has to protect the prince instead.

This is such a huge irony!
(End of this chapter)