Chapter 1253: The prince breaks the law, but is punished differently from the common people

As the saying goes: If a prince breaks the law, he shall be punished the same as the common people.

This is both right and wrong!

Because according to the records of past dynasties, even if kings and nobles broke the law, they were punished the same as common people.

However, in every dynasty there have been methods such as "atonement" and "expiation".

These methods of "atonement" and "expiation" are simply beyond the imagination of ordinary people.

Therefore, after "If a prince breaks the law, he shall be punished the same as the common people," we should add another sentence - different punishments for the same crime.

The forty-fourth year of the Kangxi reign.

The end of the first year.

The eldest prince took the lead in impeaching Crown Prince Yinreng for sixteen serious crimes.

There was solid evidence for all these sixteen major crimes, and the prince was completely powerless to refute them.

If any of these serious crimes were committed by ordinary people, it would be a crime that would implicate the entire clan.

Now, Crown Prince Yinreng had committed so many serious crimes, but he was only deposed from the position of crown prince and then confined to the clan house.

Early February.

The controversy over the crown prince being deposed has not yet subsided.

Xu Chao, the Han Dynasty Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, once again stirred up a major case called "Bai Guan Xing Shu".

After investigation by the Dali Temple and other government offices, Emperor Kangxi ruled:
"Eighth Prince Yinsi, Ninth Prince Yinlu, Tenth Prince Yin'e, and Fourteenth Prince Yin'zhen colluded with each other and committed thirteen serious crimes."

Among the thirteen pieces of evidence, the "Biographies of Officials" jointly compiled by the Eighth Prince and the Ninth Prince aroused protests from the ministers.

This "Biographies of Officials" contains the secrets of more than 300 court officials, and more than 200 officials were coerced and forced to form a clique with the Eight Kings for personal gain.

In order to support the huge number of the Eight Princes' Party, princes Yinsi, Yin'er, Yin'e, Yin'zhen and others accepted bribes of nearly 20 million taels of silver in just a few years, including 12 million taels of salt tax in Jiangnan.

You have to know that the salt tax paid to the national treasury by the entire Jiangnan Salt Inspectorate was only more than 6 million taels a year.

The Eight Kings Party committed such a serious crime, which is truly a heinous crime.

Moreover, the large number of officials involved in the Eight Kings Party had begun to shake the foundation of the Qing Dynasty.

In a rage, Kangxi demoted the four princes to commoners, confined them to the clan house, and made them accompany the crown prince.

Many concubines in the harem were also implicated.

For example, Concubine Yi, Concubine Rong, Concubine Hui, Concubine Liang, a total of sixteen people, were all stripped of their titles as concubines and sent to the Ye Ting Palace.

The emperor's close confidants, such as the leading eunuchs Li Dequan, Liang Jiugong, and Wei Zhu, were also implicated. A total of more than 30 eunuchs of all ranks and more than 60 palace maids were all given poisoned wine and committed suicide.

Prince Yinzhen of Zhi colluded with the Eight Princes' Party, was demoted to the rank of Beizi, stripped of all his official positions, and forced to reflect on his actions at home.

In addition, all the two or three hundred court officials involved in the case were investigated for forming cliques for personal gain, and countless of them were confiscated, exterminated, or exiled.

After this incident, the Qing government was badly damaged.

Kangxi even fell seriously ill because of this and had to leave the important affairs of the court to the princes to handle together.

There are now six adult princes in the court: the third prince Yinzhi, the fourth prince Yinzhen, the fifth prince Yinqi, the seventh prince Yinyou, the twelfth prince Yinluo, and the thirteenth prince Yinxiang.

Among them, Yinxiang belonged to the die-hard "Four Masters Party" and was sent by Kangxi to conquer Junggar and Lazang Khan.

The seventh prince Yinyou had a lame leg and was unable to succeed to the throne.

The twelfth prince Yinluo, his mother was of humble origin and he himself was a nobody.

The only ones who could compete with Su Mingzhe were the third prince Yinzhi and the fifth prince Yinqi.

However, after seeing Su Mingzhe's insidious and vicious methods, these two princes were so frightened that they claimed to be sick and recuperated at home. They also cut off their relations with the ministers in the court and acted as if they would no longer compete.

In this way, the Qing Dynasty actually formed a situation where "the Fourth Master was regulating the country."

At this point, Kangxi finally realized that it was true that the barking dog never bites.

The Fourth Prince, who has always been portrayed as a "lonely minister", is actually a truly cunning and treacherous person.

But now it was too late for Kangxi to regret.

Before we knew it, it was already May.

Su Mingzhe has been regent for three months.

The situation was set, and all officials submitted. They submitted petitions one after another, asking Kangxi to make the fourth prince Yinzhen the crown prince.

Under such circumstances, unless Kangxi chose to break off relations, he could only hold his nose and acquiesce to the matter.

Kangxi, who was still ill, accepted the advice of civil and military officials and appointed the fourth prince Yinzhen as the crown prince. He also ordered the crown prince Yinzhen to regent. He himself took some young princes and princesses and concubines to Chengde to escape the summer heat and recuperate.

The imperial carriage of Kangxi was sent away.

Su Mingzhe then moved into the Prince's Eastern Palace with his entire family and began to sort out the affairs of state.

The Prince's Party, the Eldest Prince's Party, and the Eight Kings' Party were all destroyed, leaving behind countless messes.

If Su Mingzhe doesn't deal with it in time, there will be a big mess.

After handling the memorials every day, Su Mingzhe would have someone make a copy and send it to Kangxi for review on time.

At first, Kangxi thought Su Mingzhe was a treacherous and evil person who deceived himself with the image of a "lone minister".

But, with time washes away.

Kangxi watched Su Mingzhe's means, methods and reasons for handling government affairs, and gradually understood Su Mingzhe's governing philosophy.

Comparing himself with people of the same age, Kangxi couldn't help but admire Su Mingzhe:
"It's a pity that the fourth child is not the son of Empress Xiaoyiren, otherwise, there wouldn't be such a mess between us father and son!"

Early July.

Kangxi sent someone to convey the imperial edict, stating that all court affairs would be handled by Crown Prince Yinzhen and no longer needed to be submitted to Chengde for his review.

This imperial edict also represents Kangxi's trust in Su Mingzhe's ability to govern.

The situation in the court was originally somewhat chaotic, but with the issuance of this imperial edict, people's hearts were immediately stabilized.

At this time, Yinxiang, who had been on the march for more than four months, brought back good news. He had won three battles in a row and defeated Lazang Khan. Now he began to move to the Tianshan Mountains and continue to attack the Junggar tribe.

Su Mingzhe was overjoyed when he heard this, and specially requested an imperial decree to reward Yinxiang with the title of Duolo Prince. He also issued an imperial decree, ordering Maertai and more than a dozen other generals from outside the Great Wall to assist Yinxiang in attacking the Junggar tribe.

Another month passed in the blink of an eye.

In previous years, Kangxi would return from Chengde in August, around the beginning of autumn.

But this year, Kangxi ordered people to prepare dragon boats in advance, and as soon as August arrived, he took a boat to the south of the Yangtze River.

Then Kangxi took a dragon boat and traveled to the south of the Yangtze River for the fifth time.

Su Mingzhe continued to concentrate on handling government affairs.

This day.

Crown Princess Rouze, along with Nian Shilan, Lan Xin, Yixiu and a few other women, returned from paying respects to Concubine De, with a look of worry on her face.

"What's wrong? Is your mother feeling unwell?"

"That's not true."

Yixiu was a person who could not keep secrets, and before her sister could speak, she spoke directly:
"Just now, when my sister took us to pay her respects, my aunt said that she missed the Fourteenth Master and said some unpleasant words about it..."

"Harsh words?"

Su Mingzhe couldn't help but frown when he heard this.

Over the past six months, every time I went to pay my respects to Concubine De, she never treated me well and often said a lot of unpleasant things to me.

Unexpectedly, Concubine De’s temper is getting worse and worse, and she doesn’t even give face to her two nieces, Rouze and Yixiu.

"It's actually nothing."

Rouze didn't want the man to worry about this, so she forced a smile and said:

"Perhaps it's because Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching and Auntie misses Fourteenth Brother, that's why she's like this. Maybe she'll be fine in a few days."

Su Mingzhe thought for a moment, thinking about the now stable situation in the court, he sighed and said:

“Parents’ love for their children is the most profound truth of heaven and earth.”

"The Empress Dowager misses her Fourteenth Brother so much that she is depressed. I am afraid that she will become hurt due to the accumulated worry!"

"It is the duty of children to be filial to their parents."

"Now that I know that the Empress Dowager is sad and upset, but I don't do anything about it, I'm afraid that heaven and earth will not tolerate it."

"Wan'er, go to Yonghe Palace again and tell mother that I have written a memorial and sent it to the emperor by express horse, asking the emperor to allow fourteenth brother to return to the palace for imprisonment. In addition, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, fourteenth brother will be allowed to enter the palace to reunite with mother!"

All dynasties have been based on "loyalty and filial piety".

If Su Mingzhe does not want to be constantly criticized by the court and the public, he must do a good job of pretending to be in front of Concubine De.

As for what I did behind the scenes, as long as it is not written in history books, who can say anything?
(End of this chapter)