Changsheng: Peak at the Beginning

Chapter 157: Legend of Zhen Huan 29

Although Wanpin and Hui Guiren had already discussed a plan to bring down Concubine Hua, they still needed to choose a very suitable time to implement it. So Wanpin and Hui Guiren acted as usual and even ignored the Queen's secret instigation. The Queen almost exposed her true face because of her eagerness, although she didn't know that Wanpin and Hui Guiren had already suspected her.

The general election in the third year of Yongzheng's reign was postponed to the fourth year of Yongzheng's reign because of the death of the empress dowager. Originally, the emperor did not want to hold a selection of concubines. After all, Yi Xin and Hua Fei were checking and balancing each other in the harem, and Wan Fei's party was like a three-way balance of power. The emperor had never thought of breaking the current situation in the harem, but the previous dynasty and the clan said that the emperor only had four princes now. The first three had health problems, and even the third prince's biological mother died suddenly, and even the funeral was very perfunctory. It can be seen that Concubine Qi had done something outrageous, so the third prince was actually out.

It was very obvious that the Fourth Prince was not favored by the Emperor. Even with Concubine Wan acting as a middleman when he was in the Old Summer Palace, the Emperor still had a lukewarm impression of the Fourth Prince and did not take the opportunity to bring him back to the palace for education.

As for the Fifth Prince who was far away in Rehe, the Emperor did receive news that the Fifth Prince was in much better health, but from the news he got from the stick, the Fifth Prince had been spoiled by Concubine Yu, and he looked like a dandy even at a young age. If he didn't make great efforts to control his temper, he would have to rely on his brothers to ascend to the throne to see if he could get the position of prince in the future.

The Sixth Prince was born into a prominent Manchu family and was healthy since birth, but he was only three years old and nothing could be seen.

Therefore, the royal family and the previous dynasty urged the emperor to quickly hold a beauty contest, preferably choosing a few women who were easy to give birth to, so as to add more princes and princesses to the palace.

Then the royal family criticized the most favored Concubine Wan, and they were just short of pointing at her nose and scolding her for occupying the toilet without doing anything.

"It's fine for His Majesty to favor Wanpin, but he can't delay the birth of his own child!"

"The Fucha family, whom you despise, gave birth to the Sixth Prince as soon as she entered the palace, but the Wanpin, whom you have favored for so long, has no children at all. Is there something wrong with Wanpin's body? Your Majesty, please give us a clue!"

Even Ma Qi directly advised: "Your Majesty, now only my daughter has given birth to a healthy prince. We, the Fucha clan, do want glory, but we are not so crazy as to start taking sides now in order to plan for the merit of following the emperor!"

"Your Majesty, you have too few children. Although the previous emperor had all the civil and military officials in the court, you cannot deny that even if the previous emperor's princes were not suitable to be emperors, they were all talented!"

Since Ma Qi said so, what else could the emperor do but agree to the general election in August.

In April, after a great victory at the front, Nian Gengyao finally returned to his original path. At the celebration banquet, he even dared to order and scold Su Peisheng in front of all the civil and military officials and royal family members!

At that time, not only Su Peisheng had a bad look on his face, but the emperor's face was even more gloomy as if ink was about to drip. Prince Dun of the royal family was delighted to see this, and turned around and became more diligent in getting close to Nian Gengyao. No one in the harem could stop Concubine Hua's power anymore, and she even began to summon Concubine Wan, Noble Hui and Concubine An to pay their respects to her palace!

The Nian brothers and sisters' successive suicidal behaviors finally exhausted the emperor's patience.

Wanpin took the opportunity to advise the emperor, "Your Majesty, if God wants to destroy him, he must first make him crazy. General Nian is now arrogant, but his deeds are rarely known to outsiders. Perhaps, when General Nian's deeds spread throughout the capital, that will be the time for General Nian's destruction..."

The emperor thought it made sense, so he immediately sent the Sticking Rod Department out to collect evidence of Nian Gengyao's crimes, and ordered the Ministry of Internal Affairs to start making clothes for the imperial concubine.

Of course, the matter of the Imperial Concubine's clothing soon reached the ears of the Queen, Concubine Hua, Yi Xin and Concubine Duan. The Queen was sure that the Emperor must intend to promote Concubine Hua, and Concubine Hua thought so too. She even disliked that the Emperor only gave her the position of Imperial Concubine, instead of the position of Queen she had longed for, and not even the position of Imperial Concubine.

Yi Xin and Concubine Duan were both sensible people, so neither of them made any move. However, Yi Xin did not want to appear too smart, so she pretended to send someone to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to inquire and that was that.

Concubine Duan has already started to take care of her health. She wants to be in good health when Concubine Hua is on the verge of death, so that the old grudge can be completely resolved with Concubine Hua's death.

Moreover, Concubine Duan also ordered the Qi family to secretly cooperate with the Sticking Rod Office to release all the evidence of Nian Gengyao's crimes that they had collected over the years, in order to hammer Nian Gengyao to death and cut off Concubine Hua's greatest support. In this way, her old grudge with Concubine Hua could be safely resolved in the harem.

The clothes for the imperial concubine had not been made yet, but the emperor brought all the concubines except the empress to the Old Summer Palace. This year, there was one more concubine, Yupin. However, when the emperor looked at Yupin's obvious plumpness, he instantly forgot the idea of ​​bringing Yupin and her son back to the palace.

And Concubine Yu was indeed a wonderful person. She seemed to be able to talk to all the other concubines in the harem, but she was never really close to anyone, including Concubine Duan, with whom she was said to have a good relationship when they were in the palace.

Concubine Duan had long been eyeing Princess Wen Yi, the daughter of Concubine Cao. Otherwise, she would not have been willing to give Princess Wen Yi a necklace from her dowry as a gift when she was one year old. After all, even the necklace that Concubine Duan gave to Sixth Prince Hong Sheng, born to Yi Xin, when he was one year old was only slightly better than the one she gave to Princess Wen Yi.

At the suggestion of Concubine Duan, Concubine Wan and Noble Lady Hui also went to Noble Lady Cao, trying to persuade her to betray Concubine Hua. Fortunately, when the Emperor took down Nian Gengyao, he could also take down Concubine Hua at the same time.

Although Concubine Cao was tempted at first, she did not dare to do anything to stab Concubine Hua in the back. After all, her fear of Concubine Hua was almost engraved in her bones, and it could not be dispelled by a few words from Concubine Wan and Concubine Hui.

But Wanpin talked about Princess Chaogui, "Princess Chaogui is the youngest daughter of the late emperor, born to Concubine Chen, and now she is just coming of age. But I heard that there is civil unrest in Junggar, and the old Khan has already written to the court to request the princess to marry. Given the emperor's personality, he is likely to agree."

Because her father, Jizhou Assistant Commander, had been involved in raising food and grass for the frontline, Concubine Hui knew more about the war than others. At this moment, she explained to Concubine Cao, "Nian Gengyao had just won a great victory in April, but in fact, the food and grass raised by the court had been exhausted. It happened that the old Khan of Junggar was old and had a crisis of seizing power, so the old Khan asked for the princess' marriage this time to give both sides an excuse to stop the war.

Concubine Cao understood, "So when Princess Chaogui gets married, she will have to face the situation of a conflict between her husband's family and her natal family in the future..."

Soon, Concubine Cao found an excuse to come to the house in person and told Concubine Wan and Concubine Hui one thing: "Chun Changzai did not die of ordinary drowning. Chun Changzai can swim. She was killed by Concubine Hua because she heard Concubine Hua and Zhou Ninghai talking about Nian Gengyao selling official positions and titles."