The forty-fifth year of Kangxi, autumn.
Before dawn broke, as the princes and ministers entered the Golden Throne Hall, the shops along Chang’an Avenue began to open one after another.
Wisps of smoke curled in the faint morning light, quickly dispersing with the savory aroma of food, drawing in the bustling footsteps.
The Eight Banners Nobility, carrying birdcages, had risen early from bed.
Accompanied by the chirping of birds and beasts, they strolled leisurely in search of breakfast.
Of course, those with such leisure mostly had kitchen staff at home.
But when there was no fresh melon to eat upon waking, breakfast inevitably felt rather lackluster.
Amidst the crowds, one could faintly hear a shop assistant’s cheerful greeting: “Hey, good morning to the Third Master! Have you eaten yet?”
“Nonsense! Yesterday I had three taels of Lihua Bai, and now my stomach’s unsettled. Bring me a plate of stir-fried liver to soothe my throat!”
A wealthy lord, sporting a bulging belly and a melon-rind cap, placed his birdcage on the table and shouted loudly enough for all around to hear.
“Ah!”
The shop assistant served even more attentively, “Alright then, is Third Master off to handle important matters today?”
“Lihua Bai is mostly tribute wine, not easy to come by outside. Lucky your noble lady is so accomplished—when it comes to face, you’re second to none!” Immediately, someone nearby chimed in to flatter further.
The Third Master of the Xitala Clan basked in their praise, so content one could hardly see any sign of his hangover.
He barely touched his stir-fried liver, took a sip of soybean juice, wiped his mouth, and, urged on by everyone’s flattery, began to speak.
“The other day, some mistresses in the Imperial Palace were still concerned about our common folks’ harvests!”
“Our mistress is merciful, afraid that after we harvest there’d be just enough to eat and drink but nothing warm to wear, so she specially had the Imperial Household Department arrange for weaving cloth.”
Everyone looked at the brocade on Third Master Xitala’s body and silently cursed his shamelessness—since when were there commoners with such big bellies, brains of fat, and decked in gold and jade?
But in order to hear more, they kept up the flattery and urged him to continue.
Third Master Xitala shook his double chin, supremely pleased.
“My daughter has always been clever with her hands; who in the neighborhood doesn’t know? Otherwise, how could she have entered the palace as a female official?”
“She actually managed to make a sturdy fabric for just a few coins per foot—not only did she earn silk flowers as a reward from the palace, but also received fine tobacco and wine from Deputy Director Wei!”
“I may not care for such things myself, but I can only gift them to in-laws and friends. After all, I can’t waste my daughter’s filial piety, can I?”
The onlookers grew more and more excited.
When Third Master Xitala mentioned such cheap cloth, a loud cheer broke out.
“It still takes our Fifteenth Prince’s kind heart—when he takes a Fuqin, he still remembers us common folk. He must be a Bodhisattva reincarnated!”
“That’s right, soon the shops of the Imperial Household Department will surely have good things—when the time comes, we regulars must go and support them!”
“Third Master, with such an accomplished noble lady at home, perhaps you’ll soon become a Marquis!”
Their praise made Third Master Xitala so delighted he nearly disappeared behind his eyebrows.
He slurped down several mouthfuls of stir-fried liver, feeling even more satisfied than if he’d eaten dragon liver and phoenix marrow.
And none of the crowd found it strange.
These days, everyone in the capital—from the highest nobles to the lowest farmers—knew that for the Fifteenth Prince’s marriage selection, the palace was once again bustling with all sorts of activity, reported in the official gazette every few days.
Since the end of last year, the civil and military officials all understood: even though the Great Qing had no designated heir, barring unforeseen circumstances, the Fifteenth Prince was surely the next Emperor.
Everyone was now thinking of his marriage.
The palace’s female officials, and even the ladies paying respects to the Empress Dowager and Imperial Noble Consort, were like swarms of bees and butterflies around a budding flower, so energetic that the Fifteenth Prince had already begged the Emperor to let him leave the palace and establish his own residence.
Yet Kangxi refused, using the excuse that the Fifteenth Prince was still young and unmarried.
A joke!
If the son left the palace, how could the Empress Dowager and Fang He enjoy the excitement?
In the end, both would make Kangxi run about gathering news outside, and it would still be Kangxi who’d end up exhausted.
The lesson of “better you than me” was something Kangxi had mastered, so he could only make his son endure for a few more years.
Yin Hui pleaded in Qianqing Palace to no avail, so he went to his mother to complain, saying his life was unbearable.
He argued, “If I stay in the palace, I must find a way to live in peace. I beg Mother to have some pity on your son.”
Fang He struggled to keep from laughing, replying, “Do as you wish. With your father here, you have me to support you.”
That was exactly what Yin Hui wanted.
He didn’t really want to leave the palace.
As the most promising but hidden successor, before he built his own power, nowhere was safer than inside the palace.
Without delay, he asked Nalan Mingzhu and Wei Zhu for cooperation, instructing the Zaoban Office to craft several thousand peony silk flowers, each with an anti-counterfeit mark.
Then, Yin Hui had the Imperial Household Department gather all female officials, giving each ten silk flowers.
Next, Fang He went to the Empress Dowager to request an Edict of Grace, formally authorizing the female officials to go to the Imperial Household Department to announce the so-called ‘Flower Competition Order’.
If anyone could win the Fifteenth Prince’s favor, or if their family or themselves contributed to the court or harem, they could receive silk flowers as rewards.
But if they troubled the Fifteenth Prince or displeased Yin Hui, he could have the Supervisory Division deduct their silk flowers.
By the next selection, whichever female official had the most silk flowers would receive a marriage decree from the Emperor and become the Fifteenth Prince’s Fuqin.
What a move!
When this edict came out, everyone in and out of the palace cursed silently—like father, like son, and this child of the “monkey mistress” was even more troublesome!
Trying to curry favor with the powerful was becoming harder and harder!
The “Journey to the West” of hardships had now shifted from Yin Hui onto all the female officials and the ministers.
Someone suggested, “If you don’t want the trouble, just don’t accept the silk flowers!”
Nonsense!
Risk a little, win merit, gain reputation for yourself and your family, and maybe produce a future mistress—any fool could do that math.
Never mind “Journey to the West”—even if they had to fish for the moon in the sea, they would happily scramble for the chance!
After all, seeking fortune in the past depended on the whims of fate.
Now, with the Empress Dowager and the Imperial Noble Consort in the game, only ability mattered.
So everyone comforted themselves that this was better than relying on luck, while racking their brains to comply with the Flower Competition Order.
Roads were built.
‘Today you wove new cloth, tomorrow I planted new flowers, the day after someone built a bridge, and before long people would be flocking to spend silver.’
By late autumn, not only Chang’an Avenue but even the inner city’s other roads were paved with stone, and the outer city with green bricks.
Many officials from outside Beijing felt as if they’d traveled decades into the future when they entered the capital, dazed and disoriented.
Upon learning this was part of the Fifteenth Prince’s marriage selection, all who had witnessed the commotion admired this crownless heir even more.
Just for the Fifteenth Prince’s ingenuity… perhaps the Great Qing really might restore the grandeur of the Tang Dynasty.
Wealthy lords like Third Master Xitala, who woke at dawn to flaunt their daughters’ prestige, had become a common sight in the capital—a true spectacle.
Liang Madam and Naren laughed heartily at the situation, deliberately instructing people to gather news to send into the palace, so that the Empress Dowager, the Imperial Noble Consort, Jiujiu, and the others could enjoy the gossip.
For more than half a year, the capital’s excitement never subsided.
Suddenly, Feiyan Gu, stationed at Aihui City, sent an urgent message to the capital.
Because Tsewang Araptan attacked the Kazakh Khanate, the latter split into three separate khanates—Greater, Middle, and Lesser Juz—and many defeated soldiers fled north of Shengjing, toward Aihui City and the northern Khalkha area, causing considerable losses to the Great Qing’s borders and to northern Khalkha.
This greatly angered Kangxi.
To make matters worse, early in the forty-fourth year of Kangxi, he fell seriously ill following his brother Changning’s death, and at the beginning of the forty-fifth year, fell ill again after the deaths of Prince Yu Fuquan and Prince Jian Yabu.
He wanted to tour the north, but by late summer, he began to feel unwell, suffering from a persistent low fever and developing hives.
Both the Imperial Doctors and the Imperial Medical Institute repeatedly pleaded with him, insisting that the Emperor must avoid wind, let alone long journeys, and should recuperate quietly in the capital.
Upon hearing this, Fang He’s lovely face immediately hardened.
She sneered at Kangxi, her expression alone making her point clear— You mutt, dare to leave the capital and see what happens!
Kangxi: “…..”
He could now sense when this troublesome woman cursed him.
He grabbed her, using her backside to scratch the itch from his hives, and after much deliberation, decided to dispatch the new Prince Jian, Yarjiang’a, along with the Ministry of War Vice Minister Longkodo, and the first-class imperial guard Fan Lianghan to lead troops to Aihui City.
First, to deter the defeated Juz soldiers and the restless Kazakh populace; second, to secretly investigate whether Tsewang Araptan was still secretly in contact with the Luosha.
In fact, there were plenty of veteran generals qualified to go north.
But the current Jiumen Tidud was Toheqi, not favored by Kangxi.
Kangxi intended for Yarjiang’a to inherit the Jiumen Tidud position his father Yabu once held, and hoped to appoint Longkodo as Minister of War, succeeding Dong’e Pengchun.
As for Fan Lianghan, Kangxi wanted him to be stationed in Bashu to restrain the Miao people and the restless Jungar, which is why he gave the three this opportunity.
Yarjiang’a, because of his father, had always followed Yin Hui’s lead.
Fan Lianghan, because of his wife, naturally had no other choice.
Upon receiving the imperial command, the two immediately entered Qianqing Palace to express their gratitude and prepared to head north.
Longkodo, however, felt somewhat conflicted, arriving in Qianqing Palace a step later.
He and Erlundai—one close to the Fourth Prince Yinzhen, the other to the Fifteenth Prince Yin Hui—had always calculated carefully, never putting all their eggs in one basket.
But the Fourth Prince Yinzhen was as stubborn as a stone, only close to his brothers and no one else, so inflexible it could make one grit their teeth.
How capable was Yinzhen?
Solely by virtue of his expertise in law, he’d made the Ministry of Justice flourish.
So much so that when Chen Tingjing became Minister of Justice, he found no fires left to light, running the ministry as leisurely as a retirement home.
Longkodo had always been thick-skinned since childhood.
At first, he didn’t care about Yinzhen’s cold demeanor and cozied up as the maternal uncle, even building some rapport, joking together at times.
But the more he understood Yinzhen, the more Longkodo realized there was no hope for the Fourth Prince.
He confided to his father that if this prince ascended the throne, the Tong Family would be doomed.
Because the Fourth Prince was too principled—strict and impartial to the core.