The so-called true "lonely minister" is Kangxi's expectation and hope for Yongzheng, which contains two meanings: "lonely" and "subject".
In the "Yongzheng Dynasty", the first mention of the word "lone minister" is after Yongzheng and the thirteenth brother Yinxiang successfully completed the task of raising funds for disaster relief in Jiangnan and returned to the capital, Yongzheng took the initiative to express his willingness to take over the task of chasing the arrears of the household department:
"As long as it is beneficial to the imperial court and beneficial to the Jiangshan Society of our Great Qing Dynasty, it is not a big deal for the sons and daughters to be an orphan minister."
At this time, yongzheng's "lone minister" actually corresponds to the outside world's evaluation of his "iron heart cold noodle king". The reason why he will let the princes and courtiers have such an evaluation and impression is also because he is conscientious and conscientious, upright, and selfless, never favoritism.
At this time, Yongzheng mentioned that he wanted to be a "lone minister", which was also to show Kangxi that in addition to maintaining this integrity and indomitability, he also had to adhere to the supremacy of the interests of the state and the imperial court, and would not be afraid to do things because of fear of offending people, and even engage in favoritism and fraud, and complicity.
It can be said that Yongzheng's "lone minister" is nakedly mocking the Eight Brothers.
Prior to this, The Eight Brothers were known as the "Eight Sages King", and his good popularity, in addition to his constant hollowing out of his mind and inviting people's hearts, was to condone the misconduct of officials. Especially on the issue of the deficit of the household department, it is precisely because of his leniency and indulgence that the officials in charge of the household department have the officials who can arbitrarily owe the treasury money and money, resulting in the country encountering such a crisis and having no money to help the disaster, it can be said that he is using the state's resources and the security of the imperial court to buy people's hearts for himself.
Therefore, the core of what Yongzheng calls "lonely subjects" is not afraid of offending people, not afraid of being excluded and scolded by others.
However, Kangxi was not satisfied with how Yongzheng viewed the concept of "lonely subject", so he said:
"I want you to be a real orphan!"
This is The Kangxi Emperor's answer to Yongzheng after Yongzheng asked the Thirteenth Brother Yinxiang for a reward from the Kangxi Emperor.
"True orphan minister", compared with "lone minister", has one more "real", which means that "lone minister" in Kangxi's view is not only not afraid of offending people, but also has this deeper meaning.
"Lonely", lonely, isolated, this is a state of mind, but also a state.
Take Yongzheng's intercession with Kangxi as the thirteenth brother, hoping that YinXiang would also be rewarded by the Kangxi Emperor, but was refuted by the Kangxi Emperor, in fact, Kangxi was telling Yongzheng of the two realities that have happened and may continue to happen in the future:
First, sometimes, doing something does not necessarily lead to the reward it deserves;
Second, he cooperated with others to complete errands, but the credit is that like Yongzheng and Thirteen Brother Yinxiang, it will only be counted on the head of one person.
Therefore, when such a situation occurs, it is necessary for the parties to have sufficient endurance.
When your merits are not recognized or there is no reward, you must have the psychological endurance, do not complain, and learn to accept reality.
When you see that the person who completes the errand with you is rewarded, but you do not have any reward, you must face this reality, do not envy, do not doubt.
When you receive a reward yourself and another person does not receive a reward, you must also have the eyes that can withstand the doubts and suspicions of others, and be able to accept your own reward without caring for him.
Therefore, Kangxi is actually using Yongzheng to intercede for the thirteen brothers, telling Yongzheng the truth of being an official and the state of mind that a mature official should have, and a person has the endurance of these things, and the difficulty of it is far more than just caring about whether he offends people, which is the reality and mentality that Kangxi wants Yongzheng to have.
"Subject", as a subject, is also a state of mind.
At this time, Kangxi had already discovered that above the imperial court, the "Eight Ye Party Clique" headed by the Eight Brothers Yin Yu and the Great Brother Yin Yu and others had begun to covet Yin Rong's position as crown prince, and they were doing everything possible to obstruct him, hollowing out their minds, and were ready to overthrow him at any time, so that he could replace him. Although Kangxi was quite disgusted by this, he could not help it.
Under such circumstances, Yongzheng continued to side with Prince Yinrong, and as a member of the "Princelings" and a supporter of Prince Yinrong, he gave Yinrong great encouragement and help, which made Kangxi feel pleased.
On the one hand, his own absurdity and improper handling of things often made Kangxi unable to come to the stage; on the other hand, from yinrong's later criticism of Yongzheng's "fierce excitement", it can be seen that Prince Yinrong had no consciousness and courage to protect his team, and was not a qualified leader at all.
However, even if the crown prince YinRong was like this, Kangxi still regarded it as the successor of the best person, after all, Yin Rong had been the prince for more than thirty years, and the relationship was complicated, including Kangxi's own emotional factors. Therefore, at this time, Kangxi had some expectations for Yongzheng.
First, to maintain the state of "being a subject" to the prince, continue to support and support the prince, whether it is now, or even after Yin Rong ascends the throne, we must recognize and help him.
Second, maintain the mentality of "being a subject" to the prince, do not worry about taking down the prince himself and replacing him, but treat the prince as a brother and a courtier as always.
This is the meaning of this "true" in what Kangxi calls "true orphans.".
Returning to the matter of chasing after the arrears of the household department, Kangxi asked Yongzheng to be this "lone minister", which was actually a kind of protection for Yongzheng and the thirteenth brother Yinxiang.
Kangxi not only categorically refused Yongzheng's intercession on behalf of the thirteenth brother Yinxiang, but also rejected his request to work with Yinxiang to pursue the arrears of the household department.
In addition to the aforementioned mentioned that Kangxi hoped to sharpen Yongzheng's mentality through this time, Kangxi at this time did not want Yinxiang to participate in it, which was actually a kind of protection for Yongzheng and Yinxiang.
First of all, with the character and personality of the thirteenth brother Yinxiang, it is not possible to really recover the arrears.
Yin Xiang, in addition to the name of "chivalrous liver and righteousness", he is not like the "false benevolence and false righteousness" of the Eight Brothers Yin Yu, his "benevolence" is from the heart, but this often becomes his own "weakness" and is exploited by others.
For example, the Ninth Brother Yinyu asked Wei Dongting to go to the thirteenth Brother Yinxiang to intercede, and sure enough, Yin Xiang could not see Wei Dongting's tragic situation, and then hoped to intercede with Yongzheng, and after unsuccessfully interceding with Yongzheng, he took the initiative to pay his own pocket and think of a way for Wei Dongting.
You must know that Kangxi chased after the arrears this time, he was ruthless, he only cared about whether the treasury could be filled, whether the crisis could be overcome, so he did not want anyone to continue to owe the treasury silver for any reason, even if he used his own body to repay the debt for the courtiers, he had to fill this hole first.
And like the thirteen brothers, others will believe others as soon as they intercede, and the task of chasing down the arrears is categorically incomplete in the hands of the thirteen brothers, his existence can only become a constraint for Yongzheng, and if he really wants the treasury to be restored and filled, he still has to rely on people like Yongzheng who have an "iron heart" to achieve effective results.
Of course, the Kangxi Emperor was also very responsible for Yin Xiang's use and then trapped himself in it, so he could only isolate himself from it at this time and not let him participate in it, so as not to implicate Yin Xiang in this matter.
Secondly, Kangxi was very worried that Yongzheng and the thirteenth brother Yinxiang would fall in love with each other.
In fact, in the matter of Wei Dongting being forced to commit suicide and Tian Wenjing being beaten on the street, there had already been a rift in the relationship between Yongzheng and the thirteenth brother Yinxiang, if it were not for Tian Wenjing's heavy heart to say good things for Yongzheng and tell Yin Xiangyongzheng's good intentions in doing so, perhaps the two people would have parted ways since this time.
The Thirteenth Brother Yinxiang is truly "benevolent", but at this time, Yongzheng is "only recognizing money, not recognizing people", and does not mix any emotional factors, which will inevitably deviate from the values of the Thirteenth Brother Yinxiang, who has always been serious about love and righteousness, and will inevitably be misunderstood by him.
At this time, Kangxi needed two people to be able to work together to assist Prince Yinrong and become an important support force for him, so if the brothers of these two people were discordant because of this matter, it would inevitably be more than worth the loss for Kangxi.
Therefore, Kangxi, in the name of "lone minister", let Yongzheng complete the task of chasing the arrears of the household department alone, and did not let the thirteen brothers Yinxiang participate, which shows the good intentions of the Kangxi Emperor.