My father-in-law is Kangxi

Chapter 1727 Things that shouldn’t appear

The box contained more than just gold and silver.

In addition to gold bars and silver ingots and gold and silver utensils, there were also four boxes of porcelain and four boxes of antiques.

The rarity of these antiques and curios is no less than that of the funerary objects in the niches surrounding the tomb.

Seeing this, Sunu Beizi asked curiously, "This box is so well-stocked, what's in that porcelain jar?"

The Eighth Prince also looked at the porcelain jar. Since it was sealed with cowhide and wax, it should be moisture-proof and waterproof.

Books, calligraphy and paintings?

When the wax seals were opened and the items were counted, it was found that there were indeed two porcelain jars containing rare ancient books and famous calligraphy and paintings.

There are two porcelain jars left, one of which is filled with precious spices, such as agarwood, musk, Canaan incense, etc.

The porcelain jar is full of ginseng. Judging from the thickness, they are all good ginseng that are more than 30 years old.

Sunu looked at it, estimated it in his mind, and said, "Ordinary families don't have such a lot of wealth."

It is not easy to estimate the price of these things, so the Eighth Prince went to look at the amount of gold and silver sorted out in the documents.

There were 19,400 taels of gold cakes, 98,000 taels of silver ingots, 289 pieces of gold artifacts with a total weight of 649 taels and 5 qian; and 554 pieces of silver artifacts with a total weight of 4,144 taels, 3 qian and 3 fen.

The Eighth Prince still remembers clearly the situation when Soetu's family property was confiscated in the first month of the 38th year. At that time, Soetu's family property was about this amount.

Not counting those antiques and treasures, the gold and silver alone amounted to more than 300,000 taels of silver.

The prince's share of the inheritance amounted to only 230,000 taels of silver!

This was also the reason why the imperial court did not suspect Soetu of hiding his property after raiding his house.

Unexpectedly, this place cost another three hundred thousand taels.

The two places together are equivalent to three princes setting up their own palaces.

Is this the only hiding place, or are there others?

Soetu served as Grand Secretary for ten years, and the bulk of these wealth should have been made during that time.

The Eighth Prince's eyes fell on the ginseng, and he said to Sunu Beizi: "The nobles have long banned the collection of ginseng. These ginsengs are very valuable. If they were purchased from North Korea, it would be fine. If not, there will be trouble..."

Not to mention other places, ginseng was lost in the Guangchu Warehouse of the Imperial Household Department alone.

After Soetu was dismissed from his position as Grand Secretary, he continued to serve as the Minister of the Imperial Guard for many years.

Not only did he do it, but his brother and nephew also did it.

Even if the ginseng was not stolen from the palace, but someone else was arranged to go outside the Great Wall to collect it, it would still be a violation of the law.

Su Nu Beizi glanced at the Eighth Prince and nodded, saying, "This porcelain jar is three feet high. If there are not a hundred kilograms of people in it, it must weigh at least seventy or eighty kilograms. It is indeed a large number."

Soetu is gone, and if we investigate further, we will find that it is the Hesheli family's affair.

I'm afraid that Soetu's other brothers and nephews will not be spared either.

The Eighth Prince bowed to the north and said, "I will submit a petition to Khan Ama. Will my cousin sign it with me?"

Sunu Beizi hesitated for a moment, nodded, and said, "Okay..."

He did not volunteer, but was named to be the assistant of the Eighth Prince, and he had no way to avoid it at this time.

The people who registered came from three yamen, and the news that Soetu's treasure had been unearthed spread quickly.

All these properties were transported directly to the Ministry of Revenue for temporary storage, awaiting the emperor's order.

Several princes who were on duty in the Southern Study also received the news that afternoon.

"The gold basins and bowls are all in sets, not to mention the various silver items..."

After lunch, the Third Prince made a special trip to the Ministry of Revenue. When he came back, he told his brothers what he had seen, his eyes shining: "There are only two jars of rare ancient books, and our Prince's Mansion doesn't even have half of them..."

The Fifth Prince didn't understand and said, "Why bury the books? Can't we just leave them at a relative's house? Aren't we afraid they will rot?"

The Third Prince gestured with his hands and said, "They are all placed in porcelain jars with peppercorns inside and covered with cowhide outside to prevent insects and moisture."

The Tenth Prince explained to the Fifth Prince: "If this is sold at a high price, it will be more valuable than gold and silver."

The Fifth Prince said, "If I were Suo'etu, I would only bury gold and silver so that it is easy to use, and I would not bury it in such a conspicuous place..."

The Seventh Prince remained silent, his expression somewhat heavy.

When the Third Prince saw this, he asked, "What did you think of, Seventh Brother?"

The Seventh Prince hesitated for a moment and said, "Money can attract people's attention. There are hundreds of thousands of taels of wealth buried there, but only one family is watching over the grave. No other people have been arranged. Maybe someone has died among them."

The Third Prince nodded and said, "That's the truth. The confidants may still be kept, but the servants who carried the things down below should have been dealt with."

Only the dead can keep secrets.

It is probably not an isolated case that the master of the Hesheli family killed his servants.

This is really like pulling out the radish and bringing out the mud.

If we continue to investigate, we will probably find that the Hesheli family is involved in more and more legal troubles.

The third prince took pleasure in gloating.

"It has come to this. I wonder if Khan Ama will be able to make a big deal out of a small matter. The prince must be embarrassed!"

The Fifth Prince said, "It's better to deal with it sooner rather than later. Suo Etu has long since resigned as Grand Secretary and has held a sinecure for the past ten years. Where did the money come from? Maybe he took it privately under the guise of the Crown Prince."

The Third Prince said, "Didn't you say earlier that you suspected Sony was also hiding? Why is there no movement?"

The Fifth Prince shook his head and said, "It must be a rumor. Sony is different from Suo Etu. What is there to hide?"

If we really want to dig up all the tombs of the Hesheli clan, that would be too much.

The Third Prince said, "Who knows? If we dig out one 300,000 taels, there's no guarantee that there will be another 300,000 taels..."

There are more than one or two people who think like the Third Prince.

There is no delay here, Eighth Prince.

Whether to find the second 300,000 taels and how to find it all depends on the emperor's orders.
That afternoon, the eighth prince's memorial was delivered to the Southern Study.

Along with it came a list ready for the emperor to review.

The Third Prince's hands began to tremble as he looked at the list.

"This is not three hundred thousand taels. If the estimated value of these antiques is included, I'm afraid it will be more than two hundred thousand taels!"

The Fifth Prince and the Tenth Prince were not short of good things. After seeing the Third Prince's reaction, they also curiously went over to take a look.

"Chenghua Doucai Grape Cup...Chenghua Treasure Elephant Pattern Bowl..."

The Fifth Prince muttered, "Yongle white-glazed pear-shaped pot... Jiajing doucai three-legged furnace..."

The Seventh Prince couldn't help but prick up his ears.

These are all old items from the previous dynasty, and they are products from the official kilns, rarely seen among the public.

The Third Prince prides himself on being a scholar, and his eyes welled up when he saw these antique treasures.

"This is not the batch that was hidden later. It is the burial objects from the 14th year. Soetu was so generous at that time. The Hesheli family is richer than I imagined!"

In the 14th year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi...

The Tenth Prince seemed to be thinking about something, but didn't say anything.

The Fifth Prince said, "What's so precious about it? It's just a little old. There's no shortage of it in the palace. There are plenty of antiques from the previous dynasty at the Imperial Grandmother's place."

The Third Prince glanced at the Fifth Prince and said, "You also said that the palace doesn't lack this, but isn't it rare outside? If any family has one or two of these, they can be passed down from generation to generation. But in the Hesheli family, they are only fit to be buried with the little girl..."

"All Saints Protector... Was it because the name was too grand that they failed to keep it?" The Fifth Prince was a Buddhist. He just looked at these properties and felt pity for the child whose grave was dug up after he died more than 30 years ago.

The Third Prince said, "Anyway, the rumor is so outrageous. Can there really be someone who is born smart? What they are saying is that a three or four-year-old can be like an adult. Is that still a child? It should be that the Hesheli family spread the rumor themselves, preparing for him to enter the palace..."

At that time, the emperor's father was still young, and there were more than one or two concubines waiting for their turn in the palace.

The Fifth Prince said, "There are smart ones. Didn't they say that the Crown Prince was also smart when he was young?"

The Third Prince did not respond.

He’s the prince, who wouldn’t praise him?
Not to mention the Crown Prince, even the other princes, except the Fifth Prince, were praised for their intelligence since childhood.

Unbelievable...

*
The eighth prince's memorial was sent out by the Ministry of War the next morning.

After a day and a night, they arrived before the emperor.

Kangxi looked at the amount of gold and silver and said nothing for a long time.

In the 38th year, Suo'etu's household registration was confiscated, and about this amount of gold and silver was found.

This adds up to more than 600,000 taels of silver.

The one that was revealed is 600,000 taels, but what about the one that was not revealed?
Kangxi thought of an incident that happened more than ten years ago, when Soetu married his daughter.

The dowry prepared at that time was ninety-six loads, which was more abundant than the dowry of the princesses of ordinary princes and nobles.

However, Soetu was in his prime at the time, and his son-in-law was another Grand Secretary, Yisan'a, so he was not conspicuous.

He looked at the back again, and when he saw a jar of ginseng, he became furious.

Although he had long suspected that the Guo Luoluo family was privately growing ginseng in Baishan and that it was related to the Hesheli family, he did not expect that the evidence was here.

After putting the letter down, he picked up the list at the back and was stunned when he saw the familiar name.

Chenghua Doucai Grape Cup...

Song Qingyu Lying Deer...

These two things were used by Prince Chenghu when he was a child. He saw how cute they were and picked them out specifically to reward his legitimate son!
After Chenghu's death, no burial objects were arranged. These things should have been kept in Empress Yuan's storehouse in Kunning Palace.

After Empress Yuan passed away, all these were given to the prince.

Kangxi's face turned dark. He put down the list and wanted to order someone to call the prince over.

The prince gave it away as a reward? !
Immediately, Kangxi denied this possibility.

According to the memorials submitted by the Eighth Prince and Sunu Beizi, the first sixty-six artifacts were funerary objects in the niche. They should have been the things used by the emperor during his lifetime and were buried with the emperor when the cemetery was built in the fourteenth year.

The prince was still an infant at that time.

Kangxi still remembered the little girl. During the one-year-old celebration, the empress did give her something, but it definitely was not these two things.

These two items are Chenghu's relics, and the Queen will treasure them.

It didn't seem strange that the things from the queen's private store ended up in Hesheli's house.

Kangxi thought of the female servants who had retired from Kunning Palace.

The Hesheli family was murdered because of the theft of their property.

Kangxi picked up the pen and wrote "I understand" on the joint letter from the Eighth Prince and Sunu Beizi, without any other response.

However, he wrote a single handwritten note to Zhao Chang, locked it in a secret box, and instructed Ma Wu to arrange for the guards to send it back to the capital.

In the handwritten edict, Kangxi asked Zhao Chang to secretly check the records of external rewards granted by Kunning Palace from the fourth to the thirteenth year of Kangxi's reign, and also to check the list of Kunning Palace's treasury during those years.

At that time, the queen passed away, and Kangxi, out of pity for his son, ordered the treasures to be sealed.

When the prince later moved to Yuqing Palace, Kangxi handed over these properties to the prince's wet nurse and wet father to keep for the prince.

However, those two were executed by Emperor Kangxi in the 38th year for embezzling the prince's property...

(End of this chapter)