My father-in-law is Kangxi

Chapter 1766 Rhino Horn
When it was time for the next shift, someone else came to Beitou Police Station.

He was the imperial physician sent by the emperor.

The Ninth Prince's letter of apology and request for leave arrived in Daxing in the afternoon.

It also clearly states that the Fifth Prince's legitimate son is pregnant.

Although grandchildren are separated by a level, the legitimate sons of each family are different.

They are all very precious. She is the only legitimate child in the Fifth Prince's mansion.

From the moment she was born, the Empress Dowager ordered people to reward her. This was really a great reward, and even an old lady couldn't bear it.

Kangxi had just finished scolding the Third Prince for being unworthy of being a father at noon. When he saw the Fifth Prince and the Ninth Prince acting like their close fathers and uncles, he was no longer angry.

Otherwise, even if he returned to the palace immediately, it would be a failure because the Fifth Prince still had work to do.

Leaving the capital in this way is also putting personal interests above public ones.

However, the Fifth Prince has no ambition to make progress. If he chooses to put public interests above personal ones, he would not be the man himself.

At this time, Kangxi was a tolerant Khan. Not only did he not blame the Fifth Prince, but he also thought that his choice was right.

News from the capital must be reported to the emperor every day.

Kangxi also knew everything about the smallpox vaccination in his sons' families.

Needless to say, the Ninth and Tenth Princes immediately went to their homes to get vaccinated after hearing about the smallpox epidemic.

The Fourth Prince's wife wrote a letter home, and the Fourth Prince's reply was also about vaccination.

The families of the third, fifth and seventh princes were not suitable for vaccination for their own reasons, so they initially chose Haidian to avoid smallpox.

However, after the Third Prince's eldest daughter died of smallpox, the Seventh Prince and the Third Prince both chose to vaccinate their remaining children.

The Fifth Prince had the same idea, but was stopped by the Fifth Lady.

Thinking of this, Kangxi regretted his arranged marriage again.

The prince's wife, who is unable to support the inner chamber, is not a help to her son, but a hindrance instead.

For this reason, Kangxi felt even more sorry for the Fifth Prince.

Although his son was soft-hearted, he was not a fool who favored his concubine over his wife. He had been very respectful to the Fifth Lady over the years, and had even made her forget the distinction between high and low.

Kangxi sent one of his imperial physicians to Haidian.

Although everyone has their own specialties, the best doctors in the Imperial Medical Bureau are not the imperial physicians, but the imperial doctors who are responsible for the pulse of the emperor and the empress dowager.

When the Fifth Prince heard that it was someone sent by the Emperor, he hurried to the Youngest Prince's room to welcome him.

The child tossed and turned for most of the day, and we tried all kinds of cooling methods, but the high fever would go away and come back again in less than an hour.

After this happened repeatedly, the two imperial doctors lost confidence. The little prince never opened his eyes and his teeth were clenched tightly.

The Fifth Prince was also exhausted both physically and mentally.

I can only say that he is worthy of being an imperial physician. He took out a long needle and found a few acupuncture points on the little prince's skull and back. He inserted acupuncture and bled the little prince's face, and it really turned from red to white...

*
Since the Ninth Prince did not go to welcome the emperor, he sent someone to deliver a message to the Tenth Prince.

The next morning, the Tenth Prince went into the palace himself and joined everyone in welcoming the emperor.

As soon as the emperor entered the Qianqing Palace, the Tenth Prince planned to leave the palace.

The twelfth prince caught up with him: "Tenth brother..."

The Tenth Prince thought he was asking about the Ninth Prince, and said, "Ninth Brother is fine, he just went to Haidian yesterday."

The twelfth prince took out a flat box from his sleeve and said, "I'm not looking for my ninth brother, but because I heard that my fifth brother's nephew is pregnant. I have a rhinoceros horn here, which can clear away heat and detoxify, and is the right remedy for children's convulsions. I'd like to trouble my tenth brother to send someone to deliver it to my fifth brother, so that we can be prepared."

Young children with persistent high fever are prone to convulsions.

The Tenth Prince glanced at the Twelfth Prince, lowered his voice, and said, "Did Mammy give it to you?"

The Twelfth Prince neither nodded nor shook his head.

The Tenth Prince breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that the news of the incident in the Fifth Prince's Mansion had reached the palace, but no one dared to pass on the message to the Empress Dowager.

He took it and said, "I'll send someone to deliver it to Haidian right away."

"Thank you, Brother Ten..."

The twelfth prince said.

"Rhino horn?!"

When the Third Prince saw the two brothers talking together, he came over to check and found out that they were passing something.

His face flushed, his chest was panting, he stared at the twelfth prince and said, "The prince of the Fifth Prince's Mansion is your nephew, but the princes and princesses of our palace are not your nephews?"

The twelfth prince turned around and frowned when he heard this.

The Tenth Prince said hurriedly, "Brother, what can you say? The pharmacy in the palace doesn't have rhinoceros horns..."

At this point, thinking of the stinginess of the Third Prince, he added: "Even if the pharmacy doesn't have it, we can still find it in the drugstore outside. What do families like us need?"

The Third Prince's eyes turned red, and he said, "How can the rhinoceros horns outside be compared with those in the palace? If our eldest princess had a rhinoceros horn when she got pregnant..."

The Twelfth Prince lowered his eyes and still did not respond.

The Tenth Prince could not allow the Third Prince to put the blame for the eldest daughter's illness and death on the Twelfth Prince, and said, "Even if there is a rhino horn, the imperial physician is not here. Who knows how to feed the child with rhino horn powder?"

Third Prince: “…”

The Tenth Prince frowned and said, "As his younger brothers, we can sympathize with Third Brother's pain of losing his daughter, but Third Brother wants to feel better and he has to blame the rhino horn for his niece's death. This is unreasonable!"

The Third Prince was no longer as confident as before, but his eyes were still glued to the flat box.

The Tenth Prince urged the Twelfth Prince, "Go to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, don't delay your work."

The twelfth prince nodded and went to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The Third Prince looked at the Tenth Prince, sized him up, and asked suspiciously, "When did you become so close to the Twelfth Prince?"

This time when the emperor was touring Nanhe, he did not appoint the Tenth Prince to serve in the Nan Study.

I guess he was afraid that the Tenth Prince would become too careless.

The Tenth Prince has always had his eyes set on his forehead since he was young, and he doesn't care about anyone except the Ninth Prince. But now he has changed his behavior.

The Tenth Prince was impatient to mediate with the Third Prince, and said impatiently: "Third Brother, you are too worried. What is good or bad? Why do you have to argue about that between brothers?"

The Third Prince curled his lips and said, "Let's not talk about this. You and Old Nine are inseparable. Why don't others do the same?"

Seeing a young eunuch coming over not far away, the Tenth Prince said casually: "Third brother, someone is looking for you, you go ahead and do your thing..."

After saying this, he went to Xihua Gate by himself.

The third prince turned around.

I really came to find him.

He is the young eunuch beside the Seventh Prince.

It turned out that the brothers had not yet finished their work, and this was the last morning they had.

Since the Fifth Prince didn't come, the Seventh Prince was waiting for the Third Prince.

As a result, the emperor had already entered the Qianqing Palace, but the Third Prince had not arrived yet, so the Seventh Prince sent people out to look for him.

The Third Prince followed the young eunuch back to the Southern Study.

Thinking about what happened just now, he still felt depressed and couldn't help complaining to the Seventh Prince, "Am I so unpopular? Didn't you see how close the Fifth Prince is to the Twelfth Prince? How come the Twelfth Prince, who usually doesn't mind his own business, took the initiative to give him a rhino horn?"

Rhino horn is a rare treasure overseas and is as valuable as ginseng.

The Third Prince is overthinking.

He not only began to suspect that the Tenth Prince was trying to win over his brothers, but he also suspected the Fifth Prince.

As for the Fifth Prince, if he really wanted to do that, he would need both a good family background and strong arms.

The same goes for the Tenth Prince.

Huh? !

Both of their arms are the Ninth Prince!
The Third Prince’s thoughts turned.

If both of them develop ambitions, it seems that they will not be afraid.

I’m afraid that one of them will develop some evil intentions and the other will secretly collude with me. If they join forces, I really won’t be able to withstand them.

Seeing the change in Third Prince's expression, Seventh Prince raised his eyebrows and said, "Third Prince, don't you have rhinoceros horns in your house?"

Third Prince: “…”

How would he know whether there is one or not?

The Seventh Prince showed disapproval on his face and said, "Rhinoceros horn clears away heat and detoxifies, and is the perfect remedy for children's high fever. We should always have it on hand."

Not only is high fever dangerous for children, but it can also easily lead to chronic illness if the fever persists in adults.

The Third Prince smiled and said, "I didn't pay much attention. Since it's a regular medicine, it should be there..."

*
Qianqing Palace, Xinuang Pavilion.

Kangxi was summoning Ma Qi and two ministers of the Ministry of Revenue to discuss the issue of exempting taxes and grain in the disaster-stricken areas of Shandong and Henan provinces.

This time, the emperor toured the Nanhe River and stayed in Dezhou for a few days.

Although there were not many victims fleeing famine, they could still be seen sporadically.

This was when the emperor was on a tour and local parents had already made preparations to welcome him.

Although the governors of the two provinces did not submit a memorial requesting exemption of taxes and levies, Kangxi knew that the people had a hard life and would not leave their homes as long as they had something to eat, so he made a note of the matter.

The first thing he did when he returned to Beijing was to summon the two ministers of the Ministry of Revenue without even asking about the smallpox epidemic in the capital.

This year's taxes and levies have been collected, so next year's taxes and levies will be exempted.

After discussing the matter, Kangxi sent the two ministers away and kept Ma Qi to talk.

"Baqi did a good job in diagnosing acne. It didn't spread later because it was clearly diagnosed and handled properly..."

Kangxi was generous in praising the Grand Secretaries he had promoted.

Ma Qi said: "The commanders of each banner are very careful and conscientious. Prince Cheng and the two Beile also inquire about this matter every day."

Kangxi pointed to a stool and asked Ma Qi to sit on it. He then said carefully, "I want to set up a smallpox clinic in the capital. In the future, all children of the Eight Banners will be vaccinated after they turn one year old."

After several decades, the Eight Banners were no longer afraid of smallpox.

Ma Qi said: "Your Majesty is kind, but first, we need to increase the expenditure on money and manpower; second, I am afraid that some people are afraid of smallpox..."

Kangxi snorted coldly, "Aren't these lessons enough to alert them? My own princes and princesses dare to get vaccinated. Are their children more precious than my own princes and princesses?"

Seeing that he had made up his mind, Ma Qi said without further ado, "Then I will borrow the vaccination records from the Imperial Hospital, take a look at the silver and money costs, and make an estimate."

Kangxi nodded and said, "Send someone to Shuntian Prefecture to inquire about the number of newborns and deaths in the past twenty years. When the smallpox clinic in the inner city is built, we should also build one in the south city. We should try it out in the capital for a few years and then expand it to Zhili."

In addition to local residents, the capital city also had tens of thousands of outsiders, some of whom were officials, some were merchants, and some were scholars.

So this protection can be pushed outwards layer by layer.

Ma Qi responded.

After Kangxi finished his official business, he remembered that his granddaughter had died young and that his grandson was dying. He looked at Ma Qi, who was about the same age as him, and said, "Did your family also leave the city to avoid smallpox? How is the situation at home..."

Ma Qi looked a little depressed, and said: "My old wife took my daughter-in-law and the children to Haidian to avoid smallpox, but a while ago one of the children was pregnant, and a grandson died..."

Kangxi felt sympathy for the others and said, "I also lost a granddaughter. This shows that we can no longer take chances with smallpox..."

*
I've been suffering from a vicious cycle of insomnia lately. I'll go to bed early tonight and update three times tomorrow to make up for today. The next update will be at noon tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)