My father-in-law is Kangxi

Chapter 1839 The Ninth Prince Has No Bad Intentions
As the government office would be closed on the 20th of the twelfth lunar month this year, the Ninth Prince chose to go to the palace to ask for an audience at noon on the 19th.

Khan Ama is busy with many affairs every day, so I have to have a good reason to meet him.

Now that I am no longer in the Imperial Household Department, I cannot talk nonsense.

He had a report in his sleeve, which described the preparations for the pearl farm on Dongshan Island.

In the past six months, Sun Jin has purchased a large number of river clams and clam seedlings from local people. With the help of the Ji family, he also signed contracts with several fishermen from the Taihu Lake and bought two pearl divers from Guangxi to move south.

With the help of many people, the water surface around Dongshan Island has been cordoned off.

When the weather gets warmer next year, we can try growing pearls.

The Ninth Prince came to the Qianqing Palace at the beginning of the afternoon, just as he had finished handling government affairs in the morning and had some free time before lunch.

Kangxi was indeed free, and when he heard that the Ninth Prince was going to see the emperor, he thought of the Third Prince's drunkenness.

Could it be that he is here to discuss the emperor’s grandson’s admission to school?

Kangxi knew that the Ninth Prince was sentimental, but he didn't know whether he came for the prince from the Fifth Prince's family or for Akdan from the Ninth Prince's Mansion.

He had his own intentions and did not want the Ninth Prince to interfere in this matter.

"Spread it..."

Kangxi said to Liang Jiugong.

Liang Jiugong went out and brought the Ninth Prince in.

The Ninth Prince greeted his parents and took out the proposal, saying, "Father, my son's pearl farm in Suzhou is almost ready. The day before yesterday, Ji Hong came to pay his respects to my son. His father has set his eyes on my son's pearl farm and wants to help him..."

He told the Ji family about their plan and also talked about his own response.

"My son thought that he had oversimplified it before. The notes of the Song people said 'Wujiang', which seemed to be in Suzhou. But hundreds of years have passed and the climate is different. Who knows if Suzhou can still grow pearls? Even if they can, we don't know how shiny they are. With the Dongzhu in front for comparison, my son thought that maybe the water-cooled pearls would be better..."

"The Ji family has land near Hongze Lake and is willing to get involved. My son is thinking of renting it for a long time and trying it out together with the land near Taihu Lake. The pearls planted can be harvested in two autumns. Whether they can be grown and what the quality is will be revealed in forty-four years..."

In a few days it will be forty-two years. Actually, there are only two years left, so it goes by fast.

Kangxi was also puzzled as he watched him talk endlessly about making money, without any of his usual dullness.

This is a special talent. When it comes to economics, people become more clever.

The Ninth Prince explained it clearly, and Kangxi felt that the plan was sound and worth a try.

It was just that Kangxi didn't care about the fact that the Sun King of France liked pearls or that the Ji family wanted to do business with foreigners.

He thought of Dongzhu.

Today, Dashengwula pays tribute of 528 pearls from the East every year, but only a dozen of them are large.

What if we set up pearl farms on the Heilongjiang and Songhua rivers?
Kangxi immediately suppressed this idea.

Things are rare.

If Dongzhu was like Nanzhu, with no limit on production, then it would not be so precious.

However, after more than a hundred years of mining, the output of Dongzhu has become increasingly scarce.

Maybe one day, I will need to plant pearls.

He looked at the proposal handed over by the Ninth Prince.

When the Ninth Prince’s pearl farm trial is successful, a copy of the pearl farming recipe can be kept for future use by the royal family.

"You've just prepared everything and haven't even planted the seeds yet, and you're already showing off to me?"

Kangxi put down his proposal and continued to be picky as usual.

The Ninth Prince said hurriedly, "I'm not showing off my achievements. I just think that this pearl farm is my capital, but I can't do anything in the capital. The Ji family has been here to help with the arrangements, and they have all made contributions and worked hard. I can't take it for granted, so I'm just telling you!"

Kangxi said, "Since you have hired people for your pearl farm, you can go and reward them yourself. Do you want me to reward the Ji family?"

"Ha ha……"

The Ninth Prince immediately said, "If you say so, then your son has accepted the Ji family's orders? In the future, when it comes to matters at the pearl farm, your son will have more reason to order the Ji family around."

Seeing that he had no defensive intentions, Kangxi disapproved and said, "How can we employ outsiders when it comes to skills? Commoners who have signed long-term contracts are not suitable either. If there are no suitable people, we can select a few households from your bondsers to be sent down."

The Ninth Prince had a conflicted look on his face, and said, "The servants in my son's house are the ones that my wife brought as a dowry, and they are still used by the mansion; the bondservants under my son's name are all from the three banners of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and they have always been arrogant. My son carefully selected them to serve him, otherwise he would not be at ease. If he sent them to Jiangnan, what if they bullied their subordinates and deceived their superiors, and took advantage of their power?"

Kangxi knew that the connections among the bondservants in the Imperial Household Department were indeed prone to problems.

He thought for a moment and said, "I will allocate ten households from Shengjing Manor to you for your service, specifically for the purpose of cultivating pearls."

The Ninth Prince smiled and said, "Thank you, Ama Khan, for your kindness. My son is in need of someone."

Like the bondservants, the people on the farm were also servants of the royal family, but they were similar to ordinary farmers and did not have the arrogance and bad habits of the bondservants.

Seeing that the Ninth Prince had no intention of leaving, Kangxi snorted and pointed to a chair for him to sit on.

"You've made it big. With your alcohol tolerance, you can get people to drink!"

This is about the Third Prince getting drunk.

The Ninth Prince hurriedly said, "My son is innocent. I asked someone to prepare some snacks to annoy the Tenth Prince, but what happened? Not only did your Third Son insist on going with us, he also took over the show and drank three pots of wine by himself!"

Kangxi found his words strange and frowned, "What do you mean by 'my third son'? You don't even call me brother?"

The Ninth Prince said, "Alas, 'If a son is not taught well, it is the fault of the father'. The Third Prince is already in his twenties, but he still acts so recklessly. Khan Ama, you should teach him a lesson..."

Kangxi was amused by his twisted logic and said, "You are really a good brother. You wish your brother would be scolded!"

This petty-minded man, the Third Prince did nothing wrong but snatched the Tenth Prince's wine, and he was trying to flatter the Third Prince in front of him.

"Young trees cannot grow straight without pruning. You favor your elder sons and worry about them all the time. But they just think that someone is supporting them and are very willful..."

"Brother has a bad habit of drinking for several years, but he still hasn't changed. He has become ugly and his nose has become bigger..."

"And third brother is so stingy that he doesn't even have a fully stocked pharmacy at home. When something serious happens, there's no place to buy medicine to regret it. All he can do is chew red peppers to cover up his crying..."

"Fourth brother...what can I say? He thinks he is a small official, doing everything himself, getting up early and working late, his eye circles are dark, his face is sallow, if you don't know him, you would think he is doing something at night..."

"Fifth brother is not very smart to begin with. This time Khan Ama only allowed one grandson to enter the palace. He will have a headache. Who told him to promote the eldest son of a concubine first? If he had remembered the difference between legitimate and illegitimate children, he would not have sent Hongsheng to the palace, and he would not have hesitated about whether to let the eldest son of a concubine leave the upper study room..."

"Seventh brother, my son doesn't even care to talk about him. He is destined to enjoy a good life, why does he have to work so hard? After all the trouble, even if he is no worse than the other brothers, he is still a prince. Isn't the ready-made meal delicious?"

"My brother is the same. He is only two years older than my son and the eldest brother. He followed the emperor to war at the age of sixteen, and was conferred a title along with his brothers at the age of eighteen. This is all due to Khan Ama's preference. He is so honorable and glorious. What else is there to be dissatisfied about..."

Kangxi felt uncomfortable listening to the Ninth Prince's brazen comments on the other princes, who were all older than him, and wanted to scold him for being disrespectful.

But after hearing the end, Kangxi could only sigh.

Even the Ninth Prince understood this truth, but those sons who claimed to be smart could not see it clearly.

Thinking about his sons' various shortcomings, Kangxi could only comfort himself and look at the bright side.

For example, the person in front of me has a small mind and a bad mouth, but he doesn’t have bad intentions and is kind-hearted to others.

"Have you called the imperial physician for Yisan?"

Kangxi hesitated for a moment and asked, "What did the imperial physician say?"

It turned out that the Ninth Prince had brought Korean ginseng to the yamen yesterday, and remembered that he had called an imperial physician for the Gao family. He wondered whether Yidu Lijia had invited one, so he asked.

Before retiring, Yisan'a was a first-rank academician. He retired at his original rank and was eligible to ask the imperial hospital to visit him when he was sick.

However, Yisan did not call anyone for help, he only invited a doctor from outside.

The Ninth Prince then helped to invite one.

Unlike the old lady in the Gao family, Yisan caught a cold during the change of seasons and was delayed in recovery. She was sick for a month and although she looked seriously ill, she was actually getting better. The yellow phlegm she coughed up every day turned into white phlegm.

The imperial physician helped adjust the prescription, increased or decreased the dosage of some medicines, and wrote down a few foods that should be avoided.

The Ninth Prince told the truth.

Kangxi lowered his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief.

Although he was angry with Yisan'a because of Soetu a few years ago, he knew in his heart that Yisan'a and Soetu were not the same kind of people.

I am not a fool.

If Yisan'a's style of doing things had not been completely different from Soetu's, he would not have promoted Yisan'a.

Yisan'a was a young scholar and entered the government at the age of fifteen.
He served in the court for nearly fifty years, but he was not arrogant because of his talent. He was a capable official who worked diligently.

Although I ordered him to retire, it was because I didn't want him to be coerced by the remnants of the "Suo Party" in the government, but I hoped that he could live a few more years...

(End of this chapter)