Honghui is reborn in Legend of Zhen Huan, I will protect my mother

"I have been disrespectful, please forgive me, brother..."

Yinzhen didn't care about it. "Alright, I forgive you! Prince Fu, your bookshop is full of talented people. You can make 1,800 copies of these foot-binding pictures and spread them throughout the Qing Dynasty as soon as possible."

Yinzhen thought to himself, "Isn't this intentional torture?" and hurriedly agreed to the task. There was no other reason for this. He couldn't afford the crime of disobedience!

Then, on this ordinary day of grand court, all the civil and military officials in the court left the Old Summer Palace with pale faces, silently mourning for their already overturned cognition.

What the superiors like, the subordinates will like even more. Nowadays, three-inch golden lotus is avoided by everyone. The bad custom of foot binding that has been spread for six or seven hundred years and harmed millions of women is on the verge of death and will disappear in the long river of history sooner or later.

As expected, public opinion was abuzz with discussion. Even Emperor Kangxi heard the news and sent people back to Beijing to inquire about it. However, all these were suppressed by the disgusting pictures of foot binding. After that, after killing a few chickens that still refused to give up, the issue of foot binding gradually disappeared.

As for the process? Anyway, it dragged on for three or four months. Until the election was over, some people still dared to take the chance of binding the feet of their wives. Then they were all found out and left with a bad name in history.

But that’s a story for later, let’s not talk about it for now!

……

In early August, the emperor returned to the palace, and at the same time, the once-in-three-year general election officially kicked off.

Although it was the year of the beauty contest, the court officials whose families or clans had girls participating in the contest did not take the election too seriously. The reason for this was that they were distracted by something more important.

At the end of July, Li Weijun, the governor of Zhili, wrote a letter to the emperor, advocating the implementation of the policy of "equalizing the land tax and the land use tax."

What does "dividing the population tax into land tax" mean? It means that the population tax is divided into land tax and collected together, which is quite different from the previous policy of collecting taxes based on both population and land. In another sense, it is a disguised abolition of the population tax.

The policy was a good one, which greatly reduced the burden on landless and land-poor farmers. Yinzhen agreed with it very much, but his ministers were not happy with it!

Officials at all levels in the imperial court all had countless pieces of land, and there were countless tenants on the farms. Once the poll tax was abolished, the ones who would suffer the most would be the landlords who had countless pieces of land under their names.

After arguing for half a month at the morning court, before the old ministers could complain to the retired emperor who was far away in the Rehe Palace, Yinzhen issued an iron-fisted decree to implement the "tax on land".

When Kangxi learned the news, he only sent someone to deliver the four big words "Act with caution" and let it go. Then people in the capital knew that this retired emperor who was famous for his "benevolence" was just as bad as the current emperor, and he really dared to do what he wanted for the sake of the people and the Qing Dynasty!

At the end of August, the "taxation system based on land area" was officially implemented on a pilot basis in the areas around the capital.

But before that, the election ended quietly.

In this election, four new people entered the palace, but there was actually a little accident during the selection process.

On August 20, the day of the Han Army Banner election, Yinzhen, the Empress Dowager, and Yixiu, who were presiding over the final election, met their old friend in person.

Among this batch of beauties was Shen Meizhuang, the daughter of Jeju assistant commander Shen Zishan. The Empress Dowager was very satisfied with her temperament and demeanor, so she couldn't help asking her a few more questions. Then, as usual, she left a name tag and gave her a sachet. Unexpectedly, the next beauty was stunned on the spot and didn't come back to her senses even after she was called two or three times.

"Zhen Huan, the daughter of Zhen Yuandao, the Junior Minister of the Dali Temple, is seventeen years old." The eunuch who called out the name deliberately raised his voice, fearing that the misbehavior of this beautiful girl in front of the emperor would implicate him.

Seeing this, without saying anything else, Yinzhen was the first to lose face. He disliked such unruly people the most!

The Empress Dowager shook her head visibly, and waited for a while before giving flowers and picking up the sign.

At this moment, the absent-minded beauty finally raised her head after being reminded by Shen Meizhuang, the daughter of Shen Zishan. The face that resembled her old friend was revealed in every detail. "Your servant Zhen Huan pays respect to the Emperor, the Empress Dowager, and the Empress. May the Emperor, the Empress Dowager, and the Empress be blessed with good health."

Before she could finish her words, Yinzhen's face suddenly turned gloomy, and he looked at Zhen Huan with scrutiny and suspicion.

How could someone who was not related to him look so much like an old friend? Especially the Ulanara Rouze who was deliberately swept into the depths of his memory. In front of the old friend, Yinzhen was even more displeased.

The blow that Ulanara Rouze brought to him was too heavy, and Yinzhen became angry with everyone and everything related to her!

"You are disrespectful in front of the emperor, please..."

"Emperor!" The retired emperor decisively stopped him from speaking. The two looked at each other, as if they had exchanged countless moves. In the end, Yinzhen held his nose and allowed his biological mother to be so unrestrained for once.

"My dear lady, your surname is Zhen. Zhen is a nice surname. Come forward and tell me what you like to do every day."

Zhen Huan couldn't tell whether she was disappointed or relieved. After hearing the Queen's instructions, she hurriedly took a few steps forward, looked down at the ground, and replied respectfully, "I love reading and painting, and I read every day."

As soon as these words were spoken, Yinzhen's face changed drastically, probably because Ulanara Rouze also loved reading and painting just like her.

The face is about 60% similar, and the personality is also about 60% similar. If the time of Ulanara Rouze's death did not match the age of Zhen Huan's birth, he would have thought that this was the reincarnation of an old friend.

"Empress Mother..." Yinzhen shook his head almost invisibly, not wanting to follow the Empress Mother's wishes and bring the person into the palace.

The Empress Dowager rejected her son with her eyes, and comforted Yixiu who came over to look at her. She took the lead and made the decision, "The concubine Zhen Huan, who is well-versed in poetry and literature, will be given a name card and a sachet."

Afterwards, she said to her son and daughter-in-law who were puzzled, "When an old friend is in person, there must be something fishy. Why not put her in front of you and test it out? Besides, Zhen Huan looks similar to the deceased Concubine Rou. It's not good for her to be left among the people. If it gets out, it will be bad. I'll just choose her to be in the palace. If I really don't like her, I can just ignore her."

As the matter was already a foregone conclusion, Yinzhen could only suppress his displeasure and deliberately chose the meaningful word "Wan" as the title, and conferred the title "Wan Changzai" to use for fishing.

In addition to this special Concubine Wan, the other three newcomers to the palace were Noble Lady Fucha, who was born in the branch of Fucha clan of the Manchu Army Banner, Noble Lady Borjigit, who was born in the Red Banner of the Mongolian Army, and Noble Lady Shen, who was born in the Han Army Banner.

Xia Dongchun, the daughter of Baoyi Zuoling Xia Wei, was directly rejected because of her arrogant personality. Sun Miaoqing, the sister of Suzhou-made Sun Zhuhe, was also rejected because she was not favored by the palace.

As for An Lingrong, the daughter of An Bihuai, the magistrate of Anyang County, her whereabouts were beyond everyone's expectations. With such a humble background, she was appointed to be a princess in the prestigious Prince Zhao's mansion.

Honghui, who got the news right after the imperial edict was issued, was shocked. He never expected that An Lingrong, who was his father's favorite concubine in his previous life, would be pointed into his palace. He was speechless when he heard the Empress Dowager explain, "An's family background is not good, but her temperament is gentle and polite. Her situation at home is miserable. Being selected into the palace or being appointed as a man is her only way out. Doesn't this just suit your wishes?"

If he had known this would happen, why would he be so picky! Did his mother owe An Lingrong a life and ask him to pay it off? Ah, karma is a cycle, it really pays off!