Following Concubine Hui's initiative, a domino effect cascaded through the imperial harem. Several other concubines hastily submitted petitions volunteering for the cowpox trial.
When Yinreng received the intelligence reports, he merely blinked, a faint, mocking smile touching his lips.
Internal Analysis: The mechanics of the inner court were brutally simple. If no one had volunteered, the collective cowardice would have been ignored. However, the moment Daijia broke the deadlock, the baseline of loyalty shifted. The remaining concubines were politically cornered. If they remained silent, Emperor Kangxi would undoubtedly conclude they valued their lives over his peace of mind. Consequently, they had to perform their devotion, even as they secretly cursed Daijia for forcing them onto the sacrificial altar.
In every transaction, someone pays the cost. Daijia had anticipated the harem's hostility, yet she remained utterly unfazed, calmly attending to the Grand Empress Dowager daily.
Naturally, Kangxi could not empty his harem into a medical quarantine. After Imperial Physicians conducted rigorous pulse diagnostics to verify their physical baseline, Kangxi finalized the primary test subjects: Concubine Daijia, Concubine Hui, and Concubine De (Uya). The others were praised and dismissed.
Regarding First Prince Yinshi, Kangxi initially vetoed his participation. However, fueled by his mother's psychological conditioning, Yinshi aggressively petitioned his father multiple times, refusing to accept the label of a coward. After weighing the political optics, Kangxi finally granted the boy's request.
The moment Kangxi publicly announced First Prince Yinshi's participation during the morning assembly, the political landscape shifted.
Action & Reaction: The Emperor had just placed his eldest, physically robust son on the front lines of the medical trial. The message was unmistakable. The civil and military officials, realizing they could no longer hide behind excuses, returned to their estates. The very next day, a flood of memorials inundated the throne, with nobles and imperial clansmen volunteering their own sons for inoculation.
If the Emperor dared to risk a prince, the nobility had to offer their heirs to prove their absolute loyalty.
Kangxi repeated the selection protocol, deploying physicians to filter the volunteers for optimal physical health.
On January 17th, the selected cohort was transported to an isolated imperial estate designated as the inoculation zone. The entire capital held its breath.
Clinical Timeline:
• January 19th: Doctor Liu transmitted the first status report. All subjects successfully inoculated. Mild to moderate symptoms presented. Zero severe cases.
• January 20th – 25th: Symptoms stabilized. Zero critical regressions.
• January 26th: A definitive breakthrough. First Prince Yinshi achieved full recovery, demonstrating superior immunological resistance.
• Early February: The trial concluded. One hundred percent recovery rate across all subjects. Zero casualties.
The empire erupted in jubilation.
Among the populace, Doctor Liu was immediately deified as a "Medical Immortal." Meanwhile, Yinreng was elevated to the status of a divine entity. Widespread rumors claimed the Crown Prince had encountered an ancient deity in a dream, who instructed him in the art of epidemic eradication.
Hearing this, Yinreng sat by the pond in the Yuqing Palace, lazily tossing fish food into the water.
The System materialized in his mind, its digital voice laced with panic.
[System: Host! How can you be so relaxed? Do you lack basic survival instincts? Your reputation among the commoners is eclipsing the Emperor's! Aren't you afraid of the political taboo: 'Merit that outshines the master'?]
Yinreng rolled his eyes. "You are a 'Technology Rejuvenates the Nation' system. Did it never occur to you that advancing a nation's technological tier will inherently generate massive, system-breaking merit?"
[System: ...!!!] It genuinely hadn't processed that logical contradiction.
[System: B-but... Host, we need a countermeasure! You must suppress the rumors immediately and publicly declare your subservience to your Imperial Father! Stop feeding the fish!]
Yinreng found the AI's limited processing power amusing. "And you believe suppressing the rumors will solve the underlying variable?"
[System: W-won't it?]
"Foolish," Yinreng stated, his tone sharpening into a lecture. "Analyze the data. Who do you think engineered those rumors in the first place?"
[System: Weren't they fabricated by ignorant peasants?]
"Even if peasants invented the core myth, information does not achieve this level of market saturation without state-sponsored logistical support. At minimum, the imperial intelligence network allowed it to spread unchecked."
[System: Host, I do not understand.]
Yinreng sighed, breaking down the political architecture. "When I invented the mechanical clock and perfected glass manufacturing, Imperial Father obscured my involvement. He allowed the court to guess, but never confirmed it. Why, then, did he deliberately announce to the entire civil and military bureaucracy that the cowpox eradication protocol was entirely my design?"
[System: ...] "Look at the reward structure," Yinreng continued. "Great-Uncle Songgotu was elevated to a First-Class Duke. Doctor Liu was made a First-Class Count. While a Duke outranks a Count, the context of their promotions is vastly different."
Contextual Breakdown: "Songgotu is a Manchu noble. He has spent decades accumulating political and military capital—assisting the Emperor in eliminating the regent Oboi, managing the logistics of the Three Feudatories Rebellion, and handling the glass manufacturing. His promotion to Duke is the culmination of decades of compound interest. It was inevitable."
"Doctor Liu, however, is a Han Chinese physician with zero political backing or clan support. Under normal parameters, his absolute ceiling would be the Director of the Imperial Medical Bureau—a mere fifth-rank bureaucratic post. Yet, utilizing the cowpox achievement, he bypassed the entire hierarchy to become a First-Class Count. A complete paradigm shift for his bloodline."
Yinreng dropped a handful of food into the water, watching the koi scramble. "The critical variable is demographics. Songgotu is Manchu. Doctor Liu is Han."
[System: Why does the ethnic variable matter?]
"Because the Qing Dynasty is a minority Manchu ruling class governing a massive Han Chinese majority," Yinreng stated coldly. "Conquering an empire is a kinetic military action; governing it requires ideological pacification. The Han populace remembers their former dynasties. Secret societies like the Heaven and Earth Society constantly agitate for rebellion. We need Han scholars and officials to legitimize our administration."
Yinreng stood up, brushing off his hands. "The cowpox vaccine is a transcendent, civilization-level blessing. By deliberately pushing me to the forefront, Imperial Father is weaponizing my medical achievement for ideological warfare. He wants the Han majority to know that an 'Aisin Gioro'—the Manchu ruling family—delivered them from the apocalypse. He is establishing me as their new deity. If the Han revere the Crown Prince as a god, they will not rebel against the Qing."
The System's processors stalled as the realization hit.
[System: The Emperor is utilizing the vaccine to monopolize the Mandate of Heaven...]
"Exactly. He is securing the dynasty's psychological dominance over the populace. That 'dream deity' rumor? A textbook imperial propaganda operation."
Yinreng turned back to the Medical Bureau's dynamics. "Now apply this logic to Doctor Liu. The Medical Bureau has highly skilled Manchu physicians. Yet, the Emperor specifically delegated this world-altering project to a Han doctor, and then rewarded him with an aristocratic title. This is a broadcast to every Han intellectual in the empire: 'The Qing court operates on meritocracy. Serve us, and we will grant you titles your ancestors only dreamed of.'"
Conclusion: "A First-Class Count receives a high salary but possesses zero military or administrative power. The Emperor bought the loyalty of the entire Han scholarly class for the cost of a single aristocratic stipend. It is a flawless, high-yield political investment."
The System drew a sharp, digital intake of breath.
[System: H-Host... Did you calculate all of this from the very beginning? Is that why you specifically selected Doctor Liu? But wait! When you first requested a doctor, you didn't name him!]
"I didn't need to name him," Yinreng smirked, his eyes flashing with calculation. "I controlled the environmental variables."
The Setup: "I mapped the Medical Bureau's duty roster. I knew exactly which days Liu was on call. Furthermore, I weaponized my own reputation. I never tip the physicians who perform my routine checkups, and I actively penalize those who try to flatter me for political gain. Therefore, the corrupt and ambitious doctors avoid my palace like the plague; there is no profit to be made."
"Consequently, if I simply order a 'routine checkup' without specifying an illness, the Bureau will naturally dispatch the most diligent, unbribable, and overworked physician on the roster to handle the unglamorous task. Statistically, there was an eighty percent probability Doctor Liu would walk through my door. If he hadn't, I would have simply manufactured another reason to summon him the next day."
The System was stunned into silence.
[System: Host... you are terrifyingly cunning.]
"I prefer the terms 'strategic foresight' and 'operational control,'" Yinreng corrected smoothly. "I optimize the board before I make the first move."
Dismissing the political discourse, Yinreng left the pavilion. It was time to return to tangible assets.
He strode purposefully back to the Yuqing Palace and entered the temperature-controlled glass greenhouse. As he approached the primary cultivation plots, his analytical gaze locked onto the crops.
The experimental rice stalks had successfully entered the heading stage. The technological progression was perfectly on schedule.