In 1722, Emperor Kangxi died, and his fourth son, Yinzhen (played by Tang Guoqiang), known as the "Cold-Faced Prince," took the throne. Although Yinzhen was not the candidate for the throne favored by the court or the people, Kangxi personally chose him to become Emperor Yongzheng. In Jiangnan, he incited disaster victims to riot. At a banquet at the City God Temple, he pulled off a Hongmen feast and extracted more than two million taels of silver from local officials and wealthy merchants to fund disaster relief. He pursued debts owed to the imperial treasury, driving an old minister to hang himself. In the wrongful-imprisonment case at the Ministry of Justice, he watched from the sidelines as the Eighth Prince and the Crown Prince fought until both were badly weakened. In the officials' bribery case, he used Nian Gengyao to launch a bloody purge of Jiangxia Town, leading to the Crown Prince's deposition once again.
