Who were Wai Siu Bo's best friends in the Qing imperial court other than the emperor?

[Ken Cheng]

Aside from Emperor K'ang Hsi himself, who were Wai Siu Bo's closest friends in the Qing imperial court and palace?

He seemed to be friendliest with Captain Duolong, those two palace guard flunkies, and Songgotu. He had cordial relations with Prince Hong, and I think they became fairly good friends later. Who else?

[Athena]

Duo Long was a true friend, as he stuck with Wei Xiaobao and didn’t even suspect that it was Wei Xiaobao who literally backstabbed him.

Prince Kang might have been a friend; especially when Wei Xiaobao did ‘save’ his life by giving him a fake copy of the Sutra of 42 Chapters. Wei Xiaobao had taken the original from Prince Kang’s residence quite early on in the story. Prince Kang did seem very grateful and volunteered to rebuild Wei Xiaobao’s residence after Kangxi had the original mansion blown to smithereens.

Songgotu, on the other hand, did not have a very high opinion of Wei Xiaobao. He only recognized Wei Xiaobao’s talents when he saw Wei negotiate with the Russians. Then, he thought:” His Majesty is wise in recognizing talent. It takes an uneducated baboon to try to talk to these foreign barbarians.’ Ironically, he should have been the closest to Wei Xiaobao, as they were sworn brothers.

佟國綱、索額圖等聽在耳里，初時覺得費要多羅橫蠻無理，竟然要以黑龍江為界，直逼中國遼東，那是滿洲龍興之 地，如何可受夷狄之逼？心中都感惱怒；後來聽得韋小寶說渴欲打仗立功，以求裂土封王，俄使便顯得色厲內荏， 不敢介面：再聽得韋小寶東拉西扯，什麼交換封邑、二一添作五、又是甚麼擲骰子劃界，每注一千里土地，明知是 胡說八道，對方是決計不會答應，但費要多羅的氣焰卻已大挫，均想：「羅剎人橫蠻，確是名不虛傳，要是跟他們 一本正經的談判，非處下風不可。皇上派韋公爵來主持和議，果真大有知人之明。這番邦鬼子是野蠻人，也只有韋 公爵這等不學無術的市井流氓，才能跟他針鋒相對，以蠻制蠻。」佟國綱、索額圖等大臣面子上對韋小寶雖都十分 恭敬客氣，心底里卻著實瞧他不起，均覺他不過是皇上寵幸的一個小丑弄臣，平日言談行事，往往出醜露乖，卻偏 偏又恬不知恥，自鳴得意，此番與外國使臣折衝樽俎，料想難免貽笑外邦，失了國家體面。哪知皇上量材器使，竟 然大收其用，若不派這個憊懶人物來辦這樁差使，滿朝文武大臣之中，還真找不出第二個來。眾大臣越聽越佩服， 更覺皇上英明睿智，非眾臣所及。索額圖聽到這裡，突然插口道：「莫斯科本來是我們中國的地方。 」 (Chapter 48)