Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 222 The helpless Qianlong father and son

Snowflakes are falling on the ancient city of Beijing, and the winter weather is dry and cold.Outside the Chaoyang Gate in the morning, a fast horse came galloping from the direction of Tongzhou.

As the brass bell under the horse's neck rang continuously, pedestrians on the road gave way to both sides.The galloping horseshoes rolled up snowflakes and mud on the ground and splashed many passers-by, but those passersby glared at the back of the rider on the stage horse, but dared not say a word.

The officers and soldiers guarding the Chaoyangmen city heard the bell from a distance, and they knew it was the post horse delivering the official documents. Just as they were about to stop, the man on the horse suddenly raised an official document and shouted loudly: "Six hundred lijia!" Urgent! Avoid!"

Upon hearing this, several officers and soldiers hurriedly drove the people in the city gate and the city gate out of the way.There was a lot of noise under the city gate, and a few peddlers didn't have time to get out of the city gate, so they hurriedly pressed their bodies against the wall of the gate; a gust of wind blew, and the post-horse passed through the city gate like a lightning bolt, and entered Chaoyangmen Inner Street.

The courier galloped all the way until he reached the gate of Dong'an, then he got off his horse, took out the Ministry of War Kanhe and an urgent letter with two chicken feathers stuck in it, grinning his teeth and said to the gate guard: "Quick! An urgent report from the Jilin General's Mansion!"

In the Military Aircraft Department, Dong Gao was talking to Yong Yan about the cancellation of the household department at the end of the year, when Zhang Jing Fulu of the Military Aircraft came in and whispered something in Yong Yan's ear.Yong Yan's complexion changed, he turned his head and smiled and said to Dong Gao: "Gong Cane Lin, come here first, I have something urgent to do here."

Dong Gao said: "Then I won't bother Brother Fifteen."

Yong Yan waited for Dong Gao to go out, and then asked Fu Lu, "Where is he?"

"Waiting outside the Longzong Gate."

"Go and get the letter and find him a place to rest. If you don't have everything ready in a while, you still have something to ask him."

"Whoo!"

Not long after, Fu Lu came in with a rectangular flat wooden box, and put it on the Kang table with both hands.Yong Yan first waved Fulu to go out, and then used a key on his body to open the lock on the outside of the box.After opening it, I took out two booklets from inside.

This is the secret letter sent by the eighth elder brother Yong Xuan and He Shen.Yong Yan first opened Yong Xuan's booklet, and saw that it said that he had initially reached an agreement on negotiating with Zhao Ni, and the other party agreed to release him after the court paid the ransom. He Shen explained the details.

Yong Yan already knew that He Shen led his soldiers to Ninggu Tower to sit in the town to negotiate, and he also admired this man's courage.When Qianlong learned that He Shen was going to Ninggu Pagoda to sit in the town and negotiate with Zhao Xin, he also praised him as "the pillar of the country".

But when he opened He Shen's booklet and read the contents carefully, his face was already full of anger.

five years!Landing in Guangzhou Trade!Claim the island!

That Zhao Xin is really arrogant and rebellious, he regards my heaven as nothing!He Shen also mentioned in the secret book, "I'm afraid that the other party will say rest and recuperate, and the evil plan will benefit the army again."

However, He Shen and the eighth elder brother Yongxuan had the same meaning, and still suggested that the court temporarily truce.Although the land of the ancestor Longxing should not be allowed to be trampled by it, but the firearms of Zhao Ni's troops are really powerful, and it will take time to gather and mobilize soldiers.Therefore, rescue the captured soldiers first, and wait for the road to thaw in the spring of the next year. First, send out spies to find out the truth and reality of the opponent. At the same time, try to recruit Zhao Xin's men to see if they can be disintegrated from the inside; Fight and suppress it.

According to Yong Yan's intention, he didn't want to agree to any of these three terms.But he also understands that even the most powerful Jingying Firearms Battalion and Mongolian Eight Banners can't beat Beihai Town right now, so it's useless to say anything else.If the other party repents and goes all the way south to Shengjing, then people like myself will really become sinners of the Qing Dynasty through the ages!
Thinking of this, Yong Yan let out a long sigh, put the two secret folders into the box, got up and went to the Hall of Mental Cultivation.Whether this matter will be accomplished in the end depends on Qianlong's intentions.

An hour later, Qianlong was sitting on the throne in the Xixi Nuan Pavilion of the Hall of Mental Cultivation, with a plaque above his head that read "Diligence in Government and Prosperity".The two notebooks of Yongxuan and Heshen were spread out on the small table on his right hand side.The water stains and fragments of tea bowls on the ground have been cleaned up by the eunuch, and there is no trace left.And Yong Yan knelt on the ground with tears on his face.

Qianlong gritted his teeth and said slowly: "I once said that the great unification denounces partial security, the Chinese inside and the barbarians outside, this is the constant scripture of heaven and earth, and the common meaning of ancient and modern. Therefore, the barbarians and the Chinese are the Chinese; the Chinese are the barbarians and the barbarians. It is ridiculous that even though Zhao Ni is a Han, holding the banner of Zhu Ming, he actually joins the overseas barbarians. Since He Shen's booklet says that he has heard it from the North Korean population, then send someone to Ask Li Xingyuan, envoy of North Korea, you must find out where the so-called Ainu country came from."

"My son will send someone there when I get back."

In Qianlong's view, judging whether a dynasty has an orthodox status is not based on ethnicity, but on whether it has a considerable ruling territory and whether it can carry out effective management; It's really unfair.

Regarding the orthodoxy of the Manchu Qing rule, Qianlong had already made a further explanation of the reasons for the loss of orthodoxy in the previous Ming Dynasty, and informed scholars all over the world through the imperial criticism of the Tongjian of the past dynasties.

For example, Emperor Yuan Shun fled to the desert to the north. Although he had endless descendants and Miao descendants, he gave up the Central Plains and lost the "territorial basis" of the Central Plains, so the orthodoxy of the Mongolian Yuan was cut off.

("Territory can be relied on" means that the country's territory under the rule can be effectively managed. Either occupy the Central Plains or occupy half of the south of the Yangtze River. Islands and wilderness are not included.)
Regarding the demise of the former Ming Dynasty, Qianlong pointed out that in the era of King Fu, the Southern Ming Dynasty was still half-opened, and its territory could be relied on.If you can build a country and strengthen yourself without being too greedy, you can also live in peace, which may not be worse than Song Gaozong back then.As for Longwu and Yongli, they fled to Fujian and Yunnan, lingering on their last legs, and could no longer be regarded as a country. At most, they were similar to the last two kings who lived on the island in the Southern Song Dynasty.When Fu Wang was defeated and arrested, the orthodoxy of the former Ming Dynasty was gone; and with the death of Yongli, the legacy of the former Ming Dynasty was lost.

As the monarch under the "prosperous age", Qianlong's views on "Huayi Theory" have been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people in the past ten years, and scholars in the world will no longer oppose the orthodoxy of the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty. Further confirmed the rationality of Manchu rule.From this point of view, Qianlong did better than Kangxi and Yongzheng.

Yong Yan understood what Qianlong meant.That is, the orthodoxy of the former Ming Dynasty has long been lost; even if Zhao Xin can produce evidence to prove that he is a descendant of King Zhao, even if he raises the banner of the former Ming Dynasty, scholars all over the world will not follow.Without the support of scholars, ordinary people will not follow.

In fact, Qianlong was also helpless. The land of his ancestors, Longxing, was not allowed to give up half a cent.But now he can't fight anymore, so he can only gain a firm foothold in righteousness first, and then slowly figure it out.

"Get up."

"My son thanked my father."

"What do you think of that Zhao Xin?"

"According to what Erchen saw, this person's behavior is quite strange. The area around Shuangchengzi is wild. He feeds the many people under his command, not to mention asking for food and grass from the court, but he only wants to exchange our soldiers for gold and treasures. What does he want? Why? I still can't figure this out."

Qianlong said in a deep voice: "Since Yuji, I have respected my ancestors for their difficult creation, and worked hard all night. The white mountains and black waters are the birthplaces of the ancestors, so there must be no loss of size! He wants five years to recuperate, but I just can't give him. Five years! Otherwise, the thieves will become very powerful, and it may be difficult to control them again. Such cunning and clowns, jumping beams and clowns, must not be forgiven lightly, and soldiers will be wiped out! Although he has excellent weapons and weapons, our soldiers in the Celestial Dynasty will not tolerate them Blasphemy!"

Yong Yan said: "Father's cave is thousands of miles away, and the holy candle is shining. Zhao Ni is only relying on the long distance and the bitter cold in the north, so he dares to gather people to fight. Back then, the father ordered Zhaohui to conquer Yili and other places and return to the city. The road is very dangerous. Ten thousand times more, once the army arrives, they will all be wiped out. What I mean by this son is to wait for the captured soldiers to come back, and to investigate the battlefield in detail before formulating countermeasures. Once the army comes out, we must not let them delay their last days. "

Finally, Qianlong said rather painfully: "Then let's do this first. The money should not go from the Ministry of Household Affairs, but from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. However, this matter must be kept strictly confidential, and no news should be leaked."

"Yes. Father, don't worry, I will make arrangements for this matter. Father, my son would like to ask for instructions on how to deal with Agui?"

Qianlong said: "What is the opinion of the Military Aircraft Department?"

Yong Yan said: "Let's wait for the second grade, pick off the feathers of the eyes, take off the yellow jacket, and hand it over to the Ministry for discussion after returning to Beijing."

Qianlong thought for a while and said, "Ah Gui will be [-] next year. Alas! Forget it at the Ministry of Communications Office. After returning to Beijing, let him go to Henan to supervise the river engineering."

"My son obeys the order."

It is said that after suffering such a great shame, one must plead guilty to the ancestors.However, in order to avoid the leak of the news, Qianlong only asked Yong Yan to go to Fengxian Hall to perform the ceremony the next day instead of him.

There is no impenetrable wall in the world, and the Forbidden City is no exception.At night, some bannermen in Beijing had already heard the wind.

At dusk, in the Yanzhi Hutong to the east of Hufang Bridge, seven or eight little boys singing opera were so cold that they had runny noses. Tangzi walked over.Going further north from here is the famous Bada Hutong in later generations.

The Manchu dynasty was very strange, forbidding prostitution but not banning actors.If an official went to whoring, he would be charged a hundred rods, imprisoned for three months and then dismissed from office; but actors and actresses are not included in this list.As a result, there are many troupe signs in Bada Hutong, but they are actually "Xianggongtangzi" where male actors sit in the hall to invite customers.

There is a corner lamp hanging in the gate of this Xianggong hall. At this time, the crimson wax inside the lamp is burning high, like a golden crow falling from the west, which is very special; people passing by will know it well just by looking at it.

In a private room in Sanjin's courtyard, a thirteen or fourteen-year-old actor was babbling and singing to the accompaniment of huqin and yueqin.At the banquet, several bannermen were drinking and listening to each other.

"Alas!" A person in the banquet sighed, and put the cup heavily on the table of the Eight Immortals.

"Old Fu, everyone is out to have fun, why are you so angry?"

"I was worried about my elder brother. I went to the north with Marshal Fu. I didn't expect... Sigh, my sister-in-law hid in the room all day long and wiped her tears." As soon as he said this, several other people also complained, talking about the situation at home , while complaining about Fukang'an.

"The one from Fucha's family really has great eyesight but low abilities. He was beaten to the ground by a group of little thieves."

"That's right, according to me, you shouldn't be engaged in such a boring negotiation!"

"No, I'd better get someone to come back first and then talk about other things."

Several people discussed for a while, and one of them said to the one sitting on the main seat shaking his head and listening to the show: "Master Min, why don't you speak?"

A middle-aged man in his thirties who sat at the first place had already drunk too much. Seeing the dejected looks of the people present, he could no longer hide the little secret in his heart.So he laughed and said, "What are you talking about? You will know about this in a few days. Put your heart in your stomach. You can come back next spring at the latest."

"Huh?" At this moment, everyone at the banquet focused their attention on the person called "Master Min". "How do you say that?"

The middle-aged man didn't speak, just glanced sideways at the male stars in the room.

"Stop, stop, stop! Get out! Don't ask you not to come in!"

"Yes." A few male stars all wore women's costumes, got up and made a blessing, and went out in a hurry.

Seeing that there was no one else in the house, the middle-aged man listened carefully to the movement outside, then lowered his voice and said: "To tell you the truth, I have already negotiated with the adults, and I will let you go after paying the money."

When the others heard it, they couldn't believe their ears.Since the Qing Dynasty entered the customs and established itself, after so many years of fighting, many soldiers were captured, but this is the first time I heard that it takes money to redeem them.

"Master Min, where did you hear all this?"

"You must not tell the outside world about this, I will rot it all. If it weren't for our family's life-threatening friendship back then, I wouldn't dare to say it if I was killed." The middle-aged man pointed at it, With a mosquito-like voice, he said: "That one has agreed."

"Don't worry now, it's fine if you can come back with all your needs and needs."

"In my opinion, there are still fewer cannons! Next time, I will bring hundreds of cannons. I don't believe that I can overthrow him!"

"What do you know! The news from the north has been sent back a long time ago, and not many people know about it. Zhao Ni's firearms are so fierce that the Firearms Battalion can't beat them at all, and they were defeated in a single face-to-face."

Everyone present looked at each other in blank dismay, and the room was silent for a while.
In the early morning two days later, twenty government-made dart carts filled with large boxes, escorted by a thousand officers and soldiers from the Jianrui Battalion, set off for the Luhe Station in Tongzhou.Not only the soldiers escorted by the team, but even the drivers who drive the cars are from Jianrui Battalion.

The official dart chariots in the team are all of uniform standard, four feet high, one foot four feet long, and five feet wide; both sides of the body are inlaid with iron plates with patterns.There are nine iron nails inlaid on the front handle of the dart car; a circle of iron bars is inlaid on the outside of the wheel.On the left front part of the cargo bucket, there is a flag of the Jianrui Battalion.

The boxes on the car are all special boxes for shipping silver. In addition to the slots in the cargo box, a few thick hemp ropes pass through the small holes in the car body to tie these boxes tightly to the carriage to prevent them from being transported during bumpy roads. slide.On the outside of the box, a thick layer of straw mat was laid to cover it.

According to the number of captives and official rank provided by Zhao Xin, the total amount of ransom was 15 taels of gold, which is 5600 kilograms according to the metric system of later generations.In the Qing Dynasty, the official dart chariot had a load of 300 kilograms.Some "careful people" along the road also saw the way from the ruts; but unless they were crazy these days, no one dared to snatch the government's escort chariot.

The journey from Beijing City to Ula, Jilin was [-] miles, and the wingman in charge of the escort had obtained the secret decree of Qianlong, so there should be no delay along the way, so the daily traveling speed was kept at about [-] miles.Even so, it will take them two months to reach Jilin Ula.

And the bodyguard of Yongxuan who was in charge of delivering the news had already set off ahead of time, rushing back to Ula, Jilin to report the news at an expedited speed of [-] miles.

　All those who think about fighting against the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty in the middle of the Qing Dynasty, please remember Qianlong's theory.If this refutation is not won, scholars will not submit, and Fuming will become nonsense.Unless you learn from Zhao Xinjian and take a slant.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)