Great Qing Dynasty talker

Chapter 336 The first piece of domino, the blood of the emperor
Sijiucheng was frightened by this bloody and unexpected battle.

A city of millions of people is as quiet as a ghost town.

Apart from the footsteps of soldiers patrolling the streets and the hooves of patrolling 5th Battalion war horses, there was no other sound.

Beijing officials of rank 4 and above have serious faces.

They lined up to enter the Forbidden City and went to the Hall of Supreme Harmony to attend an emergency meeting.

……

The last ray of sunset gradually disappeared on the roof of the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

The eunuchs lit hundreds of bowl-sized candles to illuminate the gloomy palace.

Qianlong was sitting on the dragon throne, looking very gloomy.

He is in the dark, and the ministers are in the light.

"According to the order."

"The face of the Qing Dynasty is not only mine, but also yours!"

"Your Majesty, I would like to ask you to clarify the official punishment and punish these daring barbarians to Lingchi."

Experts from the Ministry of Justice gathered together.

If you continue to listen, I'm afraid everyone's life will be short-lived.

……

Qianlong sat in the shadows, silently watching the reactions of all the courtiers below.

Turning around, he saw that the imperial guard responsible for surveillance could not stand firmly and his hands and feet were trembling.

He hid outside the door. Although he couldn't see it, he was still frightened by the sudden scream.

Those liars will be killed if they are killed, and time will forget everything.

He Shen half-closed his eyes and knelt motionless.

The Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Hanlin Academy clamored the loudest.

The Minister of Punishment, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and the Left Censor-in-Chief hurriedly left the Hall of Supreme Harmony with looks of panic.

This is a scam that has been planned for a long time, has a grand layout, spans several years, and is precisely targeted at the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty!

He felt anger and shame surging back and forth in his veins, and a great sense of frustration enveloped him.

The Minister of Punishment himself is immune to blood.

Jailer: "What a barbarian, his bones are so hard. He won't do anything like this!"

I am over 60 years old, in case I can’t hold on~
The recognized candidate for the crown prince, Yong Yan is still far away in Jiangsu as the governor, just in case.

"The Criminal Department, Dali Temple, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate will conduct a joint trial. Go now. I am here, waiting for your confession."

The biggest question before us is, how to deal with the Saxon mission that suffered heavy casualties?
……

It wasn't that the jailer didn't ask questions, but that the interpreter from the Lifan Yuan fainted, and it took two waves of people to reluctantly cooperate and complete the interrogation process.

However, hearing those oral confessions made him feel frightened and dizzy.

Compared with Qianlong's good face and the corpses of his ministers, he worried more about the empire. At least, he has been trying to change the financial predicament of the empire.

However, the torture process was too bloody.

Shangshu wailed in his heart. After the emperor read the confession, wouldn't it mean that his blood was going to flow backwards?

……

The wailing pirate: "You're the one asking?"

Therefore, the ministers could not even see clearly the expression on the emperor's face at this time, and could only kowtow anxiously.

"What should we do? The great Sikou should be severely punished and get all the confessions as soon as possible. These barbarians deserve to be killed with a thousand swords." Zuodu Yushi's attitude was very clear. The matter was serious and he must be in the same trench with the emperor.

Like embroidery, they put these prisoners through the legendary 18 tortures, with blood flying and minced meat flying everywhere, just like a slaughterhouse.

"Are you all blind? Didn't anyone carefully examine the origins of these people beforehand? Are you just fooling me like this?"

The leader of the gang that peddled deception turned out to be "an old friend of the Qing Dynasty" - the red-haired Smith, the chief envoy of the Siris Mission.

In the side hall not far away,
There were 42 prisoners held, almost all of whom suffered varying degrees of injuries.

"Correct."

It's over, it's over.

"The king humiliates his ministers and dies."

"Wang Zongxian, what do you think we should do?"

The officials in the capital were deeply impressed by this person, because the officials from the Ministry of Rites who accompanied him often mentioned that although he was a barbarian, he had a "heart of the Qing Dynasty."

For a moment, he also thought of another key question:
How big is the impact of this scam? In other words, how many people know? How many people overseas know about it? How many people know about the Qing Empire?
How will the Qing History Association record it? How can the unofficial historian take pleasure in others' misfortune?

Qianlong's angry roar echoed in the hall.

"You must all know that the envoys from the 36 countries who came to Beijing are liars. They are all liars. They regard me as a fool. Today, they turned the posthouse of the Lifan Yuan into a battlefield again."

At this time, he was a little envious of his deputy, the assistant minister Zheng Jinsheng who was handling the case in Jiangbei.

I muttered in my heart:

"Old Zheng, I thought you picked up a hot potato. But now I realize that a potato is nothing. You can bear to peel off a layer of skin and pass. This is a piece of hot coke that burned through the palm of your hand. It’s not enough.”

At this time, in the Hall of Supreme Harmony,

The ministers launched a heated debate around the issue of "how to treat the Saxon mission."

Heshen's party advocated appeasing the Saxon mission to maintain friendly relations and purchase warships as usual.

In the words of the Minister of Industry:

"We, the Qing Dynasty, did not intend it. This was a typical friendly accident, so the Saxon King will definitely understand. A mere dozen lives will not affect the friendly relations between the two countries."

However, the ministers on the left and right of the official department all strongly opposed it.

"Our Qing Dynasty is rich all over the world, so why bother to deal with barbarians. What good are barbarians? Do we rely on warships to fight? Can warships go ashore and occupy cities? The navy is a small way, but the land army is the king."

Some even said:
"Who can vouch for the loyalty of the Saxons? They are sincere towards me, the Qing Dynasty? Is it possible that they sell arms to both sides? The hearts of barbarians must be different."

……

Qianlong sat on the dragon throne, feeling irritable and restless.

He has lived for more than 60 years and has never felt such a sense of powerlessness or frustration.

Even though he suffered several major military defeats, he remained calm and composed. Because he is confident enough, these are just clowns.

Qin Si stood aside silently,
He guessed that what his master was most worried about was face and whether he could block the mouths of the people in the world.

It's easy to talk in Sijiu City, and it's easy to talk in Zhili. The key is overseas~
These swindlers are from Nanyang, I’m afraid they’ve already~
Yin hour and two quarters,

A guard hurriedly ran into the palace:
"Your Majesty, the commander-in-chief of Jinmen Town, Ge Peifei, is asking for a meeting outside Donghua Gate, saying that he has urgent military affairs."

Everyone in the hall immediately turned their heads and looked at the guard.

The guard bit the bullet and said:
"An escaping member of the Saxon mission was captured in Dagukou."

"what?"

The ministers started talking in an instant, and the direction of the wind suddenly reversed.

He Shen closed his eyes in pain, and he realized that things were slipping in an irreversible direction.

The imperial court needed the tariffs from Guangdong Customs and those European-style sailing battleships.

Once completely torn,
The Saxons will retaliate, and there will be wars along the coast, and they will waste money and soldiers again. There is also rice in Siam, and the water transportation in the south has been changed to sea transportation. It is all over.

Since ancient times, killing missionaries has been a prelude to war~
……

Qianlong suppressed his anger:

"Open the palace door and bring it here."

This was the first time for Ge Peifei, the commander-in-chief of Jinmen Town, to enter the sacred Forbidden City, and he felt dizzy along the way.

He escorted Emerson, the military attache of the mission who was tied up, into the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

Seeing that the barbarian was unruly and refused to kneel down, he put his foot in the socket of his knee. Plop, Emerson knelt down in pain.

"Greetings to my emperor, long live long live long live."

Qianlong did not say anything, but his ministers spoke:
"General Ge, what's going on?"

"The soldiers of Jinmen Town accidentally captured this barbarian during their patrol. He wanted to use money to bribe the fishermen and send him to the warship. The subordinate knew how powerful he was, so he did not dare to rush to Beijing to report it."

"Pull down and interrogate."

"Whoo."

……

Emerson never expected that he first bought a passerby's horse and clothes with a gold premium and ran to Dagokou.

As a result, he was just a little bit caught again by the patrolling Green Camp soldiers.

He was devastated and refused to answer any questions.

The Minister of Punishment consulted the Holy Spirit and obtained permission for the execution.

Not surprisingly, Emerson couldn't resist. Frightened out of his wits by all kinds of terrifying punishments, he told the whole story. Sanfa Si walked into the Hall of Supreme Harmony with a stack of confessions.

Qin Si held the candle and Qianlong read through it one by one.

These scammers come from Java, Borneo, Sumatra, Malacca and their nationalities are even more diverse.

When he saw Smith, "an old friend of the Qing Dynasty", peddling fraudulent books around Nanyang, he felt the blood rising in his throat.

I am so embarrassed that I was thrown overseas?
If the colonial circle in Nanyang knew about it, wouldn't it mean that the Han people outside also knew about it?

Will the monarchs of Europe soon know too? Will the eldest nephew Louis XVI know? Will the old lady Ekaterina of Rakshasa know?
Will the Heaven and Earth Society, White Lotus Sect, and the Pseudo King of Wu all know about it?

……

Qianlong felt a sense of depression rushing straight to his forehead, feeling dizzy and painful, and his whole body began to feel dizzy.

Started to cough violently,
When he took the handkerchief away, he only glanced at it, his eyes turned red, and he quickly balled it up and stuffed it into his sleeve.

He closed his eyes slightly and forced himself to calm down for a moment, enduring the dizziness of dying.

Said in a low voice:

"Pass an order to summon the main members of the Saxon mission to the Forbidden City immediately."

Maoshi,

Si Dangdong and Hong Renhui have done a good job in psychological construction.

Before leaving the post house, he told the other survivors in the mission:
"Before I come back, if the Tatars break in, you will shoot them decisively."

It was still a big green sedan chair carried by 8 people, with guards like clouds. But along the way, the streets were quiet and there was no one around.

Half an hour later,
Arriving in the Forbidden City, a guard with a hostile look said loudly:

"When you meet the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, you must kneel down and bow three times and nine times. Otherwise, you will be killed without mercy."

Si Dangdong walked into the Hall of Supreme Harmony with blood-stained gauze without squinting his eyes.

Kneel down on one knee:

"The temporary plenipotentiary envoy of the Saxon Kingdom, Stanton, pays homage to the Qing Emperor."

Seeing that Qianlong didn't speak for a long time, Heshen asked:

"How is Viscount Macartney?
"he died."

In the hall, the clay sculpture-like queue made a slight commotion, and then returned to dead silence.

……

"I would like to deliver the two warships I am traveling on to your country. Your country will pay the corresponding amount of money and let us leave at the same time. This is a terrible misunderstanding, but it should not affect bilateral relations."

Standong's words made He Shen feel happy.

Qianlong sat on the dragon throne and calmly stared at this surprisingly calm Saxon.

After a while, he finally said:

"Pass the decree to bury Macartney with royal treatment, and bury all the victims of the Saxon mission with honour. The survivors will be compensated, and each person will be rewarded with 300 taels of silver."

"Thank you, Your Majesty the Qing Dynasty."

"However, I hope you will stay for a while longer to clear up the past feud. Those two warships can be delivered first." Qianlong stood up slowly, "Today, we will capture those barbarians in Lingchi."

"Retreat to the court." Qin Si's long voice sounded.

……

Qianlong didn't sleep a wink all day and night.

The same goes for the ministers, who cannot hide their fatigue. Like eggplants beaten by frost, they all left the Forbidden City dejectedly.

Officials from Shuntian Prefecture beat gongs along the street.

"There is a prisoner in Lingchi at Caishikou. All the young and old men are going to see it."

The people hiding behind the cracks in the door breathed a sigh of relief.

Killing people means that the matter is over. No matter what it is, no matter how serious it is. As long as it's over, it'll be fine.

I have to make do with life.

When Qianlong returned to the Yangxin Hall, he suddenly became unsteady on his feet. He had not slept all night and suffered a huge psychological blow, which made him feel that he had no strength at all. It was all about my will that I managed to get here.

Qin Si quickly held on and was about to call the imperial doctor.

He was stopped by Qianlong:
"Don't make any noise, go and burn this."

Qin Si looked at the blood-stained handkerchief with a distressed and frightened expression. He wiped his tears and followed the instructions.

……

Qianlong leaned against his body and closed his eyes to rest.

"Master, have a bowl of ginseng soup."

"Ah."

"Qin Si, how long have you been in the palace?"

"Fifty-eight years."

"I am entrusting you with a big thing now, and you must keep it secret."

"I obey the order and dare not reveal the secret even to death."

"Go to the palace and find a reliable doctor to bring him into the palace. Tell him that your relative has come to the Forbidden City to find a job. Then send a few more reliable people with my handwriting to recall Yongyan to Huai'an Mansion and recall him to Wuchang. Agui, ask them to come to Beijing immediately."

Qin Si's hair stood on end and he raised his head:
"Master, don't worry, master, take care."

Qianlong waved his hand tiredly~ He was really tired, exhausted both physically and mentally, and his whole energy and energy seemed to have been drained away.

He widened his eyes in vain, fearing to see the appearance of the judge of Yama Palace.

……

He Shen asked to see him, but was blocked.

Several princes asked to see him, but were blocked.

In addition, all ministers, ministers, ministers and admirals of the nine gates were blocked.

Qin Si looked relaxed and told everyone with a smile:
"The Emperor is tired and needs to rest. Please pay attention to the delivery with the Saxon warships."

"The ministers obey the order."

However, He Shen hit a snag as soon as he came into contact with Standong.

Standong's expression was very sincere:

"I hope your country will send us back to Dagokou as soon as possible, otherwise the sailors on the battleship will not dare to deliver the goods privately. The battleship is complicated, and even if you take it over in a hurry, you will not be able to get started. We still need our people to teach you patiently, for at least half a year. Lion The USS is an excellent third-level sailing battleship, and I can assure you that it can easily kill a fleet of the southern rebels. "

This seemingly sincere but actually wary attitude made He Shen quite embarrassed.

Hard to do!
Back to the mansion,

He discussed with his concubine Xiaoqi and revealed all the difficult situations he was in.

……

"Master, you have told such a big thing, but the emperor has not vented his anger on anyone, and he has not even been demoted or exiled in the court?"

"Yes."

The two looked at each other and understood instantly.

"Master, I'm afraid it's a dragon body~"

"Shhh."

He Shen stood up nervously and checked to make sure no one was approaching the courtyard.

"Oh my God, if this is true, wouldn't the world be in chaos?" He Shen's forehead was covered with beads of sweat.

"Master, have you thought clearly?"

"What do you mean, let me support the new emperor?"

"Absolutely not. At this time, it is better to be still than to move."

He Shen was so restless that he drank from the empty wine glass twice before putting it down in embarrassment.

"Sir, the people in the court are short-sighted. They will only criticize you for protecting the Saxons. They will not consider the consequences of killing all the Saxon envoys."

He Shen rubbed his face painfully:

"They don't understand what it means to go to war with the Saxons. Not only are tens of millions of direct and indirect taxes gone, but there will also be wars along the coasts of Fujian and Guangdong. The strength of the Saxon Kingdom is by no means inferior to that of the Dzungar Khanate, and what's even more terrible is that , it is the Junggar on the sea!”

……

Xiao Qi glanced at the man sympathetically and whispered:

"Master, why don't you take a more open mind. In this world, the more someone does something, the more mistakes they make. If they don't do something, they won't make mistakes."

"I understand the truth, but, in my heart, I feel sorry for the Emperor."

Xiao Qi sighed and changed the topic:

"Sir, if Prince Jia ascends the throne, will you still be able to hold on to your current position? Among all the princes, which one do you have the best relationship with?"

(End of this chapter)