Great Qing Dynasty talker

Chapter 520: The first fire in the imperial city, was it set by young Jiaqing?

Winter goes and spring comes, it is a good time in the world.

In order to get a piece of the pie, countless people voluntarily or forcibly joined the game of supremacy, and were as busy as worker bees.

north:

Qianlong was busy planning, Heshen was trying to amass wealth, county officials were busy collecting grain, missionaries were trying to build bastions in Xiangshan, intelligence agents were busy stepping on plates, and the Beijing Banner uncles were busy bragging.
south:

The new recruits of Wu's army were busy rushing to the front line, the logistics fleet was busy transporting ammunition, the Minister of Finance was busy drawing up a new taxation system, the tycoons in Jiangnan were busy grabbing land, and the Chaoshan merchants were busy going to Southeast Asia.

as well as:

Xiangxi is busy preparing for war, Guangxi is busy pursuing autonomy, and the 4th Army Corps is busy smuggling tea with armed forces.
It's a busy season!

Just as the saying goes:

The prosperity of the world is for profit; the hustle and bustle of the world is for profit.

From ancient times to the present, from the government to the underworld, from the emperor to the peddlers, no one can escape the word "profit".

……

Fushou is no longer the same as before. Since becoming Da Wu's dog, he has the freedom to spend money.

Not only did he pay off his previous large debts, but he also upgraded his consumption level.

During the day, there are eight buildings, and at night, there are eight alleys. The concubines in the house have become decorations that are only used for viewing~
Oh man.

Not only that, he also got some money - to buy an official position.

The imperial court is now desperately short of money. It can even accept money for discussing crimes, let alone money for buying official positions.

Fushou was originally a descendant of the royal family, with a good family background.

With the help of silver bullets, he successfully entered the Infantry Commander's Office and served as the captain of the Southern Camp of the 5th Patrol Battalion.

Although I didn’t get the ideal position – City Gate Leader.

does not matter.

Get on the bus first, then choose your seat.

Today, Fushou is in high spirits. Whenever he goes out, countless people smile, take off their melon-shaped hats, bow to him, and call him "Uncle Jueluo".

He finally swore to himself that he must keep his current good life no matter what. In order to maintain long-term wealth and prosperity, the Forbidden City must be named after Li.

……

Liu Qian lives in seclusion and rarely goes out.

He just let the familiar faces Jiang Tianmu and the native Fushou move around in the front.

High profile = safety.

This is the logic of the Sijiu City.

Those who are dressed in fine clothes, ride a horse, are surrounded by people, and are generous are definitely good people.

Anyone with ragged clothes, poor appearance, and humble brows is definitely a bad person, and the patrolling soldiers want to stop him and give him a beating when they see him.

No one finds the logic of such behavior absurd.

On the contrary, everyone thinks it is very reasonable.

……

Miao Renfeng went out early and came back late every day, and accumulated a pile of drawings.

First draw a partial blueprint of the prince's residence, and then draw an overall blueprint of the city.

Mark the target points on the map one by one and plan the most reasonable evacuation route.

It would be best if you could sneak into the imperial city and climb up Coal Hill.

No, that’s okay.

The rocket is not bad for this range~
In short, the Intelligence Agency is determined and confident to deal a powerful blow to the Forbidden City and impress His Majesty.

……

Another all-nighter, Miao Renfeng's eyes were as dry as a rabbit's. He handed in the fifth version of the action plan and then went to catch up on some sleep.

Liu Qian and other veterans carefully looked for loopholes in the plan.

To be fair, Miao Renfeng is very good.

Hundreds of years later, with this PPT skill, one can start as a director and even vice president will be no problem.

The plan is concise and clear, and the solution is reasonable.

Time, journey, distance, weapon performance and probability of sudden attack are all taken into consideration.

"Master, what should we do with that man?"

"This man is a rare commodity. We must protect him and support him. Do not drag him into this operation. Also, try to clean up any links he is involved in."

"Yes."

……

Fu Shou was drunk in Bada Hutong at that time.

He got together with his colleagues from the Infantry Commander's Office and new friends from the Ministry of Revenue and got drunk.

All the consumption was paid for by Mr. Jueluo.

wine table,
Fushou also did not forget to inquire about information.

From my friend in the Ministry of Revenue, I learned about the current situation of the Guangchusi~
From the mouth of a colleague in the Infantry Commander's Office, I learned the rules of the soldiers' night patrols.
No one expected that a member of a prominent branch of the royal family would betray the Qing Dynasty.

……

"Master, Prince Jia is here."

"Ah."

Yongyan, covered in dust and dirt, entered the eastern warm room of the Hall of Mental Cultivation and kowtowed.

Qianlong didn't even raise his eyelids:
"sit."

The eunuchs brought a brocade stool and then left tactfully.

Qianlong did not speak, and Yongyan did not speak either.

The palace was silent for a long time.
suddenly,

Qianlong looked up and sneered:

"Yongyan, you have made progress."

"I am a foolish and reckless son. I beg Your Majesty to forgive me."

"Let's just forget about what happened in the past. I have a copy of the article here. Take it and have a look."

When Yongyan first read the title, his face changed drastically, but he relaxed again after reading the content.

It is the masterpiece of Zeng Di, the former head of the Ministry of Works and current governor of Hunan Province - "On Reducing the Population and Maintaining National Security".

"Father Emperor, although it does not conform to the teachings of Confucius and Mencius, it does have some..." He paused, "it does have some twisted logic."

……

Qianlong raised his head:

"There are too many common people and not enough food. When there is a shortage of food, common people will sell their children and mortgage their land, and then they will become refugees. The vast number of refugees is like locusts. They can't do anything good, but they can do harm. If there are too many refugees, there will definitely be people like Huang Chao and Li Zicheng. Tell me, how should the court deal with refugees?"

"The emperor has made it very clear to the world that prevention is the key, we must nip the problem in the bud and not let the locusts swarm."

"Ah."

Qianlong was very satisfied but also very worried.

For the first time, he discovered that his simple son had become more scheming, and there was something indescribable in his eyes.

……

"I have captured your confidant, the Nine Gates Admiral Senatu. Do you hate me?"

Yongyan fell to his knees:
"I don't dare."

"Get up. Today, there are no outsiders around, so I want to say a few words from the bottom of my heart. This Qing Dynasty is mine, but it will be yours sooner or later. I hope you can shoulder more responsibilities and gain more experience. But you must remember the duties of a monarch and a subject. You can only take what I give you. If I don't give it to you, you can't snatch it."

"Father, I was wrong."

Yongyan cried like a 19-year-old child.

Outside the palace,

The chief eunuch Qin Si shook his head slightly.

He is an outsider and sees everything clearly. The current situation is that the old emperor is unwilling to give up power, and the crown prince is eager to take the throne.

only,
The crown prince is still young and is being suppressed.

In ordinary society, the father would never dare to suppress his adult son like this.

After all, things in this world are not as wonderful as described in books. Everything is based on the balance of strength.

There is no father and son in heaven~
……

Half an hour later,
Yongyan walked out of the hall with red and swollen eyes and went out of Donghua Gate.

He relaxed after getting into the carriage, clenched his fists, and cursed under his breath:
"Father Emperor, if you really care about the Qing Dynasty, you should die sooner. Living too long will bring disgrace. You are the Son of Heaven, and what you are bringing disgrace upon is the country, the Eight Banners, and the country."

"If you don't die, the Qing Dynasty will die."

A person's ideological transformation often only requires an opportunity, and once it occurs, the original ideological system will collapse and reorganize.

Overnight,
The innocent boy turned into a sinister young man.

Observe people and things with incisive insight.

The 19-year-old Yongyan made a 540-degree turn without realizing it.

……

Qing Dynasty ancestral system,

When the prince was young, he lived in the A-ge-suo in the palace.

After reaching adulthood, one should leave the palace and set up a separate residence.

However, Yongyan has been living in the Liuqing Palace in the Forbidden City.
The Prince’s Palace is Liuqing Palace, and Liuqing Palace is the Prince’s Palace.

This is by no means preferential treatment, but rather harsh treatment.

The reason is simple. The Forbidden City is the emperor's territory, and every word and action is under the emperor's watch.

Yongyan had no freedom and no confidants.

There is not a single so-called old minister in the palace.

The experienced emperor did not give his son any chance to expand his influence, and his defensiveness was obvious.

before,

Yongyan didn't dare to think too much, and didn't want to think too much.

But after experiencing the experience of being sent away and serving as regent, he suddenly realized that his hatred towards his father had reached its peak.

……

As soon as I arrived at Liuqing Palace, a palace maid came to greet me.

"Your Highness, let me help you undress." Yongyan said nothing and opened his arms.

He knew that this palace maid was a spy appointed by Emperor Qianlong for the Sticking Rod Department. He knew it very well, but he could do nothing about it.

After undressing, the palace maid went to the small kitchen to stew bird's nest.

Unexpectedly, Yongyan took off the jade pendant from his waist, tiptoed to the small kitchen, and punched the maid on the back of the head.

The maid fell to the ground, knocked unconscious.

Yongyan stretched out his boot and kicked over the stove, spilling the charcoal and the flames began to spread.

……

He calmly walked out of the kitchenette and made sure again that no one was around.

Return to the temple and start reading.

Heart pounding, fear and tension.

This is what happens when people do something bad for the first time.

Just do it a few more times. After all, no one in the world is born good at killing and arson.

until,

There was a cry of surprise from outside the palace:
"Go away!"

Not long.
A large number of eunuchs and palace maids rushed to put out the fire carrying basins and buckets.

Yongyan was naturally helped out of the palace, with a horrified expression, muttering:

"How is this going?"

"There is an assassin. There must be an assassin. Quick, protect the emperor."

……

There was nothing wrong.

Fires in imperial cities were common.

Liuqing Palace is some distance away from the Yangxin Palace, so the fire could not burn through there.

But when Yongyan shouted like this, the guards had to respond, and they drew their swords and spears and rushed to the Yangxin Palace to protect the emperor.

No way~
Having an improper attitude is a big taboo.

Qianlong was also shocked and exclaimed:

"Wu Ze's counterattack came so quickly? Impossible, absolutely impossible."

……

Liuqing Palace was burned down and became uninhabitable.

After personally inspecting the area, Qianlong ordered the nearby Fengxian Hall to be used as the crown prince's bedroom.

Yongyan sneered in his heart, you old thing just don’t want me to leave the palace and live somewhere else, because you’re afraid that I will form a clique with the ministers and snatch your throne.

but,

Finally he breathed a sigh of relief.

Comfortable, comfortable all over.

That night,

Yongyan tossed and turned, constantly recalling the details of the crime, and even wanted to get up and go to the scene again to take a look.

The rookie mentality is fully exposed.

"Come on, I need to get up for the night."

A little palace maid hurried over carrying a copper basin.

She looked familiar and quite pretty.

Yongyan immediately became interested and pulled up the couch to toss around, which was several times more vigorous than usual.
The next day,

He learned a truth without a teacher:
Power is the best medicine.

……

The arson committed by the rebellious youth Yongyan caused great confusion to the Intelligence Agency.

Liu Qian's face was gloomy. This would cause great trouble to his assassination operation. Anyone who has worked in the government office would understand the reason.
really,

Qianlong took the opportunity to clean up the Forbidden City. Many guards were dismissed and replaced by new ones.

Inspections and military discipline have temporarily been raised to a higher level.

The number of patrols outside Dong'anmen has increased significantly.

The inspection procedures at the Meridian Gate have also become much stricter.

……

"Master, I have found out that the distance from Dong'an Gate to Donghua Gate is 150 feet. The distance from Donghua Gate to Qianqing Palace is another 200 feet."

Fu Shou drew the location on the paper.

Miao Renfeng immediately added:
"Taking into account the angle, direction, and redundancy, the distance from launching a rocket from Dong'anmen Street to the Hall of Supreme Harmony is approximately 350 to 400 zhang."

Everyone turned their eyes to the seconded rocket launcher.

This person was originally an officer in the Army Department's Ordnance Department, specializing in rocket testing and improvement.

He nodded:
"can."

Everyone smiled with ease.

“But there’s no guarantee of accuracy.”

"To be honest, the landing point of the rocket depends entirely on God's will, and the error is particularly large."

……

Liu Qian stood up and whispered:

"The key now is timing. How can we ensure that the assassination of the prince and the rocket attack on the imperial city are carried out at the same time? We also have to take evacuation into consideration."

"Everyone, can you discuss this further?"

Fushou answer:

"I will try to smooth things over and use the money to buy the Chaoyang Gate?"

Liu Qian shook his head.
"The city gate commander is a 4th-rank official. I'm afraid it won't be that easy."

"Also, I don't want you to be exposed. You have to stay undercover for a long time, work hard to get promoted, and welcome the king's master. Do you understand?"

Fushou stood up quickly and kowtowed three times and bowed nine times towards the south.

Liu Qian originally wanted to stop him, but after thinking it over he decided to wait until the boy finished kowtowing.

He thought that if possible, Jiang Tianmu should not be exposed, as he would be of great use if he stayed in the capital.

……

Liu Qian's style of doing things is bold but cautious.

His plan was to accomplish three things at the same time: kill Qianlong's son, kill the ministers who came to court, and bombard the imperial city.

High difficulty, high risk, high return.

If all is accomplished, we can take this opportunity to submit a request to His Majesty to substantially expand the Intelligence Agency.

The number of intelligence personnel must be increased, and the number of operations personnel must be increased even more.

Guns, cannons and even warships should be equipped.

In order to better implement His Majesty's colonial cause, the Intelligence Agency must immediately begin planning in Southeast Asia.

Anyway,

The status of the Intelligence Agency should not be lower than that of any main corps.

……

Plan to complete it bit by bit.

A very crucial point is the venue on Dong'anmen Street.

The Intelligence Agency needs a room to store rockets and a large yard as a launch site.

A wooden frame is required to launch the rocket launcher.

The wooden frame could not be transported from Jiangnan, so it had to be built on site.

to this end,

The Intelligence Agency spent many days investigating the situation and basically figured out the ownership of all the houses on Dong'anmen Street.

Finally, we chose a restaurant.

The original owner was looking to sell the property due to poor business performance, and after some bargaining, he settled for a premium.

……

If you open a new store, you must renovate it.

It makes sense to buy a lot of wood and ping-pong all day long.

During the renovation period, the door was closed with a clear conscience, giving no chance for outsiders to peek in.

The Shuntianfu officials would not be suspicious.
It is reasonable for the operatives lurking in the outer city to enter the restaurant disguised as carpenters and wait for a long time.

Anyway,

The Intelligence Agency does things with careful consideration.

But all of this is based on spending money lavishly.

Hiring escort agencies, bribing royal family members, opening up the He Mansion, renting houses, and selling shops, each of these involved spending huge sums of money.

The Intelligence Agency spent 350 million taels last year.

Of this, Your Majesty will allocate 150 million taels of silver from the treasury, and the rest will be raised entirely by ourselves.

……

Liu Qian strictly ordered the financial personnel at the headquarters not to leak the secret, otherwise the entire family would be killed.

If the court officials knew that the expense was so huge, they would definitely feel very uncomfortable.

Someone will jump out and question themselves:
How does your intelligence agency spend so much money? Is the intelligence agency monitoring all its employees? Should the account books be made public?
……

Liu Qian did not dare to reveal the fact that the Intelligence Bureau had more than 5000 personnel, not including informants and partners in various places.

He didn't even dare let His Majesty know that the Intelligence Agency's funding mainly came from maritime smuggling.

3 lines:
One is Tianjin, smuggling tea.

One is to smuggle silver and sulfur from Fuso.

Another one is to smuggle cloth to Fujian pirates~
From the bottom of my heart,

Liu Qian admired your majesty's vision. It was right for Wu to vigorously develop towards the ocean. There are mountains of gold and silver on the sea.

(End of this chapter)