Great Qing Dynasty talker

Chapter 540: The Northern Pyramid and the Wu State Spider Web
From the moment Prince Jia Yongyan led his troops into Heshen’s residence and snatched away Heshen’s favorite concubine Xiao Xiaoqi in full view of everyone.

The fate of Hefu’s noodles was doomed to fail.

People in the old city have a keen sense of smell. They praise the powerful and criticize the weak without any hesitation.

The news spread like a spring breeze, blowing all over the city overnight, and even everyone in the city knew about it.

From the next day,
There were few carriages and horses in front of the He Mansion.

Lo mein? Even dogs won’t eat it.

Everyone rushed to the East Palace to eat steamed buns.

The chef of Prince Jia's mansion was very good at steaming delicious steamed buns. As soon as they were served, the ministers rushed to stuff them into their mouths, gave thumbs up and praised them.

……

Yongyan's act of snatching Xiao Xiaoqi seems reckless, but in fact it is not impulsive at all and is truly ingenious.

The factor of coveting beauty accounts for up to 3%.

He did it on purpose. Directly suppressing Heshen was equivalent to indirectly suppressing the emperor.

When it comes to imperial power, there is no room for humility.

Taking advantage of the attack on the Forbidden City, Qianlong was forced to cede Shuntian Prefecture and half of the armed forces in the capital. He had to strike while the iron was hot to ensure his unshakable position as the quasi-emperor.

He asked the Ministry of Revenue for 50 taels in order to pay double military pay to his own Cavalry Battalion, Tiger Spear Battalion, Shanpu Battalion and Xishan Jianrui Battalion.

As the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture and the governor of the Nine Gates, Yongyan had enough confidence to be the master of the Four-Nine Cities.

Heshen, who was once in power, is nothing.

A series of dazzling official positions such as the Grand Councilor, the Minister of Revenue, the Minister of the Imperial Household Department, etc. are nothing in front of the sword.

Heshen was dependent on imperial power.

He posed zero threat to Yongyan.

……

Recruit people during the day and do things at night.

Yongyan was surprised to find that Xiaoqi was enjoying herself quite a bit on the bed.

the next morning,

He took a piece of stained Suzhou embroidery undergarment and had it sent to He's house.

Heshen was so angry that he almost vomited blood and lay down.

Now, everyone inside and outside the court saw clearly who the real master was.

The He family army was completely defeated overnight. At least 5% of the people changed their diet to steamed buns.

The era of lo mein has ended, and the era of steamed buns has begun.

A capable general of the He family army, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, announced that he also liked eating steamed buns, which meant that Yongyan had won another victory - the Ministry of Revenue.

……

Shuntian Prefecture Governor - power over affairs.

Nine-Gate Commander--military power.

Ministry of Revenue - financial power.

Anyone with a little common sense could see that Qianlong was only one step away from becoming the retired emperor.

The reason why the status quo can be maintained at present is that Prince Jia is worried that the dissatisfaction of local governors and governors-general will cause the collapse of the north.

Regicide and father-killing?
That is impossible.

In the feudal era, killing one's father to succeed to the throne was the fundamental way to subvert the dynasty's rule and to break the legitimacy of the imperial power.

Lord and minister, father and son.

This theoretical system supports the imperial power.

Even Li Shimin only killed his brothers and did not dare to kill his father.

……

Due to the discord between father and son, the central command of the Qing court failed.

The governors and governors-general of all provinces received the order from the Grand Council to "defend on the spot, eliminate the rioters at home, and build a strong fortification to resist the enemy externally."

At the foot of Xiangshan Mountain,

A bastion built under the supervision of missionaries.

The Xishan Jianrui Battalion pulled out 10 heavy mountain-splitting cannons and 2 second-level general cannons and started shelling from 100 feet away.

The sound of gunfire rumbled and the smoke filled the air.

Frank missionary Jiang Youren looked at the white smoke rising in front of him, and in a trance, he seemed to see the small garden where he lived in his childhood, the suburbs of the Seine River, and himself running.
this moment,
He couldn't hold back his tears.

Muttering:

"The sandstorm is too strong today."

……

"Father, be careful."

Yongyan seemed like a different person. He carefully supported Qianlong and stood on a high place overlooking the artillery fire.

The innocent boy is dead, and the vicious young man has been tempered and reborn.

Mature~
Qianlong only took one look and knew that he had not seen this boy for three days and he should take a closer look at him.

I feel so much emotion~
For the empire, the crown prince's viciousness is a good thing, but for himself, the crown prince's viciousness is a bad thing.

The bloody old age has finally arrived.

After a long bombardment, most of the shells flew over the bastion and passed directly over the heads.

……

Qianlong frowned:

“Why is the hit rate so low?”

He Guozong spoke:

"Your Majesty, this is the subtlety of the bastion. The foundation is dug deep, and one-third of the wall is lower than the surrounding ground. I will pass the order and have the cannons approach within 50 feet to bombard."

"Go."

The gunners were very depressed. They had finally managed to hit the bastion with a 10-pound iron ball, but the damage caused was very light.

The city wall has a delicate angle and obvious force relief.

The missionaries whispered to each other and were very pleased.

……

At noon,

He Guozong took out the summary report.

"12 cannons fired a total of 110 solid bullets, only 15 of which hit the target. The bastion was damaged in 9 places, all of which were minor and structurally intact. There were 200 death row prisoners chained to the city wall to simulate the defenders, and 13 of them were killed or wounded."

Everyone was shocked.

Exclaimed in disbelief.

Qianlong turned his head and asked kindly:

"Prince, what do you think?"

"I believe that bastions are powerful military weapons, and are not comparable to the shabby fortresses built by Fu Changan in Huai'an. The court should reward these missionaries, grant them the title of director of the Ministry of War, and order them to supervise the construction of tens of millions of bastions for our Qing Dynasty."

"well."

Qianlong turned his head:

"What do you want?"

"Please allow us to preach freely and let the gospel of God come to the East~"

……

Qianlong looked at Yongyan.

"Prince~"

"With the Emperor here, how can I overstep my bounds? Please let the Emperor judge for me."

A large number of ministers knelt on the ground and shouted:
"Your Majesty, please make your decision."

Qianlong appeared happy on the surface, but sneered in his heart.

Rebellious son, it’s not that you don’t dare to overstep your authority, it’s that you don’t want to take on this matter.

He loudly said:

"Issue an order that from now on, missionaries from all countries are allowed to freely preach in all provinces, build churches, and recruit believers."

"The Grand Council drafted the decree and affixed the imperial seal."

"I will keep my word."

The five missionaries knelt down in unison.

Shout long live.

Their eyes were filled with tears and they couldn't stop crying.

From Nan Huairen to Jiang Youren, from Ming Dynasty to Qing Dynasty, the Jesuits finally pried open the door to the East. Was it easy?
……

The five foreign officials were appointed to the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works respectively, responsible for tasks such as casting cannons and repairing bastions, and serving the Qing Dynasty.

At the same time, they sent people back to Europe to ask the Jesuits to quickly send a large number of missionaries.

Opportunity is fleeting~
No matter whether the owner of this land in the future will be the Qing Empire or the Wu Empire, whether there will be peace or gunpowder, the fanatical Jesuit priests will not fear hardships and death, and will only strive to accomplish their mission.

Preaching is against the will of heaven.

How great an honor it is to pry open an empire with a population of 3 million?

God will not forget.

……

Actually,
Jiang Youren deliberately ignored a key issue - the small bastion he designed and supervised could not be mass-produced.

Bastion is a combination of European engineering, geometry and ballistics.

Without his on-site guidance, the defensive effectiveness of the bastions built by the ignorant military officers of the Qing Empire and their illiterate laborers by copying others was at least 5% reduced.

7% off is possible.

Having spent decades in the palace, Jiang Youren was well-versed in Confucian classics and had dealt with dozens of scholars and officials.

He discovered that the elite class of the Qing Empire had a huge flaw - they were too idealistic and not practical.

Love ambiguity and hate precision.

Passionate about theory and disgusted with practice.

Seems to know everything, but is not proficient in anything.

They are good at playing witty word games and citing scriptures and classics. They are excellent bards, but they can never be engineers because the elites of the empire do not understand mathematics or physics at all.

After all,

Confucianism is not a practical discipline, but a vague philosophy of social survival.

……

In short, when the first steeple church rose up in the south city, overlooking the surrounding area.

The people of Nancheng were stunned~
The scholars remained silent.
The Eight Banners of Manchuria and Mongolia turned a blind eye.

This was a strong signal that the stubborn and proud Qing Dynasty lowered its barbaric head.

If drastic measures are not taken, the Eight Banners will really have to return to the outside of the Great Wall.

Official documents from various provinces regarding bandit suppression were arriving in the capital like snowflakes. The north was filled with smoke of war, but for the time being, a big bandit like Li Zicheng had not appeared.

In the past three months,
The northern counties and gentry have joined forces to suppress and kill more than 300 rebels involving less than 500 people.

……

In the study room of the Wu Palace.

Li Yu looked through the northern military information provided by the Intelligence Agency and couldn't help but sigh:

The Qing government truly strangled the rebel army in its cradle.

Qianlong used the scattered Green Camp soldiers to unite with local gentry and powerful people to effectively suppress the vast rural areas.

There's a time lag here.
It takes time for Li Zicheng to emerge.

The rebels destroyed the manors of the gentry to obtain food, and captured towns to obtain standard weapons and more food. But that was not enough, they also needed to continuously defeat small groups of officers and soldiers, absorb surrendered soldiers, and master tactics.

however,
The northern gentry would kill them as soon as they were discovered.

The armed forces of officials and gentry were well fed, had good weapons, were organized and had reinforcements, and received military pay and rewards.

The armed forces under his command were like bloodthirsty jackals, running back and forth in this prefecture and even in neighboring states, killing many people.

They would massacre villages and destroy towns at any time.

Qianlong handed over the territory to the gentry, and the gentry handed over the herbivores in the territory to the jackals, thus forming a very stable pyramid-shaped suppression chain.

……

Li Yu walked onto the balcony of the bedroom and looked into the distance.

The surrounding is green, quiet and elegant.

The military situation in the north reminded him of Marx's The Prince, a book that epitomizes the aesthetics of violence and the art of ruling. The content is so bold that it makes people shudder after reading it.

If Emperor Qianlong had read this book, he would have been amazed and appointed Lao Ma as the imperial teacher.

Li Yu thought to himself that with an opponent like Qianlong, if he was a little weaker, he might not have the last laugh.

Fortunately,

Qianlong understood everything.

What Qianlong didn't understand, I understood too.

It is very simple to break Qianlong's situation. All you need to do is apply a little bit of external force to disrupt the stable structure in the north.

……

Li Yu pondered for a long time and had a general outline of the Northern Expedition plan.

Turning his head, he said:

"Notify Jiangpu General Hu Zhihuang to come to Suzhou to meet His Majesty."

"Yes."

After recording the note, a female official hurriedly left the bedroom and handed it to the secretariat working in the front hall of the palace, who then passed it down layer by layer.

……

"Your Majesty, Liu Jinxin, the general manager of Sihai Bank, pays homage to the emperor. Long live the emperor."

The standard three kowtows and nine bows.

Li Yu waited until he finished speaking before pointing to the side:

"sit."

"I dare not. There is no place for me in front of Your Majesty. I'd better stand."

"Okay. I've read the expansion plan you sent me. I summoned you this time to discuss the future development of the bank."

"I am all ears."

Li Yu pulled out a piece of paper.

"You take a look first."

……

Although Liu Jinxin never passed the imperial examination, as the only remaining professional talent in Shanxi Piaohao, he is also half a layman in finance.

The more I watch, the more shocked I am.

He even looked up in surprise and said:

"Your Majesty, you are the founder of the banknote industry."

Li Yu gladly accepted the compliment and said with a smile:

"The Piaohao is a key auxiliary to the empire's finances and is extremely important. Under my rule, we need to achieve full coverage of outlets in the provincial capital and the prefectural capital. You will draft the specific regulations, and personnel are the key."

Liu Jinxin thought about it and asked:
"Your Majesty, please tell me whether there are any restrictions on the employees' background or place of origin?"

"No limits for now. You can build the framework first. In addition, you can set up a Dongshan Accounting School to train the required employees. It will be affiliated with Sihai Piaohao."

"According to the order."

This means that Liu Jinxin can use some of his fellow Shanxi natives as his team.

There is a practical basis for building a social network based on fellow townsmen, classmates and classmates. Without these three similarities, the two sides cannot establish mutual trust and will always be strangers.

……

"Your Majesty, I would like to ask if Sihai Piaohao will be involved in the money-lending business?"

"of course."

Ticket number, focusing on remote exchange, deposit and loan.

For example, military supply merchants in Hunan could take their military notes directly to the local Sihai Bank to exchange them for cash.

For example, merchants in Guangdong could take their silver notes to Hubei and exchange them for cash.

For example, wealthy people could deposit large amounts of cash into a bank and withdraw the cash at another location.

For example, a merchant who needed funds could borrow silver from a bank.

……

Ancient money houses focused on currency exchange.

Copper coins can be exchanged for silver, silver ingots can be exchanged for silver coins, foreign coins can be exchanged for silver coins, and so on.

……

"The ticket houses and money houses need to be combined into one. In addition to the traditional four businesses of deposit, withdrawal, exchange and loan, a new business, credit bill, should also be considered. The customs system has been implemented, and the business dealings between foreign merchants and Chinese merchants lack mutual trust. An institution recognized by both parties is needed to build a bridge. Do you understand?"

Liu Jinxin felt a little lighter, and replied tremblingly:

"I understand. Your Majesty is trying to achieve true integration of the world."

"Yes. When the time is right, we will change the name to Sihai Finance."

"It is particularly important to establish a complete and perfect internal system. Do not test the edge of my sword. I will drink from the golden cup with you and I will not spare you. Do you understand?"

"I understand."

Liu Jinxin knelt down and kowtowed again.

All I could hear was Li Yu's steady and firm voice:
"Go ahead, and be ready to open a branch in the Northern Qingtong District at any time."

……

Liu Jinxin is from Shanxi and it is impossible for him to join the Finance Minister Hu Xueyu.

this point is very important.

In order to make Liu Jinxin work hard, he must give him the authority to employ his fellow Shanxi natives.

In addition,

The tentacles of the Ministry of the Interior are also gradually penetrating into the banknote exchange offices.

Li Yu personally led the Ministry of the Interior and invested a large amount of secret funds into the Ministry, and the size of the staff expanded rapidly.

He basically continued the model of Concubine Yang during her lifetime, with the internal division into "postman" and "spy".

The spies would collect intelligence regularly and hand it over to the postman.

The postman submits the information layer by layer, and then summarizes and analyzes the intelligence.

Spy - Postman - Analyst - Your Majesty, a very clear intelligence network.

The Ministry of the Interior is nominally an intelligence agency, but in reality it is more like an information chain. There is no interrogation, no killing, no tyranny. It just operates silently.

……

The loyalty and discipline issues of intelligence personnel were difficult to resolve, so Li Yu creatively came up with the idea of ​​"personnel metabolism".

After the detectives are put into use for three years, they will be replaced with a new batch.

A new body is always better than an old one.

It is impossible for the Intelligence Agency to undergo metabolism because many of Liu Qian's subordinates are irreplaceable, highly professional, and know too much.

The Ministry of the Interior is different, all the spies have their main jobs.

After the three-year visit period expires, they are still officers, soldiers, technicians, postmen, small vendors, and doormen, and live normal lives.

And they know very little.
They just collect information about prices, public sentiment, rumors, wins and losses, etc. around them. They can be regarded as ordinary diary lovers.

Finally, let’s hand it over to the greatest diary master - Your Majesty.

……

Li Yu believes that he is running the Ministry of the Interior like a "spider web", with himself at the center, silently sensing any unusual movements in any direction.

It is difficult for outsiders to find the key breakthrough point to destroy the spider web.

As long as the destroyer makes a move, the spider web will vibrate and he will be awakened.

Then, send people to the place where the spider web was damaged.

Repair and arrest.

……

Let us stand up, raise our arms, and praise loudly:

The greatest master of intelligence, economics, violent aesthetics, and balanced strategy of the 18th century - Your Majesty!
(End of this chapter)