The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 329: Taking sides
"…On March 5 (May 7), Cui Daoxing, the chief minister of the cabinet, the prince's tutor, and the Grand Secretary of the Huagai Palace, and the Qi envoy in Nanjing reached a preliminary consensus on the affairs of Annan. The Qin Dynasty will give up its previous right to confer titles on the King of Annan and recognize the legitimacy of the new Dali Kingdom."

"At the same time, Qi will protect the special political and economic interests that Daqin already has in the Annan region, and Qi promises to grant Daqin merchants the right to trade freely in the region without any restrictions."

"...Daqin will redraw the border between Guangxi and Yunnan with Liang State. To ensure the rationality and fairness of the demarcation, Qi State will send a military observation group to supervise and guide the demarcation operation."

"...Qi fully respects the exclusive rights of the Qin Dynasty to the area north of the Lixian River, and provides necessary assistance to support the Qin government in taking over and comforting the local people's livelihood."

"..."

"Snapped!"

Prince of Jin Sun Youyu threw the report in his hand fiercely onto the desk, then stood up, walked to the window, and exhaled deeply.

The Annan affair was ultimately resolved with the humiliating concession of our Great Qin. The mighty Great Qin was unable to do its utmost to protect even its own vassal states. Instead, it was forced to acknowledge the fait accompli created by Qi in accordance with the arrangements of the Qi people.

What a shame and humiliation!

Although, in order to save the face of our Great Qin, the State of Qi "thoughtfully" transferred nearly 10,000 square kilometers of land north of the Lixian River to the local government of Yunnan, but all this was more like a disguised humiliation.

The State of Qi, together with three vassal states including Liang State, Guangnan and Champa, divided up the most important areas of Annan and plundered all the wealth accumulated by Annan over hundreds of years.

After finishing, he licked his lips and remembered that Annan's suzerain was still standing by, staring at them sharing the food in amazement. Then, he threw a piece of dense forest and mountainous land with no one around to me, Daqin, as a consolation.

But under the powerful threat of Qi, what choice can our Great Qin make?

Even with Sun Youyu's strong and radical character, he was clearly aware that Daqin did not yet have the strength to launch a major war with Qi.

Not to mention the huge gap in national strength between the two countries, even with the fragile financial capacity of our Great Qin, we cannot afford a large-scale full-scale war.

What makes the Qin Dynasty even more fearful is that if we lose the war, the serious consequences will be unimaginable and difficult to deal with.

If the war in the northwest continues, Mobei, Liaodong, Korea, and even the entire eastern coastal area will probably be caught up in the war, and Jiangnan, which relies on the financial support of the court, will also suffer a devastating blow.

If the war triggers nationwide unrest at that time, it will inevitably pose a fatal threat to the entire Qin Dynasty.

The situation necessitates that we must be patient!

Sun Youyu and his delegation on their northern tour stayed at Ningling Station for two days. Under his strong pressure, the Ningling County local government and the Xuzhou-Luoyang Railway Supervision Office carried out a thorough security cleanup regarding the theft on the railway.

After two days of thunderous law enforcement operations, Ningling County arrested two gangs of thieves who illegally stole rails, smashed a private ironworks that illegally purchased rails, arrested more than 40 criminals, killed 15 thieves on the spot, seized a large number of stolen rails and related railway ancillary equipment, and recovered more than 1,700 taels of silver.

As an imperial envoy, Sun Youyu directly executed the six leading criminals and hung their heads for public display. He also ordered the Ningling County Magistrate, the Xuluo Railway Supervisor, the Ningling Station Supervisor and several other officials to be dismissed and handed over to the Henan Provincial Patrol Censor and the Nanjing Dali Temple for review.

Afterwards, the Chief Secretary of the Prince of Jin's Palace greatly embellished the situation here, compiled it into a volume, and reported it to Nanjing, where it was presented to Your Majesty for personal review.

When Kaifeng Prefecture sent officials to take over the affairs of Ningling County, Sun Youyu led the delegation to continue westward and arrived at Kaifeng Station on May 5.

At the beginning, during the construction of the Xuzhou-Luoyang Railway, when Qi engineers were planning and surveying the entire route, they suggested bypassing Kaifeng, passing through Weishi County, going through Zheng County (now Zhengzhou City), and then arriving in Luoyang.

The Kaifeng section was not suitable for railway because of its loose soil and the constant flooding of the Yellow River. However, the Daqin government and the Henan governor's office strongly opposed it and insisted that the railway line pass through Kaifeng.

What a joke! Kaifeng is the capital of Henan Province and the political center of the province. How could it be possible that the city would be bypassed during the construction of the railway? This is really unreasonable.

Under Qin's insistence, Qi's engineers had no choice but to compromise, but suggested moving the train line slightly south, passing through Xiangfu County instead of directly through Kaifeng City.

Therefore, Kaifeng Railway Station was established in Xiangfu County, more than ten kilometers away from Kaifeng City.

In the pre-Ming Dynasty, Kaifeng was a thoroughfare connecting eight provinces, "as powerful as the two capitals", with a population of one million. However, in the 1642th year of Chongzhen (), in order to repel Li Zicheng, the Ming army first broke the Yellow River to flood the army of King Chuang, and then the army of King Chuang broke the river to flood the Ming army. Overnight, the city was flooded, and only the bell tower, drum tower and the top of the Forbidden City of Zhou Wang's mansion were exposed above the water. Twelve or thirteen people died in the city, and the once prosperous Kaifeng was destroyed.

When the Tartars occupied the north, Kaifeng was ravaged by wars again and again, and the population became increasingly depleted. In addition, the accumulation of water and silt in the city made the entire city look like a ghost town.

After the Qin Dynasty replaced the Ming Dynasty, in order to restore and rebuild the city of Kaifeng, clearing the silt and draining the stagnant water became the primary problems faced by local officials and people.

Therefore, Henan Province mobilized a large number of workers to carry out the silt cleaning work. However, the siltation in Kaifeng was also very serious, with the thickness of silt in most urban areas reaching 2.5 to 3 meters. This was the siltation caused by the river breach in Kaifeng in the th year of Chongzhen.

Due to the thick siltation in the city and the heavy workload, as well as the sparse population in Kaifeng and a lot of work to be done, this project has been carried out intermittently and is still ongoing.

Due to the river bursting in Kaifeng in the late Ming Dynasty, silt accumulated outside the city of Kaifeng, forming a pot bottom with high outside and low inside. All the rivers inside and outside Kaifeng were silted up, and the accumulated water in the city could not be discharged for a long time, making it even more low and damp.

It was not until the 1706th year of Qianyuan () that heavy rains fell in June, "the water level increased, many houses of officials and civilians collapsed, and low-lying fields were all flooded." Kaifeng and more than counties around it were affected. After Henan Governor Tian Hongxian reported to the court, Emperor Qianyuan issued many imperial edicts. On the one hand, he ordered Tian Hongxian to increase relief efforts, and on the other hand, he allocated hundreds of thousands of taels of silver and ordered the Governor of the River Yu Zhongshan and others to open the river bank to drain the flood.

After six years, Kaifeng was able to drain all the flood water in the city by digging the dry river bank. However, several large lakes were still formed in the low-lying areas of the city, such as Longting, Baofukeng, and Xufukeng.

Kaifeng City was also undergoing a reconstruction during the same period, based on the Kaifeng City of the previous Ming Dynasty. Therefore, the Kaifeng City at this time basically followed the direction of the Ming Dynasty city wall and had the same scale. The city gates were also completely rebuilt on the basis of the Ming Dynasty city gates, with five gates still in existence and the names remained unchanged.

After several reconstructions, by the 1724nd year of Qianyuan (), the city walls of Kaifeng were basically complete. Although they were slightly inferior to those of the previous Ming Dynasty in terms of magnificence, they basically had the function of urban defense.

Of course, when Sun Youyu and his delegation were investigating alternative capitals, they did not include Kaifeng in their list of candidates. The reason they temporarily stopped in Xiangfu County was because Luo Renjing, the deputy envoy of the delegation and the second assistant of the cabinet, fell ill on the way, so they had to temporarily suspend their journey and send people to Kaifeng to invite doctors to treat them.

Upon hearing that His Royal Highness Prince Jin was visiting Xiangfu County, many officials including the Governor of Henan, the Provincial Governor, the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner, the Governor-General of the Rivers, and the Prefect of Kaifeng Prefecture rushed to pay their respects and greet him.

As per custom, local gentry and merchants prepared valuable gifts and requested to see the King of Jin in the hope of gaining the favor of the royal family.

After reading the court bulletin, Sun Youyu, who was feeling a little depressed, couldn't help but relax a little after he opened the list of gifts sent by local officials and merchants.

These people were knowledgeable and sensible, and they understood the rules. They knew that they should pay tribute to the royal family with some gifts to show their loyalty.

Of course, as a member of the royal family and the King of Jin appointed by the Qin Dynasty, Sun Youyu is not a greedy person.

Because the royal family, like the court, was also in huge deficit, they had to find ways to find some sources of income to supplement the inner court. The wars in the northwest continued, Liaodong and Korea were in turmoil for a long time, and there were famines all over the country. For example, the Yellow River flood control required at least millions of taels of silver to be invested every year to control the disaster of the Yellow River.

The deficit in the Ministry of Revenue's finances had to be made up from the royal household, so in the end the royal family did not have much "surplus grain".

A while ago, in order to deal with the Annan crisis, the Ministry of Revenue and the Royal Household had to squeeze out more than one million silver coins from various channels, and dispatched two new armies to move south as soon as possible. At the same time, they also dispatched several ships of the Fujian Navy to the Guangdong waters as a deterrent.

Although these measures had to be stopped in the end because Qi State quickly destroyed Annan, the money spent was real and there was no way to flow back into the national treasury, causing the Minister of Revenue to worry about filling this hole and turn gray.

Over the years, the imperial palace has not undergone any major renovations, let alone the construction of a new palace. My father's daily living and diet are also extremely simple.

Even we, the princes of the royal family, live a tight life. Compared with those luxurious tycoons and businessmen, we are extremely shabby.

This is all because of lack of money!
Therefore, since leaving the capital, Jin Wang Sun Youyu has been receiving tributes and tributes from local officials, gentry and merchants, which made him very happy and pleased.

If they could get several million taels of silver on this trip, it would not only make up for the deficit in the royal treasury, but might also provide some money for building a new capital and palaces in the future.

"Your Highness." Feng Yuanhan, the chief secretary of the Prince of Jin's Palace, handed a document to Sun Youyu.

"Hmm?" Sun Youyu frowned after reading the document and asked in a deep voice, "Is this the impeachment letter from Li Lai, the governor of Henan, against Wang Guan, the governor of Xuzhou?"

"Yes, Your Highness." Feng Yuanhan nodded and said, "When submitting this impeachment, Li Lai had already imprisoned Wang Guan."

"Li Lai is so bold!" Sun Youyu's face suddenly changed. "Even if the things listed in the impeachment are true, how can he imprison an official appointed by the court without authorization? ... Does he want to rebel?"

"Your Highness, calm down." Feng Yuanhan whispered to comfort him, "Li Lai may have acted a little hastily and arrogantly, but Wang Guan was corrupt and violated the law. He should be punished and detained according to the law. Li Lai was just a little hasty."

"..." Hearing this, Sun Youyu couldn't help but look at him deeply, "Tell me, what's going on?"

Since his trusted subordinates were willing to speak on Li Lai's behalf, there must be a reason behind it.

"Li Lai volunteers to serve Your Highness." Feng Yuanhan said softly.

"Oh?" Sun Youyu smiled after hearing this. "He is a local governor. How can he work for a prince like me?"

"Your Highness, the wind starts from the tip of the green duckweed, and the waves form from the ripples. Li Lai entered the officialdom as a juren, and his journey was very difficult. If he wants to make further progress in the future, besides relying on Your Highness, does he have any better choice?"

Sun Youyu's smile grew even wider. He didn't expect that after a trip out, he could recruit a high-ranking official to work for him. What a pleasant surprise!

"Your Highness, this bullet..."

"Wang Guan is really corrupt and committing treason?"

"Maybe... yes." Feng Yuanhan's eyes were evasive.

"Since there is corruption and abuse of power, then we should investigate it."

"Yes, Your Highness." Feng Yuanhan bowed and replied, "I will inform Li Lai of Your Highness' instructions later and ask him to handle this case well and not let those who break the law and commit corruption go lightly."

As he spoke, he gently placed a gift list on the table from his arms and slowly walked out.

"Oh, what a pity for Wang Guan!" After leaving the room, Feng Yuanhan sighed, and then walked out leisurely.

Wang Guannai was the runner-up in the palace examination in the 1724nd year of Qianyuan (). He had served as an editor in the Hanlin Academy, a censor-in-chief, and a director of the Ministry of Rites (sixth rank). Last year, he was demoted to Henan Province and served as the magistrate of Xuzhou (fifth rank).

Wang Guan had a good reputation since he took office, and he was upright and honest, which made him an atypical honest official. Perhaps it was because of his personality that he was out of tune with the court and was ostracized, so he was demoted to a local post.

Although he was the head of the Ministry of Rites, which was not an important position in the central court, he was transferred to the local area to serve as a prefect, which meant he was the chief official of a state, and his rank was raised by half a level, which seemed like a promotion.

But in fact, this is a rise in name only and a fall in reality.

When you arrive in Xuzhou, you will find that the emperor is far away and you will be demoted to a local level. Your political resources will immediately become fewer, and the platform on which you can display your ambitions will also become smaller. It is very likely that before long, everyone will forget about you, and it will not be easy to make your way back to the Fengtian Palace.

But if you can work in the capital for a long time, even if you are a doctor, a chief official, or an imperial censor, then your connections, resources, and the things you can access will be completely different from those in the local areas. Not to mention anything else, you can also show your presence in front of the emperor at the morning court every day. Who knows, you might catch the emperor's eye one day and be promoted to work in the cabinet.

For political speculators, the change from the central government to local governments is certainly not a good thing, but for Wang Guan, it doesn’t matter. In fact, he is a little happy.

He felt that since the court had demoted him to be the chief official of a state, at least his words would count in Xuzhou and he could bring real benefits to the people.

Not to mention, in Xuzhou, Wang Guan tried his best to suppress local tyrants, curb land annexation, and actively pursued many illegal behaviors such as tax evasion by gentry. At the same time, he also cracked down on corruption among his subordinate officials. Over a period of more than a year, he impeached and dismissed more than a dozen officials and clerks.

However, the interests of the gentry and officials are a piece of cheese that has been gnawed at for many years. Whoever touches this piece of cheese is likely to be retaliated against.

A month ago, Wang Guan impeached the Henan Governor's Office and the Chief Censor for the suspected embezzlement of relief funds by Co-magistrate Fang Yuli during the disaster relief period in Kaifeng Prefecture several years ago, which immediately caused an uproar in the entire officialdom.

This person is a bit unruly!

Therefore, half a month before the Prince of Jin's northern tour, Governor Li Lai came to Xuzhou, impeached Wang Guan without even a face-to-face meeting, and directly put him in jail on the grounds of "unauthorized use of Xuzhou's treasury silver." This was a heinous crime, and it would be reasonable for me to put him in jail, not to mention putting him in jail.

Xuzhou was a scattered state under the jurisdiction of Kaifeng Prefecture. It had high taxes within the territory and the government was relatively wealthy. Li Lai meant that Wang Guan, as the chief official of Xuzhou, took advantage of his position to embezzle all the money in the Xuzhou government.

This is a bit like finding a pretext to accuse someone of a crime. Since you, Li Lai, have already put Wang Guan in jail, you should at least produce evidence of his corruption, right?
Whether it's account books, cash, or land, you have to produce one of them, right?
Li Lai spread his hands and said, “I can’t take it out for the time being, but not being able to take it out doesn’t mean you are not guilty. Otherwise, all the gentry and officials in Xuzhou would say that he is corrupt and commits treason.”

Just when Li Lai was preparing to write a memorial to report the matter to the Nanjing court, His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin happened to be ordered to tour the north and came to the territory of Kaifeng Prefecture. So, as an imperial envoy, could he make a "fair" qualitative judgment on Wang Guan's corruption case?
Although Feng Yuanhan had some admiration and sympathy for Wang Guan after learning a little about the situation, compared with being able to win over more Henan officials to serve His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin, sacrificing a mere fifth-rank prefect was a "helpless move."

Sometimes, it doesn’t matter whether an official is honest or not. What’s important is to learn how to choose which side to stand on.

(End of this chapter)