Emperor Qianlong: the beginning of his glory

Chapter 6 Li Youjie was transferred to the capital Zhang Hengchen to cover up the scandal (2)
It turns out that southwest Guizhou is a place where Miao and Yao live together. It has always been hereditaryly ruled by local chieftains and officials. Moreover, merchants in the past and even imperial post offices were also harassed from time to time.Therefore, since the fourth year of Yongzheng, an edict was issued to be presided over by Ertai to abolish the chieftain system.In the Miao area of ​​Guizhou, there are departments, prefectures and counties, which are unified with the inland government orders.Zhang Guangsi, Ha Yuansheng and others slaughtered and hacked in Miaojiang. After several years of operation, they opened up three thousand miles of land and set up eight halls and counties, accounting for almost half of Guizhou Province.Unexpectedly, in December last year, there was an old bag among the Miao people, who spread the news about the birth of the "Miao King", and gathered people to make troubles to drive out the court officials.

"Since the two middle halls said so, of course I, Li Wei, must share the worries of the emperor." Li Wei subconsciously stroked his chest and sighed, "At that time when the hall was set up, I sent a letter to the study. Son, it’s not easy to mess with. We need to send the most capable officials there. It’s not that I’m complaining face to face. What kind of people have you sent? Han Xun is the commander in chief, with 3000 troops. Zhu Dongqi is full of energy when knocking and stripping the Miao people to make money, but when the Miao people change together, he resigns because he is sick; and Qiu Zhongtan, the magistrate of Qingping County, is even more surprising. His mother hopes that the Miao people will be killed. Escape', but his own feet were slippery. Zhang Guangsi wanted to control Ha Yuansheng, but Ha Yuansheng did not listen to Zhang Guangsi's order. The chief general was in charge of the exhausted soldiers of the two provinces, but the deputy general was sitting on the four provinces without moving... Sigh! I Don't say anything, this mouth is already full..." After finishing speaking, he glanced at Zhang Tingyu and Ertai.He did have something more difficult to say: Zhang Guangsi, the chief general, was under the pressure of Zhang Zhao, the imperial envoy who had pacified Miaojiang, and was a well-known talent.He is good at everything in poetry, poetry and Fu, but he is neither Zhang Tingyu's disciple nor Ertai's personal friend.In order to avoid suspicion, the two actually recommended this white-faced scholar to reconcile the two armies of Zhang and Ha.Zhang Zhao supported Ha Yuansheng to suppress Zhang Guangsi, but Ha Yuansheng didn't listen to Zhang Zhao's advice completely, which resulted in the pacification of one hundred thousand heavenly soldiers in Miaojiang, who turned out to be a mob without a leader!

Zhang Tingyu was silent for a long time, then sighed: "What you said is true, I don't shirk, this is my responsibility. Every family has a difficult scripture!" Ertai immediately continued: "I didn't expect Zhang According to incompetence, loss of teacher and humiliation of the country. This is not the responsibility of Hengchen alone. Youjie, Mr. Zhang and I have written the secret letter of impeachment and sent it up. Naturally, the court will punish it. Up to now, the only thing left is to fight again with the whole army. In your opinion, who is the best general?" After speaking, Zhang Tingyu stared intently at Li Wei, and Zhang Tingyu also turned his gaze over.The two thought that Li Wei must recommend Ha Yuansheng or Zhang Guangsi, but Li Wei smiled and said, "I think Yue Zhongqi is good."While we were still waiting to talk in detail, we heard a commotion outside the door.The three of them were stunned, but they saw Gao Wuyong, the eunuch of the Hall of Mental Cultivation, striding in, his face was blue and gray, ugly like a dead man, he rushed to stand in the south of the center of the central hall, his strange voice was pulling the throat of a male duck Said: "There is a decree, Zhang Tingyu and Ertai kneel and listen!" The sudden change made the three of them stand up with a "huh", Li Wei hurriedly retreated to the side, Zhang Tingyu and Ertai plopped their robes and knelt down , Kowtow said:
"Slaves Zhang Tingyu and Ertai respectfully listen to the oracle!"

"According to the orders of Prince Zhuang Yunlu, Prince Guo Yunli, Prince Bao Hongli, and Prince Yi Hongxiao, I am leading Zhang Tingyu and Ertai to the Yuanmingyuan to meet you. I respect you!"

"The slave obeys the order!"

The two kowtowed their heads together.Gao Wuyong turned around and left without saying a word.Li Wei, who was very familiar with Gao Wuyong, grabbed him and asked with a half-smile: "Old dog, didn't you see me here? Are you rebellious or the sky is falling?" Gao Wuyong Wuyong pulled it away in a hurry, and said: "Hurry up! Hurry up!" As he said that, he ran away, but he tripped over the threshold and fell to the stone steps in front of the hall. Pulling the horse in the courtyard and riding with a whip, he hurried away without a trace!

Ertai and Li Wei knew that a big change was imminent, and they stood facing each other with their backs straightened up nervously, and they both kept the posture of saying goodbye to Gao Wuyong.Zhang Tingyu has never encountered such a thing in the 30 years he has been in the cabinet, and his face is pale, but after all, he is a veteran of the two dynasties. He has suffered from changes in the palace, and he strode out of the dripping eaves without hesitation. He shouted sharply on the steps: "Who is the post office? Do you have any horses? You can do it with a mule!" The post office crawled out and kowtowed: "This is a waterway post station, and there are no horses. But tonight there is a delivery station." The coal worker lives in the back room, and I saw a few walking mules..."

"Who listened to you chewing your wife's tongue?" Zhang Tingyu's voice changed agitatedly, "Hurry up, hurry up..." The postman ran to the backyard without touching the ground, pulled two mules himself in an instant, and said with a mournful face: "Without a saddle, how can the two Zhongtang ride this bare-backed mule..."

Zhang Tingyu and Ertai didn't say anything, they took a few steps down the steps, each led a horse, and rode up the steps of the main room.The two looked at each other, shook the reins and rushed out the door.The family members Goshha and the guards brought by Zhang and E Erfu left one by one without making a sound.When Li Wei took out his pocket watch, it was already the end of the century and the beginning of the Hai Dynasty. Cai Ping and Qian Du had just returned to the station. They witnessed this scene with their own eyes.Seeing Li Wei leaning forward and sitting on the easy chair dumbly, Qian Du murmured and swallowed the words back.

The Old Summer Palace is located in the north of Changchun Garden, forty miles away from Xizhimen. It was originally a garden rewarded by Kangxi before Emperor Yongzheng took the throne.Yongzheng was naturally afraid of heat and liked cold, so he saw that there was a big sea in the east of the garden, which was also auspiciously named "Fuhai". It was convenient for Yongzheng to issue an edict in the third year of Yongzheng, and use Yuanmingyuan as the seat of government in spring, summer and autumn.Outside the garden, there are court offices, inside which there is a "bright and upright" hall, and on the east side of the main hall, there is also a "diligent government and virtuous" hall.Zhang Tingyu and Ertai rushed here from the Dongcheng mules for about seventy li. It took more than half an hour until they reached the side of the chariot road at the gate of the Grand Palace. There were more than a dozen little sura attendants with their lamps on, looking at the south side eagerly.The two threw the reins away and hurried forward, Ertai asked, "Where is the emperor now?"

"At the Xinghuachun Pavilion." Gao Wuyong agreed, only holding the glass lamp and walked quickly, but said nothing.Ertai opened his mouth, then swallowed the words back.Zhang Tingyu suddenly felt an ominous feeling that a big event was imminent, and before he could change his mind, he saw Yunlu, Yunli, Hongli, and Hongxiao, four princes, young and old, welcoming them to the entrance of the palace, all of them with livid faces, and hurriedly knelt down with Ertai Please greet me, and said: "Long live, I summoned the ministers to enter the palace late at night. I don't know if there is anything important to tell me?"

"It was a meeting of our four lords. In order to prevent any shocking comments, I specially summoned you here." Yunlu said slowly, word by word. He has always been fluent in speech, and I don't know how many times he has considered this sentence. Just say it.Seeing Ertai and Zhang Tingyu staring at each other in astonishment, Yunli said in a heavy tone, "Long Live Yongzheng has already been the guest of honor—you will know when you come in and take a look. We haven't moved anything here." After hearing this, Zhang Tingyu felt his legs go weak Trembling, they glanced blankly at Ertai, and saw that his face was also as white as a ghost—they didn't dare to say or think about anything, they tiptoed into the palace like thieves, and were suddenly shocked like wood carvings and clay sculptures.

Beside the high threshold is a pool of blood, along the speckled blood stains, there is a female corpse lying on the ground, her eyebrows are tightly knitted, her face is as beautiful as life, her mouth is slightly turned up, her face is full of tears, it seems that she cried before she died one game.She had wounds on her chest, but there were no blood spots on the ground.Nothing else in the hall was messed up, only a chair was overturned on the ground, and a purple-red pill was placed on a plate on the table, which could be identified at a glance as the "Nine Turns Returning Pills" practiced by Taoism, about the size of a walnut. .The scene in front of the imperial couch was even more astonishing. Yongzheng was still sitting on the couch and was dead. The dripping spots in front of the imperial couch were covered with blood stains, congealed into blood scabs.Emperor Yongzheng had a knife wound under his chin, with a scratch about one minute deep, and a knife wound on the back of his shoulder, which was stabbed in.But the strange thing is that the dagger, the murder weapon, was tightly held in Yongzheng's own hand, and it went straight into his heart!As if in a dream, the two of them leaned closer and looked down at the emperor who had met him with a smile that day. There was no look of panic or anger in his brows, his lips were slightly parted, as if he was still talking before he died, and his wry smile was on his face. Eyes closed.Zhang Tingyu tried his best to hold his breath and calm himself down.When he looked closely, he saw that Yongzheng's left hand was tightly clenched, but he didn't dare to break it. He took a candle and lit it, only to see that he was holding a long-lived stone lock in his hand.Zhang Tingyu was frowning and pondering why he couldn't explain it, Ertai exclaimed softly at the side of the case: "Hengchen, come and see!" Zhang Tingyu hurriedly walked over holding a candle, only to see a few words written in blood on the Qingyu case:
Don't make it difficult for this girl, give her a good burial!
Both of them are powerful ministers who serve Yongzheng every day, and they can tell at a glance that this handwriting is indeed the last handwriting written by Emperor Yongzheng dipped in blood with his fingers!
"Death!" Ertai murmured softly, but when he looked at Zhang Tingyu, Zhang Tingyu gritted his teeth and shook his head, "You must not speak out." He pointed at the elixir with his finger and said nothing.The two of them winked and walked out of the hall together.Zhang Tingyu said to the four idiots standing outside the palace like a prince: "Please enter the palace to talk—Gao Wuyong guards this door, no one is allowed to eavesdrop, regardless of the palace guards."

The four princes filed in one by one, avoiding the female corpse as if they were afraid of disturbing the dead, and followed the two prime ministers carefully to stand in the southwest corner of the hall.Zhang Tingyu's eyes danced faintly in the candlelight, and he said after a long time: "Your lords, everyone must have carefully read the situation here. It is obvious that this concubine killed the king. But the emperor is sage and righteous, and he has a blood edict that does not allow it to be difficult. Therefore, the here Not only can things not be studied in depth, but they can’t be publicized." He said, his tone has become extremely serious, "We are all people who have read the history books, and this is the critical moment for the survival of the country. Ting Yu thought that the first priority is to obey the first emperor. Last order, Xingye went to the Qianqing Palace to dismantle the edict to pass on the throne, and the new king will have everything to rely on, otherwise, there may be unforeseen disasters!" After hearing this, Yun Lu said: "What the prime minister said is very true. But read the edict as usual, and call everyone The kings and Baylor, do you want to separate the meetings and gather at the Qianqing Palace at dawn to announce the edict?" "It can't be like this." Zhang Tingyu's face was as cold as a layer of frost, "This is an extraordinary change. Rituals have scriptures and rights , now we can only follow the authority. Now let’s seal the main hall of the Xinghua Pavilion, and the guards will imprison the eunuchs and maids here, and the eunuchs and maids are not allowed to come in and out. Once the new king is positioned, everything will be handled according to the will."

When everything is agreed upon, it's time to pay Yinchu.The seven princes and nobles rushed back to the Forbidden City on horseback.At this moment, Zhang Tingyu felt a pain between his thighs.When I touched it, the mule's back had already stained my clothes with blood. When I saw Ertai, I gritted my teeth when I got on the horse.But he said nothing.When everyone saw them get on their horses and let go of the reins, dozens of horses immediately disappeared into the cold, windy and moonlit night together with their guards.

(End of this chapter)