Emperor Qianlong: the beginning of his glory

Chapter 71
Qianlong saw that the empress was about to withdraw, and hurriedly said: "Don't go, I didn't know you were here. I planned to see Lafayette and invite you to come here!" The empress stopped, staring at Qianlong with concern, without Say what.Seeing his serious face, the queen mother ordered all the eunuchs and maids in the palace to stand down, looked at Qianlong carefully and said, "I didn't pay attention, the emperor's expression seemed to be frightened, or something evil in the palace was overwhelmed? Or else Just what's on your mind?"

"I have something on my mind." Qianlong took a cushion himself, walked behind his mother who was sitting in the armchair, padded her waist, and signaled Empress Fucha to sit down. He said the "gossip" he heard from Shi, and only avoided the part of "wearing a green turban" for Fu Heng.He said with a gloomy gaze: "This is actually about the fact that the late emperor's position was not right. If the first emperor's position was not right, I would also be wrong. There are indeed big articles in it. I have thought a lot today. If it weren't for Zhang Guangsi's great victory in Miaojiang, Yin Jishan, Gao Heng, and Fu Heng succeeded in suppressing thieves in Jiangxi and Shanxi. I don’t know why the rumors have spread all over the city! Since I ascended the throne, I have gotten up at four o’clock in the morning to do business, read books every night, and slept for less than three hours. Diligence is nothing more than that, right? Besides, it was the eighth, ninth, tenth, and fourteenth uncles who competed with the late emperor. The eighth and ninth uncles have long since died, and the tenth and fourteenth uncles have no ambition at all. Ten Uncle now has a stomach ache from fright when he hears my invitation, and Uncle Fourteen volunteers to help with military affairs, they will definitely not fabricate these rumors—but these rumors are like undercurrents under the ice, and they seem to be very urgent, yes Who is making waves behind it?"

The queen mother and queen didn't seem surprised.The queen stared at the candlelight in a daze and said nothing. The queen mother spread out and closed the cards in her hand, closed and spread them out, and said back and forth several times: "Where there is wind, there is naturally a source of wind, but this 'The End of Qingping' is not so easy to break, listen to you." The tone seems to be to get to the bottom of it? This is absolutely unacceptable. Whoever is charged with this kind of crime will have the disaster of extermination. You can’t find out! According to me, keep quiet in your heart, and you will not be surprised, and it will Self-defeating. You issued an edict to investigate with open flames, frightening people's hearts, and anxiety gave birth to other troubles. The late emperor suffered from this loss, and he couldn't hear the slightest unclean words in his ears. He argued with the death row prisoner Zeng Jing and wrote After reading the book "Da Yi Jue Mi Lu", all the affairs in the palace are so turbulent that the whole world knows about it. When you ascended to the throne, you burned the book and killed Zeng Jing. You did it very cleverly. How could things fall on your own head so that you can't be so heavy? Hold on? Besides, if you find out who made the rumor, it’s not a case of treason after all, so what should you do? It might be a royal family member, should you deal with it or not?”

"In short, this matter cannot be left alone." Qianlong felt that what his mother said was reasonable, but he thought it would be too useless to ignore it, "I treat people with benevolence and treat people with leniency. Tianbian, standing in front of Confucius, can you tell me what I did wrong? But people are indifferent, and the world is bad. It is really puzzling to do anything good." The Queen Mother sighed, threw away the cards in her hand, and said: " Emperor, even though I am a woman, I also know that it is difficult for me to govern. Emperor Daxing said at that time that there are many people who hate him. From foreign officials to Beijing officials, from brothers and nephews to relatives and relatives, following him as a courtier will not be hungry He can't be idle, but he can't make a fortune. It's just that he has such a temperament that he can't tolerate any miscellaneous things in his eyes and heart. People are afraid of him. He also has a secret system, and people dare not say anything about him behind his back. Don't dare Said, it may not mean nothing. Do you think so?" Qianlong nodded and said: "The mother can see it."

The Empress Dowager stood up, walked to the entrance of the hall, looked at the night outside, and said, "It seems easy for you to change from strict to lenient. Actually, have you ever thought about it? How many people have been cut off from getting rich by suddenly exempting the world from money and food? Don’t those outsiders get rich just by extorting money and food from them? You go to be an official for thousands of miles, and you are exempted from tax every three years. God is happy, the ancestors are at ease, and the common people are happy. The real officials are like dumb people eating coptis!" Qianlong laughed and said: "If you eat it, let them eat it. I will also take a few people who have made clever names to strip people's wealth and kill them. They! Although the son is young, he has seen the style of the holy grandfather governing the country, and he wants to govern the country better than the holy ancestor! To take such a bet—some people have nothing to say!" His heart suddenly moved: these rumors are all old accounts, Could it be Prince Li and the others, who turned out to be the sons of the crown prince.Now he is just a powerless vassal king, with strange thoughts to make trouble?He opened his mouth, did not say this, but smiled and said: "My son feels that he is a bit too sloppy. The holy grandfather visits in disguise a few times a year, or he goes to Fengtian to worship the ancestors, or to go hunting in Mulan. I have been to Jiangnan six times, not to mention Gyeonggi, and I have to go out and about twice in three days. My son sits in the pile of memorials and reads square characters every day. The son's body is stronger than his grandfather and Huang Ama, so he has to take care of both ends. However, there are many courtiers who protect the sky in front of Lord Kangxi, but few of the sons are really trustworthy. It is true that he is afraid of his mother's embarrassment when he goes out. I should go out for a walk more..."

"Of course I don't worry about it." The Queen Mother said, "These guards are different from their ancestors at that time. They are 'lords' themselves. Look slowly, don’t worry. I see that Liu Tongxun, just ask him to take care of you.” She took a breath, and changed the subject with a smile, “This is what we girls are talking about. I think you are an infatuated person. Women are It’s not too close. There are few stunning people in the Sixth Courtyard of the Harem? You are still pestering Tang’er—don’t blush, no one told me, I have already seen it, I just opened and closed my eyes and pretended to be confused. I'm not talking about Tang'er, I'm talking about a woman. Grandpa Sheng actually married your auntie. Master Yongzheng fell into the hands of a woman, this matter can't be taken too seriously. Women, when you are in a place, you should put your hands away. , this is a man, it’s not good after a long time, if something happens, what do you ask me to do?”

After hearing this, Qianlong really had a hard time answering, from Shunzhi to his fourth generation.Shunzhi fell in love with Dong E's family, and Dong E's family died young, but Shunzhi died of depression.Kangxi fell in love with Axiu, but Axiu had another love. The sea of ​​evil was difficult to cross, and Axiu became a monk in Huanggutun.Needless to say, the father, but he fell in love with the married woman Tang'er deeply in his heart - it was the seed of infatuation.But can this kind of feeling be dispelled by one or two quotes from a sage and a few words of persuasion?Qianlong thought.It was difficult to answer, so I had to bow and say: "Yes. It's getting late, my son should go back, and my mother will go to the theater tomorrow, so my son will not disturb me. How many people will my son meet tomorrow? , if the time is still early, my son will also go to have fun." After saying that, he retreated and went back to the Hall of Mental Cultivation to lie on the couch, tossing and turning just thinking, until the clock struck one o'clock at the end of Zimo Chou, and then fell into a deep sleep.

Sigege Aixinjue Luo Qingying's fiftieth birthday was arranged in an unusually lively manner.From the three old aunts of Shunzhi to the more than 30 daughters of Kangxi, there are only thirteen or four princesses who have lived past the age of 50.She is considered the "longevity" princess.Seventeen Gege and the others came last night and passed on the Queen Mother's order: not only the Queen Mother must watch the play, but the emperor must also come. No princess Gege has ever had such dignity.Several of her sons and daughters-in-law stayed up all night, canceled the church meeting, and set up a platform on the waterside pavilion.The theater viewing place on the shore is low, fearing that the Queen Mother might not be able to see clearly, all the servants were sent out overnight, and the loess was used to raise it three or four feet higher, and more than a dozen weeping willows with a thick bowl mouth were transplanted and planted on the loess platform. A layer of fluffy green grass.When the day was approaching, the actors from Luqingtang came, and one after another, Princess Gege went to the hall to pay their birthday wishes, but no one came to greet them, and they dared not ask.Just when he was wondering, a housekeeper rushed over and pulled Wang Xiong, the head of the Luqing Hall, and went to the west corridor room to put a large ingot of silver on the table, saying: "This is Dingyin, tell the actors, take out Be energetic and work hard, the Empress Dowager Lafayette will come to see the play immediately, and the emperor will come too!" Wang Xiong was overwhelmed when he heard it: "This time I will go to sea in person, sir, please give me the order of the play!" The butler handed it over for a while A piece of paper, when Wang Xiong watched it, the hat show was "Magu Offers Her Birthday", and the following is:
"Burning the Red Lotus Temple", "Wat on the Bed", "Strike the Golden Branch", "Mulian Saves the Mother", "Wang Xiang Lying on the Fish", "Picking the Pulley".

Wang Xiong murmured: "This is a common play, it's not difficult. But my lord, "Picking the Tackle" is about the battle between the Yue family army and the Jin soldiers, which is not in harmony with the national system, what should I do if I annoy the master? Besides this "Hitting the Golden Bough", look at the little ones today, all the princesses here, why did you choose this play? Don't you want a little eater?"

""Picking the Pulley" was ordered by the sister-in-law of the twelfth forehead. She didn't understand it, and she was not an important person. I decided to delete this one." The housekeeper pondered, ""Da Jinzhi" was ordered by Shiba Gege himself , she is the sister of the mother and compatriots of today's Long Live Lord, if you act like a spoiled child, you have to let her take care of you even if you live Long Live, so don't worry about it—that's it." Then he hurried away. up.All of a sudden, I heard calls from outside:
"Lafayette is here!"

When a group of princesses heard this, their chirping and laughing immediately calmed down.Wang Xiong peeped through the window, and came out one by one in order of seniority, and the exquisite nuns guarding the porch hurriedly followed their masters to meet the queen mother—each princess brought four nuns, all of whom looked solemn , with a calm demeanor.After a while, I heard the Queen Mother chatting and laughing with several old concubines and entered the second door, and the princesses kowtowed together.The princesses greeted Ann to get up, and the nuns also greeted each other.They were all married by the old palace people who had served the Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager, and they cheered in unison: "The old master is healthy!"

"Forget it, get up." The queen mother seemed to be smiling.Looking at the thirty or forty princesses who came to celebrate the birthday, some of them were recognized, and some were not very familiar.Smiling, she said to Qingying who was by her side: "Last year you brought Gege from Laojiu's family, a smart girl, I love her very much, but she didn't go to the palace again afterward, did you come today?" Qingying was stunned. After a while, she lowered her eyebrows and said: "She is not blessed. She passed away after the Lantern Festival this year. I was afraid that Lafayette would be sad, so I didn't dare to say it." Let's watch a play, the emperor said, he will come in a while."

As soon as she said this, everyone was in awe, and respectfully retreated to the seats to watch the play according to the order of the class.Only Si Gege Qingying sat with the Queen Mother under the weeping willows on the earthen platform, watching the performances of the actors on the waterside pavilion from the other side.The queen mother sat in the middle, Sigege and Qigege sat side by side on the left side, and the empress sat on the right side. There was also a carved dragon chair vacant, waiting for Qianlong to sit with her.Seeing that everything was clear, Si Gege got up and said with a smile: "Lafayette Queen Mother, although today is my birthday, in fact, you have already given me a long life when you come. After a while, it will be "Magu's Birthday", I wish you a long life, old man , Long live the emperor. Let's have a good time, what do you want to eat, I'll ask them to arrange it for you."

(End of this chapter)