Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 539
On the Xinhai month of the 56th year of Qianlong, that is, on the afternoon of the eighth day of June, Qianlong, who had led an army of [-] to arrive at the summer resort for twelve days, finally received eight hundred from the Kulun minister Songyun and Yunduanduoerji. Riga is in a hurry-the North Navy has sent troops!

It is said that the older a person becomes, the more stubborn he will become, not to mention an emperor like Qianlong who has been arbitrarily determined for nearly 60 years.He has long been used to doing everything by himself, and he is very confident in his physical condition.Previously, several Han scholars advised the emperor to sit in the Old Summer Palace and not to conquest by the emperor himself. Qianlong denounced these people as "faint and pedantic".

Is this the imperial conquest?Not at all!It's just the usual autumn magnolia, it's just that there are a little too many soldiers.

Although Qianlong has always followed Kangxi's example, he never engages in imperial conquests, strategizing and winning thousands of miles is what he is best at.

On the one hand, the purpose of the emperor's personal conquest is to boost the morale of his soldiers and tell them that they must continue to persevere, and victory is in sight; conditions.

However, for Beihai Town, which was regarded by Qianlong as the enemy of life and death, it was obvious that neither of these two items met.

In fact, since a month ago, Qianlong, Agui, Heshen, Wang Jie and others have been convinced that the Northern Navy will go south to Outer Mongolia based on the information they have.After that, Fu Kang'an sent two memorials one after another, detailing his understanding of Zhao Xin.From this, the Manchu monarchs and ministers had an insight into Zhao Xin's intention of using force from north to south in the past two years.

After careful consideration, Qianlong finally decided to go north to Rehe.First, this move is to cheer up the nobles and princes of Khalkha, saying that the Qing Dynasty will not abandon them; second, once the war situation is favorable to his own side, he will send troops to the north to support; third, if the situation is not good, it is okay. Take Jebtsundamba back to Beijing.

At present, apart from the green battalions in Shanxi and Zhili starting to move to Zhangjiakou, the Manchu and Qing forces are also gathering troops from Gansu, Qinghai and other places to Shandan to enter Outer Mongolia from Alxa Erut Banner.

At present, all the emperors and ministers of the Qing Dynasty knew that it was useless to fight against the Northern Navy. After several sand table deduction, Qianlong decided to use Hang'ai Mountain as the main battlefield, using the fast maneuvering and complex terrain of the Mongolian cavalry to offset the weapon advantage of the Northern Navy.

At the end of the application period, in a large courtyard with several floors deep in the southeast direction outside the Li main gate of the Summer Resort, He Shen, known as “No.

What he wrote was a seven-character quatrain, but he didn't write the title: "It's thick and cloudy all day long, and Saiyun carries the rain away and still returns. The empty steps patter and cool the lonely pillow, and the only sound is the sound of gnats falling into the dream."

The concubine Su Qinglian, who was serving the pen and ink, waited for He Shen to put down the brush, and quickly handed the warm towel to the other party, frowning slightly: "Master, you."

"What's wrong?" The 41-year-old He Shen put down the towel, raised his hand to touch Su Qinglian's agar-like cheek, and smiled.

There is a saying that "poetry is the voice of the heart". Although He Shen is always smiling all day long, and even his family members feel that his city is unpredictable, it is difficult to conceal the thoughts projected on the poems.Su Qinglian was born as a kabuki. She was good at singing and poetry since she was a child.

What is the "thick cloud beyond the Great Wall" that can make my master depressed?Su Qinglian felt that there was only Beihai Town, which kept the government and the public in silence.So she said with a worried expression: "Master, this poem is really well written, it's just the meaning between the lines."

He Zhongtang's literary level is actually quite high. He has successively served as the chief executive of the Siku Quanshu Library, Fanglue Library, National History Library, and Qing Zijing Library. He is also a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy and a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy.This is by no means a clown-like character who only knows about corruption and flattering, even if he is favored by Qianlong.Even Yuan Mei, a literary master, once praised him: "When you are young, you will be the champion when you hear poems and rites; Zhu Luoyan with a bow, and Li Moyun with a good pen."

Inside and outside Prince Gong's Mansion, which has become a scenic spot in another time and space, thousands of tourists slander "corrupt officials He Shen" every day, but few of these people have read He Shen's poetry anthology; The play was misleading, and regarded this historical figure who dominated the late Qianlong court and the opposition as a clown.However, if you read his posthumous works carefully and understand his aspirations, you will understand that the complexity of Heshen can never be negated by smearing it in one word.

Hearing that Su Qinglian hesitated to speak, He Shen understood what she wanted to say.For Beihai Town, He Shen has only four words to describe it, and it is difficult to manage.It is precisely because of this thought in my heart that my emotions are inevitably revealed when I write poems.

At this time, the servants came to report that the second master had come.He Shen first asked his servants to invite He Lin to come to the study to talk, then leaned into Su Qinglian's ear and whispered a few words, which made the other party's face flush, and then turned pale and He Shen backed away.

When He Lin came in, he was wearing a golden pheasant patch and an official uniform with brilliant feathers.He is 37 years old, four years younger than Heshen.The two brothers are about the same size and figure, and their faces, eyebrows and eyes are also similar.It's just because he has been traveling outside for the past two years that he looks older than He Shen.

Since last year, He Lin has been transferred from Huguangdao Yushi to the right servant of the Ministry of War, responsible for planning food and grass for the Fukang'an army in Jilin.The official is promoted very quickly, but the hardship is not something ordinary people can bear.

"Have you met the emperor?"

"I waited for an hour for the sign handed by Shen Shi. I didn't call in until the palace gates were locked. I just wanted to come and have a look."

He Shen nodded and said, "Go and change your clothes first, it's loose and loose, haven't you eaten yet?"

"I ate a fire outside the Lizheng gate. Brother, you are in a hurry to let me come to Rehe, what is the matter?"

He Shen smiled and waved his hands, telling He Lin to go to change clothes first, and then personally ordered to arrange meals, and told Liu Quan's son Liu Yin that he would tell He Lin that no one was allowed to enter the yard when he had something to do.

Two quarters of an hour later, He Lin changed and washed and sat down to eat, while He Shen half-lyed in the easy chair with a book to pass the time.Helin knew that his brother was busy, and it was rare to find time to talk to him today, so he soaked the japonica rice in pheasant soup, and stopped eating after three or two bites.

"Brother, I know you're busy, so if you have anything to do, you'd better talk about it first."

"This time I specially asked you to come back." He Shen threw the book aside, smiled and said, "I want you to contact the one surnamed Zhao, so as to leave a way out for our family."

"Ah!" He Lin's complexion changed immediately, he didn't care about anything else, he hurriedly got up and walked to the door of the study, looking outside.

Seeing his younger brother's appearance, He Shen shook his head and smiled wryly, then beckoned and said, "Sit down, there are people watching outside the yard, and no one can come in."

"Brother, the situation has reached such a point?!"

He Shen nodded slightly.Ever since the Northern Navy's defeat of Tsarist Russia last year, he had already seen clearly that Zhao Xin acted perversely and unpredictable, playing cards not according to common sense, but once he made a move, he would be thunderous and sweep away the army.Unless the imperial court mobilizes hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses from all over the world to press him up, tens of thousands of people can't do anything to him at all.However, the mobilization of hundreds of thousands of soldiers means that it is possible to talk about soldiers on paper, but there is no practicality at all.Fighting a war is actually fighting logistics, and no one can handle the allocation of military supplies and food for tens of thousands of people.

"Yes, but the emperor's kindness to our family is as great as a mountain, this matter"

He Shen looked up at the white paper pasted on the roof, his eyes were dim, and he said softly: "It is because the emperor has treated me with such great kindness that I will do this. I have been thinking about this for more than a year."

"how do I say this?"

"I'll say this once today, and I won't mention it again in the future." He Shen got up and leaned into He Lin's ear, and said in a faint voice: "Do you know how much our family's property is? To be honest, I am not It's very clear, but [-] million is at the bottom, and [-] million is not too much."

My God!Two hundred million is not too much!After hearing this, Helin's jaw almost dislocated, only to feel the cold sweat bursting out from behind, which soon soaked through his underwear.

"I've been thinking about this since the one who fell ill the year before last." He Shen stared into his younger brother's eyes and said in a deep voice, "If there was no Zhao, our family would be as stable as Mount Tai no matter who became the emperor, and no one would be able to move. Down with me. But you have to know, this battle has been going on for five years, and the imperial court has never asked for a single sliver of cheap money, and the money has been spent! No matter who is behind to sit in that position, the first difficulty is lack of money .”

"The emperor is eighty this year. No matter how ambitious he is, he can't use up Zhao. If the successor wants to deal with him, he has to use up all the soldiers in the world, but how can there be so much money! Officials, training soldiers Not to mention, floods, droughts and natural disasters have continued these years, and river governance is a huge expense. To tell you the truth, this imperial court is rotten to the bone, and it will not succeed if it is not serious!"

"The new emperor will definitely attack me when he succeeds to the throne, because only our family has the most money!"

"Your brother, I am in charge of Shangyu's spare office. Only the emperor and I know many things about Beihai Town. That man is not a bloodthirsty man, and he also gives way to the Manchus. The Beihai Navy has a 2000-strong cavalry, most of which are They are all our surrendered soldiers."

He Shen broke up the events in Beihai Town one by one and told He Lin to pieces, many of which were secret stories, and He Lin didn't even know about them.

"Now you are in charge of preparing food and grass for Fuyaolin. Don't you know what's going on in Jilin?"

"I know, I know, it's not easy for Fuyaolin to rule the army immediately, and rule the people immediately. A while ago, he chopped off the heads of more than [-] Shaanxi military officers to stand up, and the military discipline has improved a lot."

"Hey~~ He did it for some people to see." He Shen sighed, and continued: "I understood from what happened at Dagukou the year before last. If Beihai Town wants to enter the customs, it can enter at any time." The tens of thousands of people in Fuyaolin can't stop it at all. But I still don't understand why the surname Zhao let Fuyaolin not fight."

He Lin's eyes widened, and she said in disbelief, "Brother, you mean Fu Yaolin and Zhao."

"No! If anyone else in this world can pass through Beihai Town, hehe~~ But Fu Yaolin will definitely not, he was brought up by the emperor, and he loves like a father and son."

He Shen hesitated for a moment, touched his shaved forehead and said: "To be honest, the only thing I don't understand now is why the surname Zhao didn't fight Jilin Wula, and insisted on keeping the tens of thousands of people in Fuyaolin here Dangling in front of his eyes, doesn't he know the truth of 'how can others sleep peacefully on the side of the couch'?"

He Lin said hesitantly: "I heard that Beihai Town over Ningguta released 5000 people, and there are less than 3000 people in Hunchun. I want to use 8000 people to fight."

When He Lin said this, he suddenly stopped. He remembered that the Beihai Navy used 7000 people to defeat tens of thousands of bright people a few years ago.Yes, why don't you fight in front of your eyes?After defeating Jilin Ula, it will be a flat river in Shengjing.

He Lin changed the subject and changed the question: "Brother, the emperor treated our family well, and married the tenth princess into our family last year."

"Naturally, the emperor didn't tell me that Shen and I were willing to be ashamed, even if the people who came up later wanted my head, I would have nothing to say! But what about your sister-in-law? What about you? What about your son Yi Mian? Our two families Are these hundreds of people buried with me? Why?!"

The "Yi Mian" mentioned by He Shen is He Lin's only son.In history, after the downfall of Heshen, although his son Fengshen Yinde survived the disaster because he was attached to the forehead, he was reprimanded by Jiaqing several times and thought about his mistakes behind closed doors. He died of depression in his 30s.As for Helin's son, Fengshen Yimian, he was not spared either. First, he was replaced by the Duke as the third-class captain of light vehicles, and then he was dismissed from his post as a guard of the Qianqing Gate. Finally, he became a fortune-teller on the street.

In history, Fengshen Yimian took advantage of the funeral for his cousin to sort out the poems of his uncle, father and cousin and engraved them into a book, which he named "Jia Le Tang Poetry Collection".Only then did later generations see He Shen's helplessness and depression from the bottom of his heart in the era of "the king ordered the minister to die, and the minister had to die".

He Shen himself saw it very clearly, even though he had all the power in the court and claimed to be under one man, he had never been out of Qianlong's control, he was just a high-ranking servant of the emperor.

In fact, thanks to the appearance of Zhao Xin, he cleaned up the Manchu Qing again and again, leaving the Qing treasury empty. In order to obtain enough military expenses, the local officials were healed and corrupted. Under such chaos, and Shen just thought about the taste a little bit.

In addition, Qianlong's physical condition is also one of the important reasons for Heshen to be vigilant.

It is said that Qianlong has been in good health since he was a child, and he has hardly suffered from any serious illness; except that he was unable to go to the altar of earth to worship at the age of 73 due to the onset of "qi stagnation", the other was that the Northern Navy fell ill when they came to Dagukou the year before last. a few days.

Due to his well-maintenance, the 80-year-old Qianlong does not appear to be aging except for his sometimes sluggish thinking. If someone who does not know him sees him, he will think he is only in his early sixties.

Others don't know, but He Shen knows best that the illness the year before last almost killed Qianlong.And when he finished the negotiation with Beihai Town in Chaoyin Temple and hurried back to the capital to return to his command, and went to Qianlong's bedside to listen to the hadith, he always felt a thorn in his back and a feeling of fright.

When He Shen came out of the Hall of Mental Cultivation and thought about it carefully, his clothes were immediately drenched with sweat; that feeling came from Prince Jia who was kneeling beside him, and it was killing intent!
(End of this chapter)