Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 540 Battle for the Six Stations
I am afraid that no one can say exactly how much money He Shen has. This matter has become a historical mystery in another time and space, and there are different opinions.

"Ji Shen Ji Lue" said it was 5400 million taels, "Zhiyuan Bi Tan" said it was more than 1 million taels, "Qing Dynasty Unofficial History Grand View" said 100 million taels of silver, and "Qing Barnyard Banknotes" also held the same statement; The shocking thing is that "Hexiangguan Suoyan" actually said that there are [-] billion taels.However, the above-mentioned miscellaneous books on unofficial history and anecdotes were all written during the period from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China.

As for the well-known "Complete Files of Heshen's Crimes", this file is not official historical data either.Since all the "Ning" characters in it are missing the last stroke, it should be written in the Daoguang period (Daoguang is called Minning), not the first-hand record of the Jiaqing period.

Finally, let’s talk about the archives in the "Drafts of Qing History"--"Yu Lan Copy Production List". All the properties above plus one piece are equivalent to 485 million taels of silver. This is purely a lie!
He Shen fell and Jiaqing was full. 485 million taels of silver is not enough to fill the gap between the teeth.

The Qing court invested more than 2 million taels of silver in the nine-year war to suppress the Sichuan-Shaanxi White Lotus Sect, which lasted until the fifth year after Heshen's death.Therefore, in order to satiate Jiaqing, a large sum of money must be used to suppress the Sichuan-Shanxi Bailian, at least 5000 million to [-] million.

The whole process of confiscating Heshen's family property in history is full of weirdness, just look at the timetable to understand.

On the third day of the first lunar month in the fourth year of Jiaqing, the 89-year-old Qianlong died; on the eighth day, Jiaqing issued an order to change Heshen's position and confiscated his family property;

However, before the two princes arrived at the Hefu, the clerks of the House of Internal Affairs had already completed the inventory of the items in the Heshen Mansion and wrote down the property list.Within a few hours, the two princes who led the team knew Heshen's property well.On the tenth day of the Lunar New Year, Jiaqing got the list of house raids, did not question it at all, and then "gifted" He Shen to commit suicide.

Such a huge family business, thousands of pawnshops, large tracts of farmland, and countless antiques, calligraphy and paintings, all in just two days?The entire inspection process was like a folk feast of "eating out all households". All participants kept secrets and never mentioned it afterwards.

In the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty, the only one who dared to question it was Sa Bintu, a cabinet bachelor.He wrote to Jiaqing, thinking that the number listed on the search list was less than one-tenth of Heshen's family property, and requested to dig deeper and pursue it strictly.

At first, Jiaqing ignored Sabintu's complaints, but he did not expect that Sabintu found out from relatives that there were four maids in charge of gold and silver accounts in Heshen's mansion. The secret of Heshen's huge wealth.So he played again, asking Jiaqing to hand over the four maidservants to him for interrogation.

Now Jiaqing was furious, and issued an imperial edict to reprimand Sabintu.

He first said that Sa Bintu was not in charge of confiscating Heshen's property, but suddenly stepped in and wanted to interrogate the four women alone. What did he mean? !

Then he said, "Even if there is a hidden message, from what I can see, it is only in the ears of the heavens and the earth. Why do you search for it, and it is close to searching for it?" Sa Bintu repeatedly said that, how can I be the master of good things? Do you want to try this? From then on, ministers and workers, big and small, must not use Heshen's assets to make blasphemy."

Do you understand?What Jiaqing means is that even if Heshen's property is hidden, it is stored somewhere in the world.This remark has the meaning of "there is no 300 taels of silver here", and anyone with a discerning eye can tell it at a glance.

The so-called "Under the Heavens", could it be the land of the king? In other words, those things are all mine, no outsiders are allowed to interfere, and no one is allowed to mention them again in the future!

So Sa Bintu was dismissed by Jiaqing, and demoted from the first rank to the pen post style of the seventh rank.After that, the official list of confiscated homes disappeared from the Qing palace archives.

Having said so much, many people are still curious, how much is He Shen's family property in this time and space?

There are many sources of income for Heshen, such as pawnshops, usury, bribes and gifts from subordinates, the Old Summer Palace project, Chongwenmen tax customs, crime bank, helping fees paid by Jiangnan businessmen, and income from ransacking the houses of disobedient businessmen.And because of the appearance of Zhao Xin and Beihai Town, its sources of wealth have increased a lot, mainly including the military expenditures of the Qing government's large-scale use of troops in the Northeast several times and the huge profits from reselling Beihai goods.

So this matter, 100 million taels is definitely impossible, and the statement of [-] billion taels is even more absurd, and [-] million to [-] million is the number closest to the real situation.

The reason for saying this is to analyze the monetary economy in the Qianlong period.

Let me tell you, listen, I’m thinking back then, ahem.
Starting from the massive inflow of silver in Japan in the 40s to the cessation of the continuous influx of silver in the Americas in the 20s, during these 280 years, the total amount of gold that flowed into Europe was about 250 million kilograms. About 9000 million to 500 million kilograms; if calculated on the basis of 25.84 million kilograms, it is about 36.18 billion taels, or [-] billion Spanish silver dollars.

During this period, the total amount of silver flowing into China was 3.6 million taels, of which the net inflow of silver from America and Europe was 700 million taels; while the total silver circulation in China during the Qianlong period was [-] million taels, the annual revenue of the Qing court The highest is only [-] million taels.

At the beginning of Heshen's official career, he was relatively clean, and there must have been human relations, but he would not accept bribes. This is clearly stated in the official history.He really started to make a fortune when Qianlong investigated Li Shiyao, governor of Yunnan and Guizhou in 45 years, and privately embezzled and divided up a large amount of property as the starting point.

It has been 11 years since then, that is, more than 4000 days. Based on the property of 2.5 million households, the average daily net income is almost 5 taels, and 11 million is 12 taels; It is between [-] and [-] taels.

With such an ability to make money, even Zhao Xin, who owns several golden mountains such as Solenji, Lingjia, Hongzhiwu, and Urupu Island, is ashamed of himself. It is really incomparable!

When He Lin came out of Heshen's mansion and returned to the post house, it was past 10 pm.According to the rules, foreign officials were not allowed to go home to live until they had finished seeing the emperor, even if they had a house in Rehe.

Lying on the bed after washing, Helin didn't feel sleepy, staring and tossing and turning until dawn.His mind was full of messy things like [-] million, [-] million, ransacking his home and killing his head, Beihai Town, Zhao Xin, etc., and stirred it into a pot of porridge.

Although He Lin is a martial artist in his official career, he is also a person who has read a lot of poetry and books. Yuan Mei's works are read every morning and evening.He knew very well that at the time of the change of the dynasty, if he was not careful, he would be doomed.However, He Lin has developed the habit of listening to He Shen since she was very young, and he knows what her brother said must be right.

When he woke up in the morning, He Lin was already in a trance.He originally planned to wait outside the main gate of Li after breakfast, but while he was eating, Liu Yin, the son of Liu Quan, ran to the posthouse, and when he saw Lin, he made a beck and said, "Second Master, The master sent a message from inside, don't go and wait today, the emperor has no time to see foreign ministers today."

"What's wrong?" He Lin blinked her red eyes, but didn't react for a while.

Liu Yin replied with a smile: "Second Master, besides military affairs, is there anything more important now?"

Summer Resort, Sizhi Bookstore.

This is where Qianlong handled daily government affairs in Rehe and summoned ministers.Surrounded by corridors and waterside pavilions, the garden is quiet and green.At this time, Qianlong was sitting behind the imperial case, and was discussing in detail the strategy of dealing with the Beihai Navy with Agui, Heshen, Wang Jie and other ministers.

"How do you think you should respond to the note sent by Songyun yesterday?" The 80-year-old Qianlong spoke in a deep and slow voice, but his eyes were very clear without any cloudiness. "Ah Gui, tell me."

As soon as the 74-year-old veteran Agui got up from the scorpion, Qianlong immediately said "Excuse me", so Agui sat down and bowed and replied: "The method of strengthening the wall and clearing the wilderness mentioned by Songyun and Yunduanduoerji , I think it is really not advisable."

Qianlong raised his eyebrows and said, "How do you say that?"

"It has always been said that a strong enemy invaded the country. Although there is a saying that the walls are strong and the wilderness is clear, the Mongols in the land of Khalkha rely on grazing for their livelihood. Now in June, the grassland is fertile and fertile. It is the time for grazing. Therefore, the walls are not easy to be strong, and the wild It’s also not clear.”

"Wang Jie, what do you say?"

"I thought that it would be better to use the Hala Chulu Mountain and Zamen Chaheer Ridge north of Taradorantai as pincers to lure the enemy to go south, and let the left deputy general of Dingbian lead four troops to detour to Tangnu Wulianghai , Cut off the enemy's rear along the Qiaktu West Road Army Platform."

"Hmm." Qianlong nodded slightly after hearing this.

The so-called Qiakhtu West Road Juntai is a route from Qiakhtu to the west to Bayanbulak Karen in the northwest direction of Uliasutai. It is 210 miles long and has [-] Karen seats. , and then from Bayanbulak to the west, you can connect to the Chahantuoluo Sea at Uliasu Taipei Road Station.

In fact, Wang Jie, Minister of the Ministry of War, did not agree with Qianlong's plan to attack the Northern Navy at Hang'ai Mountain at all. Not to mention the tens of thousands of troops working hard, once the Taradoran Terrace, which connects the Altai Military Station and Kulun, is occupied by the Northern Navy, the soldiers on the entire Eastern Front The grain transportation channel was cut off, and the soldiers and horses in Suiyuan and Shanxi, Gansu could only stop four hundred miles south of the Gobi, and the tens of thousands of troops hoarded in Uliasutai could only rely on the line from Urumqi to Kobduo Provide supplies.

Although Urumqi has 50 shi of grain, if you go from Xinjiang, you have to go through the ancient city of Hansantai, take the Kobdo South Road Station, cross the Altai Mountains, and then go east to Uliasu after arriving in Kobdo Taiwan, the whole journey is about 2000 miles.

But it would be different if the main battlefield was set at Saierwusutai. Whether it was soldiers from Suiyuan or from Gansu and Shanxi, the arrival speed would be much faster, and the overall distance would be about 1600 miles.From this point, it can be seen that whether it is the Qing army or the Northern Navy, if they want to fight in the Outer Mongolia area, they are all long-distance raids, and it is not a problem for a thousand miles.

The Manchus fought against Junggar for more than 100 years, and all the places in Outer Mongolia that can be traveled by horses and horses have been explored.You must know that Outer Mongolia is bordered by the Gobi Desert in the south and the Altai Mountains in the west. Although the Hulun Buir Grassland is unrestricted to the east, there are natural obstacles from the Gobi Desert to the south from Outer Mongolia to Inner Mongolia, and to the Xinjiang region to the west. It is necessary to cross the Altai Mountains, and not all areas are passable.

Therefore, the traffic arteries in Outer Mongolia have a total of six station lines, including four north-south lines: Kulun North Road, Uliasu Taipei Road, Kebduo North Road, and Kebduo South Road; two east-west lines: Chaktu East-West Road, Altai Army Station.

The most important nodes on the six station lines include the five places of Qiaktu, Kulun, Taradoran, Uliasu and Khobdo.

That is to say, what the Northern Navy and the Manchus were fighting for was actually the control of these six station lines; whoever got it would be able to control the 180 million square kilometers of Outer Mongolia.

After all, it is only the fourth day of the North Navy's attack, and there is still time to modify the plan.Therefore, after two days of urgent discussions between Emperor Qianlong and his ministers, they finally decided on the combat policy of the three-way army to attack at a fixed time and wipe out the enemy at random.

There are not many generals who can command the overall situation in the Qing Dynasty.Before Mingliang and Qinggui were demoted because of the defeat, there was only one person left for Qianlong to use.

Agui, a 74-year-old university scholar and minister of military aircraft, went out again and was appointed by Qianlong as a university scholar of economics and strategy. He led the Beijing Division Eight Banners and Firearms Battalion soldiers, a total of more than 20 people, left Zhangjiakou and went north; Shaanxi-Gansu Governor Le Bao led Gansu More than [-] people from Shanxi and Shanxi committed suicide at the mouth of the tiger and headed north to meet with more than [-] people belonging to Suiyuan soldiers and horses at Sizi Banner.The above three teams are known as [-] and form the middle road, led by Agui.

Taking Baoning, the left deputy general of Dingbian, as the west route, he led more than [-] people from the four divisions of Khalkha, left Chahantuoluo Sea from Uliasutai, entered Kukutuoluo Sea along Bayanbulak, and attacked the Northern Navy In the rear, wait for an opportunity to capture Chakta.Cut off the enemy's retreat.

Dingbei General Fukang'an mobilized some troops from Qiqihar, and joined Hulunbeier and Horqin soldiers, a total of more than [-] people, to form the East Route Army. They went out of Xing'an Mountains and marched westward along the Kerelun River to flank the left wing of the Northern Navy.

Ah Gui returned home from the pilgrimage, and immediately closed the door to see no guests, but all the family members and slaves congratulated him.Since the defeat of Fuerdan City in the 50th year of Qianlong and the capture of Fukang'an, Agui has not been reused, and he was thrown into trouble by Heshen.Now that the master has become a Bachelor of Economics, he has become hot again.

The old Agui had no expression on his face. First, he let his servants go away, and only let his grandson Na Yangui, who came to Rehe with him, stay behind.

Na Yangui is the son of Agui's eldest son Addis, who is very popular with his grandfather. After serving Agui to light a bag of cigarettes, he saw his serious face, so he couldn't help asking: "Mafa, what's wrong with you? "

Agui smoked a bag of cigarettes, sighed, and said in a deep voice: "I'm not at home, so you can study at home honestly, and don't provoke me in anything. If I die in battle, don't do it for me in a big way." Funeral."

Na Yangui's complexion changed drastically, and he knelt down on the ground and said, "Mafa, why did you say that? The imperial court has sent out 10,000+ elites, can't they beat the Northern Pirates?"

Ah Gui hesitated to speak, he couldn't tell his grandson about many things about Beihai Town.Last year, the Northern Navy used hundreds of cannons to fight Tsarist Russia.
He had already predicted at this time that after this battle, no matter whether he wins or loses, there will be a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood!
　Repeatedly thinking about the strategy of the Manchu Qing and how to fight the battle in Outer Mongolia.I flipped through the map back and forth to see the station line information of the Qing Dynasty.When I read the materials, my mind was muddled, and I got stuck while writing.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)