Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 557 Ruan Yuan's Choice

Three days later, Ruan Yuan, who was on duty back home, was informed by his wife, Mrs. Jiang, that a businessman surnamed Xu from Shanghai had someone hand over a post and a few packages of local products from Yangzhou during the day, saying that it would be on the second floor of Zhengyang Building tomorrow night. There is a table in the private room, please appreciate it.

Ruan Yuan's heart was shocked when he heard it. The surname Xu, Shanghai, and Yangzhou local products were all secret signals given to him by the shopkeeper of "Huang Shengtai". Once someone posts these three things, it means that people from Beihai Town have come.

"Master, what's wrong?" Looking at her husband in a daze, Jiang felt a little strange.

"Oh, I remembered! Brother Zhongzi wrote a letter on May Day, saying that a relative named Xu was coming to donate an official, and asked me to take care of him." Ruan Yuan explained with a pretentious appearance, this kind of If the matter can be kept secret, it is better to keep it hidden first, lest the family members lose their position due to worry and show their feet in front of outsiders.

The "Zhongzi" mentioned by Ruan Yuan was named Ling Tingkan, a native of Shexian County, Anhui Province, and he was also a guy who was frustrated in the imperial examination.The two have known each other for ten years and are considered close friends.In addition to Ruan Yuan, Ling Tingkan has two very close friends in Yangzhou, one is Wang Zhong and the other is Jiang Fan.

Jiang Shi suddenly said after hearing this: "Since it's this kind of relationship, it's not good to push it away. Master, let's go see him."

The next day Ruan Yuan was busy in the South Study Room until Shen Mo left. He first went home and changed into casual clothes, and then he brought his personal servant and came to the front door in a mule cart.The off-duty time of Beijing officials in the Qing Dynasty was Shenzheng in summer—that is, four o’clock in the afternoon, and it would be an hour earlier in winter;

Zhengyang Building is located on Xidamochang Street outside Qianmen, a stone's throw away from Qianmen. It is a restaurant mainly engaged in barbecue, which is similar to the "Barbecue Season" in later generations.Although it is not far from Liulichang where Ruan Yuan's family is located, he has never been here because he is not used to eating beef and mutton.

According to the rumors in the market, more than [-] years ago, Qianlong Bailong Yufu once ate crabs here, which made him famous.Afterwards, Zhengyang Tower added a crab banquet, and the business became more and more prosperous.

The mule cart stopped at the entrance of the restaurant, and Ruan Yuan got out of the cart, only to see a three-bay facade in front of him, with five huge red lanterns hanging from the corner eaves, looking up, the three-story building was covered with a gable roof , looks very magnificent.

The clerk in charge of "Gao'er" at the gate sees countless people every day. Although Ruan Yuan only wore a moon-white bamboo gown, he couldn't hide the demeanor he cultivated in the Imperial Academy, so he stepped forward and bowed. He said kindly: "Master, please come inside."

In some so-called "Beijing-style" restaurants in later generations, when a customer arrives at the door, there will be a waiter shouting loudly: "Both of you! Please come inside!" The voice is so loud that it scares people.In fact, these are all fake folk customs, and serious restaurants and restaurants do not do this.

When I entered the hall, I saw that the hall on the first floor was full of guests. In the building, there were six vermilion lacquered pillars and more than a dozen tables for the Eight Immortals. To the north was a stage.Although the sun had not yet set outside, due to the lack of light, more than [-] spotlights were still lit, and there were also lights hung on the pillars, which were bright and bright.

Someone was singing on the stage at this time, but what they sang was not the popular Huiqiang, but something called "Zidi Shu".The singer holds an octagonal drum inlaid with copper sheets, and it rattles when it is shaken. Another person sits next to him, plucking the three strings.When the man spoke, the tune was relaxed and his voice was loud.

"Say yes, you seduced Qiuxiang secretly without telling me, it must be because of your respectful feet that you love her. Master Xu blushed and said nonsense, madam, you are here to be mean to us. Let's see what Qiuxiang looks like, That's not like Sun Dasheng's aunt, Zhu Bajie. The wife sneered and said that he was still stubborn. As the saying goes, it's not bad to say that beauty is in the eye of a lover. Master Xu shook his head and said that it is unreasonable. People ridiculed. My wife said with a smile, "Don't make a fuss"

While listening and walking, Ruan Yuan had already gone up to the second floor, and Huang Shengtai's shopkeeper Dong had come out to greet him. The two greeted each other briefly. Go to the private room.

When passing by the private room next door, shopkeeper Dong told Ruan Yuan in a low voice that in order to prevent the partition wall from having ears, the two adjacent private rooms on the left and right were all packed, and the people sitting there were all his own people.

As soon as I opened the door, I saw that the Eight Immortals table in the middle was covered with dishes, and there was a person standing by the window, who just turned his head when he heard the sound.The man was not tall, with a long and thin dark face, but piercing eyes, and a neatly trimmed black mustache. He was wearing a gray poplin robe and a black satin waistcoat. A Xiangfei bamboo fan.

"Xu Dachun, I have admired Mr. Boyuan's name for a long time! I often heard Mr. Wang and Mr. Jiang mention it before." After all, the capital is the hinterland of the Qing Dynasty, and Xu Dayong did not use his real name.

As soon as Ruan Yuan heard what the other person said, he knew that this person was not a scholar, so he smiled and cupped his hands and said, "It's really offending to ask Master Xu to wait for a long time."

Shopkeeper Dong said with a smile: "Mr. Boyuan, where did you say that? We are not outsiders, please sit down."

After that, he gave way for a long time, and finally Xu Dayong took the main seat.After the three of them sat down, shopkeeper Dong raised his glass and said, "Mr. Bo Yuan is honoring you today, and Brother Xu has come all the way. It's a rare gathering. If you have any questions, Mr. Bo Yuan, don't worry about it. I respect you two first." One cup, I wish good luck!"

The three toasted a glass of wine each, and they talked more.Ruan Yuan then asked shopkeeper Dong: "What's the name of the song that was sung downstairs just now? I've never heard it before."

Shopkeeper Dong explained with a smile: "This is called a book for children, and it is the most popular among the bannermen's children in the capital. A few days ago, "Peach Blossom Fan" was not allowed to be performed, and several other plays were also stopped. I guess the shopkeeper's To be on the safe side, I found someone else. He just sang "Rooting Armor" from Water Margin. Did you see the drum in his hand? There are three copper pieces inlaid on each of the seven sides, which means the seven flag colors. They represent Manchu, Mongolian and Han respectively, and the end with the long tassel in his hand is his flag."

Ruan Yuan nodded slightly, recalling that the octagonal drum in the hands of the man on the stage really looked like this.

Xu Dayong said: "Old Dong, you said that the person who sang the song was a bannerman? Why are all the bannermen mixed up like this? This is the city of Beijing, at the feet of the emperor!"

Shopkeeper Dong said with a smile: "You really pretend to be confused."

Xu Dayong shook his head and said, "Hehe, where do you start with this? I really don't know."

"If not," Shopkeeper Dong said, raised his finger and pointed to the north, and continued: "Now that the imperial court is using troops, and the Han army that had previously sent out the banners has returned to the Eight Banners, the expenditure on money and food has skyrocketed. I heard that the Ministry of Internal Affairs simply cannot afford so much money and food. Only half of the number can be distributed. Nowadays, the livelihood of the banner people is not easy, so they secretly earn a lot of money by performing arts. Brother Bo Yuan should be clear about this, right?"

Ruan Yuan shook his head and said, "I'm busy writing books every day, so I don't know anything about the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Sigh, I didn't expect this to happen!"

The three of them chatted for a while, Xu Dayong saw that it was almost time, so he said: "Mr. Boyuan, please forgive me, please return the letter to me after reading it. King Zhao specially told you to be careful in everything, so as not to cause trouble for you. "

Ruan Yuan nodded slightly, and then Xu Dayong took the letter out of his arms and handed it over.When he opened it and took a look, his first reaction was that Zhao Wangdian's handwriting was really bad, that is, at the level of a child.But what he didn't know was that it was not easy for Zhao Xin to be able to write this calligraphy. He had practiced it on and off for two years.

Zhao Xin pointed out in the letter that the Manchu and Qing Dynasties had not passed for a few years.He said that even though Qianlong mobilized 10,000+ troops to go north to Outer Mongolia, and let Agui lead the troops, for the Beihai Navy, it was just a piece of cake, and the outcome would be seen within two months.

Then he explained the reason why he did not send troops to cut off the water transportation, or to enter the army from Dagukou. In a word, it was for the stability of the people's livelihood and to avoid man-made disasters caused by panic in various places. In the end, it was the common people who were unlucky.

Zhao Xin told Ruan Yuan to make plans early. Although the scholar-bureaucrats said that "the integrity of the whole festival is proud, and it is ashamed to lose integrity and reputation", but that is also for whom.A Tartar regime that is easily convicted for words and even breaks the bones of scholars is not worthy of allegiance; the king of the world cannot rule alone.You, Ruan Boyuan, work in the Imperial Academy. You should know better than me what is going on with the so-called "Man-Han family".

Qianlong spent the world's money and food to fight Beihai Town, and at the same time spent countless silver to build the Old Summer Palace. These are the blood and sweat of the people. The purpose is nothing more than to make his family live comfortably. What about the people who are cornered?Nowadays, the root cause of official corruption lies in Qianlong.

In the end, he quoted Gu Yanwu's words as the ending: "In the past, Gu Tinglin Youyun said, but today, it is our duty to save the people from the misery and bring peace to all generations!"

Why did Zhao Xin win over Ruan Yuan?Why did Ruan Yuan want to meet Xu Dayong?This matter has to start from the negotiation in Dagukou two years ago.

Although Ruan Yuan was frightened out of his wits when he suddenly ran into his buddy Jiang Fan, he participated in the whole negotiation process.From then on, he saw clearly that the imperial court was no match for Beihai Town, and sooner or later the Manchus would be kicked out of the emperor's throne.As a result, Ruan Yuan, who is the inheritance of Gu Yanwu's lineage of knowledge, unconsciously came up with the idea of ​​"the debate between Hua and Yi".

At the time of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, although the kings of subjugation from Chongzhen, Hongguang to Longwu, and Yongli were all confused and cowardly bastards, for the Han scholars and bureaucrats—especially the Jiangnan scholar bureaucrats, the Han emperor held the power of the world It's a matter of course.If the emperor can't do it, he can change it. The big deal is "changing his surname and changing his name";

Although the years of Qianlong's rule have pushed himself to the commanding heights of "unity of governance and morality", using the image of "Confucian teacher" and supplemented by literary prisons to control thoughts made scholars lose the right to interpret "orthodoxy". So far only 150 years.When the warships of Beihai Town blocked Dagukou and forced Qianlong to negotiate, when Zhao Xin and Wang Yuanfang turned Yangzhou City upside down, especially when they discovered that Wang Zhong, Jiao Xun, Zhong Huai, Huang Chengji, etc. When people were working for Beihai Town, the flame of "reluctance and reluctance" in the hearts of Han scholars and bureaucrats began to revive.

Qianlong, who has been arbitrarily ruling the court for more than 50 years, is actually well aware of the above situations.Since Zhao Xin played the banner of the former Ming Dynasty, he has been paying attention to the movements of the gentry class in the south of the Yangtze River.But today is different from the past, it is impossible for Qianlong to kill the Han people, otherwise the Han people will be pushed to the opposite side.

At the end of the 49th year of Qianlong, just a month after Ruan Yuan returned to the capital from Tianjin, one day when he returned home after visiting the Liulichang calligraphy and painting shop, he was surprised to find that there was an extra letter in his arms.When he opened it curiously, he was frightened out of his wits, because the person who wrote the letter was actually Wang Zhong, Wang Rongfu, who had already joined Beihai Town.

In the letter, Wang Zhong first congratulated Ruan Yuan for being a Jinshi, and praised his talent, and then used Ruan Yuan's compilation of "Shiqu Baoji" in the Imperial Academy to refer to Gu Yanwu's "Book with Ye Chen'an". ", insinuatingly exhorting Ruan Yuan not to serve the Man Qing.

Back then, the Qing court opened up the History Museum and wanted to invite Gu Yanwu to take up the post. When Gu Yanwu heard the news, he wrote this letter to Ye Jinan, who was working as a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy in Beijing, and used the fact that his heir mother, Mrs. Wang, died of a hunger strike against the Qing Dynasty, to show that own attitude.The implication is that if I don’t go, if the Qing court dares to force me, I will follow my mother’s dying order and die for her!
Then Wang Zhong changed the subject, and told Ruan Yuan roughly what he had seen and heard in Beihai Town, and praised Zhao Xinyi severely.It is said that he has the capital of the sky, which is not inferior to Tang Zong and Song Zu.Since fighting against the trend in the Northeast and raising troops against the Qing Dynasty, people's livelihood has always been put first, which is really different from ancient times to modern times.In short, what he said inside and outside was to persuade Ruan Yuan not to do anything to Manqing, and to bring his family to Beihai Town.After reading the letter, Ruan Yuan burned it without saying a word, but he did not report it to the officials.

After more than a month, the weather was calm, and Ruan Yuan, who was always in a panic, thought that the matter was over.Unexpectedly, within a few days, he received two autographed letters from Jiang Fan and Jiao Xun in the same way. Pay attention, this is the sincere solicitation over and over again.

You must know that Jiao Xun's wife is Ruan Yuan's cousin, and Jiang Fan and Ruan Yuan have been friends since childhood.The actions of these two people almost twisted Ruan Yuan's nose, thinking that you really don't treat me as an outsider!However, he was also a little smug, he didn't expect that he could be favored by that Zhao Wang.

In fact, apart from Zhao Xin's feeling that Ruan Yuan was young, not so stubborn in his thinking, and easy to turn around, the more important thing was because of Ruan Yuan's political experience and personality in another time and space history.When this person served as the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, he was the first to see clearly the wolfish ambitions of the British, which is a typical fear of power and fear of morality; so he built an additional Humen Fort to prohibit the smuggling of opium by merchants.He also submitted a paper requesting that foreign cargo ships that trespassed into Guangdong's interior oceans be punished by measures such as cessation of trade, deprivation of food compradors, and fire attacks. However, these requests were all rejected by Jiaqing, which led to more rampant opium smuggling.

In addition, Ruan Yuan received the three letters without saying anything, which gave the Intelligence Bureau an opportunity, and then asked shopkeeper Dong to make contact. After a few rounds, Ruan Yuan also knew what the other party was doing, so he proposed to see Zhao Xin's personal letter just work.

Ruan Yuan read the letter back and forth twice before handing it back to Xu Dayong. After pondering for a long time, he said in a soft voice: "King Zhao valued him, but Ruan is not as talented as Mr. Rong Fu, and he has no brother Ziping to ride his horse to lift the spear. Regardless of the world's abilities, what can I do for King Zhao? As for the matter of going to Beihai Town with his family, Ruan is really in trouble, brother Xu please forgive me."

Ruan Yuan is no longer the editor of the Hanlin Academy, but Zhan Shi, the young master of Zhan Shifu, and the South Study Room, and his every move is under the eyes of the court.If he dared to run away and defect, Qianlong would be furious, and he would definitely bring big troubles to Yangzhou's family and a group of old relatives and friends.

In February of this year, the Qing court held the "Han Zhan Exam". Because of his outstanding literary talent, Ruan Yuan was promoted to No. 1 by Qianlong, and directly jumped from the seventh rank to the fourth rank of senior officials.

If there is no Beihai Town, Zhan Shi will be followed by Shao Zhan Shi, and then he will be sent out to serve as Xuezheng, and then returned to Beijing to be promoted to Cabinet Bachelor, Minister, and Minister.If there is a chance to be promoted to the position of cabinet bachelor and minister of rites, he will be the "prime minister" in the future, and the "three palaces and three pavilions" university scholars will never escape.

In the history of another time and space, Ruan Yuan walked down step by step like this.During this period, he also served successively as governor and governor, and formulated a policy of strictly punishing opium dealers during his tenure as governor of Guangdong and Guangxi. Until he was 70 years old, he finally became a scholar of Tirenge University.

Xu Dayong smiled slightly after hearing this, and said politely: "Mr. Boyuan is worrying too much, King Zhao will not force you to go to Beihai Town. It's just that I hope you can regularly notify the treasurer Dong about any changes in the court in the future." two."

In fact, Zhao Xin didn't intend to let Ruan Yuan go to Beihai Town, his idea was to let him be a secret.With this person, the big and small movements of the Manchu court can be clearly grasped, so as to prevent Qianlong and his son from doing anything in a hurry.

Ruan Yuan nodded after hearing this, he can still do this "hard work".Xu Dayong took a look and was overjoyed, and winked at Shopkeeper Dong.So shopkeeper Dong began to explain to Ruan Yuan one by one how to contact him in the future, and how to deliver the news and other details.

While the two were talking, Xu Dayong walked to the window, fanned himself, opened the window casually and looked at the dark city wall opposite, thinking that it was the fourth day since he came to Beijing, and he had just finished something. I don't know when I can go back and get engaged with Chamei.

　Since the Tang Dynasty, Zhan Shi, the young man of Zhan Shifu, has been shouldering the task of assisting the prince, but after Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty, he was secretly established as a reserve, and there was no mention of the prince at all, so he was actually just a editor in charge of compiling history books. .In the Qing Dynasty, after a new scholar passed the imperial examination, he first had to enter the Shuchang Hall of the Imperial Academy to become a scholar, and then he was edited by the Imperial Academy.Since the Ming Dynasty, there has been a saying that "non-Jinshi does not enter the Imperial Academy, and non-Hanlin does not enter the cabinet", and the same is true in the Qing Dynasty, except of course the Manchus.When Shu Jishi leaves the hall, he will be awarded editors (seventh rank) or review (seventh rank) according to the results of the original palace examination; awarding positions based on merit is a very important principle of appointment, the purpose is to highlight the ranks of the second and third ranks. The grades of Jinshi will affect the future career prospects to a certain extent.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)