My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 13: Learning Governance from Kangxi

"Cao Yin, the Minister of the Jiangning Weaving Factory, respectfully reports: It is necessary to prohibit and abolish superfluous matters."

"Since I took office, I have observed that excessive expenditures are rampant in Lianghuai. The recent congestion of salt merchants has caused difficulties for the imperial court, and the court is gradually accumulating arrears in taxes and grain. If this is not resolutely abolished, it will hinder the collection of taxes."

"I have made the second plan, and therefore will carefully consider and ban all unnecessary expenses."

……

Hongli silently read the contents of the memorial, but his thoughts couldn't help but fly to the author of the memorial.

Because "Dream of Red Mansions" became very popular in later generations, he knew about the Cao family in Jiangning.

Hongli also knew that Cao Yin was a favorite of Kangxi, who had made great contributions to Kangxi when he captured Luobai, and was now Kangxi's eyes in Jiangnan.

However, after Cao Yin, the Jiangning Cao family chose the wrong side and was immoral and incompetent, and were eventually raided, and the raids were carried out twice.

But now, after reading the contents of this memorial, Hongli felt that based on this memorial, Cao Yin was not so incompetent. He was working seriously and keeping an eye on the affairs of Jiangnan for Kangxi.

Seeing that Hongli was reading very seriously, Kangxi's face was full of smiles of approval.

After Hongli finished reading the memorial, Kangxi asked him, "What do you think? Tell me what you think. If it were you, how would you respond?"

"To Hanmafa, I believe Cao Yin submitted this memorial to resolve the issue of salt permit congestion, which shows that he is doing his best."

"In any case, if the salt permit backlog is not dealt with quickly, it will not only lead to a reduction in the court's salt tax revenue, but more frighteningly, it will damage the salt administration's credibility and make merchants even more afraid to purchase salt permits."

"But among the four items Cao Yin mentioned, one is called the Provincial Expenses, which covers the ceremonial fees of the various government offices of the Jiangsu Governor-General and the Provincial Governor, totaling 34,500 taels. If we want to abolish it, shouldn't we discuss it with the Governor-General before deciding?"

"For example, the excessive fees paid to officials by the Lianghuai Salt Administration Office only affect its operations. Eliminating them will not affect its operation. Even abolishing the practice of paying special respects to passing scholars and officials will only make passing officials and gentry uncomfortable."

"But if the income that local civil officials receive from the salt road is cut, I'm afraid they will become more corrupt and make up for it at the expense of the people."

"It's not worth it to increase the number of refugees by tens or even hundreds of thousands for the extra expense of 34,500 taels."

Because the red-ink comments on these memorials have been covered up.

Therefore, Hongli could not see the original imperial comments, and had no idea how Kangxi approved these memorials at that time.

He could only express his views based on his own understanding and what Kangxi had said to him before, and after speaking, he bowed to Kangxi and said:

"If there is anything that my grandson has misunderstood, please correct me, Khanmafa."

Kangxi smiled and nodded, saying, "It is rare for you to think of this at your age, and you have also kept in mind what Khan Mafa told you."

"very good!"

Kangxi stretched out his hand from his horseshoe sleeve and patted Hongli on the shoulder.

Hongli smiled slightly.

Then, Kangxi smiled and asked Hongli: "But if we let Cao Yin discuss this matter, wouldn't it be unnecessary?"

A waste of time?
Hongli looked at Kangxi seriously.

"Do you think the governor dares to openly go against Cao Yin's wishes?"

"Don't underestimate Cao Yin, he's just a fourth-rank textile official, but he's your Khan Mafa's foster brother, your most beloved Haha Zhuzi back then. In Jiangnan, he's the Imperial Commissioner and the King of Jiangnan!"

"So, if Cao Yin were to discuss this, the result would definitely be a unanimous approval to remove all of them! Then, the local people-friendly officials would have to compensate the people."

Kangxi patiently explained to Hongli with a smile the reasons why he asked this question.

then.

Kangxi stood up and said, "Therefore, it would be better to ask Cao Yin to delete this!"

"He, Cao Yin, is the king in front of those Jiangnan officials, but to you, Khan Mafa, he will always be just a slave! He can only obey!"

Kangxi then uncovered the red-ink comments that were covering the document and presented them to Hongli.

Hongli looked at the contents of the red-ink comment, which read: "This clause cannot be removed. It will deeply offend the governor. The amount of silver is not much, why bother to accumulate harm."

This made Hongli smile awkwardly.

He had to admit that Kangxi understood the rules of power operation in this era better than he did.

Fortunately, he was only ten years old, which made Kangxi feel that his awareness of governing was rare. If Yongzheng was this age now and answered like this, Kangxi would not say that it was rare.

"Khanmafa is right. My grandson understands that since the person who submitted the petition already has almost absolute power in the local area, he cannot expect his colleagues to correct him."

"It can only be corrected directly by the person in charge." Hongli replied.

Kangxi nodded and said, "That's right. So, Hongli, you must remember that when you have great power, don't rely on discussion to solve problems. You should only discuss when you have your own ideas. At that time, discussion has become a screening, not a true negotiation."

"Well, grandson remembers it."

"Keep reading. The ones I've chosen are all targeted. There are memorials from trusted servants, Manchu officials, Han officials, and even Mongolian officials."

"Everyone has their own way of dealing with this. For example, in the draft by Cao Yin you just read, he was anxious to make up for the deficit, so he suddenly lost his mind and even wanted to rescind the governor's extravagant expenses of just over 30,000 taels!"

"At this time, the master should not be as anxious as him. He should consider whether he will be too impatient and take risks."

"To prevent him from being too anxious to make up for the deficit at the local level, if necessary, you must first plan for him to find money from other sources to make up for the deficit, so that he doesn't become completely anxious and lose his mind, causing a disaster that will ultimately make it difficult for his boss to deal with it."

Kangxi continued speaking while Hongli listened attentively.

Next, Hongli continued to read the memorials given to him by Kangxi, told Kangxi his opinions, and listened to Kangxi's corrections.

Hongli knew that this opportunity was rare.

After all, the Qing Dynasty's way of supporting the royal family was to use the Gu-raising model, encouraging internal competition among the royal family. Princes and grandchildren of appropriate age had to be good enough to have the opportunity to be taught by Emperor Kangxi himself.

Therefore, Hongli cherished this opportunity very much.

He also benefited greatly from studying with Kangxi at this time, and gained a lot of knowledge on how to better rule this huge autocratic empire.

There are many things he cannot know just by reading history books.

Because Chinese civilization has not remained unchanged from the Qin and Han Dynasties to the present, the Qing Dynasty also has its own particularities.

In addition to studying government affairs, Hongli continued to learn riding and archery under the supervision of Kangxi, and sometimes also practiced firearms.

Under the guidance of Kangxi, Hongli also practiced with a rifled matchlock gun called "Shixi Huatang Haozi Gun".

The gun is five feet long, with a front sight and a bat-shaped sight above the barrel. The barrel and the buttstock are connected by four silver hoops. The buttstock is inlaid with silver, mother-of-pearl, ivory flowers and butterflies, copper dragons, animal bones, etc., and is inlaid with copper inscriptions. The range is over a hundred steps.

This was very rare in Hongli's view, because he remembered that smoothbore guns were generally used in the early Qing Dynasty.

……

“Odd changes, even remains the same; the sign depends on the quadrant.”

"Han Ma Fa, my grandson believes that this formula can effectively solve the problems of change and positive and negative in trigonometry."

In the study of mathematics and physics, Hongli did not fall behind, but this became his home ground, and Kangxi began to feel like a student.

Because Hongli always introduced some new mathematical concepts that Kangxi didn't know at the right time, which aroused Kangxi's great interest and he spent a lot of time rethinking the principles behind them.

On this day, Hongli told Kangxi the trigonometric function formula that only appeared in the 1960s.

Kangxi, who had a great interest in trigonometric functions and whose knowledge of trigonometric functions had advanced rapidly under Hongli's guidance, exclaimed in admiration upon hearing this formula, "This is a wonderful summary!"

"Hongli, Khanmafa's talent in mathematics is not as good as yours!"

Kangxi even said something about this with a smile.

Time flies.

Before we knew it, spring ended, summer went away, and autumn arrived.

Because Prince Yong, the future Emperor Yongzheng, had submitted a memorial to Kangxi respectfully inviting him to a banquet at the Prince's Garden, one day in July, Kangxi left Changchun Garden and went to Prince Yong's Mansion.

The real reason was, of course, that Kangxi himself was craving the food at Prince Yong's Mansion, so he hinted to Yongzheng in advance.

Hongli was also able to follow Kangxi back to Prince Yong's Mansion.

Princess Shushen naturally accompanied them.

Thanks to Princess Shushen's request that Kangxi take better care of Hongli, Kangxi indeed gave Hongli many good things during this period, so when Hongli returned to Prince Yong's Mansion, he also brought a lot of good things.

"Gege, this is for you."

"Hong Zhou, come here, this is for you. You can't buy it outside, it's delicious!"

"These are all given to you by Khan Mafa. You can accept them without worry."

Therefore, whenever Hongli had time to meet people like Niohuru and Hongzhou, he would give them a lot of good things.

(End of this chapter)