My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 22 The Situation of Civil Officials in the Qing Dynasty
During this period, Hongli followed Kangxi to learn how to govern, and also came into contact with a lot of first-hand information about the current Qing Dynasty.

As far as he knew, the annual income of the Qing Dynasty's treasury had reached more than 40 million taels, and there were still more than 20 million taels of silver in deposits.

For the entire imperial court, it can indeed be said that the national strength was at its peak.

However, this "Kangxi's prosperous era" has nothing to do with the common people.

This was mainly because the local government suffered serious deficits, totaling more than 20 million taels of silver.

Since local officials are facing serious deficits, they will naturally ask the people for money.

This is how structural corruption arises.

Even if officials want to do something, they have to increase their exploitation of the people in order to solve the deficit.

If they are corrupt officials, then needless to say, they have every reason to exploit the people even more.

But as Kangxi lamented to Hongli, he was old and just wanted to live one day at a time.

Therefore, regarding this phenomenon, Kangxi only wanted to leave this bomb that might explode due to serious local deficits to future generations to solve.

But ignoring a problem doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

It is inevitable that the increase in the number of bankrupt people will lead to an increase in the number of hungry people coming to the capital to beg for food.

“Poor people!”

"Hongli, let's try to save as many people as possible, and let Khan Mafa see our talents and know that our instruction from him was not in vain."

At this time, Hongxi couldn't help but sigh as he saw the starving people all over the ground.

For Hongli, this was his first assignment after learning how to govern under Kangxi, so naturally he did not want to perform poorly and disappoint Kangxi and Yongzheng.

What's more, saving one more person would be beneficial to his future expansion of borders.

So, Hongli nodded and said, "Big brother is right. We cannot let Khan Mafa down."

"How much food relief has the Ministry of Revenue allocated?"

Hongxi then asked about the officials of Shuntian Prefecture.

The chief official of Shuntian Prefecture was the Shuntian Prefecture Governor, who was a third-rank official in charge of the civil affairs, finance, and criminal law of the capital. He also held the title of Left Vice-Chief Censor and could directly advise and report to the emperor.

In the present case, if Hongxi asked the officials of Shuntian Prefecture, it would naturally be the chief official, the Shuntian Prefecture Governor, who would answer.

The governor of Shuntian Prefecture was named Yu Huapeng, and he was a Jinshi in the 30th year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi.

But after Hongxi asked this, Yu Huapeng looked embarrassed and had to take the initiative to reply: "My two brothers, the Ministry of Revenue only sent 20,000 dan of grain."

Hongxi was very surprised after hearing this, and frowned and asked: "Didn't the imperial edict say that the Ministry of Revenue should allocate 50,000 dan of grain? Why did the Ministry of Revenue only allocate 20,000 dan? How many starving people can this save?"

"The Ministry of Revenue said that this is all."

Yu Huapeng lowered his head and replied.

Hongxi immediately put his hands on his hips and angrily scolded Hongli: "What a bunch of corrupt officials they have!"

"Does Shuntian Prefecture have its own food reserves?"

Hongli also asked Yu Huapeng a question at this time.

Yu Huapeng shook his head and said helplessly: "No."

Hongli asked again: "Is there any money?"

Yu Huapeng also shook his head: "No, Shuntian Prefecture has been suffering from severe deficits for years. It has been unable to make ends meet. Many officials are still owed their salaries. It is simply impossible to provide money and food for famine relief."

Hong Xi immediately kicked Yu Huapeng and said, "Asshole, how can you be the prefect? ​​You don't even have any grain or silver in reserve. How are you going to help us with the famine?"

Seeing this, Hongli couldn't help but shake his head.

He discovered that Hongxi inherited his father's violent character.

As for the officials under him, he would lose his temper as long as his wishes were not met.

Just because Yu Huapeng said he had no food or silver, he got kicked.

Hongli discovered that although Yu Huapeng was a civil servant who was a Jinshi graduate, after being kicked by Hongxi without any reason, he just curled up on the ground, gritted his teeth and endured the pain, without any dissatisfaction.

He didn't even express his dissatisfaction by resigning, nor did he complain or argue. He was very honest and obedient.

This is completely different from those bannermen ministers who dared to fight with the emperor. This is not surprising, after all, the Qing Dynasty is not the previous dynasty.

Although Kangxi was considered one of the most tolerant Qing emperors towards Han scholars and officials, especially in his later years, he often allowed his officials to be corrupt and form cliques.

As long as the punishment was not excessive, Kangxi would generally not impose severe punishment.

But this was only relative tolerance. Han scholars and officials serving as officials in the Qing Dynasty still had to be more cautious.

This also allowed many Qing nobles to become even more rampant.

Corporal Li Xian?

That depends on my mood!
But this was also their own fault, because the Qing Dynasty was invited in by many of their own Han landlords and bureaucrats.

Back then, there were many Han landlords and bureaucrats who happily welcomed the "Qing army" and joined forces with the Qing army to suppress the invaders.

At the beginning, the "Royal Teacher of the Great Qing" treated them very well. Basically, they would continue to hold the same official positions in the Qing Dynasty as they did in the Ming Dynasty.

But since the Qing Dynasty entered the pass and consolidated its rule, the Qing emperors suddenly changed their faces and dealt with them many times.

Let’s get back to the topic.

But Hongli knew that Yu Huapeng was not to blame for this matter. Moreover, during the time when he was learning about government from Kangxi's side, he also knew that this person actually had a good reputation as an official and had repeatedly reported the difficulties of the people.

The reason why Kangxi thought of asking him to provide famine relief this time was related to this official's active response.

Otherwise, Kangxi would have acted like an ostrich and turned a blind eye to these starving people.

Therefore, in order not to delay the important matter and let Hongxi waste his energy on beating and scolding an innocent official, he grabbed Hongxi:

"Brother, don't be like this. The serious deficit can't be blamed on him alone."

"Besides, there's no point in beating him to death. The key right now is to provide famine relief and make Khan Mafa happy. Besides, if famine relief were truly easy, they wouldn't be asking us nobles to get involved."

Hongxi didn't kick Yu Huapeng again, but he continued to be merciless: "You don't know, these officials only know how to flatter my eighth uncle and don't do any real work. Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many starving people! It affects the appearance of the prosperous Qing Dynasty!"

Yu Huapeng still did not argue that he had not done anything, but just knelt on the ground and apologized.

"Since Hongli has spoken for you, I will pardon your crime. Get up first."

But then, Hongxi forgave Yu Huapeng.

Yu Huapeng hurriedly thanked him.

But Hongxi ignored Yu Huapeng and only said to Hongli: "You are right, famine relief is the most important thing."

But then, Hongxi's face darkened again, and he said to Hongli, "It's just that these officials in the Ministry of Revenue are abominable. They only gave us 20,000 dan of grain. This relief will not last long!"

When Hongxi said this, he clenched his fists, but then his expression became somewhat dejected, and he pulled Hongli to the other side. Hongli said with a guilty look on his face: "Hongli, I have implicated you!"

"Many of those people from the Ministry of Revenue and the Shuntian Prefecture officials in front of us are from Eighth Uncle's faction, so they will all try to make things difficult for me, which will in turn affect you. It is not wise for you to recommend me to Khan Mafa to lead you."

Hongxi sighed after saying this.

"Don't say that, big brother."

"I recommended you to Khan Mafa because I believe that only you, the elder brother, would seriously lead me in providing relief to the hungry."

"I, your humble brother, have thought about the possibility that Khan Mafa might send me here to provide famine relief as a training exercise. Therefore, I have come up with a plan to deal with the situation where the Ministry of Revenue may not be able to provide much food. I just need your advice, big brother."

At this time, Hongli comforted Hongxi, who was somewhat discouraged by the Eighth Prince's party, and took the opportunity to propose a strategy he had already thought of.

"What's the solution?"

Hongli then whispered to Hongxi.

So and so.

This and that.

After hearing this, Hongxi was delighted. He looked at Hongli and said admiringly, "What a clever brother! It's incredible that you could think of this way to mobilize the lower-class bannermen! I never even noticed them!"

As he spoke, Hongxi couldn't help rubbing his hands and said excitedly:

"Using this method, I can also take the opportunity to punish those who have surrendered to Uncle Eighth, especially those villains who betrayed my father and went to fawn over Uncle Eighth!"

(End of this chapter)