My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 27 Refusing to form a party with Lao Ba
Early the next morning.

Hongli came to Hongxi.

Because Kangxi had allowed each of the eight banners to send one man to form a city defense battalion, and at the same time, to recruit strong men to form an auxiliary battalion.

Among them, the City Defense Camp was responsible for collecting urban sanitation management fees from large and small houses and shops in the city and maintaining sanitary order in the city.

The auxiliary management battalion is responsible for the daily streets.

The city guard silver income and fine income serve as the source of military pay for the city guard camp and the auxiliary camp.

Among them, the soldiers of the City Guard Battalion received 20% less treatment than those of the Infantry Battalion, and the soldiers of the Auxiliary Battalion received half the treatment compared to those of the Green Battalion.

The city guard camp is led by a commander-in-chief.

The first commander was the former vanguard commander E De.

This E De is Hongxi's man.

Because Hongli only wanted the reform to be successful and didn't care if Hongxi took the opportunity to use his own people, so at Hongxi's suggestion, Hongli and Hongxi jointly recommended this person.

"This servant pays his respects to the Fourth Prince!"

When Hongli arrived, E Tai also politely bowed to Hongli.

Hongli nodded: "Forget it, where is my elder brother?"

"It's inside!"

E Tai thanked him and replied with a smile after he stood up.

Hongxi had already walked out of the inner room at this time. He smiled and grabbed Hongli's hand, then pulled Hongli in: "Come and see!"

Hongli didn't know what Hongxi wanted him to see, so he had to follow Hongxi into the house. Then he saw Hongxi taking him to a map.

This map contains detailed information about the princes, ministers, and the families of these bannermen.

"Isn't it obvious?"

Hongxi put his hands on his hips and asked Hongli with a smile.

Hongli couldn't help but marvel and sighed, "Where did you get this from, big brother?"

"I bribed the people in the Infantry Commander's Office in advance to get it."

"Once all the captains have arrived, I can let E Tai lead the troops and deal with those bastards according to the map."

Hongxi said to Hongli with excitement on his face.

Hongli also smiled and nodded.

Hongxi then said to Hongli, "You are young and might not be able to bring yourself to do this, so I will be responsible for collecting the city defense silver and fines. I will also recruit strong men to form an auxiliary battalion, and you will be responsible for cleaning up the mess in conjunction with the Five Cities Inspection Office."

"Row!"

Hongli had no objection.

He knew that Hongxi was determined to take advantage of the opportunity to collect the health management money in accordance with the imperial order to teach those who opposed his prince's party a lesson.

He was also happy to sit on the sidelines and watch the fight between the two tigers, taking advantage of Hongxi's desire to crack down on dissidents to support his own reforms.

So, next, Hongli went to Shuntian Prefecture.

Simultaneously.

Hongli also asked Sui Hede to go to the Censorate and summon Sun Chengding, the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate who was in charge of the Five Cities Military Affairs Division, and the Supervisory Censor of the Five Cities Military Affairs Division to see him.

Because according to the memorial submitted by Hongli and Hongxi to Kangxi, the goal was to alleviate the problem of the increasing number of refugees in the capital by collecting health management silver and fines from the capital's residences and shops, taking into account the fact that there were too many surplus men in the Eight Banners and the current situation of poor sanitation and too many hungry people in the capital.

After Emperor Kangxi approved the establishment of the City Guard Camp and the Auxiliary Management Camp, he also stated that he would supervise the Auxiliary Management Camp in cleaning the streets in front of the Five Cities Military Command to prevent cunning and unruly people from sneaking in and being lazy.

Therefore, Hongli needed to call all the censors in charge of the Five Cities Military Affairs Office and give them some instructions.

According to the official system of the Qing Dynasty, the Wucheng Bingmasi was responsible for public security within the city, and was led by a Chief Censor, with five Supervisory Censors in charge of each city.

At present, the current Chief Censor Sun Chengding is a member of the Han Army's Zhenglan Banner and a servant of the Eighth Prince Yinsi.

This was because in order to divide the power of the Eight Banners leaders, Kangxi relied on the fact that he had many sons. In the 37th year of Kangxi's reign, he assigned his adult sons to the lower five banners that were not under the emperor's command, and appointed them as lords. He also assigned several lieutenants of the lower five banners to his sons.

In this way, the number of assistant commanders, or Niulu, controlled by the original leaders of the lower five banners was reduced.

When Nurhaci founded the Qing Dynasty, he implemented the Four Banners and later the Eight Banners system, which was similar to a joint-stock system. The leaders of the Eight Banners had absolute control over the population and financial resources of their respective banners.

The zuoling (a type of leader) was the most basic military and economic unit of each banner. The land and population under each zuoling were similar to the manors and private vassal states of the Han and Tang dynasties. Therefore, within the Qing Dynasty aristocracy, the power of the nobility was directly related to the number of zuoling they controlled.

After all, each captain has a number of people, fields, houses, and livestock.

Therefore, by doing this, Kangxi indirectly weakened the power of the banner owners and strengthened the imperial power. It was also a disguised enfeoffment order, but the objects of the enfeoffment were his own princes and the lieutenants under him.

But this also directly created a foundation for these princes to compete for the throne.

Because Kangxi allowed his princes to be lords of the five lower banners and directly become the masters of several captains, which was equivalent to giving them small banner masters with certain independent military and financial powers.

This means that the people under these commanders have a master-servant relationship with the prince.

These princes can directly decide the life and death of these bannermen, as well as their political future and property ownership.

In turn, these bannermen would be completely loyal to these princes and would be willing to participate in the fight for the throne for them in order to maximize their own interests.

After receiving the imperial edict, Sun Chengding first came to see the eighth prince Yinsi and asked the eighth prince to guide him, a servant, on what to do.

Yinsi smiled and said to Sun Chengding, "We must not neglect the tasks assigned by Khan Ama. Besides, the capital city should be kept cleaner to reduce the incidence of diseases."

"Eighth Master is right. I will follow His Majesty's will and His Majesty's wishes and supervise the Auxiliary Management Battalion diligently."

Sun Chengding replied with a smile, bending his waist.

Yinsi raised his head and sighed, "It's just that I really like Hongli who is on duty this time! I have been waiting for him to come and see me after he leaves the palace to finish his work, but he never comes."

"Si A-ge is unwilling to accept the kindness of the Eighth Master, and I feel sorry for the Eighth Master."

"Please rest assured, Master Eighth, this time I will let the Fourth Prince know how good you are to him!"

Sun Chengding expressed his position on the spot.

Yinsi glared at Sun Chengding and said, "Don't mess around! He is the emperor's grandson, after all. If you offend him, I can't protect you!"

"I know. I would never dare to show any disrespect to the Fourth Prince. I just wanted to find an opportunity to let the Fourth Prince know how much you, the Eighth Master, care about him."

Sun Chengding hurriedly explained.

Yinsi nodded and asked Sun Chengding to retreat.

After Sun Chengding left the Eighth Prince's Mansion, his servant Zeng Hua rushed over and said, "Master, the Fourth Prince has sent someone to urge you to come over."

"Why are you in such a hurry? Doesn't the Fourth Prince come to ask the Eighth Master for help, but he wants to see me?"

"Doesn't he know that my real master, Sun Chengding, is only the Eighth Master? He doesn't go to my master first, but comes to me, a servant, first. He really doesn't know the rules!"

"After all, you are still young!"

Sun Chengding said this and walked into the sedan chair with his hands behind his back, and said:

"Go to Guangling Tower first. If the Fourth Prince's men come to summon you again, tell them that I'm ill and can't see you for the time being."

"Whoo!"

……

……

"Hasn't Sun Chengding arrived yet?"

Hongli waited in Shuntian Prefecture for almost half an hour, but did not see the Chief Censor Sun Chengding come.

Among the five city censors who arrived first, one censor secretly sneered at this, obviously enjoying laughing at Hongli's joke.

This made Hongli purse his lips and look gloomy.

Sui Hede also noticed Hongli's displeasure, and at this moment he complained on Hongli's behalf, "Sun Chengding, that dog slave, is just as despicable as his father, the Minister of Revenue. He relies on being the Eighth Master's man, and he didn't even come when you summoned him. You should report him for dereliction of duty!"

Hongli knew that although Sui Hede was scolding Sun Chengding on his behalf, he was actually reminding him that the crux of the matter was that he had not paid homage to the Eighth Prince Yinsi, which led to the Ministry of Revenue withholding 30,000 shi of famine relief grain, and now the Chief Censor Sun Chengding simply refused to listen to his orders.

But Hongli wanted to let people like Kangxi and Yongzheng know that he could get things done without paying a visit to the Eighth Prince, so he never took the initiative to mention going to the Eighth Prince's Mansion to visit the Eighth Prince.

Now, after Sui Hede said this, Hongli handed Sui Hede a copy of the order from his sleeve:

"Go tell him again, and have his family give him this. Tell him that if he doesn't show up within an hour, the warrant will fall into the hands of his enemies!"

"Whoo!"

Sui Hede took the copy of the warrant with a look of surprise.

(End of this chapter)