Emperor Qianlong: the beginning of his glory

Chapter 25 Yi Kuanzheng Sun Guoxi Meets with Emperor Qianlong of Douque Brand (1)
Miao Jiang succeeded in suppressing the rebellion and changing the political system, and Qianlong was relieved.This matter dragged on for seven years, costing tens of millions of taels of silver from the national treasury, and Yongzheng was so tired that he fell ill several times and failed to complete it.It goes without saying that Qianlong came to the throne in less than a year and managed it smoothly.After the general exemption of money and food for the whole country, it was reported one after another that the two rivers were ripe, the wheat and rice in Huguang were ripe, and the cotton and wheat harvests in Shandong and Shanxi...all the good news came one after another, and the voices of scholars and people were full of praise.So a decree was issued to amnesty the world, "except those who murdered people by treason, rape and robbers, all will be punished at a reduced level."After the Yulan Festival on July [-]th, Qianlong, accompanied by Neqin, went to the Temple of Heaven to offer sacrifices.

"Your Majesty," Neqin, who was accompanying him in the carriage, saw that Qianlong was very excited when he left, but remained silent on the way back. He couldn't help asking, "You don't seem to be happy?" Qianlong glanced at him and said with a slight smile: "It's not that you're not happy, it's that you have something on your mind." After a pause, he said, "You are an honored relative from generation to generation. In the early years of Kangxi, your father, Ye Bilong, was one of the four assistant ministers. You served the late Emperor and Zhen, what do you say Say, why do I have three ancestor emperors?"

Neqin was a very meticulous person. After hearing Qianlong's question, he didn't respond immediately. After thinking for a while, he said: "The Taizu is the ancestor of the creation of the world, the ancestor of the world is the ancestor of the founding of the country, and the ancestor of the emperor is the owner of the opening."

"Well said." Qianlong nodded and said, "Actually, the one I admire the most is the holy ancestor. I have said this more than once. It is not easy to create a world, establish a country, fight with war, but if an emperor can live in the creation and preservation, It is actually even more difficult to get rid of the stereotype of enjoying the legacy of the ancestors! The late emperor reigned for 13 years, burned the ointment and continued to strive for governance. Why didn’t he want to make achievements that surpassed his ancestors? Unfortunately, he only reigned for 13 years. I am 26 years old this year. If the sky is false, I will not be willing to obey the will of heaven. Although I don't dare to be regarded as an 'ancestor', it is probably possible to establish a 'ancestor' for future generations." Listening to this, Neqin The heartfelt words touched my heart, and I hurriedly said: "The words of the emperor's benevolence and virtue must be heard in the heavens. I wonder if the emperor has seen the "Song of Master Huang Nie" in the collection of Prince Cheng's Palace?" Qianlong was stunned for a moment, and nodded Said: "I have seen it. There is also Jin Shengtan's comment on it-why do you ask this?"

Neqin said: "There are four poems in there, which are for the emperor's blessing." Qianlong shook his head and said: "This is an ancient book, how can I bless you? When the late emperor was here, we brothers were never allowed to read these miscellaneous books of star fate. I also If you don't believe these things, just talk about it, and just gossip." Neqin then said:

The courtiers begged for the moon without light, and kowtowed, and the population was slim.

See also congratulations when you are born, and you are happy in your sixties.

After reciting, he said: "The word 'chao' is hidden by 'month' and 'begging'. This first sentence says the word 'dry'; the word 'knock' is removed from the mouth and it is 'Jie', and 'see' is derived from 'sheng'. '', the two or three sentences are combined into 'Long' - the Qianlong Dynasty should have a sixtieth year, and the people will enjoy peace for 60 years, so it is said that 'Xiaoyao Huajia Le Weiyang' - this is not the 60-year Qianlong prosperity, the sages hundreds of years ago have already Is it the good fortune number that was released?"

The cart shook slightly, and Qianlong stared straight at the loess road in front of him, and murmured: "60 years... 60 years can do a lot of things. I hope you understand the true meaning of Huang Nieshi today. ——Sacred Grandfather has been in the world for 61 years, and I have 60 years is enough! However, it is still too early for the prosperous age. You should work hard and follow me to do this business." Neqin felt excited, and when he wanted to speak, The chariot had already stopped outside the Xihua Gate. A eunuch had already pushed the wheel ladder, and the two monarchs and ministers got out of the chariot slowly one after another.

It was early autumn at this time, although the scorching sun was still scorching hot, the gentle westerly wind passed by with coolness, blowing people's body refreshed, Qianlong saw the governor of Henan, Sun Guoxi, among a large group of officials waiting to see him, and said something to Neqin in a low voice What, just nodded to everyone and entered the palace.Naqin walked straight over and said to Sun Guoxi: "The emperor has a decree, you go in now."

"Yes, the minister leads the order!"

Sun Guoxi was ordered to go to Beijing to report on his duties at the same time as Shanxi governor Kar Jishan and Sichuan governor Chen Shixia.Unexpectedly, the emperor would be the first to summon him alone, and hastily kowtowed and got up to follow Neqin in.When I passed by the military plane, I happened to meet Qian Du who was holding a stack of paperwork. Sun Guoxi didn't have time to talk to him, so he just said, "I live at my nephew's house. Old Master Qian will go for a walk when he is free, and he will probably stay in Beijing." A few days", then hurried to the Hall of Mental Cultivation.After reporting his job title at the entrance of the hall, Gao Wuyong lifted the curtain and said, "Sun Guoxi comes to see you."

"I asked you to come in first to reclaim wasteland for Henan." Sitting at the coffee table in Dongnuan Pavilion, Qianlong looked at Sun Guoxi and saluted, sipping tea and said, "I have checked the Henan newspaper several times to reclaim wasteland. What is the reason?" Sun Guoxi hurriedly said: "Returning to the emperor, when I took over as the governor, the former governor Wang Shijun actually reported that the number of cultivated land was 69 mu. The emperor has issued strict decrees repeatedly to blame Henan for falsely reporting the cultivated land. Count. All the officers of the Governor’s Yamen and the Governor’s Yamen went to the county, and it was actually found out that the actual number is 44 mu. The previous reports were inaccurate because the Yellow River broke down from time to time, and the Yellow River was re-opened after the Yellow River passed. Re-cultivation, so sometimes more and sometimes less. Please learn from the emperor, the number of acres reported by the ministers dare not deceive." Qianlong saw that he was sweating from nervousness, and smiled: "I'm afraid you have said less this time. The number of acres. Is it?"

Sun Guoxi wiped the sweat from the corners of his eyes with his fingers, and said, "This is the sum totaled by the yamen from all over the country. I don't dare to speak nonsense if I underreported or not, and how many acres were underreported." "Get up and sit down and talk." Qianlong pointed with a smile. Pointing to Muzhuzi, he said, "I want to tell you that land reclamation is good. When will there be a decree to criticize you for making mistakes in reclamation? You three governors, from Tian Wenjing to you, from the bottom of my heart, the problem is that you blindly try to figure out the meaning of your superiors. No matter whether it is leniency or strictness, there is no basis. Tian Wenjing reclaimed one acre of barren land, and he wished to repay two acres, thinking that "more is better". Now you come to figure out me again, so you turned over a biscuit, and you would rather pay one mu for two acres. Kaifeng, Nanyang, and Shanzhou had a bumper harvest, and they also apologized. It seems to be the opposite of Tian Wenjing, but in fact it is Same. I said you didn’t!” Sun Guoxi listened to Qianlong’s words, which meant talking and enlightening, so that Lao Gao’s heart fell, and he hurriedly said: “The lord has not wronged the minister. Speaking of the minister’s thoughts, compared to What the lord said is even more nasty. The minister saw that Wang Shijun had offended the sage, and was afraid of following in his footsteps, so he strictly ordered his subordinates to check the acres of the land. It is better to have less than too much, and it is better to owe grain than to risk it. This year, the province owes 100 million shi in grain, and this figure is true."

"You are different from Wang Shijun." Qianlong suppressed his smile, "Wang Shijun regarded me and the late emperor as a quarrel, blatantly opposed my established strategy, and wanted to be a direct minister for reputation! If there is something wrong with my government, I am afraid that my subordinates will not dare to speak out Well! How could you blame the subordinates? But it is related to Huang Kao, saying that I intend to change the constitution of Huang Kao, this is his own misunderstanding! Wang Shijun took office in Henan, in order to gain a good reputation as a "capable official", he stripped the people Tyranny. If it is exposed during the imperial examination, shouldn’t he be punished? Ertai still speaks for him when he is convicted and sent to prison. In fact, Ertai was referring to the statement in Wang Shijun’s memorial that “a university scholar should not concurrently be a minister.” .The Great Master and Department is just a standard established by Huang Kao. He wants me not to 'reverse the case', but he encourages me to reverse the case—isn't this a treacherous villain? Even so, I didn't take him for granted, but he I can no longer be an official, go back to Guizhou and be a commoner!" Neqin said beside him: "Tian Wenjing still has merits. When he was in office, there were no corrupt officials and no thieves in Henan. This is also commendable." "What Neqin said is, "Qianlong interjected, "I taught you, so that you can understand my heart, take advantage of others' strengths to make up for your own weaknesses, and be a good governor-kneel down!"

Seeing Sun Guoxi withdrawing, Naqin bowed and said: "Long live the teachings, seek the long-term governance of the country, don't use things to waste people, don't use people to waste things, I have benefited a lot from listening quietly - who will the emperor see next? Slave Pass on the decree." "Henan is a 'model' place. I will meet you in person." Qianlong stood up and smiled, "The rest will be seen by you and Zhang Tingyu. I will go to the Palace of Compassion and Peace for the elderly Lord Buddha, please rest assured." As he spoke, he ordered someone to take off his robes, and only wore an azure blue gauze robe, tied with a soft golden yellow ponytail tie.Neqin accompanied him and said, "This year's autumn is cold early. The slave seems to be wearing thin clothes."

"It doesn't matter." Qianlong walked around, suddenly smiled, and asked: "Neqin, I heard that your family has two vicious dogs, but there are?"

"Yes." Neqin said, "That's to put an end to private visits. The emperor doesn't know, some officials are really shameless. Last time, the governor of Shandong Province came to my house with a daoist saliva. Good inkstone for me. I thought it was very elegant, so I accepted it. I opened the bag and saw that the 'golden leaf' was an inch thick and was inlaid on the outside of the inkstone. What kind of inkstone is it? It's money! I don't even have the name. I didn't even ask, I sent someone to throw it back to him!"

(End of this chapter)