Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 690

Although Hami was captured, the news that the Northern Navy sent troops to Tianshan Mountain also spread into Yumen Pass.

Twenty days later, a six-hundred-mile expedited memorial issued by Le Bao, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, arrived in the capital and was sent directly to the Qianlong case.

"The slave, Lebao, knelt down to report the situation of the bandits on the East Road in Xinjiang, and flew to urge the officers and soldiers to hurry up and deal with them. The reason is that Gong Zhezuo heard the news: the large troop of the North Sea pirates went south from Khobdo in mid-August, entered the After Xinjiang East Road, there are still bandits coming one after another, there should be more than [-] people. Now the ancient city, Zhenxifu, and Hami have all fallen, Turpan is in danger, and the post road leading to Urumuqi has been cut off."

In the East Nuan Pavilion of the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Qianlong, who was sitting cross-legged on the big kang, closed his eyes slightly. Although he looked like an ancient well without waves, in fact, he felt as if he had swallowed a sip of extremely bitter strong tea.

When Heshen finished reading all the contents of the memorial, it took a long time for Qianlong to say quietly: "From the holy ancestor, Shizong to Zhen, several conquests, more than [-] years of reclamation, turning the wilderness into a barrier, and building a barrier in the Western Regions , but now it is Zhao Xin’s wedding dress. He has been preparing for two years in Kebu, and I thought I would have to wait until the spring of next year to start, but I didn’t expect them to choose it in late autumn!”

At this time, only He Shen was in the palace to accompany the elderly Qianlong. After July [-]th, Prince Jia Yongyan took [-] Jingying Eight Banners and his family to Xi'an. He was accompanied by Wang Jie, a scholar of the Dongge University, and Dong Dong, Minister of Military Affairs. Gao, Ji Yun, a cabinet bachelor and minister of rites, and other Manchu and Han ministers.And He Shen's honor and disgrace are all tied to Qianlong, as long as the person in front of him doesn't move, he can only accompany him.

He Shen pursed his lips and said consolingly: "Master, don't worry too much. The servant thought that if Zhao Ni took Tianshan this time, he might fall into a big quagmire, and he would be unable to get out of it for a while, so he could win for the court. A lot of time."

"Oh? Let's hear it."

"Master Mingjian. Although the slaves do not understand military affairs, they also know a little about the geographical situation and people's conditions in the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains. The land is larger than Khalkha, and it is different from Khalkha. They live together in Han Dynasty, and the people's customs are mixed. In the past, there were white hats and black hats." Now the Kokand Khanate has invaded again. Although the North Sea pirates have occupied Hami and controlled the stations and roads leading to the northern border, as long as they enter the southern border, they are bound to fight city by city. Contrary to his temperament of not giving up an inch of land, he will definitely go to war with the Kokand Khanate. He can use the strategy of driving tigers and wolfs away, and let the court force Fu Yaolin and He Lin to take southern Tibet and Burma for him; the court can naturally To do the opposite, let him fight with the Kokand Khanate and even Aiwuhan. In this way, the tens of thousands of troops of the Northern Navy will be firmly sucked in the north and south of Tianshan Mountains, wasting money and food, while the Northwest But it’s okay for now.”

Qianlong's eyes became brighter the more he heard it. He didn't expect that He Shen could come up with such a big game of chess with so much effort, so he nodded in approval and said, "To think of this in such a hurry, it seems that you have put in a lot of effort on weekdays."

"The slave is willing to recommend one person. As long as the master gives him the opportunity in advance to sneak back to the southern border from Qinghai, then the southern border will be in chaos. Zhao Ni wants to gain a firm foothold there, and it may not be possible in three to five years. In this way, the court So there's more of a buffer."

Qianlong thought for a while, then said in a deep voice, "You mean Dorobel Hadir?"

"Master's sage can illuminate thousands of miles."

Hadir, the fourth son of Huojisi, the former king of Dorobeleka County, was appointed as the capital of Mongolia with a red flag after he became a prince, and stayed in Beijing all the time.

Speaking of the Hodges family, they have been a powerful family of the Baishan faction in Aksu and Wushi since the Junggar Khanate era, and their brothers, sons and nephews are all Burke.

In the process of pacifying Junggar, the Huojisi family saw the wind and saw that the situation was not good, and designed to capture Dawaqi alive, which provided great help for the Qing army's smooth advance and suppression. Even the portrait of Ziguang Pavilion became the "sacrifice" of pacifying Junggar. One of the Top [-] Heroes".

But Huojisi also had his own little calculations. In order to consolidate his sphere of influence in southern Xinjiang, he later begged Amur Sana secretly, which aroused Qianlong's vigilance.When the big and small Hezhuo rebelled, the Huojisi family first confederated with Huoji, and then went on to control the two important towns of Khotan and Yaerqiang.Although they later stood on the side of the Qing army, they had become a big hidden danger to the Qing court.

When the big and small Hezhuo died in Badak Mountain and the Qing government unified the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, in order to ensure the stability of southern Xinjiang, Qianlong's first consideration was to let the Huojisi family stay in the capital, and he was very cautious, and secretly ordered General Dingbian Zhaohui Office sent it.So when Hodges took his five sons and other Burkes to Beijing to meet His Majesty, a decree of reward came down, and they could never go back.

Afterwards, apart from an honest third son, Tokto Suopi, who was sent back to Aksu to be in charge of sweeping the family cemetery, the other four sons either served as nobles or served as internal ministers or bodyguards; It is absolutely impossible to go back to southern Xinjiang.

Qianlong could imagine that once the Hadir brothers returned to southern Xinjiang, they would definitely collude with the Kokand Khanate, Tianshan South Road would fall into chaos again, and the infighting between Baishan and Heishan would resume.He felt that even when necessary, General Yili could cooperate to completely mess up the situation in the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains.

Although doing so would ruin his years of hard work, turn the top ten martial arts that he was proud of into a dream, and even leave countless people homeless, but for Qianlong at this time, as long as he can slow down the pace of the Northern Navy's entry into the customs , He doesn't care about the tricks of the next three ways.

Now, as a large number of Manchus moved westward, in order to raise enough food and funds to gain a foothold in Tibet and Gurkha, the Qing court also adjusted taxes, the main means being the increase of land tax and salt and tea tax. Pie, most of which came from He Shen's idea.

For example, the land tax in the Liangjiang and Huguang areas, on the basis of the original tax of one tael per field, an additional allowance of one tael was levied.In addition, because Qianlong deeply hated Wang Zhong and other eight people for voting in Beihai Town, and the Cao family in Shexian County had an anti-thief leader whose origin cannot be traced, he deliberately decreed that Huizhou, Yangzhou, Changzhou, and Taizhou should be levied "mu donation"; The donations ranged from 200 to 400 Wen per mu, which caused the local people to complain endlessly.

In terms of salt tax, the salt farms in various places increased the price very seriously. For example, Huai salt was transported from Yizheng to Yichang Prefecture, and tax declarations were set up at various levels, resulting in the wholesale price of each lead (two hundred catties) after tax payment as high as 20 taels.

As for the tea tax, it goes without saying.Due to the loss of Khalkha, the situation of Shanxi merchants selling tea to Beihai town in the north was too much to check. Therefore, according to Heshen's approval, all tea should be paid for each tea in the marketing place, in addition to three taels of Zhengke. If you want to transport it from Zhangjiakou to Chahar, you must pay an additional tax of two taels of silver.

In addition, He Shen also asked the Baoquan Bureau with the household department in Jinan to cooperate with Liu Yong to put a large amount of official and private money into Dengzhou Prefecture through private money desks and money shops. governed economy.

Didn't Beihai Town want to carry out land reform, distribute the land of the gentry to the poor, and prevent the gentry from lending usury?Then we will use private money to get back the loss.As long as private forging prevails, it will be useless to increase farmers’ harvests through high-yielding seeds or water conservancy renovations. Once prices, including food prices, rise, it will also be possible to plunder farmers at the bottom.

Qianlong thought about it for a while, and finally made up his mind, and said to the eunuch standing beside him: "Here, Dorobel Khadir and Minister of the Interior, Hudaibaldi, will hand over the plaque to see you tomorrow."

"Whoo!"

The matters in Xinjiang were almost discussed, Qianlong thought of something again, and asked immediately: "Have you not got the list of scholars who will take part in the imperial examination in Beihai Town?"

He Shen hurriedly kowtowed to the ground and said: "The slave is not effective, please punish the master. Since the fall of Jilin Ula, our contact with Fuldan City has been broken."

"What about Anping Port?"

"The servant's people went there twice, but they didn't pick up. I'm afraid it's more or less auspicious."

Since five years ago, there were three main channels for the Qing Dynasty to spy on Beihai Town's intelligence.The first one is based on Ula, Jilin, and radiates Heilongjiang City, Ningguta, Fuerdan City, Khabarovsk and other places; It is Li Chaohuining Mansion across the river from Hunchun, which is the closest to Beihai Town.

There is also Jiaodong, but a lot of news about Beihai Town there are rumors, which must be confirmed with the previous information.

However, with the loss of Ula in Jilin, the front of the North Navy reached the wicker wall, and the North Navy in Hunchun suddenly crossed the Tumen River before the Mid-Autumn Festival, the two main channels of information transmission in the Manchu and Qing Dynasties were severely damaged, making it difficult to obtain The timeliness of intelligence lags behind.At present, many of the situations reported by Shangyu's backup department are related to the meeting in Xia Tian.

Qianlong sighed helplessly, knowing that there was no rush for this matter.The "black-skinned security police" in Beihai Town is now well-known, and his tricks are surreptitious, and countless spies have fallen into the hands of the other party.He said bitterly: "Without a ruler and father, and secretly forming bandits, they are all restless bastards, and their crimes should be punished by the nine clans!"

"Master, calm down, don't get angry."

"Let the Ministry of War and Shangyu's backup department send more people, we must get the list, and none of the above people will be spared!"

"Yes Yes Yes!"

Speaking of scholars, Qianlong thought of another matter, and then asked, "How is the arrangement of the Confucius family in Qufu? When are they going to leave for Xi'an?"

He Shen was taken aback for a moment, the Kong family had already mentioned the matter the day before yesterday, why did they ask again today?He didn't have time to think about it, and replied: "Master, Kong Yangyuan was too sick to get out of bed. The imperial physician had already visited his residence the day before yesterday. He was indeed seriously ill. I'm afraid he won't survive the end of the year."

Kong Yangyuan is Kong Xianpei, the No. 70 generation of the Confucian mansion, who had no descendant and adopted Kong Qingrong, the son of his younger brother Kong Xianzeng.But the problem is that the child is only six years old now, and if something happens to Kong Xianpei, Kong Qingrong will definitely have to help the spirit go back to Qufu for burial, and he won't be able to leave for a while.

Qianlong was a little dissatisfied when he heard this, but there was nothing he could do.He pondered for a moment and then said: "How is the matter in Quzhou?"

He Shen said: "Jiqing is still thinking of a way, the servant has already told him that before the end of the year, no matter what, Nanzong must hand over the wooden statue and send it secretly to Xi'an by Fubiao soldiers and horses."

Qianlong shook his head and said: "Although Jiqing is a clan, he can be too loyal and pedantic. He can't handle this matter. This matter is of great importance, so let the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, Wulana, handle it in secret. I will issue a secret decree, and you will let Shangyu spare People also went to cooperate."

"Whoo!"

What the two said was that the regular wooden statues of Confucius and his wife enshrined in the Confucian Temple in Quzhou were the heirlooms of the Confucian family.At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, when Jin soldiers invaded the south, Kong Duanyou, the Duke of Yan at that time, fled to Hangzhou with a wooden statue, and later settled in Quzhou. Since then, Nankong has flourished.Although it passed through the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, the Kai wood statue has remained in the Confucian Temple in Quzhou.

Even though they are just two wooden statues, they have great appeal to scholars all over the world.Qianlong felt that as long as he got the wooden statue and Yan Shenggong, Beihai Town would not be able to subdue all the scholars in the world, and the orthodoxy of Confucianism was still in the hands of Manqing.

"Master, there is one more thing for this slave. The Ministry of Rites has already drafted the posthumous title of Ah Zhongtang, and I respectfully invite the Holy Judge."

"The imperial court has lost another beam..." Qianlong got up and got off the kang, wandered around the hall, looked at the ground quietly, then turned his head to look at the heavy snow outside the window, and asked after a long time: "What was decided?"

"Wen Xiang."

Two years ago, Agui led his troops into Khalkha to fight against Fan Tong. After returning to Beijing, he was bedridden. After more than a year of recuperation, Qianlong sent the imperial physician to visit him many times, and he has improved slightly. , at Zhengdan this year, accompanied by his grandson, he entered the palace to thank him.Qianlong wanted to wait for him to recuperate for a while, and then sent him to Xi'an to assist Yong Yan.

Unexpectedly, when the news that Zhao Xin once again forced the imperial court to take southern Tibet and Burma came out, Ah Gui immediately spat out blood and fell ill.He had traveled to Burma with Fu Hengyuan back then, and he knew how dangerous it was; thinking that the dignified Qing Dynasty was forced to go to the smoky land to survive, he was filled with hatred and anger.

After just over a month, this important minister of the Qianlong Dynasty, who once got on the horse to rule the army and dismounted to rule the people, and was painted in the Ziguang Pavilion four times, finally failed to survive. He died two days ago at the age of 76.

The posthumous title of "Wenxiang" is not low anymore. The so-called opening up the land is virtuous, and the armor is laborious, so it is called "Xiang".Throughout his life, Agui led the army to conquer the east and west many times, the big and small Jinchuan, the small and big Hezhuo, Burma, and the governor of Shanxi and Gansu returned to chaos.Of course, he also played two matches with Beihai Town, and ended up being defeated, which became an indelible stain in his life.

Qianlong pondered for a moment, feeling that it was still too light, and he immediately said: "You should posthumously Wenzhong. Agui's ability is not only about martial arts, he cares about the country and forgets his family, he is honest and fair, he deserves it!"

While talking, Qianlong walked slowly to the front of the case, picked up a pen and dipped it in cinnabar, wrote on the paper, and handed it to He Shen.

He Shen took it with a blank expression, feeling a little uncomfortable.You must know that since the founding of the Qing Dynasty, only two people have received the posthumous title of "Wen Zhong". One is Sony, a veteran of the Shunzhi Dynasty, and the other is Fu Heng.Ah Gui, He De and He Neng are actually comparable to Fu Heng in Qianlong's mind.

But soon he was relieved, the two had been fighting openly and secretly for more than ten years, and now that they are gone, there is no need to entangle in posthumous titles, the key is to quickly gather the situation left by Ah Gui.

"Kneel down! Stop by to see Yancheng, teach him not to come over to thank you, and wait until the funeral is over."

"Whoo!"

(End of this chapter)