History live broadcast: the beginning is Qin Shihuang's live broadcast of the subjugation of th

"In the later stages, going to Jiangnan has both merits and demerits."

"Observe the people's sentiments and inspect the canals. Although I went to the south of the Yangtze River several times, I also built many palaces and ships, which was a waste of life and money."

"While on inspection, he also traveled to the mountains and rivers, but during his reign, he was still connected with the emperor's inspection, which is at least several times better than hiding in the palace to pursue lewd pleasures."

"It also enabled the continuation of the prosperous era of Kang and Yong in him, and allowed future generations to directly rate him as the political leader of the three prosperous eras of "Kang, Yong and Qian"."

"Although Qianlong often boasted and boasted too much about himself, his personal ability to govern was still outstanding."

"Qianlong basically had nothing to say politically. Internally, the imperial power was further consolidated, and the feudal royal power was greatly strengthened. Internally, the Qianlong brothers did whatever they said, and basically no one dared to talk back."

"In terms of military affairs, Qianlong's basically meritorious service was to conquer Annan and calm down the situation in the south."

"The Qing Dynasty reached the peak of history in his hands, and then inevitably embarked on a downward slope. The Qing Dynasty began to move from prosperity to decline."

“The Qing Dynasty inherited the Ming Dynasty’s system from an institutional perspective and further strengthened the imperial autocratic power.”

"After the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, this literary prison was repeatedly established. From Kangxi to Qianlong for about 120 years, the scale of the large and small literary prisons was unprecedented. During the Qianlong period, a poet who wrote a poem about flowers was killed, and his followers, engravers, and book sellers were also killed. Those who bought the book were sentenced, and the entire intellectual world was in a state of depression."

"If you look at him as a "perfect old man", it sounds really good, but it has no practical significance."

"During the Qianlong dynasty, no less than hundreds of millions of taels were spent on military force. Of course, some of them, such as Pingzhun, Daxiao Hezhuo, and XZ, were all used to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity, but most of the martial arts were militaristic."

"You must know that the annual revenue of the national treasury at that time was only about 3500 million taels. Such a huge military expenditure was naturally unsustainable."

"Then there's the issue of the southern tour just now. Wherever Emperor Qianlong passed by during his tour, officials would pick him up and make sure they were gorgeous and pleasing."

"Although Emperor Qianlong always preached to be simple in everything, this was just a pretense."

"So every time the parade goes, the stage, colorful booths, dragon boats, and decorations along the way are all increasing and constantly upgrading."

"Emperor Qianlong's southern tour cost ten times as much as Kangxi's."

"When Kangxi visited the south, he only spent one or two hundred thousand gold each time, while Qianlong often spent millions."

"It can be said that it wastes people's money, consumes their vitality, and affects all the people. The officials govern the people's customs and end up ruined."

"It is bad for Heshen on the inside, and bad for Fukang'an on the outside!"

"Qianlong's mediocrity mostly refers to the later period. How can a mediocre person not have treacherous ministers? How can a treacherous minister become stronger and escape your Qianlong problem."

"He Shen is an ordinary official student. He is not very knowledgeable, but he has an enviable face and a super memory."

"By chance, He Shen was appreciated by Emperor Qianlong for his response."

"After that, Heshen's officials prospered and rose to the top. In just a few years, he reached the rank of Minister of Household Affairs, Bachelor of Science, and Minister of Military Aircraft."

"Heshen has been in charge of government for more than 20 years. He is a supervisor externally and a servant internally. Most of them come from the He family."

"There are officials who are greedy on the outside and officials who are greedy on the inside. They are the cause and effect of each other, and the trend of greed is getting worse and worse."

"In fact, Heshen's shadow can be seen behind many major corruption cases that occurred in the late Qianlong period."

"Corruption cases such as those of Cathay, Wang Danwang, and Chen Huizu are all closely related to Heshen." "It's just that he was not finally exposed."

"In the later years of Qianlong, the political group headed by Heshen not only controlled the affairs of the government and other provinces, but also formed a corruption group that exploited and exploited layer by layer, causing treasury deficits in various places."

"Qianlong is mainly responsible for Heshen's faction being able to do this."

"In the later stages, military problems also arose."

"The Eight Banners were the foundation for the founding of the Qing Dynasty. In the early Qing Dynasty, the Eight Banners were known for their strength and simplicity."

"There was no such arrogance among the early Eight Banners soldiers."

"But since the middle of the Qing Dynasty, due to the political and economic privileges enjoyed by the Eight Banners, their temperament has quickly changed."

"In the last years of Qianlong's reign, more problems were exposed, the most prominent of which was the extravagance of the army. The most typical representative of this was Fukang'an, who was extremely favored by Emperor Qianlong."

"Fukang'an was relied on by Emperor Qianlong for a long time because of his noble birth, but most of his military exploits came from Hailancha and Agui."

"Like Qianlong, Fukang'an was born with a dandy style. Even on the front line, he ate rare food every day, and every battle cost a lot of money."

"But such a general who spent money like water was extremely favored by Emperor Qianlong. He even made him a county prince after his death, becoming the only king with a different surname since the early Qing Dynasty."

"After Jiaqing came to power, he issued an edict to rebuke Fukang'an, saying that the extravagant style of the Eight Banners was all caused by him."

"Anyway, the problems that arise in summary all come from the late Qianlong period. In addition, the Jiaqing Emperor carefully selected by Emperor Qianlong is also a mediocre person. One can imagine the situation faced by the Qing Dynasty."

"The biggest problem is still the isolation of the country."

"Qianlong was no exception. He was stubborn and wanted to have exclusive power, which directly affected his later development."

"The Qing government was afraid that the colonists would come to invade, and it was also afraid that the countrymen would go out to sea to gather together to resist, so it implemented a policy of isolation from the country."

"Emperor Qianlong believed that "the Celestial Empire is rich in products and has everything. It originally did not borrow goods from foreign countries to make ends meet."

“There is everything in heaven, no matter how expensive or rare it is!

"Emperor Qianlong's seclusion and self-improvement seriously hindered the Qing Dynasty's connection with the world, hindered our country's absorption of the world's advanced culture and science and technology, and brought the social development of the Qing Dynasty to a state of stagnation. Agriculture was still a traditional farming method, and the military was still old-fashioned. The swords, spears, bows, etc. are far behind the world."

"The era when Qianlong lived was an era of unprecedented changes in human history."

"In 1730 AD, the Englishman Kaye invented the flying shuttle, which opened the prelude to the industrial revolution."

"In the thirty-fourth year of Qianlong's reign, Watt invented the steam engine, marking the beginning of mechanized mass production."

"In fact, the Qing Dynasty had the opportunity to understand the development of the world at that time."

"Kangxi was interested in Western culture and had an awareness of the threat, but Qianlong had no such awareness."

"Although during the Qianlong period, there were many Western missionaries and imported goods in the palace, and Qianlong also loved clocks and toys, he was not interested in Western civilization."

"He believed that the Celestial Empire was omnipotent. During the period of rapid globalization of the world, he adopted a closed-door policy to make Western countries realize that behind the prosperous appearance of the Qing Dynasty was empty national defense strength."

(End of this chapter)