The Struggle History of the Fourteenth Qing Dynasty

The two of them went to the Old Summer Palace without disturbing the leisure time of the grandparents and grandchildren. They found that Concubine De was holding Xiao Yuanyuan. The grandmother and granddaughter were also drawing a picture of dispelling the cold. They drew a picture of plum blossoms. Cold relief map.

Xiao Yuanyuan took a red brush and tapped on a petal, and the petal turned red.

When all the petals are red, this winter will pass.

The two brothers retreated quietly again and went for a walk by the lake.

The two stood by the lake, Fourth Master patted the white marble fence under his hands: "It's done."

Seeing such a scene today, what else does fourth master not understand?

The Fourteenth Master smiled and said, "Congratulations brother."

"Fourteen, what do you want? I promise you." The fourth master was probably too emotional, and he gave such a generous condition at this moment.

"My brother has nothing to ask for. He just wants to be a step-brother and inherit everything from his brother. When he gets old, he can take care of his elder brother." The fourteenth master's request is really not high.

"That's what it should be. You can choose from all the sons of my brother." The fourth master said sincerely: "If one is not enough, two are enough. My brother has several sons."

Isn't that right, there are many sons of the fourth master in history, but few grow up, but now, Gao Shun beside him has been pulled out, he is the prince's man, the inner prisoner is gone, and the fourth master has stricter family management Yes, the children are saved.

It's no wonder that in history, even though the fourth master became the emperor, he didn't let the prince out of Xian'an Palace, and was confined until his death.

Later, the son of the abolished prince did not end well.

In the end, only a few concubines survived and were marginalized.

"Okay, it's a deal, but you can't go back on your word." The Fourteenth Master stroked his chin and said, "I also have a son who is going to die in retirement, that's good."

The two brothers stood by the lake for a long time, and after admiring the scenery, they went to Qingxi Bookstore in Changchun Garden.

At this moment, brother Honghui went to write, and Kangxi was reading the booklet, so the two brothers came to see him.

"What's the matter? You two want to come together?" It was the first time that Kangxi saw the fourth and fourteenth come together.

"No, I'm just here to say hello to you and Er Niang, so I'm going to the back kitchen to see what's delicious?" Fourteenth Master greeted you with a hippie smile and ran away.

After the fourth master greeted Kangxi seriously, he handed over the memorial: "Huang Ama, half of the money owed by the household department comes back, and half is still missing. I'm afraid the return of the half will be slower."

Kangxi opened the booklet and saw that there were more than fifty debtors on it, the most prominent of which was Lao Ba's name.

Baye owed the Ministry of Households 80 taels of silver.

Eighth Master's former subordinates have all paid off their debts, and Kangxi knows why, those people were exposed by Fourteen in person, and it's only the ice face of Old Four, who can't scare the other party out of his urine?

It's understandable to pay back the money.

It's just that Lao Ba has not moved.

80 taels of silver, say more or less.

Now there are no debts of millions of taels of silver, the most is Ba Ye, 80 taels of silver; the second is a senior buddy of Kangxi, this person is one of the people who captured Oboi with Kangxi back then, he used to be a guard, and later He was dispatched as a military officer. Over the years, he climbed up step by step. His military achievements are outstanding, but his life is also very extravagant. In addition, he is a bit lecherous. There are more than a dozen concubines in his family, a lot of sons and daughters, and his son married a wife The son wants money, and the girl wants a dowry when she gets married, so he still has a bit of face.

The little military merit and spare salary in the army were not enough for him to spend, so he borrowed money from his old master and owed 70 taels of silver to the household department.

There were also various reasons for borrowing money, such as "marrying a daughter-in-law", "marrying a daughter and preparing a dowry", "my mother is sick", "paying a funeral for my father", etc. Kangxi couldn't bear to refuse.

So after borrowing more than a dozen times in this way, there is more than 70 in debt. His family may not have so much money to pay back, so... so far, this person has not said anything.

The second is a civil official, who is also Kangxi's hardcore. This civil official has only one hobby. Like the third master, he likes ancient books, and most of his money is spent on it.

Is an out-and-out bookworm.

Then there is a military general, this military general is from Shengjing, he has a seriously ill wife and an old lady who has been bedridden all year round.

In the future, there will be a lot of various debts. There are more than 80 debts of 30 million yuan, a dozen of 50 or 1000, and a dozen of [-] million. Let alone more than [-] million taels of silver have not been recovered.

How much is the annual tax of the Qing Dynasty?

Not to mention that Prince Yong was worried, even Kangxi frowned.

"Do you still owe so much?" Kangxi didn't expect that there are still many people here who are carrying it to death.

"Actually, it's either that you don't have money, or you just don't want to pay it back." Prince Yong said, "If a really poor family borrows money, my ministers will not chase after it."

"Where is there a poor family?" Kangxi shook his head: "They are all officials, they all have salaries, can't they support the whole family? Fourth, don't be soft-hearted at this time, if you break it, you will break it, if you don't stop it, you will break it." chaos."

Kangxi taught Si Ye earnestly and earnestly, which was an experience that Si Ye had never had.

This is talking about the emperor's mind, fourth master put on a posture of listening to the hadith.

"These people, you send people from the household department to notify them to pay off the debt owed by the household department, and give them half a year." Kangxi said: "It's too urgent to say that you are unreasonable. It's too long. I can’t afford to wait, half a year is fine, after half a year, if you haven’t paid back the money, then send someone to the door to collect the debt, this time it will last until the end of the year, as the saying goes, if you have money or not, it’s better to celebrate the New Year after the twelfth lunar month.”

Fourth Master listened carefully to Kangxi's words.

"If they don't pay back the money by the end of the year, after the first month, then don't be polite anymore, send someone to the door, count the family assets, after paying back the money, remove the official position, the Qing Dynasty is full of talents, I don't believe it, without these People, the Qing Dynasty can't manage well?" Kangxi was also really angry: "Such officials, don't mind!"

"We have to prevent them from jumping over the wall in a hurry." Fourth Master said: "Otherwise, they will oppress the people and gather people to collect money, which will be bad."

"Well, you're right. First check those debtors in Beijing, and then officials from other provinces. If it doesn't work, transfer officials from other provinces to Beijing, and release those who have paid off their debts in Beijing. But We need to pick people, pick the good ones, remove the bad ones on the spot, and never use them." Kangxi said: "It's just a matter of replacing a group of new officials, injecting a little fresh air into this dead officialdom."

"Yes, what Huang Ama said is quite right." Prince Yong felt that this was Kangxi's old man who governed the country.

You can't always be soft-hearted, that's not what a king of a country should have. Soft-heartedness is soft-hearted, and you have to harden your heart.

"New Year is coming soon, and I will return to the palace to preside over the court meeting." Kangxi made it clear that he supported Prince Yong and Thirteen Baylor, because he gave Prince Yong three hundred guards, and Thirteen Baylor's hundred guards were not revoked .

In fact, this was the guard for the two of them. Every time the two of them went on business, they would walk with fifty people. Let alone someone who wanted to assassinate, it would be difficult for them to get close enough to ask for mercy.

This is what Kangxi means.

"Okay, Huang Ama, you go back to the palace to take charge of the overall situation, and I will arrange it right away." The fourth master nodded.

Fourteenth Master ran to the kitchen to have a look, and there was no shortage of vegetables and meat, so he ordered dishes.

Kangxi asked the two brothers to eat together.

He laughed when he saw the dinner: "It must be at fourteen o'clock."

Stir-fried beef tenderloin with scallions, chrysanthemum tenderloin, white-grilled fish lips, and five-spice pigeon, these are Fourteen's favorite dishes.

Sliced ​​suckling pig, first-class official swallow, sweet and sour lotus root, shredded chicken and white fungus, these are Kangxi's favorite dishes.

And deep fried quail, father and son enjoy together, mountain delicacies of big leaf celery and pearl tofu are fourth master's favorite dishes.

The rest are Kangxi's regular dishes, one hundred and eight dishes. In fact, the emperor can't eat that much. The main reason is that the dishes are beautiful, and many dishes are inedible.

But Kangxi seldom put on a show like this: "This time, I'm celebrating your fourth brother's success, so I set up a big table. See what you like to eat."

"Oh, thank you Huang Ama." The fourteenth master was happy, the imperial meal rarely had so many dishes, the fourteenth master jumped up and down, eating happily.

Kangxi just watched his fourteenth son eat, and the fourth master called him occasionally to tell him not to be too rude.

"Let him eat." Kangxi said with a smile, "Since the [-]th, there is no shortage of food for this place. The food in the palace has not stopped, and the food in Changchun Garden is also good."

The two of them also talked about going back to the palace. Fourteen heard about it, but didn't mention it to anyone, including Nian Gengyao.

Anyway, the two are debt-free.

However, since Kangxi was not in the palace, the Fourteenth Lord and Nian Gengyao were more relaxed. Nian Gengyao often came to Prince Xun's mansion, and Nian's family was not in Prince Yong's mansion, but in Yuanmingyuan, so he didn't have to visit Nian's family either.

Everyone said that General Nian and Lord Fourteen had a very good relationship, at least they were life and death friends.

Everyone knows that a life-and-death friendship on the battlefield, what kind of relationship is that?It is not an exaggeration to entrust your family and life.

Nian Gengyao showed great respect to the Fourteenth Master, and the Fourteenth Master was also very good to Nian Gengyao. Nian Gengyao was the only master of the Nian Mansion, but the Fourteenth Master still asked people to send a lot of money to the Nian Mansion every day. Green vegetables.

On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, after eating Laba porridge, Kangxi drove back to the palace.

When I was young, I held the last court meeting of the year.

Kangxi supported Prince Yong, and Prince Yong read out the decision of the Ministry of Households, and the recovery officially began. It was considered polite before, but now it is the last time to be polite.

Don't take this kindness for granted.

All the ministers were obedient, but few really listened to them.

The days passed quickly, and the New Year was coming soon, and the New Year's banquet was arranged in the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

The Hall of Supreme Harmony and its square are where the royal family holds grand ceremonies.

The square of the Hall of Supreme Harmony is basically square, and the whole courtyard is flat and wide, with extraordinary momentum.There is the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the north, the Gate of Supreme Harmony in the south, Tiren Pavilion in the east, and Hongyi Pavilion in the west, covering an area of ​​[-] square meters, which is one-twentieth of the entire Forbidden City.

Don't underestimate this 24/7th. The entire square can accommodate [-] to [-] people. Such a large square can firstly show the majesty of the royal family; In the square, facing the lofty emperor and the majestic and majestic buildings, he had to sincerely lament his own insignificance and the emperor's greatness.

Of course, the emperor is not stupid, he also knows that under his cruel rule, some people will have some "ideas".But you have your "ideas", and I have my "methods".

If you want to come in and assassinate, I'll lay it out in a mess.

You want to hide in the dark, I let the square be treeless and flowerless.

Speaking of this, you may ask, what is messy?

Was it the emperor who sent people to kill the assassins who broke into the palace so that they would be turned on their backs?No, assassins can't get in with Ben from the ground.

This "horizontal seven vertical eight" means that the emperor was afraid that someone would dig a hole from the ground to come in and be assassinated, so he ordered that [-] layers of square bricks be laid on the ground of the square with seven horizontal and eight vertical floors, to see who can dig a hole?

I also said just now that "the square has no trees and no flowers", right?Take a look, there are really no trees or flowers in the whole square except for some big vats.

Then why didn't the emperor decorate such an important place?

There are two reasons for this: first, if you plant trees and flowers, although the scenery is beautiful, it loses the solemn and solemn atmosphere; No trees or flowers are planted around the square, and potted flowers are placed at most.

But put some big tanks, what is the purpose of this?

Those big tanks are not for fish farming, but for water storage.An eunuch next to him said that the surrounding halls are all made of wood. If there is a fire, the consequences will be disastrous, so he had to save some water to meet the urgent need.There are [-] water tanks in the palace, including [-] matte gold and copper tanks. Winter in Beijing is very cold. What if the water in the tanks freezes?

Looking down, there is a stone base under each large vat, with a small hole on one side, which is equivalent to the "stove eye" used for burning soil kang in the northern countryside. Cover the quilt to keep warm, and heat it with a slow fire below, so that the water temperature is neither too cold nor too hot, and it will neither evaporate due to too hot nor freeze due to too cold. Therefore, these large tanks have become the most effective fire-fighting equipment in the palace. up.

The Hall of Supreme Harmony is located on a three-story white marble base of more than eight meters, solemn and solemn.

There are many small dragon heads protruding from the edge of each base. The name of those small dragons is "Chi", which is a legendary dragon without horns. They are the drainage system of the hall.

If you look carefully, you will find that there is a small hole in the mouth of each faucet, that is, the water spray hole. There are a total of 140 two small faucets on the three-layer base. It is a scene in the palace and is called "a thousand dragons spitting water".

The Hall of Supreme Harmony is the highest-level building in the entire Forbidden City. It is only used when the emperor holds grand ceremonies, symbolizing the supremacy of imperial power. The Hall of Supreme Harmony is also commonly known as the Jinluan Hall!