Qing Yao

Chapter 41 I am the Perfect Man
In the Yanbo Zhishuang Palace, Heshen, the vice president of the Emperor's birthday celebration, was reporting to the octogenarian Emperor Qianlong about all matters concerning the celebration.

The president was the chief military minister Agui, but he did not accompany the emperor to the Mountain Resort. Instead, he stayed in Beijing to preside over the affairs.

"Master, I have already ordered the Ministry of Works and the Imperial Household Department to renovate all the palaces and pavilions in the Forbidden City and the Old Summer Palace. The provincial governors have also sent people to Beijing to decorate the roads between the capital and Chengde.
According to my master's wishes, all regions will hold provincial examinations this year, and the metropolitan examination will be held on the day my master returns to Beijing. In addition, my vassal states of the Qing Dynasty have also sent envoys to Beijing to wish my master a long life. It will surely be an unprecedented grand occasion."

"Heshen, please be more careful. Also, remember not to be too frugal on my birthday. Spend everything you can on everything. Even the elderly, musicians, and contractors should be rewarded. Don't skip the banquets and theatrical performances. Make sure the people can enjoy my birthday with me."

Although he was eighty years old, Qianlong still looked very energetic. Without the help of a eunuch, he walked straight past Heshen and came to a Qilin beast made of snow-white jade.

He Shen, who had just turned forty, stepped forward and said with a smile, "Your Majesty, this jade qilin was presented by Fulehun, the Governor-General of Fujian and Zhejiang. It is three feet tall and two feet wide. The craftsman carved it with exquisite craftsmanship. The qilin looks so lifelike that even I am amazed by it."

Fullerton was born in the Manchu Plain White Banner. He was ranked among the nine frontier officials because of his merit as a juren, which made him an exception among the frontier officials.

Qianlong nodded, took the magnifying glass handed to him by the eunuch, and carefully examined the jade qilin. He said with satisfaction, "Fuller is very thoughtful. This qilin will cost a lot of money. I will send it to the Old Summer Palace later."

"As a gift for the master's longevity, let alone spending a few silver coins, we servants would be willing to spend even a flower throne and a mountain of gold."

Heshen, smiling, led Qianlong forward to continue viewing the birthday gifts presented by the governors-general of various provinces, and said with some emotion, "Master, among the ancient and modern emperors, only three have lived to the age of eighty: Emperor Wu of Liang, Emperor Gaozong of Song, and Emperor Shizu of Yuan. However, these three either ruled in a small country or did not see five generations. Master, on the other hand, is the ruler of a unified country. Our Qing Dynasty's rule, both inside and outside the Great Wall, is as solid as a rock. Master, you also have great grandparents and five generations living under the same roof. This shows that Master is a very blessed person. In the future, you will surely be the first emperor in history to reach the age of one hundred!"

"A Hundred-Year-Old Emperor?"

Qianlong laughed heartily, pleased with Heshen's description of the "hundred-year-old emperor." He said dismissively, "How could there be a hundred-year-old emperor in this world? Living past ninety is the greatest blessing God has bestowed upon me."

"Master, a person of your great fortune will surely live to be a hundred years old. By then, I will be exactly sixty years old, which is just the right amount of time to serve you for a few more decades."

As he spoke, Heshen led Qianlong to the birthday gift he had presented.

It was the "Yuan Yin Shou Die" and "Bao Dian Fu Shu" that he and his accomplice Jin Jian, the Minister of Works, jointly produced and wrote. That is, the poems with the words "Fu" and "Shou" in Emperor Qianlong's poems and essays were engraved into seals.

The seals were all made of Qingtian stone and placed in a square red sandalwood treasure box with dragon patterns. For this purpose, Heshen also found Hu Jintang, the Minister of War who was an expert in mounting, and ordered him to make two sets of books with the technique of kesi and embroidery, and wrote poems next to each seal.

The final result was that no matter the seal, calligraphy or mounting materials, it was considered unique in the world. Qianlong was so fond of it that he played with it for a long time before ordering the eunuch to send the gift from He Zhongtang to Sanxiting for storage.

Sanxiting was a place where Emperor Qianlong stored his treasures. Among them, Wang Xizhi's "Kuaixue Shiqing Tie", Wang Xianzhi's "Zhongqiu Tie" and Wang Xun's "Boyuan Tie" were the most famous. Any one of them would cause a sensation among the people.

Qianlong's placing of Heshen's offerings in the Three Rare Hall was a testament to his great respect for him. The octogenarian emperor approached Heshen, took his hand, and said, "These things must have taken a great deal of your time and effort. I appreciate your kindness. If I could truly become the centenarian emperor you've been talking about, you would also be sixty years old. By then, we, the emperor and his subject, would truly be old men and old men."

After he finished speaking, he started laughing. When he was laughing happily, the eunuch came to report that the military ministers Fu Zhongtang and Peng Zhongtang wanted to see him.

"Bring them over." Qianlong waved his hand and sat on the chair with the help of Heshen.

After entering the palace, Fu Chang'an and Peng Yuanrui glanced at the priceless treasures, then hurried forward, swung their sleeves, knelt down and kowtowed: "Your servant Fu Chang'an (minister Peng Yuanrui) pays homage to the master (the emperor)!"

The names are different because there are differences between Manchus and Han people.

Fu Chang'an was the nephew of Empress Xiaoxian. His father was Emperor Qianlong's brother-in-law, Grand Secretary Fuheng. He was born in the Manchu Bordered Yellow Banner, and the upper three banners were the emperor's household slaves. Therefore, officials from the upper three banners had to call themselves "slaves" when they met the emperor.

Peng Yuanrui was a Han official and had no right to proudly call himself a slave in front of the emperor.

In fact, Heshen, who was born in the Manchu Zhenghong Banner, had no qualifications to call himself a slave in front of Emperor Qianlong, but he was also the commander of the Manchu Bordered Yellow Banner and was deeply favored by Emperor Qianlong, so it was only natural for him to call himself a slave.

Qianlong signaled the two to stand up. After Fu Chang'an stood up, he deliberately looked at Heshen, and Heshen smiled at him in return, probably because the two were well-known as the wolf and the hyena in the court.

Among Fuheng's sons, Qianlong, his uncle, liked the third son, Fu Kang'an, who was granted the title of Marquis of Jiayong and the title of Associate Grand Secretary. However, Fu Kang'an was currently in Xi'an with Counselor Hailancha on a mission to deploy troops to the plateau, and was unable to come to Chengde to celebrate the birthday of his uncle, the emperor, which made Qianlong very regretful.

"How did you get here? Why are your faces red and your forehead sweating?"

Noticing that Fu Chang'an and Peng Yuanrui were both out of breath, Qianlong was startled, thinking that there was some urgent military incident.

Just as he was about to ask what had caused the two Grand Councillors to panic, Fu Chang'an respectfully handed over the memorial in his hand, unable to conceal his excitement, saying, "Master, this is a birthday memorial presented by Eqina, the prefect of Yangzhou. Your servant, Peng Zhongtang, and I were both amazed after reading it. We present it to you for your perusal!"

"What caused you two to lose your composure like this?"

Qianlong found it somewhat amusing. Heshen, who was equally curious, stepped forward, took the memorial from Fu Chang'an and held it before his master. He handed the magnifying glass to him without waiting for his master to unfold the memorial.

"Um,"

Qianlong nodded slightly. Although his mind and body were in good condition, his eyesight was getting worse and worse. Lately, he had even had symptoms of deafness. It was really hard to accept aging.

He picked up the magnifying glass and glanced at the memorial, reading a few lines one by one. Qianlong couldn't help but exclaimed "Huh", his expression obviously showing uncontrollable excitement. He quickly looked back with the magnifying glass. The more he read, the more moved he became, and the more excited he became.

After reading the whole article, he couldn't help but say to Heshen, who didn't dare to come closer to read, "You said before that I was a hundred-year-old emperor, but I think the Yangzhou prefect's description of me as the Ten Perfect Old Man is more in line with my taste. The Ten Perfect Old Man has ten perfect martial arts, and the ten perfect martial arts made him the Ten Perfect Old Man. Fine, fine, I will be this Ten Perfect Old Man!"

(End of this chapter)