My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 118 How Yongzheng Instructed Hongli on Implementing the New Policies

"My wise and enlightened father knows clearly what to do."

Hongli did not give a clear answer, only replying with this sentence.

Then, Hongli changed the subject, saying, "I wonder how things are in the capital now. With Orondai and Arsona's heads rolling, will the princes and ministers harbor resentment because of this?"

Hongli even frowned slightly.

Haishan and Fabulan both nodded secretly at this.

……

……

“Hongli was benevolent and kind, so he felt pity for the common people. However, he was also cautious and shrewd. I saw him looking back at the starving people in the distance many times, so I brought up the issue of merging the poll tax into the land tax, but Hongli did not express his opinion.”

"In addition, he was also quite considerate of the overall situation, and would worry about the stability of the court because of the killings of Orondai and Arsona."

After returning to the capital, Hai Shan met his elder brother, Man Duhu, and mentioned his opinion of Hongli when he returned to the capital with him.

Manduhu nodded very seriously after hearing this: "After all, he was the late emperor's favorite prince! There is even a saying that the late emperor passed the throne to the emperor's fourth brother because the late emperor had high hopes for this prince."

“What my elder brother said is true. He should be different from the Emperor and his fourth brother. He will not readily execute my Manchu princes and ministers in the future.”

Hai Shan replied in response.

Fabulan also met with his brother Ablan and mentioned his trip to the capital to see Hongli: "Fourth Prince Hongli will surely be a man who can bring peace to the world! Although he also thinks Orondai is stupid and arrogant, he also has the heart to plead for him. If he had not left the capital this time, he might have changed the emperor's mind!"

"Perhaps, whether benevolence will extend to all remains to be seen in the future."

Abraham replied with a smile, while simultaneously letting out a slight sigh.

The successful execution of Orondai and Arsona was indeed a terrifying event for the princes and ministers of the Manchu Eight Banners.

Many of them seemed to be waking up from a dream, truly beginning to understand that the world today is no longer the era in which Kangxi could act recklessly and arrogantly.

The reason is also related to the fact that Orondai and Arsona were dealt with and executed at the end of the first year of Yongzheng's reign, so they realized it earlier.

In the original history, Emperor Yongzheng did not initially intend to be so harsh. He hoped that these people would spontaneously reflect on their mistakes after being reprimanded, and he held a glimmer of hope for them. Therefore, he only dealt with Orondai and Arsona in the second year of his reign, imprisoning them in Shengjing. It was not until the fourth year of his reign that he made up his mind to execute them.

In this lifetime, because Hongli reminded Yongzheng that some treacherous individuals might live as long as Li Shanchang, Yongzheng changed his mind.

Of course, Yongzheng had already planned to deal with these people. According to the original history, he would have found an opportunity to deal with them in the second year of his reign. However, Hongli's reminder, coupled with the fact that he discovered the copper coin problem in advance, made Yongzheng realize that these people had malicious intentions and gave him the opportunity to deal with them and use stricter measures.

"You've already lost weight after only a few days at the mausoleum!"

When Hongli returned to the capital and met with Yongzheng to report back, Yongzheng said this to him first.

Hongli bowed and smiled, saying, "Thank you for your concern, Father. It doesn't matter if I'm a little thin, but I hope you can gain some weight."

"It's hard for me to gain weight!"

Yongzheng smiled and replied, then put down the memorial in his hand and looked up at him again: "Did anyone look for you on your way back to the capital?"

"Yes, Uncle Haishan and Cousin Fabulan have met with me and said they were sent by their elder brother."

Hongli replied.

Yongzheng nodded: "That must be your thirteenth uncle's idea."

Did they say anything to you?

Yongzheng asked. Hongli replied, "It concerns the matters of Orondai and Arsona. Also, Uncle Haishan brought up the issue of 'equalizing land tax and poll tax'."

"What did you say?"

Yongzheng asked again.

Hongli said, "Your subject feigned surprise and did not mention any opinion on the matter of merging the poll tax into the land tax."

After listening, Yongzheng nodded: "You must have learned a lot about civil affairs from your teacher today. You can tell your father what you think of the land tax reform?"

Hongli remembered that Kangxi had taught him that among those in power, the truly capable ones, if asked for their opinions on relevant decisions, were not actually being consulted, but rather requiring discernment to assess their stance and attitude.

Although Hongli was unsure whether Yongzheng supported the integration of poll tax into land tax, based on his understanding of history, he naturally knew that Yongzheng did support it, thus completely merging the poll tax into the land tax, which resulted in the permanent abolition of the poll tax that had existed for over a thousand years.

Therefore, Hongli answered truthfully, "It should be implemented!"

"Did Li Weijun secretly give you some money as a gift?"

Yongzheng suddenly looked at Hongli with a cold expression.

Unlike a certain TV series, it was not Li Wei who first implemented the land tax reform, but Li Weijun, the then governor of Zhili.

In addition, in the eighth year of the Kangxi Emperor's reign, he issued an edict abolishing the Governor-General of the three provinces of Zhili and replacing him with the Governor of Zhili.

Therefore, at present, there is no Governor-General of Zhili in Zhili region, only the Governor of Zhili.

When Yongzheng asked this question, Hongli was not flustered. He knew that Yongzheng was deliberately trying to scare and test him.

Therefore, Hongli replied without batting an eye, "Of course not, it's because I know that if we don't integrate the poll tax into the land tax, our Great Qing will not be able to collect enough poll tax!"

"Who told my Great Qing to allow Han gentry to continue owning their land and to continue being exempt from corvée labor at the beginning of its founding? That's why the serious problem of land annexation during the Ming Dynasty was never significantly resolved!"

Hongli was well aware that although Yongzheng's "equalization of land tax and poll tax" could reduce the opportunities for landless Han people to be exploited by the government, ease class and ethnic conflicts, and increase the Han population, its fundamental purpose was still for the rule of the Qing Dynasty and for the stability of fiscal revenue.

At present, the cost and difficulty for the Qing government to collect poll tax from landless Han Chinese is far greater than the cost and difficulty to collect poll tax from landed Han Chinese.

After all, landless Han Chinese could rely on wealthy households, or even become subordinates of wealthy Manchu households, and their whereabouts were uncertain. Therefore, it was difficult for the government to collect poll tax from landless Han Chinese, unlike land which was fixed in one place and could not be moved.

Moreover, because the Qing government had the Eight Banners troops stationed there, it was not afraid of Han gentry and landlords resisting taxes. Naturally, it was much easier to collect the poll tax by merging poll tax into land tax and it was also much easier than to pursue the poll tax of landless Han people.

Of course, the most important thing is that the Qing government had a serious problem with land annexation and failed to clean up the landlords, which made the majority of the population dependent on the landlords. There were too few self-cultivating farmers and small landlords. If the poll tax had not been converted into a land tax, the income from poll tax would have been very low.

That's why Hongli answered in this way at this time, saying that the Qing Dynasty's policy of merging the poll tax into the land tax was purely because the poll tax revenue would be affected.

After hearing what Hongli said, Yongzheng nodded with great satisfaction.

But then, Yongzheng asked Hongli very seriously: "But after the poll tax is converted into land tax, what if landlords pass on the increased poll tax to tenant farmers and common people by increasing land rent?"

When Hongli saw that Yongzheng still wanted to ask, he naturally understood that Yongzheng was no longer testing him, a young prince, nor did he really want to know any answers from him. Instead, he wanted to give him some pointers, to let him know that when implementing a national policy, one must consider that the policy not only has advantages but also disadvantages.

To give Yongzheng the satisfaction of "instructing his children and grandchildren," Hongli deliberately frowned and looked troubled.

Yongzheng laughed: "You don't know?"

"Please enlighten me, Father."

Hongli had better bow and accept the offer.

Yongzheng suddenly became earnest and said, "Your father probably didn't teach you much about how to implement the new policies, but I want to tell you that whether or not a national policy should be implemented will inevitably involve choices and weighing the pros and cons. Sometimes, how to weigh the pros and cons is not entirely based on the sage's morality that gentlemen believe in."

(End of this chapter)