My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 418 How awesome is it to be the emperor in the Qing Dynasty? You can do whatever you want!

"real!"

"I, Lu, will no longer advocate feudalism."

"Feudalism only allowed nobles to treat commoners even less like human beings. Therefore, the Mongols, who were governed by feudalism, were actually worse off than the Han Chinese, who were governed by prefectures and counties."

"Your Excellency, please also bear witness for me. I have truly come to my senses. My disobedience to the Emperor Emeritus was indeed due to my own arrogance and ignorance. Even if I were to die ten thousand times, I could not atone for my sins."

"Therefore, it is really unnecessary to send me to investigate the northern branch of the Outer Khingan Mountains. Even if such a wild and uncivilized place should be Chinese territory, it should be established as a prefecture and county."

On the banks of the Kobdo River.

Lu Shengnan was standing on a green meadow, with his back to a herd of gazelles, bowing to Marsai, the resident minister to Mongolia who had arrived on horseback, and telling him his thoughts.

Marseille merely sighed, thinking to himself, "How could I, a mere servant, not have thought of this arrangement my master made for Lu Sheng?"

then.

Marseille then looked at Lu Shengnan and said, "Our master said that one should not speak without a thorough investigation."

“You, Lu Shengnan, are willing to use your brain to explore various national policies throughout history, which is what the master wants to see. The only thing he doesn’t want to see is that you only like to use your brain to think and use your mouth to talk, but you are unwilling to go to the field to ask, see and practice.”

"In your Han Chinese terms, this is just empty talk."

"That's why our master wants you to conduct on-site investigations to make your arguments more persuasive. Even if you change your mind now, you won't have enough persuasive power! You must understand our master's good intentions!"

After Marseille was sent to the northern desert, he had few people to talk to, so he was naturally more willing to say a few more words to Lu Shengnan.

Lu Shengnan looked bitter after hearing this.

At this moment, Marseille rode his horse toward a group of guards beside Lu Shengnan and said, "You must escort Imperial Censor Lu well. You must find him alive or dead. Otherwise, you can forget about receiving the remaining generous reward."

"Please rest assured, Your Excellency!"

Marseille's words made Lu Shengnan frown even more.

Because what Marseille said was indeed outrageous.

What does it mean to say "see the person alive or the body dead"? If you didn't know better, you'd think it meant sending a criminal to the far north to be exiled.

Regardless, Lu Shengnan, feeling utterly hopeless, embarked on his journey to the far north.

His bodyguards were all handpicked from among the Mongol archers, men who valued money over their lives. Unlike Lu Shengnan, they weren't pessimistic at all; instead, they all laughed heartily.

After Lu Shengnan left, Marseille sent a secret report to Hongli, informing him that Lu Shengnan had embarked on the journey to the far north.

"very good!"

After receiving Marsai's secret report, Hongli smiled and instructed Ortai and Zhang Tingyu: "Immigrants leaving the pass were a national policy established during the reign of the retired emperor. The current arrangement of Li Fu and Xie Jishi is also to continue to promote this national policy and alleviate the problem of overpopulation and insufficient land within the pass."

"But the area outside the Great Wall is, after all, the area outside the Great Wall, and the population it can support is limited. Therefore, the land survey and redistribution in the south to suppress powerful clans is still the fundamental way to make the Qing Dynasty more prosperous and achieve long-term stability!"

"The prices of grain, cotton, and raw silk have been rising continuously. The common people have not felt the benefits of the new policies. Instead, the national treasury is becoming increasingly full. If this continues, prosperity will become irrelevant to the people, and then it cannot be called a truly prosperous era!"

"So, how is the land redistribution in the south progressing?"

At this point, Hongli asked about Zhang Tingyu.

Zhang Tingyu replied with a bow, "Wu Zongxu, the censor of Jiangnan Circuit, impeached Prince He for raping and murdering a woman named Kou, causing widespread public resentment. As a result, thousands of strongmen from Changzhou blocked the emperor's path to lodge their grievances."

Hongli frowned upon hearing this: "Fifth brother raped and murdered a woman?"

"According to Wu Zongxu's report, a female corpse was indeed found at Prince He's residence, and it was indeed the daughter of the scholar Kou Zhenghe."

Zhang Tingyu replied.

Hongli nodded: "Has Prince He himself submitted a memorial or statement?"

"Prince He submitted a memorial stating that His Majesty could strip him of his princely title, suspend him from his post, imprison him, strip him of his official rank, or even take his head. He is a cruel and lecherous man, and he is not afraid of gaining a reputation for cruelty and lechery."

Zhang Tingyu replied.

The Grand Council is obligated to keep track of the progress of various policies and to liaise with the princes and ministers in charge of implementing these policies in the local areas.

Therefore, Hongzhou, who participated in the land distribution, could directly send urgent memorials to the Grand Council to report the matter.

However, upon hearing the contents of the memorial, Hongli seemed rather nonchalant and showed no intention of seriously defending himself.

However, Hongli could also deduce from this that Hongzhou must have been genuinely angered, which was why he deliberately acted as if he didn't care.

After all, being unjustly accused of raping and murdering a woman, especially in Jiangnan where Han people are the majority and written information spreads very quickly, would likely make him a target of gossip and criticism in Jiangnan, including among peddlers and even prostitutes.

"What kind of talk is this?"

Hongli rubbed his eyebrows and chuckled. Then, he stood up and said sternly, "This matter is clearly the result of the deliberate framing of the imperial family by Zhao Hongen, the Governor-General of Liangjiang, and Fude, the Governor of Jiangsu. Immediately draft an edict ordering Wu Zongxu to join forces with Dai Linbu, the General of Jiangning, to arrest these two."

"The main culprit, Fu De, need not be escorted to the capital. Minister of Justice Li Wei is to go to Suzhou, verify his identity, and then behead him as a warning to the public, so as to quell public resentment."

Zhang Tingyu was stunned on the spot.

But he still responded with a "Yes, sir!"

Zhao Hongen and Fude were both Manchus and were servants of the emperor.

Now, powerful families in Jiangnan are trying to use the Prince He's rape and murder of a woman to incite a popular uprising, preventing the court from distributing land to those wealthy households and even hindering the subsequent land survey.

Hongli, naturally, could not allow him to get what he wanted, so he simply made a decision on the case without investigation.

Let the heads of those two lackeys, Zhao Hongen and Fude, be used to quell public resentment.

Firstly, the masses don't really care about the truth; they only care about whether such cases of powerful people raping and murdering ordinary women can be resolved fairly, and whether one or two powerful figures can be killed to prove the court's justice.

The governor-general and the provincial governor were undoubtedly figures of great power in the eyes of the locals.

Offering sacrifices to them was enough to convince the people that the court had handled the matter fairly, and naturally, the people's anger was vented.

Secondly, these two men, as lackeys who had served as officials in Jiangnan for so long, failed to protect their master's reputation and caused such a mess, so they naturally had to pay the price for it.

Who made the Qing Dynasty's Eight Banners system this way?
As a servant, one cannot only feel like a servant when enjoying the privileges of the Eight Banners; one must also be aware of one's status as a servant when it is necessary to take the blame for one's master.

To be honest, in other dynasties, high-ranking officials like local governors and viceroys were not slaves. Emperor Qianlong would not have been able to simply frame them and kill them. He would have had to adhere to the principle that a scholar can be killed but not humiliated.

But that's one of the advantages of being the emperor in the Qing Dynasty.

The Manchus were essentially the eunuchs and servants in the Ming Dynasty. The emperor could kill them with a single order, or fabricate a story out of thin air, first determining the truth he wanted to see, and then having others fill in the gaps.

This is why Qianlong dared to be so willful, and Ortai could not object, since it was only right for a servant to take the blame for his master; Zhang Tingyu, as someone outside the Eight Banners, had no right to interfere with the internal rules of the Eight Banners, and could only sigh that the Eight Banners system truly encouraged the emperor's ability to do whatever he wanted.

Furthermore, Emperor Qianlong then instructed: "Send an imperial edict to the General of Jiangning, first slap those two servants and ask them if they have done right by me. Also, they are not allowed to cry foul!"

"Whoo!"

Wu Zongxu, the Imperial Censor of Jiangnan Circuit, was the first to receive the imperial edict with vermilion annotations.

But after reading the imperial edict with the emperor's approval, he was completely baffled. He spent the whole night trying to figure it out. How could the emperor be so sure that the governor-general of Liangjiang and the governor of Jiangsu were framing Prince He?
After meeting with General Dairbu of Jiangning, he said, "Shouldn't we first request an imperial decree to investigate this matter before making a decision?"

"Are you the emperor, or is our master the emperor?"

"The truth as set forth in the imperial edict is the truth!"

"Furthermore, Your Excellency is an imperial envoy and a Han official. You should only arrest people according to the imperial decree and not meddle in other people's business. You have no right to interfere with us Manchus!"

After Dahlborg said this, Wu Zongxu realized that he had just treated Zhao Hongen and Fude as colleagues of the Shilin Academy, but they were not actually in the same system as him, so he could not say anything more. He simply followed Dahlborg and led the troops to arrest Zhao Hongen and Fude as ordered.

At this moment, the Governor-General of Liangjiang, Zhao Hongen, and the Governor of Jiangsu were speaking to a scholar in a blue satin long gown who was bowing before them.

"This is all the help we can give you."

"At that time, whether His Majesty will send Prince He back to the capital and not allow members of the imperial clan to supervise the land distribution, or what, we can only wait and see what His Majesty decides."

Zhao Hongen spoke first to the scholar in the blue robe and bowed slightly to the north.

Fude then laughed and said, "That's right!"

The scholar in the blue robe simply smiled and bowed, saying, "I understand."

As the two walked together toward the Governor's Office, they saw General Dai Erbu of Jiangning and Censor Wu Zongxu of Jiangnan Circuit waiting there, with the main gate already wide open.

The two knew that there was an imperial edict to be announced.

Snapped!
Snapped!
However, as soon as Delb saw the two men, he slapped them both: "These are a reward from the master!"

The two were quite shocked and could only cover their faces, swallowing back their questions.

"Receive the decree."

Then, Delb gave another instruction.

The two of them then knelt down.

Wu Zongxu then read out the imperial decree, which naturally ordered the arrest of the two men and that Fude should wait for Li Wei to come and oversee their execution in the bustling city of Suzhou.

Delb then added, "My master also gave me an edict, forbidding you from crying out for justice!"

(End of this chapter)