My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 421 The Demeanor of a Great Power Emperor: Confronting Foreign Envoys!
"The land is concentrated in the hands of large households, which makes it easy for them to lend money at high interest rates."

"If land is concentrated in the hands of large households, it will be more difficult to collect taxes."

"With land concentrated in the hands of large households, the problem of abandoned farmland has become even more serious, and land rents are too high!"

In the light drizzle, Fu Hui looked thoughtful and then gave a concluding speech.

Then, he looked solemnly at the scholars on the opposite bank: "Fifth Brother, so they're saying they think we're not people-friendly officials and don't know anything about civilian affairs!"

Hongzhou nodded, looked at the row of characters carved on the stone bridge, and said:

"Add another point: with land concentrated in the hands of large households, bridges and canals are being built even less frequently."

"Look at this bridge."

"It was built during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty by local wealthy families who raised funds for it."

Hongzhou pointed to the line of text and said.

Fu Hui looked at it and said, "No wonder it's so dilapidated!"

Hongzhou said, "Once tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of acres of land are in the hands of wealthy families living in the city, they will naturally not care about whether it is convenient for ordinary people to travel or whether it is easy to cultivate the land. With that time, wealthy families in the city would rather lend more money and buy more land."

"It seems that from the court's perspective, this is really a terrible situation."

Fu Hui replied.

Hongzhou then walked back: "Fourth Brother said that politics is not about right or wrong, but about advantages and disadvantages! So, as long as it is beneficial to one's own position, one should advocate for it, support it, and even regard opponents as enemies."

"Therefore, Eighth Brother, you must not be kind-hearted. You must first understand who your friends are and who your enemies are."

Fu Hui nodded, looked again at the young scholars, and then at the farmers working in the rain in the distance.

"Fourth Brother protected the non-land properties of their wealthy families for the sake of the Qing Dynasty, and taking their land properties was also for the sake of the Qing Dynasty."

As Hongzhou finished speaking, he also looked sharply at the young scholars in front of him.

Fu Hui then mustered his spirits and went to the place where the land was being measured and divided, asking the official in charge of the land division to hand over the land division register.

He wants to review it personally!

Although Fu Hui, a member of a noble family, was not very familiar with the situation at the grassroots level, he was very proficient in measurement and calculation.

After all, the Qing Dynasty imperial family always attached great importance to the education of the royal family.

Emperor Kangxi also established a special academy for mathematics within the palace.

Furthermore, his maternal clan produced two Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations), and genetics suggests that a son's intelligence is more closely related to his mother.

Therefore, Fu Hui himself was not lacking in intelligence.

Therefore, quickly calculating the area of ​​irregular plane figures is not a problem for Fu Hui.

Moreover, he now realizes that what he has done is not what the scholars claim—that it has harmed the country and its people. His fourth brother, the emperor, and Zhang Tingyu, the Grand Councilor who led the matter, are not simply following the words of treacherous people and doing unrealistic things.

Therefore, Fu Hui carefully reviewed the land distribution.

He even took off his shoes and socks, and without letting the eunuchs do it for him, he went down into the field himself, stepping into the knee-deep water, and personally measured the length of each side of the field with a cloth ruler, and even calculated the area.

"As my fourth brother once said, no matter how slippery an official may be, mathematics and physics cannot lie!"

"Whatever the price is, is the price."

While Fu Hui was still calculating, he recalled what Hongli had told him.

The officials, who had no choice but to follow him into the fields and dared not stand on the ridges, could only sneer behind him, while revealing a look of fear and unease on their faces.

……

"I have said that when it comes to announcing the crimes of officials, anything else is acceptable, but the crime of misappropriating relief funds is absolutely unacceptable."

"We cannot allow local officials to be afraid to take action in the area of ​​relief."

Even if this leads to the squandering of public funds, some of it will eventually end up in the hands of the people.

"Who would be happiest if officials were afraid to take responsibility for misappropriating disaster relief funds and thus failed to provide effective disaster relief?"

"Those powerful local gentry are the happiest!"

"In this way, they can take the opportunity to gain fame through relief and also take advantage of the disaster to annex and profit, killing two birds with one stone!" "The Emperor Emeritus has worked diligently for thirteen years, pouring his heart and soul into reforming the bureaucracy and finances. What was his purpose? It was to ensure that the people of the world could rely on the imperial court."

The Hall of Diligent Governance and Kindness to the Worthy.

Wisps of white steam were rising from the jar filled with ice.

Hongli sat upright behind the white smoke, and became angry when Grand Councilor Qingfu announced the crimes of officials reported by the Ministry of Justice, mentioning the word "abuse of disaster relief".

"Whoo!"

After being reprimanded by Hongli, Qingfu dared not say anything more, but simply lowered his head even further and, as ordered, rejected the Ministry of Justice's memorial.

Hongli then brought up diplomatic matters: "The Russian envoy, Malov, submitted his report to the emperor, protesting our large-scale relocation of people to border towns and the increase in border officials. He also questioned us about whether we intended to invade in the future. What do you think we should do about this?"

"Our migration to the border regions inevitably causes unrest among our neighbors;"

"But in my humble opinion, the Russian kingdom has no right to interfere in our affairs; its ruler can certainly relocate people to strengthen the borders himself, so why not do it himself but prevent others from doing so?"

"Such an overbearing question is not befitting a nation of etiquette. If it weren't for the well-being of the people of both countries, I believe our Celestial Empire should punish them for this!"

Ortai then offered his opinion.

After hearing this, Hongli did not express his opinion, but instead looked at Zhang Tingyu.

Zhang Tingyu had also been cramming on knowledge about the Rakshasa Kingdom over the years, so he added:

"Rakshasa is currently engaged in its fourth war with the Ottomans. They are still unable to look eastward, and naturally, they are not capable of immigrating and strengthening the borders at this time, just like our Great Qing."

"But what is certain is that since they are so interested in the lands in the East and have always shown an insatiable greed, they will definitely provoke border conflicts with our Great Qing and use all means to cut off our Great Qing territory once they have the opportunity."

“In the north of our Great Qing, there are many different ethnic groups, and many of them are unfamiliar with Chinese etiquette.”

"In addition, there is the Dzungar Khanate that has not truly submitted but has completely come under the rule of our Great Qing."

"Therefore, once the Russian Kingdom has the strength to look eastward, it will surely cause great trouble! This will make our northern border uneasy; and there is even a possibility that we will form an alliance and march south to take advantage of the fertile lands within the pass."

"In my humble opinion, rather than backing down to appease their anger, we should instruct the country to double down on strengthening its borders and seize the time. We cannot wait until the war with the Ottomans is over before we begin to prepare."

After Zhang Tingyu finished speaking, Hongli nodded in approval: "Your analyses are all excellent!"

"The more the Rakshasa Kingdom opposes us, the more it proves we are right!"

"Have the Ministry of Rites convey my message to the Russian envoy, Malov, and tell him to relay my words back to his country: the Russians should act like a true great power, not like a boorish bunch."

"The stability of a nation lies in the virtue of its ruler, whether he is diligent and hardworking, not in whether neighboring countries covet its territory."

"The Russian Empire has always coveted our Great Qing. When have the emperors of our Great Qing ever been so restless and arrogant? Even our subjects have never been so restless and arrogant, and have truly possessed the confidence of a great power!"

From the Yongzheng Emperor's initial encouragement of leaving the pass to the present day, Hongli has continued to promote this policy, even allowing Li Fu to cultivate land in Miaotun and Sun Jiagan to store grain in Hanhai, which has indeed caused concern in the Russian Kingdom.

After all, neither side had the capability to deploy large-scale troops and supplies to the far east and far north.

However, if the Qing Dynasty continues to migrate people to the northeast to strengthen the border, it will eventually develop the capability to do so, at least in this respect, it will be stronger than Russia.

In addition, the Qing Dynasty already had a large population, and unlike Russia, where the main population concentration was concentrated west of the Ural Mountains, the main population concentration area was distributed along the Grand Canal from north to south.

Therefore, the Qing Dynasty currently has a greater advantage in encouraging immigration to the Northeast.

As the emperor, Hongli naturally had a need to seize this opportunity, especially now that the Little Ice Age climate was improving and temperatures were gradually rising, to expedite immigration, rather than waiting until the Russian Empire was also capable of doing so before immigrating to strengthen the borders.

"I can convey this message, but please be prepared to face the wrath of our Emperor!"

Malov walked out of the Lifan Yuan (Court of Colonial Affairs) with a resentful expression.

After Prince Zhuang, Yunlu, who was acting as the Minister of the Court of Colonial Affairs, conveyed the imperial edict of Emperor Hongli to him.

Malov did indeed write to the Sanat government office and the governor of Topol in Russia, informing them of the Qing emperor's reply.

Meanwhile, Malov himself embarked on his journey home.

According to the treaty signed in the past, he could not stay in the capital permanently; he could only travel with a merchant caravan once a year.

As Malov left, he also saw a continuous stream of people heading towards the border.

While he was filled with indignation, he also let out a deep sigh: "There are really a lot of Oriental Nicotine!"

(End of this chapter)