My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 423: The Qianlong Emperor's Re-appointment of the Fourteenth Prince Leads to Greater Prosperity in His Reign!

On this day, the sun blazed overhead, and the rice seedlings all drooped their heads to avoid the sun.

At this moment, the fourteenth prince, Yunti, was riding his horse along a post road not far from a field of rice seedlings.

Instead of waiting for the summer heat to subside before overseeing the expansion of the post road, he impatiently set off from the capital after meeting with Hongli.

It seems that Consort De's sons and grandsons were all impatient.

After meeting with Yunti, Hongli received a memorial from the Ministry of Revenue regarding fiscal expenditures.

The entire memorial revolves around one core point: that Emperor Qianlong had already advanced more than 30 million taels of silver before the first half of the first year of his reign was even over!
In other words, he has almost spent half of the Qing Dynasty's current annual revenue.

The officials from the Ministry of Revenue were subtly advising him, "Your Majesty, you should exercise more restraint and not be so wasteful."

This isn't how you be a good emperor.

"They have no idea what I'm thinking."

Hongli simply smiled faintly at this.

But Hongli also understood that officials raised in an agrarian society could not possibly be unaware of his spending habits.

Especially those loyal ministers who cared about the fate of the Qing Dynasty.

Therefore, he was certain that if he continued to squander his wealth like this, there would likely be upright officials who would stand up and offer their honest advice, saying, "Your Majesty, please be frugal!"

Therefore, Hongli decided to make plans early.

He then sent an imperial edict to Hao Yulin, the Governor-General of Fujian and Zhejiang, ordering him to recruit people to mine gold in Taiwan Prefecture.

Moreover, Hongli explicitly told him that he, the emperor, had received a secret report from Taiwan that there were indeed large-scale gold mines in the Jinguashi area, containing no less than three million taels of gold.

But this was actually Hongli bragging.

All he knew was that a large gold mine was discovered in Jinguashi, Taiwan in modern times, and it was extensively mined during the Japanese colonization of Taiwan, with the total amount mined eventually reaching about two million taels.

It was far from reaching the three million taels that Hongli had mentioned.

But he believed that Hao Yulin would be tactful enough to help him exaggerate in order to appease the court officials and let them know that the money spent so far would not be a serious financial blow.

At the same time, Hongli had already instructed the "Jingshi Xinbao" to start publicizing the matter extensively, stating that the authorities in Taiwan had discovered a large gold mine in Jinguashi and had already informed the court that the reserves were no less than three million taels.

The issue has sparked endless discussion both in and out of the government.

However, some people doubt the authenticity of this matter, and considering Hongli's current crazy "spending spree" behavior, they guess that this may be a way to divert the attention of the world.

"This must be a deliberate attempt to entice His Majesty to continue squandering the national treasury!"

"How could Taiwan suddenly become a treasure island instead of a gold mine?"

"If that's the case, how could the Zheng family have ended up in such a predicament back then?"

This is absolutely a scam!
"It's a treacherous minister deceiving us. First of all, it's this Taiwanese official, and I'm afraid it's also the Governor-General of Fujian and Zhejiang, Hao Yulin, and maybe even a minister from the Grand Council!"

"They are conspiring to deceive the emperor!"

Xu Benjiu, the Grand Secretary and Minister of Works, spoke frankly about his views on this matter.

Vice Minister Ban Di wholeheartedly agreed: "What you say is absolutely right. We should submit a memorial to impeach them and also advise the emperor not to easily believe that there are any mountains of gold in the world!"

"A mountain of gold is something that can only be found by chance. Rather than hoping for a vague mountain of gold to make up for the current extravagant spending, it is better to be frugal and cut back on expenses from now on."

"That's how it should be!"

Xu Ben wholeheartedly agreed with this.

Hongli subsequently received memorials questioning Jinshan and even accusing Hao Yulin and others of deceiving the emperor.

"I want to give my subjects a chance to prove themselves!"

"Therefore, I choose to believe Hao Yulin and warn all the officials, both inside and outside the court, who have submitted memorials impeaching Hao Yulin and others, that they must not make any rash reports before the truth is clear! Although officials may report on hearsay, they must not dwell on this matter!"

"There aren't that many treacherous officials in this world, and even fewer ministers who dare to deceive the emperor. Trust your colleagues!"

Hongli also expressed his opinion on this matter in front of the Grand Councilors.

He simply showed that he was supporting Hao Yulin.

In fact, Hongli was just backing himself up.

Upon receiving such an imperial edict, Hao Yulin naturally had no choice but to comply and dared not question it.

In order not to delay the arduous task assigned by his emperor, he personally handled the matter and provided him with considerable compensation.

However, Hao Yulin himself didn't quite believe it, so after crossing the sea to Taiwan, he gave the Taiwanese civil and military officials a good scolding:
"Even flattering your master isn't done like this! Even reporting an auspicious omen is enough! Who reports the discovery of a gold mountain, a massive gold mountain worth three million taels of gold, no less!" "Just you wait, because if this leads to accusations of deceiving the emperor, and I lose my head, you won't escape unscathed either!"

After giving these Taiwanese officials a good scolding, Hao Yulin personally went to the Jinguashi area.

Furthermore, the Fujian and Zhejiang areas are mountainous with little arable land, so many people go out to sea to do hard labor, and some even smuggle themselves to Luzon to work for the Western barbarians.

For example, in the fifth year of the Yongzheng Emperor's reign, Gao Qizhuo, the Governor-General of Fujian and Zhejiang, mentioned in a memorial that in the past, when merchant ships went overseas, the number of people reported by Fujian did not match the actual number. The actual number of people privately carried on each ship was far more than the reported number. After investigation, it was found that many of these privately carried people were there to illegally cross the border and work illegally overseas.

In the eleventh year of the Yongzheng Emperor's reign, Hao Yulin, the Governor-General of Fujian and Zhejiang, also reported that Cai Zu, a resident of Fuzhou who had long lived in Luzon (present-day Philippines), had lured a foreigner named Sheng Ge to sneak into the mainland with silver and even attempted to recruit people into the religion.

This shows that there was some interaction between people from Fujian and places like Manila.

Therefore, after Hao Yulin recruited them in this way, there were naturally many people from Fujian and Zhejiang who were willing to go to Taiwan to mine gold for the imperial court.

Moreover, the people of Fujian and Zhejiang have always had a strong desire for wealth.

Throughout the Qing Dynasty, in the first year of the Qianlong Emperor's reign, ordinary people had many more options for making a living.

They could go to the Northeast beyond the Great Wall to cultivate land, or to the Northwest to expand post roads, or to the Southwest to cultivate land, or even to Taiwan to mine minerals, or to the northern desert to mine coal.

In addition, the Fugitive Offenders Act has been abolished.

In addition, the Jiangnan region was divided among the fields of several large southern clans.

Therefore, even though the Qing Dynasty had a large population, there was still a significant number of tenant farmers fleeing their homes.

The system existed as early as the late Ming Dynasty. The high land rents exacerbated by the implementation of the land tax reform further reduced the already low quality of life for tenant farmers who remained in the area. With so many other options available, many tenant farmers naturally chose to renounce their tenants or demand rent reductions from landlords.

Xin Youmai then bowed and stood before the scholar Jia Shanwen, saying:

"Master Jia, are you really unwilling to lower the rent to 60%?"

"Is this something that can be resolved?!"

Jia Shanwen tugged at his clothes with annoyance, and after saying a few words, he said, "If the rent reaches 60% after the land tax is converted into poll tax, our whole family will starve!"

"Then I'll go fix the road. You go find someone willing to pay 70% of the rent."

"This is the expiration of the tenancy deed."

As he spoke, Xin Youmai turned and left the Jia family's rent collection courtyard, handing him the official contract.

After taking the job, Jia Shanwen looked shocked and angry and said, "We're about to thresh the winter wheat. If you leave, I won't even have enough day laborers! At least finish the work for my family before you leave."

"Give me money?"

"We can only provide three full meals a day, and at most two meat meals every three days!"

"Forget it then."

Jia Shanwen sat on an overturned basket in the courtyard and sighed, "What kind of mess is this? Why is the court building roads when everything is perfectly fine?"

……

"The imperial court's road construction this time is truly a good thing!"

"Because the wages are quite high, I want to give it a try. Farming the Jia family's land, I'll never get a wife in my entire life."

After leaving the Jia family, Xin Youmai went to the home of her older brother, Xin Yougu, who was nine years her senior, and told him about her plans.

Xin Yougu felt a little reluctant after hearing this: "But you've hardly ever traveled far from home!"

"What's there to be afraid of? Once it happens, it's nothing."

"Brother, don't worry about me. Just tell our parents in the afterlife when you're offering sacrifices to our ancestors."

Xin Youmai replied.

Xin Yougu sighed: "Fine!"

Xin Youmai then knelt down: "Brother, thank you for taking care of me since I was a child!"

As Xin Youmai spoke, her eyes welled up with tears.

Xin Yougu's eyes also reddened, and he helped Xin Youmai up, saying, "You wait here."

As he spoke, Xin Yougu went into the inner room and brought out a pottery jar from somewhere. After removing the wooden stopper, he took out a small bundle wrapped in red cloth. After unwrapping the red cloth, there was another layer of black cloth inside. Only after opening the black cloth did he see some small pieces of silver.

Xin Yougu took out a small piece, thought for a moment, then put it down. He wanted to take the slightly larger piece, but in the end, he gritted his teeth and gave the larger piece to Xin Youmai.
"Take it. It's better to be frugal on the road than to be stingy. Don't try to save money by depriving yourself."

"Things are getting better and better these days, I hope you can settle down and start a family during this trip!"

(End of this chapter)