My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 424 Emperor Qianlong Implements New Systems, Grants Special Imperial Examinations to Han Chinese Officials!
"Take them all. You are the first scholars I have selected to pass the imperial examination. I am granting you official houses and settlement allowances, hoping that you will borrow less from the government and devote yourselves to serving the country and the people."

The Hall of Diligent Governance and Kindness to the Worthy.

On the 25th day of the fourth month of the first year of the Qianlong reign, Emperor Qianlong met with the successful candidates of the imperial examination here.

During the meeting, Emperor Qianlong bestowed new benefits upon these scholars, namely, providing them with official housing and a settlement allowance, and said the following words.

The successful candidates were overjoyed.

They never expected to receive such imperial favor after passing the imperial examination.

After all, the population of the capital has increased significantly, housing prices are not cheap, and the cost of living is not low. Being granted an official house and a settling-in allowance can indeed reduce the amount of loans borrowed and avoid having to write calligraphy and paint for wealthy families in the capital to repay loans in the future.

You should know that they had already spent a lot of money traveling to the capital for the imperial examinations, and they were worried about what to do next.

That's right!

From the moment they passed the imperial examinations, Qing Dynasty officials faced increased expenses due to the need to send various gifts and hold various ceremonies. As a result, many of them had to compromise their principles to earn money.

Historically, during the Qianlong era, there was a case where ministers flocked to the home of a wealthy man surnamed Yu to offer condolences, hoping to receive a red envelope (a monetary gift).

Even the infantry commander, Eshan, went to pay his respects.

Emperor Qianlong initially did not believe that the ministers went to the home of a wealthy commoner surnamed Yu to offer condolences in order to receive a large sum of money. It was only after he investigated the matter thoroughly that he had no choice but to believe it. He was so angry that he issued an edict scolding these ministers for completely disregarding the dignity of the court for money.

After all, normally, only the death of a highly respected prince or minister would require the attendance of all officials to offer condolences, as even the emperor would have to suspend court sessions for that.

Most of these newly appointed scholars still possess a certain arrogance and are unwilling to bow down for money.

Therefore, Hongli's actions deeply moved them.

Moved by this, Hongli said, "The favors I bestow upon you all come from the hard-earned money of the people. I hope you will deeply understand my intentions and use all your knowledge to benefit the common people, so as to ensure the long-term stability and prosperity of the country!"

"We dare not fail to live up to His grace and His command!"

The scholars kowtowed and answered.

Hongli smiled and gestured for the people to stand up.

Following his meeting with these Grand Councilors, Hongli, based on the information gathered from these successful candidates, shared his views with Ortai and Zhang Tingyu:
"Looking at these successful candidates, most of those who ranked at the top were from Jiangsu and Zhejiang."

"If that's the case, wouldn't most of the Han officials who will become cabinet ministers or nine high-ranking officials in the future still come from Jiangsu and Zhejiang?"

After Hongli said this, Ortai glanced at Zhang Tingyu.

Zhang Tingyu, however, remained calm.

Ortai then said, "Master, you see things so clearly, I admire you! This is indeed an unavoidable problem. The culture and education in Jiangnan are thriving, and the Han people in the north and southwest are hard to compete with them."

"This imbalance, though not man-made but related to geographical factors, is something I believe I should adjust to maintain balance, since I follow the will of Heaven."

"Moreover, when I look at the past imperial examination graduates, I find that many Han officials who were among the top three in the examinations could only rise to the rank of county magistrate in their entire lives. If this continues, won't most county magistrates simply stop working because they have no hope of being promoted, or even forget the sage's aspirations and become corrupt?"

"Therefore, I intend that, in addition to selecting scholars for the Hanlin Academy, among the second and third-class Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations), those who are to be appointed as county magistrates should be selected from among those with expertise in water conservancy and abacus calculation, and appointed as censors to be assigned to important positions."

Hongli then revealed his true thoughts.

He did indeed use his mathematical thinking to study the origins and distribution of the Qing Dynasty's bureaucratic group.

As far as he knew, the biggest difference between the Qing and Ming dynasties in terms of officialdom was that the proportion of officials from humble backgrounds was much lower in the Qing dynasty than in the Ming dynasty.

In addition, officials from poor families generally did not hold high official ranks during their lifetimes, especially those from the third rank of poor families, many of whom could only remain as county magistrates for their entire lives.

There are many reasons behind this.

The main reason is that officials from humble backgrounds were mostly Han Chinese, and Han Chinese officials naturally did not receive the same level of recognition as Manchu officials.

Manchus could be given important positions by donating money as long as they had a basic education.

For example, Tian Wenjing was just a student of the Imperial Academy, yet he was able to rise to the position of Governor-General.

At present, Zhang Guangsi, the Governor-General of Yunnan and Guizhou and the Governor of Guizhou, whom Hongli (Emperor Hongli) highly values, is also a Manchu who was born into the Imperial Academy.

Furthermore, powerful families of officials within the Han Chinese community also occupied many important Han official positions.

Therefore, it was even more difficult for Han officials from humble backgrounds to obtain good official positions. Emperor Qianlong's current move to give more opportunities to the second and third-ranked graduates of the special imperial examinations to directly become censors is an attempt to exploit this situation, making the competition among newly appointed officials within the bureaucracy even fiercer for important positions.

After all, the biggest political challenge Hongli is facing now is that the bureaucrats are banding together and forcibly attaching themselves to Ortai and Zhang Tingyu.

Even if Ortai and Zhang Tingyu were not willing to form factions, they were objectively forced to engage in factionalism and suppression of dissent, because they needed a group of civil officials to obey them before they could do anything.

However, this meant that Hongli would need to go through Ortai or Zhang Tingyu to get things done.

To alleviate the problem of bureaucratic cliques, we need to give more opportunities to newcomers and allow more newcomers to compete for good official positions.

Both Ortai and Zhang Tingyu knew that the emperor's true intention in doing this was to dismantle the faction that depended on him.

But none of them expressed any intention to object.

After all, they were not true prime ministers, and the Qing Dynasty was not one ruled by scholar-officials.

They have a party, but it's not that they subjectively want to have a party.

Therefore, neither of them objected; instead, they supported Hongli's decision.

However, Hongli was not satisfied with this.

He continued, “Not only should the second and third-class Jinshi of this special imperial examination be given more opportunities for important positions, but officials who were impeached or dismissed due to mourning should also be reinstated as much as possible, and selected as reserve officials to serve as reserve circuit intendants or prefects, and sent to be appointed by governors and viceroys.”

"In this way, if an official commits a crime in the future, he can be reinstated in a timely manner."

Hongli remembered very clearly that the Wang Danwang case and the case of the false Sun Jiagan memorial that occurred during the Qianlong reign were both major cases involving many officials.

Historically, Emperor Qianlong was not aware of the possibility of a group of officials committing crimes at the beginning, so he did not make any preparations. By the time he discovered that these officials were committing crimes as a group, he no longer had the basis to carry out a major reshuffle.

Hongli naturally did not want to make the same mistake again.

He then decided to utilize the system of probationary officials that had emerged in the mid-Qing Dynasty.

However, the Qing Dynasty in history introduced the system of reserve officials because of financial difficulties. The government had to open up the sale of official positions through donations, which led to an overabundance of qualified candidates. This is why the system of reserve officials was established.

But Hongli's current goal is not to reopen the donation system for official appointments, but to ensure that a group of officials can be replaced by another group of candidates at any time.

"Liu Tongxun reported that the former governor of Shanxi, Shi Lin, and others colluded with the powerful local gentry in Shanxi to force wealthy households to donate more than five million taels of silver, and also caused a deficit of more than one million taels of silver due to fire losses."

"Almost all officials below the governor of Shanxi, as well as officials of various prefectures and counties, were involved."

“If there were any candidates for the position, I could replace these officials who only know how to bring disaster to the country and its people right now.”

At this point, Hongli also brought up the matter of Liu Tongxun's report regarding the donation case in Shanxi.

After Hongli said this, Ortai chimed in, "Your Majesty is right. This servant requests permission to send a candidate official to Shanxi first, so that Liu Tongxun can select one."

"allow!"

"This is a good opportunity to pilot the alternate official system in Shanxi."

Hongli then brought up Shi Lin, who had been deceiving the emperor: "Since Liu Tongxun's report has arrived in the capital, let the Imperial Clan Court and the Ministry of Justice convict Shi Lin as soon as possible! Such a person who deceives the emperor and harms the people, even if he is a member of the imperial clan, cannot be tolerated!"

"Whoo!"

"In addition, send an imperial edict to Liu Tongxunting, ordering him to return the money that was forced to donate as soon as possible to appease public resentment, and to make up the deficit as soon as possible."

Hongli then gave a brief explanation of the situation in Shanxi.

Now, Liu Tongxun, through various means of investigation, both overt and covert, has indeed found out that there is indeed a case of soliciting donations to deceive the emperor in Shanxi, and has reported it to the court.

At that time, the officials of Shanxi also sent Yuan Zhancheng, the provincial inspector, to meet Liu Tongxun on the grounds that he was an old acquaintance of Liu Tongxun.

Upon meeting Liu Tongxun, Yuan Zhancheng pleaded with him:

"I beg Your Excellency to save me from this dire situation, and first submit a memorial to the court stating that the deficit has been made up!"

"We will be deeply grateful for the great kindness of the Grand Secretary and repay it handsomely. From now on, we will follow the Grand Secretary's lead without question. In the future, if the Grand Secretary returns to the capital and becomes a Minister, enters the Grand Secretariat, or joins the Grand Council, we will certainly not do the opposite, otherwise we will be punished by Heaven!"

(End of this chapter)