My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 426 The New Emperor Qianlong: A Nightmare for Bureaucrats!

Shanxi has experienced little rainfall since August of last year.

The entire Shanxi region suffered such a drought that the leaves of trees in many places withered and scorched as if burned.

Yuan Zhancheng and other Shanxi officials also looked as if they had been burned by fire, and all of them hung their heads in dejection.

"You should all hand over your seals."

But Liu Tongxun did not comfort them because of this; he simply gave the order in a nonchalant manner.

However, Yuan Zhancheng and other Shanxi officials remained unmoved.

They seem unable to accept this fact.

Liu Tongxun's tone turned stern: "Do I have to say it a second time?"

Yuan Zhancheng and the others reluctantly took the seals out of their clothes and handed them to the candidates for official positions. Their faces were all dark, as if they could rub off two ounces of black ash.

The candidates for official positions could not hide their joy upon receiving their official seals, and some even began to caress the seals in their hands as soon as they received them.

After all, having an official seal means having power, meaning being able to submit secret memorials to the emperor, reaching the emperor's ears and letting the emperor know about you.

This is a rare opportunity.

Because there are so many people in the country, but the chances of being remembered by the emperor are few and far between.

Those who could speak directly with the emperor were undoubtedly more likely to be remembered by him.

Being remembered by the emperor meant power and wealth.

Therefore, these candidates for official positions were as happy as new fathers holding their newborn children when they received their official seals.

Fame and fortune go without saying.

Furthermore, the feeling of being called "Grandpa" is enough to make one feel refreshed and youthful.

At the same time, when they looked at the former Shanxi officials, they couldn't help but cast unfriendly glances at them.

It was as if they were secretly determined to find a way to ensure that these people would never have the chance to be reinstated.

"Although you have been suspended from your posts, since the deficit in the provincial fire loss fund was caused by you, you still have to pay it back yourselves. Don't expect me to make your successors pay it back for you."

Liu Tongxun's next words made the officials who had been appointed as probationary officials even happier. They knew that this meant they wouldn't have to clean up the mess left by their predecessors and could focus on doing their own jobs first. The governor also supported them in taking advantage of the situation.

Many of them had served as officials in the capital and local areas, but their careers had not progressed much due to insufficient connections or poor academic performance. Naturally, they knew how tiring it would be to clean up the mess left by their predecessors.

Yuan Zhancheng and other former officials were naturally extremely upset.

In any case, they have lost their power, but their debts remain.

This is a double blow for them.

to this end.

Yuan Zhancheng couldn't help but twitch his lips, and asked Liu Tongxun with tears in his eyes, "Does the Grand Secretary really have to force us to our deaths?"

Liu Tongxun sat down in an official's chair, touched his forehead, and asked with a smile, "How many people have you forced to their deaths by coercing them into donations? Is it only your lives that matter, and the lives of ordinary people not?"

"If you dare to atone with your death first, without hoping for a pardon from the Emperor, then you do have some sense of shame. I, Liu, would respect you as heroes."

Liu Tongxun continued speaking for a few more minutes.

Yuan Zhancheng and the others turned green on the spot.

In the end, these former Shanxi officials had no choice but to leave.

After these officials left, Liu Tongxun submitted a memorial to Hongli, explaining that he had tried to replace all the current officials who had committed crimes with reserve officials, and had suspended the current officials from their posts.

After receiving Liu Tongxun's memorial, Hongli wrote a reply while instructing the ministers of the Grand Council: "Liu Tongxun's actions are permitted. All those suspended from their posts shall be arrested and brought to the capital to await punishment!"

"Whoo!"

Then, Hongli smiled with satisfaction, thinking to himself that Liu Tongxun was indeed a proactive person. He had been given the opportunity to try out the system of probationary officials, and he had really put it into practice.

However, considering that many of the new policies he was implementing went against the wishes of the bureaucratic group, Hongli naturally needed to prepare more reserve officials to avoid the inability to replace a large number of officials in a timely manner when a large number of officials needed to be dealt with temporarily.

at the same time!

Preparing more candidates for the post serves as a constraint on many newly appointed officials, forcing them to behave themselves.

Therefore, Hongli instructed Grand Councilors such as Ortai and Zhang Tingyu: "Although the system of probationary officials has only been piloted in Shanxi, the Ministry of Personnel should first increase the number of probationary officials to be used for nationwide implementation; we cannot let those officials who form cliques think that the court absolutely needs a bunch of parasites like them!"

Hongli's words were undeniably harsh.

But what he said does indeed reflect the current situation within the bureaucracy.

In order to maintain their own safety and facilitate the harm done to the people, officials always like to band together to oppose the emperor's will.

For the bureaucrats themselves, to put it nicely, it meant conforming to the prevailing trends; to put it bluntly, it meant that only by dragging everyone down with them could they feel safe and brazen in their oppressive ways of bullying the people. They even hoped that the emperor would conform to the prevailing trends and be dragged down with him.

Historically, Emperor Qianlong was diligent and hardworking in his early reign, but was dragged down by his officials in his later years.

Moreover, in his later years, Emperor Qianlong not only colluded with corrupt officials but also led the way in trampling on his own imperial authority in order to engage in corruption together. He not only opened up donations but also established a system of "negotiated fines."

This emboldened officials to do things that harm the people.

However, on the other hand, it cannot be ruled out that many individual bureaucrats harbor ambitions to save the country and its people and possess the qualities of caution and prudence.

However, the bureaucratic group as a whole does tend towards conservatism, complacency, and stubborn reaction, and always instinctively tends to follow the path of making the people suffer more so that they can have an easier time.

As emperor, Hongli instinctively wanted to relax more, not to get up early, not to rack his brains to think about how to make the world better, not to look at the complicated contents of the memorials, and not to take on too much responsibility or make too many decisions, so as to avoid being laughed at behind his back for making wrong decisions and to suffer the pain of failure.

But in his previous life, the national education he received made it impossible for him to live peacefully in the Qianlong era on the eve of the Western invasion.

However, the reasons for his diligence in governing the country were not something he wanted to reveal to others.

He could only do so under the guise of ensuring the eternal existence of the Qing Dynasty and the desire not to disappoint the people of the world.

The bureaucratic class naturally had no such reason; they could not foresee the situation in China more than a hundred years from now. Even if they sometimes predicted the future of the Qing Dynasty, they would only think that the demise of the Qing Dynasty was just a change of dynasty.

Even many bureaucrats who were already disgusted with the Qing system couldn't wait for this day to come, hoping for the emergence of a new dynasty ruled by scholar-officials.

Therefore, the bureaucratic group has no worries about the future.

Especially in the current era of peace and prosperity with no major external threats or internal worries, the bureaucratic group itself is more inclined to maximize its own interests. More bureaucrats will also tend to enjoy themselves and maximize their own interests in order to enjoy themselves, while being optimistic about the future and lacking vigilance against risks.

That's right!

In the eyes of the bureaucratic group, the present is indeed a time of peace and prosperity.

Despite this, many people among the common people still lacked food and clothing, and every winter, even in the capital, many people would freeze to death.

But this is naturally negligible for the bureaucratic group.

Therefore, when Emperor Qianlong issued an edict to expand the post station roads, the implementation by local officials was distorted and turned into something that harmed the people.

Even though Emperor Qianlong provided ample funds, and the Qing Dynasty implemented the policy of merging land tax and corvée labor, the corvée labor system had been effectively abolished.

After all, the poll tax, which represents corvée labor, has already been distributed across the land.

However, in many prefectures and counties, officials still took the opportunity to forcibly conscript people to serve in the construction of post roads.

The money allocated from above doesn't seem to have been disbursed.

Weihui, Henan.

Xu Shilin, the prefect of Weihui, forcibly ordered the counties under his jurisdiction to conscript laborers to expand the post stations and roads, causing widespread resentment in the Weihui area and resulting in countless people fleeing.

Snapped!
Snapped!
"what!"

"I told you to escape. This is the first major project of the Qianlong era. Anyone who dares to ruin this project is rebelling against the Qing Dynasty and will be killed without exception!"

Hou Shijian, the magistrate of Xinxiang County, reprimanded the laborers who had been caught trying to escape in the county office, and ordered them to be flogged on the spot.

Some of the laborers screamed in agony, while others gritted their teeth and glared angrily at Hou Shijian, seemingly wanting to fight him to the death.

Hou Shijian merely sneered and picked up his tea.

"The Prefectural Magistrate has arrived!"

But then, a loud gong sounded outside, followed by someone shouting.

Upon hearing this, Hou Shijian immediately ordered the punishment to be stopped and knelt down to receive Xu Shilin.

After Xu Shilin arrived, he only said to him, "I was worried, so I had to come and tell you in person. News came from the capital that Prince Xun is coming to supervise the expansion of the post station road. Don't make the killings so obvious these days. Put the fugitives you catch in the jail, not in prison. Let them die in jail."

"Whoo!"

Hou Shijian bowed and agreed, then puffed out his chest and complained, "You're sending another member of the imperial clan? Your Majesty really trusts the imperial clan more than us ministers."

"Why are you saying this?"

Xu Shilin snapped irritably.

Hou Shijian had no choice but to bow and say, "Yes, sir!"

Then, he went into the main hall first and said, "In any case, this is something that the higher-ups should worry about. If the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up. If Prince Xun is willing to go along with the crowd, then we will continue to do so. If he is not willing, the higher-ups will allocate the travel expenses to you. You just need to follow orders."

"I understand!"

At that time, the fourteenth prince had arrived in Zhangde Prefecture, Henan Province. Ren Chang, the old eunuch who had been by his side for many years and had entered the Zhangde Prefecture government office in advance to make contact with the local government, also came to greet him and said with a smile: "Master, all the officials in Henan have arrived in the prefectural city to welcome you."

Seeing his cheerful expression, the fourteenth prince walked up to him and asked arrogantly, "Did you accept their bribes?"

(End of this chapter)