My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 446 Anyone who dares to act recklessly will face the wrath of the Qing Dynasty, and one in ten will be executed!

After issuing an edict to thoroughly investigate Fuhai, Emperor Hongli returned to the Jiuzhou Qingyan Hall to prepare to review the secret memorials that were scheduled for review that morning.

The first document he reviewed was a secret report concerning the promotion of nationality in Northeast China.

After all, this is what he cares about most right now.

In a secret report from the Northeast, a minister had already mentioned the reaction of the Russian Kingdom, noting that the Russian Kingdom had not mobilized troops on a large scale.

When Hongli saw this content, he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows slightly.

In his view, this is the benefit of gaining a deeper understanding of the international situation.

Knowing that Russia was still at war with the Ottoman Empire, Hongli dared to disregard Russia's feelings and massively immigrate people to the Northeast to strengthen the border, while also vigorously promoting a nationality system.

However, Hongli was also aware that the Rakshasa Kingdom was currently in an era of rampant expansion and would absolutely not tolerate his provocation. It was quite possible that the Rakshasa Kingdom would actually wage war against the Qing Dynasty in this lifetime.

Moreover, history has proven that the Russian Empire has always been looking for opportunities to further seize the territory of the Qing Dynasty, and even to destroy the Qing Dynasty.

For example, in the mid-Qianlong reign, Tsar Catherine II convened a meeting of high-ranking officials to discuss war against the Qing Dynasty. She also equipped six divisions with troops and planned to invade the Heilongjiang River basin and even acquire ice-free ports in Northeast China.

Prior to this, Miller, an academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, had drafted opinions on the war against the Qing Dynasty, suggesting the defection of Mongol princes and the military takeover of the Heilongjiang River basin.

However, just as the war plan was about to proceed, the Fifth Russo-Turkish War broke out.

Tsarist Russia was forced to devote all its energy and manpower to the European battlefield, and its plans to launch an eastern expedition against the Qing Dynasty were completely shelved.

Then came the late Qing Dynasty, when Tsarist Russia finally had enough energy to seize Qing territory, and ultimately did indeed seize a large amount of land from the Qing, and even committed many massacres on these territories.

However, historically, by the late Qing Dynasty, it wasn't just Tsarist Russia that sought to plunder resources from China.

Therefore, by that time, Tsarist Russia was no longer able to realize its ambition of annexing China.

Because Emperor Qianlong understood this, he had no choice but to work hard to implement reforms.

He knew that if the Qing Dynasty did not continue to reform and only maintained the traditional order, thus becoming complacent and conservative, then it would not be as simple as just the demise of the Qing Dynasty.

But he also knew that if in this life, the Rakshasa Kingdom was forced to wage war against his Great Qing Dynasty.

That left him with little time to reform the Qing Dynasty.

As an empire that began learning from the West, carrying out industrial reforms, and developing science and technology during the time of Peter the Great, Russia's military strength is not to be underestimated.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to expand so rapidly across Eurasia.

However, Russia's main focus was on the European battlefield, so Russia did not deploy its main forces to the Qing Dynasty, which allowed the Qing Dynasty to maintain a local advantage over Russia.

Therefore, if the Russian Empire truly decides to abandon its expansion in Europe, it will teach the Qing Dynasty a lesson.

He would then face considerable military pressure, especially given that the Dzungars and many other ethnic groups outside the Great Wall had not yet completely submitted.

He then needs to make sufficient preparations before the Rakshasa Kingdom withdraws its forces.

This was also a very contradictory situation for Hongli.

If he doesn't reform, adhere to the traditional order, and refrain from external expansion, the Rakshasa Kingdom will still invade in the future.

His reforms, his disregard for traditional order, and his aggressive expansion would prematurely provoke the Russian Empire, potentially triggering their invasion. In short, whichever choice he makes, he cannot avoid facing the threat from the Russian Empire.

The only difference is whether he will face the threat of the Rakshasa Kingdom's invasion in this lifetime, or whether his descendants will face this threat in future generations.

Hongli chose to face this threat himself.

If he chooses the latter, he will appear irresponsible, as he would be leaving the problem to future generations.

Most importantly, the people will suffer greatly as a result, and the entire Chinese civilization will enter an even darker period.

After all, during Hongli's reign, the traditional order had reached its end and become rigid, unable to cope with the new changes of the times.

Therefore, in order to maintain the traditional order, we must learn from Emperor Qianlong in history. Faced with increasingly severe external challenges, he had no choice but to further restrict thought, suppress individuality, and exploit the people.

Although choosing the former would make many things in the future unpredictable, he was willing to do his best to do what he believed was the right thing to do.

As for the results?

He was willing to believe that the outcome would be better.

As the saying goes, man proposes, God disposes. He only needs to do his best. The course of history is never something he can decide alone, even if he is the emperor.

But as long as he truly upholds the public-spirited principle of "the world belongs to all," he believes that justice resides in the hearts of the people. Even if he fails, future generations will recognize his value and bring positive value to them.

Therefore, Hongli understood that he needed to consolidate his rule over the Northeast as soon as possible and develop maritime trade before the Russian Empire actually launched a military campaign against the Qing Dynasty, so that the Northeast could pose a local threat to the Russian Empire in the east.

Then, he could take advantage of the stability of the Northeast to launch a military campaign against the Dzungars, unlike in history where, after the Dzungars were destroyed, the Dzungar nobles fled to Russia and he did not dare to make up his mind to launch a military campaign against Russia. This was simply because the Northeast was not stable at the time, and he could not launch a military campaign against Russia at the same time he had just finished using troops in the Northwest.

Emperor Qianlong also wrote in his imperial edict to Fucha Fuqing, who was sent to Korea: "The matter of Korea should be resolved as soon as possible. The key to stabilizing the Northeast lies in promoting the interests of Korea, and the key to stabilizing the world lies in stabilizing the Northeast."

Fucha Fuqing knew that his brother-in-law, the emperor, was not wrong.

The fundamental reason for the instability in Northeast China is that most of the local tribes were more willing to submit to the Rakshasa Kingdom.

Because the Rakshasa Kingdom only collects taxes and does not force them to work, and even allows them to develop production.

The Qing Dynasty not only levied taxes but also forced them to work hard and restricted their production development.

If the Qing Dynasty wanted to truly win over the hearts of the local people, it had to offer them more benefits.

If the Qing Dynasty wanted to provide more benefits to the local tribes, it mainly hoped to develop maritime trade and use the increased revenue to increase military pay, improve the welfare of soldiers, and promote education.

Fucha Fuqing has now entered North Korean territory.

However, shortly after Fucha Fuqing entered North Korea, he encountered threats from powerful local families in the border towns.

At this moment, Fucha Fuqing entered the ambush set up by thousands of Korean soldiers.

At this moment, Kim Moon-soo, the commander of these North Korean soldiers, even took the initiative to loudly proclaim to Fucha Fuqing, "We already know that the angel has come to demand land for trade. Therefore, we can only ask the angel and the people around you to rest here forever."

But Fucha Fuqing was not afraid. He simply said, "It seems you also want to try the consequences of murdering a member of the imperial family. But you can try and see if my Great Qing will cause your country to bleed like a river, or even kill one out of ten of your gentry."

(End of this chapter)