My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 448 Emperor Qianlong is going to directly overturn the bureaucracy and launch a major reform!
Ignatius blushed, and for a moment, he didn't know how to answer.

"We don't have enough soldiers!"

"It would cost money and supplies to bring troops from Moscow, and besides, the Ottomans are still fighting us."

"I must admit, your Emperor is actually very good at choosing his timing."

Ignatius ultimately had no choice but to tell the truth.

Nayantai, still looking grim, shook his head and said, "He still doesn't have the same decisiveness as our master!"

Ignatius's eyes widened.

"If you're afraid of spending money, then what great things can you accomplish?"

"Do you know how much money our master is willing to spend on disaster relief and road repair?"

"When it comes to upholding the dignity of your own people, you can't be less capable than our masters, can you?"

Nayenthai continued to question Ignati.

Ignatius felt increasingly ashamed and could only shrug and smile wryly as he continued to explain, "We are not like your emperors, who can disregard the feelings of the nobles."

"I don't want to say anything more."

"I'm just telling you this: if you keep being so weak, Yue Zhongqi, Zhao Hui, and their ilk will only become more and more arrogant!"

"Just you wait and see. Who knows, if things continue like this, they might even dare to request permission to lead troops to conquer your country!"

Nayanthai waved his hand, speaking alarmistly to Ignatius.

Ignatius frowned.

He was confused for a moment, wondering who was trying to scare whom.

However, he understood that the reason his mission had turned out this way was essentially because his Russian side was always threatening but never actually sending troops to conquer the Qing Dynasty, which led to the intimidation becoming less and less effective.

Ignatius then took a deep breath, stood up, and said in a serious tone:
"Then please wait and see! Our Rakshasa Kingdom is definitely not all bark and no bite!"

"Those Yue Zhongqi and Zhao Hui, your masters will obediently present their heads to His Majesty the Emperor!"

"Are you still saying you're all bark and no bite, and that I have to send troops to conquer Nerchensk before you'll admit you no longer have the ability to expand eastward?"

After seeing the contents of the memorial regarding the meeting between Nayantai and Ignati, Hongli spoke with a cold smile in front of the Grand Councilors.

Nayantai's memorial to Hongli naturally did not report how he talked with Ignati. He simply reported to Hongli that Ignati was emphasizing that their Russian kingdom was not all bark and no bite and that they would take concrete actions.

However, although Hongli appeared indifferent on the surface, he did not lower his guard against the Rakshasa Kingdom.

He knew better than anyone that Russia had begun its Westernization reforms after its ruler, Peter the Great.

Politically, the Rakshasa Kingdom has become a centralized, autocratic empire.

Militarily, the Rakshasa Kingdom has transformed from a traditional aristocratic cavalry force into a modern standing army and navy.

Economically, the Rakshasa Kingdom has shifted from an agricultural-dominated, closed economy to a mercantilist, export-oriented one. It has vigorously developed its handicraft industry, shipbuilding, and port construction, and promoted foreign trade.

While the Qing Dynasty was politically centralized, it had not yet modernized its military.

The hereditary Eight Banners army and the conscripted Green Standard Army lacked professionalism and standardization in their command systems. Their combat operations were mainly focused on maintaining order and did not have a large-scale mobilization system to prepare for large-scale wars of external expansion. Neither the army nor the navy had a strict officer training system.

Economically, most of the ruling class, in order to ensure food security and social stability, did not support foreign trade or pro-merchant policies.

Therefore, as emperor, Hongli knew that in order to defeat the Russian Empire, an expansionist empire that had already taken the lead in future political and military trends, there was still much to be done, and many internal reforms needed to continue.

He cannot be like Emperor Qianlong in history, who initially immersed himself in the traditional political ideals of promoting benevolent governance and having wise rulers and virtuous ministers, but later degenerated and led the way in stagnation, thus falling into the vicious cycle of corruption in traditional politics.

He needs to centralize power more and seize more resources.

This would allow him to do as he pleased, while also leaving a greater legacy for future generations.

At this moment, Hongli spoke to the Grand Councilors again, saying: "However, this also shows that the Russian Kingdom's persistence in expanding its territory cannot be ignored."

"Therefore, we cannot completely underestimate them!"

"According to information gathered by our people, their firearms are indeed more powerful, and their elite troops in Europe are indeed formidable. As a result, the Ottomans are already showing signs of defeat."

"We must strengthen our own military before they have the strength to look eastward."

"The strength of a military depends fundamentally on the strength of its ability to transport and distribute money and supplies."

"Even a road expansion project can result in more than half of the road being damaged. Furthermore, because the Ministry of Revenue official in charge of covering the damages fell off a cliff, it is impossible to verify how much of the so-called damages were real and how much of it ended up in the pockets of corrupt officials."

"With such negligence in the management of funds and grain, and such terrible governance, even if I had ten more mountains of gold, I couldn't withstand the depletion!"

"Therefore, the problem of loss and loss must be eradicated, or at least curbed and weakened if it cannot be eradicated."

Emperor Hongli then brought up the problem of damage caused by the floating of objects.

A chaotic fiscal structure, an imperfect oversight system, and unclear accountability and profit-sharing mechanisms for bureaucrats make it particularly easy for them to embezzle funds through waste and misappropriation.

Although this problem existed before the Qing Dynasty and even in later generations, Hongli knew that he could not do nothing because of it.

He can acknowledge the existence of losses and accept that some bureaucrats may exaggerate losses in order to flexibly deal with unexpected events during the actual implementation process, but it cannot go too far, and the accounts cannot be unverifiable.

Without solving the problem of losses and losses, the fiscal and logistical systems cannot be modernized, standardized, or professionalized.

But traditional bureaucrats have no incentive to solve this problem.

Even Ortai and Zhang Tingyu did not have it.

Because they knew that doing so would offend the entire traditional bureaucratic group.

You must understand, everyone is exploiting the empire's wealth by fabricating falsehoods and deceiving people.

From the lowest-ranking clerks in the county government who could say whatever the annual losses in the granaries were, to the highest-ranking officials in the Ministry of Revenue who could fill in whatever losses they wanted each year, the amounts they reported were arbitrary.

Those who filled in less than half are still considered to have a conscience and dare not be too greedy.

Those with more audacity can fill the gaps several times larger than the required amount.

They destroyed the body and covered up the evidence as soon as they went to investigate.

This led to many simpler emperors being so frightened that they dared not launch wars, undertake large-scale projects, or provide large-scale relief. They only dared to keep money and grain in the treasury, preventing them from circulating, like a pedantic miser who dared not take out even a penny to generate profit.

For example, Emperor Daoguang in history wore patched clothes, but he couldn't stop his expenses from increasing.

After all, most of the money and grain that flow out often doesn't reach where it's supposed to go, and we don't even know where it ends up. All we see is the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.

Therefore, as long as the emperor has no motivation to resolve this matter, even if Ortai and Zhang Tingyu have this idea, they will not bring it up.

Ortai and Zhang Tingyu could only cooperate with the emperor in personnel matters to enable the emperor to exercise his power better, while trying to promote and show favor to those who were closer to them, so as to make the officials who depended on them willing to work for them.

Now that the emperor has brought it up, they all fall silent.

"First and foremost, losses cannot be filled in arbitrarily; there must be a unified range, and relevant officials must compensate for any excess!"

"Secondly, all physical transportation was changed to local purchase and payment in currency, turning the cost of losses into room for merchants to seek profits. Merchants were encouraged to find ways to reduce losses in order to pursue profits. The court only allowed a certain range of losses to be profitable, and whether merchants could profit from it depended on themselves."

"Furthermore, strengthen supervision by establishing an auditing office independent of the Ministry of Revenue to uniformly verify the expenditure of funds and grain by the Ministry of Revenue and local governments; at the same time, establish a three-tiered auditing system, with the governor-general, the Ministry of Revenue, and the auditing office regularly auditing and publicizing the figures based on the number of shipments, losses, and actual receipts."

"Furthermore, the sentencing is clear. This time, the Ministry of Revenue official fell off a cliff and the accounts were destroyed, but other officials in the Ministry of Revenue and officials along the way could not be held accountable because the accountability regulations have not been established."

"Finally, a standardized and clear system of payment assistance should be established to address the problem that impoverished areas cannot support large-scale local expenditures after monetary payments. For example, if it is necessary to transport grain and cloth from Jiangnan to the Northwest to serve as military supplies for fighting in the Northwest, the purchases should be made locally in Jiangnan through payment assistance, and then merchants should be allowed to transport them. This can also be called transfer payment."

"In short, the goal is to minimize losses, to give profits to merchants so they can improve transportation efficiency for profit, and to leave no room for official corruption!"

(End of this chapter)