Snowflakes were falling in the ancient city of Beijing, and the weather in winter was dry and cold. Outside Chaoyang Gate in the morning, a fast horse galloped from the direction of Tongzhou.
As the copper bell under the horse's neck kept clanging, pedestrians on the road moved to both sides to avoid it. The galloping horses' hooves picked up snowflakes and mud spots on the ground and splashed on many pedestrians, but those pedestrians could only glare at the post horse.
The rider's back, but he didn't dare to say a word.
When the officers and soldiers guarding the Chaoyang Gate heard the bell from a distance, they knew it was a post horse delivering official documents. They were about to call a halt when the man on the horse suddenly held up an official document and shouted loudly: "Six hundred liga."
Hurry! Avoid!"
Upon hearing this, several officers and soldiers quickly drove the people at the city gate and the city gate cave out of the way. There was a bustle of people under the city gate, and a few vendors had no time to get out of the city gate cave, so they hurriedly pressed their bodies against the wall of the gate cave; a gust of wind blew by,
The post horse passed through the city gate opening like lightning and entered the inner street of Chaoyang Gate.
The messenger galloped all the way until he arrived in front of Dong'an Gate. Then he dismounted, took out the Ministry of War Kanhe and an urgent letter with two chicken feathers stuck in it, and grinned at the guard at the door: "Quick! Urgent report from Jilin General's Mansion!"
In the Military Aircraft Department, Dong Gao was talking to Yong Yan about the end-of-year report from the Ministry of Household Affairs, when he saw military aircraft Zhang Jingfu Lu walking in and whispering a few words in Yong Yan's ear. Yong Yan's complexion changed, and he turned around and smiled.
He said to Dong Gao: "Mr. Sue Lin, please come here today. I have something urgent to do here."
Dong Gao said: "Then I won't disturb Brother Fifteen."
Yong Yan waited for Dong Gao to go out, and then asked Fulu, "Where are the people?"
"Waiting outside the Longzong Gate."
"Go get the letter and find him a place to rest. If you don't have it all ready in a while, you still have something to ask him."
"嗻!"
Not long after, Fulu came in with a rectangular flat wooden box and placed it on the Kang table with both hands. Yong Yan first waved Fulu to let him out, and then used a key on his body to open the lock outside the box.
.After opening it, two folds were taken out.
This was the secret document sent by Yong Xuan and He Shen. Yong Yan opened Yong Xuan's secret document first and saw that it said that a preliminary agreement had been reached on the negotiation with Zhao Ni, and the other party agreed to release him after the court paid a ransom.
, the specific events were explained in detail by He Shen.
Yong Yan already knew that He Shen led his troops to Ning Gu Pagoda to negotiate, and he admired his courage. When Qianlong learned that He Shen was going to Ning Gu Pagoda to negotiate with Zhao Xin in person, he also praised him as "the most powerful person in the country."
pillar".
But when he opened Heshen's booklet and read the contents carefully, his face was filled with anger.
Five years! Landed in Guangzhou for trade! Ask for the island!
That Zhao Xin is indeed arrogant and rebellious, and regards our empire as nothing! He Shen also mentioned in the secret book, "I am afraid that the other side will rest and recuperate, and the secret plan will strengthen the army and raise troops again."
However, He Shen and his eighth elder brother Yong Xuan had the same idea, and still suggested a temporary truce to the court. Although the land of ancestral Longxing should not be ravaged by them, the firearms of Zhao Ni's men and horses were really powerful, and it would take time to gather and mobilize the soldiers. So rescue them first.
The captured soldiers will wait until the road thaws in the coming spring. They will first send out spies to find out the opponent's reality. At the same time, they will try to recruit Zhao Xin's subordinates to see if they can collapse from the inside. Only when the army presses the border and internal and external forces join forces can we defeat them in one battle.
.
According to Yong Yan's wishes, he didn't want to agree to any of these three terms. But he also understood that at the moment, even the most capable Jingying Firearms Battalion and the Eight Banners of Mongolia couldn't defeat Beihai Town, and it would be useless to say anything else. If the other party regrets it,
, went all the way south to Shengjing, then people like myself would really become the eternal sinners of the Qing Dynasty!
Thinking of this, Yong Yan let out a long sigh, put the two secret folds into the box, got up and went to Yangxin Hall. Whether this matter will finally come true depends on Qianlong's wishes.
An hour later, in the Nuan Pavilion on the west side of the Yangxin Hall, Qianlong was sitting on the throne, with a plaque reading "Diligent Government and Relatives of the Worthy" hanging above his head. The two folds of Yong Xuan and He Shen were spread out on the small table on his right side.
Above. The water stains and tea bowl fragments on the ground have been cleaned up by the eunuch, and no trace can be seen anymore. Yong Yan is kneeling on the ground, with tears on his face.
Qianlong gritted his teeth and said slowly: "I once said that the great unification and rejection of partial An, the inner China and the outer barbarians, this is the constant scripture of heaven and earth, the universal meaning of ancient and modern times. Therefore, the barbarians are the Chinese, and the Chinese are the same; the Chinese are the barbarians.
, then the Yi and Di. It is ridiculous that although Zhao Ni is a Han, holding the banner of Zhu Ming, he actually associates with the overseas Yi and Di. Since He Shen's excerpt said that he had heard it from Korean people, he sent someone to
Ask Joseon's envoy Li Xingyuan to find out the origin of the so-called Ainu country."
"I will send someone when I get back."
In Qianlong's view, judging whether a dynasty has orthodox status is not based on ethnicity, but on whether it has a considerable territory to rule and whether it can carry out effective management; those views in history books that "emphasis on Xia and despise barbarians"
It's really unfair.
Regarding the legitimacy of Manchu rule, Qianlong had already further explained the reasons why the former Ming Dynasty had lost its legitimacy, and informed the world's scholars through the imperial approval of the Tongjian of the past dynasties.
For example, Emperor Shun of the Yuan Dynasty fled north to the desert. Although he had numerous descendants and Miao descendants, he abandoned the Central Plains and lost his "territorial trust" in the Central Plains. Therefore, the legitimacy of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty was also cut off.
("Reliable territory" means that the territory of the country under its rule can be effectively managed. It either occupies the Central Plains or half of the south of the Yangtze River. Islands and borderlands are not included in this list.)
As for the demise of the former Ming Dynasty, Qianlong pointed out that in the era of King Fu, the Southern Ming Dynasty was still half a country, and its territory could be relied upon. If it could build a strong country and not be too greedy, it could still live in peace, and it might not be any worse than Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty.
As for Longwu and Yongli, they fled to Fujian and Yunnan, lingering, and could no longer be regarded as a country. At most, they were similar to the two kings of the Southern Song Dynasty who finally fled to the island. When King Fu was defeated and captured, the orthodoxy of the former Ming Dynasty was gone;
With the death of Yongli, the legacy of the previous Ming Dynasty has been lost.
As a monarch in the "prosperous age", Qianlong's views on "Hua Yi Theory" have been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people in the past ten years, and scholars all over the world will no longer antagonize the demise of the Ming Dynasty and the legitimacy of the Manchu Qing Dynasty.
This further confirmed the rationality of Manchu rule. From this point of view, Qianlong did better than Kangxi and Yongzheng.
Yong Yan understood what Qianlong meant. That was that the legitimacy of the Qian Ming Dynasty had been completely lost long ago. Even if Zhao Xin could produce evidence to prove that he was a descendant of Queen Zhao, even if he raised the banner of the Qian Ming Dynasty, the scholars in the world would not follow him.
.And without the support of scholars, the common people will not follow.
Qianlong was actually helpless. He couldn't give up the land where his ancestors were prosperous. But now that he couldn't defeat him, he could only stand firm on the principle of justice first, and then slowly pursue it.
"Get up."
"My son, I would like to thank my father."
"What do you think of that Zhao Xin?"
"According to what I have seen, this man behaves quite strangely. The area around the twin cities is barbaric. He feeds his many people. He doesn't even ask for food and grass from the imperial court, but he only wants to exchange our soldiers for gold and treasures. What does he want to do?
Why? I still can’t figure it out."
Qianlong said in a deep voice: "Since I was in the imperial court, I have respected my ancestors for their pioneering work and worked hard day and night. The white mountains and black waters are the birthplace of Xianzu, so there must be no loss of size! He wanted five years to recuperate, but I couldn't give it to him.
Five years! Otherwise, if the thieves become too powerful, it may be difficult to suppress them again. Such cunning and ambitious clowns will not be tolerated lightly, and they will be killed and exterminated by large numbers of soldiers! Although he has elite firearms, the military power of our heaven cannot tolerate it.
Blasphemy!”
Yong Yan said: "My father's cave can be seen thousands of miles away, and the holy light shines brightly. Zhao Ni now only relies on the long distance and bitter cold in the north before he dares to gather people to resist. When my father ordered Zhaohui to conquer Yili and other places and return to the city, the road was extremely dangerous.
Thousand times, once the army arrives, it will be wiped out. What I want to do is to wait for the captured soldiers to come back, and conduct a detailed investigation of the battlefield before formulating countermeasures. Once the army comes out, they must not be allowed to survive.
"
Qianlong finally said in a rather painful tone: "Then let's do this first. The money should not go from the Ministry of Household Affairs, but from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. However, this matter must be kept strictly confidential and no information should be leaked."
"Yes. Father, don't worry, I will arrange this matter without leakage. Father, I would like to ask for instructions on how to deal with Agui?"
Qianlong said: "What is the opinion of the Military Aircraft Department?"
Yong Yan said: "I'll wait for you. I'll pick off my flower feathers and take off my yellow mantle. When I return to Beijing, I'll hand it over to the Ministry for discussion."
Qianlong thought for a while and said: "Agui will be seventy next year. Alas! Just hand it over to the Ministry for discussion. After returning to Beijing, let him go to Henan to supervise the river work."
"My son, I obey your orders."
Ordinarily, someone who suffered such a great shame must apologize to his ancestors. However, in order to avoid the news being leaked, Qianlong just asked Yong Yan to go to the Fengxian Hall on his behalf the next day to pay homage.
There is no airtight wall in the world, and the Forbidden City is no exception. At night, some bannermen in Beijing had already heard the wind.
At dusk, in Rouge Alley to the east of Hufang Bridge, seven or eight little opera singers were so cold that they had runny noses. They lined up in tattered cotton-padded jackets and walked towards a room in the alley with opera signs hanging on them.
Tangzi walked over. Going north from here is the famous Bada Hutong in later generations.
The Manchu and Qing dynasties were very strange. Prostitution was banned but actors and actresses were prohibited. Officials who engaged in prostitution were required to pay a hundred rods and were imprisoned for three months before being dismissed from office. However, actors and actresses were not included in this category. So there were many theater signs in the eight alleys, but
In fact, he is the "Xiangongtangzi" where the actor sits in the hall to attract customers.
There is a corner lamp hanging in the door of this Xianggong Hall. At this time, the wax inside the lamp is burning high, like a golden crow falling from the west. It is very special. Anyone passing by will know it well just by taking a look.
In a private room in the third courtyard, a male actor aged 13 or 14 was singing babblingly to the accompaniment of the huqin and the yueqin. At the banquet, several bannermen were drinking wine, and some were chatting with each other.
listen.
"Alas!" Someone at the table sighed and placed the cup heavily on the Eight Immortals table.
"Old rich, everyone comes out to have fun, why are you so angry?"
"I was worried about my eldest brother, so I followed Marshal Fu to the north. Unexpectedly, my eldest sister-in-law hid in her room all day wiping her tears." As soon as he said this, several other people also complained, each talking about the situation at home.
, while complaining about Fukangan.
"That guy from the Fucha family is really smart but short-handed. He was beaten to pieces by a group of petty thieves."
"That's right, according to me, you shouldn't engage in any useless negotiations!"
"No, let's get someone back first before we talk about anything else."
Several people discussed for a while, and one of them said to the person sitting in the main seat, shaking his head and listening to the play: "Master Min, why don't you speak?"
A middle-aged man in his thirties who was sitting at the front seat was already a little drunk. Seeing the dejected looks of the people present, he could no longer hide the little secret in his heart. So he chuckled and said: "What are you talking about? This
You will know what happened in a few days. Put your heart back in your stomach. You will be back in the spring of next year at the latest."
"Huh?" Everyone at the table focused their attention on the person called "Master Min". "How did you say this?"
The middle-aged man didn't say anything, but glanced sideways at the male actors in the room.
"Stop, stop, stop! Get out! Don't come in unless I tell you!"
"Yes." Several male actors, all dressed in women's costumes, stood up, made a blessing, and walked out quietly.
Seeing that there was no one else in the room, the middle-aged man listened carefully to the noise outside, and then lowered his voice and said: "To tell you the truth, we have already negotiated with the adults, and we will let you go after paying the money."
When the others heard this, they couldn't believe their ears. After so many years of fighting since the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the Pass and stabilized the country, many soldiers were captured, but this was the first time they heard that they had to spend money to redeem them.
of.
"Master Min, where did you hear all this?"
"You must not tell anyone about this, or it will go to my stomach. If our families had not been friends for a long time, I would not have dared to say it even to death." The middle-aged man pointed at it.
He said in a mosquito-like voice: "That person agreed."
"Don't worry now, I just need to come back with all my hair and tail intact."
"In my opinion, I still don't have enough cannons! Next time I go with hundreds of cannons, I don't believe I can defeat him!"
"What do you know! The news has actually been sent back from the north a long time ago, and not many people know about it. Zhao Ni's firearms are so fierce that the firearms camp cannot defeat them at all, and they were defeated in just one encounter."
Everyone present looked at each other, and for a while the room was silent.
Two days later, in the early morning, twenty government-made escort vehicles filled with large boxes, escorted by a thousand officers and soldiers of the Jianrui Battalion, set off towards Tongzhou Luhe Station. Not only the soldiers accompanying the escort, but also the driver of the carriage
They are all from Jianrui camp.
The government-made escort cars in the team are all of the same standard. They are four feet high, four feet long and five feet wide. Both sides of the body are inlaid with patterned iron plates. The handle in front of the escort car is inlaid with
There are nine iron nails; there is a ring of iron bars on the outside of the wheel. On the left front of the cargo compartment, there is a flag of Jianrui Camp.
The boxes on the car are all special boxes for transporting silver coins. In addition to the card slots in the cargo compartment, several thick hemp ropes are tied tightly to the carriage through small holes in the car body to prevent them from being damaged during the bumps on the road.
It slipped. A thick layer of straw mat was spread outside the box to cover it.
According to the number of prisoners and official rank provided by Zhao Xin, the total amount of ransom was 150,000 taels of gold, which according to the metric system of later generations was 5,600 kilograms. The load capacity of the official escort car in the Qing Dynasty was 300 kilograms. Some "careful people" along the road also
The doorway can be seen from the ruts; but in these days, no one dares to snatch the government's escort car unless they are crazy.
The distance from Beijing to Jilin Wula is 2,300 miles. The wing commander responsible for escorting had obtained Qianlong's secret order and there was no delay along the way, so the daily traveling speed was maintained at about 40 miles. Even so, they arrived at Jilin Wula
It will also take two months.
The bodyguard of Yong Xuan, who was responsible for delivering the news, had already set off in advance and rushed back to Wula, Jilin at an accelerated speed of 600 miles to report the news.
All those who think about rebelling against the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty in the middle of the Qing Dynasty, please remember Qianlong's theory. If this argument cannot be won, scholars will not submit, and restoring the Ming Dynasty will become nonsense. Unless you follow Zhao Xinjian's deviant approach.