"Literary inquisition" existed at the beginning of Kangxi's reign, but at that time the four regent ministers and Empress Xiaozhuang were in power. After that, folk literati were very taboo about it. Although literary inquisitions occurred occasionally, they were far less widespread than this time.
This time, there were more than 30 literati arrested, not including their family members and friends. These people all had a high status among the famous scholars.
If no intervention was made, Kangxi would certainly have killed all these people.
Moreover, his actions this time set an example for Yongzheng and Qianlong who came to the throne later. The three generations of his family killed more than a hundred literati in total.
The deaths of these people caused great psychological trauma to the Han people, so that except for the aristocratic families with a long history or some merchants with some wealth, the rest of the people were unwilling to send their children to private schools.
This also led to the illiteracy rate in the Qing Dynasty remaining high.
During the time of the last emperor, the imperial court issued an initiative to promote literacy. At that time, the population was about 40 million. The imperial court wanted to raise the literacy rate of the people to 1%, and the plan took seven years.
From this we can see how the illiteracy rate in the Qing Dynasty had reached a level that was so unpopular that it angered both the people and the nation.
When Yinreng was studying modern history in college, his history teacher mentioned this episode with a tone of sarcasm overflowing.
That is why Yinreng strongly opposed Kangxi's literary inquisition in his previous life.
Yinreng had experienced later generations and knew that some spies would disguise themselves as public intellectuals to mislead the people, so he did not think there was anything wrong with Kangxi's sensitivity to words. What he really disliked was Kangxi's one-size-fits-all approach.
Yinreng carefully read Dai Mingshi's "Nanshan Collection", which simply described the atrocities committed by the Manchus after entering the Pass without any concealment, and there was no exaggeration in it.
But this still touched Kangxi's sore spot, and Dai Mingshi's family, relatives, friends, and even disciples were arrested by Kangxi's order.
Kangxi was such a petty and unreasonable person. He did it, but he was still afraid of what others would say...
This is how the reputation of the imperial court was gradually ruined.
The question now facing Yinreng is whether he should return to Beijing to plead for Dai Mingshi.
Although he was not afraid that Kangxi would turn against him because of this, he did not want to be the emperor in this life.
There is no need to gain a reputation among scholars.
Besides, the court is not peaceful this year. If he goes back, those old foxes in the court will think that he also wants to fight for power. Then wouldn’t he have been hiding in vain for these years?
Yinreng hesitated for a long time, and finally decided not to return to Beijing to get involved.
However, he wrote a letter to Yinzhen, asking him to reduce the impact of this incident.
Then he plunged into the laboratory again.
This year, steam engines were successfully installed on warships, but due to the limited carrying capacity of small warships, the fleet led by Yinxiang could not travel as far as before.
Yinreng began to research larger warships.
Now all that’s left is the finishing work. In a few days, the thousand-man warship will be launched.
In addition to battleships, military factories also developed land mines, hand grenades, and even revolvers.
However, the military factory was only responsible for research and development, not mass production. The military factory only stockpiled enough of these items for Yinxiang to go to sea twice, and Yinreng left all other problems to Kangxi.
Anyway, there is a firearms camp in the capital.
After another two days of hard work, the thousand-man warship was finally completed.
The main body of this warship is made of oak, which was the reward Yinxiang received from an English merchant last year.
Yinreng asked Zhou Hai for a thousand men, and it took most of the day to pull the warship into the sea.
Looking at the huge splashes made by the warship entering the water, Yinreng's eyes were full of satisfaction.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, this coal-fired battleship will reign supreme on the seas.
After waiting for half an hour and confirming that the warship's waterline had not changed at all, Yinreng nodded and indicated that people could go up.
Yinreng wanted to try it out, but was stopped by Dachun with a stern face.
In his previous life, Yinreng would definitely not have spoiled Dachun like this, but it’s because he is now old-fashioned.
Taking the three generations together, Yinreng lived for nearly a hundred years, so he really wouldn't make a big deal out of such a small matter.
Besides, Dachun was doing it for his own good.
Yinzhen brought more than 900 people onto the warship, and then searched it for a while. After finding that there was nothing unusual in the cabin, he started burning coal and set sail.
At this moment, everyone held their breath.
After half a year of hard work, success or failure depends on this moment.
It wasn't until the familiar roar of the steam engine sounded and the battleship slowly drifted away that everyone's hearts finally relaxed, and then a huge cheer broke out from the crowd.
“It’s done, it’s done!”
"Hahaha, we made it!"
"Steamer!"
"This is all thanks to the Crown Prince. If it weren't for the Crown Prince, how could we have created such a powerful thing..."
Someone shouted, "The Crown Prince is mighty!", but after that the noise of the crowd disappeared, leaving only the uniform "The Crown Prince is mighty!"
Yinreng was also very happy. He stretched out his hand and pressed it, indicating that everyone should let him speak first.
After the crowd calmed down a bit, Yinreng spoke.
"Everyone at the military factory who participated in the construction of the 'Celestial Empire Ship' will receive a bonus this month! Three months' extra salary!"
The craftsmen in the military factory are also divided into levels. The higher the level, the higher the wages. The work grades are set by him personally, and the assessment is absolutely fair and just.
The salary is the same as that of a craftsman of the same level, and the one with a higher level than a craftsman is a researcher.
There are only about forty people in the entire factory who can be evaluated as researchers.
As soon as Yinreng finished speaking, the craftsmen cheered even louder.
If I had known that the lowest-ranking craftsmen in the military factory now receive five taels of silver per month, and if they had received three extra months' salary, they would have received at least twenty taels.
Twenty taels is enough for the family to eat for a year.
The craftsmen's faces were bursting with laughter.
The warship sailed on the sea for half an hour and then returned to the dock.
The experienced old sailor on the ship roughly estimated that the steam battleship could travel about fifty miles in an hour.
Although its speed is not as fast as that of a small warship, the amount of coal carried by this warship is enough for it to travel tens of thousands of miles.
This is still a conservative estimate.
After calculating this data, not only the craftsmen who designed the warship, but even Yinreng was surprised.
This means that if a few supply points are set up on the surrounding islands, the Qing Dynasty’s warships will be able to reach most parts of Asia and even Europe!
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