Before the Qing army entered the pass, the Eight Banners descendants worked together, hunted and fished together, and trained together. In times of peace, everyone was a farmer and hunter, but in times of war, all the Eight Banners descendants could pick up swords and guns and join the battlefield.
Except for some extremely intelligent and meritorious people who were pushed into leadership positions, most of the others had similar status, so naturally there would be no sense of gap.
This operating mechanism resulted in the Qing army being extremely powerful before entering the Pass, after all, everyone was a soldier.
But it’s different after entering the customs.
Emperor Taizu of the Qing Dynasty established a privileged system for bannermen at the beginning of his entry into the Central Plains. Even a bannerman of the lowest rank could die comfortably under such a system as long as he did not commit crimes or work.
At the beginning, wars were frequent, and naturally no bannerman was willing to do it for the sake of military merit. However, as time went by, wars gradually decreased, and it became difficult to obtain military merit.
If there is no way to get promoted, some people will naturally choose to give up.
Once there is the first one, there will be the second one. When giving up becomes the norm, it is wishful thinking to try to pull people back to the state of hard work.
Therefore, in the late Qing Dynasty, most of the Eight Banners descendants were just wandering around the streets with bird cages, playing with cats and dogs, and doing nothing.
Kangxi had heard Yinreng talk about the drawbacks of the Eight Banners system countless times, but every time he heard it, he couldn't help but frown.
But even if he knew, it would not be easy to change this ancestral system.
Nowadays, the Han people still have a hostile attitude towards the Manchus. If he changes the privilege system of the bannermen, it will probably lead to civil strife among the Eight Banners in a few days, and the foundation laid by their ancestors will soon be overthrown by the Han people.
Moreover, the influence of the Council of Princes and Ministers is no less than that of him, the emperor. According to the ancestral system, all policies are derived from the Council of Princes and Ministers, and even the supreme ruler has no power to do anything about it.
Therefore, although he was an emperor, he still could not be a dictator.
Kangxi glanced at Yinreng's wrinkled face and decided not to embarrass him anymore.
"Today I will teach you a lesson. Everything in this world is nothing more than an exchange of benefits. Since what you want to do is being blocked in every possible way, then ask them to offer you benefits that will prevent you from doing it in exchange."
Kangxi curled his lips into a sneer.
"It seems that in their previous life, those old men must have sacrificed a lot of their own interests in order to save Mingzhu's life. Indeed, over the past few thousand years, the power of the emperor and the ministers has waxed and waned. Now that the old men's power and prestige are steadily increasing, they will definitely not tolerate the Council of Ministers."
"But...if the emperor's political participation is weakened to the extreme, and the Council of Ministers takes full control of state affairs, wouldn't that be the same as a Western constitutional monarchy?"
Yinreng's mind was full of ideas, but after a little thought, he rejected his idea.
"The constitutional monarchy of Great Britain was established only after a bourgeois revolution. Even now, the bourgeoisie of the Qing Dynasty only dares to bribe officials. Forget about resisting. If you violate the rules on food, clothing, and other expenses, you will be arrested and beheaded."
Yinreng felt a little indignant when he thought about his miserable life in his first life.
"Alas... the order of scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans has been passed down for thousands of years, but in the end, the merchants have become the masters of the common people. It's the same in every country in the world. The rich are the boss."
Kangxi listened carefully, deep thought flashing across his eyes from time to time.
Will merchants have such a great influence hundreds of years later?
Before Kangxi and Yinreng finished their conversation, a young eunuch came to report that the eldest prince Yinzhi wanted to see him.
Kangxi frowned and said coldly,
"I don't want to see him, tell him to go back!"
Seeing Kangxi's cold refusal, Yinreng felt helpless.
"This is the whole thing. If I plead for mercy, the old man won't like it. If I don't plead for mercy, those people in the court won't like it. No matter what I do, it's wrong. Look at what I've pushed the child into. He's only fifteen years old. Isn't this using hardship to force him to grow up?"
Kangxi tapped his fingers on the table a few times and glanced at Yinreng. The eldest son was already sixteen years old this year. He chose a wife for him last year and the wedding date was set for October. How could he be a child?
Yinreng's inner thoughts quickly gave him the answer.
"Thinking back to my first life, when I was this age, I was still in junior high school. Back then, my biggest worry was the sheer number of love letters I received. But now, you can get married at fifteen. I'm already shouldering the responsibility of being the head of a household before I've even grown all my hair. Tsk..."
Kangxi's pupils shrank, accurately capturing the key word - "first life".
Is that so?!
Kangxi was shocked and confused.
At this time, Liang Jiugong came forward again, with a look of sorrow on his face.
"Your Majesty, the eldest prince refuses to leave and is kneeling outside the palace."
“Bang!”
Kangxi no longer had the heart to care about him. He slammed the table, which scared Yinreng and made Liang Jiugong shudder.
What followed was Kangxi's furious roar.
"If he wants to kneel, then kneel. I don't believe he would kneel and die outside the palace for a pearl. If he dies today, I will issue an imperial edict to pardon Mingzhu tomorrow!"
Yinreng felt a dull pain in his buttocks, so he bent down and asked cautiously,
"Can my son go and persuade my eldest brother?"
Kangxi took a deep breath and looked at Yinreng with complicated eyes, but was afraid that Yinreng would see something from his eyes, so he quickly retracted his gaze.
The room fell into dead silence.
Yinreng bent over and didn't even dare to stand up straight. He kept this posture in fear. Not long after, his waist and abdomen felt heavy. He was indignant in his heart.
"I really didn't deserve it. Last time, the boss beat me up because I failed the test. Will he beat me up again this time? It would be better to just kill me with a glass of poisoned wine like in my last life!"
Kangxi's body trembled, and the memorials on the table were knocked over by his movement and fell to the ground with a bang.
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