Time flies, and four years have passed in the blink of an eye. In these four years, the changes in the Qing Dynasty have begun to manifest themselves in the lives of ordinary people, starting from the internal affairs of the court.
The Department of Agriculture, in conjunction with the Ministry of Justice, formulated a series of laws concerning agriculture. For example, the price of grain was set and traded uniformly by the imperial court. Anyone who maliciously raised prices to make an ill-gotten gain would have their money confiscated. Those with serious offenses would be sentenced to exile and their descendants would be barred from taking the imperial examinations and becoming officials for three generations.
Individuals whose landholdings do not exceed 100 mu (approximately 6.7 hectares) for two days can pay agricultural taxes as usual. For anything exceeding this amount, taxes will naturally be paid in full. However, this policy has curbed the hoarding of large landowners and officials who, after becoming officials, thought they could avoid paying agricultural taxes.
In agriculture, large landowners, merchants, and officials suffered losses. However, on the other hand, Emperor Kangxi opened up the market to traveling merchants, raised their status, and allowed their sons to serve as officials in the court.
Furthermore, while relatives of ordinary officials may engage in small businesses, the imperial court has established special inspection agencies specifically to inspect officials and prevent them from abusing their positions for personal gain.
The imperial court had already made a fortune from maritime trade. With this foundation, Emperor Kangxi completely liberalized maritime trade. Ordinary merchants could only go out to sea if they had the ability to organize a fleet, but they would have to pay a considerable amount of customs duties for each round trip.
Even so, a large number of merchants still flocked to it, and the profits were so considerable that big merchants organized their own fleets to go to sea, while small merchants, who were not capable of organizing their own fleets, would often team up to organize their own fleets.
In this way, the barrier between the Qing Dynasty and the world was completely opened.
The Qiqiaoyuan (奇巧院) comes up with new things from time to time, not only in terms of entertainment, but also in terms of tools that benefit the people. For example, there is a textile machine that is ten times faster than ordinary manual labor. This is the result of Tong Cheng'er deliberately sending a low-end version to the market.
Originally, textile machines were sometimes twenty times faster than manual labor. However, because they were so fast, they liberated the hands of workers all at once, which impacted the lives of ordinary craftspeople. They needed a buffer period.
Similarly, there are tools for tilling the land. There are no restrictions on these; farming tools should be whatever is most labor-saving.
Last year, Emperor Kangxi made a sudden decision to travel incognito. It was a genuine incognito trip, and few people in the palace knew about it. He only told Yinzhen, and then he saw a rather different Qing Dynasty.
We can't say that everything is peaceful and prosperous, but people's lives have indeed improved a lot. There are still many unsatisfactory aspects, but who can say that everything is as they wish and everyone is happy?
As emperor, Kangxi felt that this was enough. Under his rule, the Qing Dynasty was indeed a golden age, not just a boastful reputation, but a genuine golden age.
...
After dinner at Cining Palace, the Empress Dowager felt unwell and asked her nanny to fetch the imperial physician. Upon examination, the physician realized that something was amiss.
It's not exactly an illness, just that I'm getting old.
Two days later, the Empress Dowager was bedridden. When Emperor Kangxi found out, he personally served her medicine by her bedside, which made him sick as well. Emperor Kangxi was already over sixty years old.
No matter how much filial piety Emperor Kangxi showed, it was useless; the Empress Dowager passed away in just half a month.
Birth, aging, sickness, and death are inevitable experiences for everyone.
Kangxi then fell seriously ill. After the Empress Dowager's funeral, Kangxi was less energetic. He was not as good as before. He had seen the Qing Dynasty under his rule and believed that he had not failed the country left by his ancestors. Thinking about this, he suddenly felt tired.
Recalling the past, the faces of many people became blurred. Over the past sixty years, he had experienced too much, with ups and downs that were thrilling and dramatic. He lost his parents at a young age, ascended the throne at the age of eight, fought against four regents, quelled the Rebellion of the Three Feudatories, diligently and conscientiously governed the Qing Dynasty, balanced relations between various parties, and there were also the years of infighting among his sons, as well as many trivial matters in the harem...
Looking back, his life was quite eventful and full of ups and downs. After the imperial physician examined his pulse, he thought he should rest for the rest of his life.
He was reluctant to relinquish power, but he was old and had to accept it. The Qing Dynasty had a better future, but that future would be created by his son and grandson.
With this in mind, Kangxi made a decision.
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