Chapter 35 Overcoming Difficulties Together
In the early Ming Dynasty, a large number of Portuguese lived in Macau under the pretext of stockpiling goods.
After the Qing army entered the pass, these Portuguese continued to occupy Macau, but they negotiated with the court and were willing to pay taxes honestly and abide by the laws of the Qing Dynasty.
The imperial court did not expel them, but appointed a magistrate of Xiangshan to manage Macau's administrative affairs.
Many Portuguese not only stored goods in Macau for rest and recuperation, but also brought their families to Macau.
The Portuguese would occasionally pay tribute to the court with some Western woolen fabrics, and the queen felt that they must know how to weave these woolen fabrics.
Knitting is a woman's duty. As a role model for women all over the world, the queen also performs the silkworm-raising ceremony to encourage women to be diligent in this matter.
The Empress and the Imperial Concubine raised this matter, and Emperor Qianlong saw nothing wrong with it. He simply said, "Let's not rush to Macau to find someone. I've summoned a traveling merchant to Beijing; perhaps he knows the ins and outs of this matter."
In Qianlong's view, England's textile factories were nothing special; weren't they just built by the river and using water power? China already had similar machines as early as the Song Dynasty.
The Queen was somewhat surprised to learn that Qianlong wanted to meet a traveling merchant.
Did something happen in the Thirteen Factories in Guangzhou?
But this was not something she could ask casually, so she could only say, "Okay, this isn't a big deal."
Qianlong glanced at her and asked, "Why are you thinking about Dora? Did Yonglian say something to you again? This kid is very curious about England."
The Queen smiled and said, "Yonglian simply said that England has many textile factories capable of mass-producing a wide variety of fabrics." She paused, "But I have a question. If everyone in England works in the factories, who will farm the land?"
"I heard that they are not good at farming and there is not much land suitable for farming." Qianlong said.
This is a foreign matter, and there is no problem in discussing it with the Queen.
"So you make a living by selling goods?" the Queen was curious.
Qianlong nodded and said proudly, "The English make money everywhere, but they can't make as much money as we do in the Qing Dynasty."
The Queen smiled and said, "Yes, the Qing Dynasty is vast and rich in resources. We don't need to rely on foreign goods. Things like doro and Western clocks are just for novelty."
Unless it is a necessity, Western merchants can forget about making much money in the Qing Dynasty.
When Qianlong heard this, he remembered the question that kept him awake that night: where did these European countries sell their textiles?
Libya doesn't seem to be a place that needs a lot of textiles.
And there is another problem. No matter what kind of cloth it is, it requires some cotton thread. England is a very small place. If we want to open a factory and raise sheep, is there room to grow cotton?
The emperor and the empress chatted about Western affairs and lay down on the couch to prepare for bed.
The queen was almost asleep when she heard someone beside her ask quietly, "Can Levia grow cotton?"
Queen: ???
After the summer, Qianlong no longer had the time to think about how Westerners made money.
This year, droughts hit Zhili, Shandong and other areas, food prices soared, and the imperial court was busy with disaster relief.
Qianlong was so worried that his mouth blistered. Since he ascended the throne, had he done anything wrong? How could there be such a severe drought?
Qianlong attached great importance to disaster relief. On the one hand, he ordered granaries across the country to open and release grain, and on the other hand, he allowed officials to speak freely and help him reflect on what went wrong.
Soon, Li Wei submitted a memorial, arguing that the system of officials and gentry serving together and paying taxes together should continue. This was both the late emperor's last wish and the people's aspiration.
Qianlong immediately said that Li Aiqing was right, and he sent Nianqin to Shaanxi to implement the policy of officials and gentry serving and paying taxes together.
Why Shaanxi? Firstly, the gentry in Shaanxi were not that powerful, so land annexation was relatively less serious. Secondly, Shaanxi enjoyed good weather and relative peace this year, making the implementation of the new policy smoother.
"But the disaster hit the Zhili and Shandong areas. Could it be that there's something wrong with the officials in these two areas?"
Agui told Yonglian and others about this incident in class, and Yonghuang asked questions in confusion.
Agui smiled and explained to the prince that there was no necessary connection between natural disasters and the moral conduct of officials.
Yonglian was shocked. Agui was too bold.
Yonghuang misunderstood, "So, the moral character of officials is not important?"
"Of course it's important. If officials are corrupt and abuse their power, levying heavy taxes, natural disasters will turn into man-made disasters."
Yonghuang still didn't quite understand and frowned as he thought.
Yonglian gave his brother an example, "Just like in the late Ming Dynasty, when natural disasters continued to strike across the country, and corrupt officials embezzled disaster relief funds, leaving the people without help. Many people starved to death, and they would rebel, either becoming bandits or rebellious."
Agui: "Yes, yes, that's what happened in the former Ming Dynasty." Fortunately, the second prince reminded himself that this kind of thing needs to be based on the premise of the former Ming Dynasty, and the Song and Yuan Dynasties are also acceptable.
Yonglian: "..." You still have the desire to survive.
Yonghuang suddenly realized, "I understand."
Mingrui asked again about the content of officials and gentry serving as one and paying taxes as one, and Agui told them, this time using various examples from the Ming Dynasty. A gentry and his entire family did not have to pay taxes or serve in the military, and all the corvée labor assigned by the court fell on the people.
Agui also told the children about the Henan exam boycott during the Yongzheng reign, as well as the drastic measures taken by Tian Wenjing and Emperor Yongzheng.
The children were excited when they heard this, but then they became a little worried, fearing that the same thing would happen again in Shaanxi.
Not only the children were worried, but all the civil and military officials in the court were worried.
Zhili is busy with disaster relief, Miaojiang is plagued by wars, and if some gentry comes to cause trouble in the northwest, won't the situation be in chaos?
Has the always cautious emperor suddenly been possessed by the late emperor?
Letters of advice and remonstration were sent to Emperor Qianlong like snowflakes. After hearing the officials' alarmist remarks, Emperor Qianlong finally understood why Khan Ama was so irritable.
It turns out that it is not these officials who are assigned to perform corvee labor, but they are talking without any concern, saying that it has been like this since ancient times.
But Qianlong's mentality was better than Khan's, and he was too lazy to debate with these people in a long speech. Some of them responded with a cold and ruthless "I know" when they saw that the beginning talked about the fact that officials and gentry served as one.
Seeing that the emperor would not listen to advice, everyone began to impeach Li Wei. It was all because of this old man's meddling that instead of focusing on disaster relief during the drought, he made it so that officials and gentry would serve together and pay taxes together?
Some officials had very reasonable and well-founded arguments. For example, Li Wei used to be the governor-general of Zhili. If he had not done a poor job as the governor-general of Zhili, how could Zhili have such a severe drought this year?
Not only does he not take responsibility, he is also trying to divert attention.
Li Wei was prepared to be scolded on behalf of the emperor. It didn't matter. His popularity was already very bad. Even if this had not happened, he would not be liked by others.
Ortai and Zhang Tingyu naturally realized that the emperor and Li Wei had discussed this long ago. The emperor transferred Li Wei to the Grand Council, perhaps just to let him take the blame.
Ortai felt that Li Wei's life was not easy for him. If he were the late emperor, he would definitely stand up to protect Li Wei at this time.
But the current emperor... hehe...
After much deliberation, Ortais wrote a memorial, stating that the policy of officials and gentry paying taxes together was a very suitable one to be implemented this year. It would be even better if it could be extended to Shandong, Zhili, and other provinces as soon as possible. This would save the common people from having to pay so much next year, and would bring a lot of relief. This way, many people would not be in a rush to stockpile grain, and grain prices would stabilize.
When Qianlong saw it, he thought it was well written! It had to be written by Ortai, so he ordered all places to send copies for reporting.
Some local officials were convinced, while others still disagreed and submitted memorials to debate with Ortai.
Ortai didn't say a word for Li Wei, but just silently helped him divert some firepower.
Zhang Tingyu was moved when he saw this. Ortai and Li Wei had a conflict but they were still like this. If he continued to be a coward, wouldn't he be betraying the trust of the late emperor?
He then began to defend the idea that officials and gentry should serve and pay taxes together, and proposed several ways to deal with the gentry's unrest.
At the same time, under the strict supervision of Emperor Qianlong, grain prices in various places tended to stabilize, and the people received all the grain they were entitled to.
Qianlong looked at the reports from officials from all over the country and breathed a sigh of relief. The people in the Grand Council cooperated very well.
Ultimately, it is because I, the emperor, know how to use people.
Due to the severe drought this year, the palace has been cutting back on food. Nara thought that the people outside the palace were not short of rice now, and it was just a preparation for this autumn and winter, so she asked the small kitchen to cook less during this period, and save the remaining portions first, and then prepare them in the autumn and send them to the Huimin Canteen.
As a result, there was not much food left in the Yiku Palace. After Luang Pu found out, he reported the matter to Yonglian.
Yonglian asked someone to inquire and found out that the Empress of Yiku Palace was so kind-hearted.
Thinking of Nara's later fate, Yonglian couldn't help but sigh. She was able to succeed his own mother as queen, and her character was naturally impeccable. But in the end, she ended up being imprisoned and died. It was such a pity.
This may be related to her lack of consideration. This matter could have been a good thing, but because she made the decision on her own, it is very likely that nothing good will come of it.
Khan Amanah is especially difficult to serve. It would be troublesome if she was accused of acting on her own and seeking fame and reputation without the permission of the Queen.
He thought about it and asked Ma Rui to go to Yiku Palace to deliver the message.
"Second Prince said that he understands the Empress's painstaking efforts and is deeply impressed. However, the small kitchen is not a place to store grain. If the grain becomes inedible in autumn and winter, it would be a pity. Please report this to the Empress and have the Imperial Household Department store the saved portion."
Upon hearing this, Nara thought it made sense and immediately went to Changchun Palace to see the queen.
The Queen then realized that Nara had taken the initiative to save the rice and flour in her allotment until autumn and winter. She was moved and helpless. Fortunately, she came to tell her, otherwise if this matter spread, it would seem that the other concubines did not care about the people. She, the Queen, was also involved. She herself did not think it was a big deal, but others would definitely say that the Queen had not spoken yet, so why was Nara showing off?
The queen explained to Nara that the court had opened its granaries to distribute grain, and now the people had received the disaster relief grain, so they would not go hungry this year.
If she wanted to do something for the people, she could save some fruits and vegetables for them, and the small icebergs placed in each hall could be used as drinking water.
"The water quality in the Outer City is already poor, and with so little rain this year, I'm really worried the people won't have water to drink." The Queen said, "Yonglian came yesterday and reminded me that this melted ice water is cleaner than the Outer City's groundwater. Add some alum to precipitate it, and then transport it to the Outer City for the people to drink directly."
Originally, the water from the melted icebergs in the palace was not wasted. Some of it continued to freeze into ice, and some was used for cleaning.
But there is no shortage of water in the palace, and there is enough water even without this water. It is better to give it to the people in the outer city who are in urgent need of water.
Transporting water bucket by bucket was not easy, so the palace even hired some suras to carry water outside the city. However, since Qianlong had already donated so much money for disaster relief, he didn't need the money.
People from the surrounding areas of the capital city continued to come into the city to collect disaster relief food. After receiving the food, they found a place not far away where they could drink water for free and get food for two or three cents, so they all went to line up.
Not only was this water brought in by the emperor, it was also purified and much clearer than the water they usually drank.
Those days were not like later times, when hot water was readily available. Charcoal and coal were also precious commodities, and most people drank raw water and kept charcoal for cooking.
The people drank clean water, ate cheap and large meals, and then took the relief food they received home with satisfied smiles on their faces.
After the young Pan Zhencheng entered the city gate, he saw many such people.
Although the walls of the capital city are dilapidated and the streets of the outer city are a bit dirty, it is rare to see ragged and emaciated hungry people.
It turns out that the people living under the emperor's feet can really enjoy the emperor's grace.
Such a benevolent emperor must have been concerned about Guangzhou, thousands of miles away, so he personally summoned the merchants.
Because he was eloquent and familiar with trade with foreigners, he was selected by the officials of the Guangdong Customs and brought to Beijing to meet the emperor.
Having been to sea many times, he was so nervous that he could hardly breathe.
But he had no time to be nervous, because the officials who came to pick him up had already arrived. He would rest in the inn today and go to the palace tomorrow.
Pan Zhencheng had already memorized everything he wanted to say to the emperor, so it was time to practice speaking Mandarin.
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