Shi's mother is coming back
Even a noble like the Crown Prince would keep a low profile in the capital by taking a concubine. There was nothing to be proud of. After all, the Crown Prince had been brought up in a feudal society and didn't hold a concubine in high regard, even if he hadn't even met her. Especially since he hadn't married yet, he had to give his future wife some face.
According to Forbidden City custom, concubines were not allowed to enter through the main gate; they were simply carried in through the Shenwu Gate. Kangxi gave Yinreng two concubines, coincidentally: one was Li Jiashi and the other Li Jiashi. The former was of a more distinguished background, the daughter of Shulkud, a light cavalry commander, while the latter was simply the daughter of an ordinary bannerman.
These two were both registered as concubines during the previous selection. At just thirteen years old at the time, they were a bit young, so they were simply registered for the next round. Of course, it's possible that Kangxi had already selected a few of them and was preparing them as physiology and hygiene teaching materials for his son, just waiting for the right time to use them.
The two were now merely concubines of the Crown Prince, a distinction distinguished from ordinary concubines. In ordinary families, being a concubine was a formal status, but for these two, performance was crucial. Neither of them was a true concubine, lacking a letter of appointment.
When the Ministry of Internal Affairs prepared accommodation for the two and asked Yinreng for permission, Yinreng was stunned. He lived in Yuqing Palace, so he should have his concubine nearby to serve him. But he was a man with many problems. He thought that it was the prince's main palace, so what was the point of letting a concubine live there? He said directly: "Clean up two side halls in Xiefang Palace, no matter where."
The Imperial Household Department official remarked that these two concubines were unlucky to live so far away. Xiefang Hall was simply the name of the main hall in a group of palaces, a designation for the entire complex, which served as the crown prince's eastern palace during the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, their placement there made sense. I dared not offend this gentleman any further and went down to deal with the matter.
An auspicious day was chosen, and the people were brought in. There was no need for fanfare or banquets. As one of the parties involved, Yinreng was a little excited, yet also a little bewildered. Of course, he knew what he was going to do tonight, but… he just couldn't imagine it! Damn it! He didn't even know if the person was round or flat, so what was he supposed to imagine?
The parties involved were all confused, and everyone just gave a red envelope and then went on with their business.
The same was true for the Shi family. They had never been very close to the Yuqing Palace. After they sent a gift, they heard that there was no celebration in the palace, so they kept the matter private behind closed doors.
Shi Wenbing and his wife sent a letter from Fujian to express their congratulations. It's said, "During a three-month war, a letter from home is worth ten thousand pieces of gold." Even when the war was over, letters were still very expensive. Only someone like Emperor Kangxi could send a letter whenever he pleased, even if it was thousands of miles away. Anyone else couldn't afford the round-trip travel expenses. Of course, some letter delivery services existed at the time, but they were very rudimentary. Larger families wouldn't use them, and there was also the issue of confidentiality.
Therefore, letters from Fujian were extremely precious. The two places only exchanged letters a few times a year, and the letters were often sent by people escorting things during festivals.
This time we are talking about the good things about Fu Dali and Qingde in the family. The Shi family originally had several captains in the Han army flag, and now they have joined the Manchu flag. The day before yesterday, an imperial decree was issued to allocate a captain from the Manchu Zhengbai Bordered Army and assign it to the Shi family, with Qingde as the captain.
You have to know that the Eight Banners were supported by the state. From birth to adulthood, the state paid for the living expenses. Therefore, even with the high infant mortality rate, the population has continued to increase over the years since entering the Central Plains. Coupled with the continuous promotion of the number of banners, the population of each banner has now expanded significantly. Therefore, there has been a continuous process of assigning new Zuoling. This time, the increase in the population of the Plain White Banner was redistributed, and another Zuoling was added.
Furthermore, the ministers discussed not only crimes but also merits. Those accompanying the emperor were originally members of the Upper Three Banners, so naturally, everyone was recognized for their merits. Fu Dali, the Blue Feather Guard, was also promoted to the rank of Third Class Guard. Incidentally, Shi Wenying's evaluation was also excellent.
Of course, a letter should be sent to Fuzhou to announce the good news, even if it couldn't be better. Hua Shan even boasted about himself. Shu Jia was puzzled. Why did all the good things happen to our family? It was so unusual, wasn't it? Our family hadn't done anything important? She could only ask Qing De secretly about this kind of disappointing question. Qing De didn't understand the reason either, and said vaguely: "Maybe... everyone else made mistakes, so as long as we don't make any mistakes, we will appear to be right?"
Shi Wenbing received good news, so of course he had to express his feelings, and that was this letter today.
The letter was given to Guanyin Bao to read. When Hua Shan read the part where Shi Wenbing taught his sons to "guard against arrogance and impatience, and always stick to their principles", he began to roll his eyes. When he heard the words "do not let down the Holy Grace and bring disgrace upon yourself", he had already picked his ears.
Suddenly, Guanyinbao raised his voice: "Mother is coming back!"
"Ah!" Hua Shan was startled by the sharp child's voice and hurt his ear.
————————————————I am the dividing line for explaining the previous situation————————————————
In the eastern warm room of the Qianqing Palace, the finally recovered Kangxi Emperor diligently reviewed the incoming memorials, starting with the secret memorials. In the 29th year of the Kangxi reign, Cao Yin, the newly appointed Suzhou Textile Supervisor, had high hopes for him. Today, he happened to have a memorial. Kangxi used his key to unlock the box and took it out for a closer look. Secret memorials were smaller than ordinary ones and arrived sealed through a special channel. Seeing nothing particularly important on them, Kangxi breathed a sigh of relief, turned around, and placed the memorial in a small cabinet reserved for secret memorials.
Then he pulled out a memorial with worn edges and studied it carefully. This memorial, submitted by the Fuzhou general, was "Petition to Increase the Number of Green Banner Battalions," and addressed military system, a topic Kangxi attached particular importance to. The Eight Banners stationed abroad had always been mixed, sometimes Manchu and Mongolian, sometimes Han, or a combination of all three. There were only three exceptions: Jingkou, Guangzhou, and Fuzhou, where the Han Eight Banners were stationed solely.
Guangzhou and Fuzhou are located on the coast, and Jingkou is similarly situated. These three locations are located in the south and, historically, were areas of intense anti-Qing resistance. Two of the Three Feudatories were located in Fuzhou and Guangzhou, making them crucial. Such crucial locations should have been garrisoned by the trusted Manchus and Mongols, but the turmoil in these three areas revealed that the navy was more important than the army. With the Manchus and Mongols poised to conquer the world, most people on board would likely be visibly distraught. Coupled with the unfamiliar climate and language barriers, they had to rely on the Han Eight Banners to garrison, while trustworthy individuals were selected to lead the troops.
Since the garrison consisted entirely of Han Chinese Eight Banners, it was understandable that he was worried. So, upon seeing Shi Wenbing's memorial requesting additional troops, Kangxi became anxious and pondered it day and night. Shi Wenbing's request, as the title of the memorial indicated, was for additional troops to be sent to Fuzhou.
The reasons were very sufficient. Kangxi pinched several places with his fingernails and said, "Since the establishment of my dynasty, we have rebelled against Zheng Chenggong and then against Geng Jingzhong. Soldiers and civilians are accustomed to rebellion and people's minds are very fickle. Since the expedition to Taiwan, tens of thousands of soldiers have been added to the camp. The former governor Yao Qisheng has recruited no less than 10,000 soldiers. The lawless people from all directions have forced half of them to enter Fujian." "I want to request to change the firearms, but I will lose my strengths; I want to rely solely on bows and arrows, but it is not suitable for the place."
In short, this place is poor, rugged, full of shrews and unruly people, and the people are incredibly tough. Furthermore, to combat Taiwan, Yao Qisheng recruited a bunch of soldiers and ruffians. Since this was a post-war area, many innocent people had fled, but many gangsters, fearless of the harsh conditions, had set up branch gangs. It's possible that the branch gang leaders were actually related to the soldiers and ruffians. It was too dangerous.
Although the garrisoned Eight Banner soldiers were all Han Chinese, they were mostly from the north, skilled with bows and arrows but not with firearms. Fujian, on the other hand, had very few plains; it was either high mountains and dense forests or deep ravines and paddy fields. Mounted archery was difficult there, so firearms were essential.
Finally, Shi Wenbing pointed out that Guangzhou and Jingkou dealt with the problem of insufficient Eight Banners troops by calling on the Green Camp. Fuzhou's doing so was not an exception, but just a request for fairness.
Kangxi put down the memorial, and Liang Jiugong tiptoed over to get another cup of hot tea. Kangxi fished out his pocket watch, opened the lid, and saw it was still early. "Send someone to Yuqing Palace to summon the Crown Prince, and then summon the Grand Secretary on duty, and tell them I have something to discuss."
Wei Zhu repeated his preparations, then withdrew and led two young eunuchs to deliver the imperial edict. Liang Qingbiao and Yisan'a, on duty today, were in the duty room, composing poetry. Upon receiving the imperial edict, they hurriedly donned their cloaks and came over. Yinreng, who was still studying and still awake, also dressed. Soon, both groups arrived.
After paying his respects, Kangxi looked up and saw Yinreng still wearing his overcoat. He said, "Take off your overcoat. It's still cold, and the floor heating in the room is too hot. Extreme cold and extreme heat can easily lead to illness." He then said to Liang Qingbiao and Yisan'a, "The same goes for you."
Two young eunuchs came up to help Yinreng undress. Liang Qingbiao and Yisan'a also took off their coats with the help of the eunuchs. Kangxi pointed to several embroidered cushions on the ground and said, "Sit down." The three of them thanked him for sitting down. Liang Qingbiao and Yisan'a looked at each other. They didn't know why Kangxi called them here today, so they decided to wait for his orders.
Yinreng felt more at ease and bowed slightly. "My father-in-law asked me to come here, but what do you want to tell me?"
Kangxi held the memorial forward, "Take a look at it first." Liang Jiugong took it in both hands and then handed it to Yinreng. Yisan'a's eyes rolled, and the book looked familiar. Trying to recall it, he remembered that Kangxi had been studying this memorial for months. He had been on duty when the memorial arrived last year, and it was he who had written the abridged version. With a clear idea in mind, he straightened his back and sat up straighter.
Yinreng finished reading it soon, and even read it twice more where he saw the pinch marks. He closed the letter, stood up, and handed it back to the table. Kangxi asked, "What do you think?" Yinreng's mind was still working well, having already filtered the situation as he read it. He repeated the contents of the letter and observed, "The Eight Banners don't have enough soldiers to begin with. If the Green Camp could be used, they could still hold the situation together... Has the Green Camp in Fujian really reached this point?"
Kangxi said to Yisan Adao: "Tell this to the Crown Prince."
Yisan'a knew that Kangxi was very pleased with Shi Wenbing, not for anything else but because the memorial was well-organized and illustrated with data, demonstrating his practicality. Kangxi favored pragmatic people; data convinced him of his dedication. Shi Wenbing's hobby was listening to his ministers report on local vegetable prices and then calculating the inflation rate himself. Besides, if the explanation was clearly unreliable, Kangxi wouldn't have hesitated for so long, much less summoned them in the middle of the night to discuss matters. Simply scolding someone was Kangxi's style.
Thinking of this, Yisan'a stood up and bowed, explaining to Yinreng: "The customs in Fujian are different from those in other places. Because of two wars, the Green Camp is more unreliable than other places... The camp has more than 64,700 soldiers on land and sea, while the flag camp has only 1,683 pairs of horse armor and 347 pairs of infantry armor... There are only more than 2,000 soldiers, and it is not enough to fight and defend against the 60,000 to 70,000 Green Camp soldiers who surrender and rebel from time to time, let alone take on the responsibility of guarding the entire province." - The personnel ratio is about 1:30. When it really comes to fighting, it is impossible to play the game of officers and soldiers catching robbers. If it really happens, the officers and soldiers will only be killed by the bandits.
To put it clearly, first, we have few people, and second, that place is not suitable for longbows and requires new weapons. Finally, Fuzhou is of the same nature as Guangzhou and Jingkou, but has fewer soldiers than the other two places. Shi Wenbing asked for fairness.
Yinreng nodded after hearing this and said to Kangxi, "Khan Ama, since what Shi Wenbing said is true, we must increase the troops, but...how should we increase them?"
Kangxi nodded approvingly. "Excellent! You didn't contradict me." He didn't immediately express his opinion, but instead let the three men share their perspectives. They all agreed: "Of course we should increase the troops," the emperor acquiesced. However, the numbers should be controlled, and a clear distinction should be drawn between the "military standard" and the Green Camp under the governor-general's jurisdiction.
Finally, after the discussion, Kangxi said, "Let's all go. We'll discuss this at court tomorrow morning."
After the three men left, Kangxi carefully examined a stack of papers. It contained a brief biography of the Shi family. Starting with Shi Tingzhu, he summarized that regardless of military prowess or those excelling in general affairs, whether the deceased Shi Tingzhu or the living Shi Lin, Shi Wensheng, or Shi Wenzhao, they all shared a common trait in their governance: they were not disruptive and were dedicated to getting things done. Adding to this thesis from Shi Wenbing, Kangxi's favorable impression of the Shi family soared.
After pondering for a while, Kangxi decided that his prince's father-in-law had been chosen. He then felt he needed to do something for his in-laws, to bring honor to the crown prince. This led to the appointment of the Shi family as a lieutenant, and Fu Dali's promotion.
The author has something to say: Tears streaming down my face, why did I have to go out for dinner today? I didn't even have enough time to shower and write after coming back...
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