Naturally, my Great Qing was, after all, a vast empire. Even though the Governors-General of Liangguang and Sichuan were inexplicably replaced, and the Governor of Fujian inexplicably became the rebel Lin Shuangwen, there were still plenty of Governors-General and Governors arranged by Qianlong himself in other regions.
The problem was that these Governors-General and Governors did not guard their respective jurisdictions well. Instead, they were hollowed out and became human seals.
Qianlong, holding the intelligence delivered by the Stick-Gathering Bureau, could hardly believe his eyes.
Is this still my Great Qing?
"Prioritize thorough and strict suppression"?
Don't be ridiculous. If it were before the uprising of the arch-rebel Zhu Ni, Qianlong would still have confidence in controlling the entire Great Qing empire. Governors-General and Governors were nothing more than dogs in Qianlong's eyes, dogs that could be killed whenever he pleased.
Since Zhu Jinsong, this arch-rebel leader, had repeatedly rubbed the face of my Great Qing court into the dirt, Qianlong's decrees had not been very effective.
Qianlong was furious, Qianlong was enraged, Qianlong wanted to shed tears.
However, no matter how furious Qianlong was or how much he wanted to shed tears, it could not change the fact that many prefectures and counties of my Great Qing no longer heeded imperial orders. Qianlong's imperial edicts could leave the Forbidden City, but they could not reach places south of Zhili, and even if they did, few people paid attention to him.
Even in Zhili, many prefectural and county yamen began to ignore my Great Qing court. The closer they got to Shandong, the more serious the situation became.
For the current Qianlong, the only good news was probably that the Solon soldiers and the Mongolian Eight Banners still obeyed his orders and had obediently begun to move.
It was a pity that the garrisons of the Solon soldiers and the Mongolian Eight Banners were far beyond the Great Wall. It would take at least two to three months of marching time to transfer them into the Pass to quell the rebellion. No matter how anxious Qianlong was, it was useless.
Of course, compared to the entire empire and the state of my Great Qing, Qianlong felt that these two to three months were bearable.
However, what drove Qianlong mad was that he was willing to wait, but his corrupt officials could not.
This matter had to start with Wang Bingzhong, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and Xu Zhendong, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel.
In order to mobilize the Solon soldiers and the Mongolian Eight Banners to quell the rebellion, Qianlong did not hesitate to confiscate the property and execute the esteemed Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue and Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, obtaining several million taels of silver as military expenses.
If one were to speak of it, this matter was actually not a big deal. After all, Wang Bingzhong and Xu Zhendong were not good people. It was known that they were both greedy and lustful, so Qianlong's actions of confiscating their property to raise military expenses were understandable.
But what shouldn't have happened, shouldn't have happened, was that Qianlong, finding that confiscating property brought in money quickly, became addicted to it!
Today, he found an excuse to confiscate the property of a seventh-rank official, tomorrow he would find an excuse to confiscate the property of a fifth-rank official, and the day after tomorrow, he would slowly think of a new excuse to confiscate the property of a third-rank official.
This time, it had stirred up a hornet's nest.
This was not acceptable. People all said that a thousand-mile journey as an official was only for wealth. Was it not to govern for the people?
Besides, we were a little greedy, but were there any officials in my Great Qing court who were not greedy?
Fine, you, sir, confiscated a few corrupt officials for military expenses, and we could tolerate that. After all, it was all for my Great Qing court. But what did you mean by only targeting us, the officials of the imperial court?
Confucius said that if you agree, you stay; if you disagree, you leave. Now that you, Emperor Qianlong, do not treat us, the officials of the imperial court, as human beings, there is no need for us to continue to flatter you. Anyway, we have earned almost all the money we could, and now your Great Qing court is about to collapse. I have money and can be a master anywhere. Why should I stay and wait for death with you?
Therefore, as soon as Qianlong developed a habit of confiscating property, the officials of the imperial court of my Great Qing began to pack up and run.
Of course, those who packed up and ran were mainly corrupt officials with money at home. The remaining ones who had no money at home were poor scholars who wanted to govern like Yao and Shun. These people believed that they were clean and loyal officials, and they were also penniless. They felt that no matter how their property was confiscated, it would not reach them, so they were willing to stay in the capital to serve my Great Qing.
But then again, did Qianlong need such clean and loyal officials? Qianlong needed fat pigs that could be slaughtered at any time, not clean and loyal officials.
Clean and loyal officials were treasures to other emperors. If they encountered one, they would want to cherish it in their hands. But for a prodigal emperor like Qianlong, what was important was not clean and loyal officials, but whether they could bring him money so that he could enjoy himself.
As long as they could not bring him money, they were useless.
Of course, if it were only some corrupt officials who packed up and ran, it would not be a big deal for Qianlong. After all, corrupt officials were like leeks; if you cut one crop, another can grow. It was like my Great Qing officials who appeared to be incorruptible. Did you think they were really incorruptible? No, it was because their positions did not allow them to make money.
To put it bluntly, as long as they were given the opportunity, they might become even more corrupt.
So Qianlong thought it was not a big deal.
However, what happened next made Qianlong's head hurt.
As a large number of corrupt officials packed up and ran with their money, the Manchu officials in my Great Qing court who had already been displeased with the Han officials finally found an outlet for their emotions.
My Great Qing has not perished yet, but you Han officials have packed up and run one by one. If you say you are loyal to my Great Qing, who can believe that? Are you fooling a three-year-old child? Are you fooling the Emperor as a fool?
Impeachment is necessary.
As the Manchu officials began to impeach the remaining officials of the imperial court madly, and Qianlong, the referee, stood on the sidelines to help one side, the officials of the imperial court also felt wronged.
What? You impeached me before I even had a chance to be corrupt. What kind of situation is this? When you Manchu officials are corrupt, you are much uglier than we disciples of the Holy Religion, aren't you?
As a result, the Manchu and Han officials became more suspicious of each other, and the mutual attacks became more serious. The remaining Han officials either banded together to attack the Manchu officials or followed the example of those corrupt officials and packed up to run.
Then it returned to the original point.
To get rid of Zhu Jinsong, the arch-rebel leader, the Solon soldiers and the Mongolian Eight Banners had to be mobilized to quell the rebellion. To mobilize the Solon soldiers and the Mongolian Eight Banners to quell the rebellion, money was needed. However, my Great Qing's treasury did not have that much money. Now, when they wanted to confiscate some corrupt officials to get some money, the corrupt officials had all packed up and run.
This, damn it, had once again fallen into a vicious cycle.
What was even more infuriating was that after the news of Qianlong confiscating a few corrupt officials and getting some money spread, the substitute Governors-General and Governors of my Great Qing directly raised the banner of rebellion, all shouting that they wanted to rebel against the Qing and restore the Ming.
Don't forget, where did the officials of my Great Qing come from?
Of course, if the Governors-General and Governors of other regions had raised the banner of rebellion, Qianlong might not have cared. After all, it was not a day or two since stubborn anti-Qing elements like Lin Shuangwen had rebelled, and Qianlong had nothing to object to.
The key was that the Governor-General of Liangguang also joined the rebellion.
This immediately hit a certain indescribable point of Qianlong.
Whether it was Zhu Jiansong's rebellion or various rebels appearing in other regions, Qianlong could still tolerate it. After all, they were just rebels and had not yet shaken the foundation of the country. Qianlong just had to wait obediently for the Solon soldiers and the Mongolian Eight Banners to enter the Pass to quell the rebellion.
Even if the Governor-General of Liangguang was impersonated, Qianlong could still accept it. As long as this fake Governor-General of Liangguang had not directly raised the banner of rebellion, the Thirteen Hongs of Guangdong would still be indirectly in Qianlong's hands. This meant that my Great Qing court could still receive some money.
But as the impersonated Governor-General of Liangguang directly raised the banner of rebellion, the last place from which my Great Qing could possibly receive money was completely gone. At the very least, the Thirteen Hongs of Guangdong, this trading port, was completely gone, and Qianlong no longer had to count on the customs duties from there.
This made the already extremely difficult Great Qing treasury even worse.
Qianlong began to regret it.
When his grandfather, Mazige, was still alive, my Great Qing had four trading ports: Guangzhou, Ningbo, Quanzhou, and Shanghai. By Qianlong's time, my Great Qing was left with only the Thirteen Hongs of Guangzhou as a trading port.
When his father, Yongzheng, was still alive, my Great Qing practiced unified tax collection for officials and gentry, and the surcharges were returned to the public, so the treasury of my Great Qing was still relatively abundant. However, after Qianlong ascended the throne, he eagerly overturned his father's policies, and the surcharges returned to the public were all used by him to go south.
Therefore, Qianlong truly regretted it.
If the other trading ports had not been closed, then even if the Governor-General of Liangguang had raised the banner of rebellion, my Great Qing would still have the remaining three trading ports in its hands, and my Great Qing's treasury could still collect some customs duties.
If he had not been so eager to overturn Yongzheng's policy of returning surcharges to the public immediately after ascending the throne, and had used this money to go south, then the treasury of my Great Qing would not have been so empty that mice ran through it.
But then again, there was no such thing as regret medicine in this world. The Great Qing treasury was out of money, and it was out of money. No matter how much Qianlong regretted it, it could not change the fact that the treasury was out of money.
Of course, even if things had reached this point, Qianlong was not completely out of options. After all, Lu Shuren once said, for domestic affairs, if undecided, find Heshen; for foreign affairs, if undecided, also find Heshen. If there was no money, it was even more necessary to find Heshen.
Now that Qianlong was short of money, he naturally had to find Heshen and Zhongtang.
Then Heshen and Zhongtang also began to have a headache.
Everyone in this world knew that I, Heshen and Zhongtang, was the Great Qing's arch-corrupt official. He was the number one figure among corrupt officials. But then again, why could Heshen and Zhongtang see money? Was it not because people below sent him money?
Mr. Xunfei once said that without trade, there would be no killing. If no one sent money to Heshen, how could Heshen be greedy for money?
Now that the Governors-General and Governors of my Great Qing were acting on their own, treating the imperial decrees as farts, who would still pay attention to Heshen and Zhongtang? Since no one paid attention to Heshen and Zhongtang, Heshen and Zhongtang were also like a clever woman who could not cook without rice, right?
Should Heshen and Zhongtang take out their own money for Qianlong?
Sorry, Heshen and Zhongtang were not that loyal.
However, Heshen and Zhongtang were able to reach the position of Grand Councillor not only by flattering and fawning, but also by some real skill.
After carefully thinking for a long time, Heshen and Zhongtang did come up with a plan.
Heshen first chuckled a few times, then bowed to Qianlong and said, "Your Majesty, your servant now has two methods. One is to continuously obtain wealth, and the other is to obtain a sum of money for emergencies. May I know Your Majesty's wishes?"
ps: This is the third update. The ten-thousand-character update is completed today. I will try to update another chapter later.