Chapter 131: The Official’s Life Is Not Easy (IV)
In the second year of Yongzheng's reign, more and more officials were exiled. The officials were questioned wherever they went, and at least some of them had the courage to say something. The story in the capital that shocked Xu Youlin so much that he dared not speak for several days had spread to Jiangnan.
The story of the current emperor Yongzheng colluding with his uncle Longkodo to murder his father Kangxi and tampering with the imperial edict was widely circulated in Jiangnan. If it were some fox spirits and ghosts, everyone would listen to it. These stories are about the emperor, the emperor who is high above and has unlimited power. The people in Jiangnan who heard these stories were also a little scared.
Xu Youlin didn't dare to say anything anymore. He often thought of the look on the face of his great partner Huo Chong's face whenever he mentioned Yongzheng. As early as several years before Yongzheng ascended the throne, Xu Youlin discovered that whenever Huo Chong mentioned "Prince Yong", he would have an indescribable look on his face. That kind of fear and panic was similar to what Xu Youlin felt at this moment.
I wonder what Huo Chong is doing now? Officials are desperately drawing lots to pay off debts, and this business is not easy to do.
Unlike what Xu Youlin thought, Huo Chong finally stood up. For example, the alcohol made in Muping County was secretly sent to the sea to trade with Bai Siwen, a Spaniard in Luzon. Bai Siwen had changed from a captain to a commander. After more than three years of trade with Huo Chong, Bai Siwen's fleet was as high as four when he came this time. The three additional ships were all newly purchased by Bai Siwen.
A large amount of alcohol with a concentration of more than 95% was inspected and carefully sent to the ship. Yang Wangfu, who was in charge of the transaction, repeatedly reminded Bai Siwen, which made Bai Siwen tired of listening, "Okay, okay, dear brother. I already know that alcohol is dangerous. I really know it."
Yang Wangfu smiled and said, "Mr. Bai, our boss doesn't want to lose a partner like you."
Bai Siwen had been sailing for so long that he knew that Huo Chong had no ill intention in sending such instructions. "I also look forward to long-term cooperation with Mr. Huo. But Mr. Huo has not yet obtained the operating rights of any port? It's really puzzling."
Yang Wangfu was puzzled and couldn't help asking. Bai Siwen then told Yang Wangfu that wealthy people in Europe often obtained control of ports, or at least obtained export concessions.
Listening to what he had heard before, Yang Wangfu felt that Bai Siwen's description really touched his heart. If Huo Chong could have the privilege of a port as Bai Siwen said, he wouldn't have to be so cautious, and he wouldn't have to waste so much useless energy. And Yang Wangfu believed that he could get a share of the pie by working for Huo Chong...
But the imperial court ordered a maritime ban, and not only Yang Wangfu, but even Huo Chong himself did not dare to have any direct confrontation.
After the handover, Yang Wangfu escorted a large number of goods, especially buffalo leather, rubber and other items back to the local branch. However, the local branch was particularly lively. As a member of the headquarters of the Zhongfu platform, Liang Yonghe of the branch pulled Yang Wangfu to ask about the headquarters policy.
Yang Wangfu was really mixed with joy and sorrow when he heard Liang Yonghe's story about the situation here. There were already various people looking for trouble, which was certainly not a good sign. Huo Chong asked a group of officials to provide land for cooperation before he was willing to lend money to the officials. But he offended many officials.
However, some officials, especially minor officials and some gentry who were not so hostile to Huo Chong, began to cooperate with Huo Chong. The overall benefits were quite good. Liang Yonghe explained the situation and asked Yang Wangfu whether the headquarters could allow the local governments to choose their own partners.
Yang Wangfu immediately discovered the key point and said with a chuckle, "Brother, which purchasing channel are you going to put those extra products into?"
Liang Yonghe was a little confused when he heard it. After Yang Wangfu explained the production and sales channels, Liang Yonghe suddenly understood. Now he was a little embarrassed and didn't know what to say for a while.
Although Huo Chong's cooperation model is very powerful, the key is that Huo Chong has found ways to open up sales channels. For example, the price of fur should be higher than cotton, at least that's what everyone feels. However, in order to compete with cotton from all over the country, Huo Chong's rabbit skins have been priced at a level that is not much more expensive than cotton. This is indeed the process of "cultivating the market" as Huo Chong said, and it has gradually gained a foothold in Shandong, Hebei and even Beijing. But it took three years for this channel to reach its current scale.
Therefore, Huo Chong’s sales channels have been filled up by his own production capacity. If it is just a simple cooperation, why should the rabbit skins produced by the newcomers take up a part of the sales arrangement?
Yang Wangfu was very proud of Liang Yonghe for being speechless after just a few words. However, Liang Yonghe was not Yang Wangfu's enemy, so Yang Wangfu asked Liang Yonghe to write a report and submit it .
Before Liang Yonghe's report arrived, Huo Chong had already received several applications with the same content. Huo Chong was very happy, and the class was not in vain.
After Yang Wangfu brought back the goods and news, Huo Chong was even happier. In a sense, the misery of Yongzheng's officials was Huo Chong's opportunity. Although these officials wanted to eat Huo Chong alive, Yongzheng was really going after the officials this time. If the officials did something bad at this time, the result would only be worse.
Huo Chong had never used the name of the Fourteenth Old Man before he got into trouble, but now that he used this name, it actually had a miraculous effect. Huo Chong even looked down on those officials even more.
In the blink of an eye, it was October of the second year of Yongzheng's reign. Huo Chong was sending people to investigate his popularity among the people of Shandong. How many people in Shandong had heard of his name, and how many people in Shandong had heard of the name of the Zhongfu platform. Then he heard the news that Nian Gengyao had returned to Beijing.
There was no need to investigate carefully because Yongzheng publicly publicized his favor for Nian Gengyao. His favor for Nian Gengyao reached an unprecedented level, and the favors Nian Gengyao received were rarely matched by any minister in ancient times.
In October of the second year of Yongzheng's reign (1724), Nian Gengyao came to Beijing to meet the emperor and was given a pair of peacock feathers, a robe with four dragon patches, a yellow belt, a purple bridle, gold coins and other extraordinary gifts. In addition, Yongzheng also publicized his favor to officials from all walks of life.
The staff of the Zhongfu platform headquarters are currently undergoing collective training with the platform training class. The 30th platform training class is a regular basic cadre training. The platform headquarters participated in the intermediate class training, and those who performed well in the exam will become members of the advanced class training.
When discussing this with the training class members, the intermediate class members were envious and felt something was wrong. Qian Qing asked briskly, "Sir, is Nian Gengyao's contribution so great?"
This made the group of young people at a loss for words. Although they had learned about the system of the Qing Dynasty during training and even organized a study of the Qing Dynasty Law to understand the Qing Dynasty's operating model, they were still not very clear about the political tactics.
It must be said that although these young people also engaged in struggles under the platform system created by Huo Chong, it was nothing compared to the struggles within the Qing Dynasty. Cooperation was definitely greater than struggle.
"But they are relatives. Nian Gengyao is Yongzheng's brother-in-law." Someone put forward a statement that absolutely conforms to the public's perspective. Qian Qing laughed, "The teacher trained us. It's not just me, everyone was trained. Then you said that the teacher favored me. Why? Because I learned more than you."
As soon as this was said, everyone fell silent. Qian Qing didn't care. It was obvious that she was annoyed by such comments. "We all take the same class, but it's still like this. Everyone is talking about this and that. Is it because I learned more?"
Huo Chong felt that Qian Qing was right. Such a precious educational opportunity should not be missed, so he asked all the students in the intermediate class to answer. The answer was quite honest, and everyone had to admit that it was probably like this.
For Huo Chong, these didn't really matter. He just told everyone about the necessity of human comparison, and briefly talked about "individuality" and "organization".
Qian Qingcai then continued, "Nian Gengyao is only Yongzheng's brother-in-law, so he took all the credit and benefits. If I take all the credit for the branch I'm in charge of, I'm afraid people will not only say a few words to me. I guess some people will want to beat me up. Think about this, everyone, this is an organization, an organization! We are an organization, and the Qing Dynasty is also an organization! Since they are all organizations, they must be the same!"
If Yongzheng or the knowledgeable and loyal officials in the Qing court heard this, they would probably wipe out Huo Chong and his gang immediately. However, Huo Chong would not let this happen, and he always kept it a secret.
In such a simple organization, the members of the intermediate class discussed this matter, subtly strengthening the difference between Huo Chong's organization and other organizations.
Since the Qing Dynasty was considered an organization, based on the experiences of these young people, they were divided into two groups. One group believed that as long as Yongzheng was alive, he would not shamelessly get rid of Nian Gengyao. Nian Gengyao himself would not be stupid enough to throw away the wealth and glory he already had.
The other faction was led by Qian Qing. They believed that Nian Gengyao had reached his peak. As Huo Chong said, once you reach the top of the mountain, it is all downhill. And Yongzheng would not allow Nian Gengyao, who was portrayed as a perfect person by Yongzheng, to have any imperfections in his eyes.
The discussion among young people was really good, and Huo Chong became more and more confident as he listened.
Daring to discuss the imperial court directly means that to some extent, they regard the imperial court as an equal to themselves. This does not mean that these people want to rebel, but it also means that these people no longer think of themselves as dogs of a feudal dynasty.
In history, even though Huo Chong didn't know much about it, these people were the reserve army for rebellion.
There was no need for Huo Chong to wait any longer. In October of the second year of Yongzheng's reign (1724), when Nian Gengyao came to Beijing for the second time, he met with an accident just as the young people of the Zhongfu platform had expected.
When he was at the frontier, the Mongolian princes and the son-in-law Abao had to kneel down to greet Nian Gengyao. On the way to Beijing, he ordered Li Weijun, the governor of Zhili, and Fan Shijie, the governor of Shaanxi, to kneel down to greet him. When he arrived in Beijing, he rode a yellow reined purple horse, and the princes and other officials who came to greet him knelt down to greet him. Nian Gengyao sat on his horse and walked by without even looking at him. The princes and ministers dismounted to greet him, but he just nodded. What's more, in front of Yongzheng, his attitude was very arrogant, "without the courtesy of a minister." Not long after Nian arrived in Beijing, Yongzheng rewarded him for his military merits. It was rumored in Beijing that this was in response to Nian Gengyao's request. It was also said that the punishment of Alinga (a member of the group of the eighth prince Yinsi) and others was also due to Nian's words. These words greatly hurt Yongzheng's self-esteem.
In November, after Nian Gengyao finished his audience with the emperor and returned to his post, he received an imperial edict from Emperor Yongzheng, which included a passage discussing how meritorious officials should preserve their reputation:
"It is easy for an official to seek merit, but difficult to achieve success; it is easy to achieve success, but difficult to maintain it; it is easy to maintain it, but difficult to achieve it to the end. ... If one relies on merit to commit mistakes, kindness will inevitably turn into hatred. This has always been the case with human nature."
In this imperial edict, Yongzheng changed the tone of his previous praise and commendation and warned Nian to be cautious and self-restrained. After that, Nian Gengyao's situation took a sharp turn for the worse.
On the Gengwu day of the first day of the second month in the third year of Yongzheng's reign (March 15, 1725), which was the first day of the Dragon Raising its Head on the second day of the second month, which Huo Chong's family attached great importance to, a solar eclipse occurred.
Solar and lunar eclipses are not uncommon, but this time there is a reason. A solar eclipse occurs at the new moon, and a lunar eclipse occurs at the full moon. It is called the conjunction of the sun and the moon. Although Huo Chong's department responsible for climate observation also noticed this incident, they just treated it as a simple solar eclipse. They did not observe the situation of five planets in conjunction.
However, in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Ban Gu's "Book of Han·Lüli Zhi Shang" recorded: " The sun and the moon are like a wall, and the five planets are like pearls in a row ." This is an officially recognized auspicious sign.
Since the so-called "auspicious signs" of "the sun and the moon are in harmony, and the five planets are in a line", all the ministers congratulated him, and Nian Gengyao also presented a congratulatory letter praising Yongzheng for his hard work and diligence. However, the handwriting in the letter was sloppy, and he accidentally wrote "朝乾夕勤" instead of "夕提朝乾".
Yongzheng seized this opportunity and used it as an excuse to say that Nian Gengyao was not a careless person, but he deliberately did not attribute the words "work hard in the morning and be vigilant in the evening" to me. He also believed that this was because he "relied on his own achievements and showed disrespect", so his military achievements in Qinghai were "between my approval and disapproval". Then Yongzheng replaced the officials in Sichuan and Shaanxi. He first dismissed Hu Qiheng, the governor of Gansu, who was close to Nian Gengyao, and transferred Na Tai, the acting governor of Sichuan, back to Beijing, so that he could not cause chaos in his post. In April, he removed Nian Gengyao from his post as the governor-general of Sichuan and Shaanxi, ordered him to hand over the seal of the general of Fuyuan, and transferred him to the general of Hangzhou.
As soon as the news reached the headquarters of the Zhongfu platform, Huo Chong immediately organized new training. Both intermediate and advanced classes were opened.
Although those who thought that Nian Gengyao was up to no good were somewhat happy, they were also very worried. Those who had never been to the capital and accurately predicted the changes in the court's high-level officials based on the limited information they had received were of course somewhat proud. They even dared not to believe it.
Even young people like Qian Qing, who had a fixed hostility towards the Qing Dynasty, were not too happy. When Qian Qing met Huo Chong privately, he just reiterated his position on following Huo Chong in the rebellion, "Sir, the court that only knows how to play with the people should be destroyed!"
Others didn't know that Huo Chong was going to rebel. They were all shocked by the ruthlessness of the struggle among the upper class. Even Lei Hu was really shocked.
The platform's investigation of Lei Hu has ended. Lei Hu said very implicitly that he only had a little fame. In fact, many people in Changshan knew Lei Hu, a scholar, and generally believed that he should be able to pass the imperial examination easily.
Even though Lei Hu had read a lot of books, he still could not accept Yongzheng's behavior which was "clearly a trick".
Both the senior and intermediate classes initially believed that Yongzheng was a "tyrant", but Lei Hu's words made everyone feel closer to their own feelings. The evaluation of Yongzheng became "playing tricks" and even "villain".
A tyrant is an emperor who acts cruelly and viciously, a well-known bully. When Yongzheng used Nian Gengyao, he doted on him in various ways. Once Nian Gengyao was no longer useful, he abandoned him. This method is really not the method of a tyrant.
Here, Huo Chong spared no effort in analyzing, deconstructing and criticizing the Qing Emperor Yongzheng, as well as the Qing officials and even the Qing system through study classes.
The advanced and intermediate classes were not gathering to discuss Nian Gengyao's misfortune. Huo Chong had long expected Nian Gengyao to end up in such a miserable way. If Nian Gengyao lived a few decades of wealth and honor, Huo Chong would feel very uncomfortable.
Huo Chong asked everyone to be careful. If Yongzheng was like this to Nian Gengyao, he would not show any mercy to other officials.
According to the national system, officials who borrowed money from the national treasury should repay it. However, Yongzheng's ruthless method would only drive those officials crazy. The Zhongfu platform must be prepared for such a situation.
Of course, Huo Chong did not miss such an opportunity. He also fiercely criticized the systematic corruption of Qing officials and Kangxi's special closeness to his slaves, which allowed them to do whatever they wanted and embezzled the people's money from the national treasury.
As a major taxpayer, Huo Chong never concealed from his subordinates how much money was collected from them. The Qing Dynasty might not be able to collect more than 30 million taels of tax silver a year, but one-third of it was provided by the Zhongfu platform run by Huo Chong and his colleagues.
The money was not used for the right things, but was embezzled by those corrupt officials. The young people were very angry when they talked about it.
More importantly, after squandering the people's money, do these corrupt officials still have the nerve to extort money from the Zhongfu platform?
Huo Chong was now trying his best to tell the truth to the members of the training class, which had already reached four figures. After Nian Gengyao's misdeeds, Yongzheng's relationship with officials had already suffered a severe blow. There was no point in waiting any longer.
As for what will happen, Huo Chong believes that the Manchu officials are cannibals. They will not let go of anything they can eat, let alone Huo Chong, a piece of fat meat. As for when they will be forced to rise up, Huo Chong believes that it is just a matter of time, but it will definitely happen.
And it will happen in a short time!
After Nian Gengyao was transferred, officials inside and outside the court saw the situation more clearly and exposed his crimes. In the name of complying with the requests of his ministers, Yongzheng began to reduce Nian Gengyao's official rank.
At this time, Yongzheng met with a group of officials who had received good reviews from local officials, especially Dong, the county magistrate of Mouping County, whom Yongzheng wanted to meet very much.
Mouping County was a poor county, but Magistrate Dong had a good reputation there and was very honest. He also paid taxes in full every year.
Under such circumstances, County Magistrate Dong worked for the full three years. You know, if County Magistrate Dong was in another place, he would probably have been promoted within a year.
Yongzheng certainly knew something about Huo Chong's affairs in Shandong. It happened that there was an official like County Magistrate Dong who had been in office for three years, so of course he had to have a good talk with him.
Therefore, Yongzheng specially put County Magistrate Dong at the end of the list of officials to be met that day, leaving more than an hour. This should be enough time to understand the situation of the poor county in Shandong.
