Volume 2: Eagle vs. Dragon Chapter 99 Epilogue
Beijing, Zibi Villa, Old Summer Palace.
An urgent document from six hundred miles away rushed in, but was blocked outside the door.
In stark contrast to the raging fire in Guangzhou, the Zibi Villa was now filled with a peaceful atmosphere.
In the room, an old man was writing with a pen, a middle-aged man was grinding ink, and two other middle-aged men were watching.
These four people were the top core members of the entire Qing Empire: Emperor Qianlong, Emperor Jiaqing, Grand Councilor Heshen, and Emperor Jiaqing's eleventh brother Aisin-Gioro Yongyan.
The one writing is Qianlong, the one grinding ink is Heshen, and the ones standing beside and reading the writing are Jiaqing and Yongyan. In the mountain house, there is harmony among the emperor, the ministers are loyal, the father is kind, and the sons are filial.
Emperor Qianlong was already over eighty years old, but he still wanted to appear vigorous and energetic. Among all the emperors in history, he was the only one to live to such a long life. However, as he held the pen at this moment, his hand could not stop shaking.
The Jiaqing Emperor and Yongyan, who were standing nearby, restrained themselves from looking at Qianlong's hands and tried to focus their eyes on the words. Only Heshen's eyes naturally followed the murals on the paper, and he showed admiration as he looked at them.
His handwriting wasn't very good, and his trembling hands couldn't write really good characters. But Emperor Qianlong couldn't see clearly, and he probably felt that his handwriting hadn't changed much.
He stopped writing and muttered something. Jiaqing didn't understand, but Yongyan guessed that he was calling for someone. Heshen immediately responded, "Master, I'm here."
Qianlong muttered something again.
He Shen stopped grinding ink and said with a wry smile: "Master, you are making things difficult for me. Although I have read two books and practiced calligraphy for two days, I am not qualified to judge your calligraphy."
Qianlong smiled, pointed at Heshen, and shook his head. This time Yongyan understood what he meant: "You, you."
Then, he said something to Jiaqing, and Heshen said, "Your Majesty, the Emperor asked you what you think of this calligraphy."
Jiaqing had already racked his brains for a prepared answer to this question, but when Heshen asked him this question, he could not even think of any answer he had prepared. In the end, he just said, "Well, my father's handwriting is good."
Qianlong seemed not very satisfied and asked Yongyan again. His mumbling was slightly different from the previous one, but the tone did not change much. Yongyan guessed that he was asking the same question to him. Without waiting for Heshen to translate, he said, "Father's handwriting is smooth and elegant, and it has the beauty of Zhao's handwriting."
The character "Zhao" is the name of Zhao Mengfu, the favorite calligrapher of Emperor Qianlong. Yongyan himself is proficient in calligraphy, so he took the risk and guessed it.
The result was that he guessed correctly. Qianlong looked at Yongyan with a smile, obviously quite satisfied. However, he felt that it was not enough, so he muttered something to Heshen again.
Although He Shen was nearly fifty years old, he was still well-maintained. In addition, he was handsome and looked less than forty years old. At this time, he said bitterly: "Master, you, you are making it too difficult for me. You know that I don't know much, but you still force me to speak. If I say something wrong, Master will be tolerant and will not blame me, but it will become a joke if it gets out."
Qianlong still pointed at Heshen and grumbled.
"Okay, okay." He Shen said, "Since the master has said so, I will dare to say a few words."
Qianlong gave up his seat, and Heshen came closer and looked at the calligraphy carefully, saying, "Oh, this calligraphy is wonderful, wonderful. I looked at it over and over again, but I only saw one word, which is the word "good" that the emperor just said. But..."
Qianlong raised his chin slightly and muttered something. Yongyan guessed that this sentence was probably to ask "what's wrong" - he probably thought that Heshen's "but" was meant to be a criticism, so he looked forward to it with some dissatisfaction.
He Shen said: "I don't know much about reading, but I have been following my master for a long time. When it comes to my master's things, my nose is like a dog's. I can smell all kinds of smells..."
When Qianlong heard this, he laughed out loud, and Jiaqing and Yongyan also laughed hurriedly.
He Shen and the other three laughed before continuing, "So this servant feels a little strange when he smells this. This character has a smell of wealth and elegance, which is normal. The master is the most noble person in the world throughout the ages, so his character is naturally rich and elegant. But what I don't understand is why this character also reveals a bit of the air of the mountains and forests..."
Jiaqing was slow to react, and when Yongyan heard this, he thought, "Oh no, Heshen has said it all. Father is the emperor, how could there be any mountain and forest air in his handwriting?"
He looked at Qianlong with some worry, but Qianlong did not look unhappy at all, and was even very happy. He pointed at Heshen's nose and muttered something. Heshen smiled and said, "My nose can be praised by the master. In the future, it will become precious, even more precious than me."
Qianlong laughed heartily - although he was old, and his facial features had degenerated except for his ears which still remained sensitive, he still had great self-control, and although he laughed a lot, he would not let himself laugh too much and hurt his body.
Jiaqing and Yongyan both added to the laughter.
Qianlong pointed at Heshen and muttered something to them.
Heshen translated for him: " The Emperor said that Heshen's nose is really sharp. I just saw the purple and green autumn scenery, and suddenly I had the idea of mountains and forests in my mind. I put it down on the tip of my pen, but I didn't expect that his nose would smell it out. Haha, haha."
Those two hahaha's were not laughter, but he was saying haha on behalf of Qianlong.
Jiaqing felt a little embarrassed and couldn't keep up for a while, but Yongyan had already laughed and said, "Your Excellency's dog nose is very useful. We, as sons, only regret that we don't have it, otherwise we would be able to smell the emperor's intentions."
Jiaqing was quite unhappy in his heart. After all, he was the king of a country. How could he want to grow a dog's nose? However, he did not show it on his face.
The emperor and his minister joked a few more times, and Heshen glanced outside the door and said, "Master, there seems to be an urgent document outside. I will go and take a look?"
Qianlong waved his hand and Heshen went out. He was slightly bent in the room, and as he stepped out of the threshold, he straightened his back and walked like a tiger with a back as strong as a pine tree. The guards and eunuchs next to him did not dare to look at him, but as he passed by, people on both sides bent their waists.
Such momentum frightened the messenger so much that he quickly bent down.
Heshen casually took the express letter, opened it, took a look at it and put it away. He went back to the room, and as he stepped over the threshold, his body naturally bent a few degrees.
Qianlong had already asked Yongyan to spread out another piece of paper and continue writing without asking any questions. It was Jiaqing who asked, "What's the urgent news? Is there an alarm at the border? Or a disaster somewhere?"
He knew that it must be an express delivery of six hundred miles, otherwise the documents would not even be delivered to the door.
"No." Heshen faced Qianlong, and Qianlong waved his left hand and pointed at Jiaqing.
He Shen replied, "Yes."
Then he turned to Jiaqing and said, "Your Majesty, it's nothing serious. There was a big fire in Guangzhou, which burned dozens of warehouses in Baietan. The fire has been put out . The Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi and the General of Guangzhou sent urgent reports at the same time."
Jiaqing said "oh" and then asked, "Is there any injury?" When hearing about a fire, people did not ask about the loss first, but asked whether there were any injuries. There is an allusion here. During the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, a stable in the State of Lu caught fire. After Confucius left the court, he heard about it and asked first, "Are there any injuries?" instead of asking about the horses.
Jiaqing's question was meant to show the benevolence of Confucius, who said "asking about people is not as good as asking about horses" - however, he was unable to hear more hidden meanings from the literal meaning of "dozens of warehouses in Baietan".
Qianlong was writing at first, but when he heard this, his pen paused slightly and the word was ruined.
He Shen said: "No one was hurt."
Jiaqing's understanding and control over the country was still shallow, so he couldn't tell how much money was burned from Heshen's simple words "dozens of warehouses in Baietan", so he didn't ask any more questions.
Qianlong put down his pen, crumpled up threw it away.
He Shen's eyes flickered slightly, and he said, "I was brought to Guangdong by this urgent message, and I suddenly remembered something. I wonder if I should report it to the Emperor and His Majesty."
Qianlong did not speak. Seeing that Qianlong did not allow him to speak, Jiaqing did not stop him either, so he said, "Go ahead."
He Shen said: "Recently, the Western Barbarians have become restless again and have become rampant in Guangdong. According to the report from the Governor-General of the Guangdong Customs, they even bombarded Lao Wanshan Island for some unknown reason a few months ago..."
Qianlong was about to put pen to paper when he heard this. He was known as the "Ten Perfect Old Man" and boasted of his "Ten Perfect Military Achievements". He was most sensitive to territorial issues.
Jiaqing asked: "Where is Lao Wanshan Island?"
He Shen said: "It is a small island in the sea area of Xiangshan County, Guangdong. There is only a small fishing village on the island."
Jiaqing breathed a sigh of relief: "It turns out to be just a deserted island..."
Qianlong snorted and threw the pen onto the snow-white paper, leaving a large area of ink.
Jiaqing was greatly panicked, and Yongyan lowered his head quickly.
Qianlong muttered something, and Heshen said hurriedly: "Yes, yes, my master is right. Even if the old Wanshan Island is desolate, it is the land of our Qing Dynasty, and we will never allow the barbarians to touch it and invade it!"
Qianlong muttered again, and Heshen said, "My Lord, although there is no other report from Guangdong, since the barbarians dared to use artillery, I am afraid that other things such as looting along the coast are inevitable. The lack of report from below may be an attempt to deceive, and we don't know."
Qianlong said another sentence, and Jiaqing seemed to hear the word "Zhu Gui". He felt nervous, not because he was worried about Zhu Gui, but because he was afraid that if he was really talking about Zhu Gui, he didn't know whether he would be implicated.
He Shen said: "There was no report from the Guangdong and Guangxi Governor's Office. Nor was there any news that he had led his troops to the sea to arrest the barbarians. This matter was reported by the Guangdong Customs."
Qianlong snorted, grabbed a brush, and quickly wrote two words on the ink-spattered paper. Because the words were written in large size, Jiaqing was able to recognize them even though they were cursive. They were the words "颟顸", and the pressure in his heart became even greater.
Qianlong said something to Jiaqing, and Heshen said, "Your Majesty, the Emperor said that you can handle the affairs of Guangdong."
Jiaqing thought for a while before saying, "Zhu Gui is incompetent in governing the country and has failed my father's trust. I will issue an order to punish him severely!"
Qianlong frowned and muttered something.
He Shen said, "Your Majesty, the Emperor said that he is your teacher after all, so you should still show him some respect."
"This..." Jiaqing thought for a long time before saying, "The position of governor of Anhui is vacant. How about letting Zhu Gui be transferred to Anhui?"
Qianlong waved his hand and said something. Heshen said, "Your Majesty, the Emperor said that the throne has been passed to you. You... do as you see fit."
(End of Volume 2)
