There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 402 Deterioration
This winter, it is still snowing lightly in the north.

Emperor Jiaqing had already left the Chengde Mountain Resort and moved back to the Yuanmingyuan Garden, so it was really inappropriate for him to return to the Forbidden City.

Prices are rising every day throughout Beijing; even coal, used in winter, is 30% more expensive than in previous years.

It's understandable that other commodities like grains and salt are rising in price, since those are indeed heavily reliant on the south. However, coal is almost entirely produced in the north, so there shouldn't be a shortage of coal.

The price of coal in Beijing has risen, although the increase is not as dramatic as that of grain and salt, it still means that the rise in grain prices has affected the coal market in the north.

Faced with this situation, Emperor Jiaqing immediately issued an edict that coal prices in the north must not be raised, and all prices that had already been raised must be reduced back. Anyone who dared to raise prices at this time to profit from the national crisis would have their property confiscated and be exiled to Ningguta.

However, Jiaqing's decree was issued quickly, and while it wasn't entirely ineffective, it was less effective than a piece of waste paper.

The reason is quite simple: when Jiaqing issued this decree, he restricted coal merchants from raising prices.

Merchants who don't raise prices will only suffer huge losses. The increase in coal prices isn't actually their problem; it's the coal mines that raised their selling prices, and these mines are state-owned.

In layman's terms, it was actually Emperor Jiaqing, the benevolent and "people-loving" Qing emperor, who drove up coal prices.

Emperor Jiaqing himself may not have been aware of it, or he may have known but tacitly approved it. He needed to wage war, pay the army, and maintain the operation of the court's bureaucratic system, all of which required money.

Where does the money come from?
They can only squeeze money from the common people. When Jiangnan was still in power, they could still exploit the gentry of Jiangnan and make them pay.

Now, Jiangnan is gone, the canal transport has been cut off, and a large number of troops have to be deployed to Jiangbei to guard against the pseudo-Han forces advancing up the canal.

This expenditure exceeded the fiscal balance of the Qing Dynasty's treasury.

To make up for these deficits, the increasingly heavy levies were no longer enough, so Jiaqing had no choice but to extend his reach to state-owned mines.

Minerals are always the second fastest way to make money; the fastest is salt, which is a truly risk-free and highly profitable business.

That's right, the price of salt in the north rose along with that of grain, which was also due to an imperial decree issued by Emperor Jiaqing.

Of course, Jiaqing only set a quota for the Ministry of Revenue, requiring it to allocate a certain amount of silver to supply the army at the front lines.

Emperor Jiaqing was a "benevolent emperor," so how could he persecute and exploit the people of the Qing Dynasty?
Anyway, that's the situation. Emperor Jiaqing issued an edict forbidding coal farmers from raising prices and forcing them to sell coal at the fixed price.

The coal miners, concerned about their own losses, treated the government's orders as utter nonsense.

As a result, under the decree of Emperor Jiaqing, coal prices in the north rose instead of falling. In fact, a large amount of coal was smuggled south by coal miners as soon as it was mined in Shanxi and other mines, and sold to the Han Dynasty, which was even richer than the Qing Dynasty.

These coal miners had been smuggling coal to the south before, but they were more discreet back then and didn't dare to smuggle too openly.

It wasn't just about protecting one's life and fortune; it was also about leaving room for maneuver, in case the Qing Dynasty ultimately won.

But all these restraints vanished without a trace with Jiaqing's imperial edict on "affordable coal." Since it was already illegal anyway, and being caught meant exile and confiscation of property, it was better to expand the business, make enough money, and then head south to enjoy wealth and luxury.

Emperor Jiaqing never expected that he would issue an imperial edict to stabilize coal prices, and he didn't even dare to touch grain and salt prices.

As a result, the price of coal in the private sector actually rose instead of falling, which was a real slap in the face for him!

Emperor Jiaqing was furious. Feeling that his imperial authority had been challenged, he immediately ordered local officials to arrest the people.

It would have been better if they hadn't taken action; once they did, the coal miners were completely outraged!
These coal miners, who were able to do business with state-run coal mines, were certainly not good people. Seeing that the imperial court was serious, some of them chose to flee, taking their family fortunes and escaping to the south.

The remaining coal miners did not flee; instead, they openly threw out their money and started an uprising.

The emperor is allowed to make money while the common people are not even allowed a sip of soup. They even have to dig out the people's bones and blood to use as a snack. Is there such a cheap thing in the world?

The coal miners threw money around to rally the masses and start an uprising. It's hard to say how effective they were, but there was definitely chaos, and the chaos spread directly from Shanxi to Zhili (present-day Hebei).

That's good, the battle in Henan doesn't need to be fought anymore.

Liu Zhixie was incredibly lucky. Having just suffered a major defeat at Ruzhou, the morale of the White Lotus sect was severely destabilized. Yinghe and Liu Yong were just waiting for the snow to melt next spring so they could ride the wave of their victory to conquer Nanyang and completely eradicate this scourge that was festering in the Central Plains.

The coal miners rallied together and rose up, severing some of the connections between Henan and Zhili, especially the army's supply lines and logistics.

Forced into a corner, the Qing army in Henan had no choice but to abandon Ruzhou, which it had recaptured twice, and retreat to Kaifeng. Meanwhile, Yinghe and Liu Yong prepared to return to suppress the White-Headed Army behind them.

Because the rebels were mostly coal miners, and many of them had recruited other coal miners, they all wore white headscarves to distinguish themselves from their black coal-covered bodies. The common people simply called them the "White-Headed Army."

A wave of unrest, a wave of up again.

The White-Haired Army had just started its uprising, and theoretically, its strength shouldn't have been very strong. However, relying on the bonds they formed while mining coal together, they quickly merged with several peasant armies in Shanxi and grew rapidly in a short period of time.

With the constant fighting and uprisings in various places, Emperor Jiaqing had little troops left to fight and few capable generals. Even Emperor Qianlong left him little behind when he died, except for a "limited gift package" of Heshen, which couldn't even be worth 100 million taels of silver.

As a trusted minister who enjoyed the deep trust of Emperor Jiaqing and was relatively close to Zhili, Yinghe could only put Liu Zhixie aside for the time being and hurry back to suppress the bandits.

This year was the most unpleasant year for Jiaqing. Last year, at least he had just assumed personal rule. Although the Qing Dynasty was already in decline, with peasant uprisings breaking out in various places and the Han Chinese being a constant threat, Jiaqing still had confidence at that time that he could eventually turn the tide and revive the Qing Dynasty.

but……

As the year draws to a close, the situation in the Qing Dynasty has not only not improved, but has actually gotten worse.

The winter solstice is as important as the New Year.

This year, Emperor Jiaqing unusually did not celebrate the winter solstice, but instead stayed at the Yuanmingyuan Garden. He also gathered all the senior officials, including Dong Gao, to discuss how to suppress the growing number of rebel armies in various regions and to stabilize the increasingly outrageous prices in the north.

Prices in Beijing are no longer important. If prices in Beijing are this outrageous, how high will prices in the north be?
Dong Gao, a wise and experienced ruler, insisted on his view of remaining in the capital: "Your Majesty, this old minister believes that we must first stabilize prices. If prices are not stabilized, even the Manchus will not be able to survive, and they may even rebel against our Great Qing!"

Such scathing words could only be uttered by someone of Dong Gao's seniority.

Emperor Jiaqing remained silent, seemingly deep in thought.

Wang Jie offered a different opinion: "It's right to stabilize prices, but the imperial court has no surplus grain. If the imperial court has no money, it will be difficult to stabilize prices. On the other hand, even if the imperial court has money, it will be difficult to stabilize prices. If prices are forcibly stabilized, it will definitely cause a big mess."

This is yet another contradictory outcome. The imperial court needs to control prices, so it needs silver, but silver doesn't just appear out of thin air.

This money, which appeared out of thin air, led to coal miners and coal workers, unable to bear the exploitation, rising up in rebellion.

So, what should we do?
Wang Jie stopped mentioning the strategy of combining suppression and appeasement, because it was no longer appropriate. The imperial court had no money, and without money, it could not provide disaster relief, let alone fight a war.

The prerequisite for using both suppression and appeasement is that the state must have money in its hands.

Otherwise, those who have been painstakingly pacified will soon rebel again because they cannot be replenished.

With Dong Gao and Wang Jie taking the lead in speaking, the remaining officials also stopped holding back and successively put forward their own views for discussion.

"Your Majesty, since there are so many bandits in various places, we should use swift and decisive measures to mobilize a large army to wipe them all out and eliminate any future troubles."

"Easy for you to say, but what about the money and provisions? Where will the money and provisions come from?"

"Killing thieves is fine, but how can you kill thieves without money?"

"Indeed, we should continue to impose additional taxes. This servant requests that an additional 50% of taxes be levied to fund the court's suppression of the bandits."

"If taxes are increased again, and then the people have no way to survive, then they will surely rise up in droves. How can we fight against that?"

"..."

Half of the high-ranking officials, both civil and military, discussed the matter back and forth, but failed to come up with a feasible solution.

There's nothing you can do. No matter how brilliant a person is, if they don't have money, they simply don't have money. Even the most skilled cook can't make a meal without rice.

Han Xin, the military genius, was amazing, wasn't he!
But when Han Xin fought, the more the better. What kind of battle could he fight without an army?

After listening to his ministers discuss the matter for a long time, Emperor Jiaqing could not come up with a usable solution. In desperation, he dismissed them and decided to think of a solution himself.

What can you think of?
It's the same old three tricks: increase taxes, increase taxes, and more increase taxes.

At the same time, troops should be mobilized, including the Eight Banners from outside the pass, the Eight Banners of Mongolia, and all the remaining elite warriors of the Solon, Xibe, and Daur peoples. It's time to send them into the pass to fight.

(End of this chapter)