There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 442 Uncle and Sister-in-law Join Forces
The news that Emperor Jiaqing was nearing his end was not obtained by spies from the Han Army's intelligence division stationed in the north.

It should be said that this news, which was enough to shake the world's situation, had already caused a great stir in Beijing.

Even if Jiaqing had only fallen ill and was not yet dead, the news should not have leaked out so quickly, even if he had suddenly passed away.

On the contrary, we must be vigilant and guard against any premature leaks of information, lest they shake the morale and the public's confidence.

However, the news was still leaked, and it spread very quickly, even reaching Beijing in a short period of time.

Not only ordinary people in the capital, but even the Manchu nobles felt that Emperor Jiaqing might be doomed.

The mastermind behind all this was none other than Jiaqing's "good brother," Prince Yongxing, who had once competed with Jiaqing for the throne but failed and was then generously entrusted with important responsibilities by Jiaqing.

The most prominent impression of Prince Cheng in later generations is that he was extremely stingy. He even cooked and ate the horse meat when it died, adhering to the principle of not wasting food.

The story of eating dead horse meat was even made into the TV series "Qianlong Dynasty".

Of course, these actual accounts of stinginess come from the famous unofficial historical notes, "Xiaoting Miscellaneous Records".

The reason why it has been widely used by many marketing accounts and even made into a TV series is mainly because the author of "Xiaoting Zalu" is very important. He was Prince Zhaolian (a descendant of Daishan), who lived during the same period as Jiaqing.

However, this does not mean that Xiaoting Zalu is credible, because Xiaoting Zalu was written after Zhaolian was stripped of his princely title by Jiaqing and was in despair.

It not only describes Yongxing as eating dead horse meat, being violent and extremely stingy, but also Ji Xiaolan as arrogant and conceited, openly criticizing Qianlong for his low cultural attainments... and other content that deviates greatly from official history.

Moreover, apart from Zhao Lian himself, almost all the other Manchu and Han nobles, princes and ministers in "Xiaoting Miscellaneous Records" were criticized.

Whether or not to adopt this information is entirely up to the individual's judgment.

However, both the official history of the Qing Dynasty and the "Xiaoting Miscellaneous Records" record that Yongxing was exceptionally talented, and his literary and artistic achievements even ranked him among the top ten in the literary rankings during the more than 200 years of the Qing Dynasty.

This all started a little over a month ago when Emperor Jiaqing heard that his hometown outside the Great Wall had been attacked by the Han army across the sea. He was so anxious and upset that he suddenly fell ill.

In order to stabilize morale, the high-ranking officials who accompanied the emperor to the Summer Palace temporarily elected Prince Yongxing, who was also in the entourage, to lead the Grand Council in making decisions on some important and urgent military and national affairs.

This is quite reasonable. Prince Cheng, Yongxing, was also a nominal minister of the Grand Council. He rarely participated in decision-making and would only speak a few words when Jiaqing issued an edict. He took the art of self-preservation after failing to seize the throne to the extreme.

But now that the opportunity has presented itself, Yongxing seized it on the spot.

Anyway, no one knows how it happened, but Dong Gao, the nominal head of the Grand Council, pretended to be deaf and dumb and stood by and watched, while Empress Niohuru of the Jiaqing Emperor simply and explicitly supported her brother-in-law Yongxing to take the helm of the Grand Council.

All of this seems absurd, yet it is full of logic.

Because Emperor Jiaqing was indeed ill and unable to govern (at least he was unlikely to recover in the short term), and the Qing Dynasty was in a state of turmoil and could not allow a power vacuum to persist for so long, there had to be an emperor, or at the very least a crown prince or prince, to oversee state affairs.

Emperor Yongzheng abolished the crown prince system and replaced it with the secret designation of the heir apparent, meaning the Qing dynasty no longer had a crown prince. Emperor Daoguang was only a teenager at this time, and Emperor Jiaqing had only been ruling in his own right for two years; they had no time to reveal their preferred successors to their ministers.

Since Emperor Daoguang couldn't take the throne, the only prince who was capable, experienced, and had a good reputation was Yongxing.

Yongxing happened to be nominally a member of the Grand Council, so it was legitimate for him to handle important military and national affairs, and he also had enough prestige to keep the court officials in check.

The key point is that there are precedents for these cases, such as Dorgon and Dayuer!
It was nothing more than an alliance between the uncle and sister-in-law, with the emperor acting as regent.

Later, Empress Dowager Cixi also pulled a similar stunt, joining forces with her sixth brother-in-law and sister-in-law to overthrow the eight regents left by Emperor Xianfeng, and then seizing power to lead the "Westernization Movement".

It's not surprising that Empress Niohuru would join forces with Yongxing; which concubine in the harem wouldn't want her son to become emperor?

Historically, when Emperor Jiaqing died suddenly, and the court officials could not find the imperial edict of succession, Empress Niohuru still decided to let Emperor Daoguang succeed to the throne. It wasn't that this empress was magnanimous and could let go; it was simply that Jiaqing died too late, and Daoguang's power was already fully established. If her own son were to become emperor, the position of empress dowager would probably have to be abolished.

Things are different now. Emperor Jiaqing's illness came too suddenly, and Empress Niohuru had just been promoted to Empress this year, a time when her ambitions were swelling. Although her own son was still young, his rank was very high, right after Emperor Daoguang.

If Daoguang is removed from the throne, no one can compete with his son for the throne. Especially since Daoguang is still too young, it's a perfect opportunity for the uncle and sister-in-law to join forces and make a fortune.

There's always a precedent to avoid.

Dorgon and his sister-in-law Dayuer joined forces, but in the end, the young Fulin (Emperor Shunzhi) won by doing nothing and became the Shunzhi Emperor. It is not because the two of them joined forces that they could not seize the throne.

Yongxing and Jiaqing's new empress, Niohuru, were both scheming and plotting to emulate the events of the Shunzhi era.

They first sealed off the Summer Palace, preventing the seriously ill Jiaqing from contacting the outside world. Then, with the support of the Empress and Yongxing's own strength, they seized the position of head of the Grand Council.

Dong Gao, the former head of the Grand Council, requested to retire and return home, but Yongxing rejected his request and allowed him to continue working in the Grand Council.

All the ministers of the Grand Council remained unchanged, except for Gong Ala (the Empress's father), who was promoted to Minister of Rites. The original Minister of Rites, Feng Chun, was granted leave due to serious illness. At the same time, Ying He and Liu Yong, who were leading troops in battle far away, were each granted the additional title of Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince to reassure them.

In short, after this series of operations, the central leadership of the Qing Dynasty seemed to remain unchanged, yet also seemed to have undergone significant changes.

Wang Jie, who was Jiaqing's only confidant in the Grand Council (whose father, Fu Sen, had died a few months earlier), resigned from his post to retire due to a "leg ailment." Yongxing did not reject his resignation but instead granted him the honorary title of Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince.

……

In Chengde, the Mountain Resort was busy with a power struggle between an uncle and his sister-in-law to seize control.

The Manchu officials and commoners in Beijing also quickly learned of Jiaqing's illness, and there were even rumors that Jiaqing was about to die.

The Qing central government in the Summer Palace had no time to refute the rumors, or perhaps no energy to care what the Manchus in the capital thought.

In short, it was a complete mess. Yongxing wanted to emulate his uncle and sister-in-law's joint power grab, but their methods were too crude. Moreover, they didn't have the same power as Dorgon, and the Qing Dynasty wasn't the fledgling state it was when it first entered the Central Plains. So, while they did seize power, the problems they exposed were even greater.

The title of Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince, which was awarded to Yinghe and Liu Yong who were leading troops in battle, cannot be said to be completely useless!
But it was also something that made them see through at a glance.

The spies deployed by the Han Dynasty in the north merely sent back to Nanjing a piece of information that Jiaqing might be in trouble, based on hearsay.

Yinghe and Liu Yong, who had already rushed to Xuzhou, keenly sensed that something might really have happened to Jiaqing, and not just a simple illness, but some major upheaval concerning power and politics.

Xuzhou, the prefectural government office.

It has now become the temporary command post of Yinghe's southward army, and the defense of Xuzhou has been completely handed over to Yinghe, the Governor-General of Jiangbei and Commander-in-Chief of Jiangbei.

At nightfall.

"Stop whoever comes!"

"Clang!"

The guards at the gate shouted to stop him and drew their swords. Tie Bao hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Please inform them that the Grand Canal Transport Commissioner Tie Bao and the Jiangnan Waterway Commissioner Kang Jitian request an audience with Commander-in-Chief Yinghe!"

Upon hearing that two governors were visiting late at night, the guards did not immediately allow them to pass. Instead, one of them quickly ran into the yamen to report the visit.

Before long, the guards returned and stopped blocking their way.

Kang Jitian cupped his hands in thanks: "Thank you."

The two men strode into the yamen, and after walking a few steps, they saw Yinghe, who was lighting a lamp late at night and looking at a map of Xuzhou's city defenses.

Seeing this, Kang Jitian and Tie Bao exchanged a glance, then stood bowing at the door without saying a word.

Yinghe seemed completely oblivious to them, studying the map of Xuzhou's city defenses and landscape with great care, as if the map held some key to defeating the enemy.

After about half an hour, both of them started to feel sore and numb in their backs and legs.

Yinghe then suddenly picked up his teacup, seemingly unintentionally shaking his head and blowing on it a few times: "Oh dear, it's Lord Kang and Lord Tie! I was so engrossed in studying how to break through the enemy's defenses that I didn't even notice you two for a moment!"

The acting was fake and insincere; they couldn't even be bothered to offer a hypocritical apology.

But despite how excessive this was, Kang Jitian and Tie Bao had no choice but to accept it, and hurriedly said, "Marshal Ying has worked so hard for Xuzhou. We are just two people who have committed crimes. How dare we interfere with the important military and national affairs of the Marshal?"

This statement was quite humble, and by pointing out his and Tie Bao's guilty status at the outset, he essentially handed over the pretext for the conversation.

Such a show of weakness rendered Yinghe's prepared rhetoric useless.

After all, while Kang Jitian and Tie Bao were considered guilty, they hadn't been explicitly stripped of their governorships by imperial decree. But to say they were still governors was absurd; they had lost control of the Grand Canal and the Jiangnan region, leaving only the isolated city of Xuzhou. What kind of governorship were they then?

To put it bluntly, these two men have been in an awkward position ever since they returned to Xuzhou. They have completely lost their governorship, but Emperor Jiaqing has neither issued an edict to punish them nor stripped them of their governorship, which has made them extremely anxious.

They could only be coerced by Yang Hu, the prefect of Xuzhou, to help defend the city.

They were both afraid of being held accountable by the imperial court and wanted to redeem themselves through meritorious service.

But now, the situation is somewhat different, not because Yinghe has arrived. Yinghe's arrival, in fact, was initially a major problem for them.

But just today, the imperial court suddenly issued an edict to Yinghe, bestowing upon him the title of Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince. Such a reward without merit could mean that something had gone wrong.

What's particularly intriguing is that the inscription on the bestowed gifts was no longer addressed to their Emperor, but rather to the Grand Council led by Prince Yongxing.

Seeing the two men showing such weakness, Yinghe decided to be frank and ask directly: "Lord Kang, Lord Tie, I am very busy with military affairs. What business do you two have that requires you to visit me so late at night?"

Kang Jitian and Tie Bao said in unison, "This day, Marshal Ying received an imperial decree bestowing honors and rewards, so we have come to congratulate him..."

“Stop. If you want to congratulate me, then there’s no need.” Yinghe shook his head.

Kang Jitian smiled and said, "Commander Ying, it's not about congratulations, but about cooperation."

Yinghe asked in confusion, "Huh? Cooperation?"

"Exactly, cooperation."

Tie Bao added a comment.

Yinghe narrowed his eyes. If an ordinary person had proposed cooperation to him, he would have taken it as a joke. But the people talking about it now were Kang Jitian and Tie Bao, two men of similar rank to him, and both in the awkward position of being convicted of crimes.

In this situation, since they actually came to talk about cooperation with him, he really wanted to hear what they had to say.
Or, what leverage do we have to discuss cooperation?

Kang Jitian's smile faded, and he said, "Marshal Ying, something seems to have happened to His Majesty."

Upon hearing this, Yinghe unconsciously raised her eyebrows slightly, then quickly relaxed them.

Kang Jitian noticed even such a subtle change in expression. Without waiting for Yinghe's reaction, he continued, "General Ying may think I'm exaggerating, but think carefully, is there anything wrong with today's imperial decree of reward?"

"The imperial edict, the decree of the emperor, is not signed by His Majesty the Great Qing, but by Prince Cheng. Moreover, Prince Cheng has suddenly become the chief Grand Councilor. If I remember correctly, Prince Cheng was previously just a member of the Grand Council."

"Even the position of a prince serving in the Grand Council seems somewhat illegitimate and improper. Since Emperor Yongzheng established the Grand Council, there has never been a precedent for a prince to serve in it. Even Prince Yi, whom Emperor Yongzheng trusted most in the past, did not receive the privilege of serving in the Grand Council."

Upon hearing this, Yinghe could no longer contain himself and flew into a rage, saying, "Based on the imperial edict and the fact that the Grand Council is in charge, you dare to conclude that His Majesty is in trouble? How dare you, Lord Kang!"

However, Kang Jitian paid no attention to Yinghe's "anger" and instead secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

He made the right bet, and Yinghe also had doubts about the imperial edict.

If you're really angry, then instead of yelling, you should take action.

After all, they were still criminals, and uttering such treasonous words was enough to warrant arrest.

Kang Jitian added, "If that's all there is to it, of course we can't be certain. However, Lord Wang Jie of the Grand Council is not among the names on the signature."

Wang Jie was a confidant of Emperor Jiaqing, and had just been promoted to a Manchu banner last year. There was no way he could have been kicked out of the Grand Council without a trace.

The emperor could kick someone out of the Grand Council, but only if that person had fallen out of favor.

Under what circumstances could a trusted and important minister, or even a Han official who had raised the banner for him, suddenly fall out of favor?

If this were true, it would surely cause a major political upheaval.

Xuzhou received very little information, but they could still glean some clues from the disappearance of several names and the strangeness of the imperial edict.

Tie Bao added a special sentence at the end: "In the past, Prince Rui and... jointly assisted Emperor Shunzhi in ascending the throne, which opened up the 150-year reign of our Great Qing Dynasty."

This is tantamount to an explicit statement.

Only Tiebao, a Manchu, could speak frankly with Yinghe.

Kang Jitian had guessed it, but as a Han official, he couldn't speak carelessly. However, he still added, "The British commander may think this is just our speculation, but... better safe than sorry."

"To put it bluntly, Marshal Ying, you were promoted by His Majesty to become the Governor-General of Jiangbei, commanding tens of thousands of elite Eight Banner troops of the imperial court."

(End of this chapter)