There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 475 What does it matter if there's a flood after death?

Before even fighting a decisive battle, they were already preparing to abandon Beijing and flee back to their hometown outside the Great Wall.

This would seem outrageous in any other dynasty, but in my Great Qing Dynasty, it was surprisingly normal.

Historically, the Manchu Qing dynasty did indeed intend to flee to the Northeast when faced with overwhelming power, even forcing those outside the Great Wall to shout the slogan "Do not let the Qing emperor return east."

For the Manchu emperors throughout history, the world was their stolen property, and the people were their slaves, whom they could freely squander and enjoy.

If a robber comes to rob you, you give him the goods; if someone else comes to ask for them back, you give them the goods too!

As long as it doesn't shake the foundation of the Qing Dynasty's rule, all benefits can be ceded and all land can be taken away; it's all territory that's been seized, so there's no need to feel sorry for it.

This is not just baseless slander. The world only knows that the Treaty of Nerchinsk, signed by Kangma, ceded more than three million square kilometers of land to Tsarist Russia, and this can still be barely interpreted as a treaty of "potential equality".

Since Kang Youwei did not seem to have actual control over those three million square kilometers of land at the time, it can be barely considered as ceding territory.

Interestingly, Tsarist Russia did not have control over that land, and the original inhabitants of the land had once submitted to Kangxi.

Kangxi's treaty could be considered a "possible equal" treaty, but Emperor Yongzheng, who devoted himself to the cause afterward, was even more remarkable.

During his reign, he signed several treaties with Tsarist Russia, ostensibly to open border trade between China and Russia and ease bilateral relations, but these treaties contained a large number of unequal and unreasonable clauses.

The most outrageous claim is that the border between the Qing Dynasty and the Russian Tsarist Empire should be based on maps drawn by the Russian side!
Emperor Yongzheng readily agreed to this, ostensibly for the sake of border security so that he could focus on dealing with the Dzungars.

Although the Dzungar Khanate was not resolved during the reign of Emperor Yongzheng, even after the Qianlong Emperor resolved the issue, he did not bring up the old score with Tsarist Russia again.

As for Emperor Qianlong, who was known for his "Ten Great Military Achievements," he was too abstract and eccentric, even overshadowing the fact that his father, Emperor Yongzheng, ceded territory to make peace.

The most famous of Emperor Qianlong's Ten Great Military Achievements was the battle the Qing army fought against Burma on the Yunnan border. They were unable to defeat the Burmese Konbaung Dynasty's detachment. It was only because Burma was too busy fighting on multiple fronts that they agreed to negotiate peace with the Qing Dynasty.

Ironically, the content of this peace talks was fabricated by both sides' generals. The Qing generals forged a letter of surrender from the Burmese king, while the Burmese generals forged a report of the Qing dynasty's surrender.

After reading the surrender document, Emperor Qianlong actually believed it. Or perhaps he saw through it but chose not to say anything, to save face for himself, and to show his magnanimity, he also ceded the southwestern part of Gongnan to Burma.

The current Yongli is not even an emperor; he has only joined forces with the eighth and seventeenth princes to seize power and act as regent. Naturally, he has even less to do with the face of the nation.

The seventeenth prince, Yonglin, sided with Yongli because his relationship with Jiaqing was indeed not good. After Jiaqing ascended the throne, Prince Qing, Yonglin, went to pay his respects to his mother, but because he had not reported to Jiaqing in advance, he was expelled from the Qianqing Gate by Jiaqing.

It's like the youngest son went home to visit his mother, but without informing his older brother, he was kicked out of the house in front of everyone and didn't even get to see his mother.

The eighth prince, Yongxuan, was indifferent to worldly affairs, but when Yongli seized the opportunity to launch a coup and placed Jiaqing under house arrest, Yongxing then joined forces with the seventeenth prince, forcing Yongxuan to choose sides.

As for Yongxing stealing from his younger brother's sister-in-law (Empress Jiaqing), that was purely an accident.

The two sides were merely cooperating in a coup, but it was Jiaqing's addiction to sugar that caused the palace maids, eunuchs, and concubines in his harem to also become addicted to sugar.

The King of Chu favored slender waists, and many starved to death in the palace.

Emperor Jiaqing was fond of sugar, and the entire harem was filled with smokers.

Historically, Emperor Jiaqing was forced to issue an edict to restrict the import and export of sugar due to the rampant sugar addiction in the imperial harem, and at the same time strictly forbade palace maids and eunuchs from consuming imported sugar.

It wasn't just the imperial concubines; even some of Jiaqing's sons had some experience with imported "sugar."

This wasn't Jiaqing intentionally promoting it; it's just that the Manchu imperial family had a habit of taking drugs since childhood.

The Manchu imperial family liked to give calming soup to their disobedient and troublesome princes from a young age, and the main active ingredient in calming soup was mercury.

He fainted from mercury poisoning, so let's talk about calming him down!
Pang Wencai, the merchant who provided Yongxing with the source of "sugar," keenly sensed Yongli's plan to abandon Beijing and flee to the Northeast.

Yongli urgently summoned Pang Wencai, but didn't give him many instructions. He simply asked Pang Wencai to prepare more good "sugar" stock, preferably that could be stored in cold weather, and to find good "sugar" seeds that could withstand the cold.

Pang Wencai realized that this guy was going to run away, but he pretended not to notice and even promised to help him get some cold-resistant sugar seeds. After leaving, he secretly leaked the information to the spies in the Han army through special channels.

However, Pang Wencai only revealed the information and did not meet directly with the Han army spies. While revealing the information, he deliberately probed the attitude and tone of the Han side.

This guy knew that if he ran away from the Han Dynasty and went to the Manchu territory to sell "sugar" to earn money, he would likely be purged by the Han Dynasty.

Although his actions did help the Han Dynasty to some extent, making its northern expedition easier, the northern officials were corrupted by his "sweeteners" and were naturally unable to resist the Han army.

However, the government was also corrupted by this stuff. The common people just didn't have the money to buy the good "sugar" that he sold, but that didn't mean that the officials had no other way but to resell some second-hand "sugar".

The rapid spread of tobacco sales decades later, with even the poor smoking it, was partly due to the price of the tobacco itself being driven down—not by the price of the tobacco itself, but by the price of secondhand smoke. Many opium dens, besides selling regular tobacco and tobacco, also sold inferior tobacco leaves mixed in. Even brass pipes were shared among multiple people, just to get a puff—truly a case of "sharing pleasure with the people" (this historical material cannot be posted here; the images wouldn't pass censorship...).

Nie Yu suspended the Northern Expedition not only because Henan was devastated and Shandong was ravaged, but also because the Jiangbei, Henan, and Shandong regions that were recovered this year were all overrun with opium addicts.

We must divide the land for reclamation and cultivation, and we must also ban sugar and quit smoking.

Nie Yu also wrote a letter to the envoy in charge of the Shanxi White-Headed Army, asking him to persuade the other party to ban "sugar" in his jurisdiction and to destroy any tobacco or "sugar" plants he encountered.

Although tobacco can be traded normally in the south, it is currently only exported overseas, and the sale to domestic consumers has not yet been fully opened up.

Since the ban on sugar is still not fully implemented, in order to prevent people from smoking sugar along with cigarettes, Nie Yu has no choice but to implement a blanket ban in China first.

These days, tobacco and "sugar" are the same thing. Decades later, during the First Opium War, those who sold "sugar" along the coast were basically merchants who had experience with tobacco.

Meanwhile, the Manchus were already preparing to flee. When the Nanjing authorities learned of this, they were surprised and unsure of what to do.

Not only is it impossible to confirm the authenticity of the news, but after all, before the Qing Dynasty left, who knows if it was a smokescreen, false intelligence, or misinformation?

This is Beijing!
Even on his deathbed, Emperor Chongzhen of the late Ming Dynasty was reluctant to withdraw from the war. It seems somewhat unreal that he simply handed over the spoils.

The officials of the Han Dynasty were ultimately too ignorant. They had never heard the true value of the late Qing Dynasty's slogan, "Use the resources of China to win the favor of foreign powers." Naturally, they found it unbelievable that the Qing court would cede Beijing.

The Nanjing court was unsure of the situation and decided to observe it first, ordering the various garrisons in the north to closely monitor the situation.

Meanwhile, with the year-end approaching, the Han Dynasty's northern expedition had captured Shandong, Henan, and Jiangbei, essentially sealing the fate of the empire.

The rewards and honors for the merits of the Northern Expedition were finally announced.

When Nie Yu ascended the throne, he did not bestow titles or rewards upon civil and military officials or generals; he only clarified the appointment of officials in the new dynasty.

Now that the Northern Expedition is over and half the battle is won, it's time for Emperor Nie Yu to show his appreciation by bestowing a noble title upon someone!

The civil and military officials of the Han Dynasty followed their emperor in raising an army to conquer the world, all for the sake of becoming founding heroes, receiving titles and honors, and bringing glory to their ancestors.

Although Nie Yu had already attempted reforms such as land redistribution and slavery, the basic political system had not changed much and remained largely based on the traditional feudal dynastic system.

This is not Nie Yu turning back the clock of history; it's just that we're only in the 19th century now, and there's still at least a hundred years until the modern era.

The West already has new systems, even the United States has established them, but their systems are only suitable for Westerners to use themselves and are not suitable for China's unique national structure.

The two mainstream systems in the West are constitutional monarchy and capitalist parliament.

At their core are political parties and parliaments.

Setting aside the productivity gains from industrialization, politics and parliaments are not manifestations of democratic progress. Rather, they are a monstrous hybrid of the bourgeoisie and bureaucracy, born from the monarch's inability to suppress the increasingly powerful bourgeoisie.

The establishment of political parties and parliaments has never been for the sake of equality; their existence is to represent the bourgeoisie in demanding power from the monarch.

This is the inertia of bourgeois development. Once the bourgeoisie becomes powerful through the accumulation of capital, they will be dissatisfied with the status quo and will demand more power in order to acquire more wealth.

If the source of power is the monarch, then overthrow the monarch.

The constitutional monarchy was born!

In countries without a monarch, political parties and parliaments are not accountable to the people; they are only accountable to the people who vote for them.

A more recent example is the United States a few years ago. At first, the two parties fought each other for votes. After the vote pie was divided up, they were not satisfied. So what should they do?
The natural solution is to print new ballots, that is, to create LGBT groups and win over LGBT voters.

This back-and-forth struggle, even if one side ultimately wins, will not benefit the people. Instead, the people will be exploited and ruthlessly drained by the political parties and parliament once they come to power.

To understand this, we can look to the United States and the United Kingdom in recent years. How will bourgeois parliaments and constitutional monarchies develop? Just look at them.

Nie Yu had already thought it through. He would definitely live with the dynasty in mind, so that he could unite the forces and lead the Han Dynasty in its colonial wars abroad.

After I die, who cares about the raging flood!

The people and time will make their own choices about the future direction of the system. All he needs to do is ensure that the Han Dynasty becomes stronger than the late Qing Dynasty in history during this period.

(End of this chapter)