Qing Yao

Chapter 356 Illegitimate Son Seizes the Throne?
The Viceroy's Residence of Liangjiang.

Sun Shiyi, the Governor-General of Liangjiang, frowned slightly after reading the letter from the capital. The letter said that the Emperor intended to summon him back to the capital for an audience before the end of the year, and then reassign him as Governor-General of Sichuan to replace the old and ailing Li Shijie in charge of the finances and military supplies for the expeditionary army to the plateau.

To outsiders, the Governor-General of Sichuan, though having more military power than the Governor-General of Liangjiang, was certainly not as wealthy as Liangjiang, and his territory was also smaller. Therefore, for a high-ranking official like Sun Shiyi, being transferred from Governor-General of Liangjiang to Governor-General of Sichuan was not even a lateral transfer, but rather a "demotion".

However, Sun Shiyi knew that the current emperor valued military prowess the most. Therefore, the Sichuan governor, who was directly in charge of the front-line military supplies, held a higher position in the emperor's eyes than the Liangjiang governor. He was certain that he would be able to return to the Grand Council after the high-altitude war ended.

The reason he frowned slightly was that if he went to Sichuan, Jiangsu Governor Fu Song was the most likely person to take his place.

Sun Shiyi did not think highly of Fu Song, especially since Fu Song was now selling off official property in Jiangsu, even selling the Suzhou Confucian Temple to merchants to be converted into a garden, which alone brought him a profit of several million taels of silver.

Following suit, other regions have followed suit. Now, except for Xuzhou, Huai'an, and Changzhou, all the schools in Jiangsu have been put up for sale by local officials under various pretexts. The officials and businessmen involved all profit from it, creating a chaotic and corrupt atmosphere in Jiangsu's education sector.

However, Sun Shiyi could not interfere because Fusong had consulted the Emperor before selling the academy and had received the Emperor's high praise, for which Fusong was even rewarded with a double-eyed peacock feather.

This Fusong may have sold his official property, experience, and personal wealth. It is said that he is planning to sell the governor's office as well. The new governor's office will be built next to the new Suzhou Prefectural School. It is said that this will drive local development, benefit the people, and effectively transform Suzhou city, solving the long-standing problem of "difficult traffic" in the old city.

In addition, Fu Song also built many houses next to the new site of Suzhou Prefectural School, called "school district houses". As long as you buy these houses, you can get a place in Suzhou Prefectural School without taking the exam, which attracted many wealthy people to buy them.

The Suzhou Prefectural School, which originally only enrolled fewer than 200 students each year, has now enrolled more than 2,000 students.

In the short term, Fu Song's new policies did bring a lot of tax revenue to the court, but in the long term, Sun Shiyi believed that it was a losing proposition, a short-sighted act, and a foolish thing to undermine the scholars.

Unfortunately, the emperor only cared about the real money that Fusong had obtained, and did not consider at all what kind of damage this "commercialization" of the imperial examination would cause to the foundation of the Qing Dynasty.

If Fu Song were to succeed him as Governor-General of Liangjiang, Sun Shiyi dared to assert that Fu Song would spread the “evil winds and wicked practices” from Jiangsu to Jiangxi and Anhui. If officials from the governor-general to the county magistrate were all only interested in selling their official property and finding ways to make a profit, the administration would probably collapse completely and there would be no way to save it.

However, he had no control over the selection of his successor, and he couldn't even provide the court with a personnel reference.

Because this is the Governor-General of Liangjiang!

Only the emperor can decide who gets the position.

With a helpless sigh, the gatekeeper reported that General Yongqing of Jiangning was requesting an audience.

Yongqing came on official business. This year, due to the drought in Anhui, the Ministry of Revenue exempted many places in Anhui from taxes and also exempted Anhui from its grain tribute quota. Except for the grain tribute that had already been shipped, all the remaining grain tribute was to be used for disaster relief.

This was a good thing for the people of Anhui, but for General Jiangning and the hundreds of thousands of Manchus in Jiangning City, it was a catastrophe.

The reason is simple: the Eight Banners of Jiangning ate grain transported from Anhui!
The Ministry of Revenue exempted Anhui from the grain tribute, so what would the Eight Banners of Jiangning eat and drink?
So, Yongqing came to ask the Governor-General to coordinate and see if it was possible to divert some of the grain from the grain tax remittance quotas of Jiangsu and Jiangxi to supply the Eight Banners of Jiangning.

Sun Shiyi had already been handling this matter, and there were several official documents exchanged with the Ministry of Revenue. Under his coordination, the Ministry of Revenue agreed to leave 30% of Jiangsu's share of this year's grain tribute to the local government, and 20% to Jiangxi. If there was still a shortfall, the Governor-General's Office of Liangjiang would make up the difference.

Sun Shiyi's solution was still to target Anhui. The most severely affected areas in Anhui were Huaibei, while the damage in Huainan was limited. So yesterday, he sent an official document to Zhao Youlu, the acting governor of Anhui, requesting him to find a way to provide 500,000 shi of grain for the Eight Banners of Jiangning.

Sun Shiyi greatly admired Zhao Youlu, and Zhao's rise from grain transport commissioner to provincial governor was inextricably linked to Sun Shiyi's memorial to the court praising Zhao Youlu's integrity and competence.

As a result, some officials in the imperial court even thought that Zhao Youlu was related to Sun Shiyi.

Otherwise, why would he be praised as the most capable official in Liangjiang?

Sun Shiyi was certainly aware of Zhao Youlu's actions in Anhui. Whether it was actively providing disaster relief, swiftly suppressing the White Lotus Rebellion, or using the Ebilun sword to execute corrupt and incompetent officials, it all showed that Zhao Youlu was not only honest but also possessed the basic "qualities" of a local official. Given time, he might become a sharp sword for the Qing Dynasty to rectify officialdom.

Therefore, Sun Shiyi did his best to coordinate and handle the matters reported by Zhao Youlu. Whether it was Zhao Youlu continuing to promote Zhu Gui's militia policy or his proposed reform of the Anhui Green Standard Army, the Governor-General's Office gave him the green light all the way.

The meeting place between the Governor-General and the General was in the small flower hall of the Governor-General's Mansion. Without Yongqing having to ask, Sun Shiyi explained the solution to Yongqing one by one. Yongqing nodded repeatedly and thanked him. He also showed great respect to Sun Shiyi, who had once served as a Grand Councilor, and dared not be impolite in his words and deeds.

After finishing their official business, the two naturally talked about other things. As they talked, Yongqing casually asked, "I wonder if Your Excellency has heard of that rumor?"

Sun Shiyi asked, puzzled, "What rumor?"

Yongqing chuckled lightly: "About the newly appointed Provincial Governor of Anhui, Lord Zhao Youlu."

"Zhao Youlu?"

Sun Shiyi was taken aback. "What rumors are there about Zhao Youlu?"

Yongqing was somewhat surprised: "Your Excellency really doesn't know?"

Sun Shiyi said calmly, "Does the general think I look like a liar?"

Yongqing hurriedly shook his head and said, "How could the Governor be that kind of person? But this rumor sounds a bit absurd. I don't know who spread it, but it says that Zhao Youlu is the Emperor's bloodline who was lost among the common people."

"Oh?"

Sun Shiyi was taken aback at first, then smiled and said, "How did such absurd words reach the general's ears?"

Yongqing smiled and said that it was a secretary in the manor who told him about it. After he found out, he sent people to inquire about who spread the rumor, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not find the source. Then he said with some seriousness that the rumor was now spreading not only in Jiangning, but also throughout the Jiangnan region. It was described in such a detailed and convincing way that no one could doubt it.

After all, the emperor's six southern tours back then were filled with romantic affairs, which was common knowledge in the court and among the people.

After hearing this, Sun Shiyi said, "Judging from this, it is highly likely that someone is stirring up trouble behind the scenes. There are rumors about Emperor Shizong vying for the throne and the Emperor being Han Chinese. It seems more like a resurrection of the soul. We must be on guard!"

The rumors circulating about Emperor Shizong's succession struggle claimed that Emperor Kangxi passed the throne to the fourteenth prince, not the fourth; and that after the current emperor ascended the throne, it was said that he was not the late emperor's biological son, but rather the son of a certain Chen family from Haining. The "soul-calling case" was even more bizarre, lasting for several years and spreading throughout the country, causing widespread panic. These rumors were largely responsible for the rampant literary inquisitions of the dynasty.

Now, another rumor has surfaced that Zhao Youlu is the emperor's illegitimate son, and it even originated within his territory of Liangjiang. This makes Sun Shiyi extremely nervous.

Who is spreading rumors?

What is the purpose of spreading this rumor?
The news even spread throughout the officialdom of Jiangnan, which shows that the person who promoted it had considerable influence.

With this thought in mind, he ordered someone to summon his disciple, Lou Sanqiang.

When Teacher Lou, who was working in the main hall of the Governor's Mansion, heard that his mentor wanted to see him, he quickly put down his work and rushed over. Before he could even bow, his mentor asked him, "When Zhao Youlu was a professor at the prefectural school in Yangzhou, you went to Yangzhou to supervise the examinations and had dealings with him. Do you know anything special about his background?"

"What's special about it?"

Teacher Lou, who had been busy at the Governor's Mansion, had never heard the rumors about Zhao Youlu. Seeing that his mentor and General Jiangning both looked very serious, he quickly said that Zhao Youlu's background was nothing special; he was just a local from Yangzhou. He hadn't gotten to know Zhao Youlu well during his time supervising the examinations in Yangzhou, but he did find him to be a very quick-witted and capable person who knew how to get things done.

Teacher Lou remained wary, so he only talked about unimportant things, and didn't mention a word about how he was tricked into joining Zhao An's scheme.

Sun Shiyi nodded after hearing this and said to Yongqing, "In that case, there is no problem with Zhao Youlu's background. Such rumors are completely slanderous to ministers and an attempt to humiliate the emperor. I think we should investigate thoroughly to prevent anyone from stirring up trouble."

They genuinely wanted to investigate thoroughly, not only to find out the root of the rumors but also to stop their spread, lest they spread further and reach the Emperor's ears.

In that case, who knows what furious thing the "senile" emperor might do next.

Yongqing hesitated for a moment, but then told the governor a big news story that would shake the whole city.

It's true, not a rumor.

It turns out that the Tongzhou money shop under the name of Fu Chang'an, a Grand Councilor of the court, lent Zhao Youlu a huge sum of two million taels of silver. For this purpose, he borrowed a lot of cash from several money shops in a short period of time. Now this huge sum of money has been shipped from the dock to Anqing.

"Is there still this?"

Even Sun Shiyi, the Governor-General of Liangjiang, was astonished by the amount of this loan. If true, it would indeed be the largest loan ever made in the Qing Dynasty!

There is another secret in Yongqing that is unknown to outsiders: not long ago, the Lianghuai Salt Commissioner Akdang'a raised 500,000 taels of grain and medicine under various pretexts and "donated" them to the disaster area in Anhui.

“Akedang’a has always been arrogant because of his relationship with Heshen. When has he ever been so attentive to the local people? Five hundred thousand taels is not a small amount. Even if Akedang’a is a living god of wealth, I doubt he would just give it away so casually.”

Yongqing's tone was questioning, but to the Governor-General it sounded like "guidance".

"Zhao Youlu's promotion has been so rapid that even the Governor-General doesn't have the double-eyed peacock feather, which the Emperor has bestowed upon him. Doesn't the Governor-General really think there's something wrong with this?"

The general's words made Teacher Lou, who was standing next to him, feel uneasy. It was no wonder that General Jiang Ning was suspicious of this rumor, because when all the clues were pieced together, the rumor was indeed intriguing and could be said to be flawless.

But Lou's intuition told him that this rumor was very likely fabricated by Zhao Youlu himself!

Why did Zhao Youlu fabricate rumors about his own background?

This rumor has one major advantage: it will make the officials in Liangjiang wary of his status as a prince, and thus they will try to curry favor with him and cater to him, allowing Zhao Youlu to achieve his ulterior motives effortlessly.

So many officials have been fooled by swindlers, let alone a real "political" rising star. The various "miracles" that have happened to Zhao Youlu cannot be explained by a prince.

The word spread like wildfire, and everyone praised him. In the end, even if Zhao Youlu wasn't a prince, he was still a prince!

Because the officials who were deceived must have been on the same pirate ship as his teacher, Lou, and now they can't get off.

But how could Teacher Lou dare to say such things? He was just about to analyze from his own perspective that the rumors were unreliable, so as not to fall into Zhao Youlu's trap, when Master Qin from the Governor's Mansion came over and told him something.

This also concerns Zhao Youlu.

This newly appointed Anhui provincial governor announced in Anqing that anyone who exchanged money through a money exchange called Xianfeng Bank could have priority passage through checkpoints in Jiangsu and Anhui provinces upon presentation of the draft, and that all official silver remittances would be free of charge!
"My lord, with the support of the Anhui provincial governor, Xianfeng Bank is likely to steal all the business from the banks in the southeast."

Master Qin didn't know what his benefactor was discussing with the General of Jiangning, but he knew that with the support of the Anhui Provincial Administration Commission, Xianfeng Bank would soon become one of the top banks in the southeast.

I've heard that the interest rates on deposits are quite high, so I'm thinking of withdrawing my "salary" from other money shops and depositing it into Xianfeng Bank so I can earn some "living expenses."

It would have been better if he hadn't said anything, because as soon as he did, General Yongqing of Jiangning suddenly realized something and exclaimed, "Ah!" He said, "I understand! Fu Chang'an's two million taels of silver wasn't borrowed for nothing. Zhao Youlu wanted to use this money as capital to open up the silver exchange channels between the two rivers and three provinces!"
Yes, yes!
Anqing is strategically located on the Yangtze River. Controlling the silver remittances of three provinces would be tantamount to strangling the financial lifeline of Jiangnan. Hey, our Lord Zhao is not only a shrewd official, but his business acumen is also extraordinary! Impressive, truly impressive!

Looking at the governor again, he found that the other man's brows were furrowed even more deeply than before. He then slowly stood up and looked at him, saying in a low voice, "Fukang'an holds military power, and Fu Chang'an is in the central government in charge of the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue. The two brothers are incredibly powerful. Now they are using such a large sum of money to support Zhao Youlu in trying to cut off the financial lifeline of Jiangnan. What are they planning to do?"

What do they want to do!
As Sun Shiyi walked to the window with his hands behind his back, only one thing kept running through his mind: why did the two Fu brothers support Zhao Youlu? Was it simply because he was the emperor's new favorite?

It's probably related to that rumor about the illegitimate child.

If the rumors of an illegitimate child are true, the conspiracy behind this is far too terrifying.

For no apparent reason, Sun Shiyi's gaze turned to the north, and he thought of the struggle for the throne among the nine sons of Emperor Kangxi in his later years.

(End of this chapter)