Qing Yao

Where does the problem lie in Chapter 462?

The Ebilun sword is truly broken.

The one that had the most severe cuts among the three was split open one night due to its advanced age.

After all, it's an old object that's over a hundred years old.

Question: Why didn't Deputy Commander Zhao repair Ebilun's sword?
The answer is no, it cannot be repaired.

Because once it's fixed, it has to be handed over.

According to relevant regulations, the mission of the Ebilun knife has been completed, and the holder must hand it over as soon as possible.

Zhao An had no intention of clinging to the Ebilun sword, so last year he truthfully reported to the court that the sword was no longer usable.

But for some reason, no relevant agency required him to hand over the knife.

Perhaps they felt there was no point in handing over a knife that was already ruined, or perhaps Heshen, who was in charge of the Military Affairs Office, did not inform the old master about the matter, or perhaps they wanted Zhao An to repair the knife before handing it over.

However, Zhao An refused to repair it for some reason, so the broken sword remained in Zhao An's hands.

It's no good for killing people, but it's good for scaring them.

After the meeting, the relevant content of the meeting must be reported to the "leader" as soon as possible.

No one else can go; Zhao An has to go himself.

In the afternoon, Zhao An went to Heshen's residence, only to find that Heshen was not home but on duty at the Grand Council.

The Lantern Festival has passed, and all government offices have resumed normal operations.

The two-week holiday resulted in a backlog of official documents and memorials, keeping the Grand Council extremely busy, and the ministers of various government departments were also so busy that they didn't even have time to drink water.

When Zhao An met Heshen, Heshen was processing an official document from Chang Fu, the superintendent of the Guangdong Customs.

Regarding the renewal of the Thirteen Factories license this year.

The Thirteen Factories were thirteen merchant houses in Guangdong that were licensed by the Imperial Household Department to engage in trade with Western goods. Their business licenses were reviewed and renewed every three years, and only those that passed the review and renewal could become designated "foreign merchants".

The licenses were approved by the Imperial Household Department, whose chief minister was Heshen.

If we were to describe the relationship between Heshen and the Thirteen Factories using corporate management methods, then Heshen would be the chairman of the board, and the Thirteen Factories would be the managers of thirteen branch companies.

The Thirteen Factories' annual import and export trade volume reached tens of millions of taels of silver. Last year alone, tea exports reached over ten million taels. At a rate of buying one tael and selling ten taels, the Thirteen Factories' profit from tea alone reached tens of millions of taels!
The sheer volume of exports resulted in the Guangdong Customs taking approximately one million taels of silver in revenue annually, truly earning it the title of the foremost customs office in the Qing Dynasty.

In addition to the regular taxes, the Thirteen Factories also had to "distribute" millions of taels of silver to officials at all levels, including Chairman Heshen, every year. For example, when the merchant Pan Zhenchen renewed his license last time, he gave Heshen 500,000 taels of silver in one go.

Two years ago, merchant Wu Bingjian donated 800,000 taels of silver to the imperial court to settle a lawsuit, most of which went to Heshen.

Anyone who wanted to become a new merchant or to get a better share of trade had to bribe Heshen.

Heshen not only accepted tributes from these merchants, but also invested in each of them. Every year, the Western trade alone brought Heshen a fortune of tens of millions of taels of silver.

The proceeds from embezzlement and bribery were negligible compared to Heshen's income from trade.

The so-called businesses that were seized and confiscated after the case was uncovered were not ordinary shops, but large conglomerates of Fortune 500 companies.

In terms of business acumen, no one in the Qing Dynasty could compare to Heshen at that time.

"This servant greets Your Excellency!"

Zhao An entered and bowed meticulously.

"Alright, there are no outsiders here, sit down and let's talk."

Setting down Chang Fu's official documents, Heshen's gaze swept over Zhao An's face with a hint of amusement: "You put on quite a show at the Bordered Yellow Banner government office this afternoon, didn't you? It caused quite a stir. Many people came to ask me if Zhao Youlu was trying to emulate Hai Gangfeng? 'As long as the banners are as white as snow, what does it matter if the official hat gets covered in dust?' Heh, everyone says I, Heshen, am greedy, but I never expected to have such an upright and honest official under my command. Tell me, should I be happy or should I have a headache?"

"Your Excellency, please refrain from teasing your servant."

Zhao An sat on the lower seat, half of his buttocks, and gave a bitter smile. “Your Excellency must know this. I was forced into this situation. Hafeng’a and Mingshan, relying on their powerful backgrounds, don’t respect me at all. If we don’t take drastic measures to establish our authority, this task of investigating the banner affairs cannot be carried out at all.”

After saying this, he presented Mukton's confession.

Heshen took it, glanced at it a few times, and put it down. Somewhat curiously, he asked, "What are you trying to do with this 'punishment fine' and 'self-criticism'?"

"Your Excellency, the Bordered Yellow Banner is the Emperor's personal banner, with deep and complex connections. If a thorough investigation were to be conducted, I believe that most officials above the rank of Zuo Ling would be severely punished. Not to mention whether this is even possible, even if it were, it would surely cause a stir in the court and among the people. The Emperor would probably think that I am too cruel and leave no room for compromise."

Zhao An explained his intentions very seriously, because he needed Heshen's unconditional support.

"After much thought, I've decided that it would be better to divide and conquer, taking some down and attacking others. Those few in Mingshan with irrefutable evidence can be used as a sacrifice, both to establish authority and to silence the crowd."

As for the others, making them pay a small price and write a self-criticism serves as both a minor punishment and a way to save face, demonstrating the Grand Secretary's benevolence. The written self-criticisms and the silver taels are clear evidence of their remorse, and submitting them collectively to the Emperor will further highlight the Grand Secretary's achievements in managing the banner system and his effective education of the people.

Heshen listened quietly, and he greatly approved of Zhao An's approach.

By using a few insignificant, unlucky individuals to establish his authority and eliminate dissidents, and by using seemingly mild measures like fines and written apologies to effectively control his officers, Zhao Youlu also managed to send substantial sums of money to the old master. He took care of everything. Although Zhao Youlu was ruthless, he was impeccable in his work.

"Do as you say. We need to focus on the fine and the letter of self-criticism. If there are any difficulties, or if anyone dares to cause trouble, just let me know."

With Heshen's unwavering support, Zhao An felt reassured and immediately took swift and decisive action upon returning to the Governor's Office.

First, he ordered someone to set aside a small room next to the salary room of the yamen and hang a wooden sign that read "Payment Office for Criminal Penalties".

It's equivalent to a public service window.

To avoid suspicion, Zhao An himself did not handle a single penny of money, entrusting all matters related to receiving payments to Fan, the "neutral" officer of his banner.

At the same time, writing guidelines for "self-criticisms" were issued, requiring them to be "profound, touching, reflective of the past, and forward-looking to the future," with a minimum of 800 words, and they must be handwritten and not written by someone else.

The deadline is three days; otherwise, the deadline will not be extended.

However, when the three-day deadline arrived, the result left Zhao An, who was eager to make a big splash, feeling like he had punched cotton.

Judging from the number of people who paid the fine, it seemed to be quite good. Of the 67 officers of the rank of Zuo Ling and above in Beijing, apart from the five unlucky ones who had already been arrested, all 62 others paid their fines without exception.

The account list presented by Canling only made Zhao An laugh in anger.

The two highest-ranking officers, Buyandalai and Langtu, each paid twenty taels of silver, while the lower-ranking officers paid fifteen taels, ten taels, and five taels.

The most outrageous one only paid four hundred copper coins!
A few strings of copper coins stood out starkly against the silver plate piled high with broken silver.

What do you mean?
Is it better to see Deputy Commander Zhao as a beggar, or to see He Zhongtang and the old master as poor beggars?

You think you can fool me with this little bit of money?

The "negotiation of crimes" became a standard practice two years ago, but it is not mandatory. Since its promotion, it has mainly targeted foreign officials.

Except for those who worked part-time outside the Eight Banners, almost no one paid the penalty for crimes.

Furthermore, there is no clear lower limit or upper limit to the fines for crimes, which are entirely subject to the subjective interpretation of the officials involved.

Therefore, it is not inappropriate for someone to pay several hundred coins to voluntarily plead guilty.

This is exploiting a policy loophole, using a non-violent non-cooperation approach to make Zhao An unable to vent his anger.

Because he couldn't use a megaphone to summon these people and force them to pay hefty fines.

This has blown up. Did you, Deputy Commander Zhao, use the old master's name to extort money from your subordinates?

If the front path is blocked, then try the back path.

The clerks and secretaries in the Governor's Office quickly got busy. What were they busy with?
They were busy returning the written self-criticism, which had been approved by the Deputy Commander-in-Chief, to the person involved.

No matter how eloquently these people wrote their self-criticisms, how heartbroken and remorseful they were, Zhao An could always find fault with them.

"This piece avoids the important issues! It only talks about lifestyle and having a couple of drinks, without mentioning the neglect of banner duties and the hardships of the soldiers. Is this a sincere attitude of repentance? Send it back for rewriting!"

"This piece is superficial, full of empty rhetoric and platitudes, and fails to touch upon the deep-seated sense of betrayal of the Emperor's grace. Rewrite it!"

"This one... Hmm, the handwriting is messy, the attitude is improper, it's clear that you have no remorse whatsoever, send it back!"

"Hmm? This piece is alright. It highlights key points, has a numbered list, but why is it only 798 words? I require at least 800 words. Being two words short is a matter of attitude. Rewrite it!"

"This is all empty rhetoric and platitudes about how this servant deserves to die and how ignorant and foolish he is. It lacks any concrete examples to support it. Send it back and make him explain exactly when, in what month, and year, he neglected his duties in which banner affairs? Who did he receive a bribe of how many taels of silver? How many bushels of rice and rations did he embezzle from the soldiers? Send it back and make sure he provides all the details, including the time, place, people, and amount of money. Not a single detail can be missing!"

"Well, this one is alright in terms of content."

Yang Xiaoshuan, who was helping Brother An review the self-criticism, leaned closer to take a look and nodded, saying, "It's well written, over a thousand words. It seems this person put a lot of effort into it."

"It's well-intentioned, but the phrase 'deserves to die' was repeated eighteen times, which is padding to reach the word count. The attitude is extremely improper. Send it back!"

"."

For a time, the officers of the Manchu Bordered Yellow Banner were tormented to the point of ecstasy by the endless stream of rejected "self-criticisms".

The clerks in the yamen who were responsible for delivering documents were also exhausted from running around. Some of them had to make three or four trips a day to the home of a Zuo Ling!

How high can the officers' educational level be?
In an effort to expedite the process of getting the "shoe to drop" (a metaphor for a difficult situation) through a written self-criticism, everyone in the family who could read pitched in, racking their brains to write a more profound self-criticism. But it was submitted, then rejected, resubmitted, and rejected again.
Where exactly is it written poorly or lacking in depth?

(End of this chapter)