My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 241: Li Wei is granted a suicide order and promoted!

Fan Shiyi immediately looked alarmed.

Intermarriage between Manchu and Manchu people has always been forbidden unless granted by imperial decree.

What they were guarding against was the complete merging of the aristocratic and gentry classes, who would then unite against imperial power.

As early as when Hongli learned in the capital that the Cao family and the Pan family, a prominent family in Jiangnan, had been in contact, he had secretly sent his bondsers to investigate the Pan family, and thus learned about the relationship between Fan Shiyi and the Pan family.

However, Hongli never spoke up.

Even when he first arrived in Jiangning and met Fan Shiyi, he did not mention this matter.

He wanted to see whether Fan Shiyi was just confused for a moment, or if he was really trying to merge the Eight Banners nobles and the gentry class to form a larger and more independent community of interests.

But Hongli now has to admit that Fan Shiyi is truly biased.

If the gentle and wealthy land of Jiangnan only made the Cao family mediocre and incompetent, then Fan Shiyi, the Governor-General of Liangjiang, was completely influenced by it and changed his stance.

Therefore, at this moment, Hongli chose to confront him, questioning why he had not told Yongzheng about this matter.

Fan Shiyi replied, "This servant only thought that since the Pan family belonged to a Confucian family and officials, it would not disgrace the family's reputation as a hereditary noble family of the Eight Banners."

"Where are there any Confucian families or officials left?"

"In the second year of Yongzheng's reign, the Emperor issued an edict to abolish the Confucian scholar-official households and also abolished many lowly social statuses."

"Now you're talking about Confucian families and official households? Don't you know that in our Great Qing Dynasty, there is only the distinction between bannermen and commoners, or do you no longer want your Fan family to be bannermen?"

Hongli asked.

Fan Shiyi immediately kowtowed and said, "Fourth Master, please calm down. This servant was confused for a moment. This servant will definitely end this marriage agreement."

At this moment, Hongli took out two imperial edicts from his hand.

"It's too late now."

“I am not the only one who knows about your affairs; the Khan also knows about them and has given me two written orders.”

"One is an imperial edict ordering you to commit suicide, and the other is an edict ordering your entire family to be exiled and you yourself to be executed for accepting bribes and selling smuggled salt."

"What kind of written order I produce depends entirely on your cooperation."

"What Khan Ama means is that if you cooperate very well, you don't have to take out any of the ingredients."

"But clearly, you no longer have that opportunity."

At this point, Hongli stood up and walked up to him: "Tell me, what exactly is your reason for speaking up for the Pan family, advising me to be magnanimous, and even trying to get me to support the closure of the Jiangning Textile Bureau? Is it really for the court to gain the support of the people of Jiangnan, or do you want to take the opportunity to share the profits of textile manufacturing with the gentry of Jiangnan?"

Fan Shiyi looked up at Hongli in great shock.

At this moment, Hongli's expression was stern, exuding an imposing aura without anger.

But Fan Shiyi himself was deeply shocked.

He didn't expect that this Fourth Master had seen through everything about him.

He had to admit that he had underestimated the Fourth Prince, assuming that someone who had grown up in the palace wouldn't be aware of the petty squabbles and intrigues in the local areas.

But now he realized that this Fourth Master had long been speculating about him and the gentry of Jiangnan with the utmost malice.

It's a shame that he initially advised this Fourth Master to win the hearts of the scholars in Jiangnan.

"This servant is guilty!"

"This servant should not have treated Fourth Master with such disrespect."

"Your Highness is wise. This servant speaks for the Pan family and for the gentry of Jiangnan, helping them to seize the profits from the textile industry, all in order to divide up the benefits."

“The servant is insatiable. He not only colludes with the gentry of Jiangnan to smuggle official salt and divide the salt profits, but also wants to divide the profits of the textile industry. The Cao family’s current deficit is certainly related to the Cao family’s mediocrity, incompetence and greed, but it is also indeed related to the servant’s intention to collude with the gentry of Jiangnan to harm them.”

“This servant deserves to die. As a hereditary nobleman of the Eight Banners, instead of helping His Majesty reduce the deficit of the Cao family of the Jiangning Textile Bureau, I have joined forces with the gentry of Jiangnan to deliberately make the deficit bigger, making it difficult for the Textile Bureau to operate.”

"This servant is now filled with remorse and is willing to confess everything to atone for his sins!"

After closing his eyes briefly, Fan Shiyi finally chose to honestly confess everything to Hongli.

There was no way around it. Although he had been actively undermining the foundation of the Qing Dynasty's Eight Banners system, when it came to deciding whether or not to let his family relinquish their Banner privileges, he was still unwilling. He was now completely convinced and had to admit that the Fourth Prince before him was truly extraordinary and beyond the reach of a mere governor like himself.

He began to understand why the emperor had made an exception and promoted his birth mother, Niohuru, to the rank of Imperial Noble Consort.

If a son who upholds the foundation of imperial power does not respect his mother, then he can only be respected. However, there is no one left to bestow titles upon him. If he is directly made crown prince, it would violate the secret system of succession established by the emperor himself.

Therefore, if he were Emperor Yongzheng, knowing how close this son was to him, he would also respect his birth mother.

After Fan Shiyi said that, Hongli smiled and said, "It seems that you will not be willing to give up your Manchu status for the sake of your son's marriage."

"Tell me, how do you plan to save yourself and satisfy me so I can give you a chance to keep your body intact!"

Hongli looked at him and asked.

"Whoo!"

"Logically, it would have been discovered that Cao family servants were selling inferior brocades, which should have been supplied to the palace, to wealthy merchants under the gentry in Jiangnan behind Cao Zhaoye's back."

"But this servant, the governor, intentionally covered it up, so no one dared to expose it."

"Of course, I also know that the masters may know about this, but they chose to turn a blind eye because they did not want to damage the dignity of their Eight Banners people. They are just waiting for the Cao family to be pressured to make up for the deficit and to reorganize Jiangnan for their masters."

"However, the Cao family did not do so, which emboldened the servants to collude with the gentry of Jiangnan."

"But I am not as stupid as the Cao family. I am also wary that these Jiangnan gentry will betray me in the future. Therefore, for all their transactions with the Cao family, I have made sure that they leave me with real IOUs for the cash transactions."

"Otherwise, this servant will exercise the governor's authority and secretly report them for colluding with the Cao family to steal and sell imperial property."

"In this way, when Cao family servants sell high-quality brocade to Jiangnan gentry at a low price, the Jiangnan gentry will give the servants a genuine IOU for the brocade sold."

"If Fourth Master gets those IOUs, he can not only use them to offset the debts owed by the Textile Bureau, but he may also be able to recover a lot of silver that should have belonged to the Textile Bureau from the transactions of imperial property."

Fan Shiyi replied.

Upon hearing this, Hongli immediately ordered Fu Peng to personally lead a group to accompany Fan Shiyi to the governor's office to retrieve the IOUs.

"very good!"

After receiving it, Hongli roughly calculated that it amounted to no less than ten million taels!
He had to admit that, thanks to the embezzlement by Cao family servants, the combined efforts of the Governor-General of Liangjiang stationed in Jiangning, and the gentry of Jiangnan, so much imperial property had been lost.

Of course, there may have been other officials involved, and perhaps even powerful figures from the capital.

But Hongli couldn't get to the bottom of it now. All he knew was that he could use these IOUs to make the gentry of Jiangnan pay for the large amount of imperial property that had been lost.

Unfortunately, the Qing Dynasty was not the Ming Dynasty, and the gentry of Jiangnan were not strong enough to stand up to the imperial power.

"Now it's my turn to collect the debt from them!"

Hongli then smiled and said something, before looking at Fan Shiyi and instructing Fu Peng, "Send him on his way!"

"Whoo!"

Fu Peng had a cup of poisoned wine brought to Fan Shiyi, who was filled with remorse, and forced it down his throat. Then, he had iron nails driven into Fan Shiyi's head.

This is the standard procedure for ordering someone to commit suicide, with the death of Zhou Yanru, the Grand Secretary of the Ming Dynasty, as a reference.

Then Hongli summoned Li Wei and presented him with an imperial edict, saying, "By imperial decree, Li Wei, the Governor of Jiangsu, is hereby appointed as the Acting Governor-General of Liangjiang!"

"Your subject accepts the imperial decree and expresses his gratitude!"

Li Wei was overjoyed and immediately replied.

Subsequently, Hongli gave him the IOU that Fan Shiyi had handed over:

"Whether you can become the de facto governor depends on whether you can get these money back for the emperor and make up for the deficit."

"Your Majesty, please rest assured, I may not have many other skills, but I certainly have the ability to collect debts!"

Li Wei replied confidently.

Hongli simply smiled and said, "Now that Pan Shixuan has surrendered himself, shouldn't your Governor-General's Office send a letter to the Zhejiang Provincial Governor's Office to immediately arrest the entire Pan family, especially that arrogant scoundrel Pan Shicai?"

"Your Highness is right. I dare not delay. I will send a letter to the Governor of Zhejiang immediately upon my return!"

(End of this chapter)