My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 243 Hongli's ingenious strategies and wisdom are highly praised by Emperor Yongzheng!
Upon hearing Hongli's instructions, Li Wei's eyes widened in surprise.

He truly hadn't expected that the Fourth Master would come up with such a solution.

He knew very well that the greatest asset of the Jiangnan gentry was not their wealth, but their monopoly on Han studies.

Eighty percent of all Han studies books in the world were in the hands of the gentry in Jiangnan, whether they were Confucianism, artisans, or even agriculture and forestry.

Therefore, with these books and collections of writings by the gentry of Jiangnan, they undoubtedly gained control over these people.

Furthermore, if it were truly necessary to punish someone, one could simply find fault with their books and writings, making it even easier to instigate literary inquisitions.

At least, Li Wei thought that was what Hongli thought.

Therefore, he felt that his fourth master's strategy was truly brilliant and ruthless, far more effective than directly demanding money.

"Whoo!"

Li Wei immediately responded and took his leave from Hongli's place.

He now admires this Fourth Master from the bottom of his heart!

However, Emperor Qianlong did not intend to instigate literary inquisitions.

of course!

He also knew that this method was tantamount to hanging a sword over the heads of these Jiangnan gentry, making it hard for them not to worry that the imperial court would use this opportunity to punish them through "literary inquisition" if they disobeyed.

Emperor Qianlong's main purpose in collecting books was to break the monopoly of the Jiangnan gentry on the knowledge and technology accumulated over thousands of years of Chinese civilization.

As far as he knew, in the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty, due to lax supervision by the court, many scholars from Jiangnan and even the entire south were more likely to become Hanlin scholars and have a greater chance of entering the Wenhua Hall because they generally had better scores in the imperial examinations.

Unfortunately, the Wenhua Hall was also the central repository of books in the Ming Dynasty's imperial palace.

Therefore, in the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty, due to inadequate supervision, many books were stolen by these ministers of the Imperial Academy, often openly.

According to research, Yang Tinghe and Xu Jie took quite a few copies back then, which led to many precious imperial collections being lost to private hands.

Many copies of the Yongle Encyclopedia were scattered among the people during the Ming Dynasty.

Hongli is doing this to see if there are many precious books that he himself will not know about in later generations, which are hidden in the hands of these great families.

Rather than letting these powerful families keep it hidden, or even refuse to promote it for the sake of their own landlord class interests, they might as well take it for themselves and use it to build a stronger multi-ethnic empire.

After receiving Hongli's secret report, Yongzheng also learned of Hongli's idea.

Emperor Yongzheng was overjoyed by this and said to his thirteenth son:

"This Hongli is even better at using open strategies than I am. He not only demonstrates his benevolence but also truly targets what is of real value to the gentry of Jiangnan."

"Fourth Brother is right, but I estimate that the gentry of Jiangnan will not be willing."

The thirteenth prince replied.

Yongzheng smiled and said, "I will grant his request for now. As for how the gentry in Jiangnan will respond, let him deal with it himself. I also want to see how he will achieve his goal."

Therefore, Emperor Yongzheng approved Hongli's proposal.

Shortly after Li Wei left, Hongli received news from Fucha Fuqing that the Zhejiang governor Fahai had arrested the Pan family and that the Pan family had confessed.

Emperor Hongli was not surprised that Lady Pan confessed and accepted punishment so quickly.

"Pan Shichang has admitted that he should blame himself the most. He forgot the rules of etiquette and actually thought that he could take advantage of his family background and status in the Qing Dynasty to seize other people's property and send them to prison, which led to his family suffering this misfortune."

When Fucha Fuqing said this, Hongli nodded and said, "It was the slave rebellion in Jiangnan that made them so obedient, so we should thank the people at the bottom of Jiangnan."

"Fourth Master is right!"

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, in addition to the rebellions of refugees such as Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, which caused many officials and landlords to suffer catastrophic losses, there were also large-scale slave revolts, which also caused many officials and landlords to lose their families and lives.

Especially in Jiangnan. The gentry here felt the horror of "slave rebellion" most deeply, and were most afraid that their once obedient servants would one day turn on their masters with knives again.

However, few scholars in Jiangnan were willing to record this event.

They prefer to publicize stories of loyal servants and maids.

However, even now, in the Jiangnan gentry, which are only eighty years removed from that chaotic era, the “slave revolt” of that time is still often talked about in front of their families, and many still know about it.

However, aside from peasant uprisings and slave revolts, the Manchu Eight Banners, a ruling group essentially established for military plunder, were even more ruthless in their killings when they overturned the table.

Therefore, whether it's to satisfy the violent groups from outside the pass and thus give them dignity as gentry, or to prevent those within the court from resisting, the Jiangnan gentry like the Pan family can only accept their fate when the court decides to deal with them, thereby completely annihilating the tradition of the lower-class Han people who like to violently resist when pushed to the limit.

But Hongli knew very well that no matter how much the Neo-Confucian scholars preached the doctrines of loyalty and filial piety, and how they first brainwashed themselves and then the masses, the spirit of resistance among the vast majority of Han people could not be extinguished.

After all, there were still quite a few people who rebelled during the Qing Dynasty throughout history.

Overall, however, there were almost no peasant uprisings during the Yongzheng reign. Instead, the rebellious intentions of the gentry were quite evident, such as Zeng Jing instigating Yue Zhongqi to rebel against the Qing.

In any case, Hongli himself had no hope that he could truly exploit the Han people without limit by uniting with the Eight Banners nobles and gentry.

Therefore, after meeting Li Wei, Hongli summoned Sui Hede, who was in charge of calculating the official assets of the Textile Bureau: "Besides the money owed to wealthy merchants, are the weavers owed wages?"

Sui Hede replied, "Yes, the Cao family's servants have been embezzling the weavers' wages behind their masters' backs, which has resulted in the weaving bureau producing far less brocade each month than during the late emperor's reign."

"Use the cash obtained from the forgery to make up the difference immediately!"

Hongli ordered.

Sui Hede said, "Fourth Master, in my humble opinion, there is no need to rush. Since they haven't caused any trouble yet, the most important thing is to use the money to purchase raw silk and dyes so as not to delay the weaving progress."

"Confused!"

"Don't assume they're truly patient just because they've remained silent. Who knows, one of them might take advantage of a night shift to catch up on a project and set fire to all the brocade looms in the Imperial Textile Bureau with candles, committing suicide together with the others!"

"Remember!"

"This is different from working in the Imperial Household Department of the Prince's Mansion. You can bully the servants in the Imperial Household Department as you please because they can go back and bully their own servants after being bullied."

"But what else can the weavers of the Imperial Textile Bureau suffer for besides money?"

"Now that you are the new textile official, you must learn to manage them in a new way. You must still be strict in your work, scolding and punishing as necessary, but you must also be generous when it comes to paying them!"

"After all, they are ordinary Han Chinese, and they have nothing left to lose. We Manchus can bully our own servants and gentry, but we must be respectful to ordinary Han Chinese and show some benevolence on the surface."

"Make them feel that the most hateful people are not us Manchus, but the servants and gentlemen below us. Only in this way can the Textile Bureau remain safe under your control!"

"More importantly, our Great Qing is a multi-ethnic empire, so we must always remember that if we want such a country to have long-term stability, we must make all ethnic groups understand that the country is above the ethnic groups and that the common people are the foundation of the country. First of all, we Manchus must have this understanding."

Upon hearing this, Sui Hede suddenly realized and laughed with admiration: "Fourth Master is right. This servant was confused and didn't understand the meaning behind this."

Hongli's advice was truly enlightening for Sui Hede, making him realize that working in the Textile Bureau was different from working in the Imperial Household Department. He was also very grateful to Hongli, because if Hongli hadn't reminded him, he might have had to pack up and leave after only a few years in the Textile Bureau, and he might not have stayed as long as the Cao family.

After all, the Cao family still had the reputation left by their ancestor Cao Yin in the Imperial Textile Bureau, which made many of the old craftsmen in the bureau believe that the Cao family was only temporarily facing difficulties and that was why they were short of wages.

The gentry of Jiangnan also soon learned from Li Wei about Hongli's proposal to use books and articles to pay off their debts.

These gentry from Jiangnan were immediately in an uproar.

"How does this work?"

Chen Qiao asked this question first.

Li Wei asked, "Why is it not allowed? Are you unwilling to even assist the court in educating the people and promoting cultural development?"

(End of this chapter)