My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 287 With Yongzheng's backing, I'll execute someone; I'd rather abdicate!
"Yongzheng actually wanted to abdicate the throne to me and retire early?"

Should I say yes or no?

Hongli's eyes widened in surprise.

He didn't understand whether Yongzheng was trying to test him, to see if he would become arrogant because of this.

But he knew that Yongzheng was prone to emotional outbursts.

Often, when I get carried away, I'll say the most cheesy and sweet things.

Once he calmed down, Hongli dared not take it seriously.

He also knew that after Yongzheng calmed down, he would display the ruthlessness and coldness that all emperors possess.

He can't fall for it.

Moreover, he hoped that Yongzheng would work hard for a few more years to complete the reforms that offended vested interests.

"This is all because Amak gave me this opportunity!"

"Therefore, I know very well that it is not that I, a young prince, can truly manipulate the royal family and the Han gentry at will, but that my father is willing for me to manipulate them at will, so that I can manipulate them at will."

"If I am able to establish myself in the Ministry of Rites, it will not be because I am capable enough, but because Father will enable me to do so!"

"Therefore, if I were to think that I am so capable that I can look down on all the ministers, or even belittle my thirteenth uncle and my father's role, and think that I am better than anyone else, then I would truly be wise in name only and foolish in reality."

"Therefore, I beg Father not to say such things again. I am only a few years old, how could I possibly be even a fraction of your ability to handle important matters? Besides, it is too early to talk about the will of Heaven. Father is in the prime of life and should not say such thoughtless things. It would not look good if such words were recorded in the daily records!"

Hongli then answered very humbly, without any arrogance or pride, and even reminded Yongzheng that if people knew what he said, they would laugh at him.

"Then let the daily recorder stop recording it!"

Yongzheng listened with increasing satisfaction, and after speaking, he patted him on the shoulder and said, "It's thanks to your intelligence that I was able to give you a hand!"

"In any case, you have done a great job this time, greatly reducing the level of trust between the royal family, nobles and Han gentry. This will also help me to have them supervise each other and prevent the corruption of officials."

"Therefore, although I cannot openly reward you, I should still give you some rewards in secret."

"But you don't seem to lack anything right now, so I'll let you tell me yourself what reward you would like?"

After Yongzheng asked this question, Hongli thought about it seriously and said, "Your subject wants a large piece of land."

"land?"

"Your subject desires land within the capital city to build a university."

"This university is different from the Imperial Academy, but like the Imperial Academy, outstanding students can be directly appointed to official positions."

During the Qing Dynasty, all land within the capital city belonged to the emperor. From princes to commoners, everyone only had the right to use the land, not the right to own it.

As many Manchus, unable to endure the oppression of the nobles within their banners, moved to areas outside the city to make a living, there remained a considerable amount of vacant land within the capital.

However, if Hongli wanted to build a university in the city, he still needed to get land approval from Yongzheng.

However, land in the capital was extremely valuable and a limited resource, so Yongzheng would not easily grant Hongli land within the capital city.

Why build such a university?

Yongzheng asked this question first.

Hongli replied, "Because I believe that in order to make Han gentry give up their desire to monopolize governance, in addition to using iron-fisted methods to deter them, we must also fundamentally eliminate their traditional concept of Confucianism as the only virtue."

"at the same time!"

"We must also break the traditional model where only scholars and officials build academies and recruit students, thereby monopolizing the dissemination of knowledge and even suppressing the emergence and dissemination of their own knowledge, so as to cultivate the talents that the new policies truly need."

"Therefore, I thought that as a member of the royal family, I should also establish a private school, so that his faction would not be able to grow so powerful as to dominate the scholars of the world."

"Of course, what kind of learning my private school promotes is entirely up to you, Father. In this way, those who graduate from the private school will be just like me, all of them your subjects!"

Hongli knew that Yongzheng disliked the fact that scholar-officials formed cliques and then expanded their cliques through the relationship of disciples.

Therefore, he focused on the role of establishing universities in preventing scholar-officials from forming private student groups, and emphasized that he would only use the establishment of private schools to cultivate officials for Yongzheng, not to cultivate private factions for himself.

Emperor Yongzheng nodded and then bestowed a large open space inside Andingmen, east of the Prince Yong's residence, upon Hongli.

Hongli thanked the emperor, and upon returning to the Ministry of Rites, he summoned Wang Jingzeng, the Left Vice Minister of Rites, and instructed him:
"Your Wang family now needs to hire a group of scholars from humble backgrounds to copy books under the guise of helping the Ministry of Rites promote education."

talking.

Hongli took a sip of tea and said, "I don't care how much you pay them, but you can't delay my work, and you can't let them not feel the benefits I've brought them since I took charge of the Ministry of Rites!"

"Otherwise, you know the consequences yourself!"
"Whoo!"

Wang Jingzeng responded.

Then, he took the initiative to ask Hongli, "Fourth Master, which books should we have them copy?"

"I have instructed my chief secretary Yuzhu and the prince's servant Cao Zhan to send over the books that you are asked to organize people to copy."

"Again!"

“Your Wang family has extensive connections among scholars. Next, you should immediately spend a lot of money to invite some famous scholars of high status to write some insightful articles on textual research. After they are written, submit them to me. If I am satisfied, you can give them another sum of money as royalties. Then you can organize people to compile them into the ‘Journal of the Imperial University of Peking’.”

Hongli replied.

"Whoo!"

After Wang Jingzeng agreed, he glanced at Hongli in great surprise and couldn't help but mutter to himself, "Is Fourth Master going to use my Wang family's money to support scholars all over the world?"

Emperor Qianlong did indeed intend to use money to bribe many scholars across the land.

Using the method of publishing school journals.

He wanted to prevent scholars with a talent for expression and research from writing sociological articles that catered to the interests of the wealthy and powerful, instead of just earning a meager living. He also planned to organize people to copy books so that impoverished scholars could have a livelihood through the government.

The books that Hongli had Wang Jingzeng organize lower-level literati to copy were books he had carefully selected over the years, as well as some books he had written himself that could be used as teaching materials.

Hongli planned to establish a library after the Imperial University of Peking was built in the future.

Then he would have these books put inside and open them to the school's teachers and students.

at the same time!

He also planned to establish a public library in the capital, open it to the public, and give more opportunities to those who wanted to read, learn more, and improve their wisdom. After all, in this era, books are an important medium representing information resources.

He wasn't afraid of his opponents secretly burning his books because they only wanted to monopolize book resources, because he would use his money to organize many lower-level writers to continuously copy and back them up, while also increasing the printing capacity.

After Hongli made these arrangements, the official examination for learned scholars was fast approaching.

The examination questions for the erudite scholars were all set by Emperor Yongzheng, and they were all about the fall of the Ming Dynasty and historical and classical understanding of events such as the Donglin Party and the Great Rites Controversy.

In this way, it was naturally up to Yongzheng himself to decide who answered well and who answered poorly.

Officials and gentry who advocated governing the country with Confucianism naturally knew that Yongzheng's decision to have the Ministry of Rites establish the "Erudite and Learned Scholars" examination was to strengthen imperial power and force the literati to accept his will. Therefore, these officials and gentry naturally took measures to try to stop this.

Cheng Shinan then approached his accomplice Cai Ting and said, "His Majesty does not wish to govern the country with Confucianism; he is merely using the erudite scholars examination to shield himself from view!"

Cai Ting was serving as the Left Censor-in-Chief at the time. Although he was a member of the Han Banner Army, he was a member of the Hanlin Academy. Therefore, he had always formed a faction with Li Fu, Xie Jishi, and Lu Shengnan, supported the rule of the country by Confucianism, and advocated that the Hanlin Academy members should be in power.

More importantly, he himself came from a Hanlin Academy background, so he hoped to become the chief executive with the support of the Qingliu faction.

Therefore, Cai Ting was one of the few Eight Banner officials who still supported the Qingliu faction's rule and the governance of the country with Confucianism after Yunzhi's death.

After Lu Shengnan said this, Cai Ting sneered: "These days, I have not been sitting idly by waiting for my death. Since His Majesty intends not to follow the way of the sages in the Ministry of Rites' erudite scholars examination, then I have no need to tolerate the treacherous officials in the court."

Cai Ting continued, "I have learned that Grandmaster Sertu cheated and accepted bribes during the erudite scholars' examination, and the Fourth Prince was completely unaware of it."

Lu Shengnan became interested after hearing this: "Is it true?"

Cai Ting said, “It’s absolutely true, the news is very reliable. The stolen silver that Sairtu transported back to Shengjing has been seized by Lord Yin of Fengtian. He is preparing to go to the capital to impeach Sairtu. I also have evidence that Sairtu has hidden silver at home. I am waiting to go to the capital with Lord Yin to meet the emperor and talk about the abuses of the princes’ management of the ministry.”

"I am willing to kneel before the palace with you!"

Lu Shengnan had long wanted to wash away the shame of apologizing to Tian Wenjing for not staying on his job, and now that Cai Ting said this, he took the initiative to express his opinion.

"Very good!"

Therefore, after Zhangjia Yintai, a Manchu official who also came from the Hanlin Academy and passed the imperial examinations, arrived in Beijing, the three of them came together to the Qianqing Gate, presented their credentials, and knelt before the Emperor to say:

"We, your humble servants, impeach Minister of Rites Sertu for embezzlement under the guise of the erudite scholars examination, and request that the erudite scholars examination be suspended!"

"Your Majesty is wise. Those who participate in the erudite scholars examination are mostly those who failed the imperial examinations. Although there are occasionally some truly learned scholars among those who failed the imperial examinations, many are unlearned and incompetent. They rely on bribery to gain the title of erudite scholars and only have one or two flattering works to get ahead. Therefore, it is very easy for corruption to occur."

Cai Ting spoke first.

“That’s right. If Your Majesty truly wishes to establish the Imperial Examination for Learned Scholars, you should appoint renowned officials who have passed the imperial examinations to oversee the matter in the Ministry of Rites, rather than having princes or nobles organize it!”

"This is because princes who manage the Ministry of Rites easily protect corrupt officials like Sairtu, or they place excessive trust in corrupt officials like Sairtu, which makes it impossible for the ministry to function properly."

Yin Tai, the Prefect of Fengtian Prefecture with the title of Left Censor-in-Chief, was a Manchu of the Bordered Yellow Banner. However, he was also a member of the Hanlin Academy through the imperial examinations. Therefore, although he was a Manchu, he felt that he was different from other Manchus and should be a noble person in charge of the central government like many of his fellow Hanlin scholars.

Therefore, Yin Tai also supported governing the country with Confucianism and belonged to the same faction as Cai Ting. At this time, he also started to speak, and even denied the role of the princes in managing the departments.

"Your Majesty, I humbly submit this memorial with utmost sincerity: The Fourth Prince is of noble birth and should be studying the classics while remaining at home, rather than managing the ministries and governing the country. If he makes any mistakes, not only will His Majesty be disgraced, but the prestige of the nation will also be damaged!"

Han Chen Lu Shengnan also joined in the conversation.

Then, Cai Ting reiterated: "Just as Master Lu said, Fourth Master does not have the qualifications or ability to organize the erudite scholars examination, does not know how to distinguish who is talented, and is even less suitable to manage the ministry!"

"If Your Majesty truly intends for Fourth Master to manage the Ministry, then the erudite scholars examination should be discontinued to avoid disrupting the rules for selecting talent, and the compilation of teaching materials should also be stopped!"

"Because such a method of selecting talent easily leads to a court filled with ignorant and incompetent villains, while compiling teaching materials is a blasphemous act that disrespects Confucianism!"

After hearing this, Yongzheng said, "I understand. You are trying to deny the benefits of princes managing the ministry, even at the cost of denying Hongli's abilities."

"I won't discuss this with you now."

As Yongzheng spoke, he looked at Yin Tai and pointed to the five large boxes that Yin Tai had brought, which were sealed with seals: "Yin Tai, did you really take these from the slaves of the Sertu family?"

Yin Tai replied, "This servant has their testimonies as proof!"

Yin Tai took out the confession.

Yongzheng then instructed Su Peisheng: "Have the guards open the box and take a look."

"Whoo!"

Before long, the guards opened the box.

Yongzheng glanced at them and found they were all stones.

Yongzheng then instructed Yin Tai: "Come and see for yourself."

Yin Tai then got up and walked over.

He glanced at it and was immediately dumbfounded: "How could it be a stone?"

Cai Ting and Lu Shengnan both looked up in surprise when they heard Yin Tai say that.

boom!
"Fool! If someone wants to fabricate a document to slander a minister, do you think they'd use real silver?!"

Yongzheng kicked the elderly Yin Tai to the ground, and then coldly looked at Cai Ting: "Wang Jingzeng's secret report is correct. You did indeed fabricate a document to slander the current Minister! And you even used this to shift the blame onto Hongli!"

Speaking of it.

Yongzheng gritted his teeth.

"I never imagined that you would be so wicked in your pursuit of power!"

"I would rather abdicate and believe that Hongli can govern the country well than believe that only you Hanlin scholars and those who passed the imperial examinations can make the Qing Dynasty better!"

Then, Yongzheng pointed at Cai Ting on the ground and angrily rebuked him.

"Issue an order to the Infantry Commander's Office to drag Cai Ting out and execute him on the spot!"

Then, Yongzheng gave a solemn order.

It turned out that Yongzheng had already received a secret report from Wang Jingzeng stating that Cai Ting had instructed Wang Jingzeng to fabricate evidence of Sertu's embezzlement.

Wang Jing, having been a comrade of Cai Ting, had something Cai Ting had on him, so he had no choice but to agree.

However, Wang Jingzeng dared not disobey Yongzheng, so he reported the matter in a secret memorial, explaining that the so-called stolen silver he had bribed Sertu to transport back to his hometown outside the Great Wall was actually faked with stones.

Therefore, Yongzheng had the box opened first, and after opening the box, he mentioned Wang Jingzeng.

(End of this chapter)