My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 291 Governing the Country Through Killing: The Resolve a Great Qing Ruler Should Have!

When Song Zhu saw the guards filing in, his face turned as black as the bottom of a pot.

Before he could even speak, he was captured by the elite cavalry officers who rushed over from beside Azitu.

Before Wang Daogu could escape, she was dragged back from the wall by the guards.

When Hongli arrived, he saw that Su'erleng's face had been trampled out of shape, the blood covering the steps had congealed into a porridge-like consistency, and his official hat had been broken in two.

Emperor Hongli showed no pity whatsoever for this.

Because, regardless of whether these officials were Manchu or Han, as long as they were from the Banner system, most of their ancestors had committed heinous crimes.

Therefore, their current outcome can only be attributed to their family's own choice.

The Qing Dynasty rose to power through ruthless killing, and naturally, it was able to govern the country with the same ruthlessness, even to the point of being ruthless towards its own people.

In the Qing Dynasty, the doves should have been eliminated long ago.

After all, doves will only bring stronger external enemies, causing this land to suffer another invasion.

Emperor Hongli naturally supported this theory.

Because he was familiar with the course of history, he understood that since he had become the ruler of the Qing Dynasty, it was undoubtedly one of the things he should do most to prevent external forces from following the path of the Qing Dynasty's rise.

To do this, the first thing to do is to be ruthless towards the ruling class within the Qing Dynasty!

They were so ruthless that they regretted letting the Qing Dynasty enter the pass, fearing that new outsiders would also learn from the Qing Dynasty, or even be more ruthless than the Qing Dynasty. Consequently, they dared not collude with external forces, rely on external forces, or even hope that external forces would become their masters in order to seek greater wealth and power.

In short, the Qing Dynasty must be the last barbaric regime to successfully seize control of the Central Plains by uniting with large landowners and high-ranking officials within the Great Wall.

Then the Qing Dynasty would never become a second Mongol Yuan Dynasty, thus preventing those who surrendered from developing a sense of attachment and hope for external forces.

Therefore, what Hongli always thought was that if he really became the emperor of the Qing Dynasty in the future, it would only make the elite class who chose the Qing Dynasty back then regret their choice even more.

Even the Manchu elites should be made to regret letting the Qing Dynasty enter the pass.

In fact, some Manchus now regret supporting the Qing Dynasty's entry into China, especially those Manchus outside the Great Wall.

After all, the Qing Dynasty really did control them very strictly, much more so than the Ming Dynasty under the Zhu family.

It can be said that if any Jurchen outside the Great Wall today were to launch a campaign against the Manchus against the Ming Dynasty like Nurhaci did, it certainly wouldn't have the same appeal as launching a campaign against the Qing Dynasty.

When Songzhu saw his grandson being carried in, with several arrows stuck in his body, he immediately lost all goodwill towards the Qing Dynasty.

Because he only liked courts that were lenient and tolerant towards their own people, rather than those that were strict and ruthless.

"Fourth Master!"

“My grandson was a scholar-official who was known for his integrity and outspokenness, yet Azitu killed him directly.”

"You must stand up for me!"

After Hongli arrived, Songzhu immediately began to blame Aqitu.

Hongli simply said, "Songzhu, don't forget that your grandson Su'erlen is a Manchu, not a Han Chinese. Therefore, he is first and foremost a servant, and only secondly a Hanlin scholar and a righteous official. Aqitu is here on imperial orders to arrest you, and your grandson's obstruction is naturally a betrayal of his master."

"Therefore, the only way for Azitu to show loyalty to his master is to kill him."

After Hongli said this, Songzhu fell silent.

Because he couldn't very well say that being a Manchu was worse than being a Han Chinese.

At least, Han Chinese don't have to be slaves.

Yes.

The phenomenon of besieging a city also existed in the Qing Dynasty.

Those who want to be slaves can't be slaves; they want more privileges.

Those who have become slaves do not want to remain slaves; they wish to rule in harmony with the monarch.

Therefore, some people went to great lengths to join the Manchu bannermen, while others went to great lengths to leave. Some Manchu bannermen even went so far as to become slaves of landlords in order to become Manchu bannermen.

However, everyone only sees their own shortcomings and forgets the benefits they have gained.

"Songzhu, why would a Grand Secretary like you do this?" Hongli asked at this moment.

Song Zhu did not reply, but began to sob and shed tears.

"answer!"

Hongli shouted sternly.

It was like a thunderclap.

Song Zhu then stopped crying and sobbed, "Because, because of this servant, this servant longs to return to the court as a Grand Secretary!"

"He wanted to return to the court as a Grand Secretary, so he hoped to burn the examiners and candidates alive, as a warning from Heaven, so that the Khan would fear Heaven's will and open up channels for public opinion, bring back upright officials, and limit the power of princes and honest officials?"

Hongli continued to explain the origins of the story on behalf of Songzhu.

Song Zhu nodded with a pained expression.

"You've certainly mastered the ways of the Han Chinese scholar-officials!"

After speaking with a cold laugh, Hongli said nothing more, only instructing Aqitu to escort these people back to the Infantry Commander's Office, and then went to the palace to report to Yongzheng.

Emperor Yongzheng did not allow him to return, but instead let him sleep half the night in the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

The following day, Hongli received an imperial edict granting him the title of Prince Regent and concurrently in charge of the Jingshan School and the Imperial Household Department.

This surprised Hongli greatly.

He never expected that he would become the Regent Prince so quickly.

The title of "Prince Regent" is not a peerage, but a title given to princes and dukes who hold positions of power in the central government.

This dates back to when the Shunzhi Emperor assumed personal rule and appointed Prince Shuo Sai, the Prince of Chengze, and Prince Wakda, the Prince of Duoluoqian, as "Princes of State Affairs".

From then on, just as a minister's acquisition of the title "Minister of State Affairs" signified his becoming a central ruler, the sign of a royal prince becoming a central ruler was being granted the title "Prince of State Affairs."

After the abolition of the Grand Council and before the establishment of the Grand Council, the Prince Regent and the Minister Regent were the symbols of the central government's rule during the Yongzheng reign.

The princes who held the council were mostly princes, while the ministers who held the council were mostly grand secretaries.

However, Hongli is only eighteen years old now, and it is indeed too fast for him to become the Prince Regent.

But this is enough to show that Yongzheng's affirmation of him was a genuine belief that he had the ability to become a central ruler.

While Hongli was indeed young, he had gained practical experience in various government departments, not to mention that he had also observed political affairs for a period of time in the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

Therefore, it cannot be said that Emperor Yongzheng was arbitrarily promoting his princes.

Becoming a "regent king" in central government means having to go to the cabinet to vote every day.

The so-called "piaoqian" refers to the draft proposals of the Ming Dynasty.

After the memorials were delivered to the Cabinet through the Office of Transmission or the Office of Memorials, preliminary opinions on how to handle them were drafted based on laws and precedents and written on slips of different sizes.

Then, the slips of paper were presented to the emperor along with the original memorials. The emperor could quickly understand the core of government affairs and alternative solutions through the slips of paper, thus avoiding direct confrontation with a massive amount of original documents.

The tickets were categorized by importance and urgency, with options including "single tickets," "double tickets," and even "triple tickets" for the emperor to choose from.

If Hongli performs well as the "Prince of State Councilor" and demonstrates excellent decision-making ability, then becoming the regent will naturally not be a problem.

As was customary, Hongli came to thank Yongzheng for his favor after receiving the imperial decree.

At this moment, Yongzheng had a stern face.

He received the manuscript copy from Lu Shengnan's house early this morning.

Then, Yongzheng saw Lu Shengnan's "Commentary on the Zizhi Tongjian".

Lu Shengnan's "Commentary on the Zizhi Tongjian" begins by criticizing the prefecture-county system and advocating for feudalism; its core theme is to promote non-interference and local autonomy, which is somewhat similar to later liberalism.

This was naturally unacceptable to Emperor Yongzheng, who only wanted centralized power.

After Hongli came to express his gratitude, Yongzheng asked him, "Now that you are also the Prince Regent, tell me, is the prefecture-county system or the feudal system better?"

(End of this chapter)