My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 321 Yongzheng: I am the ruler of China, and I should follow Chinese etiquette!
The conflict between the Eight Banners nobles' insistence on upholding the tradition of shared governance and the emperor's desire to strengthen centralized power was a long-standing contradiction within the Qing Dynasty.

As a member of the Eight Banners nobility, Ma Qi had once stood up to Emperor Kangxi on behalf of the Eight Banners nobility. Now, he only expressed his opposition by requesting to retire, which is already considered much milder.

Hongli realized that he was getting old and was no longer so impulsive.

"I'm sure."

After a while, Yongzheng agreed to Ma Qi's request.

Hongli pursed his lips slightly at this.

He knew that the Manchus belonged to the aristocratic class and were a bargaining chip for the emperor to check the power of the gentry. Therefore, as long as the Manchus did not oppose the emperor too stubbornly, the emperor would not punish them too severely.

Ma Qi's mild opposition ultimately earned him a mild response from Emperor Yongzheng.

Ma Qi kowtowed again, saying, "This servant thanks Your Majesty for your permission!"

Yongzheng waved his hand and said, "You should get up and leave first."

"Whoo!"

Ma Qi then got up and left the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

Hongli glanced at Ma Qi's unsteady figure.

He couldn't help but sigh inwardly, realizing that this elderly minister from the Kangxi era was completely out of touch with the thinking of the Yongzheng era.

It's good that Ma Qi proactively requested to retire in advance.

In this way, it would prevent Ma Qi from becoming a victim of the internal struggle when the differences between them regarding whether the foundation of the Qing Dynasty lay with the Manchu Eight Banners or the absolute power of the emperor were further intensified.

"From this perspective, Zeng Jing's claim that Fourth Brother is the ruler of barbarians is utter nonsense!"

"The current state of the Qing Dynasty is in line with the principles of Han learning, and naturally it is in line with the fundamental principles of China."

"Since Fourth Brother chose to take the true foundation of the Great Qing Dynasty as his basis, he is already the ruler of China, not the ruler of barbarians!"

After Ma Qi left, the sixteenth prince, Yunlu, remained silent for a long time before suddenly speaking.

Yongzheng nodded.

Hongli smiled slightly, thinking to himself, "This sixteenth uncle is indeed clear-headed when it comes to matters of principle."

"This servant believes that what Prince Zhuang said is true. Zeng Jing said in his letter to Yue Zhongqi that Your Majesty does not follow the feudal system and the well-field system, and is therefore a tyrannical and immoral ruler who is intolerable to Heaven and Earth."

Longkodo then spoke, and when he got to this point, Yongzheng's expression changed.

Longkodo continued, "But feudalism and the well-field system are fundamentally contrary to the will of the people. In Lu Shengnan's 'Reading the Zizhi Tongjian,' the master also elaborated on the unpopularity of feudalism and the unsuitability of the well-field system."

"These pedantic scholars still insist on upholding feudalism and the well-field system, completely disregarding the will of the people!"

After Longkodo said this, Hongli nodded to himself.

He agreed with this statement. Zeng Jing and Lü Liuliang, who influenced his thinking, were indeed somewhat pedantic in their anti-Qing ideology, and even aimed to restore feudalism and the well-field system.

As mentioned earlier, this idea had already begun to spread among scholars as early as the late Ming Dynasty.

Many great Confucian scholars in the late Ming Dynasty discussed the drawbacks of the prefecture-county system, the benefits of feudalism, and the idea of ​​dividing land to restrict land transactions in order to realize the benefits of the ancient well-field system.

It even began to involve limiting the power of the monarch, believing that the world was corrupt because the monarch ruled as a family, and that the monarch enslaved the world for his own selfish interests.

However, China, which frequently faces natural disasters, man-made calamities, threats from external forces, and uneven internal development, is truly unsuitable for these two systems today.

Therefore, neither of these two systems was successful.

The same applies now; the feudal system naturally did not receive the support of Emperor Yongzheng, and the well-field system did not receive the support of landlords.

As a member of the Eight Banners nobility, Longkodo did not want his land to be divided up, nor did he want to be unable to acquire more land.

"After Zeng Jing is escorted to the capital, I will question him carefully to clarify the distinction between the ruler of China and the ruler of the barbarians."

"But to make a clear distinction, the scholar-officials must be allowed to choose whether to follow the ancestral system or to follow the emperor's wishes!"

"As the ruler of China, I should naturally follow the customs of China!"

At this moment, Yongzheng spoke with a stern face.

Minister of State Marseille immediately spoke before Longkodo: "Your Majesty is wise!"

Longkodo's eyes widened and his fists clenched when he saw Marseille take the lead. Hongli smiled secretly and then echoed, "Father is wise," thinking to himself that Yongzheng still preferred debate and believed in persuading people with reason.

"If all the scholars and officials in the land believe that the rites should follow the emperor's wishes, then the shaving of heads and changing of hair can be stopped, and the Han people can do as they please!"

"If we follow the ancestral system, then we cannot stop the practice of shaving heads!"

Because Hongli mentioned the issue of shaving one's head and changing one's clothes, he still hoped that the scholar-officials would agree to follow the emperor's rites and support the emperor's more autocratic rule. He still offered this bait to make the Han scholars-officials abandon ancestral rules and let the emperor be the sole ruler.

This bait is incredibly tempting for many Han Chinese people around the world.

Yunxiang then spoke up, saying, “The fact that Zeng Jing plotted rebellion does show that many Han gentry still harbor resentment towards the court. However, this resentment is not necessarily just because of the shaving of heads and changing of clothes. As Hongli said, it is also a gradual process. It is because our implementation of new policies, and even the current reform of the Imperial Household Department, has offended the Han gentry too much.”

Yongzheng nodded: "That's true. They complain that I compete with the people for profit, saying that I am greedy, murderous, drunk, lewd, suspicious and kill loyal people, and like to flatter and appoint sycophants. It can be seen that in the eyes of some Han gentry, I am a cruel ruler that everyone can kill."

Emperor Yongzheng gave a bitter laugh at this point.

Grand Secretary Sun Zhu, who replaced Cha Bina as Minister of State Affairs, then suggested: "Your Majesty, in my humble opinion, it would be better to stop the current reform of the Imperial Household Department. At least we should avoid giving the disgruntled officials a reason to accuse us of competing with the people for profits, and instead give some benefits to the gentry of the country."

"Giving concessions is easy."

Hongli's face turned cold, and he replied with a single sentence.

"But if that's the case, the ever-increasing expenses of the Imperial Household Department can only be cut. Not only the palace, but also the princes and nobles and even the sons of the Upper Three Banners will have to cut expenses and tighten their belts!"

"Because, given the dwindling surplus of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the current rate of increase in expenditures, it cannot sustain itself for more than a few decades."

"If we really do that, and the princes and nobles of the imperial clan suffer injustice, the sons of the Upper Three Banners suffer injustice, and even the Eight Banners and the Green Standard Army fail to receive the emperor's imperial funds, will the emperor really be branded as harsh towards the imperial clan, his family, and his soldiers?"

then.

Hongli then turned and bowed to Yongzheng: "Your Majesty, I still maintain that whether or not to concede benefits depends on the Emperor's choice of whom to serve the people and who to uphold the foundation of the Great Qing. Is it unacceptable to compete with the people for benefits, or is it unacceptable to compete with the scholars for benefits?"

Yunlu immediately said, "That's right. I also managed the Imperial Household Department before, and I know that the department's expenses are increasing. It's impossible to cut them even if we want to, because the number of princes and nobles of the Qing Dynasty is increasing, and the number of bannermen in the Upper Three Banners is also increasing."

"We must never wrong our master!"

Marseille then chimed in with a comment.

Longkodo's eyes widened again.

Emperor Yongzheng's eyes widened as well.

“This servant was careless and did not think of this. If the master and his children are wronged, then it is meaningless to care about Han gentry.”

Sun Zhu hurriedly replied.

Longkodo said, "That's exactly right. Our Great Qing has never tolerated the Han gentry. If they disobey, we kill them! Anyway, we have no shortage of Han people who want to study and become gentry!"

Yongzheng gave Longkodo a disgusted look and then gave Hongli a meaningful glance.

Hongli understood, and thus reminded Longkodo: "It's best not to say things that are detrimental to unity!"

Longkodo immediately shut his mouth.

"I still maintain that the people are the foundation of our nation. It is acceptable to give benefits to the people, but it is not necessarily acceptable to give benefits to the scholars. We should consider the actual situation."

"This reform by the Imperial Household Department is an expansion of its operations. Although it has taken away the profits of the gentry, it has also paid taxes to the country, which has enabled the country to have more power to help the common people. This will only consolidate the foundation of our Great Qing Dynasty."

"Therefore, the Imperial Household Department's reforms need not be halted this time. We should first issue an edict to the people of the world regarding whether to follow ancestral customs or the emperor's wishes, and whether the shaving and changing of clothes order should be suspended!"

At this point, Emperor Yongzheng made a decision.

"Whoo!"

Emperor Yongzheng's decision naturally delighted Emperor Hongli.

Because he could continue to use the pretext of reforming the Imperial Household Department to accumulate the capital for his future as emperor.

After all, all the money flowing into the Imperial Household Department will eventually end up in his hands and become his money!

Although Emperor Yongzheng spent some money on things like raising dogs, it was ultimately limited and couldn't compare to Emperor Kangxi's southern tours.

"Now that Ma Qi has retired, a new Councilor should be appointed."

Yunxiang then spoke up.

(End of this chapter)