My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 329 Explaining Inflation to Emperor Yongzheng and Imposing Additional Commercial Taxes!
"Regarding the cabinet vote on whether or not to prepare for war against the Dzungars, the two ministers of the Ministry of War have different opinions from my son, so I have some concerns. Please forgive me, Father."

Hongli answered truthfully.

After hearing this, Yongzheng picked up the Buddhist prayer beads on the table, looked at Hongli and said with a smile, "Those in lower positions will inevitably disagree with those in higher positions! But sometimes disagreement is not a bad thing. Erqi and Lu Zhenyang have never been reckless people. They both have their own principles. If they disagree with you, there must be reasons why they have to insist."

"You should first think about whether you have really done anything inconsiderate before trying to persuade them."

"My son understands!"

"They were chosen by Father to be Ministers of War, which is certainly not something I, your son, can look down upon."

“Military affairs are no small matter, and they certainly shouldn’t blindly flatter me just because I am a prince.”

Hongli replied.

Seeing that Hongli was not arrogant, Yongzheng nodded in satisfaction.

"That's right!"

"The most important matters of state are sacrifice and war; no one, unless they are a muddle-headed ruler or minister, would dare to be careless about these matters."

"You've just taken command of the military. Even if there are disagreements, they won't dare to easily take your opinions seriously, even if you're a prince. It's good that you understand this principle!"

Yongzheng then said a few more words, and stood up to walk to the cabinet on the other side where secret memorials were kept.

"Currently, grain prices are soaring in various regions. If we really want to mobilize troops, the amount of money and grain needed will be much greater than in previous years, with the initial amount being no less than 20 million."

"Therefore, we must be cautious about this matter of preparing for war, and I have decided to convene you, the Council of Princes and Ministers, to discuss it again."

"Here are a few memorials. Take a look at them yourself, and you'll know what the current price level is like."

As he spoke, Yongzheng showed several secret reports to Hongli.

"Jie Xizhou, the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner of Guizhou, reported that when he first arrived in Guizhou Province in the fourth year of the Yongzheng reign, a dou of rice cost only four and a half qian to five qian. However, since the fifth or sixth year of the Yongzheng reign, even in years of good harvest, a dou of rice costs seven, eight or nine qian per dou, while in years of poor harvest, it costs one liang, one or two qian to two liang."

"The Governor of Hunan, Yang Xifu, also reported that when rice was harvested during the Kangxi era, each shi (a unit of dry measure) cost only two or three qian (a unit of weight), while in the third year of the Yongzheng era it cost four or five qian, and now it costs five or six qian. He also mentioned that the price of land has also increased significantly. In the past, each mu (a unit of land area) cost one or two liang (a unit of weight), but now it costs seven or eight liang; in the past, it cost seven or eight liang, but now it costs more than twenty liang."

"The Shandong governor, Aligun, also reported that the prices of all kinds of cloth, silk, and cotton have increased, and everything is going up in price. Even the official houses that Longkodo was in charge of building in the capital are going up in price. Many wealthy Han Chinese merchants have pre-purchased several houses before the foundation has even been laid."

When Emperor Yongzheng was reading this, he also spoke up, and then, holding his forehead, he said, "Scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants, all of them are more actively engaged in mergers and acquisitions the more I try to suppress them."

When Hongli read the memorial, he realized that the Qing Dynasty was currently experiencing inflation.

It was only because this era was dominated by small-scale farming, with long economic cycles and limited access to information that the understanding of these phenomena was not deep enough, that Yongzheng was troubled.

However, if Emperor Yongzheng had read through the history of the Industrial Revolution several times in later generations, he would have realized that this was simply an inevitable event and nothing to be surprised about.

Therefore, Hongli calmly said, "In my humble opinion, this shows that the Celestial Empire is currently experiencing excessive prosperity!"

"Too prosperous?"

Yongzheng looked at Hongli in astonishment and asked with a frown.

Emperor Qianlong, not wanting to use terms like "overheated economy," opted for a different expression.

"Yes, it's too prosperous."

Hongli emphasized this again.

Yongzheng frowned and said, "If you feel that the implementation of the new policies is not good, you can speak frankly instead of pandering to me. As a prince who can advise the government, you should not be too tactful!"

In Yongzheng's view, wouldn't it be a good thing if things were too prosperous?
Hongli replied, "Your Majesty, I am not trying to flatter you. It is not that the new policies are bad, but rather that they are too prosperous. Father, you must have confidence! You must also have confidence in the new policies!"

"The merging of land tax and poll tax, the reform of local administration and the promotion of new grains and fertilizers all led to a population explosion. In addition, the abolition of the status of lowly people allowed a large number of shantytown dwellers living along rivers, lakes, seas, and islands to move to the city."

"This naturally leads to an increase in both rice and land prices."

"Furthermore, the recent large-scale purchase and casting of copper has, while curbing the consolidation of large households and reducing the burden on ordinary people, also led to a significant increase in the amount of copper coins in the market."

"As the exchange rate of copper coins to silver continued to decline, people, even if they loved to save money, would be more willing to spend it than before. At least they would be more willing to buy rice to make sure they had enough to eat."

"Of course, we Manchus are another story. In recent years, after Father reformed the Manchu affairs and made life better for the lower-level Manchus, and their income from their stable crops became more secure, they have become even bolder in taking on debt to make ends meet!"

"Moreover, the previous military campaign in the northwest was a great victory, and a border agreement was reached with the Russian Kingdom, so people across the land can now enjoy peace with greater confidence."

"Therefore, the soaring prices of rice and land have made people from all walks of life, including scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants, even more eager to consolidate their own territories. This has led many ordinary people to believe that they can live in cities and eat rice and wheat flour. Isn't this because the world is too prosperous to be realistic?"

After Hongli asked this question, Yongzheng fell silent. Yongzheng looked at Hongli: "What will happen if things continue like this?"

"If we don't intervene, the country will naturally live beyond its means until it is in dire need of funds, and the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer. Then, when a sudden event occurs, such as a major defeat in war or a major natural disaster, the country will perish!"

Hongli replied.

"Too much of a good thing is bad; the moon wanes after it is full, and water overflows when it is full."

Yongzheng nodded, then smiled wryly: "It seems that everything has its contradictions."

Hongli was slightly taken aback, then sighed inwardly, realizing that Yongzheng now truly understood things much more deeply.

“What my father said is true. Water has no constant shape, soldiers have no constant form, and people have no constant state. New policies must also change at any time to be considered good policies. Whether the same national policy is a good policy or a harsh policy often depends only on the time and has different effects.”

"Fortunately, Father is wise and revised the 'National Etiquette Ceremony' to follow the Emperor's etiquette, so he did not try to find a sword by clinging to a boat."

Hongli replied.

Yongzheng smiled and said, "Isn't it because you said that the essence of Han learning lies in following reality and constantly changing?"

Hongli smiled slightly.

He had to admit that Yongzheng was indeed receptive to good advice, and he genuinely agreed with and implemented what he thought made sense.

"If it were you, how would you intervene in a world that is too prosperous, so prosperous that it is somewhat undeserving of its name?"

At this point, Yongzheng asked about Hongli.

Hongli thought about it carefully.

He naturally couldn't simply copy the practices of later generations.

After all, the Qing Dynasty didn't have many tools at its disposal.

Despite being a highly centralized dynasty, strictly speaking, imperial power did not truly extend to the countryside.

Because the majority of the people in the Qing Dynasty were farmers, urban residents were still a minority, and the majority lived in scattered villages, where families and clans lived in different places.

The county government, representing the imperial court, had limited power and often needed the assistance of local gentry and wealthy families.

Therefore, after thinking it over, Hongli said, "There's no need to mention land reclamation, cracking down on hoarding and speculation, and releasing grain from the Ever-Normal Granary to suppress prices; Father has been issuing orders to do these things. Your subject thinks that taxes can be adjusted again, especially commercial taxes. Except for necessities like firewood, rice, oil, and salt, which should be reduced or even exempted, taxes should be increased on everything else. Luxury items like silk should be heavily taxed to bring back silver!"

"Too low commercial taxes are not good for the current situation."

Yongzheng began to think about it seriously.

At that time, Prince Yunxiang and other ministers of the Council of State also arrived one after another.

Yongzheng and Hongli stopped discussing the matter and instead began to discuss whether or not to prepare for war against the Dzungars.

Hongli first outlined the two opposing views currently held by the Ministry of War.

One theory is his own, namely, to prepare for war, based on the argument that the Dzungars have wolfish ambitions, as can be seen from their harboring of the bandit leader Lobsang Danjin.

of course!

The main reason why Hongli insisted on this view was that he had taken the exam without a book and knew that the Dzungars were really going to use force against the Qing Dynasty. They would first launch a surprise attack on the Qing Dynasty's important horse farm in Khalkha, Koshetu, in order to obtain a large amount of important war resources.

In this era, the importance of warhorses was self-evident, especially on the grasslands.

One view, held by Erqi and Lu Zhenyang, was that the nation's strength should not be wasted simply because the Dzungars had acquired two thousand large muskets.

Minister of State Affairs Sun Zhu spoke first: "In my humble opinion, it is not advisable to prepare for war now, because although Galdan Tsering has not sent Lobsang Danjin back, he has been relatively well-behaved lately and has made a formal report to our court, saying that he wants to make all people happy and revitalize the Yellow Sect."

"If Galdan Tsering truly intended to invade, the Khalkha tribes would naturally be more vigilant than the imperial court and would certainly request troops. However, since the Khalkha princes have not requested troops, the imperial court naturally has no need to rashly mobilize troops and cause alarm to other states!"

Sun Zhu continued.

When Hongli met with the ministers of the Council of Princes, there were also those who supported Erqi and Lu Zhenyang. He had to admit that many of the important ministers of the Yongzheng era were indeed cautious doves who dared not easily speak of war.

However, if we do not actively prepare for war, then we will have to watch as the Dzungars preemptively seize a large number of warhorses from Koshetu, thus gaining greater mobility and causing the Qing Dynasty to suffer continuous losses as soon as it sends troops out, just like in history.

After all, by the time the Khalkha requested reinforcements due to this surprise attack, even if the Qing Dynasty sent troops, it would still take several months to stop the continued damage inflicted on the Qing Dynasty by the Dzungars, whose mobile forces had increased.

(End of this chapter)