My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 390 How shrewd was Emperor Qianlong? He pointed out the flaws of Emperor Yongzheng's reforms in one sentence!

Lin the Immortal swept his whisk, and was just smiling and pondering how to answer when Hongxi asked again, "Will the Dzungars come to the capital in the future?"

But at this time...

Du Wei, the head eunuch beside Hongxi, rushed over and said, "Your Highness, the imperial guards have come to deliver an imperial decree!"

Hongxi's face darkened.

Upon hearing this, the immortal Lin also stopped smiling.

Wang Tingcheng, who was standing beside Hongxi, immediately asked on Hongxi's behalf, "But what is it?"

Du Wei shook his head.

Wang Tingcheng and Lin Shenxian both looked at Hongxi.

Hongxi waved his hand: "Open the central gate first to receive the imperial decree."

"Whoo!"

Shortly afterward, Hongxi received an imperial decree from Hongli ordering him to take Lin Shenxian away.

This made Hongxi's face turn as black as the bottom of a pot. He knelt on the spot for a long time before finally accepting the imperial decree.

Hongxi had no choice but to hand over Lin Shenxian.

He naturally dared not refuse, nor could he deny the existence of Immortal Lin, and even wanted to silence Immortal Lin first.

After all, since Hongli had already issued an order to arrest this Immortal Lin, Hongxi had no choice but to obediently hand him over.

When Lin Shenxian was taken away by the imperial guards, he was naturally terrified and shouted to Hongxi, "Your Highness!"

Hongxi ignored him.

Only after Lin Shenxian was taken away did Hongxi clench his fists and say to Wang Tingcheng beside him, "If I am also taken away, remember to find out who let Hongli know about Lin Shenxian's existence."

"Whoo!"

Hongxi then let out a deep sigh.

Hongsheng also received the imperial decree that he was to be confined to his residence.

This caused Hongsheng to look terrified, and he took a few steps back, muttering, "How could this be?"

"Master, Immortal Lin has been taken to the Imperial Clan Court."

The Hall of Diligent Governance and Kindness to the Worthy.

After Lin Shenxian was arrested, Chen Fu also reported this to Hongli.

Hongli nodded after hearing this: "Have the Imperial Clan Court interrogate this person tonight."

"Whoo!"

Then, Hongli himself sighed, put his hands behind his back, and looked out of the hall.

Outside the palace, clouds drifted by, and the sky was a clear blue.

On this crisp autumn day, he longed to take his royal family and nobles on a hunting trip, especially to the large hunting grounds in Rehe.

The area is lush with water and grass, and the sky is high and the land is vast.

However, the aftershocks of the struggle for succession among the nine princes during the Kangxi era were still present, and the related power struggles even became more severe during the Yongzheng era!

In addition, the prospect of becoming the master of an empire with an annual income of 80 million is indeed tempting.

Therefore, it wouldn't be easy for the royal family and nobles to submit to their four branches.

Even Hongli himself was not immune to this influence and had to continue to deal with some members of the imperial clan.

And he had no choice but to clean it up.

Because he was very clear that the Taoist priest whom Hongchun had mentioned, who was invited into the mansion by Hongxi, was probably asking him when he would die, and expressing his desire for his own demise as soon as possible.

Hongsheng's manipulation of the Ministry of Rites, preventing him from using the Qianlong reign title, was a serious provocation against his authority.

If he really indulges, he will only be seen as easy to bully. Sitting in this position, he cannot be soft-hearted on matters of principle!

However, Hongli also knew that if he did not indulge the wrongdoings of some members of the imperial clan and continued to severely punish them, it would cause the people to have a different reaction, namely that they would think he would continue to implement strict policies and high-pressure tactics, just like Yongzheng.

This reaction, in turn, can bring about other side effects.

The news that Hongli had imprisoned Hongsheng and arrested the sorcerer from Hongxi's residence quickly spread throughout the court and the public.

This further convinced many princes and ministers that Hongli would continue Yongzheng's strict governance style.

Therefore, after Seltu impeached Hongsheng and Hongchun reported Hongxi for contacting evil Taoists, many princes and ministers also joined in attacking and reporting each other.

Even worse, some unscrupulous people continued to curry favor with Hongli in the same way they had with Yongzheng, boasting about how much deficit they had recovered, how much land they had reclaimed, and how many tax-resistant troublemakers and gentry they had arrested, in order to show their loyalty and competence.

Li Xi, the commander of the Plain Red Banner Han Army, also wrote to his ally Wang Shijun, the governor of Hedong: "The current emperor continues to follow the policies of the retired emperor and there is no need to change the old policies. The best approach is to strictly pursue and crack down on these issues so as to win the emperor's favor!"

After receiving the letter, Wang Shijun believed it to be true.

Because he also received other messages from the capital at the same time.

Therefore, after replacing Tian Wenjing and being appointed by Yongzheng as the new Governor-General of Hedong, he continued the policy that Tian Wenjing had implemented in Henan and Shandong, which involved underreporting the amount of reclaimed land.

He continued to reprimand county officials who reported small amounts of reclaimed wasteland, while granting them promotions for those who reported large amounts.

This has resulted in an indirect increase in taxes for people in Henan and Shandong provinces.

After all, since you have increased land reclamation so much, the land tax collected by the imperial court will naturally have to increase as well.

But in reality, not many acres of land were reclaimed.

Therefore, the people of Henan and Shandong were subject to a disguised increase in taxes.

In order to prevent the imperial court from knowing the truth, local officials naturally had to collude with local gentry who had influence and power to make the court aware of the truth. To get the gentry to cooperate in concealing the truth, local officials naturally had to exempt them from taxes and provide them with benefits.

In this way, the increased taxes were only borne by the common people.

Even the original taxes were now borne solely by the common people.

This caused more people to be displaced and forced to sell their land, which in turn exacerbated land consolidation.

As a result, the policy of encouraging land reclamation, after being over-implemented, became a burdensome and oppressive policy on the people.

In fact, this phenomenon existed in many aspects of the reforms during the later stages of the Yongzheng reign.

For example, the Miao people's affairs, whose main purpose is to change the soil and return it to the central government, are also like this.

Because the local civil and military officials in Yunnan and Guizhou who implemented this policy deliberately overdid it, carrying out bloody massacres of those who did not submit and deliberately increasing the exploitation of those who did submit, the conversion of native chieftains to imperial officials was not carried out smoothly.

The same applies to the policies implemented during the Yongzheng era that encouraged land surveying and reclamation.

Originally intended to alleviate the burden on the people and curb land annexation, it instead became an opportunity for the government and gentry to collude and further exploit the people.

Governors and viceroys, concerned only with making their own accounts look good, turned a blind eye to such practices.

Even Tian Wenjing, who was previously dismissed for concealing the severity of the disaster and boasting that he had no problem managing the disaster relief efforts in Henan and Shandong, actively helped his subordinates lie.

It can be said that the reforms in the mid-to-late Yongzheng reign truly conformed to the Huang Zongxi Law.

“Xin Yougu, your family has 75 mu of land after the land survey, and 25 mu of newly reclaimed land. After the land tax is converted into poll tax, the total tax payable is 1.5 taels of silver.”

"Will you pay in copper coins or silver coins?"

Yanzhou, Shandong.

It was the time to collect autumn grain.

Tax collector Bai Decai went to the countryside and visited a farmer named Xin Yougu, mentioning the amount of taxes his family should pay.

Upon hearing this, Xin Yougu was greatly alarmed and, with a bitter face, argued, "Officer, where would I find seventy-five mu of land? I only have sixteen mu, and the little bit of land I reclaimed is less than one mu!"

"It's all written in black and white, you've signed it yourself, and your parents have given you the receipt. How dare you try to deny it?"

"If you don't admit it, why did you sign the agreement in the first place?"

Upon hearing this, the tax collector Bai Decai asked Xin Yougu with a displeased expression.

Xin Yougu said with great indignation, "I can't read! It was your government officials who read it to me and said that I was entitled to seventy-five he of rice as relief grain, so I signed it. Who knew that your government was lying to me!"

"Nonsense, why would we lie to you!"

"You either pay today, or take your son to jail and come back with the money to redeem him yourself."

"But let me make this clear from the start: if your son goes to jail, it's not certain whether he'll come out fully recovered."

As the tax collector Bai Decai spoke, he ordered the strong constables who had come with him to take Xin Yougu's son.

His son turned pale with fright.

Upon seeing this, Xin Yougu had no choice but to kneel down: "Officer, please calm down, but I really can't produce it."

"Then borrow it!"

"This is Master Kong Jinli, a servant of Master Kong, a wealthy man in the city. He brought silver with him. As long as you are willing to use your land as collateral, he can lend you money on the spot so you can pay your autumn grain tax."

As the tax collector Bai Decai spoke, he introduced a fat, pot-bellied middle-aged man next to him.

The middle-aged man, Kong Jinli, had the man who came with him shake his money bag and take out a writing brush, ink, paper, inkstone, and seal box. Then he smiled and said, "For the sake of our fellow villagers, I can give you half the interest rate of the Nine Outs and Thirteen Returns."

Xin Yougu hesitated, glancing at his son who had already been captured.

Seeing that he hadn't responded for a while, Kong Jinli became impatient and said:
"Borrow it now! If you go to the city to borrow it, the interest rate won't be this high."

"take away!"

Seeing this, the tax collector Bai Decai also shouted to his men.

"father!"

So, Xin Yougu's son, who had been forcibly chained by the two constables, hurriedly cried out.

Seeing this, Xin Yougu could only say with tears in his eyes, "I'll borrow it!"

Kong Jinli and the tax collector Bai Decai then exchanged a smile.

"That's it!"

Bai Decai waved his hand, signaling his servant to release Xin Yougu's son.

……

"That's it!"

Inside the Hall of Diligent Governance and Kindness to the Virtuous.

Hongli waved his hand as the Grand Councilors reported that the Shuntian Prefecture had received another report from the capital on the number of displaced people.

"I don't want to hear about how many more refugees have been added to the capital. I just want to know, since the local areas have been increasing the amount of reclaimed land and suppressing land consolidation, why has the capital seen such a large increase in refugees?"

"Was the old policy of encouraging land surveys and reclamation wrong, or are the local officials and gentry colluding to deliberately undermine the court's policies and damage my virtue by concealing and falsifying reports?"

He then raised his own questions.

Being young and strong, he naturally had more energy than the elderly Yongzheng Emperor, and wouldn't turn a blind eye to many things because of his physical weakness.

Yunli also saw his nephew's keen insight and decisiveness, and said, "There is a memorial here that mentions that the Governor-General of Hedong, Wang Shijun, used the number of reclaimed wasteland as the performance evaluation standard for the province, in order to force local officials to falsely report the amount of reclaimed wasteland."

(End of this chapter)