The secret folding system was not pioneered by Yongzheng. In fact, it was already very mature during the Wu and Tang Dynasties. This system was actually an effective measure for the monarchy to bypass the bureaucratic class and penetrate directly to the end of the empire!
Because the information of ancient countries was very backward, it was difficult for the king in the capital to know what was happening thousands of miles away. The emperor in Beijing sometimes couldn't even hear about the corrupt officials or unjust imprisonments of the Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan generation!
There is no direct way to relieve the people, so he can only listen to the reports from officials, and if 30% of these reports are true, it is already great!
Although there is a censor inspection system, and although there is also the power of imperial envoys, if one or two people want to fight with tens of thousands of officials in a place, they will basically lose 90% of the time!
Even these patrolling officials are members of the official class, and there are countless cases of covering up for each other!
There was banditry in the place, thousands of them gathered together, maybe on the emperor's account, a few hundred mobs robbed rice, and they were finally put down!
Even if it was the Agub invasion, the British provoking the Opium War, Tsarist Russia harassing the border...such major military events, as long as they didn't become a big deal, the local officials had many ways to hide it from the emperor!
This kind of thing is a normal situation where the bureaucracy and the monarch restrict each other and snatch power!
In order to break this deaf-blind dilemma, without the support of modern high-tech means, the emperor had no choice but to adopt a secret folding system, or even tell stories based on hearsay!
The emperor secretly gave some local cronies the right to write secret reports. You don't need to investigate the evidence, as long as you hear something, you can write to the emperor!
These officials are hidden in the official class, making other officials restless like catfish, because you don't know who has such rights in the entire official class!
Maybe you are a high-ranking Futai master, but do you know if the guards around you have such rights?
As the governor of Liangjiang, a small county magistrate under your control may be able to reach heaven directly!
This system of secret narration was very popular during the Yongzheng Dynasty. Yongzheng gave each of his cronies a secret box to take with them to their local posts!
There are only two keys that can open this secret box. One is hanging on Yongzheng's waist, and the other is clutched in this catfish's hand!
Once Catfish discovers something worth reporting in the local area, he will write it down in a secret box, lock it in a secret box, and secretly send it to the capital!
No one in the capital could open the box, and they didn't even know who sent it. Only the emperor could open the box with his own hands and see the secret inside!
This thing is so effective. Although the empire is so big that it is impossible to change the world with just a few discounts, but this thing is scary!
The toad jumped on the foot. After all, he is disgusting!
The officials are all in danger. No one knows whether the people around them are really friendly to me or pretending to be friendly to me. They look at everyone like a spy!
Yongzheng relied on this whistle-blowing system to frighten the officialdom and allowed him to survive the most difficult period when he first ascended the throne!
However, this system also has great disadvantages, that is, it will destroy the enthusiasm of officials in their work and lead to serious inaction. They do not seek merit but seek no fault. A lot of energy is put on guarding against left and right!
There is another disadvantage, that is, those officials with secret rights, although they are the emperor's cronies, are still in the entire bureaucratic class. They also have to learn to live in harmony, and they will also be affected by the official atmosphere!
Drinking, sex, and wealth will also drag down these officials who have secret rights. Once the entire secret system is corrupted, the information obtained by the emperor will be distorted, and there may even be a tragedy where the emperor himself wrongfully accuses a loyal minister!
Because of this, this system was abolished in the middle of Qianlong's reign, and it was not restored by subsequent emperors!
Ermao never expected that this system that had been abolished during the Qianlong period would be restored secretly by Zai Chun. The confidentiality work was so good that even he didn't know!
Zai Chun threw Ermao a piece of telegraph newspaper that was like a heavenly book. Ermao read it over and could not understand anything. It was a combination of Chinese numerals and Arabic numerals. It was all numbers and no one knew what it was!
However, Er Mao had been exposed to the Chinese password system, and he knew that these numbers must point to specific Chinese characters!
Er Mao's guess was correct. When Xiao Sixi took out a black lacquered wooden box from Changchun Bookstore, he opened the wooden box and found an ancient book bound with thread!
"Jin Ping Mei? Hey... Your Majesty, why did you hide this book in the palace? Let the Queen Mother and the Confucian officials know about it and want to nag you again?"
Zai Chun chuckled, "I just want them to not think that the secret box system I formulated is an upgraded version! At that time, Emperor Yongzheng did not have such good technology as telegraph, so he could only rely on manpower to deliver the secret box!"
"Now that we have telegraphs, although they are faster, they have to go through the hands of many telegraphers, which also increases the chance of leaks!"
"So I thought of a way, that is, the secret box does not hide the message, but the key book that translates the secret message!"
"The numbers in this telegram point to a certain page, a certain line, and a certain word in a specific book. If all the numbers are corresponding to Chinese characters, the secret sent by the people below can be translated! "
"The books in this secret box must be replaced regularly. Of course, no matter what they are changed into, they must be locked in the Changchun Bookstore forever. The key to the secret box must also be in my hands!"
"In this way, there is no possibility of leaking secrets anymore! Those eyes and ears that I have left in the officialdom can naturally send me telegrams with confidence..."
The secret message in Zai Chun's hand had actually been translated just in the morning. There was no need to bother anymore at this moment. He directly took out the translation sandwiched in the book beside him and handed it to Er Mao.
Er Mao was shocked when he saw the result, "Ah! Your Majesty... you... you have used all your cards! Did you go too far?"
Zai Chun looked out the window coldly and gritted his back teeth and said, "Have you passed? I think it's still far away! Since I returned to the capital, I have walked through it step by step!"
"One wrong step means death. There is no other way to choose! If you want to win completely, you have to fight the lion against the rabbit and smash the egg with the hammer! Use all your strength!"
"Those opponents won't give up without trying their best! Look, they are still secretly doing things after I get married!"
"Who are the slaves in the steel plant spreading rumors? What are their plans? Check carefully!"
"It shudders! It shudders..."
Er Mao sighed, "But...but this is His Majesty's last trump card. Once you use it, you will have no backup plan!"
"At a time of life and death, what kind of backup plan is needed... Haha, I believe that tonight, my Uncle Sixth Emperor will receive the latest information, right?"
"I really want to see his expression! Hahaha..."
