On the thirteenth day of the first lunar month, the imperial envoy from Jinan Prefecture went to the palace. Liu Yong, wearing a gray city cloth robe, sat on the Taishi chair in the study. His adopted son Liu Xipeng, standing beside him, was opening an urgent letter sent from his hometown in Zhucheng.
This letter was secretly sent to Chahe Villa in Zhucheng by people from the Northern Navy Intelligence Bureau five days ago. The envelope was written "Shi'an Gongdaoqi" and the signature was "Weiyang Mo Xue Jiao Li Tang". Litang is the name of Jiao Xun.
The Liu family was angry and afraid of the messenger's unscrupulous behavior. However, they did not dare to detain the messenger and send it to the government, nor did they dare to hide the letter without delivering it, so they had to let him go home to worship his ancestors and return his buttocks. Liu Xipeng, who was not feeling hot, quickly sent the letter to Jinan. This man was Liu Yong's adopted son. Since Liu Yong had no children, his clan brother Liu Chang adopted one.
You must know that the troops of the Northern Navy have now pushed into the front line of Wulong River, which is just across the Sun River from Laiyang County; over two mountains and more than 400 miles away, you will reach Zhucheng. However, they have large iron ships and gunboats, so if they really want to fight, they will definitely not have to go to such trouble. They can land at the Chaohe River entrance in the southern part of the Jiaodong Peninsula, go straight north for more than a hundred miles, and then cross the Jiujian Mountain.
Why did Jiao Xun write to Liu Yong?
It is said that in the forty-fourth year of Qianlong's reign, 16-year-old Jiao Xun participated in the boy examination, and Liu Yong was the academic administrator of Jiangsu at that time. After that, Jiao Xun successfully entered the official school. Because of his solid foundation in arithmetic and outstanding performance, he was appreciated by Liu Yong. He also received his guidance and started studying Confucian classics from "Mao Shi". From this point of view, Liu Yong and Jiao Xun can be regarded as masters and disciples.
Jiao Xun had actually had this idea for a long time, but it wasn't until he returned to Beihai Town and learned that the Qing government sent Liu Yong to Shandong that he decided to write a letter to his teacher to persuade him. He told Zhao Xin about this idea, and although Zhao Xin disagreed, he still agreed to let people from the Intelligence Bureau be responsible for delivering it.
In Zhao Xin's view, although the Liu family of Chahe Villa is not a big landowner, has a reputation for being honest and frugal, and has the ability to respond to all the people in Shandong, they are still tightly entangled in the big tree of Manchu and Qing Dynasties. The vines on the tree are natural enemies of Beihai Town.
The Liu family in Zhucheng moved from Xuzhou to Shandong in the middle of the Ming Dynasty. For more than a hundred years, they lived by farming and belonged to the lower class of society. It was not until the Tianqi period that someone became a "Zhusheng", which was considered a step into the upper class. The road to imperial examination.
From the ninth year of Shunzhi to the fifty-fourth year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty, the Liu family successively produced 32 candidates, 11 official Jinshis, and as many as 8 officials of third rank or above in more than 140 years. Especially Liu Yong's father Liu Tongxun. In the 26th year of Qianlong's reign, he served as a bachelor of Dongge University and was in charge of the affairs of the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of War. Later, he became the foreman of the military aircraft minister. He was praised by Emperor Qianlong as "a true prime minister". At this point, the Liu family finally became a famous Han official family in China, comparable to the Zhang family in Tongcheng.
In addition, since the Han people moved out of Beijing in the sixth year of Shunzhi, there have been only two Han ministers who have been rewarded by the emperor to live in Beijing; one is the Zhang Tingyu family of Huguo Temple, and the other is the Liu family of Lushi Hutong. Now with Liu Yong being promoted to cabinet bachelor and leading the army out of Shandong, the Liu family has reached another peak.
Jiao Xun's writing to such a person was of no use except to be able to respond to him mentally; Zhao Xin even felt that it was still a matter of debate whether he could respond to the person in his heart.
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【Forty-eight years of Qianlong】【】
Under Liu Yong's gaze, Liu Xipeng opened the paint on the envelope, took out the letter paper and glanced at it twice. His expression suddenly changed and he said softly: "Father, most of the letters are rebellious and arrogant. Jiao Litang's intentions are really sinister." !”
"read."
"this......"
"read!"
Compared with when Zhao Xin met him at Chaoyin Temple in Dagu Kou a few years ago, Liu Yong's appearance has changed little, except that the hair on the back of his head is whiter, and his square bronze cheeks are much sunken. At this moment, he half-squinted his eyes and stared sideways at the snowy scene outside the window, a bit like an old stork looking for food on the river beach in the snow. He didn't know what he was thinking.
In fact, at this time, Liu Yong recalled in his mind the young scholar he had met in Yangzhou more than ten years ago. He would pay special attention to those young people who were from poor families but still studied hard. In his mind, Jiao Xun was a very talented young man, and he was extremely filial to his mother. How could such a person betray the court and join Zhao Xin, an unlearned rebel?
"Shi'an Gong sent a letter to his father-in-law: Fang Chi's ruler slips were turned around to destroy Jinhan. After hearing the Duke's summary of Shandong, I still sighed when I thought back to those years. However, I was weak and old, and my hand was not made of wood or stone. I hope you will accept it because of your great righteousness.
The husband of the world is the world of China. But the Manchus, who stole the land of Shenzhou and sank, took advantage of the many difficulties and occupied the Central Plains, using one family and one clan to poison all the people. They cared for their ugly people, fed the people, paid high officials generously, and used rebellion as righteousness. . In the past, the king unified and conquered all the barbarians. He was righteous in the Spring and Autumn Period, and his first words were Zun Zun. The Five Husbands disrupted the Xia Dynasty, and then passed on and were destroyed. The Meng Yuan Dynasty was surly, and it disappeared after a hundred years. Today, a saint has descended from the sky in Beihai, leading a group of heroes to expand the territory thousands of miles away, solving the problems in people's livelihood, enlightening the people's wisdom, promoting civil rights, and restoring China, overnight. Sincerely, God's way is easy to return, and it should be in accordance with the prophecy.
I am familiar with history and Han Dynasty, and I have extensive knowledge of internal classics. I should know the current situation which can be taken advantage of but cannot be resisted. The two generations of father and son were honest and upright, and lived in the Eastern Province for generations. With their thorough knowledge and broad and discerning talents, they cultivated, studied and passed down the family line. In the past, Liu Wenzheng, the Duke of Qingjie, maintained his bow, restrained himself and kept himself, and his reputation spread throughout the country. Lord Shi'an was upright and upright, and he did not disobey the powerful. Everyone in the world obeyed his duties, and even compared him with Bao Xiaosu. Nowadays, the situation is changing, the Northern Navy is in ruins, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty is running out of time. Although the Duke tried his best to save it, there is no way to save it. The abandoned garden has changed its owner, and there is no one to rely on around the tree. If you have the heart to love the world, what should you choose at this time?
Relying on the kindness of the public and Xun, he dared to pour out his heart and was not ashamed to say what he said. He was so grateful for the imperial edict. The wax had not been exhausted for ten days, and disciple Xun was afraid to speak up. "
After Liu Xipeng finished reading, the study fell into deathly silence, and all he could hear was the monotonous and boring "click-click" sound of the imperial chime. After a while, Liu Yong said to himself calmly: "Jiao Litang, by writing me such a letter to persuade me to surrender, do you want to put a thorn in my heart, or do you want to use this to drive a wedge between me and the emperor?" The friendship between king and minister? Ridiculous!"
Whether his voice was loud or soft, the guards standing guard outside the door could definitely hear it. After that, he took the letter from Liu Xipeng's hand, clenched it into a ball and threw it into the charcoal brazier in front of him. In the blink of an eye, the two pieces of letter paper were reduced to ashes by the flames, and no trace of them was left.
"You write a letter to Chahe for me and tell them that if the Beihai pirates dare to come again, they will be sent directly to the official!"
Liu Xipeng was stunned for a moment, and just as he was about to say more, he saw Liu Yong staring at the door with those triangular eyes. He was shocked, and then bowed and said, "Yes. Father."
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【Forty-eight years of Qianlong】【】
"You go down first." Liu Yong sighed inwardly, this adopted son is really stupid! If his nephew Liu Ruizhi was here, he would definitely understand what he meant.
"yes."
After sending away his adopted son, Liu Yong lit up a bag of cigarettes and started smoking. In fact, Zhao Xin guessed wrong. Although Liu Yong burned the letter immediately after reading it, his heart was already in a mess. Jiao Xun's letter completely disrupted his mood that had finally calmed down due to the New Year. .
Yes, the deserted garden has changed its owner, and there is no one to rely on around the trees. A large group of people from the Qing Dynasty can go to Gurkha, but I am seventy-three, do I have to follow them to climb the snowy plateau, climb over the mountains, and become a lonely ghost outside the territory?
Of course, it is absolutely impossible for him to seek refuge in Beihai Town. Not to mention that both his father and his son were greatly benefited from the kindness of three generations of emperors of the Qing Dynasty. When Qianlong personally visited Liu's house in Lvshi Hutong, he even had the roof of the sedan lifted off because of the narrow door. This kind of treatment was not common in the Han Dynasty. This has never happened before in Chenli.
What's more, ever since he met Zhao Xin at the Tuijiao Station and learned that his wife was the only descendant of the Shen family in the "Poetry on a Tower" case, Liu Yong knew that there was no way he and Beihai Town could let go. In fact, this was the reason why Qianlong felt confident in sending him to take charge of Shandong. Other Han officials would surrender, but Liu Yong would never do so.
In fact, more than one "Yizhulou Shi" case, Yan Dayong's "Mamata Collection" case and Yin Baoshan's "Xiuting Cao" case were all caused by him.
The "Matamata Collection" case was settled, only Yan Dayong died, and the rest were exiled; but the "Izhulou Poetry" case had many more people dead. Thanks to the fact that the Manchu and Qing court was busy dealing with the affairs of the Xu family from top to bottom at that time, and the momentum was strong enough to achieve the purpose of rectifying the scholarly conduct in Jiangnan and strictly banning books, the young scholar Yin Baoshan and his family escaped death.
At the age of 39 and 57, Liu Yong served as an academic administrator in Jiangsu twice. Relying on the merits of the Literary Prison, he finally became the governor of a province. Then he returned to Beijing and entered the center of the Qing court. From then on, everyone in the Jiangnan scholar community hated him!
Think about the scholars who have taken refuge in Beihai Town. Seven of the eight are from the Yangzhou School, and the remaining one, Hong Liangji, is also from the Wu School.
Unlike Liu Tongxun, Liu Yong was a person who liked to figure out Qianlong's thoughts, and his judgment was quite accurate. When he keenly realized that Qianlong wanted to use the Literary Prison to rectify the academic ethics, he spared no effort to expose the Literary Prison cases related to this; he frequently went on the line and completely lost the impartial and upright attitude of his father.
Although Liu Tongxun spared no effort in Hu Zhongzao's "Jian Mo Sheng Shi Chao" case, it was not a simple literary inquisition, but a struggle in court. In order to suppress the two parties of Ertai and Zhang Tingyu and eliminate the partisanship and dissent in the court, Qianlong started from "Jian Mo Sheng Shi Chao" and extended it to corruption and bribery. You must know that Hu Zhongzao is Ertai's disciple, and E Chang is Ertai's nephew.
Therefore, what Zhao Xin and Cao Peng did when they scolded him was absolutely right. You really don't need to do too many immoral things. If you do one well enough, it will be enough to eliminate your descendants.
Liu Yong himself is not afraid of death. He has studied Buddhism for many years and is proficient in Mahayana Buddhism, especially the Shurangama Sutra. He has mastered both Confucianism and Buddhism thoroughly. He has already broken down life and death. Leave if you want. As for whether the three concubines should observe the festival or remarry, it is up to them.
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【Forty-eight years of Qianlong】【】
But what about the Liu family in Zhucheng? There are hundreds of people! His nephew Liu Ruozhi was his favorite among the next generation, and because his father died early, he had been raised by him since he was a child. He was already a scholar in the Hanlin Academy, so could he also follow him to Gurkha?
Now in his eighties, Qianlong was more and more in love with the emperor. Even now, he still clung to the throne. He could not let go of the thousands of miles of land in his hands, and could not let go of the Old Summer Palace that had been built with all the manpower and material resources in the world. He still insisted on sitting in the capital and struggled to the death. He even agreed to Zhao Xin's conditions and exchanged Khalkhas for Gurkhas to seek for the Manchus. A glimmer of hope.
The question is, will Zhao Xin give this a chance? Based on Liu Yong's understanding of Zhao Xin, sooner or later this guy will send troops to Tibet. At present, including Fukang'an, all discerning people in the court knew that this was a plan to drive away tigers and swallow wolves, but they still had to grit their teeth and swallow the bitter pill.
Ever since the Northern Navy captured the entire territory of Khalkha, Liu Yong had already seen that Zhao Xin's wings were fully formed, and as long as it took a little time, he would send his troops into the pass, and his unstoppable power would be unstoppable. Not to mention that the court's talents are withering at the moment, even if Fu Heng and Zhao Hui are still alive, they can't defeat them at all.
After arriving in Jinan in early August last year, Liu Yong knew that he did not have the two brushes of his father Liu Tongxun, so he simply handed over the task of leading the army to Lawang Dorji and Fuca Mingliang. However, before figuring out Beihai Town's intention to send troops to Shandong, he strictly ordered the two of them not to exchange fire without authorization as long as the other side's troops did not cross Dengzhou Prefecture.
Tens of thousands of Qing troops pressed forward and entered Qingzhou Prefecture and Laizhou Prefecture to garrison. The problem is that Mingliang, who has had experience fighting against the Northern Navy, knows that even if it is doubled, let alone fifteen thousand, it will be difficult to withstand the cannons of the Northern Navy, not to mention that he is still leading the weak Green Battalion. .
From a military point of view, the terrain of Shandong is relatively flat and there are many channels for transportation. Although the Jiaodong area is densely covered with rivers, they all freeze in winter. If the Northern Navy continues to fight westward, there will be a vast plain beyond the mountainous area of central Shandong, and the Qing army will have no chance of defending.
In the next four months, Liu Yong ordered all the prefectures in Shandong to organize and train rural warriors on a large scale, promulgated the "Regulations on Group Training", and forcibly recruited strong men and sent them to Jinan Prefecture for training. Negotiate with the great squires and ask them to donate food and wages to the army.
Fortunately, after the Beihai Navy captured the four counties of Jiaodong with a swift and fierce offensive, it stopped at the east of Qingyang River and Sun River; while the Qing army stabilized its defense line at Aishan, Jiaozhanshan, Wulong River, and Changshui River. , Taozhang River and Dagu River line, and massive construction works were carried out and fort checkpoints were set up.
After learning the news, Qianlong and the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty were finally relieved. It seemed that Beihai Town was short of people again. Okay, as long as we no longer fight westward, we can take away all the people in Dengzhou Prefecture.
However, Liu Yong didn't think so. Judging from the actions of the Beihai Navy in issuing civil peace notices in four counties, setting up military control committees to take over the local areas, and sending "work teams" to the countryside, they definitely won't leave this time!
It has been nine years, and he still can't understand or figure out many things in Beihai Town. Not only him, but everyone in the court didn't understand. How did Zhao Xin feed those millions of people? Why can every acre of land under Beihai Town achieve an appalling harvest of 500 or even 800 to 900 kilograms? How did he make those strange artifacts? Where did his subordinates such as Liu Sheng, Deng Fei, Chen Qingsong, Hong Tao and others come from?
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【Forty-eight years of Qianlong】【】
As for what kind of magic Zhao Xin knows, people like Liu Yong would never believe it. But the spies went through all kinds of hardships and paid a bloody price to obtain the high-yielding wheat seeds from Ninggu Pagoda. Why couldn't they achieve such a high yield when planted in Shengjing? Moreover, "Beihai Town Farm" would also sprinkle some white powder into the ground when the wheat was growing. Although the spies tried their best to get some, after taking it back to the capital, apart from tasting astringent and salty, there was nothing. People can tell what it is.
Liu Yong is now sitting by the warm charcoal stove, thinking about each item one by one, and his heart is filled with shivers one after another.
At this time, he couldn't help but think that if Beihai Town entered the customs and conquered the world, wouldn't the whole world be able to grow that kind of high-yielding food, and then no one would go hungry again! Even if there is a famine, the people can save themselves with the food they save. This is something that has never been possible in all dynasties!
Not to mention anything else, Zhao Xin can surpass all the emperors since Zulong, and his achievements are directly matched by the three emperors and five emperors. Not to mention that he also captured a large piece of territory in the north, and according to secret reports from Guangdong and Guangxi, Beihai Town also occupied several territories in Nanyang, and even offered support to the Ruan family in Guangnan. On paper, I got Dong Dang and Lang Son.
Liu Yong really couldn't understand how Zhao Xin would manage such a large area? Isn't he afraid of dying?
You must know that under the rule of the imperial court, it is already thousands of miles from north to south, east to west, and it is extremely difficult to manage it. It often takes care of one end but not the other. The land in the Western Regions had been fought over for more than a hundred years, with the imperial court distributing it and garrisoning troops there, so it was finally consolidated.
It can be seen from Fukang'an's visit to Tibet that it takes a month for the letters between him and the capital to be delivered. Even if something happens to him, it is beyond the reach of the capital and can only be dealt with after the fact.
Tangled ah! How should we contact Beihai Town to find a way out for the Liu family in Zhucheng?
Liu Yong began to screen the children of the clan one by one. He must be careful and careful in doing things, and must not be noticed by outsiders. Right now, from the court to the people, there are countless eyes staring at me, at the Liu family in Zhucheng, and at Chahe Villa. If you are not careful, disaster will come!
He drank cup after cup of tea, smoked bag after bag of cigarettes, and sat there from afternoon until the time of lighting the lamp. When Liu Xipeng came over and invited him to have dinner in the flower hall, he couldn't help but be shocked when he saw the other party's appearance. Less than two hours had passed, and the 73-year-old Liu Yong already had a tired face and sunken eye sockets.
"Father, how about dinner? How about I bring it to you?"
Liu Yong hunched his back, took a sip of tea, stroked his hot forehead and said, "No, I'll be there."
Liu Xipeng took off the washed white cotton cloak from the hanger and put it on Liu Yong. He also took a hat and put it on him, and then he followed Liu Yong out of the study. Standing on the corridor, the wildly dancing snowflakes were still falling endlessly from the sky. Liu Yong looked up at the gray and gloomy sky, and sighed inaudibly.
At night, light snow dust flows like white smoke in the streets and alleys of Jinan City. The houses, restaurants, pavilions, government offices, and courtyards that usually use gray as the main color are immersed in the world of dancing flowers. , the boundaries between heaven and earth were blurred and unclear, which also cast a shadow over the beginning of the fifty-eighth year of Qianlong...
