"Well?"
Although it was night, the candlelight in the south study was as bright as day. A breeze broke in, swaying some lights.
At this time, the South Study Room lost its former "power and respect" due to the establishment of the Military Aircraft Department, but this did not affect its low status in the minds of the scholars.
Hot weather is naturally unbearable for ordinary people. However, there is no shortage of ice in the royal inner courtyard. This large piece of ice was taken out of the ice cellar and placed on a shelf in the south study room for cooling.
Qianlong was looking at Yuan Meide's memorial at this time. What I wrote above is plain and simple, and there is nothing strange about it at a glance. However, when he saw at the end of the memorial that Zhang Rui did not kneel down to worship the government, Qianlong immediately realized something was wrong.
Isn't that okay? If a pariah dares to gather a crowd to kill bandits without kneeling down to worship officials, does that mean he just doesn't understand etiquette? It was clear that he was audacious, ignored the majesty of the imperial court, and had great intentions of rebellion.
The Qing Dynasty needs "submissive people", not "righteous people" like this. Bandits are not to be feared. What is to be feared are such "righteous people" who regard the court as nothing. How many people are still afraid of the imperial court?
Those who are not loyal to me, the Qing Dynasty, should kill one, and kill hundreds. I would rather kill a thousand by mistake than let one go.
Only people who fear the prestige of the court are good people, and they will show no mercy to those who dare to resist the laws of the court and do not bow down to the officials.
This Zhang Rui can gather a crowd to kill bandits today, but will he gather a crowd to rebel tomorrow? Although I am not afraid of Zhang Rui's rebellion, I must nip such a thing in the bud. This Jinchuan and Jinchuan have just calmed down. I don't want another trouble to happen in Guangxi. This Zhang Rui must die.
Therefore, Qianlong asked the young eunuchs around him to go to the "Military Aircraft Department" to declare an audience with Liu Tongxun, the "Minister of the Military Aircraft Department" who was on duty at night.
Liu Tongxun was accustomed to such declarations. Following the eunuch who announced the decree, he soon met Emperor Qianlong.
At this time, Emperor Qianlong was still looking at the memorial. He didn't look at Liu Tongxun who had come in.
"Your Majesty, Liu Tongxun, bows to my emperor, long live, long live, long live, long live, long live, long live."
Liu Tongxun bowed down to Qianlong as a minister. Since the fourteenth year of Qianlong's reign, Qianlong forced the resignation of Zhang Yanyu, the minister who followed Yongzheng to establish the Military Aircraft Department. Qianlong has become more and more able to control the "Military Aircraft Department". At the same time, the prevention of Han people was even more fierce. Zhang Yanyu died of illness this year. If it weren't for Yongzheng's decree to let him enjoy the Ancestral Temple. Qianlong would never give him such a chance.
If it weren't for the fact that there were not many capable Manchus, there would probably be nothing wrong with the Han people in this military aircraft department.
Qianlong looked at Liu Tongxun for a while, then nodded with satisfaction and thought: "Such ministers are my good subjects of the Qing Dynasty."
"I love your life."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
Liu Tongxun slowly got up from the ground, straightened his clothes and stood there waiting for Qianlong's questions.
I saw Qianlong picking up an independent memorial on the right side of the desk, and then asked the young eunuch not far away to take it down and give it to Liu Tongxun:
"Ai Qing read this memorial, and then drafted an order to Yang Xingju, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, asking him to order the local green battalion soldiers to encircle and suppress Zhang Rui. At the same time, he issued an order to the Guangzhou garrison general Sitku to dispatch a Niulu to participate in training encirclement and suppression. "
"I accept the decree."
Liu Tongxun picked up the memorial and glanced at it quickly, thinking in his mind
"It's not that big of a deal! It's normal for villagers in the mountains not to understand etiquette. Are you going to round up and kill Zhang Rui just because he didn't kneel down to the prefect? It would be more practical to round up the local bandits. As expected, it's hard to figure out the emperor's thoughts. .”
Although Liu Tongxun had thoughts in his mind, he could never speak out, because the minister of the "Military Aircraft Department" only had the position of secretary, and could put forward any opinions or suggestions other than those given by the emperor.
After Liu Tongxun glanced at the memorial, he handed it to the young eunuch next to him and asked him to hand it back to the emperor.
Then, Liu Tongxun saluted Emperor Qianlong again and said:
"Please come to work."
"Well, go ahead"
Emperor Qianlong waved to Liu Tongxun and responded. Then I stopped watching Liu Tongxun. Liu Tongxun slowly left Qianlong's sight, and then walked to the other room in the south study.
This room is a small space separated from the south study room, with three desks in it. The inkstone that the emperor left on his desk after meeting the Hanlin officials or military ministers had already been ground with ink by the surrounding eunuchs.
I saw Liu Tongxun sitting at one of the desks skillfully.
After thinking about it for a few minutes, I wrote straight down.
After a while, the two prepared imperial edicts were handed into Qianlong's hands.
Qianlong took the prepared imperial edict and checked it, but found no problems. Therefore, Liu Tongxun was asked to deliver it to the person who declared the decree in an expedited manner of 600 miles.
This was originally not in line with normal procedures, but the other party was the emperor, and Liu Tongxun did not dare to say anything. Just follow Qianlong's orders. At the same time, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart:
"Zhang Rui seems to be destined to die, and he will actually receive the imperial pen of Emperor Qianlong. However, this can be regarded as a lifetime honor for a commoner like him, and he will have the opportunity to leave his name for eternity. Although this opportunity is somewhat tragic."
After Qianlong finished explaining other matters and Liu Tongxun knelt down as a minister, he slowly got up, took a few steps back, and then exited the south study room.
The letter will be sent out early tomorrow morning. The 600-mile express is expected to arrive in Guangzhou in about half a month.
"How long can this Zhang Rui live? That's why I'm talking about this man! Heaven is unpredictable, and you never know what will happen next moment." Looking at the imperial edict in his hand, Liu Tongxun couldn't help but sigh:
"Who could have imagined that Zhang Rui, a commoner, would be remembered by Emperor Qianlong just because of his kneeling ceremony, and he would have to be rounded up and killed. From this point of view, Zhang Rui is also a talent if he can win the attention of an emperor. . It seems that I will have to be more careful when I am on duty here in the future."
…
Zhang Rui naturally didn't know Qianlong's will.
At this time, Zhang Rui was obsessed with the flintlock gun that Du Mu brought back. It would take a lot of time and effort to build a 1,300-gun flintlock gun by yourself.
Because the court did not pay attention to stop it, Zhang Rui had already prepared nearly 30,000 kilograms of granular gunpowder. Moreover, with sufficient production raw materials and Zhang Rui's simplification of the production formula, the output of gunpowder is still being greatly increased. At the same time, thanks to the sulfur mines and saltpeter mines in the surrounding area, the cost is not particularly high.
This time, in addition to bringing back more than 1,300 flintlock guns, Du Mu also brought back dozens of blacksmiths from Foshan, Guangdong. Zhang Rui couldn't help but be overjoyed at this unexpected gain.
Foshan, Guangdong has a large number of iron mines and a large number of skilled blacksmiths. Because of this, if you don't have a powerful position in Foshan, no matter how good your technology is, you can only be squeezed out.
When they learned that Du Mu intended to build weapons to suppress bandits, they all chose to come with Du Mu without hesitation. After all, the two places are not far apart, and there is really no need to stay half-dead in Foshan.
As soon as these craftsmen arrived, Zhang Rui attached great importance to them. He divided them into houses and fields, and also gave them a monthly salary of one or two yuan every month.
Zhang Rui's attention naturally won the recognition and loyalty of the craftsmen. Naturally, there was no psychological burden on the musket that Zhang Rui said he wanted to build. As for the dynasty's order to prohibit it? As long as the benefits are there, everything else is in vain.
As for the two Englishmen given by the Dutch, there was no special surprise for Zhang Rui. One said that he liked prospecting and the other liked shipbuilding. It’s understandable that it’s prospecting, but shipbuilding is temporarily out of use.
Although the talents of the two people are not irreplaceable, after all, there are such talents in Guangdong and Guangxi in prospecting and shipbuilding. But Zhang Rui naturally had his own ideas about whether to keep them or not.
Therefore, Zhang Rui told them based on the principle of deceiving them if he could. Zhang Rui didn't stop the two of them if they wanted to leave now, but both of them were penniless at this time. But if they stay and work here, they can develop their own interests and hobbies, and as long as the two of them work for three years, Zhang Rui will give them two thousand taels of silver each.
After hearing Zhang Rui's conditions, the two were very happy and quickly expressed their willingness to work for Zhang Rui. After all, the "Celestial Empire" at this time is still an untouchable world in the hearts of English people.
