On May 25th, in Datong, Shanxi, the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty was visiting.
It was already midnight, and the lights were still on when walking in the south study. Emperor Kangxi was holding a cup of hot tea, sitting cross-legged on the kang, staring out the window at the dark night sky in a daze. This year's summer seems to be warmer than in previous years, and there is a little more precipitation in the north. Even Datong, which has always been dry, has experienced several heavy rains since May. At this time, the sky is still densely covered with dark clouds, giving people a sense of It feels like dark clouds are closing in on the city.
There are piles of documents on the imperial desk, including battle reports from various places and memorials from local officials. Kangxi was famous for his diligence, especially when he was an energetic young and middle-aged man, he liked to do everything by himself. He personally took care of even the making of guns and cannons, and set up the Yangxin Hall Manufacturing Office to take care of this matter and be directly responsible to him. He never slacked off in the military affairs and civil affairs of various places. Even if he went on an expedition, he would try his best to let the courtiers follow him. Even if it is inconvenient for courtiers to follow, memorials from various places will be sent to the army for personal review.
But this self-proclaimed diligent and wise man now feels a deep sense of powerlessness. This sense of powerlessness does not mainly come from military affairs, but from civil affairs. .
A few years ago, in order to draw financial and material resources from the people as quickly as possible to support his military reforms, he had to use the method of "inducing poison to quench thirst" and delegating power to the "village sages" at the grassroots level, allowing them to serve as tax collectors for the Qing court. Looting the people's wealth and their anointing... Although this method of "paying taxes to the virtuous villagers" had an immediate effect and brought in a lot of money and food for the court in a short period of time, the negative effects were also significant.
One is that local powerful people are showing signs of militarization and weaponization, and they are also starting to act like monsters!
The powerful people cannot be tax collectors without guns or knife handles, but once they have more gun barrels and knife handles in their hands, they will no longer be willing to help the court to collect the money and food in their own pockets. Isn’t it fragrant?
Moreover, people's hearts are always dissatisfied. After becoming a wise man in a village, it is inevitable to think about the position of being the head of a county or even the head of a mansion.
A while ago, because Wu Yingxiong was fooling around with the "five-pronged attack on the Qing Dynasty", although the Qing Dynasty was not harmed at all, he still coaxed two unlucky guys, Wu Yingqi and Burney, to the front line and died. However, those "wise men from the same town" in Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, and Zhili began to act like monsters one after another.
Some of the more honest rural sages began to cry about poverty, saying that they suffered a loss in the tax coverage last year, and they need to reduce it a little this year, or else they won’t be covered at all!
There were also some dark-hearted villagers who simply rebelled and raised troops to respond to Wu Yingxiong. County towns in Shandong, Henan, Shanxi and other places were captured by this group of villagers!
Kangxi's main force was either on the opposing Ming army or on Burni and Wu Yingqi, so he could only let the green battalions controlled by governors from various places cope with it. And the combat effectiveness of those green camp soldiers is relatively poor, and their motivation is also insufficient, so there are still seven or eight counties that have not been recovered... and the tax package in Kangxi's eighteenth year seems to have been reduced somewhat!
What made Kangxi even more troubled was the fact that the local sages - Confucians - and the courtiers (mainly Han ministers and the New Eight Banners Han Army) began to form cliques!
It is almost like the Donglin Party in the late Ming Dynasty, except that the Donglin Party only has words, while the rural sages have guns and sword handles, and Confucianism is anti-classical, and the organization is more rigorous. The combination of the two gave Emperor Kangxi a very headache, and he already had the idea of suppressing Confucianism.
But... without Confucianism, Confucianism will take advantage of it!
Kangxi originally thought that Confucianism and Confucianism were two completely different sects of Confucianism. Confucianism was the rebellious original Confucianism, while Confucianism was the obedient slave. However, when "Fijing" became one of the "Four Books and Six Classics", Confucianism and Confucianism became more and more similar.
One is a Confucian who kills people with a sharp sword, and the other is a Confucian who beats people with a stick...and both depict the Holy Master as a tall and powerful Confucian who is nine feet tall, infinitely powerful, and has unparalleled martial arts skills! Moreover, they all hold "Anti-Jing" and know how to be cunning.
It seems like there really isn’t any difference!
Therefore, Kangxi was very worried that he had suppressed the top Confucian leaders, and the local sage disciples below would join the Confucian sect...
Thinking of these troublesome things, Emperor Kangxi stood up anxiously and shouted outside: "Xiao Guizi."
"My servant is here." In response, Emperor Kangxi's most trusted eunuch, Xiao Guizi, walked in from the door. I saw a smile on his face, looking humble and submissive, as if he would always be the great Emperor Kangxi until his death.
What made Kangxi even more satisfied was that this little father-in-law Guizi never seemed tired. He seemed to keep his ears open when sleeping. As long as Kangxi called out, he would always follow the sound.
Kangxi, who was familiar with history books and well aware of the disasters caused by eunuchs, now understood those kings who reused eunuchs...
Kangxi sighed and asked Xiao Guizi: "Have Tuhai, Suo'etu, Mingzhu, and Tong Guogang arrived?"
"Return to the master, they have already arrived and are waiting outside."
"Tell them to come in."
Tuhai, Suo'etu, Mingzhu, and Tong Guogang who were outside heard Kangxi's words and quickly walked into the south study room, threw down their horseshoe sleeves and bowed in salute.
Kangxi looked at the people who seemed to be wet, and said with a smile: "Everyone should be flat...Is it raining outside? Are you not wet?"
Tu Haisurong replied: "It's just a little drizzle."
"That's good," Kangxi nodded, "I asked you to come here in the rain at night because something big happened in Huguang. Zhu Heji took action and captured the city of Wuchang! As soon as I saw the news, I I feel uneasy, so I will summon you to discuss it before dawn, should we send troops to help Wu Yingxiong fight?"
"Long live my lord," Tu Hai frowned, "Are you talking about Wuchang Fucheng or Wuchang County?"
"It's Wuchang Fucheng!" Kangxi said, "The Confucian rebels in Wuchang gathered thousands of people and caused chaos in Wuchang Fucheng... Fang Guangchen, the governor of Hubei Province in Zhou Dynasty, led his soldiers to suppress it. Unexpectedly, his soldiers also They were all seduced by the Confucian demons and turned against them before the battle, resulting in the fall of Wuchang! In addition, the pseudo-Ming army also launched an attack on Wuchang County, but the outcome of the battle is still unknown."
Tuhai, Suo'etu, Mingzhu, and Tong Guogang were all silent, and seemed to have reservations about sending troops to aid Zhou.
Kangxi understood what the four of them were thinking, and said with a wry smile: "You must think that it will take two or three years for Zhu Heji to defeat President Wu. We can take advantage of this time to recuperate, rectify the internal affairs, continue to strengthen, and we will definitely have one-on-one with Zhu Heji." Solo training, right?”
Several people said together: "The Emperor is wise."
Kangxi shook his head and said, "But this won't work!"
"Long live Lord, why not?" Tu Hai asked.
Kangxi smiled bitterly: "Isn't it obvious? My ability to govern the world is not as good as Zhu Heji's!"
"Your Majesty, please don't say that!"
"Your Majesty, Zhu Ni's ability to govern the country is not as good as yours!"
"Your Majesty, please don't emulate others' ambitions."
"Your Majesty, our Qing Dynasty is booming now!"
After listening to the words of several slaves, Kangxi just sighed and said: "The basis of Zhu Heji's governance is the equalization of land, and the basis of my governance is the system of rural meritocracy... The equalization of land is not easy to achieve, but once it is achieved, , it has great potential. Because the land equalization system can evenly spread the land, taxes, and military service. In this way, each household's burden is not heavy, but the court gains a lot. The rural meritocracy system can see Money comes fast, but troubles abound.
Because the system of rural meritocracy is actually feudal...one township, one meritorious person, all are strong and powerful. When the power is small, it can be controlled, but once it becomes big, it will be difficult to deal with. Therefore, in this battle between me and Zhu Heji, it is better to fight early than to fight late! Since we want to fight early, we have to fight before Wu Yingxiong is destroyed. Because once he is destroyed, Zhu Heji's strength will increase a lot, and we will not become stronger if we delay it. Why not have a battle of three emperors now? "
