In other words, the Qing Dynasty settled down, but in just a few decades, the ambitions of many people did not dissipate because of the peace of the world. Instead, they were hidden in the dark and watched.
This situation made Emperor Qianlong quite worried.
However, he is older, in his fifties, and has lost the decisiveness and ruthlessness of his youth, and he does not want to cause huge turmoil in the government situation.
Of course, stability is what you seek, but if anyone really thinks that Emperor Qianlong, who has been emperor for almost thirty years, is easy to provoke, Emperor Qianlong would not mind going on a killing spree to show some ambitious people his methods.
…
After receiving the consent of Emperor Qianlong, the entire Ministry of Revenue suddenly mobilized with all its strength and began a "severe crackdown" campaign targeting wealthy businessmen in the Jiangnan area, especially Yangzhou salt merchants.
He Shen, who had just been promoted to the position of Zuo Dailang of the Ministry of Household Affairs, took charge personally, and the following matters were handled by the chiefs and junior officials respectively, strictly investigating the wealthy people in the Jiangnan area.
When the Ministry of Finance just started taking action, it naturally attracted a lot of opposition from above and below, and the resistance was even more shocking.
Faced with the controversy between these people, He Shen was not polite and directly threatened their official positions in the name of Emperor Qianlong.
"Hmph, we are not children, nor are we scared. Mr. Tobe Satoiro, is there still a way to drive us all away?"
Heshen's side had just started to take action. Among the officials, some tough officials immediately jumped out. Many officials heard the words and immediately agreed.
"…………"
Of course, most officials are still hesitant and in a wait-and-see state.
"What do you think, my lord?"
He Shen, on his side, did not rush to take action. Instead, he first pushed the hot potato onto Huang Shihua, the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance.
"Lord He Shen is solely responsible for this matter. I, the Minister, will not interfere."
Huang Shihua, the Minister of Household Affairs, looked extremely ugly, and He Shen was just dragging him into trouble.
………………
Heshen, on his side, ignored the opposition of many officials and directly launched the action, provoking the revenge of many officials!
Of course, He Shen, as the minister of household affairs, has a high and powerful position, so it is not so easy to deal with him.
Therefore, those who are interested can establish relationships with Heshen's relatives.
"…………"
In the peace house.
"Eldest nephew, you can't do this, because for what you are doing now, the Minister of Rites has beaten me several times!"
In the main hall of He Mansion, the second uncle Chang Rong held He Shen's hand, tears streaming down his face, choked with sobs, and said with a pale face.
"If you don't let me go, my eldest nephew, I guess your second uncle and I won't be able to get through this difficulty this time!"
"Didn't I tell you earlier?"
He Shen's eyes turned cold and he said dissatisfiedly: "I wanted to transfer you from the Rites Department Yamen earlier, but you refused to listen."
"Didn't you originally want to be transferred from the Ministry of Rites? I will arrange for you to be transferred to the Ministry of Household Affairs as a deputy director of the third grade. What do you think?"
"But……"
"There's nothing special about it. Even if you're not satisfied with getting promoted and getting rich, my second uncle, what else do you want?"
He Shen interrupted his second uncle Chang Rong and said angrily: "You don't have to talk nonsense, don't even think about other things!"
"In that case, from my uncle's side, I would like to thank my eldest nephew!"
Second uncle Chang Rong, although he was not very satisfied with the result, he did not dare to continue struggling.
After watching his second uncle Chang Rong and his entourage leave, He Shen returned directly to his suburban villa.
"………………"
After withdrawing the servant, He Lin, who was sixteen or seventeen years old and had grown up, asked with a worried look: "Brother, the second uncle is here this time..."
"Hmph, this hateful guy just wants to take advantage of him. I've already thought of a way to get rid of him."
The expression on He Shen's face was very calm, and he said so without any intention of covering up for his uncle.
When He Lin heard this, she sighed quietly, and her heart trembled. She said this, but the worried look on her face did not fade away.
"Brother, you don't have to worry too much. Although the Yangzhou salt merchants have a great influence in Jiangnan, this is the capital. If anyone dares to come and provoke, we will kill him with both hands!"
He Shen patted his younger brother He Lin on the shoulder, smiled and comforted.
"…………"
"Brother destroying people's wealth is like killing their parents. There is no way those wealthy businessmen in Jiangnan, especially the salt merchants in Yangzhou, will let us go."
"In the past few days, several groups of assassins have sneaked into the villa."
"If it weren't for the thousands of elite soldiers maintained inside the villa, maybe the entire villa would have been killed, maybe."
"Speaking of which, those salt merchants are really bold!"
Thinking of what happened in the mansion in recent days, He Lin's face turned pale and she smiled bitterly.
He Shen curled his lips when he heard this, smiled coldly, and said calmly.
"It's not that those Yangzhou salt merchants are brave, it's that they have strong backers behind them, and they don't take me, a second-grade household minister, in their eyes!"
"…………"
After waving his hands, He Shen continued to speak disapprovingly.
"Sometimes, you can't just look at things on the surface, you have to look at the inside."
"As the saying goes, people and businessmen should not fight with officials. If they are pure businessmen, how can they have the courage to fight with the officials ordered by the imperial court..."
"Haha, that means they have the support of their masters behind them, otherwise they would never dare to be so blatant."
…………
"Then what should we do? Brother, do you have any ideas to deal with them?"
He Lin, after all, is still young, has not seen much blood, and is not mature mentally. When he heard this, he suddenly panicked.
"The only way we can deal with it is to arrange more powerful guards. There is no good solution."
"As for the means of retaliating against them, Yangzhou is too far away from the capital after all."
"This is good and bad for us."
"Yangzhou Salt Merchant, it's not that easy to deal with us. Even if I want to do something to them, it's not easy even from such a long distance!"
He Shen looked calm and said indifferently: "As long as I sit in this position and want to do something, I will definitely offend people."
"And this time, I have violated other people's life and death interests. How can it be so easy to solve all this easily?"
"………………"
""Those princes and princes are really struggling endlessly for the emperor's chair. "
"On weekdays, they just fight back and forth in the officialdom. Now, they are related to the Yangzhou salt merchants. How can they be so tossing?"
He Lin was obviously very dissatisfied with all this. She only had her brother by her side right now, so she didn't dare to say anything.
I heard He Lin continue, saying: "Also, our Emperor Qianlong is really a cold guy. Brother, you charged into battle for him, but he didn't do anything to help you?"
"Hey, brother, I know exactly how our Emperor Qianlong got the throne."
"Among the emperors of the past dynasties, our Emperor Qianlong can be regarded as the easiest to succeed to the throne."
Compared with the difficulty of Emperor Yongzheng's succession, Emperor Qianlong's accession to the throne was quite easy.
Historically, the main reason why Yongzheng passed the throne to Hongli, that is, Qianlong, is that Hongli was brought up by Kangxi.
The position of Emperor Qianlong was basically determined during the Kangxi era.
Because Qianlong was talented and intelligent, he was favored by Kangxi. He also helped Yongzheng solve many difficulties when he was seizing the throne in Kowloon. Therefore, Yongzheng valued Qianlong very much.
At least, a large part of the reason why Kangxi passed the throne to Yongzheng was because of Emperor Qianlong.
It is precisely because of this that after Yongzheng became emperor, it was basically a certainty that Qianlong became the next emperor.
Mentioning the secret of Emperor Qianlong's succession, He Shen's eyes were full of disdain and he sneered.
""Compared to Emperor Kangxi, Emperor Yongzheng, and today's Emperor Qianlong,
There is a huge difference in terms of character and temperament. "
"Suspicious, mean... unkind, but also likes to act like a big-tailed wolf. He will do anything for the chair under his butt!"
"…………"
"Seeing with my own eyes the difficulties and hardships that my father went through when he was seizing the throne in Kowloon, how could we, the Emperor Qianlong, not be more careful when facing the princes and princes under his knees."
"To be honest, even if the dozen princes and princes today are not the best among people, they are not the most economical lamps."
He Shen shook his head, with a look of disdain on his face, and continued calmly: "Now our Emperor Qianlong is in his fifties and nearly sixty years old. If he wants to continue to control the government, he can only suppress the prince and prince..."
"With the ability of our Emperor Qianlong, if he has enough energy, he can still suppress those extraordinary sons, but now, haha..."
Shaking his head, He Shen sneered: "Our Emperor Qianlong will resort to any means to consolidate his power."
"For upstarts like your brother and me who don't have much political stance, this is the knife he specially brought up."
"Haha, I brought this knife up just to cut people."
"As for saying that after cutting it, it should be thrown away. This kind of political method is really disgusting!"
Hearing this, He Lin suddenly became nervous and said with some worry: "Did Emperor Qianlong, when he proposed you, just want to get rid of you after using you?"
………………
"Our Emperor Qianlong thinks so, but I'm afraid he won't have the ability by that time."
After hearing what his brother He Lin said, He Shen couldn't help but sneered and said angrily.
