The story I want to tell today is about an emperor who has appeared frequently in recent film and television dramas- the Qianlong Emperor.
On a sunny day, a well-dressed man was stroking a plum tree that had been here for a long time, and the man's face was full of love and pity. And who is this man? He was the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, who loved Xinjue Luo Hongli. Originally, he was on this cruise to sympathize with the people's livelihood and see the engineering of the river embankment, but at this time he was just addicted to fun and could not remember the work he had to do.
There is a plum tree that has stood on the mountain for a long time, and he likes this plum tree very much, and every time he comes, he likes to see this ancient tree, stand next to it, stroke it, and have a special appreciation for this tree, just like a lover. At this time, there was a guard standing next to the Qianlong Emperor, his name was Char Bentai, and he pulled out his sword and made a gesture to split the ancient tree in half. And then he was very surprised and said to him, what are you doing, what is wrong with it?
I believe that everyone is very curious like Xiaobian, why does this bodyguard dare to commit a crime and disrespect the emperor? Nor was he in a high position, nor did he have a prominent background, nor was he deeply trusted by the emperor. In fact, it was mainly because the emperor had been sightseeing in the mountains and rivers regardless of the affairs of the imperial court, and every time he went out on a tour, he always disturbed the people and hurt the money, and also used a lot of labor, which was really inappropriate.
According to historical records, the Qianlong Emperor had a total of 6 records of going out on patrols, and the interval between each tour was constantly shrinking, in addition, he generally went out for four to five months, which was equivalent to half of the time he was not in the Forbidden City, and there were about 3,000 guards around each patrol, which was already double the number of officers and soldiers stationed in Chengdu, and there were also 6,000 horses and thousands of palace eunuchs. In addition to his living expenses, he also spent a lot of money on his followers. And every time he went on a tour, the Qianlong Emperor needed a grand pomp, and when he went to a place, the ministers needed to build new buildings and present gifts, which required a lot of money, so they could only use the local finances to make up for the losses, so the question came, how to get this money? Of course, it comes from the common people.
Every time the emperor went out on a tour, both the ministers and the common people hated him. But with this kind of action by the emperor, no one came out to oppose it? According to historical records, a total of two people have made comments, and Yin Huiyi of Jiangsu once told the emperor that the common people were bitter because of your behavior. But he was very angry and said, "The people's lives are hard, but you can't say where the hardships are, the people have complaints, and you don't say who is crying bitterness." Therefore, the emperor ignored dissuasion and demoted Yin Huiyi to the frontier. Another minister, Ji Yun, persuaded the emperor that the finances of the south had been exhausted and should not be traveled so frequently, but he was very angry and said that I only gave you a job of repairing books because I saw that you were full of poetry and books, and I did not expect that you would dare to discuss the important affairs of the imperial court. Legend has it that the empress also persuaded him, but he actually said that the empress was ill, sent her back to Beijing, and deposed her. Later, he did not hesitate to dissuade him and did what he liked.
But this time, things changed. The guard who was about to cut down the tree, CharPentai, immediately threw away his sabre, knelt down and replied, "I just hate that this ancient tree was not born in the Forbidden City, and let the emperor wade through the mountains and rivers to visit it." His words not only reflected his concern for the emperor's safety, but also reminded the emperor to have fun regardless of the government. After listening to these words, he didn't know what to say for a while, he didn't know whether to feel guilty or angry, this thing that the guard did made him famous and made the emperor sympathetic to the people's livelihood.
When the emperor was old, he also knew that the previous parade was inappropriate and brought a lot of bad influences, and said to the official Wu Xiongguang, I have been in power for more than sixty years, there is no major fault, that is, these six cruises have caused the people to be unhappy, there is no good deed, it only harms the interests of the people, so if I go on a tour again in the future, if you do not dissuade me more, you will not face me. By the time of the last cruise, he was in his seventies, and he did not realize the problem until he was almost eighty, but he did not have the strength to cruise again.