The Qianlong Emperor is one of the most famous emperors in Chinese history, but most of his fame comes from the praise of himself, what Qianlong prosperous, what a perfect old man, he is self-appointed, not the appreciation of posterity for him.
In addition to doing a few decent things in his early years, Qianlong did not make much contribution to the rest of his life, especially in his later years, when he was so great that he held banquets for thousands of people many times, laboring the people and hurting their wealth, and committing great sins.
As Zhao Erxun commented in the "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty": "But the old period is tired and diligent, hiding in the power of luck, tired of the dawn of the sun and the moon, sighing for it." ”。
In order to observe the people's feelings, Qianlong also particularly liked to micro-serve private visits, and the number of times in the lower Jiangnan alone reached as many as six times, and the Yongzheng Emperor's hard-earned family foundation was defeated.
Once, when the Qianlong Emperor was eating melons on the side of the road, he praised the melon farmers for their sweetness, but he suddenly ordered the melon farmers to be executed without going far around the corner. Let's take a look!
The Qianlong Emperor, who liked to go out on tours in micro-clothes
In addition to the six times of great fanfare in the lower Jiangnan, Qianlong spent most of his life in micro-clothing, and he believed that in this way, he could know the suffering of the people to the greatest extent, after all, hearing is seeing is believing.
Every time he goes out on a tour, he will not bring too many people, generally only three or five people, if there are too many people, there are too many targets, but it will expose his whereabouts.
As for his own security problems, he did not have to worry at all, he felt that in the countries under his jurisdiction, there would be no so-called security problems at all.
What's more, there were so many people with high martial arts among the Eight Banners disciples, as long as they were told to follow them far away, it was enough to ensure their personal safety.
With such self-confidence, every time Qianlong went out on a micro-service tour, it was quiet, and even many ministers did not know that the master they had served all their lives had long left the capital and gone to other places to have fun.
Qianlong once said in his "Records of the Southern Tour of the Imperial System": "Fifty years of the Imperial Family, everyone who has done two major things, one is the Western Division, and the other is the Southern Tour." ”
Therefore, no matter what, Qianlong attached great importance to the fact that he was on a micro-service tour, and regarded it as one of the criteria for painstakingly governing the country.
Of course, most of the Qianlong Emperor's micro-service tour will not go too far, it is estimated that it is to play in the Zhili area, the distance is also in half a day or a day, after all, he is the king of a country, there are many things waiting for him to deal with.
I met a melon farmer and quenched my thirst
One summer, Qianlong went out of Beijing as usual and came to the nearby suburbs to play, with only two guards dressed as scholars.
The three of them walked all the way to enjoy the surrounding scenery, but they did not want to get farther and farther away from Beijing, and the summer sun shone on several people, as if on fire, and it was particularly hot.
Since there is no village in front of here, there is no shop behind, and it is almost impossible to find a place to rest, cool off and then move forward.
Several people walked aimlessly along the main road, and there was hardly a single pedestrian on the whole road, only to know that there was a weak cry in the tree, which made people listen to it particularly irritably.
Just when everyone was thirsty, they suddenly saw that not far away, there was a watermelon field, next to it was a melon shed, there were several watermelons at the door of the melon shed, and a man of forty or fifty years old was reclining in the melon shed, half squinting his eyes, waiting for the pedestrians on the side of the road.
Several people saw the situation and immediately rushed to the melon shed, and Qianlong signaled the guards around him to wake up the owner of the melon shed and asked for two ripe watermelons, so that the melon farmers could divide it.
Looking at the red watermelon, several Qianlong people could not care about the restraint in their daily lives, and they ate up quickly, and a refreshing feeling suddenly rushed straight to the brain, which was very comfortable and comfortable.
Several people ate a few pieces of watermelon, finally solved the thirst of the pain, saw that the sun was in full swing, so they asked the melon farmer to move out of the stool, several people sat around, while admiring this delicious watermelon, while talking about the world's major events.
When the melon farmers heard Qianlong and others praising their watermelons, they immediately raised their eyebrows, and they brought out the difficulties and sufferings of planting watermelons one by one, which was really a sad heart and a handful of tears.
After Qianlong listened, he smiled and asked The melon farmers, "Now that this is a peaceful and prosperous world, everyone lives and works in peace and contentment, you have said something too much, and if the saints heard it today, I am afraid that they would be unhappy!" ”
After listening to Qianlong's words, the melon farmer immediately grabbed the conversation box and criticized Qianlong's various behaviors since he ascended the throne one by one, which was reasonable and well-founded, and Qianlong suddenly choked up his words, and he did not expect that the king of a country who was a grand man was so unbearable to be said by a melon farmer.
However, Qianlong saw that this person in front of him was extraordinary, although he was dressed in an ordinary way, but "he had poetry and bookishness in his belly", and that kind of temperament was not something that ordinary people could have.
Qianlong felt that he had met a high-ranking person in the world, so he extended an olive branch to him, promising him that he would be recommended by the emperor of the dynasty and let him come out as an official to benefit all sentient beings.
When the melon farmer heard this, he immediately refused, and Qianlong was no longer reluctant, so he let the guards pay for the watermelon, and got up and left.
Suddenly, the order was given to execute the melon farmers
After several qianlong people left the melon shed, they talked and laughed along the way, and when they talked about the melon farmers they had just met, Qianlong's heart was becoming more and more unpleasant.
Qianlong stopped one of the guards and told him to return to the melon shed, and he must kill the melon farmer to save himself from future troubles.
Hearing this, the guard quickly walked back to the melon shed, only to see that the melon farmer had long disappeared, and even the watermelon had not been taken away.
The guards did not dare to delay, and quickly caught up with Qianlong and told the other party what he saw, and Qianlong could not help but sigh when he heard the words.
After returning to the capital, Qianlong repeatedly asked the guards to go to the place where he met the melon farmers to make overt and covert visits, but they did not find the figure of the melon farmers, and presumably they had already fled to other places.
In this way, this melon farmer became Qianlong's heart disease all his life, and whenever he mentioned it, he would regret it, why didn't he kill him on the spot, so that he wouldn't have a long night and a long dream, and it would be difficult to sleep and eat.
brief summary
The Qianlong Emperor was actually a monarch with very small eyes, and there was no room for a trace of criticism from others in his eyes, and only those who praised him infinitely and obeyed him could stand firm, just like a big corrupt official like He Yan, although he had long become a moth to the state, but because he was good at currying favor with Qianlong and was able to do everything Qianlong told him well, he would be brilliant and prosperous, and he would be able to rival the country.
It was a great tragedy for the Qing Dynasty to have such an emperor as Qianlong, who was so great that it became the starting point for the Qing Dynasty to flourish and decline, and the days that followed were all the way down, until foreigners opened the country with guns and cannons, until they were overthrown by the Xinhai Revolution.
References: "Imperial Southern Tour", etc