"A few of you, hurry up and kill the old farmer who gave us melons to eat just now!" Qianlong said solemnly.
After hearing this, the guards couldn't help but ask suspiciously: "Your Majesty, why did they turn around and kill them when they gave us watermelons for free just now?"
This is a story from the folk, so why did Qianlong want to take revenge? What is the final outcome of the melon farmer?
Investigation from Qianlong
Aixin Jueluo Hongli, Yongzheng's good eldest son, Kangxi's good saint's grandson, said that he was born with a golden soup spoon, and he was a little sorry for the little family property that Yongzheng left him.
Qianlong also knew that it was not easy, so he succeeded to the throne at the age of 25 and has been conscientious. In order to perform better, Qianlong decided to "make a private visit" like his grandfather.
The meaning of "micro-service private interview" is to wear civilian clothes and come to see how the people at the bottom are doing as ordinary people.
In this case, you can see what the bottom of your country is like, and then make corresponding changes accordingly, and strive to solve the problem as soon as possible.
Kangxi secretly conducted a private investigation at that time, which was still somewhat effective, but Qianlong was not necessarily.
Qianlong cleaned up a little that day, he put on a relatively generous clothes, and then he set off with a few guards in civilian clothes.
Presumably, someone will ask at this time: "Isn't Qianlong afraid that someone will take the opportunity to make trouble after he leaves?"
This situation occurred in the Jiaqing period, when Emperor Jiaqing went out hunting with a group of people, and as a result, someone in the capital launched a mutiny, and the capital was in a panic.
Many ministers were frightened when they heard the news, and instead of thinking about how to defend themselves against the enemy, they were thinking about how to get out quickly.
However, this kind of thing did not occur in the Qianlong period, which is mainly related to his father Emperor Yongzheng.
First of all, he was the last successful person of the "Nine Sons to Seize the Succession," and he thought that everything would be fine after becoming emperor, but when he looked at the treasury, he was completely stupid.
Yongzheng thought that his father Kangxi was so powerful, and he should have left a lot of silver, but the result was the opposite. At that time, the silver taels in the treasury of the Qing Dynasty were already less than 10 million, and if this continued, the salaries of officials would not be enough.
So Yongzheng succeeded to the throne and began a series of reforms, and after years of development, the Qing Dynasty's treasury was finally abundant.
Before Yongzheng's death, the country was not only very rich and powerful, but also very stable everywhere. After all, if the people can eat enough, then who will be idle and have nothing to do to revolt. At the same time, this also shows that Qianlong has no sense of crisis after succeeding to the throne.
Thanks to Qianlong's efforts, the country has become richer and stronger, so people don't worry about anything strange happening at all.
After everything was arranged, Qianlong walked out with all the guards. In order to pretend to be presentable, Brother Qianlong didn't even sit in the car.
However, Qianlong didn't look at the "weather forecast" before going out, the sun was hanging high in the sky that day, and Qianlong was already sweating profusely before he took a few steps.
But they are still in the wilderness, although there are villages in front and shops in the back, but they are too far away. Just when Qianlong was feeling desperate, suddenly a sharp-eyed soldier said: "Your Majesty, look, there is a watermelon field in front!"
Qianlong couldn't help but be very happy when he heard this, as if the watermelon had been eaten in his stomach.
When the group came to the watermelon field, there was a slightly older man sleeping under the tent. It is clear that he is the melon farmer who guards the watermelon field.
Seeing this, one of the guards thought to himself, "Why is this melon farmer so blind, doesn't he know that our emperor has come up?"
Just as the guard was about to step forward, Qianlong seemed to know what he was going to do, so he stopped him: "How can we rely on our identity to disturb the melon farmer's rest? ”
It seems that this Qianlong still knows the etiquette, but they waited for nearly two hours for the melon farmer to wake up.
In fact, Qianlong was not willing to wait, after all, it was really uncomfortable on this hot day, but he wanted to maintain his image as a "Ming Jun", so he could only endure it.
When the melon farmer woke up, he was also a little surprised to see such a group of people in front of him. Their temperament gives people a very special feeling, so the melon farmer feels that something is wrong when he thinks about it carefully.
Free melons, merciless knives
At that time, Qianlong's dress was a bit like a wealthy brother of a certain family, such people were generally more arrogant and domineering, but the group of people led by Brother Gongzi didn't wake him up, so the melon farmer felt that something was wrong.
Seeing that the melon farmer woke up, Qianlong also stepped forward and asked very politely: "Hello uncle, how do you sell this melon?"
After hearing this, the melon farmer said firmly: "Don't sell!" As soon as these words came out, not to mention the reaction of the guards behind him for the time being, even Qianlong himself was about to break the defense: "We have been waiting for nearly two hours, you will give me a word of not selling?"
Just when Qianlong was about to take it anymore, and the guards behind him were about to draw their swords, the melon farmer continued: "I can let you eat for free." ”
Qianlong's face changed again after hearing this, and he asked obediently: "No need uncle, we have money on us, besides, you can't ......watch it here every day."
Before Qianlong was "good" and had not sold out, the melon farmer said: "It's okay, I don't sell this melon in the first place, I just give it to others to eat for free." ”
Although it was very uncomfortable to be interrupted, as soon as he heard that the melon farmer was so real, Qianlong stopped saying anything.
Then the melon farmer went to pick a few good melons. I have to say that this melon farmer's vision is really good, every melon he picks is sweet and delicious, and Qianlong and the guards are also very satisfied.
Out of politeness, Qianlong chatted with the melon farmers while eating, and while chatting, Qianlong discovered the great wisdom of the melon farmers.
Qianlong and they all ate watermelon from the outside in, because in the end, only the sweetest part in the middle was left. According to Qianlong, it is "tasteless first and then full of sweetness", but melon farmers do not agree with their way of eating.
Melon farmers believe that they should be eaten from the middle to both sides, so that the sweet juice in the middle will gradually spread to both sides, so it is sweet at the beginning and sweet at the end, as the saying goes: "The whole process is sweet".
If you are interested, you can try this way of eating.
Qianlong couldn't help but be very surprised when he heard this, just by eating watermelons, he could see that melon farmers were not simple.
As an emperor, talent must have been very fond of Qianlong, so he chatted with melon farmers about his life as an official in the Qing Dynasty.
For this topic, melon farmers are not sensitive at all, and even have a sense of rejection. However, Qianlong didn't want to give up this talent, so he directly "opened the skylight" and asked, "Do you want to be an official?"
The melon farmer laughed when he heard this, and then rejected Qianlong.
Seeing this, Qianlong still said: "There are still many advantages to being an official, at least you don't have to be exposed to the wind and sun here." Our country is so rich and powerful now, and naturally there will be no shortage of Yulu, isn't it happy?"
After hearing this, the melon farmer still refused: "Thank you for your kindness, but what I like most now is this kind of day when the sun is blowing all day." As for the intrigue officialdom, it is definitely not what I want. ”
Even if he chattered endlessly like Qianlong, he still failed to persuade him in the end. Seeing this, Qianlong had no choice but to give up, after all, the twisted melon was not sweet.
Imperial power reigns
"Since the uncle insists, the junior will no longer force it, but if you have this idea in the future, you can try it, we have other things, so we will leave. ”
After finishing speaking, Qianlong took everyone and continued to set off. When they walked for more than ten minutes, Qianlong, who suddenly came to his senses, issued an order to hunt down the melon farmers.
As for why Qianlong wanted to take revenge, many people felt that it had something to do with his rejection. No matter how you say it, he is also the emperor of a country, and it must be a little unhappy to be rejected so many times.
There are certainly reasons for this, but they are not the main ones, so what are the main reasons? Naturally, they have to do with imperial power.
There is such a powerful person among the people, but he cannot be used by the emperor, so what if he leads the peasants to revolt in the future? Therefore, in order to prevent future troubles, Qianlong decided to take revenge.
"Imperial power" is such a terrible thing, it can make an emperor have 800 more hearts and eyes than ordinary people.
By the time the guards returned to the watermelon field, the melon farmer was gone. What was left there, in addition to the watermelon, was a note. On the note, the melon farmer once again said that he did not want to become an official in the court.
This made Qianlong very puzzled: "Did he recognize me as the emperor?"
In fact, it is unlikely that he is the emperor, at most I think he may be a big official somewhere.
So it is not difficult to see from this story that Qianlong's "micro-service private visit" at that time was not like an investigation of the people. They are more like the brocade guards of the Ming Dynasty, who went to the people to find prisoners.
Qianlong's life has been brilliant and chaotic, so it can only be said that he is a "semi-Ming Jun" like Kangxi, but Yongzheng is a very thorough Ming Jun.
Kangxi and Qianlong both worked hard in the early days of their reigns, but various problems arose later, such as Qianlong followed Kangxi's example and went south to inspect Jiangnan.
It sounds like a patrol, but in fact, for Qianlong, it is completely a game. Not only did each inspection not yield, but a lot of financial and material resources were wasted.
In the latter part of Qianlong's reign, he gradually began to slack off on government affairs, which was mainly related to the aforementioned sense of crisis. If he had the word "crisis" engraved in his bones, it is estimated that there would not have been so many serious problems, and Yongzheng is a good example.
Of course, this is also related to age, and people are naturally not as old as before.
In his later years, Qianlong began to reflect on his previous behavior, including the melon farmer's incident this time, and he had to lose his luck to running fast at the beginning, otherwise he would have died unjustly.
In fact, this is not necessarily to blame Qianlong, if he is just an ordinary official, then he will refuse when he is rejected, and he will not think much about it.
From the word "imperial power", we can see that the idea of feudal society has done so much harm to a person. Just because you envy others and can't get it, you want to get rid of them and eliminate future troubles, such an idea is really terrible.
Fortunately, we are far away from the feudal era, otherwise, the sentence "I don't want to be an official" may be over in this life!