From the nineties to the beginning of the twenty-first century, due to the influence of their respective Qing court dramas, Qianlong became synonymous with Mingjun, and in recent years, because of the nonsense of various marketing accounts and self-media, Qianlong has become a loser who will only eat Yongzheng's old book, in recent years, due to the excavation of their respective historical materials, Qianlong's ability has gradually been valued, and the typical representative is Li Zheng, he did not ridicule Qianlong when he talked about Yongzheng at station B, but when he officially talked about the politics and military of the Qianlong period, he unconsciously praised Qianlong, and it was indeed a perfect political machine. This article will sort out the various rumors about Qianlong.
Qianlong
Qianlong eats Yongzheng's old book
Under the rendering of some marketing accounts, Qianlong has completely become a sixth ancestor who can only eat Yongzheng's roots, even if he doesn't consider historical facts, think about the reality and know that it is absolutely impossible, and the money he has saved for thirteen years is enough to spend more than sixty years? That can only be said that Yongzheng has collected taxes for more than sixty years in thirteen years.
In fact, the heyday of the Qing Dynasty's treasury was in the middle of Qianlong, on the contrary, at the beginning of his succession, because of the defeat of Yongzheng's war against Dzungaria in his later years, the treasury was empty. According to the "Imperial Dynasty Jingshi Wen Compilation", the 42nd year of Qianlong was the year with the largest inventory of silver in the entire Kangqian Dynasty, reaching more than 81 million taels, in addition to the inventory of silver, the highest income of the Qing Dynasty before the Westernization Movement was also in the Qianlong Dynasty, and the income of Qianlong in 31 years was more than 48 million taels, nearly 10 million taels more than Yongzheng. During the 60 years of Qianlong's reign, at least five times the people's taxes were greatly exempted, amounting to 200 million taels, the largest amount of tax exemption in all dynasties.
Here is a brief example of a project that accounted for a large proportion of the Qianlong Dynasty's fiscal expenditure: military expenditure. For primary school students' math problems, the total military expenditure of the Qianlong Dynasty is conservatively equal to: 20,000,000 + 33,000,000 + 9,000,000 + 70,000,000 + 10,520,000 + 8,000,000 = 150,520,000 (taels). Subtracting one of the financial expenditures of the Qianlong Dynasty (military expenditure) from the amount of silver in the national inventory of the Yongzheng Dynasty is equal to 34,530,485-150,520,000 = -115,989,515 (taels), that is to say, if the Qianlong Emperor sits on the mountain and goes to "lose", then the Qianlong Dynasty has a financial deficit of 115,989,515 taels for military expenditure alone, but the number of silver in the national inventory in the last years of Qianlong is much higher than the number of silver in the last years of the Yongzheng Dynasty. Therefore, those who hold the theory of "loser" can find a primary school math teacher to tutor simple addition and subtraction first.
The list of military expenditures of the Qianlong Dynasty in the "Qing Historical Manuscript Food and Goods Zhi VI".
Qianlong completely abolished the policies of the Yongzheng period
I don't know how the rumors arose, but several of the most influential measures of the Yongzheng Dynasty -- apportioning the land into the mu, returning the fire consumption to the public, and the official gentry paying grain, even if some people criticized them in the Qianlong Dynasty, they were all inherited by Qianlong and were not abolished; and the so-called new policy of the Qianlong Emperor to abolish Yongzheng was more of a "personnel change".
At the beginning of Qianlong's succession, he put forward the idea that "the way to govern the world is so expensive that it is in the middle, so it is wide to rectify it violently, and fierce is to help it to be lenient." This is the so-called "leniency and severity". For a time, "all of them were lenient in government, reclaiming reclamation, stopping donations, emphasizing agriculture and mulberry, and the edict of eliminating monks and nuns, all the people rejoiced, and the praise was like thunder."
In terms of the most influential apportionment into the mu, the real completion was also in the Qianlong Dynasty, only in the northeast of Shengjing, Jilin individual areas, due to the "undetermined household registration", until the end of the Qing Dynasty to implement the apportionment into the mu.
Portrait of Qianlong as a young man
Qianlong's refusal of Macartney's request was due to arrogance
On the issue of Macartney's visit to China, the old view was to focus on Qianlong's blind arrogance and China's isolation from the rest of the country to lament that China had lost an opportunity for peaceful contacts with the world. The Qing court's controversy over whether Macartney should bow three times and bow nine times to Qianlong, as well as Qianlong's famous sentence "The Celestial Empire is rich in products and has everything, and it does not borrow foreign goods to pass through what is not." It was regarded as ironclad evidence of the arrogance and ignorance of the Qing court.
Macartney met Qianlong
However, behind the scenes of a historical event, there are often many factors that contribute to it, and as far as Macartney's visit to China is concerned, Britain is by no means well-intentioned, and Qianlong is not ignorant of Britain.
First of all, Qianlong knew Britain better than many people think. After Macartney and others left, Qianlong did not ignore the matter, but ordered all localities to be on strict guard and not to take these British lightly.
England was relatively strong among the Western countries, and it was heard that it was tempted to plunder the merchant ships of Western countries in the sea. It is because the people in the nearby Western Ocean are afraid of it.
That is, all the piers and banners of the standard battalions should be clear-cut and clean-up, so that the people of the Celestial Empire will not dare to ignore it when they see the majesty of the Celestial Empire.
Since the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, Britain is the country with the most frequent trade with China among overseas countries, and it is taken for granted that the Qing Dynasty knows nothing about Britain, and the first time Qianlong dealt with the incident about Britain was as early as the 24th year of Qianlong, this year Hong Renhui of the East India Company in order to fight for trade in more ports, indiscriminately broke into ports that were not open to the outside world, and even broke into the port of Tianjin. The importance of Tianjin as the gateway to Beijing is self-evident, and this incident was extremely shocking to the Qing court.
The so-called Guangzhou system, which is often criticized, that is, the Qing Dynasty restricted overseas trade in Guangzhou, is actually not accurate, to be precise, Qianlong restricted trade with Britain in Guangzhou, for two reasons, one is that Guangzhou is the most frequent area of trade with Britain, and trade has become a system, and the other is that the British trading ships in Qianlong's 24th year broke into Tianjin, which made Qianlong wary of the British.
If it is said that the 24th year of Qianlong has passed too long since the 58th year of Macartney's visit to China, and Qianlong may not be able to think of the old things, then the recent expedition to Gorkha is worth making Qianlong wary of these British.
Macartney's lieutenant Staunton wrote in his memoirs that they felt in Beijing that Qing officials were somewhat hostile to the British. The reason for this is that the Chinese believe that the British had supported China's enemies in the recent Gurkha War. The events mentioned in Staunton's memoirs corroborate each other in Chinese historical sources, and Fokangan once reported that Britain and Phileng (Calcutta) in southern Gurkha appear to be related. After receiving the report, Qianlong ordered the military aircraft department to question the Gurkha prisoners of war, and received an affirmative answer.
The failure of Macartney's diplomatic campaign was due to the fact that the Qing Dynasty had long been dissatisfied with the British, and the British did not come with good intentions. Many people only see Britain wanting to establish diplomatic relations with China, but they pay little attention to what kind of diplomatic conditions the British have proposed. The British made territorial claims and consular jurisdictions, and they wanted a piece of land similar to Macao, which was reserved for the British to store their goods, and the British in China would be at the disposal of the British themselves if they committed a crime.
In short, the British hoped that Qianlong would cede land and that the Qing Dynasty would give the British in China extraterritoriality! These were the rights that Britain forcibly acquired through unequal treaties after the Opium War. Macartney went even further this time, and directly let China cede land without fighting a war. In fact, the reason for this was that Britain or the European countries at that time were empty-eyed and did not treat China as an equal sovereign state at all. Imagine if China and Britain had established diplomatic relations and asked the British to set aside a place at the mouth of the Thames River for Chinese businessmen to live in, would the British be angry?
The Macartney mission brought a steam engine, which Qianlong dismissed
In the TV series "Qianlong Dynasty" and "The Salt Merchant of the Qing Dynasty", there are plots brought by the Macartney mission, which Qianlong disdains, but this is also a complete rumor. Britain has a strict technical blockade, before 1825 did prohibit the export of steam engines, Macartney unless Qianlong received 500,000 silver, otherwise it is impossible to bring steam engines to China, how strict the British technical blockade can refer to France and the United States to steal out for half a century, Qianlong really has that France and the United States immediately came to China to spend 500,000 silver to buy.
According to the record in "The Modern Historical Significance of the Macartney Mission to Qianlong British Science and Technology Cultural Relics", it is roughly as follows:
Yuanying Temple is equipped with a large astronomical table, Chunhua Xuan is equipped with a full frame of geographical operation, a celestial sphere is installed in the Huai Hall, an earth is installed in the Huai Hall, a piece of the moonlight is installed in the Ningshou Palace, a piece is installed in the Ningshou Palace to observe the weather, a pair of glass lamps are installed in the water law, a pair of glass lamps are installed in the water law, a point is set up in the water law, a point is set up in the water method, a point is set up in the water method, a point is set up in the inner hall, a small toy is stored in the inner hall, the water method is stored in the water method, and the water method is used to store porcelain. The construction office stores all the paintings, the water law installs a Western ship model, the water law installs a pair of self-propelled chairs, the Jingyi Garden installs a warm car, the Qingyi Garden sets up a cool car, the Old Summer Palace utensils warehouse stores a large fire mirror, Jingyi Garden and Qingyi Garden each store one, two watermelon cannons, all the cannons, the Armament Institute collects and stores four bronze cannons, all the cannons, the Armament Institute collects and stores two copper cannons, all the cannons, thirteen barrels of gunpowder, and the gunpowder bureau collects and stores; the manufacturing office stores a box of copper plate drawings, which are the portraits of the red-haired king's family, the city room, the tower, the mountains and rivers, etc. Diagram of the Catholic Church, Diagram of Drought and Water Battle, Diagram of Ancient Temple, Diagram of Horse Race, etc.; a small box of fire diagram of the storage place of the construction office; a large box of large felt blankets for storage in the Old Summer Palace, the Inner Temple, Qingyi Garden, and Rehe, that is, the Yingglia blanket; a box of two pairs of saddles for the storage of Wucheng Hall and the Rehe Wanqi Songfeng; a total of seven boxes of large and small guns and red-haired knives: 16 handleless red hair knives in the Wucheng Palace, the Armed Forces Institute, the Manufacturing Office, and the Ten Thousand Gully Songfeng Separate Storage, which are three feet long; one gold inlaid gun for the new method of running fire in the Rehe Ten Thousand Gully Songfeng; one silver inlaid gun for the storage of the new method of tap fire in the Wucheng Palace; Ten thousand pine wind storage of the new method of tap fire small guns, one foot long; the armed forces of the academy to store two pairs of connected muskets, five feet long; Wucheng Palace, ten thousand pine wind storage of small large guns, five feet long; Dorone, feather yarn, wool in thirty boxes: this Dora and beep in addition to the reward, the rest of the storage of the heart hall, Ningshou Palace, Wucheng Palace, Guangchu Si and Rehe, Fangyuanju, Wan Gully Songfeng, Shengjing, Panshan and other places of the twelve plates of Dora Variegated, and the twelve plates of Dora blue and light red, and the two plates of fine Dora Two boxes of fine beeps, the true color of Babilina, Jingyi Garden, ten thousand pine wind storage clairvoyance two, can see far clearly, day and night available.
In fact, if you think about it, you can see how ridiculous it was for Britain to bring the most advanced technology to Qianlong, and although the Qing Dynasty did not directly fight Britain at that time, it did so indirectly in the Gurkha War, and it was possible to give the most advanced technology to competitors?
During the Qianlong period, the population skyrocketed and relied on crops from the Americas
According to the records of the Qing Shilu, the population of the Qing Dynasty in the 39th year of Kangxi was only 20.1 million. 49 years later, in the sixth year of Qianlong, the population had increased to 140 million, and by the end of Qianlong, it had skyrocketed to 300 million, which also gave rise to a very ancient and widely spread rumor, that is, the population of the Qianlong Dynasty skyrocketed all due to sweet potatoes and other American crops.
In fact, there are very few grains left by the Qing generation and the information on rent collection, there are very few about corn and sweet potatoes, you must know that field rent is one of the most important taxes for the feudal country, and it is also the most important source of income for the feudal landlords.
The price of commercial grains is also one of the most important food data, and in the Qing Dynasty, there was also a rare record of the prices of agricultural products in the Americas, which shows that there was very little circulation of these grains in the market, so that there was no clear pricing for this price.
Even in 1914, corn + sweet potatoes accounted for only 7% of the total grain output at that time, and after the further promotion of American crops in the Republic of China, by the 30s, corn + sweet potatoes accounted for about 10%. Then going back to the Qing Dynasty, this data will only be less.
According to the research of Professor Hou Yangfang of the Department of History of Fudan University:
"Even if we assume that corn, sweet potatoes, and potatoes are all (and actually only partially) used as human food, then their effect on the growth of the Chinese population is extremely limited, and even more insignificant before the end of the Qianlong period, so the American crops did not play a big role in the huge growth of the Qing Dynasty's population and exceeded 200 million, 300 million and even 400 million, and it was still traditional crops that fed China's hundreds of millions of people. In fact, until 1957, corn and potatoes were planted less than 20 per cent of the country's grain acreage. There is now a popular view that the unprecedented population growth and quantity of the Qing Dynasty, and even economic development, were mainly attributed to American crops, and even called the so-called "Kangqian Prosperous Era" "Sweet Potato Prosperous Age", which is completely unfounded assumption. ”
Banyam
Qianlong's poems are very bad, and only one song can be read
Qianlong's 40,000 poems are often ridiculed, in fact, there are also fine works, such as mourning Empress Xiaoxian, which are basically sincere and infectious works, looking at Qianlong's more than 100 poems to mourn his wife, the feelings are strong and painful, which not only outlines the queen's virtue, but also shows the emperor's true feelings.
In addition, a rumor, Qianlong has a song "One by one, one by one, two, three, four or five." Six, seven, eight, or nine, flew into the reeds and didn't see them. This poem was selected into primary school textbooks, and it is true that this poem was once selected into primary school textbooks, but it was never said that Qianlong wrote it, nor did it say that the title of this poem was "Yongxue".
This poem is related to Qianlong, which was first published in Xu Ke's "Qing Barnyard Banknote Patrol Class", which is more like Qianlong came up with a proposition poem to try his talents, and was tricked out by Shen Deqian. Later, after the interpretation of the TV series "Prime Minister Liu Luoguo", it became widely known.
Shen Wenyin Gong tasted the West Lake from Gaozong, and in the severe winter, Gaozong playfully said: 'One by one, three pieces, four pieces, five or six pieces, seven pieces, eight pieces, and ninety pieces,' Shen Ju Xun said in front of him: "Please ask the emperor to reward the ministers." 'Gaozong agreed. Shen Yin said: "I don't see the plum blossoms when I fly in." 'Gaozong rewarded the festival and gave it to him. ”
However, the earliest source of this poem is "Shuzhong Guangji", the author is Baofeng Weizhao Zen master, and strictly speaking, it is not a poem, but a Zen language.
The teacher said: One piece, two pieces, three or four pieces. It is still not recommended in the eyes.
In fact, Qianlong liked to use remote allusions and rare characters when writing poems, in order to tell the minister that his sinology attainments were very high. In addition, although Qianlong's poems are not included in the Chinese textbooks, the tour guide pass exam is very fond of Qianlong's poems.