SFS Chapter 214 What do the foreigners want to do?
Chapter 214 What do the foreigners want to do?
Chapter 214 What do the foreigners want to do?
After that conversation between the grandfather and grandson, life went on as usual, but when Kangxi took Hongye to study, he would focus on how to govern the country and how to manage court officials. He also often took him to analyze the personalities and family backgrounds of officials in the court. As a result, during this period, whenever Hongye met a stranger, he would subconsciously start to analyze the other person's official position, family, and suitable positions.
Of course, Yinreng discovered Hongye's abnormality. Others might not be aware of it, but as someone who had also gone through this stage and had experienced it twice, Yinreng could see through Hongye's behavior.
Professionals do professional things. Since the emperor has taken on his responsibility and taught Hongye the ways of being a monarch, Yinreng will definitely not stop him. However, he is not doing nothing either. At least many of the emperor's ideas are problematic, and at this time he needs to slowly guide and correct them.
That's why they say that father is closer to Hongye. Kangxi taught Yinreng in the palace for half a month, and the father and son chatted for half a day when Hongye was on vacation. During this half day, in Hongye's heart, the knowledge taught by father Yinreng was more memorable.
Of course, he also knew that what Huang Mafa taught were all practical and essential, but times were changing, and Huang Mafa was old, so he didn't feel it very clearly. However, as a young man, he was more sensitive to this aspect.
For example, regarding the Manchu-Han issue, although the emperor always said that the Manchus and the Han were as close as one family and that the general trend in the future was to merge the two, in reality, a look at the Manchu and Han officials in the court made it clear that, up to now, the treatment of the Han people and the Manchu people was completely different.
If we only have theories but fail to apply them to practice, the contradictions between the Manchus and the Han people will only become more and more serious.
For example, when the Qing Dynasty was just founded, although there were still internal and external troubles, the villains around it did not dare to provoke the Qing Dynasty at all, because the military force was very strong at that time, and they would fight you until you submitted.
But now, the Eight Banners had become weaklings, trapped in the capital all day, teasing cats and dogs, and committing all kinds of evil. Those generals were gradually getting old, but there was no descendant who could inherit their mantle.
There was also Huang Mafa's suspicion. He abandoned the previous system of feudal fiefdom and trapped all the emperor's uncles and grandchildren in the capital. The power in their hands was only limited to managing the six ministries, and they were even unwilling to let their father, who had the right of inheritance, have access to real power.
Even though these imperial uncles possessed considerable talents, such as my uncle and seventh uncle, tenth uncle, and fourteenth uncle who liked to fight, my third uncle who liked poetry, and my ninth uncle who liked to do business...but the emperor pretended not to see them and trapped them all in the capital, not allowing them to go anywhere.
Another question he'd recently been concerned about was what those so-called missionaries were actually doing in the capital. He'd previously been baffled by this, as he'd noticed that the Emperor was both fond of these foreigners and wary of them. He'd even gone back to see his father for this very reason.
Yinreng told Hongye that the reason why his majesty liked these foreigners was that, firstly, these foreigners had been his teachers before, and respecting teachers was a fine tradition for thousands of years; secondly, those foreigners also brought advanced culture and technology. For example, when Kangxi had malaria, it was the quinine cream of the foreigners that cured him.
But at the same time, the reason for being wary of the other side was that Kangxi discovered that the foreigners not only taught them a lot of knowledge, but also tried to understand the national conditions of the Qing Dynasty, and figured out the map of the Qing Dynasty and some important mineral deposits. Therefore, he had to be careful of these foreigners.
Hongye didn’t understand, or he still didn’t understand. Even if these foreigners knew where these things were, so what? The Qing Dynasty had vast territory and rich resources, and its military strength was also strong. What could these foreigners do even if they knew?
If you don't understand, learn; if you don't understand, ask. Hongye especially has such unique learning conditions. Not only does he have the most powerful teacher in the Qing Dynasty in the palace, but also because his mother is also a foreign language genius. In this way, in just a few months, Hongye was able to understand foreign books smoothly.
It was by chance that he and Nakchu Fuchang discovered a clue while visiting a foreign church in the capital. He found that the church was not only a place for missionary work, but also seemed to be carrying out some kind of secret mission.
Because he pretended to be a young Manchu master who knew nothing, and because many people could not understand foreign languages, the people of the Vatican were not on guard against Hongye, a little kid. As a result, Hongye really discovered something.
Once a corner of the iceberg is exposed, it means there is an even bigger iceberg underneath. After returning home, Hongye asked his father to investigate. It would be fine if he hadn't paid attention before, but this was the territory of the Qing Dynasty. As long as Yinreng wanted to know, it would be easy. Just like that, just a few days later, the servants brought back a thick account book for Hongye. Although it was written in foreign languages and seemed flawless, the contents inside were problematic after Hongye translated them.
It contains information on the defense of the capital, detailed investigations of officials and their bribery, the approximate distribution of troops in the military camps, and a lot of information on the newly established navy.
The moment he received it, a chill ran down Yinreng's spine. These were secrets. Many of the contents would have been beyond his reach if he hadn't had connections within the organization. How had these foreigners obtained them? Furthermore, what was their intention in recording them? Were these so-called missionaries truly proselytizing or were they simply vanguards of war?
At this moment, Hongye found a drawing in the interlayer of the account book. Although he didn't quite understand it, he knew that it was a disassembly diagram or assembly diagram of a weapon.
Yinreng quickly took it and took a look. He was shocked. This was the blueprint for the Red Cannon. No, that wasn't right. This was a more advanced and improved blueprint. Not only did it indicate that the new Red Cannon was half the weight and had a range increased by dozens of meters, it even included an improved version of the shell.
This also made him more aware of the seriousness of the matter. Thinking of the emperor's father's proposal to close the country to the outside world some time ago and his attempt to drive the foreigners out of the Qing Dynasty in advance, Yinreng could no longer stay at home and called Hongye to ride to the Forbidden City on horseback.
When Liang Jiugong came in with his neck shrunk after receiving the news, Kangxi was still enthusiastically teasing Zhenhuan's newly born little daughter. Yes, that was Nianhulu Zhenhuan. After entering the palace for several years, she was still in favor and finally gave birth to a little princess this year.
Although it looked like a peaceful and happy scene for the family of three, the next second after Liang Jiugong came in to explain the situation, Kangxi immediately put away his smile, handed the child to the wet nurse, and strode away.
Is Zhenhuan angry? Of course she is, almost mad with rage. She doesn't know what's going on. Although the emperor still dotes on her as much as before this year, there are many new people emerging. In the past two months alone, there have been no fewer than four or five noble ladies and more than a dozen concubines.
If she hadn't been lucky enough to give birth to a daughter, the emperor would have almost forgotten her. After finally waiting for the emperor's arrival today, Zhenhuan was thinking about having the emperor spend more time with her daughter and stay overnight to see if they could have another child.
As a result, Eunuch Liang pulled the emperor away with a single sentence: "Prince Chenyuan and the Crown Prince have arrived." However, Zhenhuan at this time was no longer the ambitious Zhenhuan of a few years ago, or rather, no longer the whimsical Zhenhuan. The intrigues and deceptions in the harem had tempered her. She knew that no matter how beautiful or seductive she was, she could not draw the emperor's attention back. So she gave up her anger and walked towards the little princess's cradle with a loving face, patiently accompanying her daughter.
She is not like those short-sighted concubines in the harem. Although the little princess is a daughter, her role will be just as great if she is raised well. Don’t you see that because of Princess Kejing, Concubine Yi is now the invisible leader among the four concubines? Let’s talk about Princess Hexiao of the Qianlong Dynasty. Because of that princess, her mother was directly promoted to Concubine Dun. A pure Han Chinese was directly made a concubine while she was still alive. Isn’t such treatment shocking enough?
She had already made up her mind that as long as she raised her daughter well, with her intelligence and status as a little princess, she might become the second Princess Hexiao in the future.