Anecdotes and allusions of Aisingiorro Hongli

Li Hong's language ability is superior, and he is proficient in Manchu (including old Manchu and new Manchu). Han Meng and Zang Wei have also reached the level of "ability", which is unique among ancient emperors. During the reign of Li Hong, it took a hundred years to complete Ming History and compile a history book.

Li Hong is not only gifted, but also good at shooting. Every summer, after meeting with the military attache, Li Hong will test fire outside the palace gate. Run the race three times and shoot three arrows at a time. Li Hong's nine arrows can usually hit six or seven arrows. In the 28th year of Qianlong (1763), in October, nine arrows were shot at Daximen, and none of them were missed. Li Hong has been in power for 60 years and visited the South six times. In his book "Southern Tour of Imperial System", he said: "If you serve in the imperial system for 50 years, there will be two major events, one is the Western Division, and the other is the southern tour."

Qianlong went down to the south of the Yangtze River, imitating his grandfather Kangxi. One of the purposes is to visit the people. Ancient information was underdeveloped. If the emperor wants to understand the people's feelings, he has to go to the people more. The second is to strengthen the connection between the Qing regime and the landlords and gentry in the south of the Yangtze River. Jiangnan is the birthplace of the Ming Dynasty, and the local residents have the greatest support for the Ming Dynasty. After the Qing army entered the customs, the resistance was the fiercest and the slaughter was the worst. Jiangnan developed economically, and most of the wealth of the imperial court came from this, so Kangxi Qianlong used Jiangnan to strengthen ties with landlords and gentry in order to consolidate his rule. Thirdly, due to the consideration of river engineering, the Yellow River was mainly managed during the Kangxi period. In addition to inspecting the Yellow River Dam, Gan Long Xiajiangnan also inspected water conservancy projects such as Zhejiang seawall. Li Hong himself said: "The southern tour is nothing more than a river worker."

However, compared with Kangxi, Qianlong's purpose of enjoying Jiangnan was greatly increased. Emperor Kangxi's six southern tours were all without pomp. "All the inauguration palaces have been inspected without painting, and the cost of each place is only120,000 yuan. Compared with the annual cost of river workers, it is more than 3 million, less than 1%. " Li Hongze was crowding round, accompanied by a large number of queens, princes, relatives and officials. Along the way, I practiced the palace, set up colorful sheds, met each other, and covered the sky with colorful flags. In order to carry tents, clothes and utensils, 6,000 horses, 400 mules and horses, 800 camels were used, and nearly 10,000 people were recruited. Not only local officials provide delicious food along the way, but also many foods are shipped from all over the country. Even drinking water is a famous spring from Beijing, Jinan, Zhenjiang and other places. In the early days of Li Hong's accession to the throne, he followed the practice of the Han people as the "eldest son". In the first year of Qianlong (1736), Yong Lian was secretly appointed as the Crown Prince. However, three years after Qianlong (1738), Yong Lian died, less than ten years old. Later, Yong Cong, the second son of the Queen, was made the Crown Prince. Yong Cong died soon, at the age of two. A year later, Fu Cha died on the way to the East Tour. Li Hong was very sad and took it out on the eldest son of his concubine. The emperor's eldest son soon died of fear, and Li Hong was heartbroken at the establishment of the shop. He ordered the minister not to mention the establishment of the shop again.

In the thirty-eighth year of Qianlong (1773), 63-year-old Li Hong had no reason to avoid the question of establishing a prince. At this time, there were only six surviving princes, two of whom were adopted by their brothers, so there were only four people to choose from: Emperor Eight, Emperor Eleven and Emperor Fifteen. Li Hong felt that no one was the ideal candidate, and Yan Yong had the least shortcomings, so in the winter of the thirty-eighth year of Qianlong (1773), Li Hong made up his mind to make one of the emperor's fifteen sons an armadillo a prince. According to the rules made by Yong Zhengdi, he wrote a storage law and hid it in a brocade box. Small Shenyang, formerly known as Shanbao, was named Zhizhai, Niu Zhilu and a Manchu. Born in the fifteenth year of Qianlong (1750), he was nearly forty years younger than Li Hong. Small Shenyang was promoted by Li Hong from a third-class captain, and he did have many advantages, such as outstanding appearance, excellent language talent and accomplished calligraphy art, such as mastering Manchu, Tibetan, Mongolian and Chinese. In the early days of being reused, Shenyang did a few good things, such as investigating the bribery case of Li Shiyao, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, which left an honest impression on Li Hong. He can do anything the emperor tells him. Therefore, little Shenyang has risen to the top, and his favor is unparalleled.

Xiao Shenyang doesn't put on airs in front of Li Hong. As soon as Li Hong coughs, he can immediately hold a spittoon or help him rub his back. In his spare time, Xiao Shenyang tells jokes to Li Hong or writes poems together. Of course, the poems of Xiao Shenyang and the emperor are not brilliant. They learn from each other and think that diamond cut diamond is a bosom friend.

Li Hong was very lonely in his later years: his palace was empty and there was no queen; Concubine's status is low, and it is easy to see the emperor in the hierarchical royal family. Besides, these concubines were basically never seen again after Li Hong was 65 years old. A few princes and princesses are still alive, and most of them live outside the palace; The minister promoted by Li Hong in his early years died or retired, and the newly promoted officials were far from his age, so they all avoided Li Hong. Thanks to the top-down communication between Shenyang and Shenyang, not only can the state machine keep running, but the emperor will not be lonely. Moreover, small Shenyang can help the emperor do many things that others can't do, take the blame for the emperor and provide financial resources for Li Hong's extravagance and waste in his later years, so Li Hong can't do without small Shenyang.

Therefore, since Li Hong's later years, Shenyang has gradually become a powerful minister under one person and above ten thousand people. He can influence the emperor and is privately called "the second emperor". He took bribes to gain power and sheltered those who attached to him. Small Shenyang is very greedy. He not only took bribes wantonly, but also asked for them openly. In order to make peace, whenever the emperor paid tribute, the local governor tried to bring him a copy. With the passage of time, small Shenyang has accumulated huge wealth. /kloc-at the end of 0/8, Britain was in the rising stage of capitalism and needed to explore new markets urgently. In the fifty-seventh year of Qianlong (1792), the king of England sent a delegation of more than 800 people headed by Macartney and assistant envoy Stanton to visit the Qing Empire in the name of wishing Li Hong his eightieth birthday, and arrived the following year.

Li Hong was very happy to receive a report from the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi about the "tribute" of the British ambassador to China. He ordered someone to receive the British mission. The British delegation arrived in Beijing, rested in Yuanmingyuan for a few days, and then went to chengde mountain resort to attend the celebration of Li Hong's 83rd birthday.

The Qing government drew up a reception plan, including appearance in court, awarding prizes, banquets, watching plays and sightseeing. Although both sides are eagerly waiting for a formal meeting, they have serious differences in etiquette. According to the regulations of the Qing Dynasty, foreign envoys must kneel three times and knock nine times when they meet the emperor of the Qing Dynasty. However, Magalny thinks that this is detrimental to the dignity of the British empire and advocates the British etiquette of kneeling on one knee. Li Hong was very angry when he learned about it. After consultation, the two sides reached a compromise: Qianlong 58 years (1793), 60,000 Tree Garden welcome banquet with English etiquette; On August 13th, the ceremony of Qianlong Wanshou was officially held, with three kneels and nine knocks.

The British ambassador brought 19 gifts, more than 590 pieces, which were representative works of British advanced technology at that time, including a clock, a celestial globe, a globe, a telescope, and pistols, rifles, howitzers and other instruments that can predict the weather. After reading the list of ceremonies, Li Hong was shocked and instructed the official in charge of reception "to chat with him unintentionally, and our country's contribution is also in China." Based on the principle of "from thin to thick", the Qing Dynasty presented more than 3,000 pieces of velvet, porcelain, jade and various handicrafts to the King of England, his envoys and his entourage.

After the British delegation returned to Beijing from the celebration, the table sent by Ma Jiani was translated by a missionary in Beijing. It turned out that Britain asked to send people to Beijing permanently. Li Hong flatly rejected this request in the form of imperial edict, and returned it to Macartney. At this time, Li Hong vaguely felt that the British envoy had other intentions, so he urged them to return home quickly.

When Magalny left England, King George III of England asked him to deliver a letter to Qianlong. Magyarni tried many times to convey the meaning of this letter to Li Hong through Xiao Shenyang, but Xiao Shenyang changed the subject. So Madzar wrote a letter to Li Hong directly according to the contents of the letter, and put forward the following requirements: opening ports such as Zhushan, Ningbo and Tianjin for trade; Allow British businessmen to set up warehouses in Beijing and buy and sell goods like Russia; Cancel the re-export tax between Macao and Guangzhou, or reduce it according to the tax rate of 1782; It is forbidden to extort money from British businessmen outside tariffs; Draw a walled island near Zhushan for British businessmen to live and store goods; Set aside a place near Guangzhou to allow British businessmen to live and travel freely to and from Macao; Allow the British to preach freely and so on.

It is not difficult to see that while demanding trade between the two sides, Britain also hides its intention of colonial expansion. Li Hong flatly rejected this point, and Qianlong refuted it one by one in his letter to the king of England. On September 3rd, Li Hong appointed Assistant Minister Song Jun as an imperial envoy to escort the British delegation from Beijing. And ordered all localities along the way to be vigilant to prevent the British from making trouble.

Magalny's visit failed. Forty-seven years later, the Opium War broke out in the 20th year of Daoguang (1840), and in the 22nd year of Daoguang (1842), the Qing government was forced to sign the first unequal treaty "treaty of nanking" with Britain. What the British mission wanted but didn't get, during the Qianlong period, the British fleet got everything with powerful ships and guns.