His Excellency He, his face creased in a smile, blinked his deadfish eyes and replied, "Your Majesty, this servant believes that regardless of whether Mingxing possesses the talent to lead troops, at the very least, his loyalty to Your Majesty is self-evident."
"Consider this, Your Majesty. Mingxing did not entirely shift the blame to others, but instead voluntarily accepted responsibility. Furthermore, Master Fu has voluntarily spoken for Mingxing. This demonstrates that we Manchus are still united."
At this point, His Excellency He's face was filled with a sigh of emotion. "This servant recalls a story from the grasslands: a single chopstick is easily broken, but ten chopsticks are difficult to break. Therefore, as long as we Manchus are united as one, closely surrounding Your Majesty, then even if these rebels cause a great commotion, they will merely be displaying temporary prowess and will not be able to achieve anything significant."
"As for the rebel Zhu and Chen Tailai reported by Mingxing, and the Eight Trigrams Sect reported by Master Fu, in truth, the two are but one and two, and two and one. This servant believes there is simply no need to distinguish them so clearly."
Qianlong, the old dog, grunted and said, "In what way is it unnecessary? Explain."
His Excellency He responded with a "Yes," and replied, "In this servant's opinion, whether it is the rebel Zhu or the Eight Trigrams Sect, or those rural associations, they are all merely desperate commoners seeking a way to survive. This can be seen from the memorials submitted by Master Fu and Mingxing."
"As for Chen Tailai, the Governor of the Yellow River, it is not necessarily true that he colluded with the rebels as Mingxing claimed. It is more likely that after repeated failures in suppressing the rebels, he feared the court would hold him accountable for ineffective suppression, and thus rashly raised the banner of rebellion."
Qianlong grunted once more and asked, "Then how should this Chen Tailai be dealt with according to your opinion?"
His Excellency He replied, "In this servant's opinion, it is best to first offer amnesty and then execute him."
Qianlong grunted again, without responding to His Excellency He's suggestion, and began to ponder the gains and losses in his heart. Meanwhile, Ji Yun, also serving Qianlong, let out a chuckle, took a couple of puffs from his pipe, and sarcastically remarked, "His Excellency He truly has a good suggestion. First, offer amnesty to the Governor of the Yellow River who raised the banner of rebellion out of fear of being held accountable by the court. Are you intending to encourage all other officials in the realm to emulate Chen Tailai, so that once they make continuous mistakes, they can simply await amnesty by raising the banner of rebellion?"
"If it were merely that, it would be acceptable. But why do you then intend to have him killed? Are you not playing with the court's credibility?"
Saying this, Ji Xiaolan turned to Qianlong and bowed, "Reporting to Your Majesty, this subject believes that what Master He has said is not appropriate."
Qianlong grunted faintly, cast a barely perceptible glance at Ji Xiaolan, and then asked, "Then according to your view, how should it be done?"
Ji Xiaolan bowed and replied, "Reporting to Your Majesty, this subject believes that since Chen Tailai dared to rebel, a large army should be dispatched to suppress him. If amnesty is offered, will not everyone in the world follow Chen Tailai's example?"
"Furthermore, regarding the Chenzhou rebel Zhu case and the Caozhou Eight Trigrams Sect case, as His Excellency He stated, it is because the people can no longer survive that they rebel. Therefore, this subject believes that imperial envoys and censors should be dispatched to Chenzhou and Caozhou to investigate those officials who forced the people to rebel. Otherwise, I fear that our Great Qing will not know how many more corrupt officials like them are harming the common people!"
After saying this, Ji Xiaolan took a couple more puffs from his pipe before continuing, "They have embezzled money, but they have damaged the reputation of our Great Qing dynasty and undermined Your Majesty's empire. If they are not executed, it is perhaps insufficient to appease the public anger!"
Qianlong grunted faintly once more and said, "Very well, I have my own thoughts on this matter."
After speaking, Qianlong turned to His Excellency He and said, "Draft an edict, ordering Grand Secretary Fu Heng to lead the Eight Banners army and three thousand men from the Firearm Camp to Caozhou to first quell the rebellion of the Eight Trigrams Sect."
"Let Grand Secretary Shu Hede be appointed as Imperial Commissioner with full authority, to proceed to Shandong from Tianjin to supervise the military campaign; then order the驸马 (Fùmǎ - Imperial Son-in-law) Na Wang Duoluozi and the Censor-in-Chief Asiha to lead two battalions of the Vanguard Firearm troops, totaling two thousand men, to Yizhou to suppress the rebel Zhu."
"As for Chen Tailai..."
Qianlong pondered for a moment and then said, "We shall proceed according to your wishes."
His Excellency He immediately responded with a "Yes," but Ji Xiaolan anxiously said, "Your Majesty, reconsider! If we follow Master He's suggestion, I fear that everyone in the realm will dare to emulate the traitor Chen, if..."
Before Ji Xiaolan could finish speaking, Qianlong suddenly opened his half-closed eyes and roared, "Get out!"
Ji Xiaolan was taken aback by the scolding. It was His Excellency He who pulled Ji Xiaolan aside, and together they withdrew from Qianlong's presence.
After exiting Qianlong's sleeping quarters, Ji Xiaolan frowned and said to His Excellency He, "Master He, Your Majesty..."
His Excellency He chuckled mockingly and said in a yin-yang manner, "Ji Xiaolan, Ji Xiaolan, do you think you are the only intelligent person in the world? In your eyes, I, this dignified Grand Secretary, am merely a sycophantic official who has risen through luck, and not as learned as you, Master Ji, is that right? You are the only loyal and upright minister in the world, and everyone else is like me, merely flattering the emperor, a petty villain, is that correct?"
Ji Xiaolan frowned and said, "Master He, I did not say that."
"Enough, enough, you didn't say it, but you meant it," His Excellency He said impatiently. "I admit, Master Ji, you are learned and upright, with no other fault except for needing to find a woman five times a day, as if you were a living sage. I, Heshen, am a villainous and treacherous official, alright?"
Ji Xiaolan was instantly enraged.
Damn it, everyone says not to hit someone in the face or expose their faults when scolding. How could this Heshen be such a scoundrel?
Seeing Ji Xiaolan about to get angry, Heshen immediately raised his hand and pointed at Ji Xiaolan, saying, "Don't blame me for saying this to you, because you truly deserve it!"
Ji Xiaolan forced down his anger and asked, "I am willing to listen to your explanation."
Heshen snorted and said, "Then let me ask you, what was Chen Tailai before?"
"A rebel who instigated rebellion," Ji Xiaolan said. "Before his rebellion, he was merely the Governor of the Yellow River. Can't you, His Excellency He, still deal with him?"
Heshen let out another cold, disdainful laugh and said, "Let me tell you, Grand Uncle Ji, neither you nor that Liu Guizi who rose to prominence through literary inquisition are in my eyes, let alone a mere Governor of the Yellow River."
Ji Xiaolan felt a surge of anger but knew that Heshen was speaking the truth. He could only hum and quickly took a couple of puffs from his pipe, then asked, "Since you, His Excellency He, are so capable, why do you still propose to first offer amnesty to Chen Tailai and then kill him? Why not directly dispatch troops to suppress him?"
Heshen snorted dismissively and said, "Otherwise, why do they say you are foolish from reading too much? Oh, you, Master Ji, only see that Chen Tailai is merely a mere second-rank Governor of the Yellow River, but you fail to see that he has a million漕工 (cáogōng - canal workers) under his command?"
"A million canal workers, Master Ji! A million!"
Heshen waved a finger in front of Ji Xiaolan's face several times before continuing, "Besides those million canal workers, there is also the canal transport. Do you know where the grain for the capital comes from?"
Saying this, Heshen suddenly slapped his forehead. "Right, you, Grand Uncle Ji, will surely say that the grain is cultivated by the hard work of the common people. That is not wrong either."
Ji Xiaolan angrily retorted, "If it wasn't cultivated by the hard work of the common people, did you, Master He, buy it with your own money?"
Heshen was not angry, but instead smiled and said, "Buy? No matter how much money I, Heshen, have, can I afford to buy enough grain to supply the entire capital? Let me tell you, Grand Uncle Ji, it is our Qing dynasty's million canal workers who, through canal transport, ship it grain by grain to the capital!"
"Now that Chen Tailai, the Governor of the Yellow River, has rebelled, what about the million canal workers under his command? Are you going to kill them all too? Huh? If you don't kill them all, how can you suppress Chen Tailai? Huh? If you can't suppress Chen Tailai, the capital will immediately face a situation of soaring grain prices. By then, you won't be able to buy grain even with money! How many people do you want to starve to death? Huh?"
Ji Xiaolan was somewhat bewildered by Heshen's barrage of questions. After a long while, he recovered and retorted indignantly, "Even if you offer amnesty to Chen Tailai for this reason, why do you still want to kill him?"
Heshen let out another cold, disdainful laugh and said, "If he is not killed, will not all officials in the realm learn from him?"
Ji Xiaolan then asked, "How do you, Master He, know that the amnesty will be successful?"
Heshen chuckled and said, "Do I know? What do I know? I only know that Chen Tailai raised the banner of rebellion because of his repeated failures in suppressing rebels, and because he feared that the court's accountability would implicate his parents and children.
"Therefore, as long as he is told that only he will die, and his son can receive imperial favor and study at the Imperial Academy, if it were you, what would you choose?"
"And you speak of dispatching censors to Yanzhou, Yizhou, and Caozhou to thoroughly investigate. Then let me ask you, what do you want to investigate? Who is corrupt?"
Ji Xiaolan replied, "Shouldn't we investigate? This is a case of officials forcing the people to rebel, Master He!"
Heshen snorted and said, "Officials forcing the people to rebel? There are countless corrupt officials in this world. Can you investigate them all? Furthermore, there are countless people in this world who cannot survive. Why have the people in other places not rebelled?"
Speaking of this, Heshen suddenly asked an unrelated question, "Let me ask you, where are we almost at now?"
Ji Xiaolan was startled and replied, "Jinan Prefecture."
Heshen clapped his hands and said, "Yes, Jinan Prefecture. Then let me ask you, what is the surname of the Jinan Prefect?"
However, this time, Heshen did not wait for Ji Xiaolan's answer but answered himself, "The Jinan Prefect Mingxing, his surname is Fucha. Then let me ask you, what is the surname of Empress Xiaoxianchun? Also Fucha, and she is the elder sister of Grand Secretary Fu Heng!"
"And Master Fu Kang'an, even I, Heshen, must call him Master Fu. You, Master Ji, are not deaf or blind, you must know something of what is going on, right? Why did Your Majesty count Jinan but not enter it? And why is he going to Jinan this time? Do you still dare to say you will send people to investigate Jinan Prefecture?"
Ji Xiaolan was once again bewildered by Heshen's questions.
Ji Xiaolan found that he could answer each of these questions, but after stringing them together, Ji Xiaolan despaired to find that he could not make sense of the relationships between them.
After a moment of愣 (lèng - daze), it was Heshen who clarified the answers to these questions: "Empress Xiaoxianchun accompanied Your Majesty on the southern tour but unexpectedly died on the way back to the capital, near Jinan. Do you think you know why Your Majesty said he would never enter Jinan City again? Your Majesty was afraid of being reminded of Empress Xiaoxianchun by seeing things from the past!"
"And this time, Your Majesty knows this is his last southern tour, so he wants to enter Jinan, because Your Majesty still misses Empress Xiaoxianchun!"
"Do you think Mingxing is just a simple Governor of Jinan? Huh? Think about his surname! Let me tell you, he is actually guarding Jinan Prefecture on behalf of Your Majesty, guarding Empress Xiaoxianchun. Therefore, what do a few rebels under his jurisdiction count for? If you investigate Mingxing, who are you trying to curry favor with?"
"Even if we don't mention this, purely based on Master Fu's face, wouldn't that be enough to protect Fucha Mingxing?"
After speaking, Heshen suddenly smiled and said, "Alright, alright, don't ponder over it anymore. It's time for the court session to end. You, Grand Uncle Ji, should go find a woman again, right?"
Ji Xiaolan was sweating profusely from Heshen's words and could not help but hum, cupped his hands to Heshen, and said, "Farewell!"
Heshen smiled faintly and said, "You are welcome."
Only after Ji Xiaolan left did Heshen disdainfully spit and curse, "What kind of a person is he? Just because he has some literary talent and can amuse Your Majesty, he considers himself something!"