Just as He Shen and Zhongtang thought that Qianlong would agree to his proposal, Qianlong chuckled and said, "You've only considered whether heading west would lead to being chased by the Ming army, but you haven't thought about another problem."
Zhongtang bowed subserviently and said, "Your humble servant is foolish, please enlighten me, Your Majesty?"
Qianlong grunted, squinting his eyes, and said, "If we reclaim Yaksa and Chakhtu, and that rebel Zhu Jinsong then marches north under the banner of recovering Nurgan Regional Military Commission, will our Qing dynasty stubbornly defend Yaksa? Or should we abandon Yaksa again and continue to flee north and west?"
To Qianlong's question, He Shen and Zhongtang had ten thousand obscenities they wanted to unleash – even if they went west to Europe according to Qianlong's wishes, wouldn't that rebel Zhu attack our Qing under the guise of punishing the wicked?
Or, to put it another way: are there any good emperors among the Zhu family?
Look at Zhu Yuanzhang, he seemingly acknowledged the Yuan dynasty in his enthronement edict, yet Zhu Yuanzhang never treated the Mongols as legitimate in court. Moreover, who were the young women Lan Yu ravaged at Buyur Lake?
Look at Zhu Laosi, just because Alutai offended him, he smashed Alutai's Tatar stronghold four times, and also smashed Oirat's Mahamu once. Even the Uriyangkhai three guards, who contributed greatly during the Jingnan campaign, were also smashed.
As for Zhu Gaochi, that fat degenerate, there's nothing much to say, but his son, the one who played with crickets, was also formidable. Even the most unreliable Emperor Zhengtong, Zhu Qizhen, enjoyed imperial treatment on the grasslands and even abducted Yesen's sister. Besides, whether he really called for the gate or not, others may not know, but surely you, Qianlong, know?
Fortunately, even though the Ming emperors were not good people, the Ming officials were very capable. Especially since Wu Zong and Xi Zong, who were capable and resourceful, both met unfortunate ends, leaving behind Chongzhen, who became suspicious because of Yuan Chonghuan. Coupled with constant natural disasters in the Great Ming, and internal chaos, otherwise, would our Qing have been able to enter the Pass?
Now, with the emergence of Zhu Jinsong, a Ming emperor, you still want to run to Europe? Even if you run to the ends of the earth, this brat will chase you to the ends of the earth!
And you're acting like you know better than me?
Bah!
Fine, I won't try to persuade you anymore. Anyway, I, Zhongtang, can be Zhongtang wherever I go in our Qing dynasty. As long as I can continue to make money, who cares if you live or die.
After cursing inwardly, He Shen and Zhongtang put on a fawning smile and said, "Your Majesty speaks the truth, this is indeed a point where your humble servant's thoughts were insufficient."
Qianlong grunted, squinted his eyes, and after some deliberation, suddenly ordered He Shen and Zhongtang, "Select a few capable men, and choose some soldiers from each banner to accompany Old Eight to Yaksa."
Just as He Shen and Zhongtang were bewildered, trying to figure out what Qianlong was planning, Qianlong continued, "We cannot put all our eggs in the European basket."
"With Old Fifteen in the Western Regions, I can at least feel a bit more at ease. It would be better to have Old Eight lead people to Yaksa, so that we can find another escape route for our Qing."
After thinking about it, Qianlong added, "This time, let the Gurkha Eight Banners and the Joseon Eight Banners lead the charge. Also, make sure Old Eight gets to taste some blood, don't just think about writing and drawing all day."
He Shen and Zhongtang immediately flicked their horse sleeves, bowed, and said, "Yes, your humble servant will arrange the personnel immediately."
...
The day after Qianlong and He Shen discussed the recapture of Yaksa, Zhu Jinsong knew about it.
Zhu Jinsong also knew that Qianlong did not like the show girls selected for the palace in the past few days. This was because Qianlong was seventy-nine years old, and even with half a catty of deer blood, it was useless. Zhu Jinsong even knew that Qianlong was fixated on the grand-nephew of the late Empress Xiaoxianchun, Fucha Shi of the Saji clan.
In short, in front of Zhu Jinsong, there were no secrets for our Great Qing; there were only things Zhu Jinsong didn't want to know, never anything he didn't know.
Of course, Qianlong's fixation on the grand-niece of Fucha Shi of the Saji clan was irrelevant to Zhu Jinsong, the emperor of the Great Ming. The news of Qianlong's plan to recapture Yaksa didn't even pique Zhu Jinsong's interest.
As far as Zhu Jinsong was concerned, Qianlong and our Qing court were only useful to this extent. What needed to be done now was to let Qianlong act freely, and only when the time was right would he "punish the wicked."
In contrast, the messy affairs within the Great Ming were more troublesome for Zhu Jinsong.
For instance, those scholars.
The scholars of the Great Ming should be divided into two categories. One category was the scholars Zhu Jinsong cultivated himself after his rebellion. These people were currently in the stages of social schools and county schools and were basically unreliable. The other category was the scholars from our Qing dynasty, these people... these people were pure trash.
In the 4487th year of the Yellow Emperor's calendar, the 5th year of the Great Ming Holy Emperor, the 55th year of Qianlong of the Qing dynasty, autumn. Zhu Jinsong originally wanted to give these scholars an opportunity, so he specifically held an imperial examination to select a few usable individuals from them.
However, he never expected that while these scholars were exceptionally eloquent in writing eight-legged essays, they were completely unable to express themselves in policy essays, stating: "ten thousand words in the mind, but not a single word on paper."
It was like those failed authors who had all sorts of plots in their heads, but when it came to writing, they would get writer's block.
The problem was that writer's block only affected the income of those failed authors, whereas the collective writer's block of these scholars turned the imperial examination of the fifth year of the Holy Emperor into a colossal joke.
Question: How can one have both fish and bear's paw? Answer: One who sacrifices his life for righteousness.
Is there anything wrong with that?
Absolutely nothing wrong. Because what they thought in their hearts was not important; what was important was how they answered – the officialdom required such standard answers to prove that they had not wasted their studies of the sages.
But then it got worse.
Question: How many prefectures and counties did you pass through on your journey? What was the reputation of the local officials? How was the livelihood of the people? What were the prices of local scallions/cabbets/pork? Answer: The country is peaceful and the people are prosperous, and the rest is unknown.
Question: What are the current problems facing our Great Ming? Answer: Your Majesty is wise.
Zhu Jinsong reviewed nearly a thousand examination papers and finally only saw two words from these papers.
Trash.
Whether I am wise or not, do I need trash like you to judge? If I casually ask a few old farmers in the countryside, and casually ask a few workers in the workshops, wouldn't the answers be more reliable than yours?
And still saying the country is peaceful and the people are prosperous? The rest is unknown? What the hell do you know? You don't even know a single feather, what the hell do you know!
Almost driven mad, Zhu Jinsong lost all interest in holding the final imperial examination. Instead, he had those nearly a thousand scholars all admitted as tribute students and then dumped them into the Grand Secretariat and various ministerial departments, under the guise of interns.
After all, the court of the Great Ming had only recently been established and there were many positions that needed people. Even if these thousand-plus "interns" were indeed useless, with these thousand-plus interns, it could at least alleviate the shortage of personnel in various departments.
To put it bluntly, as long as these thousand-plus interns could settle down and work diligently, there would be ample opportunities for promotion and wealth in the future.
However, what made Zhu Jinsong despair was that these scholars, who were so obedient during our Qing dynasty, became unbearable in the Great Ming period –
Disrespecting the Sages, not valuing learning, arbitrarily changing ancestral laws, competing with the people for profit, indulging military men, excessive killing, not showing benevolence to the people, not valuing scholars, and so on, all sorts of accusations, basically everything these scholars could think of, they attributed to Zhu Jinsong. They even specifically wrote a joint article, entrusted to the Chief Grand Secretary of the Great Ming, Zeng Cheng, to deliver to Zhu Jinsong.
Zhu Jinsong was stunned at the time. Even when he heard about Qianlong's strategy of "shrinking eggs" and Louis XVI suppressing the French Revolution, Zhu Jinsong was not stunned. But at this moment, he felt a sense of bewilderment.
Simply put, his head was buzzing.
Disrespecting the Sages? Who? Me? I even cleaned up the gate for the Sages, and now the Ministry of Rites of the Great Ming offers sacrifices to the Sages, so how am I disrespecting the Sages?
Not valuing learning? Me? I literally got the Yongle Encyclopedia back from Qianlong, had seven thousand Western books translated, and had people search for books related to science and technology from Europe. I even had libraries built in various prefectures and counties. How am I not valuing learning?
Arbitrarily changing ancestral laws? Whose laws did I change? The Great Ming Laws? The Great Ming Laws don't even allow scholars to offer advice, did you bastards ever abide by them?
What about competing with the people for profit? Damn it, who am I competing with for profit? I've even exempted the people's taxes and corvée labor, you scoundrels!
What about indulging military men, excessive killing, not showing benevolence to the people... Isn't this just building some ossuaries with Portuguese barbarians? Isn't it sending the lords of the Three Upper Banners to work in mines, and using Kunlun slaves to fill in dangerous, death-defying projects like mountain clearing and road construction?
Are they your fathers?
And not valuing scholars... If I truly didn't value scholars, would I have held an imperial examination, bestowed tribute student status upon over a thousand useless individuals like you, and let you intern in various government offices?
The more Zhu Jinsong read the article in his hands, the darker his expression became. By the time he finished reading it, Zhu Jinsong simply slammed the table and looked at Zeng Cheng, asking, "Where are these scoundrels? Have they reported to their respective departments obediently?"
Zeng Cheng shook his head and said, "Replying to Your Majesty, these tribute students did not report to the departments. Instead, they swarmed to block my gate, forcing me to bring this article to Your Majesty. They... they also said that if Your Majesty refuses to change, they... they will go to Fengyang to mourn the tomb."
Zhu Jinsong's heart was slightly angered, and just as he was about to speak, he heard shouts from outside the temporary palace: "Please Your Majesty hold the final imperial examination!"
"Please Your Majesty select a descendant of Confucius, and enfeoff him as Duke Yansheng!"
"Please Your Majesty recall the tax collectors, and allow the people to recuperate!"
"..."
Zhu Jinsong suddenly became angry no more. He sat back in his chair, picked up the article again, read it carefully, and then smiled, saying, "I always thought these scholars had at least a little bit of brains."
"But now it seems, I overestimated them – they don't have little brains, they have no brains at all!"
Speaking of which, Zhu Jinsong shook his head again and said, "That's not right. It's not that they have no brains, but they know that I am the emperor of the Great Ming, and I am different from the emperors of our Qing dynasty."
Regarding what Zhu Jinsong said, Zeng Cheng was speechless.
Zeng Cheng couldn't even guess what these scholars were thinking – during Qianlong's reign, these scholars were as docile as ever. Let alone organizing a protest outside the temporary palace, no one would have dared to organize a group to block the gate of the current Chief Grand Secretary!
But now, in one day, these scholars first blocked the gate of the current Chief Grand Secretary, then organized a group to shout outside the temporary palace, and even threatened to go to Fengyang to mourn the tomb!
Do they really think the emperor of the Great Ming is a good-tempered person and won't kill them?
After carefully considering, Zeng Cheng still advised, "Your Majesty, why not send people to disperse them, then revoke their titles, and send them back to their hometowns?"