In terms of political rights, Qianlong was the most stingy and strict emperor in history, and he did his best to safeguard the peasants' right to subsistence and even the right to food and clothing, but he never allowed the peasants to have the right to political expression.
For the "good people" who keep to themselves, he "treats them as if they were innocent." For the "Diao people" who do not keep their duties, he regards them as enemies, and he will want to get rid of them as soon as possible. All incidents of mass gatherings are regarded as hostile incidents, and it is strictly forbidden for people to form alliances, boycott the market, and gather crowds to beat officials.
The article is excerpted from "The Prosperous Age of Hunger", written by Zhang Hongjie, Chongqing Publishing House, April 2016, 1st edition.
▍Qianlong cracks down on "overstepping petitions"
On the seventh day of April in the 22nd year of Qianlong, the emperor's great drive walked to Jiantouji, which is at the junction of Jiangsu and Shandong. Just finished his second tour of the south and returned to the north, sitting in the sedan chair with the curtain open, the 47-year-old Qianlong was in a good mood. The early spring season is often the time when his poetry is flourishing, looking at the green cloud-shrouded fields, and he is brewing poems in his heart.
The driver came to a sudden stop, and there was a commotion ahead.
In the ditch next to the newly repaired royal road, there are two dove-shaped people kneeling, and at a glance they are two victims.
They held up two pieces of paper, apparently to the Emperor.
The emperor ordered them to be brought to the sedan chair.
They are from Xiayi County in eastern Henan. They said that the eastern part of Henan province had been hit by severe flooding and people had been displaced. Xiayi County ordered Sun Mo and Henan Governor Tule Bing'a and other officials to collude to conceal the disaster. The common people really can't survive anymore, so they have the courage to sue the royal court.
Emperor Qianlong's brows locked. Why is it Xia Yi again?
▍ The people of Xiayi County sued the royal court twice
Regarding the flood in Xiayi County, Henan, the emperor already knew a thing or two before these two victims sued the emperor. When he arrived in Shandong on his southern tour this time, Peng Jiaping, a former political envoy and retired official from Jiangsu, had already reported to him when he was driving in Shandong.
Peng Jiaping, a native of Xiayi, Henan Province, said that the eastern part of Henan has been hit by disasters for many years, and this year it has been particularly serious.
Therefore, the governor of Henan, Tule Bing'a, was not guilty of any crimes.
Although he "loved the people like sons", Qianlong did not encourage his people to sue the emperor.
He has always had a strange feeling about these suing people. They may be telling the truth, but their eyes are burning with strong necks and untamedness. dared to shout at their parents and officials, and dared to meet the emperor's eyes, it can be seen that they are not peaceful and self-conscious. If the world is in turmoil, it is these people who will take risks. Encouraging them is undoubtedly sowing instability in national politics. Therefore, some emperors in history liked to hold some "political shows" in which the emperor judged cases and redressed grievances for the people, but Qianlong never did this.
The appearance of these two victims convinced him that Peng Jiaping's words were based on evidence, and it was impossible for ordinary people to lie openly in front of the emperor. However, throughout the ages, the principle of handling petitions has remained unchanged. With a letter of approval, he forwarded the two men to the governor of Henan, Tule Bing'a, and ordered him to seriously try them.
Just two days after the first incident of suing the emperor, on the ninth day of the fourth month, the emperor and his entourage walked to Zou County, Shandong, and suddenly a person who sued the emperor appeared on the side of the road, also in rags and with the same accent of eastern Henan. After asking, it turned out to be a native of Xiayi, Henan, named Liu Yuande, who also came to complain about his parents' untruthful official relief.
Emperor Qianlong's face suddenly became cold. Two successive complaints from Xiayi people touched his sensitive nerves. The emperor, accustomed to crisis thinking and conspiracy thinking, immediately determined that this was most likely an organized and premeditated political activity. In other words, it is very likely that Peng Jiaping, a retired official, is planning behind the scenes, so that these ordinary people continue to come forward and use this drought to bring down Sun Mo, the commander of Xiayi County, and Tule Bing'a, the governor of Henan, who they don't like.
If this were the case, it would be a very ominous new sign in the political life of the Empire, which is typical of the subversion of the imperial political order. If left unchecked, it will inevitably become a political disease.
The emperor, who has always paid attention to the prevention of microscopic problems, decided to eradicate this sign of it in a categorical manner. The emperor ordered someone to lock up this Liu Yuande and interrogate him carefully.
▍Qianlong's fear
For the "good people" who keep to themselves, he is "regarded as a child", he can restrain his appetite, and abide by the principle of never giving more; He can devote himself to the problems of the lives of the small people. For the "Diao people" who do not keep their duties, he regards them as enemies, and he will want to get rid of them as soon as possible.
During the Qianlong period, in the economic conflict between landlords and tenants, tenants showed more and more organization. They were linked to each other on the basis of common interests, and they reunited in the form of acting, competitions, bloodshed, and alliances, and fought against the landlords in an organized manner. In some places, organizations such as the Iron Ruler Society, the Oolong Society, and the Changguan Society have appeared. In some places, guild halls were set up, tenant chiefs were elected, and even armed forces were organized to openly confront the landlords.
Faced with this situation, Qianlong's first reaction was fear.
Against this background, many of the victims of the disaster in Xiayi County, Henan Province, filed a lawsuit against their superiors, which in Qianlong's eyes became a new way of class struggle and an extremely important political event.
▍ Each hit fifty boards
Sure enough, as the emperor expected, under severe torture, the victim Liu Yuande confessed that he came to sue the emperor, and the travel expenses were not taken by himself, and he could not take them out, but they were jointly funded by Duan Changxu, a Xiucai in Xiayi County, and Liu Dongzhen, a martial artist. These two people encouraged him to bring down the county magistrate, saying that it was a great thing for the benefit of the whole county.
Qianlong was not satisfied with the outcome of the trial. Because Peng Jiaping was not dug out. The emperor intuitively felt that Peng Jiaping could not escape from this matter, and only by involving Peng Jiaping could this case become bigger and create an effect that shook the whole country.
Just after the emperor issued an order to continue to interrogate Liu Yuande and arrest Duan Changxu and Liu Dongzhen at the same time, the officials who went to Henan to make secret visits confirmed to him the news that the Xiayi disaster had not happened in a hundred years. The victims sold their sons and daughters, and the two children only sold for 480 yuan.
The emperor was in embarrassment. It seems that the magistrate is indeed guilty of a crime. He originally thought that what happened to Xia Yi was an ordinary disaster, but he didn't expect it to be so serious. It is outrageous that Tule Bing'a and Sun Mo have deceived the king and disregarded the lives of the people to such an extent.
However, if the common people took off the hat of governor and county magistrate because of the lawsuit, it would inevitably create an extremely bad precedent in the Qing Empire. This legendary incident of "civilians overthrowing the governor" will inevitably become explosive news and quickly spread throughout the country, and will not it greatly encourage the spontaneous struggle of the people?
After careful consideration, the emperor made this decision:
First, the magistrates should be dealt with severely. Tule Bing'a was dismissed from his post and sent to Uriya Sutai to fill the army. The magistrates of Xiayi and Yongcheng counties were also dismissed from their posts and awaiting further interrogation.
Second, Peng Jiaping was immediately ordered to go home, and he was not allowed to interfere with official affairs as a gentleman in the future. Liu Yuande, Duan Changxu, and Liu Dongzhen were handed over to the Shandong Governor's Office for Examination, and they must find out whether there are other masterminds behind them. It seems that each of them is playing fifty boards.
The emperor also issued a meaningful edict to the people of Henan, saying that the handling of this case was because I had insight into everything and took the initiative to find out, not because of Peng Jiaping's report, nor because of the "one or two Diao people" suing the emperor. If anyone follows the example of these "Diao people" in the future and commits the following crimes, then they will inevitably be severely punished by the state.
In another edict to the people of Xiayi, Qianlong warned the people as follows:
Officials are the parents of the people, so the emperor is naturally the grandfather of the people. Of course, grandfathers love their grandsons, but what will a wise grandfather do when his grandson is against his parents? Obviously, he will never encourage his grandson to rebel against the vices of his parents, because if you rebel against your parents today, you will rebel against your grandfather tomorrow. Isn't that obvious?
Therefore, as a grandson, even if he is wronged by his parents, he can only endure it with injustice, waiting for his grandfather to find out about his parents' mistakes one day and punish them, instead of taking the initiative to run to his grandfather and say that his parents are wrong. If you take the initiative to report, it means that the grandson does not abide by filial piety and cannot "hide the son for the father". Originally, the grandfather wanted to reprimand his parents, but when he heard his grandson's public statement, he would first suppress it and not do it, so that his grandson could not grow his face.
At the same time, he also had to hand over the letter to his son so that he could handle it properly. He knew that his son knew how to deal with his grandson so that he could remember not to make trouble again next time.
▍ The county ordered Sun Mo to find out the political case
As Qianlong expected, his "son" was not able to provide disaster relief, but he was extremely politically talented in handling the "grandson's" rebellion.
Qianlong ordered Liu Yuande, Duan Changxu, and Liu Dongzhen to be handed over to the Shandong Governor for review. The governor of Shandong immediately sent a document to the magistrate of Xiayi, that is, Sun Mo, who had been repeatedly accused by the people of Xiayi, ordering him to immediately arrest Xiucai Duan Changxu and Wusheng Liu Dongzhen and escort them to Shandong.
The order for dismissal had not yet been passed down from the province, but Sun Mo already knew that his black yarn was about to be thrown away. He did not send officials to arrest people as usual, but personally led the men and horses to Xiucai Duan Changxu's house, and ordered a thorough search of Duan's house, especially for books and articles, leaving no piece of paper, and all of them were searched for him to check.
He knew very well that the Emperor had a special interest in the Prison of Words. These talents are hard to change, and they usually write some diary articles and the like. If one or two sentences of evidence are found that they are cursing the government, then the case will escalate to a political case, and it is likely that he will get out of the crime, or at least have his guilt reduced.
Sure enough, the officials searched for a few pages of documents in Duan Changxu's bedroom, which were actually transcripts of Wu Sangui's anti-Qing scripts.
Qianlong attached great importance to this. On the one hand, he regarded any political anti-Qing signs as a great enemy, and on the other hand, after each of the five major attacks on the Xiayi incident in the previous two days, he felt very inappropriate. Because secret reports have been reported from all over the country, saying that those few civilians who dared to sue the emperor have become heroes in the eyes of the whole country. When people in many places heard the news, they prepared to go to Beijing to file a complaint.
The Emperor then took the following measures:
First, Sun Mo, the magistrate of Xiayi County, and Tule Bing'a were able to solve such a major anti-Qing case, "and they are still capable of doing things." The merit of cracking a major anti-Qing political case is not the same as such a small mistake as concealing disasters, and "the merit of cracking down on evil spirits is great, but the crime of concealing disasters is small." Therefore, there is no need to dismiss oneself and remain in his original post.
Second, he ordered Fang Guancheng, the governor of Zhili, to go to Henan and thoroughly investigate this major case with Tule Bing'a, especially to find out where this document was copied from and whether there were any other organizations or reasons behind it.
The emperor also inexplicably emphasized this sentence in the edict: "Ordered Fang Guan Cheng to go to Peng's Ping's house with Tule Bing'a to check whether Peng's family also has this false line." And immediately ordered Peng Jiaping to go to Beijing to listen to the emperor's personal questioning.
Obviously, the emperor must implicate Peng Jiaping, a retired second-class official, in the case before he can be considered to give up.
On April 26, the emperor returned to the Old Summer Palace and ended his turbulent southern tour. He summoned Peng Jiaping. Under strict interrogation, Peng Jiaping confessed that he did have several wild histories in his home, such as "Luhe Chronicles", "Japanese Beggars", "Yu Change Chronicles", "Zhizhong Chronicles", "Southern Migration Records" and several other kinds.
▍ The outcome that the petitioner did not expect
After the meeting, the ministers agreed that the case was serious and must be dealt with seriously. Duan Changxu should be executed according to the crime of great rebellion. Because Duan Changxu had no children, he could only send his wife Si and concubine Chen to the family of meritorious heroes as slaves. Whoever copies the contrary book shall be sentenced to death.
After all, the emperor was "merciful" and announced that he would be "lenient" to Duan, and his wife would be exempted from entering the government.
For Peng Jiaping, the emperor used his private collection of anti-books to "commit suicide with a lenient order". Peng's son, Peng Chuanwat, was beheaded and executed after the autumn. Confiscation of houses, clothes, utensils, etc. in family property and entry into the government.
As for the Peng family's thousands of acres of land, the emperor's handling method is very surprising:
In this way, the emperor expressed his attitude towards retired officials and local talents, restless and self-serving, and standing up for the people. He believed that the results of such a handling would be sufficient to eliminate the adverse effects of the incident of "the people overthrowing the governor."
The emperor also ordered local officials to go deep into the people to understand the reaction of the people to this treatment.