binnovel Chapter 1225 Zhen Huan Enlarged to 149
Chapter 1225 Zhen Huan Enlarged to 149
Even though he knew that someone was trying to use the empress, princes, princesses and two concubines who were born into the Eight Banners noble families to overturn the imperial edict left by the previous emperor against the bondservant women, Qianlong was furious but not in a hurry to determine the punishment.
But Jiang Xinxin couldn't avoid the questions thrown by Qianlong.
Jiang Xinxin was also very troubled, but for the Fat Orange at that time, the corruption in the Imperial Household Department was actually a small matter. Later, an imperial edict ruined the future of so many bondservant women, and corruption became a big deal again.
But the Imperial Household Department could not be replaced by other government offices in a short time, so Fat Orange had no intention of abolishing the Imperial Household Department and could only patch it up bit by bit.
Jiang Xinxin sighed and said, "The Ministry of Internal Affairs has seven departments and three courts. During the reign of the previous emperor, because of the serious corruption in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Guangchu Department, the Accounting Department, the Construction Department, and the Qingfeng Department were slightly rectified. Now it seems that the effect is good. In my opinion, as long as one person is not allowed to work in a certain position until death, and even the position can be passed on to children and grandchildren, there will be no problem."
"The Du Yu Si, Zhang Yi Si, and Shen Xing Si are either responsible for personnel selection or for criminal cases under their jurisdiction. They are simply a combination of the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Justice, and even the Dali Temple of the previous dynasty. If the emperor wants to employ people well, these three departments must be firmly in his hands."
"In addition, there are also many children of the upper three banners serving as officials outside. Even in Jiangnan, Guangdong and Guangxi, Yunnan, and Sichuan, since the time of Emperor Kangxi, many officials have been directly selected and appointed from the children of the upper three banners, especially the several major weaving houses, which have directly replaced the duties of the Censorate and the Ministry of Public Administration to a large extent."
"So, I suggest that you just treat the Jingren Palace incident as a plot to murder the queen, and kill the chicken to scare the monkeys. There is no need to implicate anyone else, and there is no need to be overly cautious about the bannermen. You should use all the necessary means."
Everything is constantly developing and changing. The previous batch of baoyi families with ideas are gone, but the act of killing a chicken to scare the monkey can only serve as a deterrent for a while, and interests will always drive people to continue to move forward.
Qianlong was indeed angry at the entire Baoyi Eight Banners because the Baoyi families tried to use the blood of his wives, children and even high-ranking concubines to make him favor the Baoyi and even gradually abolish the restrictions imposed by the previous emperor on Baoyi women. When he walked into the Cining Palace angrily, he did want to seek a way to replace the Baoyi Eight Banners from Jiang Xinxin.
But Jiang Xinxin has made things very clear. The future for the bondservants has been cut off. Now all they need to do is to keep intimidating them and improve the system of employing people and things in the palace. Presumably, they will be able to gradually stop thinking of taking shortcuts.
But Qianlong was unwilling to give in. "Madam, those people directly poisoned the Jingren Palace. Do you really want to let it go like this?"
Jiang Xinxin understood Qianlong's reluctance, but at the moment the baoyi could not be abolished all at once. Moreover, a new force came to abolish the baoyi of the Imperial Household Department. Who knows after more than ten years or even decades, will this so-called new force grow into the next baoyi Eight Banners?
However, if we want Qianlong to stop expanding the killing, we have to come up with something real.
Jiang Xinxin pondered for a while and said, "The matter is simple. The families involved will be punished according to the law. The emperor is worried that someone will be unwilling to give in and try to challenge the imperial edict left by the previous emperor, so he must cut off the possibility of them uniting."
"The rules for selecting and appointing officials in the Du Yu Si, Zhang Yi Si, and Shen Xing Si should be changed. It would be best if they were to form an iron rule like the imperial examinations of the previous dynasty. Each position should be assessed within a certain period of time. Only those who pass the assessment can continue to do the job. If they fail the assessment, they will be released so that other people who are interested in the position can participate in the selection."
"Of course, the various positions in the Ministry of Internal Affairs must have their own set of rules and tricks. In order to prevent people from cheating, the descendants of people with a record of punishment must be prevented from participating in the selection."
Jiang Xinxin only gave a general idea, but Qianlong was obviously greatly inspired by it and he knew how to deal with the baoyi of the Imperial Household Department.
The reason why the Imperial Household Department's bondservants could easily form large families was because they could control many important positions. Jiang Xinxin's idea was to, to a large extent, to cut off the source of the problem. Positions would no longer be hereditary, and even those who wanted to become officials in the Imperial Household Department would need to undergo a rigorous assessment like the imperial examination. In this way, most of those who rose to power would be those who could really get things done.
Add to that the fact that anyone who has made a mistake or committed a crime, as well as his descendants and grandchildren, will not be eligible for a position in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Many people would probably think twice before coming up with this idea. After all, although the bond of the nine clans is the strongest, it would be very painful if their living descendants could visibly see their future cut short.
As a result, the Nara clan, who were bondservants of the Bordered Blue Banner, the Juechan clan, who were bondservants of the Plain Blue Banner, the Dong, Li, and Chahara clans, who were bondservants of the Plain White Banner, the Yang and Jin clans, who were bondservants of the Bordered Yellow Banner, and the relatives of the Nara clan and the Juechan clan, were subjected to the Great Purge of Nine Clans.
Originally, Jin was not involved in the conspiracy of Nara, Juechan and their in-laws, but who could blame Jin for giving a lot of conveniences to the noble lady Jin Yuyan and harming the child of Princess Haijia when she was in the palace?
The noble lady Jin Yuyan changed her surname from Jin to Yu's, she was demoted to a commoner and given white silk, the head maid Zhenshu she brought from Yu's was given a promotion, the bodies of the two were returned to Yu's, and Yu had to offer a large amount of real gold and silver to pray for Qianlong to calm down.
Unfortunately, the proposal of Yu clan's envoy to select another tribute girl directly angered Qianlong. If it weren't for the fact that the 100-day mourning period for the previous emperor had just ended, he would have sent troops directly to the Yu clan to wipe them out and prepare for the occupation of Japan.
The Imperial Household Department once again encountered such a huge turmoil, and the previous dynasty was inevitably affected. Therefore, the matter that the Imperial Household Department's bondservants secretly intercepted the forbidden items that the previous emperor wanted to destroy was exposed. These forbidden items were then used by people with ulterior motives to murder the queen, and even the reputation of the queen mother Jiang Xinxin was implicated. Naturally, this matter was also brought to the table.
Therefore, the royal family, who were already furious because the royal family and clan members were almost controlled by the bondservants of the Imperial Household Department in terms of their offspring, firmly stood on the side of the new emperor Qianlong. Some even suggested dealing with Concubine Fucha and Concubine Gao, who were bondservants in the harem.
For a time, Gao Bin's father, Gao Bin, cried bitterly in the Former Dynasty, begging Emperor Qianlong to give Gao Bin a decent treatment for his daughter's obedience over the years. Although Fu Cha Bin's family had no one in the Former Dynasty, Gao Bin also pleaded for Fu Cha Bin because he remembered the child of Fu Cha Bin who was murdered by the Imperial Household Department's bannermen and her inability to have children since then.
Of course, Qianlong did not agree to deal with the innocent Concubine Fucha and Concubine Gao. He was also somewhat dissatisfied with the fact that the royal family took the opportunity to test him. He resolutely protected Concubine Fucha and Concubine Gao, and also gave Concubine Fucha the title of Zhe and Concubine Gao the title of Hui.
The royal family withdrew after this wave of attempts and did not continue to pester the emperor, but this also reminded Qianlong that people's minds are changing and human hearts are easily changeable.
Qianlong also earnestly explained why he was determined to protect Concubine Zhe and Concubine Hui: "Concubine Zhe and Concubine Hui have always been law-abiding, respectful and loving to their superiors, and friendly to their subordinates. They have done nothing wrong, and they were innocent victims in the past. They will definitely not collude with other bannermen."
"This is just one of them."
"The second is that Concubine Zhe was originally a maid given to me by the late emperor. Her background is very clean. Concubine Hui's father and brother left the Ministry of Internal Affairs early and served as officials outside. They are also very clean."