In the late night, the candles were brightly lit in the Qingyan Hall of Jiuzhou, and the eunuchs and palace maids who were standing were afraid to show their anger. In the East Warehouse, the 83-year-old Qianlong sat cross-legged on the couch, listening carefully as Heshen reads the memorial to him.

It’s not okay if you don’t read it. Qianlong’s eyesight is really bad now. Guangdong Customs once paid a pair of British reading glasses three years ago, but Qianlong couldn’t say that after wearing them. In fact, it’s not that the glasses are bad, but that Qianlong was afraid that it would spread, and the outside world would say that he was dizzy. For this reason, Heshen, who understood this, also announced to the public that the emperor did not need to wear glasses and his eyes were good!

Back to the topic, this memorial sent by General Shu Liang of Shengjing has a total of more than 5,000 words. It reports in detail many abnormal situations in Kaiyuan and Changtu, and thus determines that the Northern Navy is likely to take major actions in the future. He begged to quickly dispatch another 20,000 troops outside the pass and 30,000 civilians, and promised that Shengjing is now sufficient food and gunpowder. Once the Northern Territory Pirates invade, he himself will lead the military and civilians in the city to defend Shengjing and fight to the death to ensure that the imperial tomb and the city are not lost.

The reason why Heshen dared to disturb the emperor's carriage late at night was because this memorial was too fatal. There were two important places in the jurisdiction of General Shengjing, one Xingjing and the other Shengjing; the former was the place where the Qing Dynasty started, namely Hetuala, the first capital of the Later Jin Dynasty; the latter was the first capital after the Qing Dynasty changed its name, Nurhaci, Huang Taiji, and the tomb of Mengge Tiemur were all there.

Although many people have privately mocked the court for being cowardly and incompetent in recent years, at least the two capitals outside the pass were not lost, the grain transportation was not interrupted, the Gurkha was destroyed in the southwest, and the Wumen gate was offered to prisoners, and finally saved his face. But if Shengjing was lost, the Qing Dynasty would really respond to the whisper, blowing the lights and pulling wax on the pot.

After reading the memorial, Qianlong was silent for a moment and asked, "Are Shu Liang too worried?"

"Slave, I think it's probably true."

"Tell me the reason?"

"Report to the master. A secret report ten days ago said that since the beginning of May, the Northern Navy has been constantly dispatching troops from Furdan City through Ningguta to Jilin. These soldiers only stayed in Jilin City for a few days, and then all went south. It is roughly estimated that there must be at least 10,000 people."

"What about food and grass? Even if Zhao Ni wants to fight, he must prepare food and grass and arms!"

"This is also something that the slaves have not yet thought through. Shengjing is not Jilin. The imperial court has placed 50,000 troops there. Even if Zhao Ni wants to invade the south, military supplies, chariots and horses must be missing. According to the past behavior of the pirates in Beihai, they must prepare enough materials before they can take action. But..."

"But what?" Qianlong took the ginseng tea from the eunuch Li Yu, the chief eunuch, and took a sip.

"Master, I have had similar things several times before, without any signs of sending military supplies. The slaves thought they could not fight, but unexpectedly, the North Sea Pirates suddenly launched. Then Zhao Xin is a demon!"

Heshen said angrily, he was still scared of what happened when Zhao Xin appeared at his house last time. After Zhao Xin disappeared outside the He Mansion, he had carefully investigated the mansion, but no clue was found. Because he was also an admiral of the Nine Gate, he even gave in to the Infantry Commander's Office to secretly investigate everywhere in the city for several days, but found nothing.

As the saying goes, people leave their reputations, and geese leave their voices. It is impossible for a living person who is seven feet tall to enter the city and cannot find any trace. Could it be that he was digging a tunnel from outside the city? Stop talking, Heshen himself did not believe this reason!

Qianlong ignored Heshen's words. For some reason, his mind became extremely clear and transparent tonight, and he no longer had his usual old and stupidity. He pondered for a moment and asked again: "Have you calculated the number of land and grain production of North Sea Pirates?"

"The slave asked the Ministry of Revenue to calculate it almost well, and I thought about checking it out and reporting it to the master."

"How many?" Qianlong's voice was a little quick.

"Twenty million acres of land, 37 million stones."

Qianlong showed an incredible expression and asked, "Are you doing it wrong?"

Heshen slipped from the sacred slit to the ground and kowtowed, "I'm going to die! Please forgive me for your sins! I've been in charge of the Ministry of Revenue and the military supplies over the years, and I have asked someone to compare the land lists in Jilin and Heilong. No matter how wrong other things are, you won't be wrong."

"If you don't have your business, what's your fault? Get up." Qianlong's expression was a little dull and his face became dark. He let go of his legs, rubbed it a few times, signaled Heshen to help him, and asked the eunuch Xiao Delu to help put on his shoes. He got up and walked back and forth in the hall, frowned and said, "How is that possible! There are only a few people there. Including the population of the four counties of Jiaodong, is there six million?"

"I believe that it's about 6.3 million. Nowadays, the North Sea Pirates use machines to farm and harvest. Those who have 120 horsepower can plow 200 mu of fields and 80 mu of paddy fields in a day; there are even bigger ones that can plow 800 to 1,000 mu of a day. There are also various horse-drawn machines, which can also have dozens of mu of a day. After the spring of this year, Jiaodong has also started to use them."

Qianlong was stunned for a while before he realized that he had known about Beihai Town using machines to cultivate land, but he didn't take it seriously. He even laughed at Zhao Xin for this, thinking that it was just a trick he deceived the world.

Does it have anything to do with the good construction of guns and cannons? Is it related? Well, it seems that it really has something to do now.

In fact, Qianlong always believed that the reason why Beihai Town did not lack food was that in addition to the large area of ​​Huangzhuang Banner Field in Heilongjiang and Jilin, the most important thing was that Zhao Xin squeezed Japan to provide a large amount of grain every year, and bought grain from Guangnan to transport it north, which made him dare to attack from all sides and be in a strong military force. This sounded quite reasonable, so Heshen thought so before.

Unexpectedly, in the spring of the previous year, a secret spy from Shang Yu who had been sent to Furdan City undercover many years ago finally got into the civil affairs system and became a clerk of the Food and Storage Bureau. This person took more than a year to check a large amount of information and risked copying a lot of reports. When he felt that everything was almost done, he took advantage of the opportunity to go on a business trip to Wula, Jilin last winter and delivered the copied information to the sergeant in Jilin City. The latter braved the cold weather and almost lost his life. Finally, he went to the Zhelimu League and Zhaowuda League and returned to Chengde from Kalaqin Central Banner.

After getting the information, Heshen was as if he had found a treasure. He immediately dispatched relevant personnel from the Shandong Qingli Department of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Internal Affairs to calculate. However, the results of the first calculation made everyone involved in the matter think that it was impossible. It must have been a mistake, so he calculated again. Unexpectedly, after the second result came out, there were much more than the first time. Not to mention that everyone present was shocked to his chin, even Heshen felt it was incredible.

Then I calculated the third and fourth times again, and the results were the same...

Looking at the final few numbers, Heshen finally understood what those weird machines that lingered on the ground outside the pass meant.

As of the 57th year of Qianlong's reign, the number of households in Beihai Town in the northeast was 421,763, with a real population of 2108,815. Calculated by 50 mu of arable land per household, there are a total of 210,88150 mu of arable land, plus 1.57 million mu of unallocated public arable land, the total number of arable land is 226,58,150 mu.

Everything is still normal here. You should know that Beihai Town has been in the northeast for nine years. The original arable land of the Qing Dynasty in various parts of the Northeast can be accepted by more than 20 million mu.

But the following numbers are so scary!

Since 70% of the arable land in Beihai Town planted wheat or rye, such as rice, beets, soybeans and other types of vegetables, only accounted for 30% of the planting area, the yield of wheat alone in Beihai Town was 5.551 billion jin in the 57th year of Qianlong's reign, which was equivalent to 37 million jin of unmilled standard silencing stone, and the yield per mu was as high as 350 jin!

Well, this number is nothing in another time and space, and it can even be said to be a failure, but this time and space in the 18th century was absolutely horrifying.

Although the Qing court had long known that Beihai Town had a high yield per mu in Jilin, it always believed that it was just the result of meticulous cultivation of individual plots; and the Civil Affairs spared no effort to promote through loudspeakers, which was just a means of whitewashing.

You should know that in the same year, the total grain output in Xinjiang was 1.6 billion stones, but that was based on one billion mu of arable land, more than 200 million farmers, and the areas south of the Yangtze River were still available on the basis of two years and three years of maturity. Even the Shanghao water irrigated land in Zhili and Shandong, the yield per mu of sorghum is only 180 kilograms.

In other words, Beihai Town only used 1.6% of the Qing Dynasty's arable land and 7% of the population to obtain 2.3% of the entire Qing Dynasty's grain, and all of them were fine grains.

You should know that this is the result of many wastelands not being developed yet. If this momentum continues, within ten years, the annual grain produced in the Northeast and Xinjiang region alone will be enough to feed the entire northern population.

Zhao Xin has been struggling in the bitter and cold land outside the pass for only nine years, and has already allowed millions of people to "have clothes for the cold, eat for the hungry, and have the poor, and have the land for the farm." Moreover, he has only collected 10% of the tax, and there is no miscellaneous surcharge at all. Each household is rushing to sell his surplus grain to the grain station.

Qianlong asked himself, is this something that people can do? Compared with Beihai Town, the "Kangxi and Qianlong Prosperity" of his father and grandfather for more than 100 years has become a joke!

The more Qianlong thought about it, the more discouraged he became. He looked at the candlelight with his hands behind his back, and after a long time he said quietly: "Heshen, where did Zhao Xin and his gangsters come from? Why did he have no clue after checking for so many years?"

How did Heshen answer this? If he had known, he would have been digging the ancestral tomb of the Zhao family. Fortunately, Ye Zhanrong and his son in Huian did not tell the public about the cemetery of the last Princess Zhao. Otherwise, the Qing Dynasty would have dared to send people to Hoi'an to dig it, and then crushed their bones and ashes.

Before he could speak, the old Qianlong murmured to himself: "It is my sixth generation to beat Taizu, and he is the sixth generation. Taizu, Taizong, was brutal and fierce, and he was born and died and created the foundation of the Qing Dynasty. Shizu inherited Zhao Pixu, and the orphan and widowed mother entered the pass to rule the world. Shengzu ascended the throne at the age of eight, and at the age of fifteen, he planned to capture Oboi. At the age of nineteen, he decided to withdraw the vassals and quell the rebellion of the Three Feudals. Half of the turmoil in half of the country was turbulent. He still survived it. Three conquests of Junggar, six tours of Jiangnan, repairing the grain transportation and governing the Yellow River, lightening the taxes and reducing the taxes, and the world returned to his heart. Shizong was in power for thirteen years, cultivating politics and refreshing the administration of officials, and also strengthening the country and the people.

Since I entered the palace at the age of six, I followed the Shengzu and studied at Yunsongxuan at the age of fourteen, and studied government affairs with the late emperor. Thinking of my father and grandfather's two generations of hard work and diligent pursuit of governance, I do not want to lie under the big tree to enjoy the cool air. Since I reached the top, I have not been greedy for the music of bells and drums, I do not love the music of brocade clothes and food, I do not love the beauty of the baby, and I have good intentions to treat the world with my pure and sincere heart. Although I cannot make the coldest people in the world get clothes, the hungry people get food, and the widowed and lonely people have a place to support them. But I ask myself that I have lost my bones and my heart has been broken over the years, which is a peaceful and prosperous era.

Oh my God! Why did you give up such a monster to ruin the world?! Are you blind? Now I have fallen to the tomb of my ancestors and can't even protect me, making me the eternal sinner of the Qing Dynasty!!!”

I can't beat it on the battlefield, but now I can't even compare to farming. The decades of civil and military achievements are like a dream!

Qianlong became more and more angry as he spoke, his face became more and more rosy, and his voice became heavy and stagnant. He was holding irresistible pressure and shouting. Heshen felt a burst of fear and sorrow, and tears rustled down, wetting the ground. He walked several steps on his knees, hugged Qianlong's legs tightly, and said sadly: "Master, carefully, the dragon body, all the mistakes are the slaves' faults! The master is worried about the humiliation of his ministers, and the master is humiliated to death. The slaves deserve to die, and it is not good to do things..."

Heshen was talking nonsense, suddenly he felt something strange about Qianlong. When he looked up, he saw Qianlong staring blankly out the window without saying a word. After a while, his body tilted and he immediately turned his back. Xiao Delu, who was standing beside him, was frightened and his face looked like earth. He snatched forward two steps, held Qianlong who was falling to the ground, and slapped Qianlong on the couch with Heshen.

There was a sudden chaos in the Qingyan Palace in Jiuzhou. Whether it was eunuchs or palace maids, some were looking for soup and water, some were lifting screens, some were moving tables and chairs, some were burning incense, some were kneeling on the ground, looking at the cracks in the bricks, and tied hands down the corridor outside the hall. This was called chaos!

This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! "Don't be messed up!" Heshen drank the crowd present in his voice that could drip out of water, and continued: "Who is messed up, drag it down immediately and kill it! Manager Xiao, you can quietly spread the imperial physician to the emperor himself, don't disturb others. This matter must not be spread!"

This person has multiple positions, including the Minister of the Interior Guard and the Chief Officer of the Interior Affairs Office. Although he always smiles on weekdays, he is disrespectful when punishing eunuchs who do not understand the rules, which makes many eunuchs afraid. As soon as he spoke, the inside and outside the hall became much quieter immediately.

Heshen knew that Qianlong was anxious and heartbroken, and he was swelling for a while. However, the same situation had happened once a year ago, and this time it was obviously even worse.

He took out a silver flat wine pot from his arms, which contained Suhexiang wine. After unscrewing it, he poured it into Qianlong's mouth. Unexpectedly, the other party's teeth were closed and the yellow-brown wine flowed down his clothes. He didn't care about the taboo at this moment, so he asked the eunuch beside him to take a silver spoon for tea leaves, pry open his teeth with the handle, and then poured some wine in.

After a while, Qianlong's throat made a snoring sound, just like a bellows. Heshen felt relieved and was about to drink some more wine, two imperial physicians rolled into the East Warehouse.

Taking advantage of the imperial physician's treatment of Qianlong, Heshen stood aside and looked at Qianlong with a weak face, feeling confused. Although he was greedy, his friendship with Qianlong for decades was real. At this moment, he was a little regretful, why should he be so anxious? It would be better to report it after dawn!

In a daze, a face that made him hate and fear appeared in front of him out of thin air, and a sentence that the man had once said echoed in his mind.

"My Lord, do you think Qianlong can live if he dies?"

Heshen suddenly felt a sudden thrust, and a thought of taking the world's worst came out. The plan he had planned for more than half a year was the best time to start.

After a moment of confusion, he quickly made a decision. While no one was paying attention to him, Heshen turned around and left the hall, came to a eunuch standing with his head down on the left side of the door, took something from his waist quietly, and whispered in a mosquito-like tone: "Call up everyone, wait outside the Old Summer Palace Hall, and wait for my order."

The eunuch's face twitched twice, then took the waist card, turned around and walked out. Heshen returned to the main hall. He did not enter the East Warehouse, but knelt on the cold gold bricks, folded his hands together and faced the empty Sumeru throne, and recited the "Medicine Sutra".

"I heard this. At that moment, Bhagavan traveled to various countries and lived under the music tree in Guangyan City. He was accompanied by eight thousand great monks, thirty-six thousand Bodhisattvas, thirty-six thousand Bodhisattvas, Brahmins, and lay Buddhists of the kings, dragons and Yaokha people, etc., and countless people respectfully circulated them to preach..."

After about half an hour, an imperial physician withdrew from the warm room with sweat on his head, walked to Heshen and said, "Hezhongtang, the emperor woke up. It was just that he was too difficult to speak."

Heshen hurriedly got up and walked in. Qianlong on the couch saw him coming in, his lips twitching, as if he had something to say. Heshen immediately burst into tears and threw himself in front of Qianlong and said, "Master, you are scaring your servant to death!"

"Sheng, Shengjing... die... Ancestral Tomb... Yongyan returns..." Qianlong moved his throat festival, and he used all his strength to mutter vaguely. After he finished speaking these words, he closed his eyes and fell into drowsiness.

Heshen stepped back and shook his horse's sleeves, knelt down on the ground, and said with a sob: "I understand. The master rests with peace of mind, and I will do it immediately."

What do you understand? What do you want to do? The two imperial physicians were confused, and the eunuch Xiao Delu, the eunuch next to him, seemed to understand. Except for Heshen, the other three people didn't understand a single word.
Chapter completed!