Chapter Thirteen: Noon on the Day of Weeding, Tears Dropped to the Ground
When I got to the study, the young eunuch at the door told me that Mingzhu, Suo'etu and Prince Kang were all inside, so I waited outside and asked the young eunuch to go in and report.
Not long after, Mingzhu and the other three walked out and saw me standing outside. They nodded to me but looked at the baggage in my hand. Prince Kang smiled and patted me on the shoulder and said, "I heard that you just met me yesterday."
I gave Wu Yingxiong a stroke, so why not use it today to honor the emperor."
I smiled and said, "Brother, don't be so arrogant. I have left a dozen girls for you. Come to my place to play someday." Prince Kang waved his hands repeatedly and said, "How can I withstand this at my age?"
After all the trouble, you should spare me." We all laughed softly. Suo'etu said: "We were just discussing Wu Sangui's affairs with the emperor, and the emperor is asking you to come in now." I said to them.
: "Then I'll go in and we'll talk later."
Entering the house, Kangxi said: "Why are you here now? What are you doing?" I said: "I know that the emperor is worried about Wu Sangui, so I prepared a gift for the emperor." Kangxi glanced at my chest.
He picked up the baggage and said, "It's the opium given to you by Wu Yingxiong." I said in surprise, "How did you know, Your Majesty?" Kangxi smiled and did not answer my question, but said, "You are really capable, and let me
Wu Yingxiong spent a lot of money, and I heard that he even gave you dozens of Persian dancers. Are you afraid that I will blame you, and use this opium to block my mouth?"
I secretly scolded Suo'etu and the others for talking too much, so I had to smile and said: "Your Majesty is really good at knowing things, and nothing escapes your eyes. But Your Majesty, do you know the effects of opium?" Kangxi walked up to me.
In front of him, he said: "You can't fail me on this test. I have heard people say before that opium is extracted from opium poppy. It has been recorded in the Compendium of Materia Medica for a long time. After taking it, it can treat abdominal pain. If it is ignited and inhaled into the human body, it can
It makes people energetic." I said with a smile: "Your Majesty is awesome and knows everything in the world. When a person first starts taking opium, it is indeed as the Emperor said that it will make people energetic. However, if you take opium regularly, you will become more energetic.
Addiction, by that time, if you don’t take one or two puffs a day, you will have no energy. If you smoke for a long time, you will lose interest in anything. You will only think about smoking every day, and your body will become thinner and thinner. Eventually,
Even the gods can't save his life."
Kangxi was startled and said: "With this kind of thing, I only know that opium is an extremely rare thing. Is it difficult to say that this opium is a chronic poison?" I nodded and said: "Absolutely." Kangxi shook his head slightly and thought about it.
After a while, he said: "Since you know that opium is a chronic poison, why did you give it to me again?"
I said: "Your Majesty, you have misunderstood. I am afraid that Wu Yingxiong regards this thing as a treasure and brings some as tribute to you. If you don't know, if you smoke it, it will destroy your body." Kangxi said with a smile:
"Wu Yingxiong is only thinking about currying favor with you right now, so how can he give me a gift? Well...does he regard this opium as a treasure?" Seeing that Kangxi was paying attention, I said, "No, he gave it to me yesterday.
At that time, I praised the various benefits of opium, and even said that if the opium was not too expensive, I would give it to the soldiers to improve the combat effectiveness of the army."
Kangxi murmured: "Opium is too expensive and is given to the army..." As he said this, he turned around, walked two steps in the room, turned around suddenly, and shouted: "Here comes someone." The eunuch outside the door ran in.
, Kangxi said: "See if Prince Kang has gone, go find him, I have something to ask him." The eunuch went out after the order, and Kangxi walked around excitedly, saying: "Great, really great.
.”
I hurriedly asked: "Your Majesty, do you have any good ideas? Tell me." Kangxi stopped and said: "Don't worry, you said opium is poisonous. I don't believe it yet. King Kang is well-informed.
I'll ask him."
I knew that Kangxi still had doubts about what I said, but it was difficult to explain to him, so I had to accompany him to wait for Prince Kang. After a pack of cigarettes, Prince Kang ran in panting and said, "See you, Your Majesty." Kangxi.
Said: "Prince Kang, Xiaobao gave me some opium. I have never seen this kind of thing before, and I don't know what the effect will be after taking it. So I called you over and wanted to hear your opinion?"
Prince Kang said: "Back to the emperor, opium was originally a herbal medicine that could be used to treat abdominal pain, and was rarely cultivated in the Central Plains. During the pre-Ming Dynasty, the Dutch red-haired ghosts occupied Taiwan and brought the method of smoking opium to the coastal areas, and there was a small amount of it.
The opium flowed into the mainland. Later, the Zheng family in Taiwan drove away the red-haired ghosts, and the mainland residents could only buy opium through foreign merchant ships. Since the Qing Dynasty entered the customs and implemented the sea ban policy, it has been difficult to see this opium.
It is said that after inhaling this substance, it will make people feel comfortable, increase their energy, and even produce wonderful hallucinations.”
Kangxi asked: "If you take it for a long time, will there be any bad effects?" King Kang hesitated: "Well, I don't know very well. We have been in seclusion for so many years, and we can't buy opium in the market. How long will it take?"
I’m afraid no one knows what the consequences of smoking will be.”
Kangxi suddenly felt disappointed and said: "Is it difficult for us in the Qing Dynasty to find someone who understands opium?" Prince Kang knelt down quickly and said: "The slave is incompetent and has let the emperor down." Kangxi sighed and said:
"I don't blame you, go down." Prince Kang wiped the hair from his head, gave me a slight signal, and backed out.
Suddenly I thought of someone and said: "Your Majesty, Prince Kang said that the Dutch once sold opium to the mainland. Maybe foreigners will know something about it. It's a pity that we don't have foreign devils here, otherwise..." Kangxi was overjoyed and said
"Yes, I know a person, and he will definitely know." After saying this, he walked to the door, raised the curtain himself, and said to the eunuch outside: "Go and find Inspector Tang Zheng of Qin Tian Jian." After that,
He turned around and said with a smile: "Who said we don't have foreign devils? I'll let you see one later."
It's really a pleasure to work with Kangxi. This man is extremely smart and knows everything at once. I don't need to explain anything. No matter what ideas I have, I just need to pretend to be casual and say a few words, and he can tell me.
I thought of it together, and it seemed that the idea was all his, so that I would not appear too smart in front of him and become jealous over time. Although Kangxi was not the kind of king who could not tolerate others, I had better be careful.
.
Not long after, an old foreign man with yellow hair, wearing court clothes, came to the upper study. After seeing Kangxi, he knelt down like a minister and shouted long live in half-baked Chinese. I looked at him.
Regardless of what he was wearing, his voice was so funny that he almost laughed out loud.
Kangxi ordered him to get up and introduced me: "This foreigner is Tang Ruowang, the supervisor of Qintian Prison. He is very knowledgeable. Xiaobao, you haven't read many books. You can learn more from him in the future." Tang Ruowang was busy.
Said: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for the compliment."
Kangxi asked me to unpack and show the opium to Tang Ruowang. I unwrapped the package, opened the box, took out the small wooden box containing the opium, and handed it to Tang Ruowang. Tang Ruowang opened the small wooden box, looked carefully at the ointment inside, and then
He put his nose close to smell it, and his face suddenly changed color. He picked up a small ball with his fingers, put it into his mouth, tasted it, and said, "Your Majesty, where did this opium come from?" Kangxi pointed at me and said:
"Wei Xiaobao gave it to me. What do you think?"
Tang Ruowang glared at me and said sternly: "Your Majesty, this person is a traitor and wants to harm the Emperor. Please punish him severely." Both Kangxi and I looked happy, and Kangxi said: "Xiaobao was kind enough to give me the opium. Mr. Tang is doing it right."
Why should I punish him?" Tang Ruowang said: "Your Majesty, opium is a bad thing. It will make people addicted after being smoked. Over time, people will lose their appetite, lose interest in things, become weak, and unable to resist diseases.
Attacks, there are people in our country who are also using opiates, and many of them are skinny and forsaken by God."
Kangxi was overjoyed when he heard this and said: "As expected, as Xiaobao said, this opium is so good, haha, haha." Tang Ruowang was very surprised and asked: "Your Majesty, you know that opium is harmful, why are you still happy?
Kangxi smiled and said: "I am happy that I have learned something new. Tang Jianzheng, I will reward you with a hundred taels of gold. You go down." Although Tang Ruowang didn't understand, but he exchanged a few words for a hundred taels of gold, he was naturally very happy.
I left the study room happily.
After Tang Ruowang left, Kangxi said: "Xiaobao, you gave me a good idea today. I'm really happy." I said: "Your Majesty, I didn't come up with any ideas. I still don't know why you are happy.
"Yeah." Kangxi chuckled and said, "If you hadn't brought the opium and told me its disadvantages, I wouldn't have been able to think of such a good solution, so I'll give you a great credit."
I hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, what idea do you have, tell me quickly." Kangxi said: "Wu Yingxiong regards opium as a treasure, so we will give him opium so that he can use it in excess, so take it
Allocate it to the army of Prince Pingxi." I said happily: "Wow, how did you come up with such a brilliant idea, Your Majesty? It's amazing. In this way, Wu Sangui's troops have become weak persimmons, Your Majesty.
You can do whatever you want. But...Wu Sangui has not rebelled now. Wouldn't it be too much for us to do this?" Kangxi snorted and said: "Wu Sangui has been recruiting troops for these years. What is his purpose?
I don’t know, if we don’t make preparations in advance, when his wings get stiff and he rebels in the future, our country, the Qing Dynasty, will not be safe.”
I asked again: "But opium is so scarce, where can we get so much for Wu Sangui?" Kangxi said: "You are so stupid. You don't know how to plant it. I will allocate hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile land for you, and you can lead the troops."
Go to the fields." When I heard that he asked me to farm the fields, I regretted that my intestines were green, I felt cold all over, my tongue was tied, and I couldn't speak anymore.
Kangxi thought for a while and then said: "No, you can't lead troops to farm the land yet. This matter must be done very secretly and Wu Sangui cannot know about it. In addition, opium is harmful to people and must not be exposed to the common people. How about
In this way, you quietly go to Qinghai and plant opium poppies there, think of a way to find more people to guard it, and never let opium flow into the people."
After working on it for a long time, the emperor did not give me any soldiers and asked me to go to a sparsely populated place like Qinghai to plant hundreds of thousands of acres of poppies. Isn't this costing my life? You said I am good, why should I pay for it?
This kind of stupid idea, I have known for a long time that he has this problem. Whoever comes up with the idea will be executed. I have learned several lessons for this, but I didn’t improve my memory. This time I stumbled again.
Why don't you coax him into letting me draft girls?
I looked sad and said with a grimace: "Your Majesty..." Kangxi didn't notice my expression, he was still in excitement, and continued: "Before harvesting the poppies you planted, find a way to buy them from foreigners.
Some." I said: "We have banned ships along the coast, how can we go to foreigners to buy them?" Kangxi said: "This is easy to do. I will give you a special order. You can build a fleet and go to them under the banner of a trading company.
How much money do foreigners need to buy? Go to the Ministry of Household Affairs." I said, "That's not necessary. I have some money from my business, and I can use it to buy opium. It will be considered as a bonus for the emperor."
At this time, if I can spend money to make Kangxi happy, I might not be allowed to farm. Even if my family's fortune is wiped out, I will accept it as long as I can stay in the capital. Anyway, it is easy for me to make money.
Kangxi smiled and said: "I am very pleased that you are willing to pay for this book. When this is done, I will reward you with a good job and let you draft girls for me. What do you think?"