Chapter 360 Chapter 359 Renzong Aixinjueluo Yongyan

Yong Yan was the 15th son of Qianlong, Emperor Gaozong of the Qing Dynasty.On the sixth day of October in the twenty-fifth year of Qianlong (1760 A.D.), Yong Yan was born in the "Heaven and Earth Family Spring" in Yuanmingyuan.He has a high nose, broad cheeks, and a handsome face.Because he lived in a wealthy emperor's family, he had good material living conditions, received strict aristocratic education since he was a child, behaved dignifiedly, and was introverted and thoughtful, so he was highly valued by Qianlong. Yong Yan was established as the crown prince in the thirty-eighth year of Qianlong (1733 A.D.).According to the rules established by Yongzheng, Qianlong wrote Yong Yan's name on the edict, then sealed the edict, and placed it behind the "upright and bright" plaque in Qianqing Palace.Emperor Qianlong was a man with a strong desire for power, and his body was very healthy.Fast forward 20 years, and Yong Yan is still in the position of Crown Prince.During this period, he was named Prince Jia, and gradually passed from a weak-crowned boy to a middle-aged man.In the 60th year of Qianlong, the aging Emperor Qianlong decided to hold an inner meditation to abdicate the throne, and he himself retired as the Supreme Emperor. This method of succession to the throne is the only one in the history of the Qing Dynasty, and it is rare in the entire ancient Chinese society.

In the first month of 1796, a solemn inner Zen ceremony was held in the Forbidden City. Yong Yan accompanied Qianlong to the Fengxian Hall and other places to salute, and then received the seal bestowed by Qianlong himself in the Hall of Supreme Harmony.In this way, he officially entered the role of emperor, with the reign name Jiaqing.However, in the first few years after ascending the throne, Jiaqing could not talk about doing anything at all.Because the Supreme Emperor Qianlong was still greedy for the power of ruling the world, he claimed that he was still in good health, and he dealt with political affairs diligently every day.Therefore, he continues to hold all the military and political power in the imperial court, and all measures for employing people and managing government affairs must be decided by him.It was not until the first month of the fourth year of Jiaqing (AD 1799), when the 89-year-old Qianlong died, that Jiaqing began to take charge of the government and became the real lord of the world.

What Jiaqing inherited from Qianlong not only had the power to rule the world, but also the turbulent situation of the setting sun and endless sorrow.The Qianlong Dynasty was a turning point in the rise and fall of the Qing Dynasty.Based on the cultural and martial arts of the Kangxi and Yongzheng dynasties, Qianlong made great efforts in the early stage of his rule, bringing the Qing Dynasty to a powerful peak, social and economic prosperity, and a significant increase in arable land and population.In the mid-Qianlong period, the country's cultivated land area had reached more than 780 million mu, surpassing the highest number of cultivated land in the late Ming Dynasty, and increasing by about one-third compared with the Shunzhi period.By the end of Qianlong period, the national population also increased sharply to about 300 million.Politically, Qianlong exempted taxes many times in the early days, abolished tyranny, cracked down on cronies in the court, and punished unjust officials.However, from the mid-Qianlong period, the national situation of the Qing Dynasty went downhill.

First of all, the administration of officials fell into the quagmire of corruption.Qianlong was intoxicated in the so-called prosperity, proud and self-righteous. He always disliked some opinions that blamed the current situation and accused him of his own faults.In order to cater to Qianlong's arrogance, a group of court officials deliberately whitewashed the peace, reported good news but not bad ones, and tried their best to flatter and flatter.He Shen, Qianlong's confidant, served as Minister of Military Affairs for 24 years, and was deeply relied on by Qianlong.Relying on the power in his hands, he formed cliques in the government and the opposition for personal gain, and ran amok. Those who follow me prosper, and those who oppose me perish.If the officials at that time wanted to get a job and be promoted as soon as possible, they had to curry favor with He Shen and pay him heavy bribes.He Shen was greedy for money and goods, searched in many ways, and amassed an astonishing wealth.From then on up to the imperial court and down to the localities, the atmosphere of corruption and perverting the law is very prevalent.For this reason, Qianlong killed a group of corrupt officials, including many governors, but he did not take many thorough measures, so there were many corrupt officials who escaped the law.The officialdom is still filled with a miasma.

Second, land mergers are serious.Land annexation began in the middle of Kangxi, and by the late Qianlong, the phenomenon of land concentration had become extremely serious.Some people pointed out that the situation at that time was: less than one-tenth of the people who owned the land, and the remaining eight-nine-tenths were either reduced to tenants, beggars or refugees.Bureaucratic landlords own a lot of land.For example, the big landlord Hao in Huairou, Zhili, had more than 10,000 hectares of high-quality fertile land in his family, He Shen, the military minister, occupied 8,000 hectares of land, and even his servants occupied more than 600 hectares of land.Most of the poor people have no place to stand.The poor people who have lost their land are struggling in dire straits and are precarious.On one night in February of the first year of Jiaqing (AD 1796), more than 8,000 beggars froze to death on the streets in Beijing. The tragic scene was shocking.At the same time, the life of the ruling class is in stark contrast to that of the poor.Emperor Qianlong liked to show off. He made six tours to the south, visited Mount Wutai five times, offered sacrifices to Qufu five times, visited the ancestral mausoleum eastward seven times, and toured Tianjin twice.In the ceremonies of royal weddings, funerals and birthdays and numerous garden projects, Qianlong was even more extravagant and extravagant.The social customs in the early Qing Dynasty advocated frugality, and the clothes of bureaucratic landlords were mostly made of homemade cloth and jute, and few people wore leather clothes in winter.At the end of Qianlong period, the social atmosphere changed greatly from frugality to extravagance.All classes of bureaucrats, landlords, and businessmen were immersed in a luxurious atmosphere.In the bustling city of Yangzhou, wealthy businessmen competed to squander, spending huge sums of money to build private houses, and buying singing and dancing girls.The luxury of the ruling class and the suffering of the poor people herald the decline and turmoil of the society.

Third, social contradictions are sharp, and peasant uprisings continue to occur.Under the brutal oppression and exploitation of bureaucrats and landlords, social contradictions intensified, and the resistance struggles of the lower classes continued one after another.After the mid-Qianlong period, large-scale armed struggles broke out successively, such as the Wanglun Uprising in Shandong, the Minority Uprising in Gansu, the Lin Shuangwen Uprising in Taiwan, and the Hmong Uprising in Hunan and Guizhou.The resistance and struggle of the lower class people in various ways, like surging waves, strongly impacted the rule of the Qing Dynasty and made it decline day by day.

The above situation shows that the situation facing Jiaqing is grim, and the burden of reversing the declining political situation and rejuvenating the country is quite heavy.In order to reverse the declining political situation, Emperor Jiaqing fired the first shot of pro-government by eradicating He Shen.Long before he came to power, Jiaqing had already understood Heshen's treacherous greed, but he had no power in his hands and could not take action against him. The death of Qianlong brought a turning point to the political situation at that time.On the second day after Qianlong's death, He Shen was dismissed by Jiaqing from his post as Minister of Military Aircraft and Admiral of Nine Gates, and was placed under house arrest.Censor Wang Niansun and others came out to expose Heshen's crimes at this time, demanding that the emperor punish him severely.Their ideas were exactly to Jiaqing's appetite. Within half a month, Jiaqing announced Heshen's 20 crimes, arrested him in a big prison, and then ordered him to die.A group of He Shen's cronies, such as Fu Chang'an, Su Ling'a, Wu Shenglan and others, were also convicted and deposed.

After He Shen was arrested and imprisoned, his family property was confiscated by Jiaqing.During his more than 20 years in power, He Wen stole and plundered and accumulated a lot of furniture.A total of 109 properties were confiscated, about 83 of which were not appraised, and only 26 of them were appraised, worth 220 million taels of silver.Later, someone estimated that Heshen's entire family property could be equivalent to as much as 800 million taels of silver.At that time, the annual fiscal revenue of the Qing government was about 70 million taels of silver, and the family property of He Shen alone was equivalent to the total income of the court for more than 10 years, which was really amazing.Jiaqing eradicated He Shen with lightning speed, which was praised by many people.People have seen a ray of light in the long-gloomed reality.

Emperor Jiaqing saw that his father, Emperor Qianlong, only relied on Heshen, listened and believed, and made many mistakes. He paid attention to learning from them, and realized that to reverse the declining political situation, it was not enough to rely on his own personal wisdom.A ruler should be able to have sharp ears and eyes, brainstorm, and listen to the opinions of his courtiers extensively.So he promulgated an edict, requiring officials of the Jiuqing Kedao who are responsible for speaking out to hear their views and suggestions on the employment and administration.In order to encourage his courtiers to dare to speak out, Jiaqing made a promise that he would not easily add crimes to those who speak up.He said: "Since I advocate blunt speaking, if I add more crimes to the blunt talkers, wouldn't it mean that I intend to frame my courtiers?" Belittled for infamy.Immediately after Jiaqing took office, he came forward to apologize Yin and Cao Ping, and praised their actions.Soon, He Tai, a Gongsheng student in Shaanxi, wrote a letter to Jiaqing, pointing out that extravagance and frugality should be abandoned, and the social atmosphere that was becoming more and more extravagant should be reversed.Jiaqing agreed, and specially rewarded He Tai with two bolts of satin.

For a long time, corrupt and depraved officials have been like a poisonous gangrene attached to a sick body, harming the people of the country and causing a lot of trouble.Whether the administration of officials can be changed will also be a key to whether Jiaqing can turn the political situation around.Jiaqing made a lot of efforts in rectifying the administration of officials.He once specially wrote articles such as "The Distinction of Righteousness and Benefits" and "Theory of Diligence and Love for the People", which were issued to the ministers.He believed that the reason why the people dared to expose the rebellion was mostly because corrupt officials beat the people to their bones and sucked the marrow of the people.In view of this, Jiaqing took successive measures to punish corrupt officials after taking office.Hu Qilun, a Daoist in Xiangyang, Hubei, managed Hubei's military supply during his tenure, eroded and squandered wantonly, and lost more than 200,000 yuan in silver. Jiaqing categorically sentenced Hu to death.In the fourth year of Jiaqing (1809 A.D.), in one year, Jiaqing personally intervened and handled four or five major corruption cases.Wang Shenhan, the county magistrate of Huai'an Prefecture, Jiangsu Province, lied about his county household registration, embezzled a large amount of relief money, and poisoned Li Yuchang, an investigation and relief official who wanted to expose his crimes.After the case was exposed, both Wang Shenhan and Wang Zhu were executed, and Tie Bao, governor of Liangjiang, was dismissed from his post and exiled.In this year, Guangxing, the minister in charge of internal affairs, and Yinglun, the censor of Caocao, were hanged by Jiaqing for their involvement in crimes.Wang Shuchang, a clerk of the Ministry of Industry, made false seals and wrote false notes, and obtained hundreds of thousands of taels of silver from the Ministry of Households.Jiaqing adhered to this principle: officials who harm the people must go, and words that love the people must be used.A group of honest, diligent and competent officials were exceptionally promoted and reused. Among them, Liu Qing, the magistrate of Nanchong County, Sichuan Province, was favored by Jiaqing.When Jiaqing interrogated Wang Sanhuai, the leader of the captured White Lotus Rebel Army, he learned that Liu Qing was a very popular official, and the people called him "Liu Qingtian".After inspecting Liu Qing, Jiaqing decided to promote him.Liu Qing later served as a Taoist member of Jianchang in Sichuan and a political envoy in Shanxi, and played a significant role in suppressing the Bailian Sect uprising in Sichuan.

Laziness and restlessness and malaise were common phenomena in the officialdom in the late Qianlong period.Jiaqing regards this as a hidden worry for the country and believes that it must be rectified.He has repeatedly warned his courtiers that they should be diligent in their duties, self-denial and dedication to public service.Once, when an official of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was dealing with a small matter in the dining room, he was perfunctory, and it took 40 days to solve the problem.When Jiaqing learned of this incident, he reprimanded the officials: "It can be settled in a few words, but the memorial cannot exceed a hundred words. Why is it so procrastinated?" From the first year of Jiaqing to the eleventh year of Jiaqing, Zhili 24 More than 300,000 taels of silver were embezzled in Gezhou and counties. After investigation, it was found that Secretary Wang Linan and others had colluded with fraud during this period, forged seals, colluded tickets, and stolen silver taels. The activities were quite rampant.Jiaqing reprimanded the successive governors of Zhili: You are so ignorant that such a serious incident happened, and you are like puppets. What did you do during your tenure!In the end, Yan Jian, Zhan Zhu, Hu Jitang and others who served as governors of Zhili were punished according to the amount of money they falsely collected during their tenure. However, Jiading's punishment of corruption and rectification of officials was not thorough.In his measures to deal with corrupt officials, there are some who punish them severely, and those who tolerate and tolerate are not uncommon.For example, when Jiaqing handled the case of Hu Qilun's embezzlement of military supplies, he discovered that Yongbao, Qingcheng, Bi Yuan and other senior officials were involved in the case.These people all had bad records of taking bribes and misappropriating state funds. However, when the case was closed, Jiaqing only severely punished Hu Qilun.Most of their confiscated property was returned by Jiaqing.Therefore, the situation of corruption and degeneration of officials has not changed much. However, during Jiaqing's more than 20 years in power, his requirements for himself were indeed very strict.He has to deal with a lot of government affairs every day, tirelessly and never slackens.In April of the thirteenth year of Jiaqing (AD 1808), Jiaqing was happy to have the emperor's grandson, so the cabinet did not deliver a memorial to him for two days, and Jiaqing immediately criticized the cabinet ministers.A few days later, the Duanyang Festival came, and the court ministers did not report to Jiaqing. Jiaqing lost his temper and personally checked the offices of various ministries. Hand over the relevant officials to the Metropolitan Procuratorate for criminal discussion. At the beginning of Jiaqing's pro-government, his teacher Zhu Gui once suggested to him that he should be frugal first and advocate incorruptibility. After Jiaqing, he always paid more attention to this point.In the past, when officials from various provinces went to Beijing to meet the emperor, they had to present tribute according to the custom.In order to invite favor and glory for themselves, officials competed to offer treasures and antiques, and the tricks were constantly refurbished.In the fourth year of Jiaqing, while punishing Heshen, Jiaqing issued an encyclical to the cabinet saying: Are all the tributes arranged by local officials paid for by themselves?It must have been squeezed from all levels below the state and county.How can the common people bear the officials' continuous deprivation from the people!What's more, the antiques and treasures presented here are too hungry to eat and cold to wear. They are really not as good as dung.From then on, all officials who submit prohibited treasures will be punished and must not be forgiven lightly.He learned that at the end of last year, the large pieces of jade that had been transported to Beijing from Yarkand were on their way, and he immediately issued an order that no matter where the jade was transported, they should abandon it there and there was no need to move on.In the same year, Jiaqing also abolished the rule that ministers submit wishes during the New Year's Eve.He said: "At the New Year's Day, the ministers put in the wishful things for the sake of auspiciousness. I don't think it makes much sense. The ministers think those things are wishful, but I look unsatisfactory." In order to curb the trend of extravagance, Jiaqing took the lead in advocating thrift.When Qianlong visited many places, officials from all over the country built many extravagant palaces for him. Jiaqing felt that this was too extravagant and wasteful.He believes that the palaces in various places are just for resting overnight, and there is no need to deliberately decorate them.From an economic point of view, if one palace can save 30,000 to 40,000 taels of silver, 10 places can save 30,000 to 40,000 taels.In the 14th year of Jiaqing, Jiaqing specially said hello before visiting Mount Wutai.Local officials are required not to show off on the way, but to pursue frugality.In the same year, when celebrating his 50th birthday, Jiaqing issued an order that the performance of opera and music and alley dancing and song singing were not allowed in the folk.In order to please the emperor, the censor Jingde invited him to perform in the capital for 10 days during the birthday celebration. Later, as a rule, he was immediately removed from his post by Jiaqing.In this regard, Jiaqing pointed out to the ministers: "I found that the performance of the previous generation on such occasions was relatively extravagant. They always had banquets and parties and performed operas for many days. I despised these practices in my heart and took them as a lesson for myself. If I Forgetting the sufferings of the people, organizing ceremonies extravagantly, and courtiers should write a letter to persuade them, this is the way to love the emperor. Now that Jingde proposes this kind of suggestion to me, what kind of monarch does he think of me?" Jiaqing knew something about the plight of the common people, and the fact that the government forced the people to rebel made him even more terrified.For him, it is urgent to ease the sharp social contradictions and stabilize the livelihood of the people.After the mid-Qianlong period, as the country turned from prosperity to decline, political corruption and economic difficulties, the vast rural areas suffered from floods and droughts and frequent disasters, seriously threatening agricultural production and people's lives.In this regard, Jiaqing warned local officials that they should attach great importance to the disaster after it happened, and earnestly provide for the victims, even if they spend more money, they should not be stingy.Facts have proved that Jiaqing did not spare money when he gave relief to the disaster-stricken areas.In the project of harnessing the Yellow River, Jiaqing spent a huge amount of money, using more than 40 million taels of silver. Since the Yongzheng Dynasty, the annual labor cost for river governance is generally 600,000 taels of silver. ), Jiaqing increased the cost of labor and materials to 1.6 million taels per year.He has also repeatedly criticized the delay of the river treatment project by sparing money.Not only that, Jiaqing also put forward some reasonable opinions on the river control project.He believes that the key to river governance is to ensure unimpeded flow at the estuary.In the past, accidents happened to the Yellow River, most of which were caused by silting up at the estuary, causing disasters.Therefore, he repeatedly reminded river management officials to pay attention to these points, and carefully organize migrant workers to dig and guide them. Originally, due to the long-term decline of the country, the country's savings were not rich, and there was a lot of expenditure on suppressing peasant uprisings, river control, and disaster relief, which made the finances even tighter. This forced Jiaqing to find ways to increase income and reduce expenditure.He ordered the reduction of part of the standing troops to save military expenditures.At the same time, continue to implement the donation system.However, Jiaqing always believed that making donations was definitely not a good strategy, but an act of harming the lower and benefiting the upper. He planned to stop it after the Chuanchu Bailian Sect Uprising was put down (in fact, he did not do this).Jiaqing's attitude towards increasing the price of salt and exchanging taxes for floating income is basically negative. He said that salt is a daily necessities for people's daily life. consider carefully.Taxation and floating income will be beneficial to the country's fiscal revenue, but the people will suffer from it, and corrupt officials can play tricks from it.In the 14th year of Jiaqing, Alin Baozuo, governor of Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, asked for an additional discount on the storage of grain, but was severely reprimanded by Jiaqing.Since the entry of the Qing Dynasty, the soldiers of the Eight Banners have been stationed in Beijing and other big cities, relying on food and salaries to survive.The population of the Eight Banners continued to increase, but there was a fixed number of soldiers and a fixed salary. As a result, a large number of idle bannermen gradually emerged.The Qing government did not allow them to engage in various production activities, so these idle bannermen had nothing to do all day long, idle about, eating, drinking and having fun, becoming moths without the ability to support themselves.In order to maintain their livelihood, the Qing government had to reward silver taels many times, increase the number of soldiers, and carry a heavy economic burden.After planning, Jiaqing decided to send a group of idle bannermen to the sparsely populated customs, and the government allocated land to them. They could lease the land to tenants for reclamation, or cultivate it by themselves.However, these Eight Banners children have long been accustomed to the city's parasitic life of indulgence, and now they are not even willing to accept the territory and collect rent and interest. Jiaqing's relocation measures can only end in failure in the end. As mentioned earlier, when Jiaqing ascended the throne, social conflicts were sharp and peasant uprisings continued to occur. In the first year of Jiaqing (AD 1796), he had just attached himself to the throne of the emperor, and the Sichuan, Chu, and Shaanxi White Lotus Rebellions broke out, which shocked the whole country. .White Lotus Sect is a secret religion that has been spread among the people since the end of Tang Dynasty. It was quite popular in Sichuan, Chu, Shaanxi and other places at that time.The teachings of the White Lotus Sect advocate that there are two opposing factors of light and darkness in the world, which respectively represent goodness, rationality, evil and irrationality. The two factors have been fighting, but in the end light will definitely defeat darkness.The believers of the White Lotus Sect all consider themselves the children of the "birthless old mother", who should live and die together, and share adversity together.In order to find spiritual sustenance, the poor people suffering from disasters joined the White Lotus Sect one after another.In connection with reality, the Bailian believers put forward slogans such as "the Qing Dynasty is over" and "the sun and the moon will belong to the Ming Dynasty".The Qing government found that the development of the White Lotus Sect posed a threat to its own rule, and ordered the strict arrest of the White Lotus Sect members. The local corrupt officials took the opportunity to set off a trend of extorting people.For example, Dai Ruhuang, the magistrate of Dazhou, Sichuan, sent more than 5,000 yamen servants, under the pretext of hunting down the White Lotus Sect, to wantonly search for people's wealth, making the local people miserable.Chang Dankui, Tong Zhi of Wuchang Mansion in Huguang, was tyrannical, corrupt and murdered the people in the process of arresting the disciples of the Lotus Sect.If they have any doubts about people, they will use torture, nail people to the wall, or beat the body with a hammer, which makes people's liver and gallbladder tearful and painful.In other regions, these phenomena are not uncommon.As a result, small-scale White Lotus uprisings continued to occur.The White Lotus Sect Uprising in Sichuan, Chu, and Shaanxi first broke out in Yidu and Zhijiang counties in Hubei, and then quickly expanded to Xiangyang, Changle, Changyang and other places. White Lotus Sect organizations in Sichuan and Shaanxi also rose up in response. The raging fire gathered together, and the momentum was huge.Relying on the broad and deep mass base and the sinister and complex geographical situation of Sichuan, Chu, and Shaanxi, the rebel army fought against the Qing army, set up suspicious positions, set up ambushes, and attacked the city. . The White Lotus Sect Uprising in Sichuan, Chu, and Shaanxi shocked the Supreme Emperor Qianlong. He ordered the governors and generals of Sichuan, Chu, and Shaanxi provinces to lead their troops to suppress the rebels in the territory with all their strength, and successively dispatched Eight Banners soldiers and green battalion soldiers from various provinces to participate in the war.However, after a few years, although a large number of troops were invested and more than 70 million taels of silver were spent, the fire of the White Lotus Sect uprising continued to burn.Apart from the bravery of the rebel army, this is largely related to the corruption of the Qing army.By this time, the Eight Banners and the Green Battalion, the two pillars of the military power of the Qing Dynasty, had seriously lost their combat effectiveness, and their military discipline was extremely corrupt.The soldiers were usually omnipotent when they exploited the people and looted property, but they had no fighting spirit when they confronted the rebel army and flinched.It is not uncommon for generals in the army to embezzle military pay, greedy for rewards and false merits, and cowardly avoiding battles.After the outbreak of the White Lotus Sect Uprising, the generals of the Eight Banners in Beijing enthusiastically volunteered to join the battle, but when they led their troops to the front line, they only cared for property and did not listen to military orders. The soldiers were withdrawn so as not to affect the operation.In desperation, the Qing government had no choice but to organize local armed village valor regiments to strengthen the power to suppress the White Lotus Sect uprising.Xiangyong is not a regular national army and is discriminated against by the Eight Banners and the Green Camp.During the battle, Xiangyong was pushed to the front to take the place of the dead ghost, but after the war, he did not get their share of the various credits, Xiangyong was dissatisfied with this.The result of such repeated encirclement and suppression can only be in vain. Facing the situation of ineffective conquest and suppression and endless wars, Jiaqing was full of anxiety and anger, and had restless sleep and food.After pro-government, he immediately adjusted his countermeasures against the rebels on the basis of summarizing past experience and lessons. In the fourth year of Jiaqing (1799 AD), he punished He Shen, Dai Ruhuang, Chang Dankui, Hu Qilun, etc. The crime of forcing the people to rebel" has been pushed to these corrupt officials in order to quell public anger.He issued a circular to the generals of the Qing army, pointing out that some generals in the past did not put military affairs first, speculated and took advantage of their merits, and paid their wages.In order to change the situation that the various Qing armies were not under the command of each other and it was difficult to coordinate combat operations, Jiaqing appointed Le Bao as Minister of Economics and Strategy, and unified command of the armies of Sichuan, Chu, Shaanxi, Henan, and Gansu provinces.During the six months that Le Bao was in office, the situation did not improve, so Jiaqing arrested and convicted Le Bao, and took over the economic affairs with Ming Ming.Mingliang is also unable to recover, and Jiaqing dismisses Mingliang and replaces him with Leden Lebao.Within half a year, Jiaqing changed the Minister of Economy and Strategy three times, which shows his urgency to suppress the rebel army.In addition, Jiaqing also severely punished a group of commanders who were ineffective in fighting.Yongbao, Jingan, Qin Chengen, Huiling and others were convicted of "thieves" and were either sentenced to death, sent to the frontier, or demoted.The military machinery of the Qing Dynasty, which was not working well in the past, began to speed up under the control of Jiaqing. The Supreme Emperor Qianlong suppressed the White Lotus Rebellion and blindly carried out military encirclement and suppression.Jiaqing saw from several years of practice that this approach could not completely solve the problem, so he adopted a two-handed strategy of suppressing and appeasing.Jiaqing announced that "if the rule is to be rebellious, but if the rule is not to follow the teaching", that is, the activities of the White Lotus Sect will not be prohibited, but the rebel army of the White Lotus Sect must be resolutely suppressed. Those who surrendered to the army leaders could be rewarded, and those who surrendered before the battle, or those who fled on their own, could also be sent back to their hometowns to make a living.However, Jiaqing's appeasement policy did not achieve the expected results. The soldiers of the White Lotus Sect rebels fought against the enemy, and even in the face of unfavorable conditions, they gritted their teeth and fought bloody battles, never surrendering to the court easily.This made Jiaqing very annoyed, so he adopted the policy of strengthening the walls and clearing the wild.This policy was put forward by Mingliang and others as early as the early days of the White Lotus Rebellion, but it was not taken seriously by Qianlong at that time.After Jiaqing took office, he fully affirmed this policy and ordered it to be widely implemented in Sichuan, Chu, Shaanxi, Gansu and other places.The main content of strengthening the walls and clearing the fields is to merge villages and build fortresses in areas where the insurgents are infested, build fortresses in mountainous areas, dig trenches and build forts in plain areas, drive the people into the fortresses, check household registration, restrict people from entering and leaving, and forcibly isolate them. The connection between the rebel army and the poor people.After the rise of the Zhaibao, Jiaqing actively organized regiments to practice village bravery and expanded the armed forces of the landlords.He ordered the army to work hard to correct previous practices and not to discriminate against Tuan Lian Xiangyong.Those who made meritorious deeds and died in battle must be treated the same as regular soldiers.These measures implemented by Jiaqing posed a serious threat to the White Lotus Sect rebel army. The rebel army faced many difficulties in terms of personnel replenishment and supply of supplies. In the ninth year of Jiaqing (AD 1804), the Bailian Rebellion was suppressed.The uprising lasted nearly 10 years. The uprising army crossed the five provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi, Chu, Henan, and Gansu, resisted the troops mobilized by the Qing government from 16 provinces, and cost the Qing government 200 million taels of money, seriously shaking the The foundation of Qing Dynasty rule.From then on, the Qing Dynasty fell into a predicament of weakened force and financial distress, and Jiaqing's life became more and more difficult. Just as the White Lotus Rebellion in Sichuan, Chu, and Shaanxi was in the ascendant, the Miao people's uprising in Hunan and Guizhou caused surging waves again.Although the scale of the uprising was small, it continued one after another and echoed each other until the twelfth year of Jiaqing. In the eighteenth year of Jiaqing, peasant uprisings rose again in the north, and the Tianli Sect uprising led by Li Wencheng, Lin Qing and others broke out.Tianli Sect is a branch of the White Lotus Sect. Its believers divide their activities according to the name of the Eight Diagrams, so it is also called the Eight Diagrams Sect.After the failure of the White Lotus Sect uprising in Sichuan, Chu, Shaanxi, and others, the leaders of Tianli Sect, Li Wencheng and Lin Qing, were actively active and secretly organized the anti-Qing uprising.In September of the eighteenth year of Jiaqing, the Henan side accidentally leaked the secrets of the uprising, and Li Wencheng was imprisoned. The Tianli believers in Hua County, Henan Province staged an uprising ahead of time and rescued Li Wencheng.Changyuan and Dongchang in Zhili, Cao County and Dingtao in Shandong also followed suit.After Jiaqing heard the news, he hurriedly ordered the governor of Zhili and the governor of Henan to lead the army to suppress it, but he never expected that the rebel soldiers broke into the Beijing Imperial Palace!On September 15th, part of the rebel army organized by Lin Qing sneaked into Beijing in disguise, and then broke into the palace through Donghua Gate and Xihua Gate under the guidance of the inner eunuch according to the original plan.They wrapped their heads in white cloths, held high the banner of "Great Tomorrow is Shun" and "Shun Tian Protects the People", and charged bravely.Up to now, there is still an arrowhead shot by the rebel army on the plaque of Longzongmen.Amidst the shouts of the soldiers from the rebel army, the second son of the emperor, Yuning, and several princes hurriedly organized guards to resist, and then a large number of officers and soldiers entered the palace from the Shenwu Gate, and the weak rebel soldiers passed by. After a hard fight, he couldn't resist the attack of the superior enemy, and the battle to attack the palace failed. Jiaqing was at the Chengde Mountain Resort when the fierce battle broke out in the palace.After receiving the news, he was shocked and hurried back to Beijing immediately.He promulgated the "Criminal Edict", and exclaimed that this incident "turned into an elbow and armpit, and brought disaster to Xiaoqiang", which is really an ancient anecdote.Immediately afterwards, he ordered a close search of Lin Qing and others, and Lin Qing was trapped and executed.At the same time, Qing troops from all walks of life were mobilized to bloodily suppress the uprising army led by Li Wencheng in Henan.In November, Li Wencheng was besieged in Sizhai, Lin County, and died a heroic battle.The flames of the Tenri Rebellion were extinguished. At this time, the Qing Dynasty not only had endless internal strife, but also suffered from foreign aggression.During the reign of Jiaqing, capitalist countries such as Britain and France have completed the industrial revolution and are actively expanding their power to the East. The ancient Chinese Empire has become an important target for Western colonists. Merchants, missionaries, gunboats, and opium have poured in. .Jiaqing has always maintained a high degree of vigilance against the military provocations of Western colonists against China.In the tenth year of Jiaqing, four British warships broke into Macao and Guangdong ports in the name of escorting cargo ships. Jiaqing immediately ordered the governors of Guangdong and Guangxi to pay close attention to the movements of the British and forbid them to move freely.In the thirteenth year of Jiaqing, the British sent troops to Macau to land on the pretext of helping the Portuguese in Macau against the French. Then three warships broke into Huangpu, and more than 200 British soldiers and sailors stationed in 13 trading houses in Guangzhou.Facing such arrogant actions by the British, Jiaqing instructed the local officials in Guangdong to quickly rearrange their armaments and take a tough attitude in front of the British with the urgent military order that was circulated 500 miles a day.If the British dare to violate the constraints, they will not hesitate to use force to suppress them.The governors of Guangdong, Wu Xiongguang and Sun Yuting, did not take effective measures and showed weakness. Jiaqing dismissed them without hesitation, and repeatedly asked the successor officials to carefully plan foreign-related issues after taking office and not to be careless.In the 21st year of Jiaqing, the somewhat comical incident of the Amherst mission occurred.This year, the United Kingdom sent a group of people led by Amishde to Beijing with some diplomatic and commercial requirements, and asked to see Jiaqing. Jiaqing promised to meet him. There was a dispute over audience etiquette.Officials of the Qing Dynasty treated the Amherst mission as a tribute envoy, but the British insisted not to kneel three times and kowtow nine times, and the two sides formed a deadlock.Jiaqing was very angry and ordered the British envoys to be repatriated immediately, and a group of ministers in charge of the reception were also severely punished. In addition, opium had begun to harm China by this time.Opium was originally imported into China as a medicine, and the amount of import was not much at first. Until the middle period of Yongzheng, there were only 200 boxes per year.However, since the mid-Qing Dynasty, in order to reverse their unfavorable position in trade with China and win huge profits, Western colonists began to transport a large amount of opium into China by any means. During the Qianlong period, it reached about 4,000 boxes per year.The large amount of opium imported seriously damaged China's domestic finances, military affairs, and people's lives. Jiaqing was quite aware of this and took various measures to quit smoking.Jiaqing stipulated that when foreign cargo ships came to China for trade, they would be inspected in Macao, and the merchants should issue a letter of guarantee to ensure that there was no opium on board.In the mainland, Jiaqing ordered several times to severely crack down on opium dealers. Officials who failed to ban smoking must be punished, and those who smoke opium must also be punished. Jiaqing also imposed various restrictions on the activities of Western missionaries in China.In the tenth year of Jiaqing (1805 A.D.), a Western missionary named De Tianci ignored the government's ban and published books to preach in the interior. As a result, Jiaqing ordered him to be taken to Rehe for imprisonment.In the same year, Jiaqing also ordered the destruction of a number of scriptures of Western missionaries, and punished the Minister of Internal Affairs who was not strict with Western missionaries.In the 16th year of Jiaqing, Jiaqing ordered that all Western missionaries in China, except those who were in charge of astronomical observation in Qin Tianjian, be sent to Guangzhou to be sent back to China. During the more than 20 years of Jiaqing's reign, the ZTE situation of the Qing Dynasty did not appear, but Jiaqing came to the end of his life unknowingly. Jiaqing ascended the throne at the age of 37. After becoming emperor, he began to think about it very early. The question of successors.Among his 5 sons (the eldest son died young), his favorite is the second son Min Ning.In the fourth year of Jiaqing, Min Ning was designated as the crown prince.In July of the twenty-fifth year of Jiaqing, Jiaqing went hunting in Rehe, and suffered a stroke on the way, and his physical condition suddenly deteriorated.On the 25th, he passed away at Chengde Mountain Resort.His posthumous title is "Emperor Rui", and his temple name is "Renzong".Later, he was buried in Changling, one of the Western Tombs of the Qing Dynasty.