"Not to mention, even Lord Lin Zexu, who made such a great feat as selling cigarettes in Humen back then, after being transferred to the governor of Shaanxi, didn't he also become Xu Naiji's fellow practitioners, from a strict anti-smoking faction to a faction in favor of local opium cultivation?"

At that time, the first to propose to give the local opium cultivation industry a living space was Xu Naiji, a young secretary of Taichang Temple who did not approve of Lin Zexu's strict anti-smoking measures. In his view, opium could not be banned after all, and it was better to legalize the opium trade, so that the political axe could not only tax and profit from it, but also formulate a series of policies to regulate the opium trade, such as bartering and strictly prohibiting officials from smoking it. Xu Naiji was later demoted from a fourth-rank official to a sixth-rank official and became a "traitor"; Lin Zexu, whom he opposed, became a national hero because of his resolute ban on smoking.

However, in 1847, Lin Zexu, who had been transferred to the governor of Shaanxi, completely changed his "opium view" and became a "fellow believer" with Xu Naiji. In a reply letter to his friend Wen Hai, Lin Zexu said: "It is okay to disdain the cultivation of opium poppies in the mainland, and the haters in the mainland are addicted to foreign tobacco but not to local smoke. ”

At this time, Lin Zexu believed that if the local opium was "better than the foreign dealers", the people would naturally be willing to buy their own opium to smoke and no longer buy foreign tobacco. "Naturally, there is no problem, I am afraid, those who are used to smoking foreign cigarettes are not patriotic, and they cannot change their hearts to support domestic products," I am afraid that people who eat this kind of tobacco may not turn their hearts to their inner ears! ”

At that time, Xu Naiji was scolded by both the government and the opposition, and finally became infamous, and the times have changed, but now he has changed to the anti-smoking faction, and he is afraid to speak. Xu Jue, a famous anti-smoking scholar in the late Qing Dynasty, said in a letter to Zhao Erxun, the governor of Hunan at the time:

"Jue has neglected Chen in the past two years to ask for a tax on foreign medicines, but those who dare not speak of the ban will be ignored because of the ban on words, and everyone thinks it is a roundabout plan and will ignore it; It is said that the tax increase will still be beneficial to the finances, or it may be hoped that it will be adopted. ”

Anti-smoking celebrities have been reduced to the point that they dare not talk about smoking bans easily, otherwise they risk being ridiculed as pedantic, which shows the direction of the wind and is quite powerful.

If the officials are still like this, how can they blame those ordinary people?

"Is this opium really forbidden?" Wang Hengyue, who calmed down, said to himself.

"How forbidden?" Deng Xia sneered: "Last year, the imperial court wanted to ban smoking, but the ban on smoking had just begun, and the local provinces felt that there was a serious disconnect between fiscal revenue and expenditure. The governor of Shanxi said, "The province's income has been raised since the establishment of the unified tax, and the medicine has been shortened by two or three hundred thousand silver, and it is forbidden to plant this year, and there is no tax to collect." In the case of an increase in the amount of money and a decrease in the amount of money, the total loss of silver has been 700,000 yuan in 33 years, and the loss will be 1 million yuan in 34 years, and the funds for the establishment of the navy have been increased this year, and the annual expenses of 150,000 yuan have been promised to be released every year, and the annual expenses of 50,000 yuan have been 50,000 yuan, and the funds of the provincial tribunal and the advisory bureau have totaled about 100,000 taels, and the total loss of silver by the end of the year is 1.4 million. Shanxi complained to the imperial court, but the imperial court also had no money, because for so many years, the imperial court had also relied on opium finances to survive. ”

"The state harms the people for profit, and it is very good, very good." Wang Hengyue sneered again and again: "Use local opium to drive away foreign opium, and then find a way to ban local opium, but unfortunately, once this opium becomes the most important financial revenue, it is not so easy to ban it." If it were me, I would not allow opium to continue to run rampant. ”

Yu Lei suddenly said on the side: "When the adults have great power in their hands, they will naturally ban whatever they want." But now the big people can't pass Rong County, even if there is still a county master in Rong County. ”

These words made Wang Hengyue stunned.

Yes, opium is a hateful, but why should you ban opium? I can't speak in Rong County, let alone in Sichuan, in the whole country?

A little gang wants to ban smoking, which is really whimsical.

What's more, even if you really have the power to do it one day, opium is not banned by saying that it can be banned, after all, there are too many aspects involved in this interest!

Yu Lei carefully observed the expression on Wang Hengyue's face: "What adults have to do now is to firmly control Rong County in their hands, even the common people know that they must have a home before they can do things." ”

Wang Hengyue nodded silently, and suddenly smiled "haha": "We are out to play, where can we manage the affairs of the imperial court?" What we say about the ban on smoking here, others have listened, only when we are all crazy, go, go, go to Leshan! ”

As he spoke, he rode his horse forward.

Those subordinates were a little confused when they saw the adults laughing angrily. Yu Lei suddenly smiled faintly: "My lord has just figured it out." ”

Leshan Giant Buddha is located on the side of Lingyun Temple on the east bank of the Minjiang River in Shannan, near the confluence of the three rivers of Dadu River, Qingyi River and Minjiang River. The big Buddha is a sitting statue of Maitreya Buddha, 71 meters high, excavated in the first year of the Tang Dynasty, completed in the 19th year of Zhenyuan, lasted about 90 years. The real official name is the Great Maitreya Stone Statue of Lingyun Temple in Jiazhou.

Wang Hengyue This is the first time to see the Leshan Giant Buddha, majestic, and even more amazing is the drainage system of the Giant Buddha.

The Leshan Giant Buddha has a very ingenious drainage system. Behind the ears and skull of the Leshan Giant Buddha, there is a set of cleverly designed and hidden drainage system, which plays an important role in protecting the Buddha and preventing the Buddha statue from being eroded by rain.

Wang Hengyue listened to the introduction and was greatly admired: "The ancients thought so ingeniously, if they are today, they may not be able to carve such a majestic Buddha." ”

"This big Buddha is not easy." Yu Lei, a local, introduced on the side: "Where the three rivers of Gule Mountain converge, the three rivers of Minjiang, Qingyi and Dadu converge at the foot of Lingyun Mountain, and the water is quite fierce, and the boats are often subverted so far. Whenever there is a summer flood, the river water hits the mountain wall, often causing the tragedy of boat destruction and death. Seeing this, a monk from Haitong is determined to dig a large statue of Maitreya Buddha by the cliff, and wants to rely on boundless mana, easy to storm waves for the flow of peace, reduce the water potential, and Yongzhen wind and waves. Therefore, the Zen master traveled all over the north and south of the river, the Jianghuai and the two lakes to raise money and dig the Buddha. After the construction of the Buddha statue began, the magistrate came to ask for bribes for the construction funds, but the sea master sternly refused, saying, 'You can take it from your own eyes, and the Buddha's wealth is rare', and the magistrate bullied others, but said: 'Try the future'. The sea master calmly 'chose his own eyes and held the plate to it', and the officials were shocked and ran to pray. The sea master's dedication and self-forgetfulness inspired the hearts of the people, and finally gave up his ambition. ”

Wang Hengyue was amazed when he heard it, and the majesty of the Buddha was forgotten, but the spirit of Haitong Zen Master was really rare.

"A monk can carve such a big Buddha, let alone an adult?" Yu Lei said with something in his words.

Wang Hengyue smiled: "Lord Ben can't carve such a big Buddha, but what I'm thinking, not all you can know!" ”