The Forbidden City, the Palace of Nourishing the Heart.

"Haha, Heshen, your chess skills still need to be improved." An old man in a bright yellow robe with gray hair was smiling and looking at the chessboard of Go, in a good mood. This old man is the supreme ruler of the Qing Empire, the largest and most populous in the world, Aixin Jueluo Hongli.

Although Emperor Qianlong was already an old man in his eighties, his voice was still full of energy, and his red cheeks were not tired at all. It can be seen that the old emperor's physical condition is very good, and his energy is also very vigorous, and he is not as old as those old people who are dying.

"I haven't played for a few days, but I didn't expect the emperor, your old man's chess skills to grow again, and I'm afraid the minions won't be able to catch up." The one who spoke was a middle-aged man in a first-class robe, although the ruthless pig-killing knife of the years left indelible marks on his face, but his heroic appearance did not lose shape in the slightest, but added a sense of maturity and stability.

Although the talent selection system of the Jiupin Zhongzheng system has disappeared in the long history of China, the appearance of a person in the Ming and Qing dynasties is still one of the important criteria for the selection of officials. This criterion is not completely unreasonable, even if it is as young as a county parent official, it can't be a lewd-looking person, right? Even if you don't care about the face of the court, the common people won't buy your account, after all, people are visual animals, and people with obscene looks can't be connected with honesty and honesty.

But who would have thought that although He Shen had a righteous face, he set a record for corrupt officials in China, with more than 100 million taels of silver, equivalent to fifteen times the annual revenue of the Qing government! In later generations, China's annual fiscal revenue was about 5 trillion yuan, that is to say, if an official wanted to break the record of He Shen, he had to be greedy for 45 trillion yuan, which is obviously possible.

He Shen's words were simply naked sycophants, but Qianlong seemed very useful: "Although my chess skills are not comparable to Feng Aiqing, it is still very easy to win against you." ”

To tell the truth, Qianlong's chess skills can only be said to be average, but he is addicted to chess, and likes to kill two games in the Yang Xin Palace after the edict is completed. Those who are slaves, how dare they win when playing chess with their masters, they are all desperately trying to let the old emperor.

Qianlong is not a fool, he can see it after coming and going, and he has lost interest in playing chess with the minister. However, unlike Shen and those people, his chess skills are similar to those of Emperor Qianlong, and every time the two play against each other, it is difficult to kill each other, which makes the old emperor very happy. Therefore, when Qianlong was in a good mood, he would call He Shen to accompany him for two games, which could be regarded as an entertainment activity after dealing with government affairs.

After listening to Qianlong's words, He Shen was a little embarrassed, the "Feng Aiqing" in the emperor's mouth was none other than his and Shen's father-in-law, Lao Taishan Feng Yinglian. Among the many ministers, Feng Yinglian is a maverick outlier, every time he plays chess with the emperor, he doesn't leave a back hand at all, how to have fun, the key is that after winning the emperor, he doesn't know how to hide the smugness on his face.

Although Emperor Qianlong hated it so much, he couldn't do anything to Feng Yinglian, he couldn't be the emperor of the Qing Empire to put small shoes on his ministers for such a trivial matter, right? This is too unproductive, how do the courtiers still think of him as an emperor. He Shen was quite helpless about his father-in-law's behavior, so every time he played chess or discussed government affairs with Qianlong, he deliberately did not mention his father-in-law in front of the emperor, but he didn't expect Qianlong to turn it out in front of him this time.

Just when He Shen was a little embarrassed, Emperor Qianlong suddenly changed the topic: "He Aiqing, how have I been preparing for my birthday celebration in Chengde Villa recently?" ”

After quelling the rebellion in Tibet and Xinjiang, Qianlong felt that his martial arts had reached a peak beyond the reach of his ancestors, and slowly began to like to listen to some compliments, which is understandable, and the roots of his ears have become soft when he gets old. After his self-confidence swelled, Qianlong always wanted to show his great achievements to the outside world, so as to leave a strong mark in the history books.

And this birthday is a good platform to show the results of his decades of hard work, because according to the custom, all the states of the Qing Dynasty will send envoys to Beijing to congratulate His Majesty the Emperor of the Celestial Empire, and then it will be a prosperous scene of all countries coming to the court.

Therefore, Qianlong was very concerned about the preparation of this birthday celebration, and personally named his most trusted minister He Shen to be in charge of this matter.

Seeing that the emperor was about what he was in charge of recently, He Shen couldn't help but sit up: "If you go back to the emperor, with the full support of the Internal Affairs Office, the preparations for the celebration are very smooth. The palace buildings of Chengde Villa are all renovated, and even if the officials of the entire six ministries and the envoys of various states all go to Chengde, they will be able to settle down. All the items needed for the celebration were also procured by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the officials of the Ministry of Rites had already gone to check them a few days ago, and there was nothing wrong. As for the rules and etiquette for the worship of the Fanbang pilgrimage, the Ministry of Rites and the Imperial Court are in the process of formulating a charter in ten days. ”

Speaking of the content he is responsible for, He Shen is very organized, and it can be seen that he has a strong ability to do things, and he is not just relying on sycophants.

Qianlong nodded with satisfaction, the reason why he valued He Shen so much, in addition to the imperial power technique of suppressing the old Manchurian nobles such as the Nala clan and the Fucha clan, and He Shen's ability to do things without leakage was also the main reason why he reused He Shen.

Of course, Qianlong was not unaware of He Shen's private bribery, but this was not a big deal in his opinion. People have weaknesses, and only with weaknesses can they be easily controlled. If one day He Shen suddenly has no desires, then he will not feel at ease.

"Heshen, you did a good job in this matter. As for the affairs of the Ministry of Rites, you as a scholar must be optimistic about this period of time, and when the time comes, you must let the vassal states appreciate the virtue and benevolence of my Qing Dynasty. Qianlong attached the most importance to the ceremony of receiving the envoy of the vassal state in Chengde Villa, and couldn't help but instruct He Shen again.

He Shen suddenly remembered the excerpt submitted by Fukangan, the governor of Liangguang last year, and said to Qianlong: "The emperor's benevolence has spread far and wide, and this time the vassal states from overseas will be the largest number since the founding of the Qing Dynasty, which is really gratifying." Before the Double Ninth Festival last year, the Governor of Liangguang, Lord Fukang Anfu, made an excerpt, saying that England, a small Western country thousands of miles away, would send envoys to Beijing to personally congratulate the emperor on his birthday. The servants thought that the Ministry of Rites must attach importance to this English envoy in order to show the world the benevolence and kindness of the Qing Dynasty to the vassal state. ”

This excerpt was not paid attention to by Heshen at that time, and the ministers of the Military Aircraft Department were not very concerned about it. As early as the Kangxi period, Francois (actually Portugal) came to Beijing to meet the emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty at that time, and it was done as usual, and there was nothing worth paying special attention to.

Just now, He Shen, who has always had a keen sense of politics, realized that if he made a fuss about this matter, he might make the emperor feel more happy, so he also mentioned this matter in front of Qianlong.

Although Qianlong is old, his memory is not bad, and after a little recollection, he thought of the twists and turns of Fukangan, and said with a smile: "You are right, since the Holy Grandfather, the Western countries, that is, France and Franco, have sent envoys to our Great Qing Dynasty, and now there is England to come to the court, which is enough to prove that the prestige and benevolence of my Great Qing Dynasty have spread all over the West, and the kings of the vassal countries have been influenced by the cultural etiquette of our Heavenly Empire." For the reception of the English mission, a special event should be held so that the people of the world can also enjoy together. ”

Francois and French envoys came to the Qing Dynasty to pay tribute to Kangxi's "holy grandfather", and Qianlong, who called himself a "perfect old man", urgently needed a merit to prove that his ability to govern the country was no worse than Kangxi, so he decided to ceremoniously receive the British tribute envoys from the West, and it was best to make it known to the world.

He Shen, who consciously understood Qianlong's thoughts, immediately agreed: "Emperor Shengming, according to the time law of Western countries coming to Guangzhou for trade, this English envoy should go to Guangzhou, your Majesty, what do you see?" "The smartest thing about He Shen is that he never makes decisions for the emperor, even if he knows what the emperor means.

Qianlong was really satisfied with He Shen's deferential attitude, but he was very dissatisfied with the behavior of the British mission to Guangzhou now, and said with a frown: "Is it only now that you have arrived in Guangzhou?" It is thousands of miles from Guangzhou to Beijing, and in two months, will the English mission still be able to catch up with my birthday celebration in Chengde Villa? ”

Don't expect the emperor of a country with a strict policy of banning the sea to know about the existence of monsoons in the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia, which is simply impossible. The self-righteous Qianlong seems to have decided that the British mission was deliberately late, because the requests of English merchants for the addition of treaty ports had been repeatedly rejected by the imperial court.

Seeing that the emperor's face changed, He Shen hurriedly explained: "Your Majesty, according to the French missionaries in the imperial city, it is necessary to choose a favorable time to sail to my Qing Dynasty by boat, and the English mission is probably never late because of the direction of the wind. However, if you take a boat from Guangzhou to Tianjin, two months is enough. ”

Now there are many French and Portuguese Catholic missionaries in Beijing, of course, the reason why these missionaries are allowed to enter China is not for them to preach, but for the royal family to need the services of these foreigners, the most direct embodiment of which is the many Western buildings in the Old Summer Palace.

He Shen has always been a studious person, and in his spare time he would talk to these missionaries for a while, and he was not blind to Europe, which was thousands of miles away.

After listening to He Shen's explanation, Qianlong's face turned better, and he snorted: "In this case, He Shen, you immediately follow the military aircraft department's decree to allow the British mission to go directly to the Tongzhou dock by boat, and let the governors of the coastal provinces prepare the money and food needed by the English mission. ”

After He Shen received the will, he knelt on the ground and said, "The slave will do it!" Then he got up and slowly exited the Heart Cultivation Palace.