On April 27 of the first year of Renhe, Prince Zhuang Yunlu sold cigarettes in Humen, and killed a total of 97 people who smuggled opium on the spot, among which the Britons involved in the case were not only Brooks Hull, the manager of the British East India Company, and his four entourage, but even the captain, first mate, second officer, third officer, and boatswain of the "Mayflower" were not spared, and nearly half of the sailors were also beheaded, and the "Mayflower" was confiscated and confiscated. The heads of all the Britons who had been cut off were handed over to the sailors who were lucky enough to be spared death to be brought back to the South Seas on bulk carriers, and as for the two companies involved in the case, Jardine Matheson and Qihang Firm, all their assets were confiscated, and the principals and those involved in the opium smuggling case were beheaded and confiscated.

Guangdong's head was in pain, Hongqing in Beijing was also not idle, issued an edict to prohibit the cultivation of opium poppy and the manufacture and circulation of opium throughout the country, but all those who smoked opium were not allowed to be errands, and the incumbent officials must immediately retire, and for a limited time to detoxify, otherwise, they would be punished for the crime of disrespecting the decree, as soon as this edict came out, the world was shaken, and the coastal provinces of Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, Shandong, and other major overseas trade provinces have launched strict investigation actions, and a large number of opium traffickers have been arrested, and all of them have been beheaded and abandoned the city. Under such a severe crackdown, the fledgling opium epidemic was instantly shattered.

Cracking down on opium smuggling is certainly very enjoyable, but the consequences are obviously that it will face a war of encirclement and suppression by many countries; Hongqing has long had a sober understanding of this, and naturally he does not dare to ignore it, and he has already begun to make preparations for the war without waiting for the storm of striking hard to pass, the first of which is to deepen the military and political innovation -- as far as the current armament of the Qing Dynasty is concerned, it is already standing on the top of the world, and whether it is all kinds of heavy artillery or individual rifles, it has already made preparations for upgrading, and it can be replaced in large quantities at any timeHowever, Hongqing was not in a hurry to do so, because the command system of the Qing army still had a lot of drawbacks, of which there were two of the strictest, one was that the military rank system had not yet been implemented, and the other was the problem of braids.

Needless to say, the former is not clear, the military rank is unknown, it is good to say in peacetime, once it is wartime, there will be chaos, this point, as early as in the battle of the Western Expedition, Hongqing has already noticed, but because the situation was complex and changeable at that time, Hongqing really did not dare to move this military rank system that conflicts with the ancestral system to the table, so he put it on hold first, as for the whip issue, it is a big trouble for Hongqing, no, the army is an extremely efficient place, and the officers and soldiers train hard, It takes a lot of time to take care of the useless braids, which is obviously a tiresome thing, but the conflict between this one and the ancestral system is even greater, even if Hongqing has ascended the throne at this time, he still doesn't dare to rush out to say something, he can only hint in private that those generals can let the soldiers get a bald haircut, so that they can be groomed, as for whether the next head is implemented or not, Hongqing really doesn't dare to ask too much, otherwise, it will definitely stir up earth-shattering waves, even if he is an emperor, Hongqing didn't dare to guarantee whether he could withstand the strong pressure of the old and young masters of the Eight Banners.

On the third day of the fifth month of the first year of Renhe, Hongqing issued a clear edict and decided to implement a military rank system, divided into marshals, generals, colonels, lieutenants, non-commissioned officers and other military ranks at all levels, of which the marshal is not set up in peacetime, and is personally awarded by the emperor in wartime. Colonels, lieutenants, and non-commissioned officers are all divided into three ranks, and soldiers are first-class, second-class, and private, and not only the eight major group armies are implemented according to this military rank system, but the rest of the garrison battalions in various places are also handled in this way, and the garrison battalions of the Nine Gate Admiral Yamen and Shuntianfu are restructured into the Jingshi Police Headquarters, with two-thirds of the personnel cut and a quota of 8,000 people, which are directly under the jurisdiction of the emperor, and are not equipped with guns and other military standard weapons, but instead use batons, police shields and other security weapons to maintain law and order in the Beijing Division. Generally speaking, if the officers and men who have retired from the main group armies can either receive a sum of money to find their own way out, they can also be arranged to go to the local garrison units and the police headquarters series, so as to ensure that the officers and men of the main group have no worries.

As soon as the edict of military and political reform was issued, the military department and the general staff immediately moved together, but at the same time, the vegetarian guys in the Eight Banners Metropolitan Yamen were also jumping up and down, and there was nothing else, the military and political reform regulations promulgated by Hongqing had already touched the interests of the bureaucrats of the Eight Banners Metropolitan Yamen, so from the Eight Banners at the top to the Niu Lu Ezhen at the bottom, they all made a fuss -- according to the military and political regulations, the Eight Banners were not in the army series, and everyone had no military ranks. It can only be regarded as a civilian official of the imperial court, and the status in the army is naturally almost the same, and this is not the key, the real key lies in the downsizing and restructuring of the Nine Gates' Admiral's Yamen, so that many of the Commanders of the Ox Records went to the Nine Gates Admiral's Yamen to stuff people's doors and people was completely blocked, if these guys don't make trouble, it would be a strange thing, no, the day after the edict was issued, early in the morning, Hongqing had just arrived at the Yangxin Palace to prepare for the excerpt, and Li Dequan came to report, saying that the Manchurian, Mongolian and Han Eight Banners had arrived outside the palace gate.

"Resignation."

Although he knew that these gang of people had bad intentions, Hongqing was not good, and after thinking about it for a while, he said it honestly.

"Wow!"

Hongqing's golden mouth was opened, Li Dequan didn't dare to slack off, hurriedly bowed down to answer the promise, and hurriedly withdrew from the Heart Cultivation Palace, and after a while, he saw twenty-four Eight Banners Commanders walking in from outside the hall.

"Ministers and others knock to see Your Majesty!"

Although he came to find the ballast, no one dared to be rude in front of the king, and when he saw Hongqing sitting on the dragon bed, all the people immediately rushed forward, and they paid their respects.

"Excuse me, just settle down."

Hongqing didn't rush to scream, but let the generals kneel for a while, and then they called out in a slightly cold voice.

"Ministers thank Lord Longen, long live my emperor, long live, long live."

Hongqing's body was full of anger, and such silence really made all the Eight Banners feel weak in their hearts, and the momentum that had been brewed earlier suddenly dropped greatly, and Xie En's voice couldn't help but have a little trill.

"Anyway, what's the matter with you in a hurry to see me, huh?"

Hongqing coldly looked around at the generals with different expressions, and snorted in a rather unkind tone.

"Qi Zheng Xià, the minions are waiting here for the edict of military and political innovation, it is not the minions who are hypocritical, but the subordinates have a lot of opinions, and the minions are also forced to be helpless, so they have to come and ask the master to be the master of the minions."

As soon as Hongqing's obviously displeased question came out, the already empty hearts of all the capitals inevitably became a little more empty, and after looking at each other, they finally stood up first by the forehead Manshun who was the first to speak, and gave a loud admonition.

"Oh? Speak! ”

Hongqing has long been tired of this person to the extreme, if it weren't for the beginning of the throne, there are many government affairs, and he would have rushed him to sell sweet potatoes earlier, and when he saw that he jumped out to stir up trouble, the unhappiness in his heart couldn't help but be a little stronger, but he didn't come out of it, just snorted coldly in his voice.

"So that the master knows that my eight banners regulation is the ancestral family law, and the military rank set in the master's edict seems to be inconsistent with the ancestral system, and my eight banners are known to have the right and responsibility to select and recommend generals for the imperial court, which is also the ancestral family law. It is really not conducive to the wind of martial arts in the Eight Banners, so the minions and others implore His Majesty to take back his life. ”

At the same time, he did not forget to kidnap the will of the flag to oppress Hongqing, which was already a clear indication that the carriage and horse were going to break their wrists with Hongqing.

"That's what you mean, huh?"

Hongqing did not rush to comment on Manshun's words, but swept the gang of leaders under him with sharp eyes like knives, and asked a question without being salty.

"Servants and other (ministers, etc.) respectfully ask Your Majesty to think twice."

"Your Majesty, the ancestral family law is the guarantee of my Daqing Society, and the minister thinks that it must not be easier, and please think twice."

"Master, slaves, etc., in order to protect the integrity of our society, they risk death and offense, and ask Your Majesty to forgive your sins."

……

Seeing that Hongqing's expression was not good, all the generals couldn't help but be a little panicked, but it was a matter of their own vital interests.

"Hey, in that case, are you going to talk to me about the ancestral family law? That's good, I'll see how you follow the family law of your ancestors, come here, pass on Tao Yi! ”

Seeing that the Eight Banners were so rampant, Hongqing couldn't help but be angry, and he didn't plan to debate with these lazy guys, but after seeing Hongqing smile coldly, he raised his hand, and he was already shouting, and Li Dequan, who was waiting on the side, hurriedly answered, and hurriedly withdrew from the main hall, and went to summon Tao Yi without mentioning it......