Qing Dynasty During the Qianlong period, there was a story in which two generals made merits on the battlefield and returned to the court. When rewarding merits, Qianlong asked the two of them what rewards they wanted. One hints that they wanted to be promoted, and the other explicitly said they wanted a beautiful woman .
Emperor Qianlong gave the reward, but the outcome of these is completely different .
The emperor's reward is never what he wants. On the surface, the emperor is commending meritorious ministers, but in fact he is using the excuse of reward to test his ministers in various ways. The secret battle behind ,
, is often more terrifying than the sword on the battlefield, because it kills people without blood. As a minister, you need to understand the emperor's thoughts all the time, otherwise you will never know how to die.
The heroes of the Battle of Jinchuan
The story of the two generals' rewards will start with the Battle of Jinchuan.
This is a long-lasting battle, from to 12th year of Qianlong's reign to 41st year of Qianlong's reign, fighting for nearly thirty years of .
During the Qianlong period, the Qing Dynasty was indeed quite rich, but after such decades of war, the Qing government's treasury could not withstand such tossing.
In the Battle of Jinchuan, the Qing government invested a total of nearly 600,000 manpower and spent more than 70 million yuan in silver. Qianlong was not a pity for such a large loss. Instead, he thought that was the second best achievement of his "Ten Complete Martial Arts" , which made him very proud.
Although it costs a lot, Qianlong launched a war against Jinchuan, which was not a gamble, but was to to quell the rebellion of the southwest ethnic minorities .
Jinchuan is not large in area and has a population of only tens of thousands, but relies on its geographical location to be easy to defend and difficult to attack, which has dragged the Qing government for decades.
West Sichuan Tibetan gathering place, the natural environment is harsh, the traffic is blocked, and the life and production methods are very backward. The chieftains of various tribes snatch and merge with each other, resulting in constant wars.
The most important thing is that they formed a separatist force and were not subject to the control of the Qing government.
In order to stabilize the local situation and maintain the unification of the Qing Dynasty, Qianlong vowed to defeat Jinchuan even if he died.
In the Battle of Jinchuan, two Manman generals performed well and made many contributions to the final victory of the war. These two were Ulden and Hailancha respectively.
Urden and Hailancha cooperated properly in the war and attacked the enemy. After the war, Qianlong was already familiar with the names of these two people, and he could be rewarded when they returned to Beijing.
Because it was an extraordinary contribution, Qianlong decided to ask them their own opinions first.
Ambition hidden behind the answer
Hirantha and Ulden have different backgrounds. Influenced by family background, they were suddenly allowed by the emperor and could ask for rewards themselves, and their ideas were also different.
Hailancha was born in an ordinary family in the Qing Dynasty. He loved martial arts and hoped to join the army when he grew up and earn a good career for himself.
and Ulden was born in the Qing Dynasty . He has had no worries about food and clothing since he was a child. The influence of his family has allowed him to learn that is flexible in dealing with the world and is versatile.
Ulden entered the palace to be a guard, relying on his strong family background . Guards are not ordinary responsibilities. Defending the palace is considered to be a errand to serve the emperor in purity, and not everyone can choose them.
Heshen Before becoming a famous figure in front of Qianlong, he was also a guard of the palace.
So, when Qianlong asked what rewards the two wanted, Ulden knelt down and thanked him first, saying that was honored to serve the emperor. , the family was deeply favored by the emperor, and defending the country was his responsibility. He only hoped that could continue to defend the country for Qing in the future, and did not dare to ask for any other rewards.
, while Hailancha said that he wanted to marry two more concubines , and as soon as he said this, he amused Qianlong.
Talk like Ulden. Qianlong saw too many of the ministers who were wandering around. These ministers spoke without any leakage. If they wanted to give rewards, Qianlong had to pick his head himself.
Hailancha said directly that he wanted beautiful women, and Qianlong didn't need to think too much, so he immediately promised that he would choose a few suitable beauties to give him.
But Ulden is not as lucky as Hailancha. He said that he does not ask for rewards, but only wants to defend the country for the Qing Dynasty. Do you want nothing? How to defend the country? Of course, military power is needed .
One person is promoted, and one person is sentenced to death
So he said on the surface that he did not ask for rewards, but actually wanted to be promoted. This implicit meaning of Qianlong, the old fox, would not be unable to hear it.
Ulden's desire for power was so obvious that after Qianlong granted him an official position, he left him aside and refused to do something practical. Who doesn’t want to be promoted? But the emperor of is very concerned about his subjects and wants to gain power.
Ulden has power but is very depressed. He makes small mistakes if he doesn't pay attention. Qianlong happened to take these painless questions and question him and dismiss him from his post and investigate. Finally, Ulden ended up beheading.
Hailancha was not scheming and did not have much desire for power. Qianlong felt that he was open-minded and even if he made small mistakes occasionally, he would only scold him for a few words.
So Hailancha's official career went smoothly. He was first promoted to the Zhenghongqi Mongolian commander, and later promoted to the Minister of Counsel and Minister of Guards .
In the 46th and 49th years of Qianlong's reign, the Hui people's uprising in Gansu, and Hailancha participated in the suppression.
In the 52nd year of Qianlong's reign, he followed Fukang'an to suppress Taiwan's uprising; in the 56th year of Qianlong's reign, he once again attacked Tibet with Fukang'an and was named the first-class Super Yonggong .
Hailancha died of illness, Qianlong gave him a posthumous title and ranked him as a hero of Ziguang Pavilion. Hailancha used the skill of pretending to be a pig and eating a tiger very successfully.
