Natural disasters occurred frequently in the early years of Qing Dynasty, but Emperor Kangxi made great achievements!

◇ Yang Dongxiao

Natural disasters destroyed prosperous dynasties and countless human civilizations, but frequent natural disasters in China and Yu Xia, Han Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty tempered the spirit of self-improvement and national cohesion. * * * Overcoming difficulties and making the country rich and strong has become a great spiritual wealth left by the disaster to China.

Civil strife and foreign invasion continue.

The Kangxi period in China was an era of continuous territorial expansion and wars between the East and the West. Yang Zhen, a researcher at the Institute of History of China Academy of Social Sciences, said that in terms of civil war, there was a campaign to recover Taiwan Province Province in the southeast, and there was a long-term war against galdan, the khanate of Junggar, on the western and northwest borders (1720 Kangxi returned to Tibet to pacify Junggar, and in 59 Kangxi set up a "Imperial Monument to Pacify Tibet" in Lhasa; Externally, it is a war with Russia. In the war against Gordan, Kangxi made three personal expeditions. He wrote in the "Work Log" of his first expedition to Galdin in 1696: In the first battle of Galdin, I got up before dawn for the fifth time to observe, ride a horse and walk through the camp. On this day, he probably returned to the camp at night 1 1, so he only ate some leftovers during the day.

In addition, there was the "Battle of San Francisco" that broke out in 1673 (San Francisco, Wu Sangui, Shangkexi, Geng). This is a long and destructive war.

A benevolent monarch

In the early years of Kangxi, in order to restore the economic situation destroyed by the war, * * * implemented many lenient policies to encourage reclamation and development of production. As a monarch, Kangxi's tolerance and kindness are not only reflected in the measures to restore people's lives, but also in the harsh war.

Yang Qilong, the leader of anti-Qing armed forces, conspired with more than 30 people, including Huang Ji and Chen Yi, to impersonate Prince Zhu San in the 12th year of Kangxi. The Eight Banners army severely suppressed Yang Uprising. During the war, many people fled outside the city, and some people followed Yang Qilong.

After the riot, Kangxi pardoned everyone except the rebel leader. He knew very well that the Qing court would never know how many people were involved. Nor can it be liquidated to the people. He issued an order to the Minister of War, asking officers at all levels to make more use of appeasement policy for governance. His reason is that people in backward areas follow the rebels and instinctively cherish their lives because they have no ability to resist. If the Qing army killed them, it would violate the emperor's will to save the people and deprive them of the opportunity to turn over a new leaf. Kangxi asked officers and men to kill people when they met the resistance of rampant gangsters or refused to surrender, but they must take in their children and women to appease them, and they must not kill innocent people indiscriminately or arrest people without reason.

One thing that Kangxi was very proud of was that he was repeatedly reminded by ministers that he could not send a navy doctor to direct the war against Taiwan-the doctor was Amin, and if he was given troops and ships, he would probably play the banner of anti-Qing and regaining sight. Shi Lang was introduced by Kangxi. Kangxi said frankly: Some people expect you to defect as soon as you arrive in Taiwan Province Province, but in my opinion, only you can conquer Taiwan Province Province, and I guarantee that you will not defect.

Kangxi was right. Shi Lang quickly made a platform and proved himself to be a loyal general. His whole family are loyal to the Kangxi dynasty.

1697 in Xia Meng, when Kangxi heard the news that galdan was forced to commit suicide in the northwest camp far from Beijing. He recorded his thoughts truthfully: in recent years, I personally went out three times, crossing the desert regardless of the wind and rain, and I had food every day. In this desolate desert, people think it is suffering, but I don't think so. Everyone can avoid these things, but I can't. I have made great achievements through constant marching and hard work-if it weren't for Gordan, I would never have realized it.

The epitome of disaster relief policy

This is an emperor who has stood the test of his life. Even if there is no war, there will be frequent disasters. He Zhiqing said that there were too many disasters during the Kangxi period, so "famine relief" (a policy decree on how to deal with disasters) almost became a basic national policy. Kangxi formulated a new disaster relief system on the basis of "Qing Dynasty inherited from Meiji" and became the representative work of disaster relief measures in China.

In order to fully grasp the disasters in various places, Kangxi changed the disaster reporting in May of the Ming Dynasty to June in summer and September in autumn. During the reign of Kangxi, the territory expanded a lot to the north, so it was late to take care of the summer grain harvest in the northern region. After receiving the report, the central government will send people down to investigate the disaster, and then it will be exempted. The national grain depot allocated grain to the disaster area in order to stabilize and stop the price increase of grain after the disaster.

Pay maintenance fees to collapsed houses, give pensions to people who have lost their loved ones, give porridge and give medicine for several months or even half a year, but this is not a long-term solution. For the long-term resettlement of the victims, Kangxi adopted the method of immigration, and Sichuan was a big province where the victims moved in. With a place to live, * * * began to introduce the policy of borrowing money, grain and planting to ensure that the victims can have a harvest in the coming year.

As for Kangxi himself, he attached great importance to reports on normal and abnormal weather all over the country. He Zhiqing said that Kangxi was a king who was good at learning. He learned some common sense of observing the weather from western missionaries and understood the importance of recording the weather, so he arranged cronies all over the country to help him observe the records. In the summer of the thirty-second year of Kangxi, there was a drought in Huai Xu and Jiangnan, and it didn't rain until the middle of June in the lunar calendar. Because the weather is always closely related to the grain harvest and rice price, Kang Xifan always asks for details when he meets southerners. "I am very anxious at night and can't sleep well."

Kangxi also personally studied the weather. He extracted regular phenomena from the enigmatic wind and rain record, which recorded the daily precipitation in Qing Dynasty, and thought that weather forecast could be made based on it. At that time, Kangxi roughly concluded that it rained on August 18, 20, 22 and 24 of the lunar calendar; Moonlight can be seen from the ninth day to the fifteenth day. If a cloud blocks the moon, there will be a storm that lasts for several days. In order to accurately judge the wind direction, Kangxi also erected a small flag in his residence. He recorded his observations and thoughts and compared them with weather reports from all over the world. This is also a particularly diligent way for the monarch of a large agricultural country.

Kangxi has been in power for decades, and people of all ethnic groups in China have jointly resisted natural and man-made disasters. Neither he nor his people have been defeated. He Zhiqing commented on the Kangxi era in the disaster: the central government initiated a clean government project in disaster relief and strived to establish a clean image; Kangxi attached great importance to the system of officials' "taking the exam" (government affairs evaluation), and he himself had an excellent "taking the exam" in the eyes of Manchu and Han nationalities, which played a key role in the reconciliation of social contradictions and social harmony in the early Qing Dynasty. Through constant fighting against disasters, personal expedition to quell chaos and taking the lead in harnessing the Yellow River, Kangxi gained a great wealth spiritually, namely, the cohesion, national identity and centripetal force of all ethnic groups.

This article first appeared in New Century Weekly.

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