Two silver coins for two patches.
In the first year of Daoguang's reign, at the beginning of Daoguang's accession to the throne, he published a thrifty declaration entitled "Sound, Color and Quality", expressing his ideal and goal of advocating thrift and promulgating it throughout the country.
Quote the words of the ancients: who is king when the people are in poverty? In other words, if the people are not rich, can I be rich as an emperor? How can we make people rich? He said, I'll keep it for you.
In life, Daoguang takes the lead in frugality. He only uses ordinary brushes and inkstones, but only uses four dishes for each meal. Except for the dragon robe, all the clothes are patched when worn out. At the same time, concubines are not allowed to wear gorgeous clothes. Except for the Empress Dowager, Emperor and Empress, meat is not allowed on holidays.
Daoguang has great respect for his queen. Once, on the queen's birthday, he decided to celebrate her birthday. So Qin Gui, the minister of the Qing Dynasty, gave a birthday present. After the birthday banquet, it is natural to leave a banquet. After the banquet, everyone found that there was only one bowl of noodles with gravy in front of everyone. Later, I heard that Daoguang approved the royal chef to kill two pigs for this birthday party.
The Queen is very happy, because Daoguang has made it clear that the Longevity Festival of the Emperor's Birthday, the Qian Qiu Festival of the Queen's Birthday, and the ceremonial banquets such as New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, Shangyuan and Winter Solstice have all stopped. This time, it is an exception.
Cao Zhenyong, a university student in Wuyingdian, contributed to the frugality of Daoguang Emperor. Cao usually spends a penny on abacus. Such a thrifty person is a couple with Daoguang Emperor. The emperor naturally had a very speculative talk with him and called Cao to the palace for a long talk every day. The eunuchs thought that the emperor and the university students were discussing state affairs, but when they listened carefully, they talked about family chores every day.
One day, Cao Shixue entered the palace wearing a pair of worn trousers and added two new palms to his knees. Seeing this, the emperor asked how much it would cost to make up these two palms. Cao said that he must pay the money. The emperor was surprised and said I slapped him twice. How can the Ministry of Internal Affairs reimburse five taels of silver?
Cao said that the emperor's palm was more delicate than the minister's, so it was expensive. Daoguang sighed and forced the queen's concubine to learn sewing in the palace. All the flaws in the emperor's clothes were handed over to his concubines to be repaired, and the internal affairs office was not allowed to move a penny.
Wu Wen, a man in rags.
Ministers tried to please Daoguang's frugality. The most slippery on the court is Zhang Mu. He tried his best to please the light in frugality, but he did many greedy and extravagant things outside.
Once, on the birthday of the Empress Dowager, Daoguang was afraid of spending more money, so he wrote a letter saying, "The son of heaven is raised by the world. As long as the country is peaceful and the people are safe, it is enough to take care of yourself. " The empress dowager is thrifty, and if she is extravagant at the longevity ceremony, she will be less obedient and kind.
At the end of ten thousand years, courtiers show your filial piety. Don't be extravagant, it goes against the heritage of our ancestors. Qin is here. "
As soon as the imperial edict came out, the ministers got the message and knew the emperor's intention to save money. Mu took the lead in setting an example and explained to the emperor that there was no need to spend money, and all the expenses for longevity were paid by his subjects. Naturally, the emperor was very happy. He booked an office for the queen's dowry.
Where does Daoguang know all this? At this time, the second-hand shops in Beijing sold all the rags in stock at a good price. Old clothes are more expensive than new ones. Some poor Beijing officials can't afford it, so they have to make old, dirty, broken and repaired new robes themselves. Seeing that Wu Wen was in rags in Qing Dynasty, Daodi thought that his thrifty thoughts had been deeply rooted in people's hearts, so he became more prosperous.
Under the influence of Daoguang, it seems that the official atmosphere has changed, but in fact it is just a show.
Daoguang not only lives frugally, but also advocates managing the country and building the army through diligence and thrift. He is not only frugal to discipline himself, but also frugal to discipline himself, that is, to reward meritorious officials with a meal, which is also "frugal" at home.
Senior three students put down the rebellion in Zhang Geer, Xinjiang, and sent the rebellious Gersl to the capital. After Emperor Guangwu was captured, a celebration banquet was held. The guests invited at that time included not only their elders, but also senior ministers of 15. These people crowded two tables, and several dishes were placed on the table, but the ministers were afraid to lift chopsticks and ate them all.
Daodi sat on it, not eating or drinking, and only talked with ministers about the martial arts of the previous dynasty. Later, when it comes to poetry, the monarch and his subjects improvised sentences and wrote an 80-sentence seven-character ancient poem, which recorded the joy of the monarch and his subjects at that time. We talked at the table for two hours, and then we quit before eating food.
Later, when discussing the fortification plan in Xinjiang, the plan put forward by the generals could not be passed. It turned out that the generals only needed 18 thousand soldiers to defend Xinjiang in the last performance, considering Daoguang's meanness. However, Daoguang was cut by two-thirds at once, leaving only 6,000 people in the Qing army.
The generals fought back angrily and put forward a plan to defend the eastern and western parts of Xinjiang, leaving no defense lines. Daoguang denounced them for giving up Xinjiang's defense and accused them of ulterior motives.
After several years of disputes, according to the records in the Draft of Qing History, it was finally decided that "the troops of green camp in all provinces will be reduced by 2% and more than 300,000 troops will return to Xinjiang at the end of the year", and the plan was passed.
1939, Lin zexu was ordered to ban smoking. When he forced the British businessman to hand over opium, he promised that a box of opium could compensate the British businessman for five pounds of tea. As a result, 20,200 boxes of opium were finally seized, valued at 8 million taels of silver. Daoguang suddenly felt distressed and hesitated to answer. Lin Zexu had to play with Deng Tingzhen and others, saying that "more than 100,000 Jin of tea needs donations from ministers and others, and he dare not spend money indiscriminately." It means that it will not occupy the customs revenue of the emperor. Daoguang was relieved and immediately replied: Do as discussed!
The problem of nearly 20 years was solved easily and smoothly, and Daoguang immediately looked down on the so-called British Empire.
Except for Lin Zexu, Deng Tingzhen and others at the front line, no one in the whole court thought of or prepared for the war that the smoking ban might trigger. Daoguang just praised excitedly, saying: Jiao Ran, who is loyal to the monarch and patriotic, has gone abroad, and what he has done is commendable! But in the final analysis, Daoguang is not a real anti-drug hero. All he cares about is the fact that Lin Zexu scared him.
Since then, in the Opium War, Daoguang Emperor was eager to compromise, which was not unrelated to his frugality. When discussing issues such as coastal defense, frontier defense, and the regulation of the Yellow River, whenever a minister mentions funds, Daoguang will immediately show displeasure.
Although Daoguang saved some money for the Qing dynasty, it did not help solve the economic crisis, and the financial situation did not completely improve, but went from bad to worse. Then, a minister asked: why did Qianlong spend money like running water and the state treasury was full? For example, today's economy is poor but people's livelihood is poor. "The more extravagant, the more thrifty and the more stingy"?
As the king of a country, he will not greatly increase his income and profits, but will spend every penny on food and clothing, even horses.