The Silent Reforms of Eldridge Chapter 49

Later, I heard that when the officers and soldiers arrived at Kekewusu, the bandits had fled, and the army stopped after chasing them to Maqing Snow Mountain. When we returned to the army, we wiped out all the Ban camp in Yongsha and captured fifty-seven Dongdulu people. Wengui was sent to Xining Dao to escort them to the provincial capital, and I was ordered to join Mingyi and Wengui for interrogation.

At the beginning of October, Xining Dao Wengui sent the prisoners to Zhensi Yamen. At that time, Nisi Mingyi went to the capital to handle a case, and the person who represented him was Gongqin Jiedao (Taomin Road was established in the second year of Kangxi, and governed Gongchang Mansion, Qinzhou, and Jiezhou. In the 28th year of Qianlong's reign, it was renamed Gongqin Jiedao). Zhen, No. Jiushan, a native of Zhejiang, was born in the same year as Jichou and I worked together for many years in the Hanlin Academy. By the time he was sent to Gansu as a Taoist priest, I was serving as the governor of the Shaanxi grain road, and I also funded his travel expenses with four hundred taels. When I came to Gansu, Brother Jiushan was dying of old age and illness. He wanted to retire to the countryside after being promoted to a higher level. It happened that there was a vacancy in the office of the governor, so I wrote to Prime Minister Qi to discuss letting him act as the agent for the governor. Later facts proved that, This time I harmed him and appointed Bu Jitong, the prefect of Qingyang Prefecture, to act as the prefect of Lanzhou Prefecture. The latter also died in the same year. Wen Gui handed over the prisoners, and Zhu Qizhen invited me to count the number of people together, and asked the translator Ma Tu to question them one by one according to the confessions brought from Xining.

According to Matu's report, none of the prisoners retracted their confessions. The next day, Acting Governor Zhu Qizhen, together with Acting Magistrate of Lanzhou Prefecture Bu Jitong and others, interrogated him day by day at the Narita Yamen. As for how they interrogated, the committee members never reported it to the Yamen. Because the criminal cases are the responsibility of the prosecutor, and the prosecutor personally supervises the trial, it is not convenient for me to intervene. By the end of October, the prisoner's confession had been decided, and the prosecutor invited me and Wen Daotai to interrogate the court together. Although the prisoner's confession was not understandable, it seemed from their expressions that it was not forced. Later, when evidence of the robbery by these bandits was sent to the camp, Bu Jitong, Niu Si and other committee members checked it together, and I had no idea about it. After reporting the matter, Qi Xiang appeared in court again. The next day, Qi Xiang said to me: "The confessions of these people are reliable. There will be no problem in killing them."

During this expedition, Qi Xiang believed that the Qinghai Affairs Minister Haregina was unable to deter the bandits and force them to return to their home bases as soon as possible, nor could he pick up the traitors and prevent them from colluding with each other. Moreover, the Qinghai Affairs Minister Yamen Li Many of the scribes and translators also colluded with the bandits, hoping to share the spoils. After Qi Xiang arrived in Xining, he did not invite Hargina to join him in suppressing the bandits. When the matter was over, he did not jointly submit the memorial together. He simply regarded Hargina as a wart [2].

Haregina was very frightened and was provoked by others, so he impeached Prime Minister Qi for "killing good people indiscriminately for fear of starting a provocation." The emperor ordered Qi Xiang to understand the response three times. Prime Minister Qi repeatedly clarified the case and impeached Hargina as "illiterate and afraid of hard work. His servants and translators were half-acquainted with bandits. He did not investigate and deal with the thieves harbored in hotels within the territory. He did not strictly control Mongolia and did not punish them. Good at restraint". After the memorial was sent, the emperor still had doubts in his heart. At that time, the emperor had not long since ascended the throne and had a wide range of opinions. All ministers and ministers wanted to take the opportunity to perform well. Prime Minister Qi was impeached several times, and many of the terms listed were simply slander and slander, and he dared to state completely unreasonable things. Qi Xiang's misfortune is approaching, and the bandits are lucky enough to escape and be killed. This is probably destined by God!