Little Shenyang in history is very clever and talented, and is proficient in Manchu, Chinese, Mongolian and Tibetan. What's more commendable is that Xiao Shenyang knows official rules and folk facts like the back of his hand, and he has developed a survival rule with insight into the world and worldly wisdom.
The real Shenyang will never win the favor of Qianlong by flattery, as depicted in the TV series. More often, it depends on real talent and practical learning to win the appreciation of Qianlong. When Qianlong sends him to handle affairs, he can often solve many problems.
For example, in times of famine, such as floods, droughts and natural disasters, when there are hungry people everywhere, Gan Long often sends his trusted little Shenyang, which is very effective in handling affairs, to provide disaster relief.
As soon as Xiao Shenyang received the heavy responsibility of disaster relief, he immediately showed the appearance of not following the rules. The officials of the imperial court actually ordered sand to be mixed in the food for disaster relief!
The move was immediately criticized by officials. It's pathetic enough to put yourself in the position of starving people. The rest rely on two bowls of porridge distributed by the court every day, but it happened that Xiao Shenyang, a conscientious official, wouldn't even let the victims drink a clean bowl of porridge.
However, in the face of the court's accusation, Xiao Shenyang also has its own considerations.
With little Shenyang's knowledge of officialdom, he must know the distribution of relief food. From governments at all levels to the final distribution of bowls to the victims, we don't know how many layers of skin we have to peel, and there are not many left. What is the reason? No matter how good the food is, it can't be sold. The corrupt officials who helped the disaster took the opportunity to wipe some oil and fatten their pockets.
Now that glistening rice is mixed with sand, such food can't be eaten or sold at home, so officials at all levels will not think about disaster relief food any more.
Besides, are the people waiting for disaster relief food in front of the official porridge shed necessarily victims?
Having said that, we can look back at the scene before the three vows of Taoyuan in the CCTV version of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Guan Yu unloaded the millstone that Zhang Fei was pressing on the wellhead, cut the pork hanging in the well into small pieces and distributed it to the hungry beggars. Some of them had offered to buy meat, but Guan Yu took it out and forced them to pay.
In the same way, there are many speculators who are insatiable and take advantage of porridge in the queue. They don't drink porridge for free.
But now things are different! Small Shenyang mixed sand into disaster relief food, and every bite of porridge he cooked would make him lose his teeth. Since there is food at home, why not use your teeth to rub the sand porridge of the victims?
But the victims are different. Their first thought is how to survive. When they are hungry, they stutter gratefully and don't care about the grains of sand in the porridge at all.
In this way, the grain of the imperial court can be prevented from being embezzled by corrupt officials, taken away by traitors and eaten into the stomachs of victims who really need relief to survive.
Qianlong was a sober emperor. Knowing Xiao Shenyang's real intention of mixing sand, he naturally won't pursue perfection. As for those eloquent officials who impeached the throne of Xiao Shenyang, Gan Long ignored it, which was a protection for those who did practical things.