Speaking of corrupt officials, even modern people can't forget to mention Hezhen, but from the 55th to 60th years of Qianlong, he was greedy for half of the state's taxes for 5 consecutive years, and according to historical records, the total amount of property he embezzled actually exceeded the national treasury. He Yan was a Manchu nobleman of the Niuhu Lu clan, in the middle of the dynasty, he was already a powerful courtier, he was very able to speak the Tao, emotional intelligence ability is very high, so the Qianlong Emperor also liked him, and finally married his daughter who regarded it as a treasure to his concubine, FengSheng Yinde. After marrying the emperor, he was even more distraught by the magnates of Hezhen, and while his power grew, his appetite also continued to grow.
In 2001, the Wall Street Journal asia listed him as a world-class rich man, and after so many years, his family property can still be included in the world rankings, which shows how jaw-dropping his embezzled property is. It is said that when washaging his family was exposed for corruption, several carts came to record his property. And the tip of the iceberg of his corruption, there are 3,000 houses, pure gold yuan treasure 100,000 two, silver dollar treasure 5.66 million two, not to mention other gemstones, Ayara silk and so on.
According to expert research, his assets are estimated to be around 30 billion to 250 billion when converted into modern renminbi, because many rare treasures cannot be estimated at all. In the book "List of Raids and Family Properties", we can see that he valued about 264 million taels of silver, while there was about 800 million silver without valuation. Only 70 million two silver ah! How did so much money and money come out of greed?
It turned out that he blatantly accepted money from people, let people disguise the treasures sent as ordinary gifts, and usually the officials communicated with each other, and the emperors would not interfere too much, especially the relatives of the emperor and the state, and even turned a blind eye. But this is only a small means, and what is more powerful is that he created a "ya bribe" for the first time, he cultivated a bunch of "craftsmen", these people are making literary play, imitating calligraphy and painting is a must, what does he let these people do? Let them specialize in making valuable calligraphy and paintings for themselves, and copycat goods for handicrafts! Then take it to the auction house and let the people who have the intention of bribing themselves to buy it back, because the sale of this kind of calligraphy and painting is completely reasonable and legal on the surface, and the average person cannot see any flaws, so Hezhen has accumulated a large amount of money through this way. And this way in today, there must be someone sneaking to use. After all, the temptation to money is unlimited.