Text/Goofy
When it comes to extravagant and corrupt high-ranking officials in the last years of the Qing Dynasty, people's first impression is often Prince Qing Yili. Yi Xi was indeed very greedy, and had the title of "the first corrupt official in the late Qing Dynasty". In fact, in addition to Yi Li, another late Qing dynasty official was also a typical example of extravagant corruption, and this person was Na Tong. Compared with Yi Li, Na Tong's popularity is slightly lower, and not many people are familiar with him.
Na Tong's surname was Yehenara, a yellow flag bearer of the Manchurian Ministry of Internal Affairs, and was from a family of officials and eunuchs. Unlike many Manchus who do not learn no skills, Na Tong is learned among the flag people. He was willing to study hard since he was a child, and he was once a person who was selected when he participated in the Shuntianxiang examination in the eleventh year of Guangxu. Among the flag people, it is rare not to say that there are few horns. In addition, he has strong ability to do things and is a harmonious person, so his career is very smooth. Starting from a low-level Beijing official, he was promoted all the way to important positions such as Hubu Shangshu, Prime Minister Yamen Minister, Military Aircraft Minister, and Cabinet Assistant Minister, and also served as the commander of the Beijing Infantry Army and was responsible for managing the affairs of the Industrial Inspection Bureau. He was one of the last and most important ministers of the Qing Dynasty.
01. How luxurious is Tong's life?
Starting from the bottom and occupying a high position for a long time, Na Tong was able to maintain a luxurious life in the stormy late Qing Dynasty.
So how luxurious is Tong's life? In order to allow readers to more intuitively appreciate his luxury, let's take stock of it in pieces:
First, live in a mansion
Na Tong's mansion is located in Jinyu Hutong, which was built in the twelfth year of Guangxu, the second year of his zhongju, and has been expanded several times. It is a huge mansion with seven large courtyards in parallel horizontally, covering a total area of as much as a rare 25 acres. There are about 300 houses in the whole house, which occupies almost half of the alley. The "that garden" in the mansion is famous for its "rich terrace and still has the interest of water and stone", and it is a meeting place for the dignitaries of the late Qing Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty, which is mentioned in the notes of many literati.
Second, play with foreign objects
In the late Qing Dynasty, dignitaries and dignitaries were proud to be able to play with foreign objects, and even became one of the important indicators of whether they were in high society. Natsuki is very obsessed with Western things, and unlike the officials who decorate the portal with foreign things, he integrates foreign things into his daily life. It is common to put up a few self-chiming bells, pianos, etc., and those foreign objects that are closely related to life are all available in his family.
For example, photography: Na Tong is very "smelly and beautiful", often have to take pictures, personal photos, family party photos, outing photos, etc., have reached the point where nothing is taken. Later, photography could no longer satisfy his interest, and he began to use film recording, which was then called "recording film". You know, this is a very money-burning hobby. Without a strong economic foundation, ordinary officials simply cannot afford it.
In addition to taking photos, Natsuki also installed a telephone in the mansion, often took his family to eat Western food, and even bought a car. Such a luxurious life was rare among high-ranking officials at that time.
3. Family banquets
In the late Qing Dynasty, banquets were a must-have item for officials. But as often as tung, it is rare. Na Tong liked to write a diary, and left a "Na Tong Diary" in his life. Judging from his diary, Na Tong spent almost every day at banquets, banquets, and listening to music. For example, in March of the twenty-second year of Guangxu, he invited Himself to feast for 19 days.
That family banquet, not only to eat, but also to sing, often sing for three or four days. The stage of that family, its richness and delicacy are not common in the mansions of the capital. At that time, the major drama classes in Beijing often went in and out of nafu and the major characters in the capital were all guests. These feasts are spent with silver from white flowers.
In addition to the activities that can be put on the table, there are also some more intimate activities. How can a man's liquor bureau not have beautiful women? As a result, recruiting singers and prostitutes became one of the favorite activities of Na Tong and his "little friends". Records such as "Late Yuelun Beizi and Fu Xiaofeng's Dinner, Zhao Baojin and Baoyu's Two Prostitutes" abound in the "Na Tong Diary".
02, na tong's source of income
The above three items are Na Tong's daily living expenses, which are carried out every day. In addition to these daily living expenses, the luxury goods of Natong are innumerable, such as pearl jade, agate jadeite, ancient books, rare calligraphy and paintings, and so on. To sustain such a huge expenditure, wages alone are certainly not enough. So what are the ways in which Kirito makes money? There are roughly the following paths:
First, huge gray income. Since Na Tong joined the army, whether it was a middle- and lower-ranking Beijing official or a later imperial court official, his department was a department with sufficient oil and water, and he could earn huge gray income. For example, in the early years, "The Chief of Qianfatang Affairs", "Guizhou Si Palm Seal", "Hubu Shandong Division Chief", etc., these departments are related to the economy and money, and naturally can get a lot of oil and water. Later, he was promoted to Tobe Shoshu and Prime Minister Yamen Minister, not to mention the huge gray income.
2. Proceeds of embezzlement. The first piece just mentioned is "gray income", that is, this part of the income is not the income of personal corruption, but because of the so-called "bad rules" at that time. And the second way for Kiryu to make money is corruption. Of those high-ranking officials in the late Qing Dynasty, there were very few who were not corrupt. Yi Xi was naturally out of the question, and Na Tong's greedy name was also "famous Kyoshi". Zaitao, who was also a high-ranking Manchu official, said in his later memoirs: "Na Tong was insatiable on weekdays, and only recognized money." During Na Tong's tenure as Hubu Shangshu, he was also in charge of the Great Qing Silver Treasury, in this position, the gray income was already very huge, but with Na Tong's disposition, he would naturally not be satisfied with the gray income, he did a little manipulation, and in an instant there was a large amount of silver flowing into his pocket.
3. Operate a pawnshop. Na Kirito served in the Kyoshi, and of course he knew the way to make money. He himself will not open a pawnshop openly, he will buy shares, cooperate with others, and manipulate behind the scenes. He recorded in his diary that he had a number of pawnshops in the bustling part of the capital, and these pawnshops created him huge wealth every year. Part of this wealth was used by him to bribe officials in the imperial court, as "capital" for his career advancement, and the other part was used to maintain a daily life of luxury.
The above three "regular gains" are enough to make him a huge rich man in the late Qing Dynasty, in addition to these three, Na Tong has a lot of unconventional income, such as accepting bribes from subordinate officials and gifts for various banquets, gifts, buying and selling land, and so on. It is these huge fortunes that allow him to maintain his daily life of luxury.
03, the country will be broken, but still singing and dancing
Since the signing of the Treaty of Xinugu, the Qing Dynasty has become a pile of decaying and tattered wood, and the reparations of 450 million taels of silver have almost overwhelmed this huge and ancient country. But the decline of the national fortune did not affect Na Tong's mood and his life of singing and dancing in the slightest. "Regardless of age, every New Year's Day, the family will definitely hold all kinds of frequent and luxurious drinking and feasting parties. Even when the national disaster was approaching, the red and white happy events were never hastily acted, and all kinds of joys and points were meticulous. (Sun Yanjing, "From seeing the mentality of the powerful at the end of the world")
Na Tong wrote a diary and insisted on it for 36 years. In this diary of more than 900,000 words, he rarely had negative feelings such as disappointment, reflection, and discouragement. On the contrary, his diary is full of excitement and satisfaction, and he has hardly reflected on the fate of the country or the nation. This also shows very well that he is only a bureaucrat who enjoys it all the time, not a politician who pays attention to the fate of the country and the future of the nation; he is a moth of the Qing Dynasty and not the backbone of the country.
In February 1912, after the abdication of the Qing Emperor, Na Tong went to Tianjin, where he bought a piece of land, built a German-style building, and the family moved to Tianjin. However, he still often returns to Beijing's Goldfish Hutong to live. In July of that year, Na Kirito suffered a stroke, his body was getting older, and when he was seriously ill, he could not even insist on writing a diary, but asked someone else to write it on his behalf. In 1925, Na Tong fell ill and died in his home in Beijing's Goldfish Hutong at the age of sixty-nine.