In the ancient feudal society, the profession of emperor seemed to be the high position that most people dreamed of, but few people could climb to that position. Why do people yearn for the emperor? It is nothing more than that people of this position have absolute power, and at the same time they also collect the beauty of the world and control the wealth of the world. For example, for a frugal emperor like Emperor Wen of Sui, the money in the state treasury was used to improve people's livelihood; but if he met a big man like Yang Guang, the state's money became his squandered capital; so the emperor would have private money.
In 1736, the Qianlong Emperor officially inherited the throne, and he was also a master of saving money for his private house. Qianlong reigned for 60 years, and the huge amount of wealth that accumulated was really surprising. During his reign, the entire bureaucracy seemed to have become a "green channel" for the trading of power and money: low-ranking officials often had the habit of giving gifts to senior officials, and high officials formed a custom of giving gifts to the emperor. In fact, to put it bluntly, this kind of official gift-giving behavior is to carry out "bribery", but this unhealthy trend was not only not prohibited at that time, but also appeared very fashionable.
Wang Qiwang was a chancellor during the Qianlong period, and he almost became an idol of officials, and the reason for this was more embarrassing: because Boss Wang was not known for being a clean and honest official, but on the contrary, he was too good at giving gifts before he was imitated. According to historical records, Wang Qiwang always received praise from Qianlong for giving gifts to the emperor, because he had unique characteristics. He once sent Qianlong a very precious ruyi, but this old brother was afraid that his treasure was not prominent, so he specially spent 20,000 taels of silver and added some precious pearls. Because of his uniqueness, Wang Qiwang's special gift was deeply loved by the emperor.
At that time, although the hundred officials envied the Wang Qiwang brothers, they did not have the strength to fully study. Because Wang Qiwang's boss is the Inspector of Zhejiang, which is located in the south of the Jiangsu And is economically rich, Wang Inspector, who has a large income, dares to be so generous. But other officials did not have the economic strength to dare to run to show off, and in addition to the emperor himself, there were also empresses and empresses, and these people also had to give gifts on their birthdays. Divide three by five, and the annual income of ordinary officials is not enough to give gifts. Later, in order to suppress the unhealthy trend of gift-giving, Qianlong issued the holy decree of "no valuable gifts", which had little effect.
Most of the taxes of ordinary people had to be handed over to the state treasury, and only the income from salt taxes and customs duties was owned by the emperor privately, but the Qianlong boss relied on his own set of methods to directly rectify the internal affairs office from losses to more money. The emperor's tour is a way to collect money. In 1777, the 66-year-old Qianlong went to Shandong to inspect, and later came to this place a total of 4 times. And when the Qianlong boss arrived in Shandong, nearby officials came to pick up the car, and then they rushed to offer all kinds of rare treasures, and the emperor himself laughed at them all.
According to historical records, Qianlong personally had 3 treasure houses for saving money: the Guangchu Division, the Yuanmingyuan, and the Yangxindian Office. In total, he had more than 80 million taels of silver, and even the wealth of the kings of Europe in the 18th century could not catch up with him. It was the Qianlong boss himself's "leading by example", so the entire official field also went up and down, and when it came to Daoguang later, these shortcomings of the Qing court were immediately revealed, and finally they were invaded by Western powers.