There were many famous and major cases in the Qing Dynasty, but there was one case in the Qianlong period, which was unprecedented in time. Through this case, we can also see that the phenomenon of corruption under the so-called "prosperous kangqian" is shocking.
A cleanser who dares to repair a canal
In history, the northwest region was considered a barren land, in fact, the northwest also has a rich land, such as the plain of the Yellow River, the soil is fertile, this is our Ningxia Plain, known as the "Pearl of the Northwest". Although it is drought all year round, because the Yellow River flows through here, Ningxia has a tradition of digging canals to divert the water of the Yellow River to cultivate land, so Ningxia Pingxia has a very rich agriculture.
The richness of the Ningxia Plain, since the Qin and Han Dynasties have been diverted from the Yellow River to irrigate, so there are many ditches here, such as a ditch in the Tang Dynasty, named Tang Lai Canal, this canal mouth in the Qingtongxia Emperor, it is said that the Han Dynasty had this canal, Wu Zetian when this canal was dredged, because it was named "Tang Lai Canal". Since the Tang Dynasty, several dynasties have also repaired this canal, li yuanhao of the Western Xia, and Guo Shoujing of the Yuan dynasty.
After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, Huang Tu'an, who had been the governor of Ningxia, repaired it in the fifteenth year of Shunzhi, and in 1731, tongzhi, a soldier's attendant, also repaired this canal. In 1739, Ningxia Dao Niucai also overhauled the canal in the fourth year of Qianlong.
In the forty-second year of Qianlong, Wang Tingzhan of Daotai in Ningxia was worried about the water hazards of the canal, so he decided to build the canal once. But where does the money for the canal come from?
Wang Tingzhan was a Zhengsipin official, who was also a Qing official when he decided to repair the canal. In the Qing Dynasty there was a very strange system, the imperial court did not have special funds allocated to local governments. The most important thing is that local governments do not have any income, and the Qing Dynasty does not have a local budget and final account system. In the local government, the income of those who serve as governors is paid to their subordinates and some officials.
In addition, local officials have to deal with various apportionments and donations from their superiors. It can be seen that a local official has a lot of money, and it is impossible to build a canal and how much money a road platform can have.
However, Wang Tingzhan was also determined to repair the canal, and he borrowed money everywhere, and finally rebuilt the TangLai Canal with the borrowed money. Wang Tingzhen also left a name for this.
Wang Tingzhan was an official in the northwest for a long time, and he did do a lot of practical things for the people at the beginning, and according to historical records, he was a very famous and incorruptible official at that time. In 1759, when Wang Tingzhan was appointed as the commander of Zhangye County, he took out his salary and rebuilt the Ganquan Shushou during the Ming Dynasty, and for a time the academy became the educational center of Hexi. At that time, Ganquan Academy was full of talents.
In 1766, because of his outstanding work, Wang Tingzhan was transferred to the prefect of Gongchang Province, and he funded the construction of a stone bridge in Laijiagou, Xigongyi, which was the famous "Yongding Bridge" (formerly known as "Wanggong Bridge", renamed after Zuo Zongtang's reconstruction). According to historical records, this bridge is called the "Sacred Bridge", and there are still people who praise Wang Tingzhan.
One leap into two products
In the year that Wang Tingzhan repaired the canal, because of his outstanding merits, he was promoted by Qianlong to be a political envoy in Gansu, and his office was in Lanzhou, which belonged to the Erpin Commandery. The promotion from the Daotai of sipin to the official of Erpin is indeed a high promotion.
Wang Tingzhang's former Gansu envoy named Wang Qiwang was promoted to inspector of Zhejiang because of his great contribution to the disaster relief, and he really became a big member of the Yipin, and he also served in the rich oil flowing area.
Borrowing the official positions of Wang Tingzhan and Wang Qiwang, let's look at the knowledge of Qing Dynasty positions. The local administration of the Qing Dynasty was mainly at the provincial capital and county levels, and the provincial governors were the governors and inspectors. Some governors are in charge of two or three provinces, while the governor is the military and political chief of a province, also called "Fujun" and "Futai".
The positions below the governor and inspector are the envoys, also known as "Fantai" and "Fansi", from the title is two levels larger than "Daotai". This position refers to the administration and financial affairs of a province, and the promotion and transfer of officials in the province are also under the control of the envoys, and the decrees of the imperial court are also transmitted by the prefectures and counties to which they are down. From the grade point of view, it is the same level as the inspector, and it is from the second product.
Wang served as a political envoy to Gansu at that time, and his jurisdiction included qinghai, Ningxia, Xinjiang and other parts of the territory. During the Qianlong period, the post of inspector of Gansu was abolished and changed to the Gansu Cloth Administration Department, and its seat of governance was changed from Gongchang to Lanzhou.
Judging from the relevant historical records, Wang Tingzhan was jumped from a Sipin Daoist to an envoy from a Erpin cloth, which was a surprise to anyone, but Wang Tingzhan was very worried, and he and a long entourage named Wang Lianghou rushed to Lanzhou, and his thoughts were seen by Wang Changsu.
Because in the eyes of outsiders, promotion is something worth celebrating in life, but Wang Tingzhen's unhappiness is indeed a bit abnormal. In Wang Changsui's view, Wang Tingzhan definitely thought that it was better to be a feudal platform than a Daotai. Although it is all northwest, the part of Ningxia known as "Saishang Jiangnan" is richer than Gansu.
Worry about worrying things
The so-called long follower, which I introduced in a previous article, is the staff hired by the officials, and these personnel and officials are not personally dependent, but there is such a group of long followers, who specialize in giving advice to officials.
Wang Changsui was a very intelligent person, and when he and Wang Tingzhan chatted along the way, he learned that Wang Tingzhao was worried that he was not as good as his predecessor Wang Qiwang, and was called "the domain of the able" by the Qianlong Emperor. Wang Qiwang, on the other hand, was an envoy for three years and donated more than six million stones of grain. Both the number of officials donated and the number of grain donations are among the best in the country. In a poor place like Gansu, Wang Tingzhan really had a lot of pressure to make such a big achievement.
In addition to Wang Tingzhen's admiration, he also did not understand it, and even thought it was somewhat incredible. Wang Tingzhan is a person who wants to be a good official, he hopes to make a difference in his position, but the contribution of the predecessor Wang Qiwang is too great, it is simply impossible for him to surpass, Wang Tingzhan feels whether he can surpass his predecessor in the future, and his heart is bottomless.
Wang Tingzhan and Wang Chang chatted with you about some things when Wang Qiwang was in office. At that time, When Wang Qiwang took office, he made a promise to the Qianlong Emperor: "Solid strength everywhere at any time, the granules of the service period will be returned to reality." When Wang Tingzhan thought of these words given to him by the Qianlong Emperor, he suddenly felt something strange.
Wang Tingzhan believed that when Wang Qiwang was in office, Gansu was plagued by drought every year, and the imperial court allowed him to collect donations. But in fact, there has been no major drought in Gansu for three years. Wang Tingzhan and Wang Changsui suddenly realized that Wang Qiwang might have some problems, but neither of them said anything. However, Wang Tingzhan had already realized that there was a problem inside after all.