He Yan was the most corrupt official in the Qing Dynasty and one of the best corrupt officials in ancient Chinese history. He lived during the Qianlong period and served under the Qianlong Emperor. Qianlong was well aware of Hezhen's corrupt and perverted laws.
Therefore, many people have doubts, among the emperors of the past, Qianlong is a very shrewd figure, he knows that He yan is a corrupt official, why didn't he kill He Yan earlier? So much so that Hezhen was able to live until the time when the Jiaqing Emperor was in power.
Death of Washu
In 1799, Qianlong, who was the Emperor Taishang, died, and Jiaqing, who had been a puppet emperor for four years, finally gained real power. A few days later, Jiaqing ordered that Emperor Taishang's favorite vassal, He Yan, be removed from his post and imprisoned, and at the same time, he also listed many of he's crimes, the most important of which was corruption. Soon, Washu was given to death for corruption.
He Yan did die unjustly. The officials who went to confiscate the family property found that the wealth accumulated by Hezhen was worth 800 million taels of silver, which was close to the twenty years of the imperial court's financial revenue at that time. When the Jiaqing Emperor himself knew about it, he was shocked and shocked.
A message reflected in a folklore
According to folklore, after he was arrested, the Jiaqing Emperor visited him in prison. As soon as the two of them met, Jiaqing said angrily: You are so bold, you have embezzled so much silver money from the state! What followed was a rebuke.
At this time, Hezhen knew that he was dead horizontally and vertically, so he had a lot less scruples about speaking. He said to Jiaqing: In fact, the "first greed of the Great Qing Dynasty" is not me, but the Taishang Emperor and his old man's home, the emperor you think, the Taishang Emperor is also the lower Jiangnan, and it is a large construction project, how much silver does it cost?
If such a large amount of money is all borne by the imperial court, is not the imperial court under great pressure? But in fact, there was no problem with the finances of the imperial court, and this was my credit. I embezzled so much money, the Emperor taishang knew it, but his old man did not cure me of my sins, because I also collected wealth for the emperor and his old man's home for him to spend.
The Jiaqing Emperor listened to this and talked about it, and he was stunned on the spot, and he did not know how to answer for a while. Although this is only a legend, it cannot be fully believed.
The Jiaqing Emperor listened to this and talked about it, and he was stunned on the spot, and he did not know how to answer for a while. Although this is only a legend, it cannot be fully believed. But the legend is not made out of nothing, but a reflection of reality. This legend tells us that He yan degenerated into the "first greed of the Great Qing Dynasty", and the Qianlong Emperor could not escape the blame.
Qianlong went down to Jiangnan
Qianlong was a man who pursued extravagance, and he especially admired his grandfather Kangxi, and everywhere he had to emulate Kangxi: Kangxi liked Mulan to hunt, and Qianlong also wanted Mulan to hunt; Kangxi six to Jiangnan, Qianlong also wanted to go down to Jiangnan six times. However, he did not draw a tiger and did not become an anti-dog, and did not learn the essence of Kangxi. The book "A Brief History of the Manchus" mentions that the Kangxi Emperor was strictly frugal, and the cost of the court was less than one-tenth of that of the Ming court.
In addition, even Bai Jin, a missionary who came to China at that time, praised Kangxi's frugality. Kangxi went down to jiangnan, mainly to inspect the control project of the Yellow River, to inspect the water transport in the south, in other words, mainly to perform official duties, so Kangxi did not spend much money on himself, and the six southern tours added up, only cost about 100,000 silver taels, compared with the emperors of other dynasties, it was already very simple.
And Qianlong went down to Jiangnan, mainly for pleasure, in order to play in the mountains and rivers, the motivation was completely different from Kangxi, so Qianlong was very extravagant, and the six southern tours cost a total of 20 million taels of silver.
As the king of a country, but so loud and colorful, the ministers naturally learned from each other, and all followed the likeness of the Qianlong Emperor to pursue a luxurious life. However, as we all know, for a court, "extravagance" is often accompanied by "corruption", so during the Qianlong period, all kinds of corrupt officials and corrupt officials also began to emerge, and Hezhen was just one of them.
Guilty silver
In addition to the "six under the Jiangnan", there are many things that Qianlong has spent money on, so I will not list them one by one. However, he often wondered how he could get enough money for himself to squander. At this time, Qianlong was very much in need of those ministers who were "anxious about what the emperor was anxious" to come up with ideas.
It was also at this time that He Yan told Qianlong: Emperor, you can charge a huge ransom to those ministers who have committed crimes, called "guilty silver", as long as they hand over the guilty silver, they can be given a light punishment or even impunity. In this way, you also have money to spend, and ministers are of course willing to pay this money for self-preservation, is not the best of both worlds. Qianlong listened, a good idea, and Shuo agreed.
This was the "silver system for discussing crimes" founded by He Yan, and through this move, He Yan really amassed wealth for Qianlong and helped Qianlong a lot. Because the silver for the crime was not returned to the state treasury, but all belonged to Qianlong personally. Why Qianlong knew that He Yan was a corrupt official, but did not kill He Yan, it is not difficult for us to understand.
The two southern tours in the late Qianlong period and the "Longevity Ceremony" of Qianlong all cost a huge amount, but the national treasury was not affected in any way, and it was the "system of deliberating on crimes and silver" that played a role. But the ills of the system are also obvious – paying money can be punished lightly or even impunity, and more and more officials dare to trample on the law and commit adultery.
Some corrupt officials and corrupt officials paid the money for their sins, and after receiving Qianlong's pardon, they were anxious to get back the huge amount of money they had handed over, so they exploited the people even more vigorously and enriched themselves, and the officials of the imperial court ruled worse every day, which directly led to the decline of the Qing Dynasty.
epilogue:
In a sense, the "first greed of the Great Qing Dynasty" is not Hezhen, but the big boss behind Hezhen - Qianlong. The upper Liang was not right and the lower Liang was crooked, and Qianlong, as the king of a country, became extravagant and corrupt, and the ministers represented by Hezhen naturally followed the emperor in extravagance and corruption.
What kind of parents are, children will also learn from them; what kind of bosses are, employees will also learn from them; what kind of public figures are, fans will also learn from them; what kind of leading cadres are, and their subordinates will also learn from them.