The punishment of corrupt officials, both in ancient times and now, is very opposed, and the Qing Dynasty has a basic sentencing standard for corrupt officials.
Anyone who exceeds one thousand taels can be executed with beheading. When Qianlong had just ascended to the throne, he hated corrupt officials very much, so he ordered a strict investigation of these corrupt officials, and several officials were beheaded for embezzling thousands of taels of silver, but Qianlong did not follow this standard when he actually implemented it.
When Qianlong had just punished corrupt officials, it was as follows: As long as the major officials in the imperial court were corrupt and beheaded only after more than 10,000 taels, if there were less than 10,000 vehicles, they would be exiled and would not lead to death. Are corrupt officials greedy or not greedy?
This cannot be confirmed without true and conclusive evidence, because once these officials have raided their homes, their family property situation can explain everything, and no one, whether it is a court official or a frontier official, can hide all his money and wealth in his home.
In the 15th year of Qianlong, he surpassed the home of Zhang Tingyu, the elder of the Three Dynasties, so how many two pieces of silver were copied out? According to historical records, at that time, when the Qianlong Emperor ordered the raid on Zhang Tingyu's home, a total of 362,000 pieces of cash were seized. But the strange thing is that the Qianlong Emperor did not regard This as zhang Tingyu was a corrupt official, in fact, Zhang Tingyu was also a clean and honest official, otherwise, who could still enjoy the honor of the Taimiao Temple after his death?
Zhang Tingyu, as a Han Chinese, was also the elder of the Three Dynasties, and was one of the few who could sit in such an official position, especially when the official position reached its peak during the Yongzheng Dynasty, and the grace of the emperor was innumerable, but it was also reasonable that Zhang Tingyu was a Han person, otherwise, it was reasonable for the Yongzheng Emperor to be crowned as a prince. When Qianlong succeeded to the throne, Ertai and Zhang Tingyu fought with each other, and the court at that time showed a polarization between zhang and E, and the Manchu and Han were opposed.
When Qianlong had just taken the throne, he saw such a scene, and in the early days Qianlong did not rely on them, but in the later period, Qianlong began to gradually become dissatisfied with these two people, but Ertai died of illness in the 13th year of Qianlong, and these years were also the years when Qianlong's ruling style changed the most.
In the face of the disappearance of one side's forces, Qianlong's most feared one was only Zhang's party. However, the Qianlong Emperor believed that he was an emperor and should enjoy the highest power and would not be held hostage by one of the forces, so he raided Zhang Tingyu's home in the 15th year of Qianlong.
At that time, Zhang Tingyu was already old, so he proposed to the Qianlong Emperor to resign his official post and return to his hometown and stay away from the court, but for the sake of face, he went so far as the Qianlong Emperor openly stated: Please ask the emperor to abide by the will of the former emperor and allow him to enter the Taimiao Temple. Originally, Zhang Tingyu went home to retire with peace of mind, and there was nothing wrong with it.
However, it was precisely because Zhang Tingyu said this to the Qianlong Emperor that the Qianlong Emperor was greatly dissatisfied, and later because of Zhang Tingyu's series of wrong practices, the Qianlong Emperor was furious.
The Qianlong Emperor not only ordered him to be revoked from enjoying the honor of the Taimiao Temple, but also sent heavy troops to raid Zhang Tingyu's home. In the 15th year of Qianlong, as Zhang Tingyu's relatives, he was dismissed from his post for violating the laws of the Great Qing Dynasty, and all those who were related to him should be punished, and Zhang Tingyu was also implicated at this point, and the Qianlong Emperor stimulated the anger that was suppressed in his heart and decided to cure Zhang Tingyu for his crimes. In one of Zhang Tingyu's houses in Beijing, 360,000 silver vehicles and a large number of antique calligraphy and paintings were seized.
When Qianlong heard such a figure, he thought that he could check so much cash and calligraphy and paintings just in a house in Beijing, so how many houses he had in his hometown, was there more savings? At that time, the Qianlong Emperor was restricted by law and could not raid the homes of officials who had not been convicted, so the Qianlong Emperor charged Zhang Tingyu with a corrupt official, but the Qianlong Emperor did not pursue all the property under Zhang Tingyu's name after this, but quickly closed it.
Zhang Tingyu was cautious as an official in history, saying that he could not put his greedy money in the family, but because he was a literati, he naturally liked to play with calligraphy and painting very much, so it was not surprising that many literary and calligraphy and painting appeared in his home, but it was precisely because it offended the Qianlong Emperor in the early stage and eventually led to the disaster of killing. The real decision of the Qianlong Emperor to raid his home was that the Qianlong Emperor wanted to see if Zhang Tingyu was loyal to him.
However, Zhang Tingyu as the elder of the Three Dynasties, the Qianlong Emperor had to be a little jealous, at present, when the Dragon Emperor found out that there was ten thousand taels of silver in Zhang Tingyu's home, he thought that Zhang Tingyu had been an official for decades, and it was not surprising that he had such a deposit, but it was precisely because of Zhang Tingyu's early practices that the Qianlong Emperor felt that his rights had been violated, so he would punish him.
summary
Zhang Tingyu was known for being cautious for decades as an official, but Zhang Tingyu did not pay attention to his behavior in his old age, and repeatedly challenged the qianlong emperor's bottom line, which made the Qianlong emperor have the idea of severely punishing him. The first is to win over his own power in the court, and then he only thinks about the honor of entering the Taimiao Temple.
It was precisely because of Zhang Tingyu's arrogance that the Qianlong Emperor felt that his imperial power had been violated, and the most taboo thing for ancient emperors was to be a master of merit, and the power was greater than that of the emperor, which had such an ending. Zhang Tingyu, as the elder of the Three Dynasties, was wise for a lifetime, but he was confused for a while.