Tell the truest history in the simplest words.
In Qianlong's later years, He Yan stole a lot of power and became more and more unscrupulous. He had many henchmen, and all of them held important positions, controlled the government, and had the power to make decisions. He could even remove the named personnel of the Military Aircraft Department without authorization. In the second year of Jiaqing (1797), the chief military minister Ah Gui fell ill and died, and he was even more arrogant after taking over this position. Using a leg disease as an excuse, he rode straight into the left gate of the palace, passed through the Great Hall of Light, and "took a large chair to carry it into the gate and enter and exit the Shenwu Gate."
And Kan
Although the military ministers Wang Jie and Dong Xuan were heavily valued by Qianlong, they were repeatedly ostracized because they refused to become inflamed and attached themselves to Hezhen. In 1798, Dong Yu returned to the capital, and He Yan "could not stop the news", causing Qianlong to repeatedly ask "when Dong Yu came", until Qianlong accidentally left the palace and saw Dong Yu kneeling by the side of the road, only to understand that the military minister had already returned to Beijing. Wakan covered the sky with one hand!
Qianlong's edict was approved by He yan "because the handwriting is not well understood, the folded tail will be cut off and another one will be proposed." He was overwhelmed by the honorific title of Emperor and completely disregarded the distinction between the dignity and inferiority of the monarch and the subject.
Jiaqing was very angry in his heart at Hezhen's arrogant and arrogant behavior of infringing on his duties, but on the surface he was very respectful, "Whoever obeys the government decree, only Hezhen listens to it, so as to show his cronies, he will not be suspicious", and even threatened to rely on Hezhen in the future to govern the world.
Emperor Jiaqing's Taoguang cultivation and concealment completely paralyzed Hezhen, making Hezhen believe that even if Jiaqing held the imperial power, it would certainly not threaten his position. Therefore, he regarded the news of Qianlong's critical illness as only an insignificant piece of news, "going out to tell the members of the foreign court, talking and laughing." He Yan could not have dreamed that the day Qianlong died would be the time of his demise!
On the day of Qianlong's death, the Jiaqing Emperor put Hezhen under house arrest, ostensibly appointing Hezhen and the university scholars Wang Jie and Shangshu Fuchang'an to handle the funeral, but in reality required Hezhen and Fuchang'an to "guard the funeral hall day and night and not allow them to enter and leave."
At the beginning of the first month, jiaqing directly pointed the spearhead at the minister of military aircraft, "the minister of military aircraft inside, and the generals who lead the troops outside, are also disloyal people", and the chief military aircraft minister and Yan are naturally the key targets of Jiaqing's accusations. On the fifth day of the first month, Jiaqing announced that the imperial gate would obey the government and decided that "all matters related to the administration of employing people must be sealed and secretly played", and regained the political power back into his hands.
At the same time, he also said that he wanted to emulate the former emperor, "to seek words as an urgent task", and not only to listen to "the words of one or two people", which was equivalent to Jiaqing releasing the signal bomb to eradicate Hezhen, so a bunch of people wrote to impeach Hezhen, and Hezhen became the target of everyone.
On the eighth day of the first year, Jiaqing ordered the arrest of Hezhen, but in fact, this was only a formality. Because if you want to talk about arrest, you have been firmly holding Hezhen in the palm of your hand since the day of house arrest. In short, He yan was arrested, and the next step was to heyte the henchmen. The main figures of the Hezhen clique were either removed from their posts and returned home, or demoted to multiple levels, or assigned to the frontier, or accompanied by Hezhen.
After receiving the support of his courtiers, Jiaqing ordered his men to raid the Hefu and seized countless gold and silver treasures, real estate, and property, which is said to be worth about 900 million taels of silver, equivalent to two and a half years of tax revenue during the Qianlong period, including many tributes and treasures that were paid to the emperor by Hezhen.
Jiaqing was furious and immediately announced the twenty major sins of Hezhen, condemning Hezhen for betraying the trust of the former emperor and being ashamed of his grace to the former emperor, so disposing of this former emperor's favor during the great funeral period also became a matter of comforting the former emperor's spirit in heaven.
On the eighteenth day of the first month, at the request of the Minister of Culture and Military Affairs, the Jiaqing Emperor removed He yan from the punishment of Ling Chi.
Hezhen, who was highly powerful and greedy, and who had the characteristics of these two great emperors who were feared by the emperor, was naturally the primary object of Jiaqing's purge. For Jiaqing, Hezhen had to kill. But we must also pretend to show our respect for the former emperor, the grace of the ministers, and the face of the imperial court.
Therefore, Jiaqing let He Yan live for a few more months, and then announced: Although He Yan committed a heinous crime, he could not bear to let him suffer from Ling Chi and gave him the opportunity to commit suicide because he had a little credit to the former emperor!
Fu Chang'an, one of the henchmen who had been pestering Hezhen, was also exploited at this time and sentenced to a suspended death sentence. Jiaqing specially ordered Fu Chang'an to be taken to the cell where He yan was located, where he knelt and watched He Yan commit suicide.