The last prosperous era of China's feudal society was the "Prosperous Era of Kangqian". After more than a hundred years of Chengping, the Qing Dynasty inevitably fell into the development cycle of "prosperity and decline" by the late Qianlong period. The root cause is corruption.
Qianlong was in power – at different times, there were different attitudes
As we all know, at the beginning of the Qianlong Emperor's reign, he emphasized "the combination of leniency and severity." In fact, qianlong's policy has different similarities and differences from time to time -- in different periods, there are different attitudes.
Qianlong stills
In general, in the early period of Qianlong's reign, the government decrees were still quite severe. In the first two decades after Qianlong ascended the throne, he punished seven major cases of corruption. One of the more famous cases is the Jiang Zhou case.
Jiang Zhou was the son of Jiang Tingxi, a former scholar, who had always been favored by the Qianlong Emperor. However, in order to strictly enforce the law and discipline, Qianlong still severely punished him. It can be seen from this that Qianlong during this period adhered to a serious and serious attitude in internal affairs and a vigorous and vigorous style of work.
Since then, Qianlong's decrees and measures have appeared quite lenient, as he himself said- "Since the fall of the Imperial Pole, the government has been lenient." Especially in the later period of his reign, "handling prisons is more lenient." At this time, official corruption was rampant, and the Manchu Dynasty was full of favoritism, but the Qianlong Emperor turned a blind eye. Among the corrupt officials, He Yan is even more "leader" among them.
Washu stills
He Yan was known for his "strange greed", but the Qianlong Emperor was "yibi Yidu" to He Yan in the late period of his reign. It can be said that the governing methods and style of the late Qianlong period must have been influenced by Hezhen.
Browsing through various historical materials, you can see records of Hezhen's "greed" everywhere, and it can be inferred that this should be in line with historical facts. He Yan's miserly and greedy personality made him hesitate to amass wealth by any means and seize hundreds of millions of family wealth.
Hezhen's bribery was almost semi-public. Forty years after Qianlong, the Hezhen family has almost become an exchange for selling officials, and the wind of the time can be seen. It is conceivable that under the circumstances of the favor of Hezhen for decades at that time, the degree of decay of the Qing Dynasty government was -- "The Governor Si Dao feared its fall, and all of them were bent on lending money."
Hezhen's bribery directly leads to two consequences. On the one hand, Driven by political goals and interests, Qing officials competed to take order to be favored by Hezhen, or to guard themselves; on the other hand, they acted arbitrarily with Himyan, and officials competed to make good friends with Himan, and they became increasingly fearless, so the major corruption cases in the late Qianlong period, where the circumstances were serious, were basically related to Hezhen.
The favor he received, in addition to relying on his shrewdness and ability, was largely related to his "good at greeting". He Yan was well aware of the Qianlong Emperor's temper, temperament, and hobbies.
Qianlong's death? There are different opinions in the academic community
In his later years, in addition to his good and great achievement personality, Qianlong also had a style of indulgence and extravagance and profligacy. From the psychological level, qianlong, who is about to die, is even more lonely, sad, and helpless. He needed both the assistance of a humerus like Ah Gui and the nourishment of a courtier like Heyan. It was precisely this that determined the corrupt politics and current trends of the Qing Dynasty.
As for the cause of the death of the Qianlong Emperor, many scholars and historians believe that Qianlong was "old and dead", after all, he lived for eighty-nine years, which can be called the longevity of the emperors.
Some people in the academic community have expressed different opinions. In their eyes, things are not so simple. Although Qianlong was deeply favored by his grandfather Kangxi and his father Yongzheng, he was very weak when he was a child, and if he did not pay attention, he would fall ill. After Qianlong ascended the throne, he once got a folk remedy by chance - turtle age set. This is a precious Chinese medicine formula for kidney aphrodisiac, using precious Chinese medicinal materials such as deer antler velvet, ginseng, seahorse, goji berries, etc., and even dragonflies, stone swallows and other rare items.
Qianlong has always insisted on taking the Turtle Age Set, but he is still "weak in heart and tired". Judging from the symptoms of his life, there was a manifestation of "yang deficiency", but the drugs that Qianlong supplemented were mainly used to treat "yin deficiency". Therefore, some scholars believe that Qianlong is not "old and dead", but died after taking home remedies indiscriminately.