The fall of the country in the late Qing Dynasty gave people different impressions, some saying that it was the reason for the invasion of the great powers, some saying that the internal reform had failed, and some saying that it was the direct impact of the revolutionary party. But it is undeniable that these are only acting as catalysts, not decisive factors. The real problem is the problem of corruption in the official circles of the late Qing Dynasty, which caused the general deterioration of all things to intensify, and only then did the inevitable disaster of national subjugation be inevitable.
Why, someone once wrote a novel describing this strange scene. "The Strange Status Quo Witnessed in Twenty Years" and "The Appearance of the Officialdom" are satires on the chaotic side of the officialdom at that time, which is only the tip of the iceberg. As one of the four famous ministers of the late Qing Dynasty, Zeng Guofan also had difficulty getting rid of this strange situation, otherwise it would be difficult to have more room for growth. Why it became such an unspoken rule is also a sequelae caused by the system of the founding of the Qing Dynasty.
The peak of corruption in the late Qing Dynasty
The problem of corruption has always been a stubborn disease that the feudal dynasty is difficult to get rid of, and the high concentration of power has brought about the ultimate corruption. But these problems of corruption, at the beginning of the establishment of the dynasty, will be effectively controlled. There is a standard for this limit, and no one dares to touch the red post. It was not until the middle and late period of the dynasty that this restriction began to deteriorate due to the dynastic dominance and institutional shortcomings, and eventually until the overthrow of the dynasty.
However, among the dynasties, there is one dynasty with a relatively exception, that is, the Qing Dynasty. It was a more complex dynasty and the last symbol of a feudal dynasty. At the same time, it is also a new era of national humiliation in the modern century, and because it represents the last old system, it naturally inherits the shortcomings of all dynasties.
He inherited the corrupt system of the late Ming Dynasty, only through the use of force to suppress and lay the foundation for his rule. Opening an extremely complex bureaucratic corrupt code trading rule, everyone knows that the number of Manchu Qing officials is very large. There are dozens of officials in the same duty, and the efficiency is extremely low. With such a huge contingent of officials, there are limited those who have real power and many people who are false officials. In order to be able to get a real shortage, a bribery trade market was deliberately set up to clearly mark the price.
Being an official is the same as doing business, you can borrow usurious loans for advance financing, wait until you have an official position, and then use power mortgages to carry out crazy corruption. "Three years of Qing Prefect, 100,000 snowflakes of silver", this is not a joke, but a real microcosm. The Qing Dynasty was able to stabilize its rule by compromising with these gentry groups and stabilizing the foundation of its regime through the co-optation of officials.
But the corresponding price is that corruption pervades every aspect of the empire. From the early to the middle of the Qing Dynasty, even the late Qing Dynasty suffered greatly. And corruption has become a kind of explicit rule, refined and standardized, and become a new chain of corruption of privileged interests. All walks of life involving the empire became a rule to be observed.
Money becomes the first code of conduct for officials, otherwise nothing can be done. Yuan Shikai's success is that he is willing to spend a lot of money, so that he can finally have the status and achievements of beiyang heavy ministers, late Qing dynasty power ministers, and the first president of the Republic of China. And Li Hongzhang was able to become the person who spoke for the final foreign affairs movement, and it was also because he was willing to spend money to open up various channels that he achieved something. This was the embodiment of corruption in the late Qing Dynasty, which became its characteristic and catalyst for the decline of the empire.
Zeng Guofan's officialdom underwent a transformation
Zeng Guofan, who was a real and powerful vassal of the Han people, was because of this bad habit that he encountered walls everywhere when he first entered the official field, and it was difficult to achieve something. It is not so much a late success as a problem of corruption, which has led to the limitation of his talents. At first, he was also a hot-blooded young man, an aspiring official who served the country. It was only the relentless blow of reality that made him begin to learn the way of the bureaucracy after experiencing bumps and bumps.
His salary in Qingshui Yamen can only maintain his expenses for three months, and the remaining September has to be subsidized by himself. The doorway in this is not something that you can save if you want to clean yourself. Finally, after going through the grinding, I began to accept bribes and dot up and down to have a certain foothold. The situation has gradually improved, which has to be said to be a sadness.
Become a participant and leader of a corrupt group
And even so, it is because of insufficient filial piety, and it is still difficult to make progress in the official arena due to insufficient weight. It was not until the turmoil in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom that he was given a chance. Through the formation of the Xiang Army, the Taiping Army was pacified, and he was made the Governor of Liangjiang for his military merits. But the hardships in this are all needed to be compensated by money, otherwise it can only end in failure.
To this end, it is necessary to carry out corruption and allow the army to loot in order to raise salaries, so as to alleviate financial pressure. Become a participant in a corrupt group and the leader of the Xiang Army. Even so, he still faces the cost of insufficient use as a member of the First Class. There are 13,000 taels of incorruptible silver, but the relationship between moving up and down and filial piety, as well as the cost of doing things, are all through money to open the way and feed the relevant personnel at all levels in order to make progress.
Conclusion: It can be seen that the corruption problem in the late Qing Dynasty at that time has become a catalyst for the decline of the empire. The development of all things is inseparable from the restrictions of the chain of corrupt interests. If you want to do practical things, you must have enough financial resources to rely on them. Why Li Hongzhang lamented that he was a framer of the Qing Dynasty, just a simple repair, it was difficult to change the status quo. It is this problem of corruption that has penetrated deep into the bone marrow and is difficult to remove. Even the four major ZTE celebrities are facing such a dilemma. In the late Qing Dynasty, it was difficult to think of not destroying the country, because the purpose of officials was to use it in greed for money and spend money to buy through dots, and who had the energy to do things for the country.