What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
The problem of corruption, whether in ancient society or in today's Chinese society, is the most serious problem facing the government, and its severity may directly lead to the demise and replacement of a dynasty, so the problem of corruption has always been valued. Sometimes, we often see from the news which tiger was caught today, and everyone cheered and the amount of corruption disclosed was staggering.
However, if you compare it to a big embezzler in ancient Chinese society, these tigers are simply small flies. So who is this person? People familiar with Chinese history may have heard such a sentence, and Yan fell, Jiaqing was full. Yes, we are going to talk today about the largest amount of embezzlement in history. The meaning of this sentence is that He Yan has fallen, and his property confiscation can be enough for the Jiaqing Emperor to eat for many years without worrying. Hezhen's wealth can hardly be described as rich and invincible.
Speaking of Hezhen's origin, it is not very good, just an ordinary Manchurian Zhenghongqi vice-capital family, and his parents died early, and Hezhen had to live with his brother and Lin from an early age. Due to the early death of his parents, Hezhen was ostracized by the rest of the family, and if it were not for the protection of an old family member who was loyal to his father and a partial house, I am afraid that Hezhen would have been swept out of the house at a very young age. It is precisely because of the hardships of life when he was young that He yan vowed to get ahead and earn more money to live a good life.
He Yan has a clever brain, has been familiar with the classics since childhood, studied under the famous teacher Wu Shenglan, and is also proficient in the four languages of Manchu, Mongolian, Han and Tibetan, which can be said to be a personal talent. However, in the imperial examination, Hezhen was named Sun Shan. Later, with the help of the civilian staff to inherit the third-class light car lieutenant, he was able to enter the palace to serve. Because he was often able to see the Qianlong Emperor, the talented He Yan quickly entered the qianlong Emperor's vision.
The Qianlong Emperor appointed He Yan to manage the finances, and the management of He Yan was orderly, and the Qianlong Emperor was very satisfied, and slowly began to trust He Yan. The officials of Hezhen became bigger and bigger, and at first they could restrain themselves and not be corrupt. Later, it was finally out of control, in the face of a lot of money. In particular, the corruption case of Li Shuyao, the governor of Yungui, was handled, and although He Yan found out the facts of the case, he beheaded Li Shuyao. However, almost all the wealth of Li Shiyao and his party was swallowed up by He yan, and in addition, the Qianlong Emperor rewarded him with a large amount of gold and silver jewelry in order to reward he for his meritorious service in handling the case. For the first time, He yan tasted a lot of money in this way.
From then on, as long as he was involved in his authority, he was bound to earn silver, and sometimes he openly demanded bribes and sold officials. Not only that, but he also used his power to do business, opened a large number of silver trumpets and businesses, and accumulated more and more wealth. Because of the favor of the Qianlong Emperor, Hezhen's status was even higher than that of the Jiaqing Emperor. At that time, the Qianlong Emperor was the Emperor Taishang, and the Jiaqing Emperor needed to nod his head to deal with political affairs, because only Hezhen could understand and understand the mind of the Emperor Taishang.
Many ministers were angry with Hezhen, and almost no one in the court except Liu Yong opposed him. After the death of the Qianlong Emperor, the Jiaqing Emperor ordered the funeral of He yanzhi. Soon more than a dozen counts were promulgated and convicted, and all property was confiscated. Because the princess married his son, she was able to commit suicide with dignity. When the property was confiscated, He yan's family was 800 million taels of silver, and at that time, the Qing government's annual fiscal revenue was only 70 million, and he yan's wealth was equivalent to fifteen years of fiscal revenue.
It was this prevalence of decadent corruption that led to the decline of the Qing Dynasty and the destruction of the basic order of social fairness. Therefore, there must be absolute zero tolerance for corruption.