The Qianlong Emperor reigned for 60 years, making him the longest-lived emperor in Chinese history who actually held the highest power in the country and the longest-lived emperor. The person who has been in power for a long time can easily form an "illusion of power", what he sees and hears is the positive information that supports power, and the negative information is purged as wrong information.
In fact, in his early years, the Qianlong Emperor was very astute, and he was very vigilant against the deceptive tricks of his subordinates. In his later years, his self-confidence became more and more inflated, and the weakness of joy and evil was gradually exposed. Naturally, the ministers also spied the direction of the wind, and reported good news rather than worry.
It is said that after the Qianlong Emperor had finished his eightieth birthday in a beautiful way, he was angry because of the "negative reports" brought by a minister named Yin Zhuangtu!
This official in Beijing named Yin Zhuangtu proposed abolishing the "system of discussing crimes and silver", that is, officials who make mistakes can be offset with money according to the size of the crime, and later became a means for ministers to bribe Qianlong, and ministers who did not make mistakes also found various reasons to send money to Qianlong.
Yin Zhuangtu believes that many local governments now have a particularly large financial deficit, and if this system is not abolished, I am afraid that it will bring very serious consequences. After Reading the Recital, Qianlong gave the reply, and qiang endured the displeasure in his heart, saying that he had "insights", but then defended himself in the repertoire reply.
Qianlong probably meant that I was so wise and mighty that I would minimize the risk of this system, and then Qianlong asked a question to Yin Zhuangtu, which means that you said that there was a deficit in local finances, is there any evidence? The fold of approval soon reached Yin Zhuangtu's hands, and he did not dare to explain the situation to Qianlong for a moment.
Yin Zhuangtu's fold was replied to and quickly sent to Qianlong's hands, and Qianlong saw Yin Zhuangtu's return and became even more angry.
Yin Zhuangtu said in the fold that he returned to his hometown in Yunnan this time and found that the local financial deficit was particularly serious, and along the way, he found that the financial deficit in many places was also very serious, and there were more serious problems. It was he who discovered that the bureaucracy of the Qing Dynasty was corrupt from top to bottom, and many officials did nothing.
Yin Zhuangtu also said in the fold, if the emperor does not believe what I say, you can send an official you trust to go with me to secretly visit, the situation will soon be verified, but will Qianlong adopt it?
The answer is of course not! Qianlong's disposition is that of an ostrich, buried in the sand, and if he does not believe, he will not believe. But he also hindered face, to round this situation, he did not take Yin Zhuangtu's opinion, but made a holy will, I bet with you, I want to see if the state's warehouse is what you said, if so, my fifty-five years of emperor will be in vain, is a faint prince, let you officials deceive, if there is no such situation, you can not escape the crime of deception.
Therefore, the Qianlong Emperor sent a household official named Qingcheng to go with him to the surrounding provinces to check the warehouses, but Qianlong still had a condition that was unbelievable.
Qianlong not only did not adopt Yin Zhuangtu's suggestion for a secret visit, but instead asked them to report to the local area in advance when they reached each province five hundred miles. In addition, the Qianlong Emperor was extremely angry, and said in the Holy Will that Qingcheng was an official appointed by the state, and all expenses were reimbursed by the state, and you Yin Zhuangtu traveled voluntarily, so all the expenses were borne by yourself. As a result, Yin Zhuangtu and Qingcheng traveled together, and the team in front of Qingcheng was quite pompous, while Yin Zhuangtu could only ride a small mule behind. Then the results of this inventory of the warehouse everyone thought of it, Yin Zhuangtu is bound to lose!
After these officials got the news, they made up all the deficits early on, and did not wait for them to check the accounts well.
Yin Zhuangtu had no choice but to go back and write a recital, saying that he had framed others, and his words were very earnest, and Yin Zhuangtu's final end was to resign his official and go home.
This was the only time in his later years that the Qianlong Emperor was pointed out by the chancellor that the Qing Dynasty was a very serious problem, but Qianlong, because of excessive complacency, did not pay attention to it, but felt that others were talking nonsense, how could there be official corruption, state financial deficits, and so on under the prosperous world. Since then, no more officials have told Qianlong the truth, officials are becoming more and more corrupt day by day, and the Qianlong Emperor has planted the root cause of the Qing Dynasty!