The most legendary official in the Qing Dynasty officialdom was Li Wei. He went through the three dynasties of Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong, and was a man of integrity and righteousness; he was loyal and upright to his subjects; and he was honest and honest for the people. But such a cattle man, why didn't his descendants make a big show? Let's explore it with xiaobian.
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In some modern film and television dramas, Li Wei is interpreted as an illiterate image of Dou Dazi who does not know a basket, even if it is to play a fold to the emperor, because illiterate can only be delivered by drawing pictures. Somewhat similar to Wei Xiaobao in Jin Yong's novel, he gave Kangxi a fold.
But we know that Wei Xiaobao is a fictional character in the novel, and the novel pays attention to the wonderful plot to entertain the reader, as long as the reader is happy to read it, even if some unsubstantiated situations appear, it is harmless. But Li Wei is real in history, and the reason why he gives people the impression of being illiterate is probably because his officials were donated.
Li Wei donated an official to the Kangxi Dynasty in 1717, when he was 29 years old. What kind of official is Yuanwaihao? From ancient novels, we can often read about a certain person in a certain province or county, and the staff here is from the outside of the staff. Because the funds required to donate a person's foreign servants are not cheap, it is generally the wealthy merchants and rich gentlemen who have a good family who can afford to donate. Therefore, over time people will be regarded as rich landlords or rich people.
Li Wei's donation of yuanwai was from Wupin, and it is said that it cost about 9,000 taels of silver at that time. This is definitely a lot of money, both then and now. The officials who donate are generally vacant posts of candidates, and sometimes they have bad luck and may not wait for decades to wait for the actual vacancy. Li Wei was very lucky, and it did not take long for him to join the military department and take up a real post. Later, he was appointed as the head of the hubu, that is to say, Li Wei was already a small head of the department in the hubu.
However, Li Wei's real peace and prosperity was after the Yongzheng Emperor ascended the throne. He was first appointed as a zhili yi (直立驿道), but before he arrived, he was reappointed as a Yunnan Yanyi dao, and then from an envoy to Zhejiang. In the fifth year of Yongzheng (1727), Li Wei was promoted to governor of Zhejiang.
From 1717, when he was a donor to become a feudal official on the ruling side in 1727, Li Wei reached a height that was difficult for others to reach in his lifetime in just ten years, and all this was not achieved by luck alone.
Looking at Li Wei's career experience, one of his major achievements is the investigation of smuggled salt. The salt tax was one of the important taxes of the Qing Dynasty, and when Li Wei was in charge of the salt administration, there were a large number of organizations selling salt at that time, the structure was complex, the smuggling activities were extensive, and the phenomenon of armed gatherings to sell smuggled salt often occurred.
In view of these problems, On the one hand, Li Wei promptly and effectively appealed to the imperial court, believing that in order to deal with the rampant problem of illegal salt in Zhejiang, it is necessary to take Haining Chang'an Town as the center, spread outward, deploy a certain number of troops, and strengthen inspections. On the other hand, Li Wei took the initiative to attack and break down one by one to crack down on smuggling activities, and achieved remarkable results.
Li Wei also attached great importance to the people's livelihood project, actively built sea ponds, led the people to reclaim wasteland, reduced taxes, and won the unanimous support of the people. In addition to investigating illegal salt and caring for the people's livelihood, Li Wei was also good at suppressing localities, and from the perspective of the Qing court, he was good at catching "thieves." This played a positive role in stabilizing the rule of the Qing government.
However, what makes Li Wei more worthy of people's praise is his noble character of being just and not afraid of the powerful. In the eleventh year of Yongzheng (1733), Li Wei impeached the brother of ortai, who was then the first assistant of the cabinet and the brother of the scholar ertai of dian university, and the commander of the infantry army, Orqi camped to harass the people and fish and flesh people, and after investigation, Li Wei won the yongzheng Emperor's commendation; in the second year of Qianlong (1737), Li Wei said that Prince Cheng's palace guarded Cook to compete for land with the people of Anzhou, and the situation was true, and the Qianlong Emperor rewarded Li Wei for enforcing the law; in the third year of Qianlong (1738), Li Wei impeached the river governor Zhu Zao for his corruption and inferior deeds, and his brother Zhu Wei wanted to blackmail local officials and intervene in disaster relief. After the investigation of the officials Shangshu Neqin and the Punishment Department Shangshu Sun Jiagan, the situation was true, and finally Zhu Zao and Zhu Yu were brought to justice...
As a Han Chinese, Li Wei dared to impeach the prince and Manchu officials, which was indeed a risk in the Qing Dynasty. While he received the approval of the emperor, the supreme leader at the time, he also offended some of the powerful people of the dynasty, and the power of these powerful people in the dynasty was intertwined. Therefore, after Li Wei's death, his descendants did not have any great achievements in the official field of the Qing Dynasty. Except for his eldest son Li Xingyuanguan (李星垣官) to the viceroy of Liangguang (二廣督), and his second son Li Xingju (李星聚官) to Yanjian Shaodao (陳建邵道) in Fujian, most of the other descendants were unknown. This is likely to be some of the magnates that Li Wei offended during his lifetime, and some suppression was carried out against his descendants.
In any case, Li Wei in the Qing Dynasty officialdom is indeed a legend. After his death, the Qianlong Imperial Pen inscribed him: Crown Prince Shaobao Bingbu Shangshu and The Right Deputy Governor of the Imperial Household, Yushi Zhili, was directly subordinate to the governor Of Yu Min Da Gong Li Wei.
Today, Li Wei's tomb is located in the northeast corner of the government station of Dashahe Town, Feng County. Unfortunately, during the Qing Dynasty, the Yellow River flooded and washed away some of the above-ground structures of the tomb, and the tomb of Li Wei that we see now was renovated and rebuilt in the 1990s. Li Wei is a legend, and everything he does really deserves our respect.
Citation: "Li Wei As an Official" Author: Liu Heping Publisher: Hainan Publishing House
Wenlan Hairun Studio Editor-in-Chief Wen Xiucai, this article is written: Special History Writer: Mei Lichang