On December 11 of the third year of Yongzheng, Nian Qianyao was stripped of his knighthood by the Yongzheng Emperor, listed 92 major crimes, and ordered him to commit suicide at the age of 47.
This young general, who was still called a 'benefactor' by the Yongzheng Emperor a year ago and bestowed a knighthood of first class, did not expect that in such a short period of time, he would be stripped of his official title and end up with a ruined family.
But in fact, the Yongzheng Emperor originally wanted to give Nian Qianyao a way to live, but the appearance of this person made Nian Qianyao completely embark on the road of no return!
So, who is this person?
This person's name was 'Cai Jue', a Han army white banner man, Kangxi thirty-six years into the soldier, one year earlier than Nian Tangyao entered the Hanlin Academy, successively served as the head of the Hanlin Academy and the ceremonial department attendant, the official, the bingbu Shangshu and the zuo du yushi and other positions.
Cai Jun was born in a family of eunuchs, and his grandfather Cai Shiying was a famous general in the early Qing Dynasty; his father, Cai Yurong, served as the governor of Yungui and was a feudal official.
In terms of seniority, Cai Jun is higher than Nian Qianyao, but in terms of ability and speed of promotion, Cai Jun is far inferior to Nian Qianyao.
In the thirty-ninth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, after the year of The Tang Dynasty, by the forty-eighth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, he had been promoted to the rank of Inspector of Sichuan and became a feudal official. At the same time, Cai Jun was just a petty official.
Cai Ju was originally a member of the "Four Masters Party", and was also introduced to Yongzheng by Nian Qianyao, and was later promoted.
If Cai Jun was a thousand-mile horse, that year Tang Yao was his Bole.
So, why do you say that Nian Qianyao's death is related to Cai Jun?
In August of the 61st year of the Kangxi Dynasty, Cai Jun's life took a turn for the worse, and he was ordered to succeed Nian Qianyao as the governor of Sichuan.
When he went to Rehe to meet the Kangxi Emperor, under the arrangement of Nian Qianyao, he met Yongzheng and became Yongzheng's confidant.
Originally, the relationship between Nian Qianyao and Cai Jun was very good, but later for some reasons, the two had a dispute.
So much so that at the time of the Nian Tang Yao incident, Cai Xun also became a direct booster!
One of the most important reasons is the question of whether Cheng Rusi, the prefect of Sichuan Province, is in office!
Figure | Nian TangYao (stills)
In the first year of Yongzheng, Nian Qianyao impeached Cheng Rusi for selling smuggled salt and mutilating salt merchants, and suggested that this person be investigated and dealt with.
However, Cai Jun was tit-for-tat, and shangqu called Cheng Rusi "the best official in Sichuan".
This made Nian Qianyao angry enough, and the contradiction between the two deepened, and finally offended Nian Qianyao and was impeached.
At that time, the Yongzheng Emperor still needed Nian Tangyao to quell the rebellion in the northwest, so he could only refute Cai's words.
Later, when the Yongzheng Emperor purged the 'Nian Dang', Cai Jue was the first to stand up and expose and impeach Nian Qianyao.
In February of the third year of Yongzheng, the Yongzheng Emperor summoned Cai Jue and awarded him the title of Imperial History of the Left Capital of the Imperial Inspection Bureau, becoming the main person in charge of the investigation of Nian Qianyao's case.
Figure | Statue of the Yongzheng Emperor
With the deepening of the Nian Tangyao case, Cai Ju also continued to be crowned by the Yongzheng Emperor, and later concurrently held the posts of Bingbu Shangshu and Libu Shangshu.
In the Eight Banners, he was also appointed as the commander of the White Banner of the Han Army, and also held a local important position, the viceroy directly subordinate to him.
Therefore, it can be seen that Cai Jun's promotion of yin and yang is carried out simultaneously with the irreparable whereabouts of Nian Qianyao.
In other words, Cai Ju is stepping on Nian Tangyao step by step!
However, although Cai Jue found out many of Nian Qianyao's crimes, the Yongzheng Emperor always hovered between "killing and not killing".
Because no matter what, Nian Qianyao was also a hero of the Qing Dynasty, and he was also a great hero who helped him consolidate his imperial power, and the personal relationship between the two was not bad;
In addition, Yongzheng had previously told the people of the world about his close relationship with Nian Qianyao, and if he put Nian Qianyao to death, what would the people of the world think of him? How would historians write about him?
Therefore, whether it is public or private, or some other reason, it is difficult for Yongzheng to make a choice.
And just when Yongzheng was hesitating, Cai Jue suddenly jumped out again!
Figure | Yongzheng Emperor (stills)
Cai Jue, who was himself the "Fourth Master Party", had already thoroughly thought through the careful thinking of the Yongzheng Emperor, and he knew what method to use to prompt Yongzheng to make up his mind to get rid of Nian Qianyao.
First of all, Yongzheng was a man who liked to raid his home, and once the corruption crimes of officials were verified, Yongzheng would immediately send someone to clean up their homes, even the homes of their relatives and children.
According to records: In the first year of Yongzheng alone, there were dozens of officials at all levels who were dismissed from their posts and raided their homes, many of whom were senior officials of more than three pins.
Therefore, during the handling of Nian Qianyao's case, Yongzheng was also worried about Nian Qianyao's corruption and bribery, so he ordered the provincial governors to strictly investigate Nian Qianyao's hidden property.
At that time, Cai Xun was also the governor directly subordinate to him, and he spared no effort to thoroughly investigate more than 10 properties in Baoding.
In addition, Yongzheng's personal bodyguard Tu Lichen also found out that when Nian Qianyao was transferred to the general of Hangzhou, he had transferred a large amount of property, but these properties are now missing. This incident greatly annoyed the Yongzheng Emperor, and his hatred for Nian Qianyao was one more point.
Secondly, Yongzheng also liked to strictly investigate the children of the offending officials.
In the period of feudal society, for those who committed the most heinous crimes, they generally sat for three generations, or even several generations, and their purpose was to cut off their family incense.
And those who commit felonies, most of them will hide their descendants to continue the family incense. For example, in the "Yongzheng Dynasty", Nian Qianyao arranged for his wives and concubines to hide in the folk to keep his incense.
In fact, Yongzheng's original intention did not want to destroy the entire Nian clan, and later proved this, except for Nian Qianyao's eldest son Nian Fu, who was beheaded, the rest of the people were only sentenced to "exile", and in the fifth year of Yongzheng, Yongzheng also ordered a pardon for Nian Qianyao's children.
However, in that situation at that time, Nian Qianyao also had to make plans early.
Leaving aside for the moment whether it was really as stated in the Yongzheng Dynasty, Nian Qianyao arranged for his wives and concubines to go out, but it is certain that he did pass on one of his sons to Yang Jing, who was then a Sichuan counselor.
During the liquidation of the Nian Dang, The Governor of Sichuan, Wang Jinghao, had concealed the matter, but cai Xun learned of it by various means and reported it to the Yongzheng Emperor.
After Yongzheng heard this, he was greatly angered and immediately escorted Wang Jinghao all the way to the capital, and he was deposed after just one year of being an inspector.
Third, Yongzheng is very concerned about the care and contact between the members of the 'Nian Party';
In fact, no matter which dynasty the emperor is, he is very concerned about the mutual care and contact between the members of a certain faction of the DPRK.
Because once such a complex relationship is formed, then the government and the opposition will be controlled by a certain party, so the situation in the DPRK will be affected, and it will be difficult to consolidate the imperial power.
Of course, it doesn't matter if this relationship is positive, but throughout thousands of years of history, this positive relationship basically does not exist, because power often blinds people's minds.
Therefore, the monarchs of successive dynasties have tried to eliminate these so-called "parties", and the Yongzheng Emperor is naturally no exception.
After Nian Qianyao's departure, the people who came to defect to him could be described as an endless stream, and gradually formed the "Nian Party" headed by Nian Qianyao.
For the members of the "Nian Party", Nian Qianyao basically spared no effort to support them, such as Li Weijun, the former governor directly under the governor, who was a concubine henchman who was pulled up by Nian Qianyao.
The first time Yongzheng ordered the confiscation of Nian Qianyao's family property in Baoding, it was this Li Weijun who single-handedly handled it.
However, Li Weijun was originally a close associate of Nian Qianyao, so in the actual process of raiding, Li Weijun always took into account personal friendship, so he withheld three hundred taels of silver and two privately and distributed them to Nian Qianyao's servants in Baoding, so that they could settle down and buy a house.
From an emotional point of view, Li Weijun's approach is beyond reproach, but now he is doing things for the country, but he is so favoritism and fraud, which is undoubtedly undesirable, and if he is found out, he cannot escape.
It turns out that Li Weijun has miscalculated after all!
Cai Jun had been secretly keeping a close eye on Li Weijun, and he knew everything about Li Weijun's private seizure of silver and silver, and after finding out who was distributing it, he reported it all to Yongzheng.
Later, Li Weijun was deposed, and Cai Jun picked up a loophole and became the new governor directly subordinate.
After a few events, the Yongzheng Emperor's attitude toward Nian Qianyao underwent a huge change, from the original hesitation to the determination to get rid of him.
In the end, under the strict supervision of the Yongzheng Emperor, Nian Qianyao's henchmen fell one after another, from the governor to the qianzong and the Daotai, almost none of them were spared, and as many as 46 people were dismissed from their posts and investigated, and Nian Qianyao himself also ended up with a tragic end of suicide.
Therefore, from the case of Nian Qianyao, it is not difficult for us to see that if there is no appearance of Cai Xun, then Nian Qianyao may not end up in such a tragic underground.
Of course, history has no ifs, and this is only the author's speculation. According to the crimes of Nian Qianyao at that time, being ordered to die can be said to be the "extra-legal grace" of the Yongzheng Emperor.
Why?
Because among these crimes in Nian Qianyao, there are only 5 "crimes of great rebellion", 16 "crimes of trespassing", 13 "crimes of rebellion", 4 crimes of "cruelty", 18 "crimes of greed", and many more, a total of ninety-two crimes.
Although many of these crimes are fictional, it is undeniable that Nian Qianyao did commit unforgivable sins.
Take the "crime of greed" as an example, when Yongzheng ordered the confiscation of Nian Qianyao's family property, there were 297 plots of land and 1200 houses in the real estate alone.
In addition, he also hoarded mountains of property during his tenure, transported to Hangzhou in twenty cars, seventy or eighty ships, and stored them in acquaintances everywhere on the way, and if there was any mistake, he could also live his life with these properties.
When Nian Qianyao was demoted to the rank of general of Hangzhou, there were thousands of people accompanying him, including family members, and there were servants below the servants, which showed his extravagance.
Of course, some people may say: How can such a shrewd person as Nian Qianyao not know such a simple truth as "the birds are exhausted, the good bows are hidden; the cunning rabbits die, and the lackeys cook"? Why don't you know how to restrain and restrain your behavior?
Figure | Stills from "Yongzheng Dynasty"
In fact, there are many explanations on this issue, and there are many opinions, but the author believes that the main reason is that Nian Qianyao lacks a clear understanding of what kind of emperor the Yongzheng Emperor really was.
Because Nian Qianyao had long been accustomed to the lenient political environment of the Kangxi period, even if he was slightly condemned, he could still fight for his outstanding military achievements, and his sister was a noble concubine favored by the Yongzheng Emperor, so the punishment would not be resolved in the end, so he never took the Yongzheng Emperor in his eyes.
Of course, this is also the author's family's words, what do you think? Welcome to leave a message in the comment area, let's discuss together!
References: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Yongzheng Emperor: China's Dictatorial Monarch, On the Death of Nian Tangyao, etc.;