In the ancient Chinese dynasties, although each dynasty had no shortage of Ming emperors, it was still impossible to avoid the phenomenon of corruption. Speaking of corrupt officials in ancient times, I believe that the first name that everyone says must be Hezhen. It is said that the wealth that He Yan had collected in his lifetime reached between 800 million and 1.1 billion taels of silver, and if the value of some rare treasures collected by the He Yan family was included, its wealth was even greater than the amount of all the financial revenue of the Qing government in the entire 15 years.
At the beginning of his career, it was really a history of hard work and tears. He Yan lost his mother at the age of three, lost his father at the age of nine, and was named Luosun Shan when he took the imperial examination for the first time, fortunately, he finally got an opportunity to work as an errand boy in the emperor's honor guard by virtue of his shrewd and capable ability, and He Yan seized the opportunity and finally became an official with his favorable performance.
Washu's first official position was "Minister of Treasury", and from then on, he never lost a single opportunity, and in just two years, he was promoted to minister in charge of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In the early days, he was very clean and honest, but as his official position increased, he also began to gradually taste the taste of power and became a big corrupt official.
It is reasonable to say that Qianlong could not have been unaware of the fact that He yan had embezzled such a large amount of money, but he was very flexible in mind, had strong working ability, and was also very good at patting the emperor's ass, which won Qianlong's trust and love.
In qianlong's later years, although he had given way to his son Emperor Jiaqing, he did not release all his rights, and Jiaqing could only be regarded as a nominal emperor. Later, when Qianlong was confused and could not speak clearly, He Yan could always say what Qianlong meant.
Since then, He Yan has been in control of the power of the DPRK and China, forming henchmen all over the country and spreading eyeliner widely. Jiaqing saw it in his eyes and hated it in his heart, but he was jealous of his father Qianlong and did not dare to do anything with Hezhen.
On February 7, 1799, the news of Qianlong's death suddenly came out of the palace, and He yan knew that a great disaster was coming. Within a few days, Jiaqing sent someone to raid Hezhen's home, listed more than 20 crimes for him, and sentenced him to death.
At the time of his death, He Yan suddenly got a will left by Qianlong, and He Yan thought that he had caught a life-saving straw, but when he opened the edict with great anticipation, he found that there were only three words written "leave the whole body", and He Yan was also completely dumbfounded, and hanged himself at home.
Although He Yan was executed by Jiaqing, the trend of corruption did not stop in the Qing Dynasty, Jiaqing was not able to revive its glory, and the Qing Dynasty also declined step by step.