Nowadays, there are many film and television dramas on historical themes, and most of these TV dramas are set in the Qing Dynasty, but we will find that the rule of the Qing Dynasty is very backward, and even in the later period, there is a state of retreat, unwilling to trade with outside countries, resulting in national strength becoming very weak, and later literati put all the charges on Empress Dowager Cixi' body, and it is this woman who only pays attention to her own status and the rights in her hands, and uses arbitrary rule, which is actually a traitor in disguise. This is also a very unique existence in history, in fact, there is another sinner hidden behind the elimination of the Qing Dynasty, which is the qianlong emperor who is very famous in history.
When many people mention the Qianlong Emperor, they are often associated with those images in film and television dramas, especially the "Huan Zhu Gege" written by Aunt Qiong Yao, the father image he created in it is very benevolent, and there is a hearty laugh, which leads later people to think that he is a good emperor, at least in his control of the government, there is a very prosperous scene, in fact, it is just a kind of false propaganda. At that time, many ordinary people secretly scolded him, saying that he was an emperor who liked to preach merit everywhere, especially when he was very conceited in his old age, and often told the people around him that he was a perfect old man.
But those who have a little brain know that he is not a wise monarch, in fact, he is very similar to the current rich second generation, just coveting pleasure, with the status and family property left by his grandfather and father, he squandered at will, traveled outside many times during his tenure as monarch, and also reached the Jiangnan region, built a lot of luxurious palaces, and spent the country's treasury clean. At his side there was a big corrupt official and a big official, who used his power to embezzle a lot of property, and it was said that the other party's family property value was very large, and each region had its own private property.
At that time, when Yongzheng was in power, in fact, the Qing Dynasty was already a devastated image, and at that time there was a very corrupt phenomenon everywhere, and as a constant embezzlement of money by those officials in the court, they would not rule for the people at all. Even if his father Kangxi created an era that was considered to be peaceful by later generations, there were also some details in this, that is, the corruption problems of many officials could not be effectively controlled, and the deficit in the state treasury was very serious, especially after Yongzheng ascended the throne. Although Yongzheng did not reign for a long time, he was a very fierce person, and after he became emperor, he would immediately punish corrupt officials after discovering them.
During his reign, the national treasury of the country increased from the original 8 million taels to 50 million taels, which is a very large value. However, during Qianlong's reign, he personally promoted Hezhen and gave the other party a very high position, and even found out that the other party had accepted money and property, and chose to be silent. He arrived in the Jiangnan region many times and spent a lot of money, resulting in a very corrupt phenomenon in the entire official field.
Not only that, he vigorously flaunted that he had adopted a policy of closing customs, and many countries in the West in the same era had actually reached modernization, whether it was the development of culture and industry was very rapid, but at this time he was completely immersed in his own fantasy and completely unwilling to communicate with the outside world, which was equivalent to completely closing the whole country in a closed state.
According to historical data, British envoys once came to China, hoping that the two countries could establish good diplomatic relations, and specially showed Qianlong the hot air balloons and steam engines of their own countries, these particularly advanced achievements of the industrial revolution, but he was not at all interested in these things. The other party carefully prepared these gifts, and discarded them as garbage. This British official returned to his home country and said that the Qing government at that time did not know how to absorb the advantages of others, believing that it was superior and would definitely lag behind in the future, that is to say, Qianlong was the biggest culprit that made China lag behind the West, and it was precisely because of his ignorance that he had the later shame.