Wang Wenyuan Xin Ugly Reading Lock No. 6:
Li Lianying, the great eunuch of the late Qing Dynasty, how did the huge property disappear?
Li Lianying was one of the last eunuchs. From entering the palace at the age of nine, to his thirties, he ascended to the top of the eunuchs, became a red man by the side of Empress Dowager Cixi, and then stood for more than fifty years without falling! After experiencing countless bloody rains and storms, he has also accumulated countless wealth. At the same time, it also shows that he has his own unique side in dealing with the world.
First, let's talk about Li Lianying's property! Li Lianying was the Great Eunuch of Erpin and had been sitting in this position for more than fifty years. Its collection of praise, looted property, is very large. According to some statistics, Li Lianying's family property includes real estate and deposits and various gold and silver jewelry, at least five or six million two, and some people say that it is as much as ten million two.
At that time, Gansu's annual income was only about three million taels, while the expenditure was four or five million taels. A eunuch, who did not trade or do business, relied on bribes to accumulate family property, which was actually worth the annual income of some remote provinces. This is also a phenomenon of the late Qing Dynasty.
So, how did Li Lianying's huge wealth come about?
Li Lianying, born in 1848 in Dacheng County, Shuntian Province, now Li Jia Village, Zangtun Township, Dacheng County, Hebei Province, was born in Qihe, Shandong, and entered the palace as a eunuch at the age of 8. Li Lianying entered the palace from Duanhua Mansion, prince of Zheng.
Inside the palace, the life of the eunuchs was very difficult and more dangerous. It is not easy to get ahead of tens of thousands of eunuchs. The eunuchs of the imperial palace are hierarchical, each has its own power, and each other, all kinds of two sides and three knives, all kinds of face to face set behind one set. Some people are very publicity, such as Li Lianying's predecessor Ande Hai. An Dehai died because of Zhang Yang, and when An Dehai started the Coup d'état, he risked his life to contact Cixi, pass on information to all parties, and eventually became a hero. Unfortunately, too ostentatious. In the end, he provoked the clique of civil officials and was executed by Ding Baozhen, the governor of Shandong, for violating the ancestral precept that "eunuchs are not allowed to leave the capital", and also violently killed for three days.
After the Accident of Andehai, Li Lianying gradually emerged, and he also summed up his own way of dealing with the world. Be careful not to offend people easily, and if you do, you will kill the other party. Li Lianying has a witty personality, likes to tell jokes, although she read less when she was a child, but the jokes she tells are exquisite and round, not vulgar, and quite popular. When Cixi was fine, she often asked him to tell a joke to relieve everyone's boredom. Li Lianying's epitaph reads: "Respect in matters, leniency in matters, if there is a year, there is no slackness." "Being a person is more generous, if you can help, you can help, and if you can help, you can help." Be even more careful with the civilian generals.
There is an old saying: "It is good to practice in the public gate!" "Take Li Lianying's position, to the officials who have met, casually reveal, how is Cixi feeling?" I am very annoyed about what I do, and so on, and I not only have a relationship with officials, but also naturally receive a lot of filial piety.
For some well-known members, Li Lianying naturally greeted them carefully. Zuo Zongtang left Shaanxi and Gansu and returned to the Beijing Division as a military minister. Zuo Zongtang was more dissatisfied with Li Lianying. Probably the nature of literati and eunuchs. Li Lianying also paid a special visit to Zuo Zongtang, but Zuo Daren paid little attention to him. Li Lianying was still more attentive to visiting Zuo Zongtang, and specially prepared Hunan pepper oil made of wild dogwood and fine red pepper pure small ground incense oil, accompanied by brown sugar and cooked sesame seeds.
However, Zuo Zongtang did not appreciate it. It is said that in the end, there was no collection. Obviously, in front of Zuo Zongtang, Li Lianying was still relatively low-key. It is said that later, Li Lianying still gave Cixi a rumor and asked him to be transferred to the governorship of Liangjiang.
After the 1898 Coup d'état, Guangxu was imprisoned in Yingtai, and the food sent by Cixi was all bad. Li Lianying often took the opportunity to hide the cake in her sleeve and bring it to Guangxu, and Guangxu was very grateful.
However, Li Lianying's treatment of people is indeed based on harmony. There is a story that says that there was a year of Cixi's great birthday, and an official prepared a special birthday gift. A self-chiming bell. Unlike ordinary self-chiming bells, this self-chiming bell is relatively large and looks very grand. This is not to mention, there is a mechanism on the top, every time the time comes, there will be a girl, come out, slowly unfolded, a scroll, the scroll is red, written on it "long life without boundaries." This self-chiming bell is worth a lot, but the officials are not sure whether "Lafayette" likes it or not, so they ask Li Lianying to check it first. After Li Lianying saw it, she felt very strange and could completely arouse the interest of Lafayette.
However, he asked a question, if at that time, the organs fail, and what will happen if there is "no life"? As soon as these words came out, the local officials immediately broke out in a cold sweat. How can this be done?
The cost of this self-chiming bell is not low, and where to temporarily buy a birthday gift? However, Li Lianying gave him a way to change the words on the scroll to "Shou Shou Shou Shou", so that no matter what came out, a few words could be said. After hearing this, this official was very grateful, and naturally it was a big gift.
Li Lianying was appointed second in charge of Tongzhi for six years. Empress Dowager Cixi gave her the name Lianying, commonly known as Lotus Ying. During his time in the palace, he was deeply respected by Empress Dowager Cixi, accompanied Empress Dowager Cixi for nearly fifty-three years, and in the twenty years of Guangxu (1894), the 46-year-old Li Lianying was rewarded with wearing a flower plume on the top of erpin. Although this is only a symbol of honor, it is something that has never been seen among eunuchs. The Yongzheng Emperor stipulated that the rank of eunuchs should be limited to four products, but Cixi broke the rules handed down by his ancestors for Li Lianying.
Li Lianying commanded all the eunuchs in the Qing Palace, was the most powerful eunuch in the late Qing Dynasty, and was the first person to call Empress Dowager Cixi "Lafayette". In the first year of Xuanun, at the age of 61, he retired after a hundred days of filial piety for Cixi. In order to retire safely, Li Lianying handed over the silver deposits of the three houses in the palace, about one million taels. Finally, in exchange for the unanimous opinion of Empress Longyu and the military ministers, he was ordered to go out of the palace to idle. Empress Longyu allowed her "original retirement", that is, to retire with the original salary of 60 taels of silver per month. Li Lianying died in 1911 at the age of 64.
Now, what we care about li Lianying is how the family property of five or six million taels is gone?
Before Li Lianying died, she took out a part of the silver he had buried in the courtyard and divided it into four parts, and gave it to his four heirs, nephews and stepdaughters. The heirs each received 400,000 taels, the nephews each received 200,000 taels, and the stepdaughter received 170,000 taels. In this way, about 2.5 million taels were spent. In addition, there are still 3 million taels in the palace, which can only pretend to be confused and not want to. In addition, it is the deposit of foreign banks, house land, etc.
Who knows, the silver stored in Li Lianying's house has triggered a big competition, and several heirs, nephews, and stepdaughters have dug around in search of silver. Dig it up, and you fight with each other. The dying Li Lianying could only stare dryly.
Ever since he left the palace, there have been people coming, visiting, visiting, and these people have only one purpose, that is, to see his silver. Li Lianying's deposits in foreign banks were almost squeezed out by these people.
On the fourth day of the first month of February in the third year of Xuanun (1911), Li Lianying was killed, and on the sixth day of february, Empress Longyu surrendered, according to the ancestral family law, Li Lianying belonged to the eunuchs of more than six pins, gave a piece of land, buried in the Grand Ducal Land of Enjizhuang, and gave an altar and 1,000 silver for funerals. The scale of the Li family's funeral this time was also very large, and when they came out of the funeral, they also engaged in four ways to hide their eyes and ears. It's also a big expense.
Soon, the Qing Dynasty collapsed, the Beiyang warlords held great power, these people are not easy to fool, Li Lianying's family property and deposits, became the prey of the Beiyang upstarts.
Eventually, it vanished. Therefore, some people commented that a eunuch can reach this level, which is also extraordinary!