The largest corrupt official during the Qianlong Dynasty, Hejun, was reused by the Qianlong Emperor from the age of early twenties, and he has always stayed by his side, and his power is tilted towards the ruling and opposition; After Qianlong's death, the Jiaqing Emperor took the throne and arrested Helong in front of Qianlong's spiritual hall, and within a few days, Helong was given to commit suicide at the age of 49.
In just over twenty years, Hejun's greedy family property was equivalent to 15 years of income in the Qing Dynasty;
"Helong is poured, Jiaqing is full", in the history of more than 200 years of the Qing Dynasty, Helong is a unique existence.
Our impression of Hejun generally stays in the role of Hejun played by Wang Gang, who likes to sneak around and pat horses, left and right, likes financial management, and fights with "Iron Tooth Copper Tooth Ji Xiaolan".
But in fact, the real Hejun in history is not just a corrupt official: he is a person with high appearance, talent and knows how to "do what he likes"; We all know he is greedy for money, but we don't know how powerful he is!
This article lets us get to know: different Wakan.
There are many tribulations in youth
Hejun's original name was Shanbao, and his surname was Niuhulu, one of the eight major surnames in Manchuria;
The Niuhu Lu clan, especially the two yellow banners, has produced many meritorious heroes and empresses, such as:
Egyedu, one of the five great heroes of Nurhach,
Qibilong, one of the four auxiliary ministers of the Kangxi Dynasty,
Qianlong's biological mother, Empress Xiaoshengxian. But it's a pity that Hejun is not from these famous families, he was born in Zhenghongqi, and his ancestors are just ordinary Baqi disciples. It's just that after Hejun walked in Qingyun, his whole family was ordered by Qianlong to raise the flag to the Zhenghuang Banner.
In 1750, Hejun was born in an ordinary martial arts family, and his father Changbao once served as the deputy governor of Fujian and the second rank official.
Hejun, formerly known as Shanbao, was a Manchurian Zhenghong Bannerman and a trusted minister of the Qianlong Emperor. He was a prominent family member and a friend of the Qianlong Emperor. His father was kind and good, and he served as the ruler of Manchuria under the yellow banner.
However, Wakan's childhood was unfortunate:
His mother died in childbirth when he gave birth to his younger brother He Lin, and his father also died of illness when Hejun was only 9 years old.
After his father's death, He Lin, his younger brother, was almost swept away, and was able to stay with a hometown Ding and a side house help from his father. It is precisely because he tasted the hardships of the world early that he understood that he must work hard so that he does not have to continue to send people under the fence.
Later, both Helong and his younger brother were admitted to the Xian'an Palace, which was originally the place where the Kangxi Emperor forbidden the deposed crown prince, and after the death of the deposed prince in 1724, the Xian'an Palace was vacated.
In the sixth year of the Yongzheng Dynasty, the Yongzheng Emperor set up a palace school in the Xian'an Palace, and specially let the children of the Baqi Sect come here to study.
It's just that when Helong was admitted to Xian'an Palace School, Xian'an Palace School had already moved to Xihuamen.
Hejun and his younger brother and Lin received a very good education here, but in fact, many of the children of the Baqi Sect did not study well in Xian'an Palace, after all, these banner people have fixed money and food, most of them do not have to worry about their livelihood, naturally they will not put too much effort into studying.
However, unlike his younger brother and Rin, after his father's death, he lived a life under the fence, and if he wanted to get rid of his unsatisfactory life, he could only work hard in secret.
He Juan not only knows the Four Books and Five Classics by heart, but also has achievements in poetry and song, Qinqi calligraphy and painting, and he also learned the four languages of Manchu, Mongolian, Chinese and Tibetan, which is indeed rare, and this alone makes him the best among the disciples of the Eight Flags.
It is worth mentioning that Wu Shenglan, a teacher when he was studying in Xian'an Palace, Wu Shenglan was originally just a small person, and entered Xian'an Palace in 1763 to learn to be a teacher, when Helong was studying in Xian'an Palace, and the relationship between the two was very good.
Later, after Helong became Qianlong's confidant, Wu Xianlan was also reused, but in turn worshipped his former student Hejun as a teacher.
Helong worked extra hard in the Xian'an Palace, and his natural talent was outstanding, and other Eight Banner disciples and princes and nobles praised Hejun, and Helong also gained a good reputation for good popularity.
In 1767, the talented Hejun, a scholar of the university, married his granddaughter Fung to Hekan;
Two years later, he inherited his father's position and received the title of captain of the third class;
Later, Hejun participated in the examination of Shuntianfu, but unfortunately did not pass the exam; Even so, Hejun is not worried about his future, which is also the advantage of being a child of the banner man, not only can he start to enter the career through the imperial examination, but he can also enter the palace as a guard.
Big opportunity for small guards
He came from a martial family, and he was the grandson-in-law of the university scholar, and in 1672 he was promoted to a third-class bodyguard.
Not only was he promoted to the rank of third-class bodyguard, but he was also added to the sticky pole as a bodyguard. Those who know the history of the Qing Dynasty know that the sticky pole began with the Yongzheng Emperor, originally responsible for serving Yongzheng's daily life, and later slowly developed into an institution where Yongzheng saw princes and ministers and inquired about intelligence, which can be said to be the most trusted by Yongzheng.
In the Qianlong Emperor's time, although the sticky rod was reduced, it was still very close to the emperor, so that Helong had the opportunity to see Qianlong.
There is a saying: "Opportunities are reserved for those who are prepared", which is well confirmed in Hejun's body.
In 1775, the forty-fifth year of Qianlong, Qianlong was walking in the imperial garden, followed by a dozen guards, carefully escorting him, and Helong was one of these dozen guards.
Although the weather was good, Qianlong was very angry in his heart, holding a copy of the fold from Yunnan in his hand, the more he thought about it, the more angry he became, and he directly threw the fold heavily on the ground, and then gritted his teeth and said two words: "Faint!" ”
Although the guards did not know what Qianlong was angry about, they all knelt down directly when they saw that the emperor was angry;
Qianlong calmed down a little after the fire, and said to himself: "The tiger and the rhinoceros both ran out of the cage, and the ghost jade was damaged in the box, whose fault should it be?" ”
"The tiger is out of the box, and the turtle jade is destroyed in the cage, who is the fault?"
Suddenly, a guard said, "Nature is the fault of the guardian. ”
"It is the guardian who cannot be blamed."
This guard was Kazukan, and because no one was around, Kazukan's answer was very clear.
Qianlong was stunned, thinking that this guard was good, so he asked Hejun: "Do you also know the Analects?" I'll test you when you get up..."
He Juan neatly and respectfully kowtowed to Qianlong, and then told Qianlong what he had learned in the Xian'an Palace unhurriedly.
At this time, Hejun was in his twenties, with clear eyebrows, and although he was a martial artist, he looked like a Confucian.
After answering Qianlong's question, Qianlong asked Helong's name and origin, and it was at this time that Qianlong remembered Helong, a different guard.
Later, Qianlong read "Mencius" above the water fountain of the Old Summer Palace, because he read it carefully and did not notice that it was already dark, and he lit a lamp and bowed to serve Qianlong, and saw that Qianlong was reading Mencius, so he asked Qianlong:
"Emperor, you read Mencius, I don't know which sentence you read?"
Although Qianlong did not know what Helong meant, he still informed Helong, and Helong actually memorized the footnote of Qianlong's words;
Qianlong Daxi said again, and Helong skillfully memorized the footnote of this sentence;
The two of you talked for a long time, and Qianlong praised Hejun: "I didn't expect you to be so agile!" ”
"Unexpectedly, he turned out to be so agile!"
Through these two conversations with Qianlong, Helong officially began his career leap:
In October of the 40th year of Qianlong, Helong was transferred to serve as a guard of the Qianqing Gate;
A month later, he was transferred to the Qianqingmen guard, and concurrently served as the deputy commander of the Manchurian Zhenglan Banner; The highest official position in Hekan's father in his life was deputy capital commander, and Helong was only in his twenties, and this was only the starting point of Hekan.
In the forty-first month of Qianlong, Helong was promoted to the rank of Right Attendant of Hubu;
Two months later, he was walking at the military plane;
In April, he was also awarded the post of Minister in Chief of Internal Affairs by Qianlong;
In November of that year, he served as the president of the national history official and was rewarded with wearing a first-class dynasty crown;
In December, he was in charge of the affairs of the Three Banners of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and allowed him to ride horses in the capital.
It only took Hejun a year to leap from an ordinary small guard to a high-ranking minister of the imperial court with a thunderous momentum, and his promotion speed was really amazing.
Vote for what you like
When Qianlong began to notice Hejun, he was already over the age of Huajia;
Qianlong calls himself a "perfect old man", and he is a little stunned, hoping that everyone around him can take his preferences as their preferences, and take his right and wrong as their right and wrong, and Helong knows Qianlong's character very well and is in his favor.
When Qianlong is older, it is inevitable that he will have a lot of phlegm, and whenever Qianlong wants to spit, Helong will personally hold the spitoon poetry beside him, even after becoming a heavy minister of the imperial court, Qianlong's favor of Helong is not for nothing.
Of course, Helong does not only do these things to serve people, he will vote for "Qianlong" in many aspects, such as: Qianlong likes to write poetry, and Helong secretly works hard to improve his level of poetry, not only that, he also studies Qianlong's poetry, so that he is familiar with its language and rhetoric, and shows Qianlong his love for his poetry at any time;
When Qianlong wrote poetry, Helong could also cope with a few decent poems;
Because Helong imitated Qianlong's poetry style, Qianlong liked it very much and greatly appreciated it;
After a long time, Qianlong would also ask Helong to give him poems.
Helong not only imitated Qianlong in poetry, but also deliberately imitated fonts, and naturally shared more and more common topics with Qianlong.
Helong is so welcome, he will naturally please the old Qianlong, and Qianlong himself feels that he is very close to Helong.
Qianlong will also "reciprocate" Hejun's "hard work", such as:
In the forty-first year of Qianlong, Helong was rewarded with the treatment of riding a horse in the Forbidden City,
According to the ancestral system of the Great Qing Dynasty: only heavy ministers who are more than sixty-five years old and infirm or do not move very well would have such treatment, and Helong was only in his twenties, and Qianlong rewarded such a generous favor, which can be said to be the only one.
Financial management can be a master, a master of management
In fact, for Hejun, poetry and song, horseback riding and archery, etc. are just small skills, and his real housekeeping skills are actually the ability to manage money.
In 1776, he was promoted to Minister of the Interior, which was responsible for the daily expenses of the imperial family and the Shangsanqi, and naturally the daily expenses were very large, basically out of the state of "living beyond their means".
Most of the time, he borrowed money from the household department, but soon after he took office, the internal affairs government not only did not need to borrow, but also had a lot of surplus.
In 1778, Qianlong decreed that Helong concurrently serve as the tax supervisor of Chongwenmen, and according to the Great Qing Ancestral System, this position can only be held by bannermen, which shows its importance. After Hejun took office, he not only soared the tax revenue of Chongwenmen, but also became one of the top two among the more than 30 tax customs in the entire Qing Dynasty.
Later, Qianlong made Helong serve as a household attendant, and the silver treasury of the Forbidden City, the Guangchu Division's treasury of the Internal Affairs Office, and the bank's treasury of Hubu were all managed by Helong himself, it can be said that in the late Qianlong Dynasty, almost all the financial departments of the entire Qing Dynasty were directly managed by Helong, which shows the degree of trust Qianlong had in him.
In the last years of the Kangxi Dynasty, due to the unclear rule of officials, there was a deficit in the national treasury;
By the time of the Yongzheng period, Yongzheng severely cleaned up the deficit in the national treasury;
After Qianlong succeeded to the throne, the national treasury was abundant, but because Qianlong was very happy, a large amount of real money was spent, and slowly the national treasury was in deficit again.
Qianlong was naturally worried about this matter, and the appearance of Helong just helped Qianlong solve this thorny problem.
Hejun's extremely high talent in financial management really surprised Qianlong.
Helong will not only manage money for Qianlong, but also attach great importance to its own industry. His financial management philosophy can be said to be very advanced:
During the Qing Dynasty, those rich people would choose to buy land and convert money into real estate if they had spare money; And Hejun, who prefers real money, does not hide all his money, but invests in all walks of life.
He likes to open pawnshops, there are as many as 12 pawnshops in Beijing alone, and several of them are leaders in the pawnbroking industry;
He also opened a variety of shops, such as hotels, grain stores, porcelain shops, antique shops, bow and arrow shops, etc., covering almost every industry.
In addition, he also designed the logistics industry, and it is said that he purchased eighty large carriages to transport goods;
In the late Qianlong Dynasty, the coal mining industry was just getting started, because of the cost of the required input, the risk was large, and almost no one dared to set foot in it, and Helong actually opened two coal mines.
Even if the real estate such as the houses in Hekan's hands, Hejun will not let them sit idle, but let them turn around and rent out all the more than 30 houses in the capital, and can collect more than 1,600 taels of silver rent every year.
In a word: all the industries that make money, Hejun is involved.
If he were to put Wakan in the present, he would definitely become a business tycoon.
It's just that he bears the stigma and becomes a generation of powerful ministers, traitors, and corrupt officials, which will make us ignore that in fact, Hejun really has real skills.
He Heng eventually suffered his own consequences and hanged himself in prison
There has always been a saying that "Helong falls, Jiaqing eats enough", but how much does Hejun's family possession have?
Perhaps only Hejun, a financial expert, can make it clear, and the statements about the list of property confiscated by the Helong family are also different, and it is generally believed that 230 million taels of silver were confiscated in the Helong family.
Hejun is not only greedy, but also acts as a blessing and weaves his own network of influence.
For example, Fu Kang'an, the youngest son of Fucha Fu Heng (Qianlong's brother-in-law), was a close confidant of Hejun;
Wu Shenglan, the teacher of Hejun Xian'an Palace, naturally does not need to say more;
Hejun's own brother He Lin is also relatively talented in himself, and He Juan takes great care of this only younger brother, and He Lin has become the governor of Sichuan from a small pen style, commanding thousands of troops;
He Juan and his younger brother He Lin Yiwen and Wu, holding the military and political power of the imperial court, no wonder the Qing Dynasty genius Yuan Mu said this:
"The sky and the sun, brothers each divide equally."
Anyone who opposes Hejun in the dynasty, Hekan will find a way to suppress it, such as:
The Minister of Military Aircraft, Agui, has always been at odds with Hejun, and Hejun always contradicts Agui;
The university scholar Songjun also opposed Hekan and was framed by Hejun and exiled to Mongolia.
In order to monopolize power, Helong tried his best to prevent the ministers from meeting with Qianlong; In his later years, Qianlong became more and more faint, and he was particularly favored by Helong, and almost no one could shake his position, and even after Jiaqing succeeded to the throne, Qianlong still did not give up power, and Helong became known as the "second emperor".
However, since Jiaqing's succession, Hejun's good luck seems to be gone:
In the first year of Jiaqing, Hejun's youngest son died of illness;
In the same year, Hekan's only brother, Horin, died of miasma;
The following year, Kazuki's grandson died,
Another year later, Hejun's original wife Fengshi died of illness;
The various changes in the Hekan family seem to indicate that Hekan is about to come to disaster.
Sure enough, Qianlong, who was 89 years old in Jiaqing, died of illness.
Jiaqing ordered Helong and Fu Chang'an to guard Qianlong's soul, and actually put the two under house arrest in the spiritual hall.
At the same time, the Jiaqing Emperor summoned Zhu Jue to Beijing and planned how to get rid of Helong and Fu Chang'an: first, he dismissed them from their posts and cut them off from all contact with the outside world. At the same time, the regulations of Helong in the Military Aircraft Department were abolished, allowing Zhu Jue to regain control of the Military Aircraft Department.
The ministers of the DPRK were also pushed by everyone under the wall, and they all wrote to impeach Hejun, and Jiaqing pushed the boat in the water to hand over Hejun and Fu Chang'an to the Criminal Department
Just a dozen days after Qianlong's death, Hejun, who was only 49 years old, committed suicide.
epilogue
The impression that Helong gave us was indeed not very good, after all, he was a traitor during the Qianlong Dynasty, and he was quickly eliminated by Jiaqing;
But we really can't deny his talent: he was very motivated when he was young, and he was also a financial manager and a master of running a business
And there is also a side of Hejun that we are not familiar with: he has a single-minded relationship with his wife, Feng.
Because of his excellent reputation in Xian'an Palace, he was appreciated by the university scholar Yinglian and married his granddaughter Fengshi to Hejun, and Hejun did have a good skin.
After being reused by Qianlong, he was still devoted to his married wife Feng, and the only son and daughter of Helong were born to Feng; If Hejun wants to take a concubine, he must ask his wife Feng's consent to do so, which is indeed rare.
Hekan's personality is also very attractive, and after Hekan hangs himself, his wives and concubines are willing to be martyred for him.
It is indeed a pity to say that such a talented person, if he is not greedy, will definitely be able to make great achievements and leave a name in history;
But he did not stick to his bottom line, and became a traitor in our descendants.