In the 276-year history of the Qing Dynasty, Helong was labeled the most notorious corrupt official
Wakan
Only a week after Qianlong's death, the Jiaqing Emperor confiscated the Helong family with 20 major crimes, and the Helong family property confiscated at that time even reached the income of the Qing government for more than ten years! But when he first entered the workplace, he was an outstanding beautiful man in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, a smart and clever teenager, but why did he end up cheating and embezzling wealth, and was dubbed the "king of corrupt officials" and died in prison?
He died tragically in prison
In 1750, he was born, and he experienced the death of his mother in his childhood and lost his father at the age of nine. He and his brother and Rin depend on each other. In the process of studying in Xian'an, he has already initially shown his talent. After learning the four languages of Manchu, Chinese, Mongolian and Tibetan, as well as riding and shooting skills, he met the first important nobleman in his life, Feng Yinglian. Feng Yinglian took a fancy to this talented and good-looking young man, so she married her granddaughter Fung to Hejun.
Granddaughter of Feng Yinglian
In 1769, after Hejun failed to participate in the imperial examination, he inherited the position of Qingche capital lieutenant as a wen sheng, and from then on, he officially began his official career. In 1773, at the age of 23, Wakan became Minister of Guanggu. His diligence in managing Buku led to a significant increase in the stock of Buku, and his ability and professionalism attracted the attention and appreciation of the Qianlong Emperor. Qianlong's love affection for Helong is largely related to his talent.
According to historical records, once Qianlong mentioned the Analects, everyone did not know what it meant, only Helong said what the Qianlong Emperor thought, so Qianlong was deeply impressed by this guard. With the support of the Qianlong Emperor, Hejun's career went smoothly. However, at this time, Hejun was clean and did not involve corruption.
At that time, there was an official named An Ming who tried to bribe Hekan by giving gifts in the hope of getting a promotion, but Hejun did not accept his bribe and promised to promote Anming. Sure enough, An Ming was quickly promoted. However, not long after, An Ming's father died, and according to the rules of the time, An Ming needed to go home and observe filial piety for three years. An Ming didn't want to miss the opportunity, so he chose to hide the situation. However, this matter was eventually discovered by Shang Shu Feng Sheng'e. Fung Sheng'e and Kwon Yonggui joined forces to impeach Hejun, accusing him of harboring An Ming.
On the other side, Hejun had already learned the news from the son of Yonggui, and he immediately drafted a plan to impeach An Ming. Just as Yonggui was playing the impeachment of Helong, Helong handed over his own trick and asked to inspect the Qianlong Emperor. Since the Qianlong Emperor had already received the impeachment letter submitted by the Military Aircraft Department, he believed that Helong did not intend to shield An Ming, so he did not investigate the matter further. However, after this incident, Hejun offended the powerful minister Yonggui.
In 1780, Helong ushered in a good opportunity to become rich, that is, Li Shiyao, the governor of Yungui, was reported to be suspected of corruption.
The Qianlong Emperor ordered an investigation into the matter, but the case made no progress at first, until Zhao Yiheng, Shiyao's butler, was tried by Helong. Under the severe torture of Hejun, Zhao Yiheng confessed to Li Shiyao's crime. He announced these confessions in front of Li Shiyao's subordinates. Seeing this, those officials knew that Hejun had the evidence, and they came out to accuse Li Shiyao. Seeing that his corruption crime had been conclusively proved, Li Shiyao could only plead guilty. This incident is enough to prove that Hejun's political skills are not low. As a result of this case, Hejun was appointed as the imperial minister, and from then on he was even more favored in Qianlong's eyes.
However, at this time, the Hekan mentality has changed
In handling Li Shiyao's case, Hejun cleverly took away a large amount of property, which allowed him to experience the benefits of mastering wealth. Soon after, the Qianlong Emperor married the tenth princess to Hejun's eldest son, and Helong became an imperial prince and a state official, and was even more flattered by hundreds of officials. Over time, Wakan gradually became blinded by greed and desire.
In the early years, because of his young and promising position in a position of responsibility, he attracted the jealousy of many officials. In addition to the An Ming case, he was often impeached by civil servants in turn. In this regard, Hejun held a grudge against the literati. In 1780, after he became the secretary of Shinohebe Shoshu, he began to take revenge by the Daixing Literary Prison. After that, he took over the Hanlin Yuan, controlled the imperial examination system, and bribed lavishly, so that almost all the imperial court princes in the late Qianlong period were monopolized by him.
In 1781, an uprising broke out in Gansu due to official corruption and fraud and oppression of the people
The Qianlong Emperor sent Helong to suppress it, but he failed to lead his troops, resulting in the general Tu Qinbao being besieged and killed. This made some generals even more disgusted with this high-ranking official who started out on horseback. Soon after, the Minister of Military Aircraft, Ah Gui, took over the post of commander-in-chief, and Hejun was suspended. Agui even asked the Qianlong Emperor to forbid Helong to lead the troops, which made Helong resentful of Agui.
The Minister of Military Aircraft asked the Qianlong Emperor to forbid Helong to lead the troops
As the power of Hejun gradually grew, four major forces were formed in the DPRK
They are the Yushi faction headed by Liu Yong, the military attaché faction headed by A Gui, the opposition led by Qianfeng, and the corrupt official faction headed by Hejun. Hekan, who had gained power, began to set his sights on the business world, trying to extract more benefits from it. Heshin put pressure on the merchants to force them to bow to him. Any businessman who disobeys may be punished by breaking up his family, such as a wealthy businessman whose entire family is murdered because he cannot pay heavy taxes, and all his family wealth is taken for himself.
The vast wealth looted by Hekan in the business world provided him with deep capital for his political struggles. In addition, Heshen had excellent financial management skills, and at that time the Qing government was almost depleted due to high expenditures, and Hube Shangshu was helpless to do so. However, Heshen was able to successfully turn the situation around and turn the treasury of the Ministry of Internal Affairs into a profit.
In 1784, the Qianlong Emperor made his sixth southern tour, and He Shen was ordered to raise funds from the provinces
This made the southern tour not use a penny of state funds. The Qianlong Emperor specially let Heshen stand by his side to show his merits. In 1788, he was made a third-class duke. In the same year, he impeached Agui's son Addis for embezzlement, and soon after, he was guilty of embezzlement, rewarding those who reported meritorious scholars. He succeeded in bringing down most of the opposition in the DPRK. Under his influence, Kazushin's ambitions grew, and his influence spread throughout the country, giving him an advantage in the political struggle against the forces in Korea.
In 1790, Heshin created a system governed by strict legal system, in which if an official committed a crime, he could use property as a crime to be quantified, and all fines were rushed to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The system created by Heshen was meant to compensate for Qianlong's high consumption, but it also made the wealth of corrupt officials more unscrupulous. Therefore, Yin Zhuangtu impeached this system, and the Qianlong Emperor asked Hube Shilang to lead Yin Zhuangtu back to the palace.
Hejun prepares to eradicate Yin Zhuangtu
He Shen felt very jealous of this, so he looked for an opportunity to eradicate dissidents. As a result, whenever Yin Zhuangtu arrived in a place, local officials would urgently make up for the deficit, so Yin Zhuangtu could not find any problems wherever he went, and the deficit problem in the provinces he had previously reported became a remark that caught the wind. Yin Zhuangtu was eventually removed from office.
In 1796, the Qianlong Emperor abdicated and the Jiaqing Emperor ascended the throne
However, Qianlong still held real power as Emperor Taishang, and when he ascended to court, Helong stood between him and Jiaqing. In this position, Hejun was like a regent, and compared to the Jiaqing Emperor, he was more like the person who controlled the imperial government, so he was known as the "Second Emperor". In 1797, Qianlong ordered Helong to supervise the important affairs of the household department, and after Helong arrived in office, he directly controlled the music and monopolized the power of the imperial government. Hejun, who wielded great power, not only affected the situation of the dynasty, but also aroused the jealousy of the Jiaqing Emperor.
Jiaqing Emperor stills
In 1799, Qianlong died, and the Jiaqing Emperor began to pro-government, and this powerful and wealthy corrupt official was finally rebelled. Just a week after Qianlong's death, the Jiaqing Emperor seized Helong's family property on 20 charges, and the seized Heshen family property even reached the total income of the Qing government for more than a decade. A few days later, Hejun was given death, and the life of this so-called first corrupt official of the Qing Dynasty ended. The process of Hekan's beginnings is remarkable, and he went from poverty to the peak of power, which is obviously not something that an ordinary person can do. However, despite his extraordinary ability to deal with people and affairs, under the temptation of power, he eventually led to the road of corruption and bribery, becoming a notorious corrupt official.