"Heshen fell, Jiaqing was full".
This is a common saying that has been circulating in the streets and alleys for many years, although it has the elements of the people's jokes and ridicule, but it is also a kind of account of historical facts. After Jiaqing officially took power, he disposed of Heshen by thunderous means, and the gold and silver treasures found from Heshen's mansion were piled up, but it was a pity that Heshen worked hard to collect the people's fat and ointment for many years and finally filled Jiaqing's treasury.
In fact, He Shen's image of a corrupt official has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people through various novels and TV series, and it is not worth talking about. It's just that while we are familiar with the story, we can't help but ask, why was a big corrupt official like He Shen able to lurk for decades in the Qianlong Dynasty, and only "fell" until Jiaqing was pro-government?
What means did He Shen rely on to collect such a huge amount of money during his time as an official? Did Qianlong really know nothing about He Shen, who had been accumulating wealth for a long time and had reached the point of madness? Was the first greed in the Qing Dynasty really He Shen?
He Shen fell
In the third year of Jiaqing, Emperor Qianlong drove Bintian, and the whole country mourned. And the death of the Son of Heaven often means that the court has to change the day, so the officials are waiting to see the changes in the situation in a quiet mourning.
At this time, Jiaqing has been on the throne for three years, but in these three years, the major affairs of the court and politics are still dictated by Qianlong Qiangang, as the emperor, and Jiaqing rarely has the opportunity to express his own opinions, so the officials do not know much about what the style of this son of heaven is, and how he can establish his authority in the court?
Soon, Jiaqing gave his own answer. Less than half a month after Qianlong's death, Jiaqing relieved him of his duties on the grounds that he was concentrating on handling the funeral of the first emperor, and ordered him not to come and go casually. This will instantly caused a thousand waves in the court, and no one thought that after Jiaqing took power, the first person to open the knife turned out to be He Shen.
Qianlong not only gave his favorite tenth princess to He Shen as his daughter-in-law, but also made him concurrently the minister of military aircraft and the admiral of the Nine Gates. However, now that the funeral of the first emperor is not over, Jiaqing is going to take this favorite minister of the first emperor, what does this chess mean?
However, just when everyone was still watching in surprise, someone had already seen the change in the direction of the wind in the middle of the road. Liu Yong and others immediately played the impeachment of He Shen, made a generous statement, listed He Shen's various crimes of deceiving his superiors and subordinates, and preying on the common people, and even linked He Shen with the White Lotus uprising that was repeatedly suppressed in the late Qianlong period. There was a storm in the DPRK and China for a while, but anyone with a discerning eye could see that this important minister, who was in the limelight in the Qianlong Dynasty, was about to fall completely this time.
Immediately after He Shen was arrested and imprisoned, the holy oracle clearly ordered the house to be raided, and the treasures of the He Shen family comparable to the treasury were revealed in front of the officials who were ordered to go to the raid, and the court was shocked, and it also completely confirmed the crime of "huge corruption" of He Shen, and even hundreds of years later, in modern times, when people mention He Shen, the first thing that comes to mind is the word "corrupt official".
On the fifth day after being imprisoned, Jiaqing ended He Shen's life with a piece of white silk, and did not let him be killed in the bloody execution ground, which was the last bit of face that Jiaqing left for the former emperor's important minister. After He Shen's death, a wave of cleaning followed, and a large number of officials who were related to He Shen fell one after another, and the court changed the sky, and Jiaqing successfully established his authority.
The records in the history books are just flat and straightforward, and the folklore has a more vivid interpretation of the details of the story, according to legend, before He Shen died, Jiaqing personally went to prison to see He Shen, so what did this pair of monarchs and ministers say?
The real "big greed"
In the folk tale, Jiaqing once sat down with He Shen in prison and talked, Jiaqing asked Emperor He Shen how he treated him kindly, why he did such an ungrateful thing, but He Shen replied that everything he did was not for others, it was for the first emperor Qianlong, Qianlong was the real sense of "huge greed".
Regardless of the truth or falsity of this story for the time being, this is not groundless in terms of the assertion that "Qianlong is the first greedy of the Qing Dynasty".
Qianlong Bingzheng was still hard working in the early stage, creating the last prosperous era of the feudal dynasty, but Qianlong was born to be happy and indulgent, as he grew older, he became more and more addicted to vocal enjoyment, several times to the south of the Yangtze River, the pomp and circumstance were grand, and this gave the officials and the people the opportunity to be anointed.
Corruption is often the beginning of the corruption of the rule of officials, and the rule of corrupt officials provides a broader space for corruption. Under the corrosion of money, the entire framework of the Qing Empire was almost overgrown with moths from top to bottom, and under the painting skin of the prosperous Qianlong era, hundreds of people were exploited and oppressed to the point that they could not survive, and the mighty White Lotus Rebellion was also the product of this deformed society of "official coercion and civil rebellion".
At this time, Qianlong had lost the clear judgment of his youth, and in a piece of flattery, he did not want to see the blood-drenched people anymore, and often turned a blind eye to the perversion of his officials, and the result of this laissez-faire was to give birth to corrupt officials like He Shen, who had no predecessors and few people in the future.
Therefore, from this point of view, it is not an exaggeration to say that Qianlong was the great greed of the Qing Dynasty.
Jiaqing's government
For Jiaqing, the killing of He Shen was not the result he wanted, it was just the beginning of his rectification of the government.
Since Jiaqing ascended the throne, he has been indifferent to all kinds of shortcomings in the government, when Qianlong controlled the government as the emperor, and Jiaqing had no room for beaks. Now that he is in power, Jiaqing can't wait to implement a new atmosphere in the Qing Dynasty according to his own wishes.
In order to appease Qianlong's fondness for luxury and the waste of national strength, Jiaqing practiced frugality and ordered that the honor guard for visiting the imperial tomb be halved, and the concubine did not have to accompany him. Some officials offered beautiful jade to the court according to the old practice, and after Jiaqing knew about it, he immediately ordered it to stop. Because although the jade is good, it is not beneficial to the people's livelihood.
Jiaqing's various measures sent a clear signal to the officials that the old era had passed, and that the trick of slapping horses was no longer feasible in the face of the new emperor. Although the wind of corruption has not been eradicated, it has also stifled a lot for a while.
The politics are clear, the people can have breathing space, and they can live, so naturally they will no longer risk killing their heads to rebel against the imperial court, and the power of the White Lotus Sect has been weakened, and it is finally no longer a big trouble for the Qing Dynasty. Jiaqing's New Deal achieved the results he wanted.
Epilogue:
Since ancient times, the people hate the word "corruption" the most, but corruption is often not an isolated phenomenon, and only by building a clear atmosphere will there be no hiding place for evil.