Preface
In the river of history, He Shen was a controversial eunuch who attracted attention for his officialdom style of three non-greedy. Among them, the imperial examination money is not greedy, the disaster relief money is not greedy, and the third point is praised as too clever. Today, let's travel back in time and gain an in-depth understanding of the officialdom wisdom of Heshen, a giant in the sea.
How did these three great non-greed achieve such great fame in his career? Let's uncover the way of this eunuch's power and scheming, and feel that historical moment full of intrigue and intrigues. Follow us into this legend of the sea and explore the mysterious figure behind He Shen.
The beginning of a tumultuous fate
This corrupt official's name is He Shen, born in the 14th year of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty (1749), and his ancestral home is Baoding. He Shen was born into a good family, but the ill-fated fate stretched out its claws to him very early. He lost his father when he was only 3 years old, and his mother died early, which made Heshen, who had just started his life, an orphan. The young man and Shen can only rely on an old slave to barely survive, and the day is precarious.
This difficult situation should have destroyed a child's hope for life, but He Shen showed amazing resilience. At those years when he should have been playing in the herding of sheep, he tirelessly immersed himself in the sea of books and studied the classics alone. Perhaps, this is how he escapes from reality, perhaps, this is his desire to realize his self-worth. In any case, this laid the foundation for him to show strong strength in his career in the future.
A serendipitous opportunity came
The goddess of fate always seems to love to joke with those who work hard. Despite He Shen's profound knowledge and vigor, he failed to make the entrance examination after repeated attempts. This should have been the end of his career, a mediocre ending. However, the god of fate came to the rescue at this time - at the age of 22, He Shen was fortunate to marry a talented woman from a family of gate lords, Lu.
It was with the help of this marriage that He Shen was able to fill his father's position as a three-pin pen post and officially entered the official career, opening the prelude to his legendary life. It may be difficult to predict that this ordinary young man will set off a storm in the government and the opposition in the near future and become a sensational corrupt official.
The soaring prosperity of the strategists of the DPRK and China
Heshen isn't just a lucky kid. He understood that this was an opportunity given to him by God to turn over, so he drew on the nourishment of years of hard study, and with amazing perseverance and wisdom, he expanded his territory on the way. In a few years, He Shen has grown from a nobody to a henchman of the inner court, and his rapid rise is jaw-dropping. In the fortieth year of Qianlong (1775), war broke out on the frontier, and He Shen suggested that he adopt an active strategy to help the army win.
This impressed the emperor in one fell swoop, and he was promoted to the head of the household, and later promoted to the cabinet bachelor and the minister of military aircraft, becoming the emperor's right and left hand. He Shen is well versed in the art of power, and he understands that if a dependant wants to gain a foothold in the court, he must firmly bind his fate and imperial power. So he portrayed himself as a faithful counselor and devoted himself to the king. It can be said that it was this wisdom and determination that allowed him to finally shine within the red wall.
Take the first step in the abyss
However, in the red sea of career and power, no one can escape the power of corruption and erosion. In the forty-fifth year of Qianlong (1780), He Shen faced the first test. In this year, a big corrupt official, Li Shiyao, was corrupted, and He Shen was ordered to inspect his residence. When he found that the secret compartment was full of gold and silver treasures, ecstasy and excitement swept over this ordinary and indifferent politician.
Perhaps, this is too much temptation, or perhaps, the corruption of power has seeped into the marrow. In the end, He Shen did not report the matter, but privately left a small part of the treasure as a personal benefit. At this moment, incorruptibility slipped away from this person's life. He Shen also realized at this moment another effect of power - the great allure of money. A young man who was clear and jade degenerated into a big corrupt official.
Corrupt officials who began to loot on a large scale
After getting the first pot of gold, He Shen could no longer suppress the greed and ambition in his heart. An amazing looting scheme begins. He Shen first set up a system called "guilt silver", in which all officials who were charged with a crime had to hand over a huge amount of "atonement silver" to the emperor for forgiveness. In the Qing Dynasty, where imperial power was supreme and the monarch's words were the law, this seemed to be a reasonable system. However, He Shen used this system to ruthlessly blackmail the bureaucrats in the court. If you are not careful, you will be dug up by him and forced to hand over the silver taels. In the face of this coercion, no matter how honest a person is, he can only bow his head.
Such a huge amount of wealth could not satisfy the growing greed, so He Shen established his own business empire. He has successively dormant power in the fields of salt, tea, and wine, and has also manipulated the market to maximize his commercial interests. These two channels made the silver money flow into He Shen's pocket, and he quickly became the richest man in the Qing Dynasty. However, behind this wealth is the price of countless people's blood and tears. In this process, how many loyal people were beaten into the cold palace, and how many pale old people waited for medicine money outside the city. He Shen's greed is like a demon under morality, which makes people shudder.
Three non-greed: the principle of contradiction
However, even if he is a big corrupt official who sees money, He Shen also has his own peculiar principle of "three non-corruption": he does not embezzle the money for the imperial examination, does not use the money to help the victims, and never accepts bribes that "can't get things done". It's a bit like a villain robber who promises not to rob the elderly and children, but it's immoral but reasonable. Maybe this stems from Heshen's moral bottom line, or maybe it's just a life-saving charm in the power technique.
But in any case, these "three non-greed" ensured his foothold in the court until Qianlong's death. 30 years is just a blink of a finger for many politicians, but He Shen has built a huge empire in which business and politics go hand in hand. He has almost become the master of the government and the opposition, and every official cannot escape the fate of asking him for flattery. He Shen's system of wealth and power, which perfectly combined system and business means, also became a footnote to the turning point in the fate of this decadent dynasty.
Retribution comes, and the net worth is destroyed
However, time and morality did not favor one person for too long. After Qianlong's death, He Shen ushered in the retribution of destruction. The newly succeeded Emperor Jiaqing experienced a coup d'état, and in order to stabilize his power, he pointed the finger at the former auxiliary minister - He Shen. In a political purge against Heshen, he was confiscated by his home and given to death, and his family property of 800 million taels of silver was confiscated by the state treasury, equivalent to 11 years of fiscal revenue.
So far, the big corrupt officials who once piled up gold and silver and had half of the power in the country have been wiped out overnight and have fallen into the dust. He Shen's proud commercial and political empire was also wiped out in this catastrophe.
epilogue
Looking back at the legend and ups and downs of Heshen's life, we see the tragedy of a smart and capable person who eventually degenerated into a powerful politician. Perhaps, as the saying goes, human nature is inherently evil, and when a person is given absolute power but is not restrained, morality and justice will collapse in the first place.
However, Heshen's principle of "three non-greed" makes people see that even a political bully has his own spiritual home that is not clean. It's like sequins in the night, giving a glimmer of hope for humanity. Therefore, when we talk about He Shen as a politician, we should not dismiss him in general. Because his life reflects the interweaving of light and darkness in human nature at the same time.
We should examine these points of hope and learn from the positive lessons of them—even if it is just a big villain, he has his own bottom line, and even if the environment is bad, we must have hope...... As long as there is a glimmer of goodness in human nature, the wheel of history will continue to roll forward, and this is where we learn the lessons of politicians like He Shen.