Preface
He Shen, the powerful minister who once controlled the political and economic lifeline of the Qing Dynasty, was like a lightning storm in his life, and finally ended his brilliant and bumpy life in prison.
However, in the last moments of his life, a conversation between him and the then emperor Jiaqing may have revealed the truth behind history. As we step into this period of history, we will pursue the final confession of He Shen and explore who was the real mastermind behind the power struggle in the Qing Dynasty.
1. The son of the poor man is soaring
In a small alley in Beijing, a baby boy fell to the ground, this is the famous traitor He Shen later. He was born in an ordinary Eight Banners family, his family was poor, his mother died in childbirth, his father also died early, and the young He Shen could only be sent to the fence and raised by his uncle.
Life in his uncle's family was not satisfactory, and He Shen was bullied and abused for many years, but he was very intelligent and showed extraordinary intelligence since he was a child. He was diligent and studious, not only proficient in the four languages of Manchu, Chinese, Mongolian and Tibetan, but also familiar with the Four Books and Five Classics.
In the twenty-eighth year of Qianlong, He Shen stood out in the imperial examination and attracted the attention of Feng Yinglian, the then governor of Zhili. Feng Yinglian admired He Shen's talent, so he married his daughter to him, opening the door for his future career.
In the thirty-eighth year of Qianlong, He Shen entered the palace and served as a third-class guard. By chance, he showed his talent in front of Emperor Qianlong, who was impressed by this young man and began to give him more trust and appreciation.
He Shen's career was smooth sailing, and within ten years, he was promoted from a small guard to a distinguished minister. Emperor Qianlong trusted him more and more, and even married his daughter to Heshen's son.
The temptation of power and wealth
However, behind He Shen's flying and soaring, there is a bitter past. The early death of his parents and the bullying he suffered at a young age gave him a strong desire for money and power. He secretly vowed that he must make himself rich and powerful, and never be bullied again.
Who would have thought that this young man, who had been bullied in the past, would become a traitor of a generation in the future, and would eventually end up in a good end? All this should start with Emperor Qianlong's southern tour.
2. The Roots of Corruption in the Southern Tour
Emperor Qianlong was an eloquent monarch, and under his rule, the Qing Dynasty ushered in the golden age of the "Kangqian Prosperous Era". However, he will inevitably have his own preferences and desires. After reigning for many years, he began to get tired of life in the Forbidden City and wanted to go out for a walk and enjoy the beautiful scenery of Jiangnan.
So, starting from the 47th year of Qianlong, Emperor Qianlong started his southern tour. In the past 20 years, he has visited Jiangnan six times, each time with a large number of entourages and honor guards, the scene is very spectacular.
However, Emperor Qianlong's southern tour brought a heavy burden to the people along the way. Everywhere they went, the local officials greeted them with great fanfare, preparing large tributes and rewards, all of which had to be squeezed out of the people. To make matters worse, a large number of roads, bridges, and palaces had to be built, often amounting to hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, which put a heavy burden on the treasury.
Emperor Qianlong didn't seem to care about this, he was so immersed in the pleasures of the southern tour that he had no time to care about anything else. Everywhere he went, he had to travel the mountains and rivers, watch the famous places, and leave a magnificent imperial poem. In his view, these were the prerogatives of the king, and they were taken for granted.
The source of greed
However, Emperor Qianlong's southern tour provided He Shen with an opportunity to make a lot of money. As a celebrity beside the emperor, He Shen was responsible for raising various expenses for the southern tour. He took advantage of this opportunity to embezzle public funds on a large scale and enrich his own pockets.
He Shen's means of raising the cost of the southern tour can be said to be all-encompassing. He first transferred money from the coffers of various feudal clans and kept it for himself. He then extorted money from salt merchants and wealthy merchants in various places, forcing them to "donate" huge sums of money.
What's worse is that He Shen also took advantage of the opportunity of the southern tour to sell official positions on a large scale. He marked the official positions in various places along the way with prices, and those who wanted to be promoted could get his favor as long as they came up with enough money.
In this way, He Shen looted a lot of money through various means. It is said that during Emperor Qianlong's sixth southern tour alone, He Shen collected 8 million taels of silver, which was equivalent to the financial revenue of the Qing Dynasty for two years at that time.
3. The connivance and protection of Emperor Qianlong
In the face of Heshen's greed, some upright ministers were very angry. They repeatedly admonished Emperor Qianlong, exposing He Shen's crimes, hoping to stop his greed.
However, Emperor Qianlong was so convinced of He Shen that he did not listen to these ministers at all. He even rebuked the ministers who were admonishing, saying that they were sowing discord and disrupting the government.
The reason why Emperor Qianlong trusted He Shen so much, in addition to He Shen's good at observing words and feelings, and doing what he liked, there was also an important reason, that is, He Shen gave strong support to his southern tour.
He Shen knew that Emperor Qianlong liked the southern tour, so he praised the benefits of the southern tour on various occasions, and praised the southern tour as a good thing for the emperor to be sympathetic to the people's feelings and show his prestige. He also gave strong support in various affairs of the southern tour, which made Emperor Qianlong very satisfied.
In the eyes of Emperor Qianlong, He Shen was not only his most powerful assistant, but also his most important support on his southern tour. With the support of Heshen, I can enjoy the fun of the southern tour to the fullest without worrying about the future.
In this way, with the connivance and support of Emperor Qianlong, He Shen became more and more unscrupulous. Not only did he wantonly amass wealth, but he also formed a party in the DPRK and China to run a private business and exclude dissidents. His power has reached unsettling proportions.
However, Emperor Qianlong turned a blind eye to this, and he was so immersed in the pleasures of the southern tour that he had no time to pay attention to what He Shen did. It was not until the death of Emperor Qianlong that He Shen's crimes were finally revealed.
Fourth, the iron-fisted rectification of the Jiaqing Emperor
After the death of Emperor Qianlong, Emperor Jiaqing succeeded to the throne. As the son of Emperor Qianlong, Emperor Jiaqing had always hated Heshen's tyranny and greed. He had long wanted to rectify Heshen, but because of his father's face, he never did it.
After Emperor Jiaqing succeeded to the throne, he began to rectify the rule of officials and punish corrupt officials. He ordered a thorough investigation of He Shen's crimes, and sent people to search He Shen's house to see how much money he had embezzled.
What Emperor Jiaqing didn't expect was that He Shen's home was found with amazing wealth. It is said that there are 80 million taels of silver alone, and as many as 30 million taels of gold, in addition to a large number of jewelry, antiques, calligraphy and paintings and other valuables, with a total value of up to 200 million taels of silver.
These wealth were equivalent to more than ten years of the total treasury income of the Qing Dynasty at that time. Emperor Jiaqing was shocked, but also very angry. He didn't expect that He Shen's greed would reach such a point that he was simply emptying the treasury and endangering the country.
Emperor Jiaqing immediately ordered the arrest of He Shen and put him in prison. While in prison, Emperor Jiaqing personally interrogated He Shen and questioned him why he had embezzled such a huge amount of money.
A shocking secret
Faced with Emperor Jiaqing's questioning, He Shen did not deny his crime. He admitted frankly that he did embezzle a huge amount of money, but the money was not all for himself, but to meet the needs of Emperor Qianlong's southern tour.
He Shen said that every time Emperor Qianlong toured south, he had to spend a huge amount of money. The money is raised by himself. In order to meet the needs of the emperor, he had to use various means to loot money.
He Shen also said that a large part of the money he embezzled was taken by Emperor Qianlong. Every time he toured the south, Emperor Qianlong had to ask himself for huge rewards, and these rewards came from his own embezzled money.
After listening to He Shen's confession, Emperor Jiaqing was very shocked. He didn't expect that his father, Emperor Qianlong, was also involved in corruption, and he was the biggest beneficiary of Heshen's corruption.
Emperor Jiaqing was furious, but he could not make the matter public. After all, Emperor Qianlong was his father and a generation of Ming monarchs, and if his crimes were made public, it would inevitably affect the prestige of the imperial power.
So, Emperor Jiaqing made a decision. He ordered He Shen to be taken to the execution ground and beheaded in public as a sign of royal majesty. As for Emperor Qianlong's crimes, they were handled privately by himself and not made public.
5. The last words of the traitor
In this way, He Shen walked to the execution ground. Before the execution, he did not show any panic or remorse, but appeared very calm. He told the jailers beside him that although he had embezzled a huge amount of money, he was for the emperor and had no remorse. He Shen's words shocked everyone present. They didn't expect that He Shen would bear the responsibility for Emperor Qianlong, and he was not even afraid of death.
At the time of the execution, He Shen smiled and shouted out the last sentence: "Your Majesty, courtier He Shen, apologize for your sins with death today, please forgive the emperor!" With an order, the executioner waved his knife, and He Shen's head fell to the ground, and blood splattered all over the ground. This once powerful traitor ended his life like this.
epilogue
After He Shen's death, Emperor Jiaqing ordered a thorough investigation of He Shen's family property and confiscated all the money and property. It is said that the confiscated silver alone was as high as 800 million taels, equivalent to the total revenue of the Qing Dynasty's treasury for several decades.
Emperor Jiaqing also ordered the confiscation of Heshen's family property and the distribution of his family to the frontier to prevent future troubles. He Shen's son, Fengshen Yinde, was also dismissed from his official position and sent to Xinjiang, never returned.
In this way, He Shen, a traitor who leaned towards the government and the opposition, completely collapsed under the iron-fisted rectification of Emperor Jiaqing. His fall marked the end of the "prosperous era of Kangqian" and also indicated that the Qing Dynasty was heading for the road of decline.
The decline of the Qing Dynasty was certainly the responsibility of traitors like He Shen, but more importantly, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty did not recognize the changes of the times and did not carry out the necessary reforms, which eventually led to the decline of the country.