In the feudal history of our country for more than two thousand years, if you want to say who has the greatest power, then it is the emperor, the emperor as the "father" of the world's courtiers, holding the power of life and death of all the courtiers, the ministers not only have to serve the royal family wholeheartedly, but also always worry about their own lives, after all, the companion is like a companion tiger, no one knows why the emperor will suddenly turn his face.
During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, such an incident occurred, a general obviously won a victorious battle, but the Qianlong Emperor wanted to reward him with a cup of "poisonous wine". And this general is also a loyal minister, without hesitation to raise a glass and drink this cup of wine, did not expect that in the end not only was not "poisoned", but was reused, what is going on?
This Qing Dynasty general was actually Ah Gui, a Manchu Qingzheng Blue Banner man, born in 1717 in the noble Zhang Jia clan. Although Ah Gui was born extraordinary, he did not suffer from the bad problems of other nobles, but was keen on reading and learning, and later became a high school person.
After the zhongju people, Qianlong asked him to go to the military department to serve, and had the heart to cultivate him well, and Ah Gui also lived up to Qianlong's expectations and made many meritorious achievements in office, so the speed of rise far exceeded that of his peers. In addition, Ah Gui's father had served in the Punishment Department for many years and was very familiar with the Qing Dynasty laws, and under his father's careful education, he cultivated his character of being just and upright, which also made Ah Gui offend many people.
When transferred to the household department, Ah Gui was responsible for the management of the silver treasury, and as a result, the silver treasury was stolen during his term of office, and although Ah Gui was not a prisoner, he had an unshirkable responsibility as the chief officer of the silver treasury, so he was demoted to the rank of Wupin official, which made Ah Gui, who was young and vigorous and wanted to make a career, suffer a blow.
In 1747, Ah Gui encountered another blow in his life. Ah Gui was ordered to go to the Jinchuan military camp on official business, but was impeached because the governor Zhang Guangsi lost the battle against Jinchuan, and this impeachment wanted to put him to death, saying that he secretly colluded with Zhang Guangsi to cause the conquest to be unsuccessful.
Qianlong was furious when he saw the report, and immediately ordered the execution of the governor Zhang Guangsi, while Ah Gui, because he was the only son in the family, was granted extrajudicial grace, was exempted from capital crimes, and was only dismissed from his post. Fortunately, Ah Gui did not give up on this, but instead did things more carefully and cautiously, and in the twentieth year of Qianlong, he threw himself into the battlefield and conquered Zungel.
Two years later, the Qing army had basically pacified the Jungar Department, but there were still remnants in the corner of the stubborn resistance, Ah Gui led his troops to pursue and fight the remnants, and finally finally destroyed the enemy and captured countless booty such as cattle, sheep and horses. Ah Gui's heroic performance on the battlefield was highly appreciated by Qianlong, and after Banshi returned to the dynasty, he became a red man around Qianlong.
However, as mentioned above, Ah Gui's personality is just and upright, and sometimes he even dares to confront the Qianlong Emperor when his temper comes up, and in the long run, even if he is favored by Qianlong, the emperor will not put such a troublesome figure in front of him. As a result, in 1771, Ah Gui was once again deposed and continued to serve in the barracks.
At this moment, the situation in the Jinchuan area changed again, ah gui saw this and took the initiative to ask Qianlong to go to the battlefield, Qianlong, after considering the generals who could lead the troops out of the dprk, found that there was really no one who could be more suitable than Ah Gui, a veteran general, so he allowed Ah Gui to ask and send him to lead the army.
In the process of recruiting the enemy, Ah Gui found that some soldiers were greedy for life and afraid of death, and did not dare to charge at all, in order to improve the morale of soldiers, Ah Gui followed the Qin Dynasty military merit system, calculating military merit according to the head of the person, as soon as this law came out, morale was indeed high, and the war was further advanced. But this also caused dissatisfaction among some noble sons in the army, who wanted to take the battle merits, but regarded their lives as more important, so they "complained" to the elders of the family and requested that General Ah Gui be rectified.
Soon the impeachment of Ah Gui was handed into the palace like snowflakes, but the Qianlong Emperor knew Ah Gui's temperament, and he would never do these things, so he suppressed the impeachment and did not deal with it. Until the news of General Ah Gui's great victory came, Qianlong was overjoyed and immediately sent his son Yong Huang to greet him, and at the same time specially instructed his son to bring with him the "poisonous wine" he had given to Ah Gui.
Ah Gui was very happy to see that the emperor had actually sent the emperor to greet him, but he did not expect that Yong Huang only brought two people, and silently let people take out a cup of "poisonous wine" for him to drink, although Ah Gui was a little uncomfortable in his heart, but the loyal jun thought he had always received made him dare not resist, but after thinking for a moment, Ah Gui laughed and drank the "poisonous wine" away.
Crown Prince Yonghuan saw Ah Gui drinking the "poisonous wine" in a bold manner, and congratulated Ah Gui on his victory and returned, and stated that the cup of wine he had just had given him was given to him by the Qianlong Emperor. In fact, when Ah Gui saw that the crown prince was only bringing two people, he had already guessed that this was just an ordinary glass of wine, and if the emperor wanted his life, he would never send only these few people, so he did not hesitate to drink the wine.
Ah Gui was also more favored by Qianlong, until 1796, Ah Gui lived to the age of 81 and died, after his death, the Qianlong Emperor personally gave Ah Gui the nickname "Wencheng", so Ah Gui also became one of the few ministers in the Qing Dynasty who was jealous of the emperor and could die, while Qianlong's other favorite minister, He Yan, was very miserable.
Reference: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty
(Picture from the Internet, invasion and deletion)