"Sending Jiaxing Huangwei Mansion" once said: "Gu Zhi Brother is the blessing of the people, but he is afraid of being clean and honest and suspicious of everyone." "Throughout the ages, the name of a clean and honest official has fallen in history and attracted the admiration of the people of the world. To this day, the name of the Qing official has spread throughout the world, showing the way forward for the country.
Whether in ancient or modern society, officials are an important guarantee for the development of a country, if officials can be clean and honest, put more energy into dealing with people's livelihood issues, the level of national development will inevitably be able to achieve new improvements. In this case, many honest officials will become an example for the world to learn from, and their stories of integrity will be passed on to the world for a long time.
During the Qing Dynasty, there was such an excellent Qing official, when he returned to his hometown, because he had not saved too much savings for many years, he pulled more than a dozen boxes of bricks to "support the scene". When the Qianlong Emperor learned of this, he exchanged all the bricks in his box for gold and silver. Who was this Qing official who was rewarded by the Qianlong Emperor? In the process of becoming an official, what kind of achievements did he have?
The Qing official who was rewarded by the Qianlong Emperor was Sun Jiagan. In his childhood, Sun Jiagan's family was poor, which also made him obsessed with his studies, hoping to be able to pass the examination and change his fate. In 1713, Sun Jiagan passed the examination for the middle school entrance examination and entered the career path from then on.
During the reign of the Yongzheng Emperor, because of his suspicious personality, many ministers did not dare to take the risk of speaking bluntly, but Sun Jiagan was able to speak bluntly and put forward his own views on political developments.
When the Yongzheng Emperor learned of Sun Jiagan's proposal, he also admired his courage, and since then, Sun Jiagan has been promoted to the position of Guozi Supervisor and reused by the Yongzheng Emperor. In 1735, the new emperor Qianlong ascended the throne. After the Qianlong Emperor learned of Sun Jiagan's excellent deeds, he promoted him to shangshu of the Punishment Department, hoping that Sun Jiagan would provide greater help for the development of the Qing Dynasty.
After being promoted to Shangshu of the Punishment Department, Sun Jiagan adjudicated the case impartially, and all those who had unjust, false and wrongly decided cases would be rehabilitated by Sun Jiagan. Based on Sun Jiagan's help, many of the people's grievances were cleared, and in this case, Sun Jiagan became a rare and excellent official in the hearts of the people.
In 1738, Sun Jiagan assumed the post of Governor directly under him. During his tenure, Sun Jiagan discovered that people everywhere had been convicted of crimes for private enrichment, which hindered social development accordingly. For this reason, Sun Jiagan wrote to the emperor in the hope of lifting the ban on folk brewing. After the Qianlong Emperor adopted Sun Jiagan's suggestion, the level of private handicraft production soared, and the people's lives were correspondingly improved.
In addition to the above merits, Sun Jiagan also made great contributions to the construction of water conservancy projects. In 1739, Sun Jiagan proposed to build a grass dam above and below the Kinmen Gate to help the river return to normal operation. Since then, Sun Jiagan has also made great contributions to the construction of water conservancy projects in rivers such as the Yongding River and the South Canal. With his efforts, the disaster resistance of yongding river and other rivers has been steadily improved.
As an excellent official, during Sun Jiagan's tenure, although he held great power, he did not use the power in his hands to seek his own interests. During his tenure as an official, Sun Jiagan adhered to the principle of being a clean and honest official and did not collude with others. In this case, Sun Jiagan lived a relatively poor life all his life, which was also inconsistent with his official position.
In 1747, Sun Jiagan officially resigned and returned to his hometown. For such a high-ranking official as Sun Jiagan, when he returned to his hometown, there should be a very beautiful scene, but Sun Jiagan was too poor to be worried about the matter of returning to his hometown.
In order to save his face as an official, Sun Jiagan found someone to bring more than a dozen boxes, and loaded them with heavy bricks, so as to serve as a gold and silver treasure, so as to avoid becoming the object of shame and laughter of his hometown fathers and elders after returning to his hometown. Logically speaking, Sun Jiagan's behavior was only a manifestation of good face, but after Sun Jiagan returned to his hometown, some officials secretly reported to Qianlong that Sun Jiagan's embezzled assets had more than a dozen boxes.
In Qianlong's view, Sun Jiagan had been a clean and honest official all his life, and he would definitely not do such an act. In this case, he sent someone to investigate the matter. When the results of the investigation were presented to the Qianlong Emperor, he learned about Sun Jiagan's bitterness.
The Qianlong Emperor, who was deeply moved, did not pursue Sun Jiagan, after which the Qianlong Emperor ordered people to replace all the bricks in the box with gold and silver, and used these gold and silver as a reward for Sun Jiagan's many years of honesty as an official.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="15" > conclusion</h1>
The reason why the Kangqian prosperous era was able to appear in the early days of the Qing Dynasty's rule was also due to the existence of excellent officials such as Sun Jiagan. For those excellent officials, when they were officials, they did not put their personal interests in the first place and served the people wholeheartedly. Although the quality of life of clean officials cannot be compared with that of corrupt officials, their contribution to the development of the country is indelible.
To this day, the issue of rectifying the bureaucracy is still the focus of national development, and if the clean officials are in charge, the future of the country will certainly be incomparably bright, but if corrupt officials run rampant, the country's development is bound to reach an impasse.
Reference: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty