I beat animals and picked up debris in the courtyard of the heavens

Chapter 226 Qianlong
He Yuzhu said that the more people like Hu Xueyan, the better, so that he can continue to collect contract beauties and make his mental defense stronger and stronger!

Next is the extremely wealthy person No. 2! !
This one is still from the Qing Dynasty and is a well-known figure in later generations-He Shen!

Heshen is synonymous with corruption, but bad people are not born bad. Heshen was also an upright minister.Everything has to start from the beginning.

He Shen’s family background was not superior, he was just the son of Chang Bao, the deputy capital of Fujian at that time, and he experienced the shock of his mother’s early death and his father’s death in his childhood, and He Kun was almost kicked out of the family.Although it was rare for his family to be poor after his parents passed away, fortunately, He Kun was very smart since he was a child, and later he got the help of nobles to marry the granddaughter of the governor of Zhili at that time.

But things never went as smoothly as imagined. In the second year after getting married, He Kun failed in the imperial examination that year. For He Kun, who had been extremely smart since childhood, this was obviously a big mistake. Small blows and regrets.However, the experience of running into obstacles since he was a child has made his heart much stronger than ordinary people. He did not stop pursuing his career because of this failure.After several ups and downs, Heshen finally succeeded in showing his face in front of Qianlong four years later - he became an attendant in Qianlong's honor guard.

But these are not even a small beginning in He Kun's career in politics. The real beginning is the same year He Kun entered the guard of honor.Because of his talent, he was appreciated by Emperor Qianlong, and He Shen became the Minister of Treasury.Since then, his official career has been smooth sailing, and he has been promoted step by step.Soon He Kun was appointed as the left servant of the household department and the right servant of the official department. At this time, he may be grateful for the kindness of Emperor Qianlong and not the slightest corruption, and he is an honest official.

Things turned around in the 45th year of Qianlong, when He Kun was ordered to thoroughly investigate the corruption case of the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou. He showed great planning and decisiveness in the investigation, which was appreciated by Qianlong, and he was immediately named the imperial minister and the capital of Manchuria with a blue flag. system.What an honor this is, all of this was unimaginable for He Kun, who was struggling in his family back then.In this regard, He Kun, who was in power, felt the taste of power and money for the first time.

The embankment of a thousand miles is destroyed by ant nests, one wrong step, one wrong step.When he was proud of his officialdom, his family got married to the royal family again, and the rewards and bribes were endless. At this time, He Kun was like a mouse falling into a honeypot in a granary, and he was even more unrestrained.

"He not only accepts bribes wantonly, but also asks for bribes openly. In order to curry favor with He Kun, the provincial governors will bring him a copy every time they pay tribute to the emperor." He became a minister of power under one person and over ten thousand people, he could influence Emperor Qianlong's decision-making, and people privately called him the Second Emperor."

If the ancient emperors were sensitive and prudent about the control of power, why didn't Qianlong suspect He Kun?
Because He Kun used his ingenuity in his service to Qianlong, in investigating cases for officials and doing things effectively for the court, and also in framing Zhongliang and benefiting himself at the expense of others.This not only diverted the emperor's attention, but also established an upright image for himself.It is by means of the same method that He Shen took the credit of others in suppressing the uprising in Hezhou, Gansu Province, destroyed the prestige of others, and killed others, and finally gained a monopoly of power by himself, with the same majestic prestige in the court.

But if you often walk by the river, there is no reason why your shoes will not get wet. The ancient emperors were most afraid of ministers who threatened their rule, and He Shen was no exception. Under the rumor that "He Kun listened to Qianlong's orders but could not follow them", Heshen is also coming to an end.

Sure enough, in the fourth year of Jiaqing, Emperor Qianlong died, and Jiaqing immediately convicted He Kun of 22 major crimes and sent him to prison.

Everyone in the world knows that He Kun is greedy for money, but who knows that he is so mad and astounding.According to the information left to later generations, the property searched by He Kun after ransacking his home is equivalent to the fiscal revenue of the Qing government for 15 years. There are [-] million taels of silver alone, which is ten times the annual tax revenue of the imperial court during the Qianlong period. There are still rumors that He Kun has transferred most of his property.It is conceivable that He Kun's real strength cannot be underestimated, which can also explain why he can afford Qianlong to go to the south of the Yangtze River six times.

Some netizens even made an interesting calculation. In modern terms, Hekun's assets can be converted into RMB 2460 billion.The reason why he was able to accumulate such a large amount of wealth is inseparable from his wolf ambition and business acumen. All the money came in and out, and over time, He Kun accumulated a huge amount of property."

Of course, He Shen has a high emotional intelligence, knows how to behave, and knows how to do things, but he doesn't understand one thing, that is the emperor's mind!
Do you think Qianlong didn't know that Heshen was greedy for a lot of money? !That is impossible!
It’s just that in the Qianlong dynasty, the biggest greedy person was not He Shen, but Qianlong himself. Qianlong finally created a system of "criminal silver" that encouraged this trend, and the promotion of this trend undoubtedly made Qing The dynasty went into decline.

Using money as a substitute for a crime will undoubtedly make the officials who have paid the crime money more fearless, and the admission of officials in disguise is based on the ability to collect money instead of administrative ability. In order to get back the cost of the crime money, these people It will intensify the burden on the people at the bottom, and even cause social unrest.Using money as a substitute for crimes and impunity, the law became useless, which accelerated the decline of the Qing Dynasty.

The implementation of the crime silver was not long, and it was abolished in the fourth year of Jiaqing.Emperor Qianlong used this system to punish government officials and wealthy businessmen, making them bankrupt and avoid disasters, which has achieved his own purpose of collecting money.The officials and businessmen saw the emperor's greed for money, and were happy to buy stability with money, and by the way, they could show their loyalty to the Qing Dynasty to the emperor.

Official documents from the Qing Dynasty show that in the 15th year of Qianlong's reign, there was a record of the first criminal settlement.But in fact, this system had been implemented before this.In the 23rd year of Qianlong's reign, the younger brother of Governor Gao Jin was deeply involved in the Lianghuai Salt Case.Gao Jin knew that the matter was serious, so he asked the court to punish him severely to rectify his people's hearts.

In order to show his loyalty to the court, Gao Jin took the initiative to hand over 2 taels of silver to the court as atonement.Poor Gao Jin claimed that he could not make up such a huge sum of money for the time being, so he could only pay it off in four years, with an annual payment of 5000 taels.After Emperor Qianlong saw it, he understood that Gao Jin meant to use 2 taels of silver to buy peace.After the 2 taels of silver entered the court, it finally fell into the hands of Qianlong.

After Qianlong received the money, he let Gao Jin go with a tacit understanding.Moreover, Emperor Qianlong wanted to justify himself in a covert way, saying that all the money for crimes was used to build local projects.In fact, the money used to build the project was less than one-fifth of what Qianlong received, and he took all the rest for himself. The "silver fine" was earmarked for special purposes, mainly for the special expenses of Qianlong's trip to the south of the Yangtze River.

(End of this chapter)