Once Heshen started taking bribes, he couldn't stop it. He formed cliques in the court for personal gain and gained his own power. If the ministers wanted to do something or be promoted, they had to go through Heshen. Those who opposed Heshen All of Shen's people were later kille

and Shen can be said to be one of the most famous corrupt officials in Chinese history. In 's heyday, his financial resources were even equal to those of the Qing government. There are stories and film and television works about Heshen, which are emerging in endlessly today.

At first Heshen did not actively participate in giving or accepting bribes, but his position beside the emperor was too high, and countless people flattered him and gave him gifts.

Intrigued by interests, He Shen began to actively accept bribes. After the initial attempt to accept bribes, he experienced the joy of collecting wealth, and Emperor Qianlong seemed to turn a blind eye to his behavior. This also gave He Shen reassurance.

Relying on the privileges granted by the emperor, He Shen openly accepted bribes from both the government and the public.

Heshen

Once Heshen started taking bribes, he couldn't stop. He formed a clique in the court for personal gain and had his own power. If the ministers wanted to do something or be promoted, they had to go through Heshen. , those who opposed Heshen were later killed by Heshen using his power, and Heshen's power reached its peak at this time.

According to common sense, He Shen's behavior is undoubtedly challenging the emperor's authority. Once discovered, he will be severely tried and dealt with. But everyone in underestimated the patience of the elderly Qianlong towards He Shen.

He Shen was the second-in-command in the Qing Dynasty's political system at the time, with power second only to the emperor in both the government and the public. What's even more amazing is that because Emperor Qianlong was old, he delegated a lot of power to Heshen. Under such conditions, He Shen could earn income for himself more conveniently and gradually accumulated a terrifying wealth.

But fate played a joke on Heshen. In 1799, Emperor Qianlong finally died. At first, Heshen did not think that this incident would have much impact on his career. But what he didn't know was: Emperor Jiaqing had already been keeping an eye on He Shen's actions in the government and the public as early as when he was still the prince. ,

Not long after the death of Emperor Qianlong, Emperor Jiaqing quickly dismissed He Shen without giving him any time to react. His actions were so fast and efficient that it was unique in the history of confiscation. In order to completely overthrow the Jiaqing Emperor, sent Prince Yongxuan , Prince Cheng Yongxuan and other relatives princes, completely cutting off Heshen's retreat.

In the end, the house raiding activity came to a successful conclusion after several hours. The list written during the confiscation of the house became He Shen's evidence. Interestingly, after the list of confiscated houses was announced to the court, a minister came forward and said that Heshen's family wealth was much greater than what was in the list: After all, was found in this list from and of Heshen's mansion. The money was only 3 million taels of silver and 32,000 taels of gold, which completely did not match the total amount of bribes He Shen had accepted over the decades.

Then, the minister questioned the list made by the prince and asked the emperor to continue digging deeper. However, Emperor Jiaqing severely reprimanded the minister who submitted the letter, as if he was hiding something... From then on, the real and Shen's house seizure list fell into the mystery of history.

Today, we finally have enough time and ability to study history and reveal the truth. In this process, the wealth of Heshen has become a topic studied by historians. There is a folk legend that Heshen is "the richest man in the world" for thousands of years. In 2001, the "Wall Street Journal" also reported Heshen's wealth of nearly 220 million taels of silver.

There are rumors among the people that Heshen's family property was the financial source of the Qing Dynasty in the following years. Some people even said that if Heshen had launched an army to rebel at that time, with his huge financial resources, he could have divided the world equally with the Qing government.

It was only because He Shen was loyal to Emperor Qianlong that he did not rebel after his death. Otherwise, the entire history of China will be completely rewritten.

So is Heshen's wealth really so terrifying? Could that lost list resurface today?

Ji Lianhai, a teacher at the High School Affiliated to Beijing Normal University, is more concerned about He Shen’s research. He conducted a comprehensive inventory and investigation of Heshen's historical materials. finally found three different home confiscation lists, and the contents of these lists were even more shocking.

Ji Lianhai

Ji Lianhai learned from the official historical material "Heshen's Complete Criminal Case Files": Heshen not only had a large amount of silver, gold and famous calligraphy and paintings at home, he also owned a large amount of land. Through various writings, Ji Lianhai initially estimated that the private land owned by Heshen was about 1,200 hectares. Numbers like

can undoubtedly refresh people's understanding. You must know that land resources are very precious no matter what historical period. No one except the real ruling class can enjoy such a large area of ​​land.

According to unofficial historical records, the total amount of land owned by Heshen was actually several times more than what was recorded in official history, covering a full 6,800 hectares. Of course, the credibility of unofficial history is relatively average, so we do not count these lands as Heshen's family property.

However, although Ji Lianhai's research on Heshen attracted a lot of attention from the public, he still has not found the real list of Heshen's properties in history.

In 2007, a list of Heshen’s properties appeared in Jiangsu. The holder of this list was Mr. Dai Shixiang, who is the legal representative of Jiangsu Dai’s Antiques Co., Ltd. Mr. Dai is a famous antique dealer in Jiangsu. Collector, the reason why he can legally hold so many antiques is because Dai Shixiang's ancestor was Qing Dynasty and it was Dai Liankui , Shangshu of the Ministry of War.

Dai Liankui

Historically, Dai Liankui could be regarded as a member of the ruling class of the Qing Dynasty. He had strong abilities and was highly recognized by Emperor Jiaqing.

He was admitted as a Jinshi at the age of 23, and later took up the post of editor of the Hanlin Academy. During his nearly fifty years of political career, Dai Liankui held important positions such as "Minister of the Ministry of War", "Minister of the Ministry of Rites" and "Minister of the Ministry of Officials", After his death, Emperor Daoguang even buried him as a prime minister, which shows Dai Liankui's status in the Qing government.

According to Mr. Dai Shixiang: After Emperor Jiaqing overthrew Heshen, he rewarded his ancestor Dai Liankui out of trust with this "List of Items Matching Ding Mao and Heshen in the First Month of the Fourth Year of Jiaqing". Historically, the credibility of this list is quite high. As soon as

's remarks came out, they immediately attracted the attention of scholars across the country. If what Mr. Dai Shixiang said is true, then this list will play a very important role in the study of Qing Dynasty history. We ordinary people can also have a clearer understanding of Heshen's specific wealth.

Dai Shixiang

What is regrettable is that this list, which has extremely high historical value, was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution and is now unrecognizable.

Just when people were at a loss what to do, Dai Shixiang said that his grandfather and father knew the importance of this list to Chinese history and copied it when he was very young. In other words, although the original text is no longer available for examination, I do have this copy in my hand, which is completely consistent with the content of the original manuscript.

So how terrifying is this list of house confiscations? According to the currently known information, He Shen owns one hundred red gold ingots weighing one thousand taels, one hundred silver ingots, 160,000 taels of raw gold sand, eighty-seven million taels of red gold, and nine hundred 400,000 taels of silver, 5.83 million taels of silver...

What is even more amazing is that in addition to these gold and silver ingots, the real estate resources owned by Heshen are also very terrifying. According to statistics, Heshen owns The total area of ​​the main house, side houses, gardens, courtyards, pharmacy and other residences reached 8,000 hectares, with a total value of approximately 70 million taels of silver.

And those antiques and stationery, made by everyone, are countless. Ancient inkstones, jade and jewelry from the past dynasties are as common as toys in Heshen's home...

Heshen's house copy list

We ordinary people may not understand the value of these wealth. Although the Qing government at that time was in decline, it was still one of the few powerful countries in the world. Only Western countries that were undergoing the Industrial Revolution could check and balance it. Even so, the Qing government's annual income was only a mere Seventy million taels of silver, and He Shen alone had the total income of the Qing government for more than three years . It is not an exaggeration to describe him as being as rich as the country.

Heshen's level of corruption is unique no matter what period in history. Although Emperor Qianlong loved him very much, he also knew that what Heshen did was undoubtedly a challenge to the authority of the Qing government.

Therefore, before his death, Emperor Qianlong also paved the way for Emperor Jiaqing to uproot Heshen, which greatly relieved the financial pressure of the Qing government. Therefore, there is a popular saying among the people: "Heshen fell, Jiaqing was full. "

Heshen's ending was that he was allowed to commit suicide in prison. In fact, based on the crimes Heshen committed, even if he was executed by Lingchi, The death penalty is not an exaggeration. However, since he was the most eye-catching celebrity around the previous emperor, Emperor Jiaqing could only give him a more honorable death in order to save the face of the royal family.

The death of Heshen

Some people believe that the demise of the Qing government began with Heshen's corruption. Before Heshen, the internal management system of the Qing government was relatively healthy. Although there were corrupt officials, no one could do it. Something similar to Heshen.

The exception of Heshen made a bad start for the history of the Qing government. The huge wealth made countless people start to use their brains. In this way, the Qing Dynasty completely faded away and eventually perished.