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When people in later generations mention Niu Colu and Shen , the image of a corrupt official often comes to mind.
In the later period of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong , he and Emperor Qianlong squandered the people's wealth and wealth, causing the accumulated wealth of two generations to quickly dissipate.
As a result, the national treasury, which was originally able to receive 80 million taels of silver annually, was unable to make ends meet for a while.
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In order to make up for the shortfall, the two plundered private wealth. He Shen alone plundered wealth worth 1.1 billion taels of silver.
seriously hindered the development level of society in the Qing Dynasty at that time. , not only allowed the United Kingdom to win the The pioneering opportunity of in the industrial revolution also left the national treasury with no money in Jiaqing.
Yinku
It is a pity that Emperor Jiaqing was also a wonderful man. He did not obey his father Qianlong's dying instructions to let Heshen's family go. Instead, on the second day after taking power,
issued an order to investigate Heshen's past cases, and confiscated all the property of Niu Colu's family.
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Qianlong and Heshen met at the sticky pole
When Yongzheng was studying, he didn't like the sound of cicadas in summer, so he hired a group of servants to hold long poles to catch the cicadas and eliminate the noise. This was the predecessor of the famous Sticky Rod Department in the future.
Since Yongzheng ascended the throne, the stick office has gradually transformed from an internal affairs department into a monitoring system for detecting intelligence due to the expansion of its functions.
He Shen Portrait
His strength is so strong that some ministers have not even left home yet, and the guards at the sticky pole have learned which sedan the ministers are riding in today.
Heshen and Qianlong met at Niangan. It was the 40th year of Qianlong's reign. Emperor Qianlong was on a tour of Shandong and saw the fair-skinned and handsome Heshen among the guards.
Suddenly interested, Qianlong called He Shen to come and ask questions. As a result, He Shen answered fluently without any nervousness.
Portrait of Qianlong in his later years
Qianlong was very curious to see such a psychological quality. After in-depth conversation, Heshen was deeply loved by Qianlong because he was smooth and observant.
So He Shen naturally became a celebrity under Qishou. He often helped Qianlong deal with difficult problems that he could not face. He Shen always found a way to give Qianlong a decent solution to problems he faced. (That is to ask local officials to share the cost of the patrol)
So after going back and forth, He Shen slowly became a well-known powerful minister in the court.
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Heshen's path to corruption
When Heshen became a powerful minister, the Qing Dynasty had entered the heyday of the Kangxi and Qianlong dynasties, and Qianlong always traveled to the south of the Yangtze River from time to time.
Coupled with the rapid promotion of Heshen, many corrupt officials realized that this was the most beloved powerful official around Qianlong.
As a result, large sums of money began to fly into Heshen's pockets under various names.
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After receiving the benefits, He Shen naturally wanted to take care of everything for these financial backers. After going back and forth, he accumulated a large number of contacts among the courts.
Over time, a small group led by Manchurian was formed. As his income increased, he stretched his hands longer and longer, not only privately opening industrial and commercial banks and other shops.
has close contacts with organizations such as the Guangzhou Thirteenth Bank and the British East India Company.
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It can be said that at that time, all the money in the Qing Dynasty was handled by Heshen. It is conceivable how much stolen money Heshen intercepted. At that time, there were rumors in the court that He Shen was as rich as the enemy.
However, this sentence became somewhat untrue after Heshen's assets were inspected during the Jiaqing period. Because Heshen's family property far exceeded the surplus of the Qing Dynasty's treasury at that time.
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How much money did Heshen get?
When Emperor Jiaqing inspected Heshen's family, he found that the money was so much that he had to set up a table and write a book. This is the famous inspection list of Heshen's property in later generations.
There are tens of thousands of red gold, silver, houses, fields, big pawn shops, big silver coins, and other items such as grain, jade, jewelry, silk, and satin.
All these properties are worth a full 1.1 billion taels of silver.
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At that time, the Jiaqing Dynasty was crowded due to Emperor Qianlong's extravagance. After careful accounting and counting, the national treasury's revenue dropped to 70 million taels. After deducting various expenses, the surplus was only 7 million taels of silver.
At this time, He Shen's entire net worth was dozens of times that of the national treasury, so the rumor among people in the court that he was as rich as the country was completely unrealistic. It was clear that He Shen was "rich as much as the country."
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Emperor Jiaqing made a bold move, but regretted it in old age
Qianlong did not give up power after abdicating to Jiaqing. Instead, he used He Shen, an influential minister in the court, to conduct remote control operations in the palace.
So before Qianlong's death, the rights of the emperor Jiaqing were actually emptied.
Many personnel appointments and dismissals were decided by Heshen and Qianlong, two old men at the time. Because the old Qianlong was more suspicious and his health was indeed not as good as before, he only confided in He Shen. Going back and forth in the court, He Shen was also treated as Qianlong's half body by some ministers.
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However, He Shen's ability to do things like this is also related to the fact that he has used power and money to gather a large number of Manchu officials over the years. Therefore, the young Jiaqing felt very unhappy and secretly recorded He Shen's fault in his heart.
Qianlong didn't understand that Heshen had offended Jiaqing, so before his death, he specifically warned his son not to deal with Heshen arbitrarily, otherwise there would be great disaster.
Portrait of Qianlong in his youth
But after Qianlong died, how could the young and energetic Jiaqing be willing to obey.
immediately eliminated his cronies and arrested Heshen. Not only did he confiscate the property of Heshen's family, but a few days later, he was given a piece of white silk and allowed to commit suicide without trial.
Although He Shen was frightened, he more or less accepted his fate, so he did not use his many Manchu connections to resist, and just left Liang Shang.
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As the saying goes, "Heshen fell, Jiaqing was full."
These ill-gotten gains from corruption entered Jiaqing's treasury.
With this money, Jiaqing began to use troops in various places to suppress the peasant uprisings that had been occurring since the end of the Qianlong Dynasty.
As a result, fifteen years after such a day, Emperor Jiaqing actually began to miss Heshen, and believed that his method of dealing with Heshen was too rough and that Heshen should not be allowed to commit suicide.
So why did Emperor Jiaqing have such an idea?
Portrait of Emperor Jiaqing
The Qing Dynasty, which had an unfair country,
Changing dynasties in feudal society has been an earth-shattering event since ancient times.
Not only must we level the land economically, but we must also have a strong military force that can fight every day. It is more important to be culturally orthodox.
As for the legitimacy of the Qing Dynasty, it can only be said to be very insufficient. You must know that the most righteous person in history is and Ming Dynasty . After all, it was to expel the Tartars and restore China.
Qianlong Portrait
But the Qing Dynasty itself was a barbarian in the history of China. Now that they have entered the Central Plains and seized the unification, legitimacy has naturally become a problem.
However, the Manchu and Qing aristocrats who knew that they did not have much ability came up with different policies for the sake of rule.
Starting from the Shunzhi emperor, senior officials in the Qing Dynasty were all Manchus. In all dynasties, senior Manchu officials served as close ministers of the emperor.
The armors of different colors of the Eight Banners
were to prevent the Han people from rising up to seize power.
Even with the Eight Banners disciples as guards, the number of Han people is still much higher than that of the Manchus. If a war really breaks out, the Manchus will be unable to resist and can only be captured.
Originally, this set of checks and balances worked very well. It can be said that the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong was built on this situation, which everyone knew very well and fought without breaking.
As a result, Qianlong died, and the newly appointed Emperor Jiaqing, in order to quickly seize power, actually directly killed He Shen, who was also a Manchu.
Eight Banners
This sharp and courageous method immediately shocked the officials above the court, of course the Manchu officials.
Since then, Manchu officials everywhere have wisely protected themselves and no longer suppressed Han officials.
In addition, there was a gap between Emperor Jiaqing and Manchu officials at that time, which enabled a large number of Han ministers to enter the top decision-making levels of the Qing Dynasty.
This caused the Qing Dynasty to quickly fall into the common problem of an empire ruled by ethnic minorities, that is, the development of the main ethnic group deviated from the basis of its rule.
When Emperor Jiaqing came to power in the later period, important departments such as the Military Aircraft Department had begun to have Dong Gao, Cao Zhenyong and other Han ministers serve as chiefs.
Qing troops hunted
This made the foundation of the Qing Dynasty increasingly unstable from the central to the local levels, and the rights and voice of many Han officials at the national level became increasingly important.
At this time, Emperor Jiaqing was shocked to realize what a mistake he had made after killing Heshen.
First, it alienated the Manchu officials at that time from Jiaqing. The second is to give Han officials an opportunity to take advantage of it, which increases the ability of local forces to confront the central government.
Daoguang
At this time, Jiaqing regretted it too late, and successively planned to use means to deal with the Han officials who had climbed to the top.
Unfortunately, He Jiaqing did not live long enough and died before completing this point, leaving this hole to Emperor Daoguang.
Emperor Daoguang used means to suppress many Han ministers, but at this time the foreigners came and gave the Qing Dynasty a slap in the face, and dragged the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom out. There was no way for the Qing Dynasty to delegate power to the localities to seek self-protection.
It can be said that Emperor Jiaqing's reckless actions were an important factor that caused the situation to become increasingly uncontrollable in the later period.
In the late Qing Dynasty, the eighteen provinces of Han Dynasty were able to ignore the edicts of the Qing Dynasty central government. This is why.
Emperor Daoguang
Conclusion
Looking back at history, the end of the prosperous period of Kangxi and Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty has already shown many declines, and its decline has become a historical necessity.
The killing of Heshen in Jiaqing was just a big splash in the long river of history. Its promoting role in history is not as important as Zeng Guofan establishing the Hunan Army .
Moreover, He Shen, a corrupt official, did deserve to be killed for the various crimes he committed during the Qianlong reign.
The only dissatisfaction of later generations is that Jiaqing's treatment of Heshen was not punished, which truly shocked the Qing bureaucracy that had been corrupted to the grassroots level at that time.
Taking measures rashly without attacking the party members was the consequence of Emperor Jiaqing's rash actions, and it was also what Qianlong was most worried about before his death.
