Man Han: Why does He Shen have to die?

Hello, welcome to "Wu Liuqi's Miscellaneous History Museum".

Today we will talk about the most important people around Qianlong, and Shen .

Speaking of He Shen, many people will think of the classic corrupt official image played by Wang Gang . There is a popular saying, "Heshen falls down, Jiaqing eats full", it is said that the Emperor Jiaqing went to copy Heshen's home because the country ran out of money.

Qianlong and Heshen Stills

In this way, we can't say that it is wrong, but there is a discrepancy with the real history. He Shen is a corrupt official, and he is not fake; Qianlong treats him especially favorably, and he is not fake. But it would be too simple to understand Heshen in this way.

Manchuria supremacy

Speaking of harmony, I have to mention Qianlong and a policy that has a far-reaching influence in his later years. Without this policy, perhaps we would not have known the existence of He Shen today.

What policy? It is "Manchurian supremacy".

is more specific, that is, when Qianlong appointed officials, was heavily biased towards the Manchu people, and even attributed all the achievements of the country to the Manchu credit. He Shen can climb so high because of this policy.

You may think that this is normal. Isn't the Qing Dynasty the Manchu regime?

Indeed, the Qing Dynasty has always paid attention to protecting the dominant position of the Manchus. At that time, there was a fundamental national policy, which was called "the first advocacy of Manchuria." This fundamental national policy is as unshakable as the people in the Qing Dynasty must keep pigtails.

However, the emperors before Qianlong, in order to unite the Han people, still paid attention to proportion in actual operation. Shunzhi The emperor declared that he treated officials "without distinction between Han and Han". Kangxi has also expanded the number of examination places in the Jiangnan area, giving the Han people more opportunities to become officials.

Of course, the premise is that the Han Chinese cannot threaten the status of the Manchus. Once the Manchus no longer have the advantage in the official group, then facing a large number of Hans with superior culture, the Manchus' self-identity may be reduced, and eventually the overall sinicization. This is a situation that the rulers of the Qing Dynasty never wanted to see.

For a long time, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty emphasized maintaining the uniqueness of the Manchus in language, horseback archery, and national costumes. The garrisons of Manchu troops in various regions should also be built separately from the Han people.

Even so, when Qianlong was the emperor, he still found that more and more Manchus were Chinese.

In the imperial examination that year, there was a special translation department. As long as the manchu can translate between , manchu and Chinese, they can pass the exam. However, in the 22nd year of Qianlong, because he couldn't recruit enough people who could speak Manchu, he had to cancel this subject.

Faced with such a situation, Qianlong had to strengthen the “Manchurian supremacy” policy to further ensure the dominant position of the Manchus.

His most direct move is to further increase the policy preference for the Manchus in the selection of officials.

If you are a manchu noble in the Qianlong period, you can skip all procedures and get an official position directly by the title. In the early Qianlong period, the scholars and ministers of military and aircraft, Naqin, relied on the title of the first-class duke to directly become an official from the second-rank, only one level lower than the second-rank.

If your family is not so prominent, don’t worry, you can be a guard or translator first, and then you can become an official when you have the opportunity. This was actually the most common way for young Manchu people to get promoted, and He Shen was also a guard at the beginning.

In this way, many Manchus can enter the officialdom early and occupy high-ranking positions in advance.

At the central level, Qianlong focused on promoting four people: Agui , Fu Chang’an, Fu Kang’an ,And He Shen.

They all served as Minister of Military Aircraft and Cabinet Fellows, and Agui later became the Chief Minister of Military Aircraft. But whether it is the speed of promotion or the final status, He Shen is the most prominent one.

In 1776 alone, He Shen was promoted five times and became the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs from the right minister of the household. At the age of 26, He Shen entered the military aircraft division , the highest decision-making body. At that time, some people called this year the "Heshen Year".

He Shen stills

Qianlong was over 60 years old at that time. He fostered He Shen, who was 40 years younger than him, essentially hoping to ensure that in the coming decades, the Manchu elites would be able to secure an advantage in the court.

It is undeniable that He Shen's personal ability is very strong, but under Qianlong's Manchurian supremacy line, even if it weren't for him, another similar role will rise rapidly and become a representative of the young Manchu political elite.

In addition to vigorously promoting young Manchu officials like He Shen, Qianlong also did a lot of things. For example, using state funds to redeem the land sold by the Baqizi brothers and return them to them. For another example, in order to let the Manchus practice riding and shooting more, Qianlong did not hesitate to let the Eight Banners soldiers reduce the time of firearm exercises.

These measures have strengthened the political, economic, and social interests of the Manchus, and greatly enhanced the ethnic identity of the Manchus. They did delay the process of Sinicization of Manchus to a certain extent.

Even at the end of the Qing Dynasty, some Manchus are no longer able to speak or shoot arrows on horseback. They still have a strong sense of superiority.

But in this way, the Manchus were given extra privileges and status, but they had no corresponding obligations or proper supervision. The direct consequence was that they began to embezzle.

We know that He Shen is a corrupt official, but he is only the biggest one. Besides him, there are thousands of Xiao He Shen.

Why He Shen must die

Too many corrupt officials, of course, emptied the country’s finances. Therefore, this political line did not continue after Qianlong's death. As soon as Jiaqing came to power,Reforms were carried out immediately. The first cut of this reform, you must know, it was at Heshen.

However, Jiaqing wants to kill Heshen, not only because of Heshen corruption, but also for more important political reasons.

Why do you say that? Quite simply, He Shen, who was pushed to a high position by Qianlong's “Manchurian supremacy” policy, became a powerful minister after Jiaqing succeeded to the throne. Power ministers are ministers who are particularly powerful enough to influence the emperor.

Let's look at a detail. Qianlong passed the throne to Jiaqing in 1795, after which he served as the Supreme Emperor for three more years. This year, Jiaqing is 35 years old and He Shen is 45 years old, both of which are still young. As for Qianlong, he was already 85.

It stands to reason that He Shen knew that Qianlong would not live long, so he should go to favor Jiaqing. But don't forget, he and Shen can have today, relying on Qianlong's policies and reuse. Not to mention, the current power is actually still in Qianlong's hands. I ask you, does he listen to the old emperor or the new emperor?

The old emperor refuses to really abdicate, the new emperor cannot be anxious, but if he listens to the new emperor, the old emperor can kill him immediately.

So, even though Jiaqing saw him in various dislikes, as long as Qianlong was not dead, He Shen could only stand on Qianlong's side.

Moreover, He Shen has so much power and controls so many political resources . Only Qianlong can restrain him. Once Qianlong died, he would pose a huge threat to Jiaqing.

I believe that a person as smart as He Shen can see his political situation clearly. But if one cannot resist the times, there is no way he can do it.

You may be curious, He Shen can't be both innocent, so he just resigned and went home? can not.

You think, the new emperor is just about to come to power, when you are just 45 years old, you are returning home. What is your mind?

Moreover, He Shen has been in Korea for so many years, in order to preserve his power and avoid being liquidated by others, he has also suppressed many political opponents. Once you resign, isn't it just waiting for others to retaliate against him?

As for the rebellion,It is even more impossible for him to be a civilian.

Therefore, He Shen has only one choice left, relying on Qianlong to further stabilize his position. But the more he did this, the greater the threat Jiaqing felt.

In Qianlong's later years, He Shen had already controlled the entire Military Aircraft Department. The appointment of officials, the trial of cases, and even the official memorials and memorials had to be passed by him.

More importantly, the Taishang is too old and getting old and confused. Who will pass on the message to the Taishang? Still He Shen.

Think about it from Jiaqing's perspective, He Shen's power is too great and too dangerous. You have the final say on major matters of the country, so what is the emperor of me?

So, as soon as Qianlong passed away in the first month of 1799, Emperor Jiaqing sent someone to control Heshen. Less than half a month later, Jiaqing gave Heshen a white silk and asked him to hang himself at home.

Heshen stills

You see, Emperor Qianlong established such a young political elite through the Manchurian supremacy policy, but under the inheritance mechanism of the throne, Heshen climbed too fast. , Will inevitably become a powerful minister in the eyes of the new emperor. He Shen, who was in his prime, said goodbye to his stage in a hurry.

The influence of He Shen's death

He Shen's death, what influence did it bring?

First of all, it greatly weakened the credibility of Manchu supremacy.

From the people's point of view, the Manchu elites who are the most respected and promoted by the imperial court are the big corrupt officials and anti-thief. The other Manchus should be somewhat responsible for this.

At the central level, the emperor must of course consider how to prevent the next official from appearing. Since the political line of Manchuria supremacy finally gave birth to such a malignant tumor as Heshen, when Qianlong died, Jiaqing would naturally adjust its policies and start to reuse Han people.

Since the Jiaqing dynasty, there have been more Han people in the military plane, such as Dong Gao and Cao Zhenyong .He even served as Chief Minister of the Military Aircraft Department for a long time.

More importantly, from the central to the local level, Han officials have more and more say in state affairs, and the stage where they can act is also getting bigger and bigger.

Later Westernization Movement , and even the entire Tongzhi Zhongxing , were dominated by Han officials. We are all familiar with Zeng Guofan, Hu Linyi, Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang. They have the opportunity to stand up and help the late Qing Dynasty solve internal and external troubles, and they all follow the policy changes after Heshen's death. related.

Such a policy adopted by Emperor Qianlong in his later years, although the original intention was to enhance the status of the Manchus, objectively brought the rise of the Han people. Of course, it also played a positive role in the continuation of the vitality of the Qing Dynasty. This of course was something he hadn't thought of before his death.

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