Chapter 46 At the critical moment, you have to lose your car to protect your handsome

The one who dared to really fight Heshen was the censor Qian Feng who had impeached Cathay Pacific. Qian Feng (1740-1795), styled Dongzhu, also styled Yuefu, nicknamed Nanyuan, was born in Kunming, Yunnan. He was a Jinshi in the thirty-sixth year of Qianlong (1771). , General Administration Secretary System Envoy, Head of the Household Department, Huguang Road Supervisory Censor, etc.He was famous for teaching calligraphy all his life. He was born in a poor family of common people, and he developed a character of not being obsessed with the times and not afraid of the rich and powerful.He is a clean and honest official, upright and upright. As a censor, he is loyal to the court wholeheartedly, has the courage to impeach him, dares to do what others dare not do, and says what others dare not say.

In the forty-seventh year of Qianlong (1782), Qian Feng wrote a letter to impeach Cathay, who was serving as the governor of Shandong Province, for corruption, bribery and fraud, which shocked the whole court. The party in the case is Cathay Pacific.Cathay Pacific has a great background. He is the uncle of the imperial concubine and has a very close relationship with Heshen. His father, Wen Shou, Governor of Sichuan, is Liu Yong's old superior.Think about it, such a person, who has a very close relationship with Emperor Qianlong, He Shen, and Liu Yong, who would dare not flatter him?So he was promoted very quickly all the way down.He first served as the magistrate of Siyang County, then served as the head of the Criminal Department, and then served as the inspector of Shandong, the chief envoy of Shandong, and the governor of Shandong. He became a powerful official in Xinjiang.

After he became the governor of Shandong, he collaborated with Yu Yijian, the governor of Shandong, to corrupt the law and misappropriate treasury silver, causing the treasury of the subordinate government offices in Shandong to be short of treasury, and the officialdom was in a mess for a while.Not only that, Shandong has been hit by disasters for three consecutive years, and Cathay Pacific invites credit and rewards, and continues to collect taxes.All those who were unable to pay were investigated and prosecuted, and 9 Jinshi and Juren who entered the province to plead for the people were killed.

You said, who dares to offend such a person?Not to mention, some people really dare to offend him.But not Liu Yong.Who are these people?University scholar Agui, general Fukang'an, and Jiangnan Road supervisory censor Qian Feng! At the beginning of 1782, Agui, a scholar, and Fukang'an, a general, jointly wrote a letter to impeach Guotai, the governor of Shandong Province, for plundering money in the name of paying tribute to the emperor. Dozens of subordinate states and counties were seriously short of warehouses, and suggested that Emperor Qianlong transfer him to The capital is an official.

Emperor Qianlong thought, hey, the impeachment has come to my uncle.No way?Cathay Pacific would not do such a thing, would it?Find someone to ask!Who are you looking for?Let’s ask Yu Yijian, the chief envoy of Shandong Province! Emperor Qianlong looked for Yu Yijian, but he found the right person!Yu Yijian is the younger brother of Yu Minzhong, a former academician. Because Cathay Pacific has a lot of power, he usually flatters and flatters him.Originally, the chief envoy and the governor had the same rank, both from the second rank.However, Yu Yijian flattered Cathay extremely, and even knelt down to report to Cathay.

At this time, when Yu Yi Jian saw the emperor's inquiry, he tried his best to defend Cathay Pacific, insisting that Cathay Pacific did not run rampant with greed or protect bad ministers, but was stricter with its subordinates.Qianlong believed Yu Yijian's words, and twice issued an edict saying that Cathay Pacific had no bad deeds, it was just a matter of seriousness and quick results, and did not adopt Agui's suggestion. Qian Feng, the supervisory censor of Jiangnan Road, is a master who is not afraid of death!He knew that the impeachment of Agui, a senior scholar, had no effect, so he continued to write to Emperor Qianlong in early April to impeach Cathay again.You said, is it risky for Qian Feng to impeach Cathay again at this moment?

Fortunately, Emperor Qianlong immediately issued two edicts on the fourth day of April, appointing Shangshu Heshen, Yushi Liu Yong of the Zuodu, and Nuomu, the right servant of the Ministry of Industry, to go to Shandong as imperial envoys to "investigate and deal with the facts impartially." Why did Emperor Qianlong make such an arrangement?Sending three people to Shandong to investigate the case, does it appear that he is paying more attention to the case?No! If you think about it, Emperor Qianlong’s arrangement has far-reaching significance: Heshen has a very good relationship with Cathay; Liu Yong is an old subordinate of Cathay’s father, Wenshou;Of these three people, who doesn't understand what I, Emperor Qianlong, want to do to ensure that Cathay Pacific passes the border safely?

However, I still have to put on a pretense, and then issue a few more orders. On the sixth day of April, Emperor Qianlong guessed that He Shen must have understood his intentions, and must have quickly completed the arrangements for the aftermath of the case, so he issued an order to the Minister of Military Affairs, explaining the principles and methods of investigating the Cathay Pacific case.He said: "Qian Feng's impeachment of Cathay Pacific and Yu Yijian's greed and selfishness caused the warehouses in Licheng and other counties to run short. Heshen and others are now sent to investigate strictly. For the warehouse deficit, Heshen and others will compare the printed books one by one and check them. It can be found out. But the matter of extorting bribes and giving bribes is more difficult. Both parties are unwilling to report the truth, but they can tell the officials that if Yi and others confess the truth, the crime can be dealt with lightly. This order was sent urgently by Liubaili Yu Heshen and others."

On the eighth day of April, Emperor Qianlong issued an order to Lu Erchang, the Minister of Military Affairs and the former prefect of Jinan, Shandong Province, to recommend him to be the inspector of Anhui.Lu Erchang is a member of Cathay Pacific, so he must know about Cathay Pacific's misdeeds, and ordered Lu Erchang to accuse Cathay Pacific and Yu Yijian of greed and lawlessness according to the facts, without any deception, or he will be severely punished. Let's talk about Qian Feng again.Qian Feng was afraid that He Shen would make arrangements in advance, so he discussed with Liu Yong, and he would go ahead alone, and Liu Yong would stabilize He Shen.The three imperial envoys, He Shen, Liu Yong, and Nuo Muqin, left Beijing for Jinan on the fourth day of April.

He Shen really understood the meaning of Emperor Qianlong very well.He Shen judged that Liu Yong would definitely have the same idea as himself and try his best to ensure that Cathay Pacific passed the customs.Anyway, Liu Yong is also Cathay's father's old subordinate! Therefore, on the way to Shandong, He Shen put the focus of his work on education and guarding against Qian Feng.On the one hand, he tried his best to protect Cathay; on the other hand, he threatened Qian Feng not to investigate seriously.As a result, Qian Feng insisted on handling the case impartially and was not afraid of intimidation at all.

Seeing that one plan failed, He Shen tried another one.He secretly informed Cathay of the cause and effect of the incident, allowing him to quickly prepare for it.After Cathay learned the news, he hurriedly borrowed money from the businessman and put it in the treasury. He made up the amount of silver in the treasury and temporarily covered up the deficit. At this time, Liu Yong actually changed his usual attitude of being cautious and not daring to offend Heshen too much. Along the way, he often secretly discussed with Qian Feng how to deal with criminals such as Heshen and Cathay Pacific. Why did Liu Yong change his usual attitude of being cautious and not daring to offend Heshen too much, and insist on investigating and punishing Cathay Pacific? According to my analysis, the main reasons for Liu Yong's change of his usual image should be as follows: First, Emperor Qianlong's consecutive imperial edicts to expedite the six hundred miles played a role.In fact, this was caused by Liu Yong's misunderstanding of Emperor Qianlong's true thoughts.Liu Yong can be said to be "smart for a lifetime, but confused for a while" on this point. Second, the work style passed down from my family.Liu Yong's grandfather and father have always been extremely clean and honest, and have always hated corrupt officials.Liu Yong also has this genetic gene in his heart, but he dare not show it at inappropriate timing. Third, the influence of powerful public opinion tools.The impeachment of Cathay Pacific this time was unusual. The impeachment was jointly impeached by the scholar Agui and the general Fukang'an, followed by Qian Feng, the supervisory censor of Jiangnan Province, who continued to investigate. The momentum was too fierce.This time, even the emperor might not be able to keep Cathay Pacific.This is also a good opportunity for him to show his face. With this extremely wrong idea, Liu Yong embarked on the road of cooperating with Qian Feng and opposing He Shen!Danger! It is said that after He Shen and his party arrived in Shandong, they began to check the warehouse.Heshen ordered the guards to inspect dozens of pieces of silver, and the quantity was consistent with what was recorded in the book. Heshen then ordered to return to the residence, which means that the check has been completed and there is no shortage. It should be said that the corruption case of Cathay Pacific should be over.What about Qian Feng?His impeachment was either defined as a false accusation, or it ended with "the rumors and rumors, the facts have a reason, and there is no factual evidence". At this critical moment, under Liu Yong's guidance, Qian Feng proposed to seal up the treasury, and He Shen agreed.After closing the warehouse, a group of people went back.It turned out that under Liu Yong's guidance, Qian Feng discovered that the verified silver and the number of warm hats of the fourth-rank officials were different, and the quality of the silver was also wrong.The silver taels stored in the national warehouse are all 50 taels for an ingot. The quality of the silver is very good, and the silver color is normal; while the silver used for verification is the merchant’s silver.He knew that there must be fraud in it, so he suggested to seal the library. Qian Feng immediately visited and investigated carefully, and finally learned that the governor had borrowed money from merchants, pretending to be official money, and putting it into the treasury.Qian Feng then sent people around to announce that if the merchant whose borrowed silver was deposited in the treasury did not report the amount of silver to the government, please return it, and the silver would be confiscated. The next day, the three imperial envoys, together with Qian Feng, went to the silver warehouse, opened the door, and checked the fineness of the silver and the quantity of each ingot. It was indeed wrong, not treasury silver (treasury silver).At this time, the merchants reported the reason and amount of the silver borrowed one after another, and returned the silver, "the treasury was empty."In this way, the truth of Shandong's shortfall of 40,000 taels of silver was revealed in broad daylight. At this time, He Shen quickly changed his expression, he thought, come on, me, let me lose the car and keep him handsome, and leave him alone.He Shen immediately betrayed Cathay Pacific, and immediately investigated with Liu Yong and Nuo Mu personally that Cathay Pacific was corrupt and unlawful. As a result, it was found that Cathay Pacific was corrupt and extorted a total of 80,000 taels of bribes. At this time, He Shen could only truthfully report to Emperor Qianlong together with Liu Yong, and it was verified that Cathay Pacific had embezzled and extorted a total of 80,000 taels of bribes.Emperor Qianlong was furious, and ordered Liu Yong and He Shen to arrest Cathay and return to Beijing, and opened a warehouse to help the people in Shandong. At this time, the imperial concubine had already interceded for Cathay in front of Emperor Qianlong; some censors who knew Emperor Qianlong's character also echoed him, suggesting that Cathay's punishment should be lightened.What about Emperor Qianlong?He is now in a difficult situation. During the five days from the fourth day of April to the eighth day of April, he issued four imperial decrees in a row, expressing in front of all officials that the Cathay Pacific corruption case must be strictly investigated and dealt with.What about the result of the investigation?Corruption and bribery totaled 80,000 taels!Emperor Qianlong thought to himself, I still have to seek the opinion of Liu Yong, the imperial envoy who is directly responsible for investigating and handling the Cathay case. What about Liu Yong?He has not yet figured out Emperor Qianlong's true intentions, and is still enumerating Cathay's crimes based on the evidence obtained from private investigations, suggesting that Cathay should be dealt with severely. Emperor Qianlong saw it, this Cathay Pacific, you let me throw this person away, you, don't live!So in three days, four consecutive edicts were issued, announcing: Guotai will be executed in prison and executed after autumn; Yu Yijian will be escorted to Beijing for interrogation;In early June, Emperor Qianlong ordered Guotai and Yu Yijian to commit suicide in prison. Not only that, in order to take advantage of this opportunity to overthrow Heshen and eliminate harm for the country, Liu Yong and Qian Feng also handed over the seized Cathay Pacific letter to Heshen to Emperor Qianlong.When the three of them returned to Beijing to return to their orders and met Emperor Qianlong, Emperor Qianlong suddenly shouted: "He Shen, are you guilty?" Going to Shandong, be cautious and handle the case impartially, for fear of incurring the emperor's kindness, please learn from the emperor." Emperor Qianlong handed over the secret letter presented by Qian Feng to He Shen to see how he reacted.When He Shen saw the secret letter, he was startled suddenly, but on the surface he kept his expression calm, pretending not to know what was going on, slowly opened the letter, read every word carefully, and bought as much time as possible to come up with a solution. words.He was indeed very witty, and he calmed down as soon as he changed his mind. He pretended to be righteous and said to Emperor Qianlong: "I have not received this secret letter. If I do, I will definitely punish Guotai even more severely." As soon as the words came out, the situation that was not conducive to Heshen immediately improved.Emperor Qianlong also softened his tone, and asked Liu Yong and Qian Feng whether He Shen had obstructed the handling of the Cathay case.He Shen had already prepared a way out just in case.He seldom interfered in the process of handling the case.Liu Yong had no choice but to report the truth, saying that He Shen was interrogated in strict words and had no personal affair.Emperor Qianlong suddenly became happy, saying that Cathay Pacific was wishful thinking, and the ministers of Heshen Kingdom would not do such unruly things.A turmoil turned the crisis into safety. From the case of Cathay Pacific being impeached and dismissed from office, we can see that He Shen used two of the rules of his officialdom game here: One is to compromise when it is time for an opponent who is too tough. The second is to sell friends who cannot be supported when it is time to sell. In this matter, Liu Yong supported Qian Feng from the beginning to the end, and his attitude played a vital role in the final truth of the case. This time, in the contest with the corrupt group headed by the big corrupt official He Shen, the righteous people headed by Liu Yong finally won a big victory!This is a huge blow to the corruption group headed by Heshen. However, we know that there is a price to pay for everything we do.The subsequent price may not be what Liu Yong wanted at the beginning.Will the corruption group headed by Heshen let Liu Yong go easily?What price will Liu Yong pay?