Chapter 11 Chapter Ten: Corrupt Official He Shen

Jiaqing took over power from Qianlong, and at the same time took over a series of crises under the cloak of prosperity, the most urgent of which was the issue of Heshen.In history, Heshen officials went to ministers of guards, ministers of politics, bachelors of Wenhuadian University, and chief ministers of military affairs.People's impression of He Shen is an image of a treacherous minister who is slick, flattering, tricky, and ignorant. The teasing of upright ministers like Liu Yong and Ji Xiaolan.Not so. Heshen was born in the fifteenth year of Qianlong (1750), thirty-nine years younger than Qianlong, of the Niu Hulu family, and a man of Zhenghongqi in Manchuria.His father served as the deputy capital of Fujian.When Heshen was about ten years old, he was fortunate enough to enter the official school of Xian'an Palace in the palace, where he learned Confucian classics and Manchu and Mongolian characters, and received a good education.In the thirty-fifth year of Qianlong (1770), he participated in the Shuntianfu Township Examination at the age of 21, but failed to pass the examination.But because he was born in Zhenghongqi, Manchuria, he became a third-class guard of the palace and began to go in and out of the palace.This provided him with the opportunity to get close to Qianlong.But Qianlong had many guards, why would he appreciate a low-level guard?

According to Unofficial History Notes: Once, when Qianlong was about to go on a tour, he suddenly couldn't find the yellow umbrella cover used by the ceremonial guard, so he asked whose responsibility it was. responsibility." This sentence left a deep impression on Qianlong.Another time, Qianlong was reciting while walking in the sedan chair, and suddenly forgot the verse, and He Shen, who was a follower beside the sedan chair, blurted out to pick it up, and Qianlong liked him very much for this reason. In the 40th year of Qianlong (1775), Qianlong went to Shandong to inspect, and He Shen followed.Qianlong liked to take a small cart driven by a mule, which was changed every ten miles, which was as fast as flying.One day, He Shen happened to be accompanied by such a small mule cart.On the way, Qianlong saw He Shen and asked, "What is your background?"

He Shen replied: "Clerk." Qianlong asked again: "Are you going to rush for the exam?" He Shen said: "Geng Yinnian once took the imperial examination." Qianlong asked again: "What test questions?" He Shen said: "Meng Gongchuo's day." Qianlong asked again: "Can I recite your essay now?" He Shen then recited while walking, very fluent.Qianlong then said: "Your article also won." The conversation between Qianlong and Heshen became a turning point in Heshen's political career. From then on, Heshen was appreciated by Qianlong, his official career prospered, and his career rose steadily.

He Shen is a man who is both knowledgeable and good at power.He is talented, diligent, studious, versatile, proficient in Manchu, Chinese, Mongolian, and Tibetan languages, friendly and enthusiastic, has a wide range of good relationships, is capable in handling affairs, and has outstanding achievements. When Qianlong sent troops to Tibet and Khalkha, all the edicts were issued in Manchu and Chinese; the imperial edicts issued to Dalai and Khalkha were in both Tibetan and Mongolian.Few of the ministers could understand Tibetan, and only He Shen was able to write these edicts in Manchu, Mongolian, Chinese and other languages, translate them, and handle things well.

In the forty-fifth year of Qianlong (1780), the 31-year-old He Shen accepted an important task, which was to go to Yunnan to investigate the corruption case of Li Shiyao, governor of Yunnan and Guizhou.As soon as He Shen arrived in Yunnan, he first interrogated Li Shiyao's housekeeper. After obtaining the evidence, he forced the shrewd and capable Li Shiyao to plead guilty.It only took Heshen more than two months from accepting this task to Qianlong's imperial decree to punish Li Shiyao. Because of Heshen's outstanding talent and ability in handling the case, he was promoted to Minister of the Household Department by Qianlong on his way back to Beijing.Heshen relied on Qianlong to control the power in the court, and then used the power in his hands to form cliques and expand his power.

He promoted his younger brother He Lin from a minor cabinet official to governor of Sichuan within a few years, and he also wooed Fu Chang'an, Minister of Military Affairs.Fu Chang'an is the nephew of Empress Xiaoxian of Qianlong. His father Fu Heng and elder brother Fu Kang'an both served as high-ranking officials such as Minister of Military Aircraft, but Fu Chang'an himself has no skills and obeys He Shen's words. And Shandong governor Yijiang A, who only knows how to flirt, has become Heshen's confidant. Qianlong liked Heshen, and named Heshen's six-year-old son Fengshen Yinde. Soon, he assigned his favorite five-year-old daughter, Huang Shinu and Princess Xiao, to Heshen's son Fengshen Yinde.The ten princesses were regarded as the jewel in the palm of Qianlong, and they were married in the fifty-fourth year of Qianlong (1789).When she got married, Qianlong bestowed a large amount of property, ten times that of her former son-in-law, Fu Longan.From then on, the relationship between Heshen and Qianlong was not only a master-servant relationship, but also an in-law relationship.

He Shen has been in power for more than 20 years, and he has been promoted and knighted as many as 50 times.One of the reasons is that He Shen was good at figuring out Qianlong's mind, doing what he liked, and winning his favor. Qianlong loved to write poems all his life. In order to cater to Emperor Qianlong, Heshen worked hard to study and write poems, and he had a profound attainment. He often made poems with Qianlong. The historical archives still preserve the documents of Heshen and Qianlong's poems. Qianlong loved calligraphy, and Heshen deliberately imitated Qianlong's calligraphy. The characters he wrote resembled Qianlong's imperial brush. Some poem inscriptions in the late Qianlong period were simply handed over to Heshen.

Qianlong believed in Lamaism and had a lot of research on Buddhist classics.He Shen also studied Buddhist scriptures, and some books say that He Shen and Qianlong "practiced Tantric Buddhism" together. Qianlong was an old man who liked to be flattered and taken care of by others. He Shen was by his side and served and cared for the emperor with consideration and thoughtfulness.For example, North Korea's "Records of the Li Dynasty" records: Although He Shen is a senior scholar and military minister, whenever Qianlong coughed and spit, he immediately took a spittoon to catch it.

In his later years, Qianlong lived a luxurious life, building a large number of construction projects, and built Ningshou Palace and gardens for himself as a place to retire and take care of his life.He toured the south six times, and built thirty palaces along the way, which cost a lot of money. Qianlong's birthday, the longevity ceremony and the banquet of thousands of seniors were all managed by Heshen.He Shen was able to find ways to satisfy Qianlong's extravagant desires. In short, Heshen had a very special and indescribable close relationship with Qianlong.Qianlong's court ladies, concubines, and eunuchs were all uneducated, and they could not talk to him about poetry, calligraphy, painting, and Buddhist scriptures, nor could they help him with military and state affairs, and communicate in multiple languages.For Qianlong, He Shen was an irreplaceable companion and assistant.

Relying on Qianlong's favor, Heshen used various methods to collect money, such as embezzlement, bribery, extortion, lending money, opening shops, collecting taxes, exploiting salt merchants, and so on.All the gifts from other provinces to pay tribute to the emperor had to go through Heshen, and he intercepted them, so that the pearl bracelets in his collection were bigger and more than those in the palace. It is said that the day before Heshen was investigated, Qianlong's Seventh Brother sent someone to ask Heshen to find a way to save him.It turned out that the prince accidentally broke an exquisite and dazzling jasper plate with a diameter of about a foot in the palace.This is the emperor's most beloved treasure vessel. The seventh elder brother was afraid that Jiaqing Longyan would be angry and blame him, so he quickly sent someone to beg Heshen. Heshen took out a beautiful jade plate and smiled to the visitor: "This What's the problem, let's see if this jade plate can be replaced?" The visitor immediately narrowed his eyes into a line of joy when he saw it, and holding this jade plate that was many times stronger than the one in the imperial palace, he trotted all the way back and gave it to him. Seventh brother.

Officials at that time wanted to get a lucrative job, or wanted to keep a high position, or wanted to make a fortune, or wanted to avoid prison or death, all of them followed Heshen's door and paid a lot of money and bribes.In addition, he also blackmailed and blackmailed officials from all over the country. Once, the governor of Fujian, Wulana, etc., in order to repay the treasure given to Heshen, even publicly hanged and beat state and county officials to collect money.In this way, the officials of various states and counties tortured the Tolerance and Yamen servants, and Tolerance and Yamen servants intensified the exploitation and search of the common people. This kind of corruption layered upon layer finally led to a large-scale uprising.They used the slogan of "officials force the people to rebel" and pointed their finger at Heshen directly. He Shen is familiar with the way of officialdom, but his actions are not always invisible. Some people always come to impeach him. For this reason, He Shen does everything possible to block or intercept the information channels leading to the emperor, and retaliate against dissident forces. For example, Cao Xibao, the censor, wanted to participate in the impeachment of Heshen's family Liu Quan, so as to open the gap to participate in the impeachment of Heshen, but he accidentally leaked the news and was informed to Heshen overnight.After He Shen knew about it, he laid the groundwork in front of Qianlong, and Cao Xibao was dismissed and retained. Emperor Jiaqing had heard about Heshen's monopoly and corruption for a long time, and was extremely dissatisfied in his heart, but because of Qianlong's affection, he dared to think about it but dared not speak up.After Qianlong's death, the first thing Jiaqing did after he presided over the government was to quickly investigate, execute Heshen, and confiscate his family property.There is a list of house raids circulating that records Heshen's property like this: Eight thousand hectares of land, seventy-five pawnshops, forty-two silver shops, thirteen antique shops, one hundred and six buildings with gardens, and a large amount of gold and silver, jewelry, utensils, etc.; There are 1,502 pieces of mink fur, 1,243 pieces of miscellaneous fur, and 5,316 pieces of other clothes.His entire family property, equivalent to more than 900 million taels of silver, is so large that it far exceeds the total income of the Qing court for more than ten years (70 million taels per year). The amount of embezzlement and the amount of money he has embezzled is unprecedented. .Since ancient times, neither Wang Kai nor Shi Chong is one-tenth of that of Heshen, and even the emperors at home and abroad do not have such a large family property. Relying on Qianlong's favor, He Shen was insatiable greedy, and when he reached the peak of wealth, he also dug his own grave.The case of the corrupt official He Shen shows how corrupt the Qing court has become under the cloak of Qianlong's prosperity!