Chapter 41 Reach out and don't hit the gift giver

The world's first impression of He Shen is that he is a big corrupt official. How did He Shen accumulate a lot of wealth in just over twenty years?His method of raising money must have been extraordinary. Power and money have always been inseparable. If you have power, you have prepared sufficient conditions for being rich, and if you have money, you can buy power.Power-for-money transactions were very common in China's feudal society, and some were even allowed by the government.In the middle and late Qianlong period, this phenomenon became more rampant, and even reached the level of madness.He Shen is well versed in the way of being an official, that is, he must give people a sense of breeze in the open, but he does those shady things behind his back, so as not to break the unspoken rules of officialdom.In this way, one's position can be firm and won the trust of the emperor.This is how he climbed to the pinnacle of power step by step. Of course, he was accompanied by a growing desire for corruption and bribery.

Because Heshen has always been favored by Qianlong, officials at all levels have come to worship the dock and hug their thick legs.Therefore, during the holidays, Heshen's family is always full of people, and those who give gifts even have to line up to enter, which shows that Heshen is bold.He Shen also did not refuse anyone who came, and ordered the housekeepers Hushitu and Liu Quan to keep good accounts, so that in the future they can find out what to do according to the plan, and give different official titles and different levels of care according to the severity of the gifts.Of course, giving gifts to He Shen may not necessarily win his favor, and some of them may not even meet in person, but if they don't give gifts, they will be regarded as aliens in the officialdom and will not be reused by them for life.

He Shen's officials are getting bigger and bigger, so more and more people give gifts, and more and more money and treasures are given, but He Shen is not satisfied.He believes that relying on gifts from others is passive collection of money after all, and he wants to actively ask for money.For this reason, under the banner of Qianlong, he amassed wealth with great fanfare and made a fortune. In the middle and later period of Qianlong, Qianlong became more and more successful, and social conflicts became more and more acute. Han people and Miao people often rose up, and military suppression also cost a lot of money. In addition, Qianlong's life became more and more corrupt. The national treasury can't stand such a toss, and it will soon be in a hurry.Regardless of these, Qianlong still made several southern tours, which cost a huge amount of money.Not only that, but Qianlong had to whitewash the peace. As for the source of money, he relied on Heshen to find out.He Shen also never tired of it, and it was in his arms.

He Shen has always been lackluster in governing the country.He does not have the ability to prosper the economy and develop production; let alone the means to stabilize the social order and allow the people to recuperate, so as to increase taxes and enrich the treasury revenue.In He Shen's view, it is too late to do these things now, and it is enough to leave these specific matters to the people below. My task is to take good care of the emperor and satisfy all the requirements and preferences of the emperor.Therefore, he set his sights on those subordinates and wealthy businessmen.He asked officials and wealthy businessmen to pay him tribute, and he knew that those local officials had countless ways to squeeze money from the people.As for those wealthy businessmen, they relied on the government to shoddy their goods and make huge profits, so they were happy to curry favor with the powerful and look for backers.

In order to pay tribute to Heshen, the local government had to set up a clever name and collect money from farmers, which could not only curry favor with Heshen, but also fill their own pockets by the way.He Shen has gone above and beyond in this regard.Needless to say, important festivals such as the birthdays of the emperor, empress, empress dowager, and their own family members, the emperor's rewards for him, good news at the border, and even good weather are all reasons for receiving gifts.Collecting money from the pockets of local officials, the local officials from the big officials of the border to the magistrates and counties, as well as some merchants who donate small officials, pay tribute to the emperor every year.Later, gold, silver and money could no longer arouse Heshen's interest, so officials came up with ingenious strategies one after another, searching for rare treasures and even landscape manors to dedicate to Heshen.He Shen is intoxicated by the phenomenon of gift-giving that often introduces new ones, and his appetite is getting bigger and bigger.Not only that, He Shen didn't even let go of the tributes from foreign envoys, and He Shen's home was full of things that didn't even exist in the palace.

Qianlong often received tribute and money from ministers, so he was naturally happy, but he also knew that his subordinates would inevitably complain. In order to maintain his image as a sage, he once ordered not to give gifts, but many officials still paid tribute through other channels. Qianlong no longer insisted.This practice of Heshen made the people's lives more miserable, and it was difficult for Qianlong to know about this situation, which laid the root of the disaster for the decline of the Qing court in the future. Heshen's method of raising money is very superb. Within a few years after Heshen took over the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has turned losses into profits.Deng Zhicheng wrote in "The History of Two Thousand Years of China": Qianlong's military expenses and civil engineering tours are not as poor as the official offerings, but he has no worries about hundreds of millions of years old. Zhizhou County Heshen became Qianlong's finance minister.

He Shen not only enriched his private pockets through the above methods, but sometimes even ate the plaintiff and the defendant.For example, in the lawsuit between Xu Wude and Huo Sande in Fengtianyi Prefecture, both parties sent money to Heshen at the same time, and Heshen took all the property of the two families. There are many people who give gifts to Heshen, but Heshen cannot receive them one by one, so giving gifts to Heshen has to be skillful.He Shen was originally a literati, and Qianlong liked writing and ink, so He Shen often regarded himself as a literati.Therefore, giving him antique calligraphy and paintings often makes him happier than money.

Official Wang Rulong knew his preference, so he often gave Heshen some antiques and treasures such as jade ruyi, black jade butterfly, and jade horse.In order to be close to the big tree of Heshen, he also gave Heshen the "Sketch of Butterfly from Life" by Zhao Chang, a famous painter in the Northern Song Dynasty, and also stuffed some silver in the picture. Of course, Heshen took him differently.Soon, Wang Rulong replaced Zhengrui as the governor of Lianghuai.Although Zhengrui also contributed one hundred thousand taels of silver to Heshen every year, he still watched Wang Rulong get favored, so he had to knock out his teeth and swallow it in his stomach.

Heshen never refused the gift-giver who came. The so-called not hitting the gift-giver with his hands, so he also attracted a large number of officials to do errands for him, which was very popular for a while.