Chapter 89 Inspiration from He Shen's life

Yang Shen, one of the three great talents in the Ming Dynasty and a famous writer, wrote a poem "Linjiang Immortal" based on his life experience: The rolling Yangtze River flows eastward, the waves wipe out the heroes, the success or failure is turned around, the green hills are still there, and the sunset is red for several times. White-haired fishermen and woodcutters on the river, used to watching the autumn moon and spring breeze.A pot of turbid wine is happy to meet each other, so many things in ancient and modern times are all laughed and talked about. How many romantic figures in history have gone with the wind and only become the talk of future generations.When we look at it from a historical perspective, we do not want to worship historical figures praised by the world, nor do we want to criticize historical figures whose reputation has been discredited.After all, the past has become history. It is the most important thing that we can inherit the upward momentum or learn lessons from them to avoid failure.There is a saying that the lessons learned from the past are the teachers of future generations.To learn from a person's life experience, we must give him a correct historical positioning and objective evaluation. Heshen was an important official in the Qianlong period, which profoundly affected the history and social development at that time, so it is necessary for us to do so.

When it comes to Heshen, many people call him the biggest corrupt official in China's history, and some people call him Qianlong's slave, the emperor of officials.In fact, every person has two sides. He Shen has won countless official titles in his life, which can be said to be a smash hit. Later, his legendary life has always been a topic that people talk about.Due to the influence of history and TV dramas, most people talk about Heshen's huge family property, corruption and bribery, luxurious life, domineering, and domineering power for a while, while his flexible economic mind and superior overall awareness, The witty and humorous language style has been submerged in the depths of history, leaving only a negative image to the world.We do not have the historical task of rehabilitating He Shen, let alone the strength. We just want to clear the fog of history and show everyone the real He Shen.

Among the twenty major crimes announced by Emperor Jiaqing to Heshen, any one of them would be enough to kill him, and all of them are well documented.Therefore, we will not complain for Heshen, but we should not bury his achievements and contributions because of this. Whether He Shen is good or bad, history has never been a conclusion, and we don't have to rush to draw conclusions for him.But he has enough ingenuity and wisdom. He is definitely a capable and talented person. Even his natural enemy Emperor Jiaqing also admitted that He Shen was shrewd and agile. kindness.We must bypass the legend that Heshen was trusted and reused by Qianlong because of his resemblance to Ma Jiashi, and face up to the real reason why Heshen is so familiar in the officialdom.Heshen was able to stand out in a court full of talents, not only by his appearance and flattery, he must have a certain ability to govern, otherwise Qianlong would not reuse a figure in name.Although He Shen was born in poverty, he received a good and systematic formal education, which gave him the basic ability to handle court affairs.

He Shen is quite gifted in languages. He has a good command of Manchu and Han, Qing Wen, Chinese, Mongolian, and Western Fan.Qianlong wrote an autograph note in the "Pictures of the Five Heroes of Pingding Guer": When the military was used last year (the fifty-sixth year of Qianlong, 1791), all instructions were expedient, and the Qing and Chinese were used together.This distribution was awarded to the Dalai Lama, and the Gurkha edict was passed down. Only Heshen accepted the edict, and all of them can handle the order.In this way, there is a reason why He Shen was appreciated by Qianlong, but the reason is not because he looks like Qianlong's favorite concubine Ma Jiashi.

It is precisely because Heshen has a huge advantage in language that Qianlong is very dependent on Heshen in diplomacy, and Heshen did not disgrace his mission, and handled diplomatic affairs rationally and appropriately.Compared with the future behavior of the Qing court to lose power and humiliate the country, He Shen should be praised and commemorated.Even the aggressive British envoy Macartney once praised Heshen for being extremely respectful and polite, but he refused to agree to problems of principle. Yes, it is an indisputable fact that He Shen is a corrupt official, but even in this respect, he is also an out-and-out tragic figure.Although Heshen is an extremely powerful minister, there is still one above him after all, and that is Qianlong. Many of Heshen's bad deeds were carried out under the drive or demand of Qianlong.He Shen is just Qianlong's spokesperson, and his officialdom fluctuates with Qianlong's happy mood.When Qianlong was unhappy, He Shen would still be frustrated in officialdom.In the thirty-fourth year of Qianlong, Shen was demoted to the second level to stay in his post by supporting Tongzhan.In the fifty-sixth year of Qianlong, Shen was implicated in interrogating the case of the theft of treasury silver by Hujun Haiwang and others. In addition, Heshen himself was the minister of treasury and was demoted. The amount of the library, ordered the Minister of Military Aircraft to write the reason.Heshen looked forward to Qianyan and failed to report it in time. Qianlong blamed him and demoted him to a second level to retain him.In the 60th year of Qianlong's reign, due to the accusation of Ji Tuye's murder case in the north, no report was made, and because of the court examination or the announcement of the policy, He Shen's report was false, and the report concealed that he was demoted to a third level and remained in office.It can be seen from this that He Shen is just a high-level wage earner, and when Qianlong's boss is in a bad mood or He Shen himself behaves badly, He Shen still has to be scolded and punished.

Some people say that He Shen objected because he built a private house according to the style of the palace in the palace, and also collected the court beads that only the emperor can own, which is even much better than the one used by the emperor himself. Is it true that these seemingly illegal behaviors Does it mean that he planned to rebel?In fact, this is just a psychological sustenance for him to use Qianlong as his backer and to imitate Qianlong in everything, so that he will be more favored and protected by the emperor forever. However, the officialdom is a place of right and wrong after all, and it is most important to unite the characters in the officialdom. Because He Shen is too arrogant and arrogant, he has made enemies with the civil and military of the Manchu Dynasty.When Qianlong was in power, he still had the ability to contend with it on his own.Once Qianlong passed away, Jiaqing came to power, and when he announced his crimes, he really experienced what it was like when the tree fell and the monkeys scattered, and the wall fell and everyone pushed it.Part of the reason why he was criticized by later generations for such a capable person may be that he was appointed as a corrupt official by Emperor Jiaqing and no one in the court spoke for him, so his reputation was worse than the actual Heshen.

This is a mistake of Heshen: If you are favored today, what will happen tomorrow?If you are favored by the current emperor, what about the next emperor?Even if you are proficient in multiple languages ​​and have a natural financial mind, but in the whole world, is it the land of the king; the land of the land, is it the king's minister, the emperor is still very easy to find someone to do things for him, not without you It won't work.After all, the world is still the emperor's world. No matter how high you fly, you are still a kite controlled by the fuse. Once the fuse is broken, you will lose momentum and fall.In the Great Qing Dynasty, Qianlong belonged to Qianlong when Qianlong was in power. When he handed over power to Jiaqing, it belonged to Jiaqing. He Shen, the kite, did not complete the handover work well, and gave his lead to Jiaqing, but was born to Jiaqing. Cut it off, let it go.

Heshen was smart all his life, but he was confused for a while, maybe because he was arrogant and hot-headed, he didn't understand the reason that people can't help themselves in the rivers and lakes, and people can't help themselves in the officialdom, thinking that with Qianlong, he can do whatever he wants, put The emperor's successors ignored him and dug his own grave with his own hands. The officialdom is dangerous, and the only way to avoid it is not to participate in it, but He Shen has already entered this circle. Once the so-called Houmen entered the deepest bureaucratic network and entered the highest-level bureaucratic network, He Shen could no longer extricate himself. Every move will have an impact on the overall situation. In this way, he is not himself, not Feng's husband, not Fengshen Yinde's father, but completely reduced to a pawn of Qianlong.

In the final analysis, Heshen was a high-ranking official with a high salary and outstanding achievements throughout his life. He became a bachelor, a slave to Qianlong, a slave to money, and a good courtier. Unfortunately, he failed to be himself.We must learn from it and avoid repeating Heshen's mistakes.