In the first month of the fourth year of Jiaqing, Qianlong died, and on the thirteenth day of the first month, Emperor Jiaqing announced the twenty major sins of Heshen and ordered to raid his home. If you talk about the corrupt officials in ancient China, you can't say that He Shen, and the property of He Shen, when Emperor Jiaqing raided his house, it was divided into one hundred and nine, and in this one hundred and nine, there are eighty-three unvalued.

Only the 26th was appraised, and at that time the valuation had already reached 223 million taels, and if one stone per tael of silver was used at the price of rice, a small part of Heshen's property (probably a quarter) could already buy 223 million taels of grain. We might as well make a not very reasonable conversion, according to today's rice price, according to three yuan a catty, it can also be regarded as 66.9 billion yuan. And this figure has also been reduced due to the cheapness of rice today, and what is even more frightening, only a quarter.

Where did such a huge fortune come from?

He Shen, formerly known as Shanbao, the word Zhizhai, is a Hongqi person in Manchuria. Born in the fifteenth year of Qianlong (so even if he was promoted in the later years of Qianlong, he was in the prime of life), and his ancestors did not have any prominent families. His ancestor got a third-class light car lieutenant position because of his military merits, and he was a third-class lieutenant, and he was hereditary. His father once served as the deputy capital of the Eight Banners (Zheng Erpin) and Du Tong (from the first product).

When he was a teenager, He Shen was qualified to enter the official school in the Huangxihua Palace, which can be regarded as a "national aristocratic school" in the Forbidden City. At the age of eighteen, Feng Yinglian, the governor of Zhili, took a fancy to He Shen and married his granddaughter to He Shen.

He Shen is proficient in six languages: Manchu, Chinese, Mongolian, Tibetan, Chao, and Uyghur, and reads through the Four Books and Five Classics, and is also handsome. At the age of twenty-three, He Shen ushered in a turning point in his life, was appreciated by Emperor Qianlong, and got the vacancy of the third-class guard (Zheng Wupin), so that he could often go out with the emperor on patrol, and had the opportunity to return to the edict, which also laid the foundation for his future prosperity.

He was born as a showman, and when he was in the 40th year of Qianlong, he was promoted to the imperial guard, and he also served as the deputy commander of a certain banner. In less than a year, he was again promoted to the rank of Household Servant and Minister of Military Aircraft, Minister of Internal Affairs, and soon after, Commander of the Infantry Army and Tax Supervisor of Chongwenmen in the capital.

He Shen can be said to be wearing five positions, but it is worth noting that his positions, among which the head of the household department, the minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the superintendent of Chongwenmen are all "fat shortages" who manage money, collect money, and use money, and the minister of military aircraft is the actual prime minister, and the commander of the infantry army is the chief military attache of Gongwei Gyeonggi County, and the rapid promotion of He Shen and Qianlong's favor to He Shen can be described as unprecedented and unprecedented.

He Shen's family was carried by Qianlong from the Manchurian Zhenghong Banner to the Zhenghuang Banner of the Three Banners in Manchuria, and became the chosen nobles.

After four years, Heshen's Tobe Shilang became the Tobu Shangshu, the deputy capital was changed to the metropolitan government, and in addition to the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Minister of the Interior was added, and the Minister of Military Aircraft was also added to the Minister of Parliament and the Minister of the Imperial Front. The most supreme glory has to be his son Fengshen Yinde was designated by Qianlong as the forehead attachment (concubine) of Princess Hexiao, and when he got married, He Shen became Qianlong's in-laws.

He Shen is already like this, Qianlong still feels that He Shen is not good enough, and he is specially appointed to take care of the Shangshu of the Domain, and "the president of Siku Quanshu", He Shen is indeed capable of learning, but the work of Siku Quanshu is indeed not what He Shen can do, or how many books he can understand in Siku Quanshu is still unknown.

Later, there was a Salar Hui leader in Gansu, named Su 43, and Qianlong 46 began to rebel against the Qing Dynasty and attack Lanzhou. Qianlong asked Ah Gui and He Shen to go to supervise the teacher, but Ah Gui was sick and couldn't go at the time, so He Shen could only go first. As a result, He Shen had a nonsense in front of him, and almost made things out of control, and after Ah Gui went, he saved the situation and won easily. Qianlong transferred He Shen back, it stands to reason that it should be a capital crime, and the minimum is punishment or punishment, but He Shen was actually promoted? Qianlong did not reward Ah Gui at all, but gave He Shen another military secretary, which can be described as extremely absurd, and added a fat shortage of "managing the three warehouses of the household department".

Two years later, the Hui rebellion in Gansu was suppressed, and the credit was credited to He Shen's head, and He Shen was named a first-class duke, and in addition to the Minister of Military Aircraft, the Minister of Parliament, and the Minister of Imperial Affairs, the honorary title of "Co-organizer University Scholar" was added.

After another three years, He Shen was promoted from a co-organizer to a Mandarin Hall scholar. Although the superintendent of Chongwenmen is very oily and water, but the position is small, Qianlong did not let He Shen continue to concurrently, and the secretary of the ministry also let him no longer serve, but the household department was still handed over to him, and he became the "minister of management", which is a position above the book.

In the fifty-third year of Qianlong, Lin Shuangwen was captured by the Qing army, and He Shen was promoted from a first-class baron to a third-class earl, and was given the title of Zhongxiang. In the fifty-seventh year of Qianlong, He Shen also served as the head of the Hanlin Academy, such a talent, who did not take the exam, did not take the Jinshi, and did not take the Hanlin exam, but suddenly became the leader of the Hanlin. In the second year of Jiaqing, Emperor Taishang (Qianlong) instructed that the Minister of Household Management of Heshen added the Minister of Management of the Criminal Department. In the third year of Jiaqing, the third-class earl was promoted to duke.

If Qianlong hadn't died in the first month of the fourth year of Jiaqing, Heshen would probably have to rise.

The first reason why He Shen can be so favored by Qianlong is "serving", and the so-called "serving" is "inheriting the will first". What Qianlong wanted, He Shen guessed first, at least on the surface, it was handled very properly. And what should not be done, but what Qianlong wants to do, He Shen never stops. What Qianlong didn't want to do or didn't expect, He Shen never showed that he was smarter than Qianlong.

For example, He Shen was responsible for the corruption case of Li Shuyao, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, Li Shuyao embezzled 100,000 yuan, and was discussed by the scholar and Jiuqing as a beheading decision, and Qianlong intended to protect Li Shiyao, and He Shen sentenced the "beheading decision" to "beheading the prison wait", which is equivalent to a death sentence with a reprieve. After Li Shiyao's case was concluded, most of the property was privately swallowed by He Shen.

The second reason why He Shen can be so favored by Qianlong is that He Shen's ability, the powerful ministers of all dynasties are capable ministers, and He Shen is bound to be outstanding. He Shen is diligent and studious, and has an amazing memory, especially as mentioned before, he is proficient in the languages of various ethnic groups and has a high level of education. "He is not a man who does not learn and does not know how to do it, but a person who is both learned and understands the art of power", and he is also a good hand in handling government affairs.

For example, after the Qing court sent troops to invade Tibet, Emperor Qianlong fully affirmed He Shen in "Tuzan of the Fifteen Heroes of the Imperial Pacification of Gurkhas" and other poems. He has made great contributions to the management and construction of ethnic minorities in the border areas. Qianlong once said that when troops were used in Tibet and Gurkha, all edicts were issued in both Manchu and Chinese; The edicts addressed to the Dalai Lama and the Gurkha were written in both Tibetan and Mongolian. Very few of the ministers could understand Tibetan, and only He Shen could write and translate these edicts in Manchu, Tibetan, Mongolian, Chinese, and other languages. As a result, He Shen became the only confidant and agent of his master by virtue of his own ability.

And it was a few decades ago, in November of the thirteenth year of Yongzheng, Qianlong had just ascended the throne, and Sun Jiagan, who was once known as a "madman", warned Qianlong that he, a monarch who "made a word and called the court holy, issued an order and eulogized the whole world", must stay away from villains and ministers who flattered him.

When Qianlong reached his old age, he had already forgotten Sun Jiagan's words, since Qianlong forty years, he began to reuse Heshen, he only felt that Heshen's words were beautiful and beautiful, and his talent was satisfactory, how can he remember what to stay away from the villain?

As long as someone opposes He Shen, he will inevitably be severely "punished", and part of this punishment comes from He Shen, and the other part comes from Emperor Qianlong. He Shen does have a way, so that when people are "making trouble", they can't find out the real evidence, and in the end they can only end up with a crime of "false accusation".

For example, Yin Zhuangtu, a cabinet scholar, in the 55th year of Qianlong, Shangshu Qianlong said that the treasury of the provinces was insufficient, and it was embezzled by high-ranking officials such as the governor. When Qianlong heard the anger, he immediately sent Yin Zhuangtu to investigate, and in order to cover up, He Shen suggested to Emperor Qianlong that he should send Qingcheng, the household servant, to accompany Yin Zhuangtu. Later, every time he went to a place, Yin Zhuangtu was constrained by Qingcheng everywhere, delayed time, and asked the person who managed the silver treasury to hurry up to the merchant to borrow silver, and every time the silver was borrowed, Yin Zhuangtu could come to check, and as a result, Yin Zhuangtu lost his official because of the crime of "lying falsely".

In the 51st year of Qianlong, Cao Xibao, the imperial historian, impeached Liu Quan, a domestic slave of Heshen, for building a house that exceeded the regulations, and Qianlong sent someone to investigate, but Heshen asked Liu Quan to make the house smaller overnight, and Cao Xibao was reprimanded.

But there was also a time when He Shen "planted his head", Shandong's governor Guotai and the political envoy Yu Yijian, both of whom were Heshen's privates, were actually executed by the imperial historian Qian Feng in the 47th year of Qianlong, but this is the only exception.

We all know that He Shen is sleek, so how could he have such a situation? It turned out that there was a person behind Qian Feng who was helping him, and this person was Liu Yong, the imperial history of Zuodu.

Liu Yong is the son of Liu Tongxun, Liu Tongxun also served as the imperial history of Zuodu, and was later promoted to the "Dongge University Scholar", of course, he has investigated many senior officials, such as the governor of Yunnan, the governor, the political envoy of Shanxi, the general of Xi'an, the general of naturalization, the political envoy of Jiangsu, the governor of Jiangxi, etc., can be described as "great achievements", after the death of Liu Tongxun, it is also nicknamed "Wenzheng".

Liu Yong is worthy of being the son of Liu Wenzhenggong, he heard that He Shen was also going to send someone to Shandong, and instructed Guotai and Yu Yijian to try to do it in a confused way, but Liu Yong asked Qian Feng to do the trick. Qian Feng first put on makeup and set off for Shandong, just arrived in Liangxiang, not far from Beijing, when he happened to see a person riding a horse to the south, and remembered this person's appearance. Afterwards, Qian Feng continued to hurry, and when he was about to reach Jinan, he saw the man riding a horse to the north. Qian Feng immediately ordered his subordinates to stop and search this person, and sure enough, he found a letter written by Cathay Pacific to He Shen, which said that he had borrowed the merchant's silver and put it in the treasury for inspection.

The confused Qianlong not only sent Qian Feng to check the accounts, but also sent He Shen to accompany him, plus Liu Yong and Nuo Muqing, to investigate the deficit. When he arrived at the place, He Shen immediately advocated checking all the accounts in one day, but Qian Feng asked those who had been checked and those who had not been checked to put seals on them, and waited until the next day to check them. The next day, I took out the treasury silver little by little and slowly examined it, and sure enough, I found that some of the silver had "round silk and variegation", which was not like treasury silver, but a bit like the merchant's silver. Then Qian Feng sent someone to post a notice, asking the merchant to come to the treasury to get the silver back, and if it did not come within the time limit, the silver would be confiscated. So merchants flocked to it, and the inventory was immediately "washed". Guo and Yu were escorted to the prison of the Criminal Department in the capital, and Qianlong ordered himself to be punished.

He Shen hated Qian Feng because of this incident, and Qian Feng also knew that he had offended He Shen, so he simply didn't do anything, and told Qianlong about He Shen, saying that He Shen, as the Minister of Military Aircraft, did not go to the Military Aircraft Office every day, but he was alone in the "Old Zhilu" of the "Inner Right Gate" in the palace to review official affairs. He also said that only Ah Gui was the only one who worked in the Military Aircraft Department, and several other people, like Wang Jie and Dong He, only went to the "South Study", and like Fu Chang'an, he only went to the "Manufacturing Office". When he was summoned by the emperor, he came out one by one and rushed to the front of the emperor, "retreat, and return to his place".

When Qianlong heard this, he was furious and asked Qian Feng to lead an envoy to the "Inspection Military Aircraft Department", which was an extremely difficult job, and as a result, Qian Feng died of exhaustion in his post in just one year.

Another imperial historian, Guan Shiming, was at a drinking party, and he didn't know if he was drunk or so arrogant by nature, and he actually said in public that he wanted to impeach He Shen, and he died at home that night, which shows how rampant He Shen is. And a person like Xie Zhending, who dared to beat the younger brother of He Shen's aunt's wife, and burned the uncle's "violated" carriage, only lost the official of the imperial history, which is really a fluke.

Ah Gui can be said to be a thorn in Heshen's eye, and his status is still above Heshen. He Shen often slandered in Qianlong's ear, saying that Ah Gui was fighting wars, governing rivers, and investigating cases in various places, which made Ah Gui really tired, and there were few opportunities in the capital, and Ah Gui was able to hold on until the second year of Jiaqing and died, and he was indeed a blessed person.

Ah Gui is actually more of a soldier, and political intrigues, right and wrong, will not do it for this upright general, let alone disdain to do it. He can be said to be very disgusted with Heshen, but he has nothing to do with Heshen, he can only stand far away with him when he is in the court, and he will never communicate with him until the last resort, and one of the reasons why He Shen does not go to the office of the military aircraft and sits alone in the "old straight house" to review official affairs is also one of the reasons (just like Ortai and Zhang Tingyu back then).

Another reason is that He Shen can review official affairs by himself, so that other ministers of military aircraft will not know, which is equivalent to setting up the emperor, and he seems to exercise the power of some emperors. Qianlong was so deceived by him that he didn't know anything, and even what Qianlong wanted to do and what he liked, He Shen also knew it.

Relying on these powers and abilities, He Shen began to "sell his official beard", and he could make a fortune. Those who try to be promoted must go his way; Those who are afraid of losing their official positions or demoting their officials will naturally follow his door; Those who do not want to be promoted and are not afraid of losing their official positions or demoting their official positions, in order to "handle reimbursement", they also need to go through his door (otherwise they may not even have enough necessary living materials), because he can refute the accounts and documents, or delay the years.

In order to climb and "repay" Heshen, the senior officials at the bottom had to ask for "retribution" from the junior officials under them; So in order to "serve the big officials", the petty officials began to make up their minds about the common people again. So a person like He Shen is corrupt, but he can make the bureaucracy of the whole country unbearable, and the people are miserable. For example, in the 60th year of Qianlong, in order to raise funds to serve Heshen, Wu Lana, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, actually "hanged" the county governor who "failed" under him and beat him.

Among the governors of the provinces below, there are also those who are unwilling to join the same stream with Heshen and do not cooperate with Heshen, and it is easy to suffer from unforeseen disasters. Fu Song, the governor of Zhejiang, offended He Shen, and as a result, in the 58th year of Qianlong, he suddenly received Qianlong's will to escort him back to Beijing to await interrogation, and the crime was to accept a bribe of 1,000 taels from Chai Zhen, the salt envoy of the two Huai patrols. In fact, this Fu Song did not collect money, according to the words "Fu Gong" on the account book of a chai zhen, and this "Fu Gong" is not Fu Song, but Fu Chang'an. Therefore, the words "1,000 taels of blessing money" are actually unnecessary. Fu Song said, "When I see the emperor, I must tell Heshen's secret completely." After He Shen found out, he added a few rounds of scolding Qianlong to his confession, and after Qianlong saw it, he ordered Fu Song to die without waiting for him to arrive in Beijing.

Later, in the first month of the fourth year of Jiaqing, Emperor Qianlong died, and the next day, Emperor Jiaqing put He Shen under house arrest, and immediately arrested and imprisoned, and counted his 20 major crimes in the form of an edict, the court shouted to kill a piece, and some civil and military officials in the cabinet even demanded that he be executed.

Later, due to the intercession of Heshen's daughter-in-law (Emperor Jiaqing's sister) Gu Lun and Princess Xiao, Emperor Jiaqing adopted the advice of several ministers, considering that he had served as the first and auxiliary minister of the Qing court, out of the consideration of "maintaining the national system", he thought that it was not appropriate to punish him in the city, so he opened the net and gave him to commit suicide in prison.