Why are there so many corrupt officials in Qianlong?

Core Tip: In order to satisfy the extravagant desires of Emperor Qianlong, he also tried his best to introduce the system of "discussing silver" in the 45th year of Qianlong, stipulating that all officials can be exempted or relieved of their guilt by paying silver. All the money from the discussion bank went into the internal affairs office, which increased the income of the royal family. However, the corruption of officials is even more unscrupulous, and some people seek bribes immediately after paying the disputed money, forming a vicious circle. Source: China Culture Newspaper, 6th edition, November 16th, 21, by Liu Fengyun, with original title: "Why are there so many corrupt officials in Qianlong Dynasty?" During the Qing Dynasty, officials in Qianlong Dynasty were particularly greedy for ink. At that time, there were not only many cases, but also a huge amount of bribes. Moreover, from the Ministry governor to the petty official chief, there is almost no official and no greed. Although Emperor Qianlong promoted DaYu many times, the more people were punished, the more insatiable greed became. In the process of adjudication, law enforcement is different. Although Emperor Qianlong clearly stipulated that once officials were found guilty of corruption, deficit, extortion, bribery, fraud, misappropriation of public funds, theft of the state treasury, the local government emphasized that "corrupt officials should not be allowed to make a fortune" and severely punished them on the principle of "one day without locking the axe, one day without greed". However, autocratic politics gives the rulers great arbitrariness in the process of ruling, so the personal power and will of Emperor Qianlong are often above the law, which is mainly manifested in the following aspects: First, because the people legislate, they favor their cronies. For example, Li Shiyao, governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, took bribes in Qianlong for forty-five years and joined Haining, the road of grain storage in Yunnan. Because of the bad environment, the meeting of Jiuqing, a college student, was decided. However, Emperor Qianlong thought that Li Shiyao was the best among the governors, so he tried his best to protect him and ordered the governors of all provinces to reconsider. However, when the governors demanded a conviction based on the preliminary discussion, Emperor Qianlong still wanted to excuse himself, and reprimanded Fuller Hun and others who supported the discussion of Jiuqing. Regardless of public opinion, Li Shiyao was appointed to be beheaded by the imperial edict of "I am not a thing of the past, but a light crime". Soon, an Amnesty was granted to him, and he was appointed Governor of Shaanxi but Gansu. Since then, Li Shiyao's greed remains the same. "For the last time, he pitied his talents and was forgiven for it.". Another example is that the ancestors of Fujian and Zhejiang governors also valued "energy" by Emperor Qianlong. In 1781, Chen Huizu, whose brother was a member of Wang Wang's major corruption case, was convicted of favoritism and handed over to the Ministry of Punishment for punishment. However, Emperor Qianlong tried his best to release it. He said: "I will never impose a heavy code because of my brother's complicity." Chen Hui Zushang can do something, and Jia En is exempted from punishment and reduced to the first place in the third class, each holding his post. " Moreover, Chen Huizu took the opportunity to invade corruption, which led to a major case of stealing officials' property. Nevertheless, Emperor Qianlong relented, and the decree was changed to beheading. It's only because the new governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, Fuller Hun, and the governor of Zhejiang, Fu Song, violated the rules, and the fact that the granaries in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces were short of money confirmed Chen Huizu's greed. Emperor Long committed suicide under the circumstances. Second, we should legislate according to time, combining leniency with severity. In the early days of Emperor Long's rule, law enforcement was still strict. In more than 2 years, he handled seven major corruption cases, namely, the case of Eshan commanding Shangshu and deploying troops led by the Ministry of War; Zhejiang Governor Chang 'an case; Zhou, Governor of Jiangnan River; The case of Shandong Provincial Governor Ou Leshun; The case of Yang Hao, Hunan's political envoy: Governor Wen of Yunheng and Governor Jiang Zhou of Shandong. In these cases, the families of the perpetrators were confiscated and people were executed. Among them, Jiang Zhou is the son of Jiang Tingxi, a former college classmate, and also from the underworld. To this end, Emperor Qianlong also gave a special instruction: "The corruption of foreign officials for personal gain has been eliminated for a long time. < P > Its lenient result will inevitably open the door for officials to take bribes and bend the law, and" the governor and other officials are unscrupulous ",resulting in a major corruption case in the later period of Qianlong. It is a well-known story that Emperor Qianlong loved harmony in his later reign. He has successively appointed and served as the Minister of Military Affairs, the Minister of Interior, the Minister of Security, the Chief of the Army, and the Minister of Civil Servants and Soldiers, and has been in charge for more than 2 years. Politics in the late Qianlong period was influenced by harmony. According to records: "When the times are integrated with the public, the voice of Weah will make all the princes in the world rush to their doors and think fast." "For a while, your position was full of scorn, and you regarded it as the peace of Mount Tai", or "relying on it for Olympic assistance", trying to attach to it. Therefore, with the rising official position and official position, his family began to be crowded. Someone described it vividly: "I am afraid that it will be called' Buzi Hutong' in the later period. In similar countries, every day in the office, people who are good at running for the literati stand on the left side of the road." The tonic is the official uniform, which refers to the ugly state of officials scrambling to make friends with each other, which can be seen in the prevailing times. As for the specific situation of officials going door to door, the bribery case of Lianghuai Salt Administration investigated by Jiaqing can explain some problems. In order to keep this deficit, Zheng Rui confessed that he gave 22, silver in the first year of Jiaqing, that is, when his wife died. "At that time, I didn't have much interest. I wanted to increase it to 4,, but I didn't receive it. A long time ago, I sent and received two hundred thousand dollars. In addition, the items such as satin items and kit kat things it distributes can't be counted. " Bribery directly leads to two consequences: first, officials are driven by political goals and interests, or ask for bribes from them, which leads to officials searching for people's money and paste; Or stealing from inside, losing money to the state treasury. Second, the upward and downward influence. And wanton greed, officials scrambling to follow suit, there is nothing to hide. Therefore, most of the serious and despicable corruption cases in the late Qianlong period were related to harmony. In order to satisfy the extravagant desire of Emperor Qianlong, he also tried his best to introduce the system of "discussing silver" in forty-five years of Qianlong, stipulating that all officials who committed crimes could be exempted or mitigated by paying silver, and the proceeds from discussing silver would go to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which increased the income of the royal family. However, the corruption of officials is even more unscrupulous, and some people immediately seek bribes after paying the money discussed, forming a vicious circle. As far as the character of emperor Qianlong is concerned, as far as the extravagant style of Taiping monarch is concerned. In addition to "daily self-improvement", he was overjoyed and addicted to the splendor of the Taiping monarch and luxury. Its outstanding performance has two points: First, it received a large number of tributes. On New Year's Day, birthdays and celebrations, local officials always present gifts to the emperor, which are called "local objects". Although Emperor Qianlong issued imperial edicts many times, demanding that his lieutenants should not accept or pay less, he never stopped accepting them, and even forced them in the form of apportionment. For example, in the fifty-fifth year of Qianlong, Emperor Qianlong celebrated his eightieth birthday. "Inside and outside the palace, large and small objects and appliances are all new. From Yanjing to Yuanmingyuan, the balcony is decorated with gold beads and jade, and the rockery is also equipped with temple figures. If you move its machine, doors and windows will open and close, and people will move. There is no need to worry about business capital, and it doesn't cost official money. Outside, all the senior officials in the province have made contributions. In it, all the government departments know to donate rice and bread, and the gold collected by the two Huai salt will help them. " A total of 1,144,297.25 silver was used for this celebration. Among them, local officials accounted for 62%, all of which were "calculated according to the number of honest people in the province, and ordered to withhold 25/1 as appropriate". Second, this is a journey of wealth. During the reign of the Dragon, he went crazy

The indulgence and extravagance of the Dragon Emperor will inevitably affect the current politics and the current wind. First of all, ministers and workers, big and small, followed suit. Take the colorful sheds built by emperors everywhere as an example. At first, when Emperor Qianlong returned to Beijing via Shandong and Zhili, it was getting hotter and hotter, and he had to build a shed for the summer. Later, in order to please the emperor's wishes, all localities competed with each other and set up booths to meet the drivers, making it a big landscape opposite the Yudao color shed. Another example is the lion forest in Suzhou, which has been abandoned for many years. Local officials began to repair it after the first southern tour. After ten years, it has finally become a famous garden in Jiangnan with beautiful scenery. Secondly, the patrol directly accelerated the corruption of official management. No matter whether the local officials are tribute officials or inspectors, they will spend a huge amount of silver. This has brought great pressure to the poorly managed local officials, and it has also become an excuse for their corruption. There are many reasons why greed flourished in the long dynasty. Fundamentally speaking, it is the product of the increasingly corrupt feudal bureaucrats. Under the prosperous times, the social atmosphere of officials and gentry pursuing luxury life also provided a special environment for officials' greed. In addition, Emperor Qianlong's personal political accomplishment, ruling style and personality hobby also had an important influence on current politics.