Everyone wants to return to their hometown, even the Western Chu King once said that "the rich and noble do not return to their hometown, such as the night of clothing", a person has the performance of achievements, that is, whether he can return to his hometown. Whether they are clean officials or corrupt officials, when it comes to returning to their hometowns, they will also wear gorgeous clothes and want to return to their hometowns. In the Qing Dynasty, there was such an official, who went through the three dynasties of Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong, and was a Qing official all his life, and when he resigned from the old man and was ready to return to his hometown, he found that his family situation was so cold, and he simply put ten earthen bricks in his luggage.
His name was Sun Jiagan, and he grew up from a poor family, but he was diligent and studious, and his talent was brilliant, and he was admitted to the jinshi in the year of his establishment, and from then on he entered the DPRK as an official, and became famous for his direct advice. The Yongzheng Emperor was moody, and the ministers could not read the emperor's thoughts, so when the shang dynasty discussed politics, most of them were silent. Once, the Yongzheng Emperor asked his ministers to make suggestions to him, but if they made such suggestions, the ministers knew that this was a pit, and they could not tell the truth, nor could they sneak around. Only to see Sun Jiagan stand up and say loudly, "Your Majesty should be close to your brothers, stop collecting donations, and collect troops from the northwest", Yongzheng listened, is this not an insinuation scolding me for not having a good relationship with my brother, and still poor soldiers? So he was furious and ordered Sun Jiagan to be thrown into prison, but fortunately the assistant minister said next to him: "Although he speaks honestly, the minister admires his courage very much."
Yong Zheng listened to this, and only then did he lose his breath, groaned for a while, and laughed: "Yong Zheng also admires his courage." Later, instead of curing Sun Jiagan's crimes, he was promoted to the position of Guozi Supervisor. A few years later, he worked diligently in office. He was transferred to the Shangshu of the Punishment Department, and the governance of the Punishment Department was orderly, and a large number of unjust cases were handled. Ji Huairang, a farmer in Jinzhou, accidentally spilled small bean juice on his body while eating, and his chest was blood red, and it happened that at this time, there was a life case in the village, and when ya gong searched for suspects, he mistakenly regarded Ji Huairang as a murderer. Ji Huai Rang was beaten into a confession in prison, originally thinking that he was dead, Sun Jiagan found many doubts when he turned over the case file, and finally investigated the truth, and returned Ji Huai to a clean slate.
In the twelfth year of Qianlong, Sun Jiagan prepared to return to his hometown on the grounds of old age. At that time, I found that I had been incorruptible all my life and had no family property at all, but when I went back empty-handed, I was afraid of being laughed at by the townspeople, so I let people buy a few large boxes, filled them with some earthen bricks, and pretended to be silver. When the people on the street saw this, they falsely accused Sun Jiagan of being a corrupt criminal, and the silver was packed in a large box. When the Qianlong Emperor learned of this, he also muttered in his heart, could it be that he was also a corrupt criminal? So he sent someone to catch up with Sun Jiagan and open the box for inspection, only to find that it was actually some earthen bricks. Sun Jiagan explained to the emissaries who came: "I was afraid of the jokes of the townspeople, so I came up with this idea."
When the Qianlong Emperor learned of this, he felt deeply guilty, remembered Sun Jiagan as an official for many years, never sought private interests, and now when he returned home, he could only pack ten earthen bricks to go home, so he ordered the state treasury to be opened, and ten gold bricks were taken out, which were rewarded to Sun Jiagan as a gift of condolence. In December of the eighteenth year of Qianlong (1753), Sun Jiagan died at the age of seventy-one.