During the Qianlong period, He Shen was known as the "Second Emperor", with great power, and he relied on his excellent financial management ability and shrewd business acumen to continuously convey wealth to Qianlong, so as to obtain the emperor's reuse. But when Qianlong died, Emperor Jiaqing immediately arrested He Shen and finally forced him to commit suicide. A big man who once had the halo of "power minister", why did no one cry out for him when he was dying? His fate provoked people to ask questions: where does power come from, and by what means? In the face of the new king's methods, why didn't he resist?
Don't underestimate He Shen, he is a ruthless character, if you want to talk about the origin of power, start with his young age. He Shen has been in the middle of the road since he was a child, and his parents died, he relied on his wisdom and ambition to become famous in the court step by step. first became a county official, and later entered Beijing, and was appreciated by Qianlong for his clever flattery and was allowed to serve directly. Since then, he has been like a fish in water, committing fraud for Qianlong everywhere, and regarded the emperor as an important channel to make money.
You think, the emperor is high, he doesn't do anything, he does nothing all day. He Shen opened a new way for him to make money, called the "Guilty Silver" system, which is to let the officials who commit crimes pay money to avoid punishment, which is really a clever idea! Since then, Qianlong's purse is like a bottomless pit, and he will never be satisfied. And He Shen became the "white glove" by Qianlong's side, secretly making money for the emperor. He was also good at financial management, and did a large number of businesses to operate docks, pawnshops, silver horns, etc., and used Qianlong's power to run rampant.
After Qianlong got older, He Shen became his "translator". At that time, Qianlong was old and his speech was slurred, and only He Shen could understand his words. Think about it, with the channels of communication in hand, Heshen is invincible in the court, and he is the same! As a result, the Qing Dynasty was covered by him, and He Shen became the real "second emperor". After the power is in his hands, of course, he will act recklessly and do all kinds of evil! Those tricks of "crowdfunding" Qianlong's expenses, as well as extortion behaviors such as forcibly levying "fees", can be said to have gnawed away the people's blood and sugar.
But the good times didn't last long, as soon as Qianlong died, the new monarch Jiaqing hung his eyes and looked forward to it, and he was the first to take down Heshen. That was a surprise! thought that with Qianlong's favor and in-laws, he could still be the master of the new dynasty, but who knew that Emperor Jiaqing had been guarding against him for a long time, and he basically wanted to hoe it and clear the door. The twenty major sins under Jiaqing are nothing more than looking for Heshen's handle. Even the small action of sending jade Ruyi to test Jiaqing has become the biggest crime. It seems that Jiaqing is also a shrewd veteran, and he knows everything He Shen does.
To be honest, just Heshen's little skills, he is simply a master of folk deception, in front of Emperor Jiaqing, where can he pretend to be a big family? The henchmen under him are also small people who are greedy for life and afraid of death, and they scattered and fled when they saw their master in trouble, of course they didn't dare to fight for him. What's more, He Shen himself is only a civil official, and he has no control over the military power of the imperial court at all, even if he wants to resist, he has no power in his hands. In the face of Emperor Jiaqing's tough hand, they are all rats in the gutter, and they are not worth anything in front of the imperial power.
He Shen's bleak life shows that power and wealth are not boundless. Although he has financial management skills, what he does is at the expense of the people and himself, and he has accumulated too much resentment from the government and the opposition. In the end, it can only usher in a catastrophe. Flattery can certainly win temporary favor, but the immediate interests are difficult to protect forever. After the new king ascended the throne, he was wary of those sycophants, and he naturally snatched food from the mouth of the tiger and bought and sold with a hammer for speculative little people like He Shen. This is the profound embodiment of the so-called "power of the DPRK is only the power of the DPRK, and change is a common thing". Even at the pinnacle of power, we must be cautious, and we must not be arrogant and avoid being condemned.