Let’s talk about Kangxi first.
Aixinjueluo Xuanye, the third son of Emperor Shunzhi, his mother was Empress Xiaokangzhang Tongjia, the fourth emperor of the Qing Dynasty.
Xuanye ascended the throne at the age of eight, took charge of the government at the age of fourteen, and eliminated the powerful minister Obai at the age of sixteen. Militarily, he pacified the three vassals, took over Taiwan, expelled Tsarist Russia, conquered Junggar, and founded the "Duolun Alliance" to ally Mongolia.
As mentioned earlier, Kangxi did many things that were very beneficial to the people. As long as he, the emperor, could see and hear them, he tried his best to do them. If what he did was not adequate or thorough, you cannot blame him, or you cannot blame him entirely.
As long as conditions permit, the emperors of ancient China will inevitably tend to centralize power, and Kangxi is no exception. We cannot demand how perfect his measures in centralizing power are, let alone how democratic he is, because we have a very different understanding of the term democracy. The understanding comes from the democratic politics of the Western bourgeoisie, especially Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu and others. When Kangxi died, there were only a few constitutional monarchies in the world.
We cannot ask Kangxi how to be democratic, just as we cannot ask the sage Confucius why he could not fly a plane.
First of all, since the Ming Dynasty, the evil habits of Chinese officialdom have been deeply rooted, especially the influence of the Ming Dynasty bureaucratic group headed by the Donglin Party Conflict of the Wanli Dynasty.
Secondly, no matter whether they are officials at the upper or lower levels, the emperor does not want them to be corrupt and prey on the people. You cannot blame him for this.
But what we should note is that these officials were selected by him, and they are still used by him after all.
Kangxi's character was tolerant and gentle, especially his emphasis on the word "love". Generosity is a virtue, but as an emperor, you should not be lenient again and again. This will only make the officialdom that is already full of abuses more corrupt. A feudal society that originally had no rule of law can only place its hope on rule by man, and this "man" is also If there is no governance, the country, especially the officialdom, will have no discipline.
The biggest favorite of Kangxi's favor can be said to be Mingzhu.
Mingzhu worked as a guard in the palace when she was young, and was very close to Kangxi (she was older than Kangxi). Later, she was promoted to the general manager of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, a bachelor of Hongwen Academy, a minister of the Ministry of punishment, a censor of Zuodu of the Duchayuan, and a lecturer of Jingyan, and was transferred Minister of the Ministry of War.
At that time, Wu Sangui asked to withdraw the vassal state in order to test Kangxi's holy will. Suo'etu advocated retaining the vassal state. Mingzhu saw Kangxi's inner thoughts and agreed with Kangxi and advocated withdrawing the vassal state. From then on, Kangxi liked Mingzhu even more, and in the 16th year of Kangxi's reign, he was promoted to a bachelor of Wuyingdian.
At this time, Suo Etu was a bachelor of Baohe Palace. He accumulated meritorious service in the campaign against Wu Sangui and strategically assumed the position of chief of staff (in layman's terms, because the Qing Dynasty did not have a chief of staff). Mingzhu excluded him and forced him to resign due to illness in August of the 19th year of Kangxi's reign. Kangxi changed Suo'etu's position to "Minister of the Interior" and "Minister of Political Affairs". In the 25th year of Kangxi's reign, he appointed him as "Minister of the Interior". In the 28th year of Kangxi's reign, he conducted diplomacy with Russia and signed the "Treaty of Nerchinsk".
After Mingzhu was squeezed out of the cabinet in Suo'etu, he simply took over the power. He served as a bachelor of Wuyingdian until the 27th year of Kangxi's reign, before he was impeached and resigned by the censor.
Mingzhu has Yu Guozhu, his biggest lackey.
The imperial censor impeachment said that whenever there are vacancies in positions such as governor, governor, chief envoy, and inspector, Mingzhu, Yu Guozhu, and other private individuals will "extract bribes until their desires are satisfied." Mingzhu's property is really piled up like a mountain.
Not only did Mingzhu "sell out", but he also took measures to suppress Yan Guan. The so-called Yanguan refers to the "Geishizhong" of the six departments of Li, Hu, Li, Bing, Punishment, and Engineering under the Zuodu Censor of the Dutu Procuratorate, as well as the "Supervisory Censor" of each Tao, as well as the Xunyan Censor. Historians, censors who inspected the canals, censors who inspected various warehouses in Jingtong, etc. As long as he is a newly appointed minister, he must pay a visit to Mingzhu. It is called a visit, but it is actually a "contract". Any memorials to the emperor in the future must be shown to Mingzhu for reading.
Such a serious crime as Mingzhu was an absolute capital crime in any dynasty, but Kangxi only dismissed him from the position of bachelor, saying that he "cannot bear to offend the minister". Soon after, Mingzhu was promoted to "inner minister", still placing it on himself Around him, this kind of "hate evil but can't get rid of it" style is not a major shortcoming of his.
Yu Guozhu was a villain. When Mingzhu was deposed, he was also dismissed. He took his wealth to Jiangning (Nanjing), built a mansion, and did business, looking shameless. Later, he was impeached by a police officer, and Kangxi ordered him to be expelled from Jiangning and returned to his hometown. However, Kangxi refused to pursue the stolen money he embezzled.
Another villain is Xu Qianxue, who became the censor of Zuodu and the minister of the Ministry of punishment only after being appreciated by Mingzhu. At this time, in the twenty-seventh year of Kangxi's reign, Zhang Qian, the governor of Huguang, committed a corruption case and was taken to Beijing for trial. As a result, the first person to confess was Xu Qianxue. Kangxi only allowed him to resign, but retained the title of "Long Xiu Shu President" ", responsible for the compilation of some Qing histories.
In the 29th year of Kangxi's reign, Xu Sanli, the censor of the left deputy capital, impeached Xu Qianxue, saying that during the time when he was writing books, he "used the name of writing books to go in and out of the imperial court, and Gao Shiqi was on the inside and outside. Prices were boiling, and he was seeking power and accepting bribes." Kangxi presided over the "ministerial meeting" and thought that Xu Sanli's statement had no evidence, so he scolded Xu Sanli.
Either out of a guilty conscience or out of shame, Xu Qianxue asked Kangxi for instructions, left Beijing, and continued to recruit power and accept bribes after returning to his hometown. His son Xu Shumin received money from the Jiading magistrate and was confessed. The case was brought to Kangxi's side, but Kangxi exempted Xu Qianxue, who was supposed to be hanged, from hanging and fined him some money to get over it in a hurry.
Along with Xu Shumin, there was another person named Wang Hongxu who accepted bribes from the Jiading magistrate. He was also a member of the Mingzhu Party. As the "second person", he was appointed as the censor of Zuodu in the 26th year of Kangxi's reign. As for Wang Hongxu's bribery, Kangxi only recovered the dirty money. In the 33rd year of Kangxi's reign, Wang Hongxu was still reused. Later, this bribe-taker actually became the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue and managed money. Later, he was convicted and dismissed because he suggested that Liba's elder brother Yinhu should be the prince. Later, because Wang Hongxu claimed that Wan Sitong's History of the Ming Dynasty was written by himself, Kangxi asked him to edit "Provincial Grand Ceremony".
Kangxi liked literati, but some liked literati too much, and he especially liked a few incompetent literati. He should really read the later memorial of Sun Jiagan of the Qianlong Dynasty, "The villain advances and the gentleman retreats. Without it, use talent but not virtue. Therefore. Virtue is unique to gentlemen, while talent is common to both gentlemen and villains, and villains are better." Kangxi really didn't understand this truth, or in other words, he didn't understand this truth in his actions.
The most incompetent person was Gao Shiqi, who was originally a scholar. Because of his good calligraphy, he was used by Emperor Kangxi as "an enshrinement in the South Study Room" and was specially awarded as an "extra lecturer of the Hanlin Academy". He was finally promoted to an official official of the Hanlin Academy. Less trouble. Together with Wang Hongxu, he collected protection money, called "peace money", from the following governors, provincial, prefecture, state, and county officials at all levels, and promised not to speak ill of them in front of the emperor.
As a result, the originally poor scholar became a millionaire. He owned more than 400,000 taels of property in Beijing, bought a thousand hectares of fertile land in his hometown of Hangzhou, and built a large garden next to the West Lake.
Later, he was impeached by the censor and asked to be punished. Kangxi just dismissed him and hurriedly ended the matter.
Kangxi valued love, but such love was rare among emperors in history. Perhaps when he passed the throne to Yongzheng, he really said, "Please be kind to your brothers, and don't kill them unless necessary." Such words.
