The original version of He Shen in history, he has been an official for decades, and the gold and silver treasures he has acquired may be among the best in the entire five thousand years of history.
It is said that Emperor Jiaqing, the son of Qianlong, searched Heshen's mansion and confiscated an astonishing 800 million taels of silver, which was equivalent to the national tax of the Qing Dynasty for fifteen years at its peak.
To describe Heshen as being as wealthy as a country is a shame and "look down upon".
However, as Heshen's master, didn't Emperor Qianlong know anything about his corruption? Of course this is impossible!
It is obvious that Heshen's corruption was due to the connivance of Emperor Qianlong.
The reason why Qianlong always indulged He Shen is also very realistic.
Emperor Qianlong had the idea from beginning to end that "the meat is still in the pot when it is rotten."
There is a saying that goes like this: "There is nothing in the world but the land of the king."
"In the feudal era, all money belonged to the emperor in name, and even everyone's lives belonged to the emperor. The emperor had the final say in everything.
He Shen was so greedy that Emperor Qianlong could not have known that the reason why he did not deal with him was just to let He Shen take care of him temporarily.
If he really needed it, Emperor Qianlong could take it back at any time and use it for himself.
According to modern people, Emperor Qianlong regarded He Shen as a humanoid machine for laundering money.
A large amount of shameful embezzled money became clean in an instant after He Shen washed it away.
Because at that time in the Qing Dynasty, there was no such thing as corrupt officials absconding overseas, and it was impossible for Heshen to secretly transfer the gold and silver gained from corruption to overseas money out of thin air.
Therefore, no matter how much money He Shen embezzled, he only hid it in his own home.
The money from the Ministry of Revenue and the treasury was not so easy to get, and hundreds of officials were watching over it. However, Emperor Qianlong could use Heshen's private treasury as he wished.
Anyway, even if the meat is rotten, it is still in the pot. No matter how much He Shen embezzles, the money accumulated in the end will still belong to Qianlong himself.
As a result, from the emperor's point of view, openly plundering money from the people will definitely cause strong dissatisfaction among everyone.
And if it is through the hands of corrupt officials, the people's resentment will be vented more on the corrupt officials, which will not do much damage to the image of the emperor.
When public dissatisfaction boils over, the emperor himself only needs to symbolically deal with the corrupt officials who are extremely angry, so as to calm the anger of the people and win their praise.
The best thing is that you can also collect the stolen money and stolen goods into your own small vault for private use.
In this case, for the emperor himself, it would be a matter of fame and fortune.
Later, the course of history and the bloody facts proved how correct Emperor Qianlong's judgment and decision were.
Seeing his brother He Lin like this, He Shen couldn't help but sneered and said angrily: "Don't worry, your brother is not a vegetarian either. He wants me to take the blame, and I also want his throne! "
"Hehe, it's not certain who will win until the last moment and who will have the last laugh!"
"Brother, you are joking!"
He Lin heard this. But he couldn't laugh and said worriedly: "That's the emperor after all!"
"So what about the emperor? Put aside his emperor skin, he is just an ordinary mortal!"
He Shen smiled coldly, and his body suddenly surged with a powerful aura that could only be possessed by top martial arts masters.
He said like this: "Besides, I'm not a fool. I obviously have help from my cronies, but I just put it aside and treat myself like a lonely minister!"
He Lin was silent for a long time, and finally gave a reminder: "Brother, it's better to be more careful. We have such a large number of people in our house!"
"Haha, don't worry, brother, no matter how bad the situation is, there will still be no problem in keeping our family and all of our men safe!"
He Shen chuckled, shook his head, and said, "As long as no one takes the initiative to provoke me, I won't bother to care about your brother."
"But if someone really makes me anxious, then it's hard to say who will be unlucky and who won't!"
"…………"
…
The night passed and the next day came.
He Shen rode directly in the eight-person sedan to the palace gate, where he joined a group of important ministers to attend the imperial meeting in the Jinluan Hall of the Forbidden Imperial City.
The Great Court Meeting was a grand ceremony for the division of power between the Manchu and Qing Dynasties and the carving up of national interests. It was the most solemn of the court meetings and had the largest number of officials in attendance.
Of course, the Great Court Meeting is also the time when most officials lose their jobs. Even those old ministers who can attend every time will occasionally make mistakes and lose their official positions.
At this moment, all the officials participating in the court meeting, as well as the officials granted special permission, must be called at the Mao hour, and then line up at the main gate to perform the ceremony. At the beginning of the Chen hour, they will then enter the Jinluan Hall to welcome the Holy King.
The council in Jinluan Hall was as lively as ever, with all the senior officials making noisy noises, just like the village committee.
What is incredible is that most of the important ministers who participated in the court meeting had different opinions from Emperor Qianlong who was sitting on the dragon throne because the Queen Mother lived a very luxurious life!
Every time he saw Emperor Qianlong's gloomy and heavy face, He Shen felt a sense of joy in his heart.
Above the court, the expression on He Shen's face seemed calm, and there was even a faint smile on the corner of his mouth.
But if someone observes He Shen carefully, he can detect a hint of coldness on He Shen's face.
To celebrate the birthday of an old lady who is seventy or eighty years old, it will cost two or three provinces a year's tax, and even if she can argue for a long time about this matter, he really won over these guys.
Under the leadership of Agui, the head of the military and aircraft ministers, a group of ministers had a quarrel with Emperor Qianlong, but the end result was naturally nothing.
Emperor Qianlong, perhaps because He Shen was too leisurely, or perhaps because he was unhappy and wanted to find someone to break the situation for him, suddenly changed the topic and talked about He Shen.
""A few days ago, I proposed to investigate the tax evasion of wealthy people in Jiangnan. What do you think? "
As soon as these words came out, the Jinluan Palace fell into silence.
At this moment, all the civil and military officials above the Jinluan Palace were staring at Heshen.
So everyone knew that Emperor Qianlong was changing the subject, but everyone was curious about how He Shen dealt with the rich people in the Jiangnan area.
At this moment, what suggestions did He Shen make?
That is, all the candidate officials who have not been assigned official positions among the general staff will be sent to the south of the Yangtze River, especially the Yangzhou area, to serve as observers.
"…………"
It's very simple. Isn't he currently Tobe's Tobe? His butt determines his head...
All his actions are to maximize the influence and power of the Household Department, because he is the second-in-command of the Household Department?
The Ministry of Household Affairs, in later generations, was equivalent to the current Ministry of Civil Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Bureau of Land and Resources and other departments.
However, the current position of the Ministry of Household Affairs does not match the power it holds.
The key reason is that the Ministry of Revenue now only plays the role of a national financial supervisor, and does not actually control the Ministry of Revenue to truly control the national wealth.
These rights are all divided up by the local government and the rich, and it has nothing to do with the Ministry of Household Affairs.
Moreover, officials before the Ministry of Revenue did not care much about the division of power between local governments and the wealthy. After all, it was too troublesome to go to various places across the country to check for tax evasion. .
Due to lack of manpower, fear of trouble, fear of backlash, etc., this situation has continued to this day.
"………………"
As the second-in-command of the Ministry of Household Affairs, He Shen naturally has the obligation and determination to reverse this "abnormal" officialdom phenomenon when money is urgently needed.
"………………"
Of course, there is also the idea of provoking class conflicts among officials and businessmen, and adding a handful of soil to the fall of the Qing Dynasty.
The south of the Yangtze River is like a dragon's pond and a tiger's den, where all forces compete fiercely for the land of finance and taxation, and all the richest people are at the level of local tyrants.
It is naturally not easy to deal with them.
Under such circumstances, if He Shen wanted to break the situation, he would naturally have to act contrary to common sense.
During the Great Court Meeting, He Shen, in the name of the Ministry of Household Affairs, directly deployed personnel to Jiangnan to supervise and control tax evasion-related affairs of Jiangnan wealthy people.
"…………"
Blindly adopting coercive measures is not the right way. Sometimes, in official circles, upright and upright conspiracy methods are more effective and can achieve more ideal results.
"Your Majesty's proposal is indeed good. It can strengthen the imperial court's supervision and control over local officials and the wealthy people in Jiangnan. But who will provide the money?"
There was silence in the court hall for a long time. After a long time, Wang Renfang, the Minister of Household Affairs, expressed a different opinion.
I only heard Wang Renfang, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, giving a wry smile and saying: "According to your Majesty's wishes, at least the number of officials in the Ministry of Revenue will be increased more than ten times, and the monthly salary expenditure alone will be a large amount of money! "
"Moreover, these official positions are the key to real power, and there will be some twists and turns on the staff side."
"…………"
Hearing the question from Wang Renfang, the Minister of Household Affairs, He Shen smiled slightly and said, "These matters can be easily solved."
"These alternate officials can be included in the list of temporary officials in the name of Chaoyan and become temporary officials."
"There are two advantages to doing this. One advantage is that it does not take up the existing official position in the court. The second advantage is that if there is any big trouble, you can also evade it in the name of temporary work."
"As for the salary of these alternate officials, it would be better to just let them work at their own expense, so they don't have to pay a penny.
He Shen smiled slightly and said lightly.
Upon hearing this, all the civil and military officials in the Jinluan Palace took a deep breath. Even Emperor Qianlong, who was sitting on the dragon throne, couldn't help but change his expression.
