Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 349 Tell a joke: Saint Emperor Qianlong [Please subscribe]

"And so, officials in Beijing, from Grand Secretaries to editors, local officials from governors to county magistrates, and military officers from generals to small captains, almost all talented and virtuous officials have been persecuted by the corrupt group you lead."

"When corrupt officials take over the officialdom, the scholars who enter later will quickly become corrupted. Even if they are honest officials, you have the confidence to bend them and drag them into your corrupt group."

"If he is truly an honest official, and resolutely refuses to act according to so-called social conventions, then officials at all levels will find ways to exclude him, and he will eventually be cut out of the bureaucracy as an outlier."

"Chen Qiyuan's Yongxianzhai Notes records the story of his grandfather, an official in the Qing Dynasty, who refused to follow outdated regulations during disaster relief and was ostracized by many of his colleagues and forced to leave..."

"From now on, only you and your cronies will surround the emperor, always mentioning the 'prosperous age' and studying the so-called techniques of a prosperous age every day to paralyze the emperor."

"Because you know, if you want to make the corrupt court even more corrupt, you have to start with the emperor."

At this time, the video has reached the end, the second to last section.

The title of the section also appeared on the screen - the ultimate in corruption, institutional corruption!
Seeing these words, Lao Zhu, Zhu Biao and others were stunned, and then they all felt a chill.

They thought that the corruption methods shown in previous videos were numerous and sophisticated enough, but when they saw the term "institutional corruption", they realized that corruption could be even more sophisticated and terrifying.

"In order to make money for the emperor in a more reasonable and even legitimate way, you thought hard and first borrowed from Western wisdom, referring to the Western system of 'redemption silver', and presented the emperor with the 'negotiated redemption silver' plan."

"The Emperor was delighted, but he was hesitant to implement this plan out of respect. You understood the Emperor's intentions and directed your cronies to launch a 'major case' involving a large number of people, but the actual problem was minor."

"Then, under the pretext that 'the law cannot punish the masses' and that this would not undermine the emperor's mercy, the officials involved were allowed to pardon themselves."

"The emperor accepted your suggestion. The officials who received your hint have all confessed their crimes and offered silver as atonement."

"Governor Mi Xianshan submitted a memorial stating that his failure to provide disaster relief was a grave offense and that he voluntarily paid 10,000 taels of silver for redemption."

"Governor Wang Jiaqi followed closely behind, and took the initiative to ask for instructions: This humble servant has neglected the management of his household, and his servants have abused their power to force purchases and sales. I bow down before the court and beg the Emperor to grant me a donation of 20,000 taels of silver as forgiveness for my sins!"

"Prefect Li Weijia..."

"This operation is actually an active bribe to the emperor. It not only makes the emperor appear tolerant and benevolent, and the ministers loyal and selfless, but also helps the emperor to amass wealth and enjoy himself in a legitimate way."

"It's like 'killing three birds with one stone', or 'Qin Shi Huang touching the wires – he wins'!"

Old Zhu and Zhu Biao were both dismayed when they saw the corrupt system of "negotiating silver for crimes" being come up by the corrupt officials. They never expected to see the pseudo-idiom "Win Ma Le".

Fortunately, the palace had installed electrical wires and lights a year ago, so they understood what it meant to touch the wires and get an electric shock. Otherwise, they might not have understood this pseudo-idiom.

Video continues.

"The emperor nodded, and ordered you to improve the system of negotiating criminal silver. You know very well that a perfect corruption prevention system needs to solve three problems: 'where it comes from', 'how it is done', and 'where it goes'."

"Where does the money for criminal investigation come from? The answer is that it's extorted from high-ranking officials such as governors and governors-general, as well as officials in charge of salt administration, taxation, textiles, and river transport, who are in positions of easy profit."

"You know in your heart that this is basically allowing these high-ranking officials to extort money from the lower-ranking officials and the people..."

"The dynasty at this time is like the ocean. The emperor eats the big fish, the big fish eat the small fish, and the small fish eat the two-legged farm tools."

"Then how do we extort money? The first step is for the emperor to issue a secret decree to the officials, ordering them to confess their crimes or forgive their sins, meaning that you can make up excuses to give money."

"The second step is for the official to start making up stories, claiming they've made minor mistakes like dereliction of duty or poor household management, and to ask Your Majesty to allow them to pay a certain amount of silver."

"Officials are worried that their real crimes will be exposed, so the fabricated charges are often very minor, or even ridiculously minor."

"In the 48th year of the Qianlong reign, Henan Governor He Yucheng claimed to have 'contaminated incense ash' and was fined 20,000 taels of silver."

"You have to atone for soiling the incense ash, for trying too many cases, and for not finishing them all. You have to atone for stepping in with your left foot, and you have to atone for stepping in with your right foot..."

"The officials were talking nonsense, and the emperor knew it, but they tacitly agreed to share the spoils. This is the court version of 'returning the gentry's money in full and dividing the people's money 30-70.'"

"Where should the officials' criminal fines be paid into? The national treasury? What a joke! Of course they should go into the emperor's personal purse to 'fill the state's coffers.'"

"After doing all this, you must also manipulate the historians to delete the records of local officials' self-proclaimed atonements, ensuring that the emperor's image as a sage who loves his people like dirt is not tarnished..."

Love the people like dirt?

Seeing this changed idiom, Zhu Tan and the others were a little bit overwhelmed and wanted to laugh. But after looking at Old Zhu, who had a cold face, they finally held back their laughter.

"After years of harmonious governance between the 'Sage King' and you, the 'Sage King', you have jointly established an unprecedented 'open source heyday.'"

"So you wrote a letter to the emperor praising him: 'Our dynasty has inherited a legacy of saints that spans thousands of years, and our laws and regulations are complete, both in terms of size and detail. Even if there are a few mediocre bureaucrats who are lazy and don't respect the old system, it's no big deal.'"

"The holy ruler is like the sun, ruling the world. The court is full of righteousness. China and foreign countries are at peace. The prosperous era has arrived!"

Seeing this, the muscles on Old Zhu's face began to twitch, and his hands were tightly gripping the armrests of the chair, with veins throbbing on the back of his hands. This made Liu Kuan a little worried: Could Old Zhu be imagining the Ming Dynasty and getting sick from anger?
Taking advantage of the two or three seconds of blank transition in the video, he quickly said, "Your Majesty, most of what is said here is about the Qing Dynasty."

Lao Zhu didn't say anything and the video continued.

"The old emperor happily passed away amidst the praises of 'the holy ruler of a prosperous age,' and the crown prince ascended the throne."

"Most new emperors ascend the throne with great ambitions, hoping to accomplish great things. Upon ascending to the throne, your new emperor adopted the advice of a certain scholar and sought to eradicate the corruption-ridden malpractices."

"When you see the new emperor is disobedient and wants to destroy the corruption system you painstakingly built, you think, 'That's not going to work.'"

"So after the decree was issued, you, whose factions were already spread throughout the government and the country, directed your cronies to submit a memorial strongly opposing it."

"The new emperor, inexperienced and panicked, ruthlessly dismissed the Grand Secretary who proposed the anti-corruption campaign and tactfully turned to you, a capable minister who had served three successive dynasties, for help."

"In order to protect the interests of the corrupt group and persuade the emperor to maintain the status quo, you immediately wrote a magnificent article - 'On Preserving the Status Quo'."

"If you don't abide by the established constitutions of our ancestors, Heaven will surely bring disaster upon you. Looking back at the history of the Han, Tang, Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties, we see that the rulers of the middle periods did not consider the hardships their ancestors went through in establishing their own country. Instead, they were self-righteous and, encouraged by their ministers who were greedy for merit and advancement, they arbitrarily changed the laws..."

After the seemingly classical but actually nonsense speech "On Preserving the Status Quo" was played, the video, which lasted more than twenty minutes, also ended.

Perhaps because Old Zhu looked unhappy, no one else dared to speak.

Old Zhu looked at Liu Kuan and asked, "You said that most of the things listed above came from the Qing Dynasty. Is that true?"

Liu Kuan said without hesitation, "Of course it's true—and the actual corruption in the Qing Dynasty was even more serious than what's shown in the video."

"In later history, the sin silver system was proposed by Heshen, a famous corrupt official in the Qing Dynasty, based on the redemption silver system in Western countries. It was deeply loved by Emperor Qianlong."

"And before Qianlong, during the reign of Emperor Kangxi, known as the sage emperor of the Qing Dynasty, in order to raise military funds and ease financial difficulties, he created the system of selling official positions."

"In addition, during the reign of Emperor Kangxi, he sent his good sons to supervise the six ministries and other departments. Then his sons took the opportunity to form cliques, engage in corruption, and even borrow money from the Ministry of Revenue."

"Other members of the imperial family and officials followed suit and borrowed money. Within a few years, the Ministry of Revenue had almost run out of money. When disaster relief was needed, it couldn't even come up with hundreds of thousands of taels of silver."

"With these things happening, Your Majesty can imagine how serious the corruption in the Qing Dynasty was."

After hearing Liu Kuan's words, Zhu Biao, Zhu Di and others temporarily diverted their attention.

Old Zhu was still pondering something, so Zhu Di couldn't help but ask, "Remember my brother-in-law said before that the Qing Dynasty lasted nearly three hundred years? How could it last that long when their corruption was so rampant?"

Liu Kuan laughed and said, "When later generations mention the Qing Dynasty, they always like to brag about the prosperous Kangxi and Qianlong eras, referring to Kangxi and Qianlong. But in reality, among the twelve Qing emperors, only two could be truly called wise: Emperor Taizong Huang Taiji, and Emperor Yongzheng, Kangxi's son and Qianlong's father."

"Without Huang Taiji, even if the Ming Dynasty was destroyed by the peasant army, the Qing Dynasty might not have had the strength and foundation to enter the Great Wall and consolidate its rule. Without the crackdown on corruption and the series of reforms such as the land tax after Yongzheng ascended the throne, the Qing Dynasty would most likely have ended up like the Mongols, with a lifespan of no more than a hundred years."

"Kangxi is relatively good. The most ridiculous one is Qianlong, who called himself the 'Ten Perfect Man.' Putting aside the others, let's just talk about how he handled corruption. The video just now has already shown it."

"For example, he knew Heshen was a corrupt official, but he refused to deal with him. While using Heshen to make money to satisfy his own desires, he also deliberately left it to his son Jiaqing to deal with so that he could accumulate prestige when he ascended to the throne."

"After Jiajing came to power, he executed Heshen. It is said that the proceeds from the confiscation of his property were worth about 10 billion silver. Later generations used the saying 'Heshen fell, Jiaqing ate well' to describe this event."

One billion taels of silver? !

Upon hearing this, not only Zhu Biao, Zhu Di and others were stunned, but even Old Zhu was surprised.

Liu Kuan continued, "But in the eyes of truly wise people, Qianlong's indulgence of Heshen's corruption only worsened the corruption of the Qing Dynasty, causing the Qing court and officialdom to become completely rotten and difficult to save. It can be said that he lost more than he gained."

Upon hearing this, Old Zhu snorted, "In my opinion, ever since Emperor Qianlong accepted the system of paying fines for crimes, he has become a tyrant and a pest to the country!"

Liu Kuan laughed and said, "Your Majesty, you think too highly of Qianlong. He chose the path of a tyrant from the moment he ascended the throne. Not long after he took the throne, he overturned many of the policies left by Yongzheng."

"For example, we stopped land surveys, stopped farming and water conservancy projects, exempted the Ministry of Revenue from deficits, dealt leniently with corruption, and abolished the policy of 'officials and gentry serving as officials and paying taxes together.'"

"There are still people in later generations who praise Qianlong for his proper repeal of the policies left by Yongzheng. It's hilarious."

Zhu Biao, Zhu Di and others were stunned again.

After all, some of these policies sound good, but Qianlong abolished them. If he is not a tyrant, what is he?
Zhu Di was thinking about this when he noticed Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at him and felt something was wrong.

　First update.

　　Correct the typo later

　　
　
(End of this chapter)