The name He Shen is almost a household name in Chinese history, he is both talented and good at flattery, deeply loved by Emperor Qianlong, and became an important minister of the court who holds administrative, financial, judicial and other powers, but at the same time he is also the first ** of the Qing Dynasty, and is spurned by countless people.
However, he also has principles and bottom lines, and the most important reason why he has been able to stand on the court for 30 years is the principle of "three non-greed", let's take a look at Heshen's cleverness today.
He Shen is a member of the Manchurian Red Banner, and although his father's official position is not high, his family is quite solid. However, when He Shen was 9 years old, his father died, and his family was in the middle of the road, and life became very difficult.
He Shen is very intelligent and diligent, proficient in Manchu, Chinese, Mongolian and Tibetan, and also has deep attainments in poetry, calligraphy, painting and other aspects. However, because of his handsome appearance, he was ridiculed by his classmates as a "handsome little white face", and He Shen secretly vowed in his heart that he must get ahead and trample those who look down on him under his feet.
He Shen waited for a chance to come out, and finally, his opportunity finally came. In the 40th year of Qianlong, he was appointed as a guard of the Qianqing Gate, and soon he was promoted to the imperial guard, and the opportunity to contact the Qianlong Emperor was greatly increased.
He Shen was good at observing words and feelings, and knew how to cater to the emperor's wishes, which made Emperor Qianlong trust and rely on him more and more. At the same time, he is also good at making friends with important ministers in the court and consolidating his position, and his mansion has become a place where the ** people are vying to cling to him, and he is known as the "Hefu Lucky Cat".
The methods of Heshen ** mainly include **, blackmailing hundreds of officials and business operations. Because he is a celebrity in front of Emperor Qianlong, he wears many hats and is fat, so it is difficult to count the ** who bribed him. In addition, He Shen is particularly business-minded, and his industries can be found in all walks of life, not only pawnshops, antique shops, porcelain shops, but also grain stores, bow and arrow shops, etc.
The amount of money in Heshen** is very huge, and it can even be described as "rich and rivaling the country", because his wealth is even more than the treasury of some small countries, which has reached an astonishing amount at that time.
You can imagine if Heshen's property is a mountain of gold, then how tall is this mountain of goldSomeone once said in an analogy that if measured in meters, this golden mountain is large enough to fill the entire Forbidden City, which makes people feel amazing and incredible.
However, although He Shen is famous for his wealth and power in history, he is not unprincipled in his pursuit of wealth and power, so let's take a look at his "three non-greedy principles":
The first is not to be greedy for disaster relief funds. When a disaster occurs, the imperial court will allocate a certain amount of disaster relief funds to help the victims, and some ** will make a fuss about the disaster relief funds, deducting or misappropriating the disaster relief funds, but He Shen will not do this, he knows that the disaster relief funds are the lifeline of the disaster victims, if you do something on this, it will not only damage the credibility of the imperial court, but also bring great risks to yourself.
The second is not to be greedy for money. The imperial examination selected a large number of talents for the imperial court at that time, but there were also many drawbacks and problems in the imperial examination system, and many candidates would bribe the examiner in order to achieve good results in the imperial examination, hoping to receive special treatment. As one of the examiners, He Shen never accepted money for the imperial examination, believing that accepting ** bribes would damage his reputation and future.
Finally, don't be greedy for money. He Shen is principled, although he loves money, but he will not violate his own principles because of money, if things cannot be done, he will not take any benefits, or refuse to help others do things beyond his ability from the beginning, this behavior greatly reduces the number of enemies he makes and increases his chances of survival.
In addition to the principle of "three non-greed", He Shen also attaches great importance to the handling of interpersonal relationships, he understands that if he wants to gain a foothold in the officialdom, he must deal with the relationship between superiors and subordinates, so he tries his best to cater to the preferences and needs of his superiors, and cares about the life and work of his subordinates.
However, He Shen's wealth also attracted the eyes of many people and jealousy, and in the 55th year of Qianlong (1790), He Shen was given to die in prison at the age of 61. Not all of his property went into the treasury, most of it was divided among the princes, nobles and ministers, and a small part was used to relieve the victims and appease the peasants.
He Shen's counterattack is full of twists and turns, and his successes and failures are thought-provoking. Although his talent and intelligence are worthy of recognition, he also lost himself because of power and wealth, and eventually went down the path of failure.