According to legend, during the Qianlong period, Heshen's **, plus antiques, and house deeds were worth about 1.1 billion taels, which exceeded the total fiscal revenue of the Qing Dynasty in 15 years.
Regarding He Shen's death, there has always been a saying, called: He Shen fell, Jiaqing was full, and almost everyone thought that He Shen was Qianlong's legacy to his son Jiaqing.
For a person as smart as He Shen, did he really not know that he would be ostracized by Jiaqing? Or did he already know, but there was a fluke mentality?
Qianlong once commented on He Shen, thinking that he was quite careless in Qing Chinese, Han Chinese, Mongolian, and Western Fan (Tibetan).
Therefore, He Shen himself is very smart, and he has been in the court for many years, so he is used to seeing intrigues and tricks, and he knows Qianlong's mind very well.
However, once a son of heaven and a courtier, even if he is favored and trusted in front of Emperor Qianlong, he may not be in front of others.
The reason why He Shen has been in the court for so many years is because his biggest backstage is Qianlong, and if Qianlong dies, then He Shen will not be able to save his life.
He Shen had realized this many years ago, so he often coaxed Qianlong to be happy, afraid that the steel knife hanging around his neck would suddenly fall off.
In 1794, when Qianlong was eighty-three years old, he invited the ministers in the capital to attend his birthday banquet, and as the emperor's favorite minister, He Shen was naturally among them.
At this time, Qianlong had been the emperor for 57 years, and often praised himself as a "perfect old man" and "both civil and military".
Those who knew Qianlong knew that Qianlong was very fond of poetry and calligraphy, after all, he wrote more than 40,000 poems, and on such a happy day, he naturally had the interest of lifting the pen.
In the cheers of his son and the minister, the chamberlain quickly brought pen, ink, paper and inkstone to Qianlong, and everyone was waiting for Qianlong to write.
Although Qianlong was a little drunk, he still muttered for a long time, and after some pen walking, he finally wrote a big "Zen" word on the paper.
The ministers who participated in the banquet all stroked their palms and smiled when they saw it, praising the emperor for writing Zen and very suitable for the occasion, but Qianlong smiled and said nothing.
However, only He Shen, who was on Qianlong's side, suddenly sobered up, and couldn't laugh when he looked at the big characters.
He Shen has been by Emperor Qianlong's side for a long time, and he can understand Qianlong's thoughts with a little speculation that writing a Zen word at this time has a different meaning.
In the face of the civil and military officials and princes of the Manchu Dynasty, Qianlong also had his own ideas when he wrote this word, and it was up to them whether they could comprehend it.
The ministers at that time thought that Qianlong was writing Zen for his birthday, a Zen full of Buddha nature. Actually, they didn't see that the word had another meaning.
He Shen saw that it was obviously Zen Zen. Qianlong has long been concerned about the Zen position, and he has said more than once that his most respected imperial grandfather, Emperor Kangxi.
Kangxi reigned for 61 years, although he still had the energy to continue to be the emperor, but in his heart he was unwilling to exceed this number.
On the surface, He Shen, who was happy, was a little anxious in his heart, he was full of worries about his future, if Qianlong died, what should he do?
Since Qianlong is unwilling to surpass Emperor Kangxi, in He Shen's view, in the next two years, Qianlong will definitely look for the best people.
If Qianlong let the crown prince ascend the throne, will the new emperor treat himself well, or click himself away, for a while, He Shen repeatedly.
On September 3, 1795, Qianlong announced to the minister in the Qinzheng Palace, the secret decree of the establishment of the prince, and the fifteenth son of the emperor, Yongyan, was appointed as the crown prince, and he was scheduled to return to the government next year, which was changed to the first year of Jiaqing.
At this time, although Qianlong was ready to leave the throne, his long-term desire for power made him unstoppable, and he was ready to be the emperor for another year to enjoy himself.
It's just that even if Jiaqing ascends the throne, there is no way to deal with He Shen, after all, he is his father's favorite minister, and he is going to kill He Shen just after becoming the emperor, Qianlong must be in a bad mood.
In this way, the actual power of the country is still in the hands of Qianlong, Jiaqing has no real power, and He Shen has been peaceful for three years.
In these last few years, He Shen's status is almost below one person, above 10,000 people, and Liu Yong and Ji Xiaolan are not comparable.
In 1797, in October of the second year of Jiaqing, the foreman of the military aircraft Minister A Gui died, and only Liu Yong and Dong He were left in the court to secretly oppose Heshen.
At that time, Qianlong had entered his twilight years, and when he went to court, he asked He Shen to stand next to him and Jiaqing, because only He Shen could understand what Qianlong was saying.
As Qianlong got older and older, his brain was no longer sharp, and after the Manchu Dynasty civil and military knelt three times and knocked nine times, He Shen was equivalent to the regent, and after the Manchu Dynasty civil and military played, he "listened" to Qianlong's speech, and revised it after thinking about it, and then passed the word.
Therefore, many civil and military officials who were dissatisfied with He Shen called him the "Second Emperor", and Jiaqing, who was sitting on the side, had no real power, and it was He Shen and Qianlong who really held real power.
Even more excessively, the personal freedom of the Qianlong and Jiaqing emperors was greatly restricted by Heshen.
In order to control the news in the palace, He Shen arranged many cronies in the palace, including personal eunuchs, palace maids, and even many ministers are He Shen's henchmen.
In 1799, in the first month, Qianlong died, and Jiaqing officially took over the power and ordered He Shen to be responsible for Qianlong's funeral.
Just 13 days have passed, and before Qianlong's funeral has been dealt with, Jiaqing can't wait to announce Heshen's 20 major sins and order to raid his home.
5 days later, the crime was punished in the imperial court, and Jiaqing couldn't wait to want to make He Shen Lingchi.
However, the daughter-in-law Gu Lun and Princess Xiao and their opponents Liu Yong and others said: Although He Shen himself is extremely evil, he has served as a minister of the previous dynasty after all.
Can't just after Qianlong's death, he should kill the team left by Qianlong, and he should commit suicide in prison and leave behind the dignity he deserves.
In order to prevent someone from retaliating under the pretext of the Heshen case, Liu Yong suggested to Jiaqing to avoid the expansion of the case and properly deal with the aftermath.
Jiaqing, who thought about it for a long time, agreed, and on the second day after He Shen was executed, when the civil and military officials were suspicious, he affirmed that the case of He Shen had been completed and would not implicate the hundred officials on a large scale.
He Shen actually knew in his heart that when Qianlong died, Jiaqing couldn't tolerate him, after all, he couldn't get used to himself when Qianlong was still there, and when Qianlong died, he would treat himself even harder.
However, he really couldn't imagine that before Qianlong's funeral was handled, he was liquidated by Jiaqing, and even his own backhand was too late to use it.
In 1796, He Shen's younger brother He Lin died of a miasma during the siege of Pinglong at the age of 42.
The external armed forces that could once be absolutely relied on by Heshen have officially disappeared, which may be one of the reasons why Jiaqing dares to move Heshen.
After the fall of He Shen, Jiaqing reprimanded He Lin for containing Fukangan and fighting without merit, and denied the contribution made by He Shen's family.