The bribery case of Li Shuyao, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, broke out in the Qianlong Dynasty, causing an uproar in the government and the opposition. Although Emperor Qianlong showed great attention and determination to thoroughly investigate and prosecute, Li Shiyao's ending was unexpected.
This incident shows that Qianlong's attitude towards the *** issue has changed in his later years, and it has become an important political weather vane.
In the first month of the forty-fifth year of Qianlong, Emperor Qianlong took strict measures in order to deal with the ** case of Li Shuyao, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou. He ordered the left attendant Lang and Shen of the household department and the right attendant of the criminal department Kaninga to go to Guizhou to investigate, and the accompanying members of the division should also go together.
He ordered Yan Xishen, the right attendant of the military department, to go to Guizhou and wait for He Shen to convey his will when he arrived.
He also asked the Minister of Military Aircraft to closely inspect the post stations along the route to prevent information from leaking, and sent a message to Li Hu, the governor of Hunan, asking him to send people to strictly inspect the necessary route to Guizhou.
If a person rides a stagecoach from north to south, he is deemed to be the person who leaked the news, and his origin is immediately intercepted and interrogated, and the actual situation is reported truthfully. This instruction was conveyed to all parts of the country by an expedited six-hundred-mile extension.
Why is Haining afraid of the powerful minister Li Shiyao? Why did Emperor Qianlong take strict secrecy measures against him? Why haven't other major cases been handled in this way? All these show the power and influence of Li Shuyao.
When it comes to his family background, Li Shiyao is indeed extraordinary. His fourth ancestor, Li Yongfang, was the founding father of the Qing Dynasty, married the granddaughter of Nurhachi, and was honored as "Fushun Forehead", and his son was also named a first-class uncle.
His father, Li Yuanliang, was the head of the household department, and he himself was awarded the title of Zhang Jing by virtue of his status as a shadow student. Emperor Qianlong was full of praise for him, praised him as a "genius of the world", and immediately awarded him the deputy capital.
Not only that, Li Shuyao is also a capable minister with outstanding talents, Zhao Qi commented that he is "short and capable, alert, all the cases are seen, never forgotten, his subordinates see him, and he knows his talent in a few words."
Have a few high seats, talk about the benefits and disadvantages of their jobs, and move to the point. If there is a bad thing in the state or county, the public is the wisp of it, such as the person who witnessed it. His award was praised by Emperor Qianlong, and his career was naturally smooth sailing.
He started from the deputy capital commander, successively served as the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Household Servants, the General of Guangzhou, the Governor of Liangguang, the Secretary of the Household Department, the Commander of the Han Army of the Zhenghong Banner, and the Secretary of the Criminal Department, and was promoted to the Scholar of the Yingdian University in the 38th year, and the second-class Zhao Xinbo, and the Governor of Yungui in the 42nd year.
Li Shuyao has done many things in the important posts of secretary and governor inside and outside Beijing, especially in the governor's office, and his political achievements are remarkable.
Emperor Qianlong once praised him as "an old man who can do things" and is a leader among the governors, and many ministers also praised him for "successively serving as a feudal territory, solidifying the country, and doing things seriously, which is rare among the governors." ”
Such an important person is by no means easy to overthrow. Therefore, Haining did not dare to directly sue Li Shiyao for his illegal behavior.
The reason why Emperor Qianlong wanted to tightly seal the news of the post station was because he was afraid that Li Shiyao's relatives and friends would leak the news, which would lead to problems in the trial.
On the 4th day of the second month of the 45th year, Emperor Qianlong instructed the Minister of Military Aircraft to send He Shen and Kaninga to investigate Haining's accusations.
If there is any evidence, Li Shiyao will be immediately ordered to be dismissed, and Shu Chang will be the acting governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, and Yan Xishen will temporarily be the acting governor of Guizhou.
Three months later, He Shen, Kaning'a and others returned to the capital, claiming that Li Shiyao had received a total of 31,000 taels of silver, including 2,000 taels from Zhuang Zhaokui, 3,000 taels from Suerfanga, 5,000 taels from Wang Qi, 2,000 taels from Deqi, and 4,000 taels from Zhang Long.
In addition, Li Shiyao also asked his family Zhang Yongshou to go to Beijing to repair the house, and Su Erfang'a and Deqi gave him 5,000 taels of silver each.
Zhang Yongshou confessed and handed over two jewels to Zhang Yongshou, one was sold to the magistrate of Kunming County for extortion of 3,000 taels of silver, and the other was sold to Tongzhi Fang Luo for extortion of 2,000 taels of silver.
What kind of treatment did he take towards Li Shiyao, a confidant minister of Emperor Qianlong and a local magistrate with outstanding political achievements? When Emperor Qianlong saw the chapter, he issued five edicts in a row on March 8.
In the first edict, Emperor Qianlong ordered the removal of Li Shuyao from all positions. He said: "Li Shiyao has been promoted from general to governor for more than 20 years.
Because of his great talent and efficiency, and his greatest distinction among the governors, he was appointed a scholar.
Li Shiyao should have a conscience, be grateful to the emperor, and be honest in order to serve the country. However, according to the reports of He Shen and others, Li Shiyao, as a scholar and successive governors, actually betrayed his kindness, and the amount was huge, and even sold beads to his subordinates, which became a trend.
It's unbelievable, I didn't expect it. Therefore, I decided to remove Li Shiyao from his position, arrest him for interrogation, and instructed Wang Qi, Zhuang Zhaokui, Zhang Long, Suer Fang'a, Fang Luo, etc.** to also resign immediately and hand him over to He Shen for interrogation. ”
In the second edict, Emperor Qianlong dismissed Governor Sun Shiyi from his post. Sun Shiyi passed the trial of the southern tour and was promoted to the governor of Yunnan, and he was deeply grateful, but he witnessed Li Shiyao's *** behavior, so he turned a blind eye and concealed it.
After an investigation by the imperial court, he still argued that he was not wrong. Emperor Qianlong said: "The state set up governors to supervise each other and maintain the rule and official style. ”
Therefore, he decided to send Sun Shiyi to Yili, prepare his own expenses, serve to atone for his sins, and warn those who are incompetent.
Appointment of new governors: Emperor Qianlong appointed the Fengtian general Fukangan as the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, and Yan Xishen as the governor of Yunnan.
Strict investigation of corruption: Emperor Qianlong ordered He Shen and other case-handling personnel to seriously interrogate Li Shiyao, and confiscate all the silver taels he had and put them into the government.
Investigation of property: After Li Shiyao's family member Zhang Yong was sent to Beijing, he was ordered to hand over to the Criminal Department for an in-depth examination.
Favoritism towards Li Shiyao: On the seventh day of the first month of May, because He Shen and others decided that Li Shuyao should be beheaded as a prisoner, the scholar and Jiuqing were changed to a beheading decision.
However, Emperor Qianlong issued an edict and ordered the governors of all provinces to express their opinions and formulate a topic. This indicates that the Qianlong Emperor intended to exonerate Li Shiyao from the death penalty and hoped to end the case with He Shen's proposal.
Prohibition of Breaking the Law: Emperor Qianlong said he hoped that the governors of the provinces would give full play to their wisdom and abilities and make reasonable suggestions to prevent similar situations from happening again.
The handling of Li Shuyao's case was as follows: appointing senior officials and punishing bad officials; clean up the warehouses of various prefectures and counties in Yunnan; Be lenient to Li Shiyao's family.
Emperor Qianlong finally decided to deal with Li Shiyao, and officially announced it on the third day of the first month.
Prior to this, the governors of the provinces had replied as instructed, and the vast majority of the governors and governors agreed with the suggestion of the scholar and Jiuqing that Li Shuyao should be sentenced to death.
They did this because they were all governors, and if they downplayed Li Shiyao's crimes, they might be perceived by others and the emperor as having a protective heart and trying to justify their greedy behavior.
Therefore, they reluctantly agreed to the proposal of the scholars. Only one governor and one governor objected to the proposal of the scholars.
Among them, when the governor of Huguang, Fu Lehun, met with Emperor Qianlong in the palace in the south of the Yangtze River, he highly praised Li Shiyao for serving the country wholeheartedly and doing things seriously during his tenure, which is rare among governors.
He believes that although Li Shiyao has some misconduct in his later years, he can still be forgiven and hired. Only the governor of Anhui, Min Juyuan, accurately sensed Emperor Qianlong's desire for forgiveness, and he took the risk of closing the case according to He Shen's advice.
This proposal played into the hands of Emperor Qianlong and provided a step for him to pardon Li Shiyao from being beheaded. Therefore, Emperor Qianlong officially issued an edict to exempt Li Shiyao from execution on the 3rd day of October in the 45th year.
This is the end of this big case that shook the government and the opposition.
Li Shiyao was actually sentenced to beheaded because of Emperor Qianlong's special favor to avoid immediate execution, and was actually sentenced to be beheaded as a prison marquis, waiting for the autumn queen to deal with it.
Soon, he was reappointed as the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu by Emperor Qianlong, and made meritorious contributions in suppressing the Lin Shuangwen uprising in Taiwan, and was even painted in the Ziguang Pavilion, which shows Emperor Qianlong's efforts to punish ** filthy officials in his later years, but it did not achieve complete success.