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Is He Shen’s death related to Ji Xiaolan?

In the first month of 1799 AD (the fourth year of Jiaqing), the new wind was howling in the city of Beijing, and major events were happening in the Qing Dynasty: on the third day of the third day, Emperor Qianlong passed away; On the eighth day of the eighth day, He Shen lost his freedom. On the eighteenth day, He Shen was hanged in prison by a few feet of white silk.

Has Ji Xiaolan ever fought He Shen?

Historically, the relationship between Ji Xiaolan and Heshen probably belonged to conscious ambiguity.

One is disdain. The time when they really started working together was around 1776 (the 41st year of Qianlong). In November of this year, He Shen served as the vice president of the National History Museum, and Ji Xiaolan was the editor-in-chief of the “Siku Quanshu” library, co-chairing the editing work. At that time, Ji Xiaolan was already a 52-year-old learned scholar, and He Shen was only 26 years old.

Second, there is no conflict of interest. Ji Xiaolan interacts with people with his romantic personality and elegant temperament, and rarely offends others. He will not openly offend Heshen. And Ji Xiaolan only did two things in her life-presiding over the imperial examination and editing.

Liu Yong and He Shen

Liu Yong is 31 years older than Heshen. Liu Yong’s father is a famous minister Liu Tongxun of a generation with a prominent family background. Liu Yong is more straightforward than Ji Xiaolan in character, so there is a real record of “Liu Luoguo” in the official history. For example, in April of the forty-seventh year of Qianlong, Qian Feng, the censor, impeached Guotai, the governor of Shandong, who was Heshen’s best friend. Liu Yong was ordered to investigate the Cathay case, and firmly supported Qian Feng’s proposal to investigate to the end. In the end, he overthrew Cathay and completely offended He Shen.

At whose hand did He Shen die?

“Heshen fell, and Jiaqing was full.” Whoever benefited was suspected, and Emperor Jiaqing could hardly escape. But does Jiaqing have help? There are various indications that Liu Yong is a possibility.

First of all, Liu Yong and He Shen are political enemies, one is upright and clean, and the other is corrupt.

Secondly, starting from the forty-sixth year of Qianlong, Liu Yong basically did the work of Zuodu Yushi of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and Minister of the Ministry of Officials. There will be huge resistance, and various contradictions and conflicts will inevitably arise.

Third, the person who first impeached Heshen was Wang Niansun, who was an old subordinate of Liu Yong. When Liu Yong was the left censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the two seemed to have a teacher-student friendship, and their personalities were quite different. resemblance. In addition, Wang Niansun is Ji Xiaolan’s protégé, and Ji Xiaolan is the protégé of Liu Yong’s father, Liu Tongxun. This relationship cannot be ignored.

Fourth, Jiaqing had a good personal relationship with Ji Xiaolan and Liu Yong. Emperor Jiaqing respected Ji Xiaolan, but he would never discuss military and political affairs with him. Liu Yong was different, he had rich experience. In the seventh year of Jiaqing (1802), Jiaqing drove to Rehe and ordered Liu Yong to stay in Beijing to preside over the government. In other words, Jiaqing’s dissatisfaction with Heshen may be expressed intentionally or unintentionally or directly disclosed to Liu Yong.

In connection, if Jiaqing hadn’t instructed Liu Yong to bring Heshen to justice, and if Liu Yong hadn’t taken advantage of Qianlong’s death to instruct Wang Niansun to impeach Heshen, it would be difficult to understand where Wang Niansun’s courage came from. When Qianlong was alive, why didn’t he hand in the impeachment certificate? And the day after Qianlong’s death, he jumped out? How could the young Wang Niansun know that Emperor Jiaqing didn’t want to see He Shen?

The fifth is the most critical. The case of Heshen Zhi’s party’s selfishness and unauthorized bribery was investigated and handled by Liu Yong and others.

In other words, Heshen’s twenty major crimes were sorted out by Liu Yong and the ministers of the kings under the instruction of Jiaqing. As for Qianlong’s last edict, they were just excuses. With the emperor’s instruction, he could be beheaded without any need.

What is Ji Xiaolan doing at this time? The establishment of the Gaozong (Qianlong) Veritable Records Museum was busy looking for a place, choosing a writer, and preparing to write the memoirs for Emperor Qianlong. He didn’t have time to participate in the investigation of the Heshen case.