Let's start by saying that he sells officials to collect money.
It is said that Yi Kuang became a prime minister because of the appreciation of Cixi, who specialized in selling titles and titles. Anyone who comes to him for an official position must give him a large sum of money, otherwise it is impossible! For example, at that time, Yang Shilian wanted to be the governor of Shandong, so he offered him 100,000 taels of silver. For example, a Taoist named Chen Bi gave Yi Kuang a batch of rare treasures and 52,000 taels of silver for promotion and wealth, and also worshipped Yi Kuang as michel platini, making him a minister-level minister. Yang Shilian and Chen Bi were just nine hairs of Niu Yi among many bribers at that time.
The best time for Yi Kuang to sell an official was when he sold the throne of the Qing Dynasty to Yuan Shikai for three million and two thousand pieces of silver! According to Pu Yi, the last emperor of My First Half of Life, Yi Kuang accepted Yuan Shikai's money and persuaded the Queen Mother Yulong to surrender, and the world of the Qing Dynasty for more than 200 years was ruined by Yi Kuang. In addition, according to Zai Tao's father and son, in order to force Puyi to abdicate, Yuan Shikai gave Yi Kuang three million and two thousand pieces of silver, hoping that Yi Kuang could help persuade Yulong to agree to the emperor's abdication. Yi Kuang didn't live up to Yuan Shikai's money, and tried to persuade the Queen Mother Yulong to agree to abdicate. Empress Yulong didn't want to, but when she saw Yi Kuang, she insisted and finally agreed.
For money, even the inheritance of our ancestors can be sold! Yi Kuang's spirit of accumulating wealth has really disappeared. People at that time laughed at him. General manager of Laoqingji Company? , really didn't black him. Being an official has no political achievements, but making money has unique skills.
Besides, he took bribes under various pretexts.
After all, the number of officials is limited. When selling officials could no longer meet the needs of Yi Kuang, he came up with a way to collect money by accepting bribes in various names. On Yi Kuang's seventieth birthday, officials and local devotees poured in, and there was a long queue in front of the Qing Palace. In order to hide people's eyes and ears, on the surface, Yi Kuang told his family not to accept gifts, but secretly asked his subordinates to make four books, and divided the gift givers into four grades according to the thickness of the gifts. At the birthday party, Yi Kuang received as much as five hundred taels of cash, and the value of gifts exceeded one million taels. By the time he reached his seventieth birthday, it was already the year of Xuantongyuan, and the Qing Dynasty was finished in less than two years. More than 70th birthday, after Wuchang Uprising, Sichuan Governor Xiliang volunteered to lead the troops to bid for Shaanxi, and Yi Kuang even asked him for a bribe of 82,000 yuan, otherwise he would not sign the transfer order. Xi Liang Wen flew into a rage: I will never buy a dollar in my life. What about this time? ? Since you don't care about Qing, neither do we little people.
Selling officials, the throne and ancestral businesses is not all that Yi Kuang has. The rise of Yuan Shikai is also inextricably linked with Yi Kuang. It can be said that there would be no Yuan Shikai without Li Hongzhang; Without Yi Kuang, Yuan Shikai could not have commanded Beiyang Army for so many years.
After Li Hongzhang's death, Yuan Shikai's backer was gone. So he began to sit next to the thigh of foreman Rong Lu. After Rong Lu became seriously ill, Yuan Shikai was so sure that Yi Kuang would succeed to the throne that he immediately sent100000 taels of silver. Sure enough, Yi Kuang took Rong Lu's place. In order to kiss up to Yi Kuang, Yuan Shikai made monthly rules every month and annual rules every year, and gave gifts to Yi Kuang without interruption. Every time Yi Kuang and Fujin are invited to participate in the birthday opera, Yuan Shikai is in charge of their children's marriage, and Yi Kuang doesn't spend a penny. With the support of Yi Kuang, Yuan Shikai successfully controlled the command of six towns in Beiyang. Although he was sent back to his hometown by Zai Feng, the military power was still in his hands.
Yi Kuang is so keen on collecting money that even the Regent of Zai Feng can't stand it. After Zai Feng defeated Yuan Shikai, he always devoted himself to overthrowing Yi Kuang, but before he succeeded, the Qing Dynasty perished. When other royal families lost their livelihood because of the demise of the Qing Dynasty, Yi Kuang lived a better life than anyone else.
According to the London Times at that time, the prince of the Qing Dynasty had a deposit of $2 million in HSBC alone. If you count the deposits in other banks, as well as a large number of fields, houses, bills, gold and silver jewelry, it must be tens of millions. Others estimate that if his property is converted into silver, it will be as high as 100 million taels! At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the annual fiscal revenue was only 1 100 million liang. He deserved to say that he was the second corrupt official in the Great Qing Dynasty.
So, did Yi Kuang really embezzle so much money as others said? Judging from the profligacy of him and his three sons in the Republic of China, it is really close.
Yi Kuang has three sons, and the firstborn is Zai Zhen. According to Zaizhen's memory, when the Qing emperor abdicated, the Qing palace was looted and lost more than 3 million yuan. This should be placed on other governors, and that is bankruptcy. But in Yi Kuang, it's just a piece of cake. It is said that Yi Kuang and his son do three things every day in the Qing Palace in Tianjin: sleep late, smoke opium and raise some precious flowers, birds, fish and insects. A bunch of servants at home, besides serving their father and son, have to be hired to feed these pets.
Besides, Jae-jin also likes Peking Opera, especially Shang Xiaoyun and Tan's plays. Zaizhen will also generously give these Peking Opera actors some gifts, such as jade, tooth carving, antiques and so on. And sometimes give money, spend money like water. According to Pu Quan, the son of Zhai Zhen, his father lived in Tianjin and relied on bank deposits and interest for a long time to maintain Wang Fu's huge expenses. In the later period of the Japanese puppet regime, counterfeit money depreciated, deposits were folded again and again, and the source of economic income was lost. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the situation was unstable, prices soared, and Wang Fu's economy became more and more difficult. Therefore, it is necessary to continuously sell rare antiques and jewels to maintain Wang Fu's life and expenses.
Yi Kuang's fortune is divided into three parts, and Jae Jeong just took one of the three, so he can rely on his fortune until the end of the Anti-Japanese War! You know, Zai Tao, the seventh uncle of Puyi, is a close relative of Zhenggen royal family. Later, he spent all his savings and became a street vendor. Yi Kuang has great wealth.
Zaizhen's two younger brothers, Zaibo and Zailun, are also two younger brothers who spend money like water. The second child likes gambling. He often gambles at the British Concession Jockey Club in Tianjin, but he loses every bet. He once lost a mansion that Yi Kuang spent a lot of money to build for him. Besides gambling, Jaibo likes to play with foreign girls. Jia Bo spent all his life in the world of flowers and flowers.
Old Zalon doesn't like gambling, but his problem is that he spends money lavishly. However, his generosity won him a lot of popularity. According to the records of Zaizhen's son, when Zaizhen died, a funeral was held at home. His fifth uncle Zalun invited Li Zongren and some senior officials of the Republic of China to pay homage. How can I move if I don't spend some money?
Generally speaking, the amount of corruption in Yi Kuang is huge. After the demise of the Qing Dynasty, he and his son were also the most chic and profligate of all the royal families in terms of living conditions. It may be an exaggeration to say that Yi Kuang embezzled 120 million silver. However, the wealth of the Yi Kuang family is indeed the best among the imperial families, even if there is no 120 million yuan, there are tens of millions of 20 million yuan!