At this time, the biggest internal worry that Daoguang Emperor faced came from the financial aspect, and the severe economic situation crushed him like a mountain. The opium war, which lasted for two years, consumed 30 million taels of silver, and the post-war reparations made the Qing finance worse. As the saying goes, the house leaks only when it rains, which is true. At the same time as the Opium War broke out, the Yellow River burst, blocking the mouth year after year to save the people, and more than 23 million taels of silver reached Shui Piao again.
In short, in the past two or three years, the total expenditure on war, reparations and river regulation was nearly 72 million taels, while the country's total annual income was only over 40 million taels. Spend money like water. Daoguang, who is famous for his frugality, is deeply distressed. But I can't. It costs money to grind your teeth and stamp your feet. At that time, the bank's silver inventory was only a little more than12 million, which was the lowest value since the founding of the Qing Dynasty. In any case, the money can't be moved any more. If used again, it will break through the psychological defense of Daoguang. Such a big country must set aside some reserve funds.
However, Daoguang never dreamed that the national treasury was empty, and12 million taels of silver was just a book figure! I really don't know how Daoguang, as the king of a country, will face this harsh reality when the truth is revealed to the world.
At the beginning of the 23rd year of Daoguang (Gregorian calendar 1843), the nephew of Zhang Chengbao, a soldier in the Treasury Department, donated money to the country and won the official title. ) the money is donated to the household department, and uncle Zhang Chengbao is responsible for weighing. Finally, the money was confiscated, but a receipt was issued. This matter was originally kept secret, because it involved complicated personnel relations and interest distribution, and the result was revealed. As a result, the shady scene became more and more serious, and finally revealed the huge shady scene of the treasury of the Ministry of Finance.
Daoguang emperor was shocked when he heard the news, and quickly ordered the ministers of punishments to check it. This investigation is no small matter. He found that there is a difference of 9.252 million between the figures on the ledger and the actual inventory of silver. I thought that there was still10 million yuan in the national treasury, but it was a bubble when I checked it. It can be said that it is as poor as a mouse in a church.
As we all know, Daoguang is an advocate of thrift. The minister went to Beijing to report his work and was reluctant to leave the minister for dinner in time. This time, he suddenly lost 9.25 million taels of silver. It is conceivable that frugal Daoguang is a kind of mood.
On March 26th (April 25th of Gregorian calendar), Daoguang reprimanded the minister and said, "We lost 9.252 million taels of silver, which is unprecedented and won resentment. Just like your own money, it is a serious violation to take it away at will ... "At the same time, the Ministry of Punishment, the official department and the step army were instructed to immediately intervene in the investigation and check it out.
A large number of library soldiers were arrested, a large number of officials were suspended for review, and officials of the Ministry of Justice were busy day and night. After preliminary research, criminal investigation experts reached an agreement: 9.25 million taels of silver were not stolen by one person, nor were they short-term criminals; As for the criminal, it can basically be concluded that he is a soldier in the treasury.
This is nonsense! If a modern medium-sized truck with a load of four tons is used to transport 9.25 million taels of silver, it can fill 100 vehicles. Dare a man transport so much money from a heavily guarded vault? Is to steal. Where is he hiding? As for saying that Kubing is a suspect, this is not a valuable point of view, because no one has access to money except Kubing.
Where did you put so much money? How was it stolen?
At that time, there were ten warehouses in Beijing, including warehouses for storing grain, money and cloth, silk and satin. Among them, * * * money has three libraries:
The first one is the library of the Forbidden City. This silver is1.2000 taels, which is reserved for the emperor to "cross the river", that is, the money used for exile when the emperor is desperate. Up to now, they have never been used, and they are all large silver ingots of 50 taels, which are not easy to be stolen, so they have seals, and superior officials basically do not check the library.
The second is the treasury of the Ministry of the Interior. Although it is called a treasury, it does not store silver, but only treasures and jewels. The warehouse is not big and the management is very convenient.
The third is the treasury of the Ministry, that is, the treasury. There is glistening silver hidden in the national treasury, and it is in revenue and expenditure almost every day. Library soldiers are in and out every day, as busy as a bee.
In order to ensure the safety of state funds, the treasury of the Qing Dynasty established a strict management system, with a minister in charge of the treasury, who was also the assistant minister of the household department, and several people in charge of the treasury. None of these people have the right to enter the vault. Only soldiers in the vault can enter the vault.
Soldiers should be put into storage, even in severe winter, they should take off their clothes and pants, and then put on the clothes and pants in the warehouse after storage; When they left the library after work, they undressed again. There is a bench in front of the library. Kubing walked across the bench naked, raised his hands and shouted "Come out". Then he can get dressed and go home from work. Cross the bench, raise your hand, clap your hands and shout, indicating that there is no money on your body, armpit, mouth or hands.
From this point of view, the treasury supervision system is very strict, and the library soldiers seem to have no choice, but they are not. Kubing is guarding glistening silver. How can he not try his best to make some flowers?
It is said that there are two ways for cool soldiers to steal money:
The first is "hide the money in Gu Dao". Kubing stuffed silver into his body through his anus. When filling, he wrapped the silver in pig fat and used some medicine to loosen the bones. He can pack 80 taels at a time at most and last for 30 minutes. This trick is to learn and practice well, but it also has two limitations: first, it is difficult for older people to recite; Secondly, it can only be used in summer and not in winter.
So in the severe winter, how does Cool Ice steal money?
The second way is to take the money out with a teapot. There is water in the pot. Put the silver in the teapot. When leaving the library, open the lid of the teapot and dump it. In fact, silver is frozen in the teapot, so naturally it can't be poured out.
These are the two main methods, and there are other methods. In this way, over time, many a mickle makes a mickle, and a lot of money in the national treasury was stolen unconsciously.
The investigation team found the answer, but the question came again. Since it wasn't made in a day and it wasn't stolen by one person, why was it discovered until now?
At this time, 43 years have passed since the Qing government last conducted a large-scale and thorough inventory of the state treasury. From the fifth year of Jiaqing (Gregorian calendar 1800), a thorough inspection of the warehouse was conducted every year. The minister of treasury affairs turned over the accounts, looked at the doors and windows, checked the management system, said a few words to the library soldiers seriously, and gave up after the game. To say that they have no idea about the inside job of Kubing, no one believes them, but in a word, they are not to be taunted.
This involves not only the interests of departments, but also the complicated game of officialdom. Even those soldiers are not simple, the water is deep, and some even eat in black and white.
On the opening day, groups of heavily armed bodyguards gathered under the tree outside the treasury door to enjoy the cool, and the prestige was not comparable to that of ordinary officials of the Ministry of Finance. These are cool soldiers' personal bodyguards. Actually, they're not putting on airs. They are often in danger of being kidnapped and robbed, because huge interests can easily make bad people rich. In addition, it takes six or seven thousand two hundred pieces of silver to make up for the shortage of a library soldier. In this case, who smashed his job, and who did he not fight hard with?
When the incident broke out, some library soldiers quickly fled after hearing the news. The furious Daoguang Emperor ordered the infantry to command the yamen and Shuntianfu (now Beijing) to seize the battle strictly. In the end, most of the soldiers were controlled and a lot of them were arrested, but how to deal with them is also a big problem, which is not only large in number, wide in scope, but also difficult to obtain evidence. In addition, this is a group crime for decades, and officials at all levels have unshirkable responsibilities. If they were a little more responsible, they wouldn't have caused such a strange case. If we pursue the responsibility of officials now, we will face the problem that the law does not blame the public, and it also involves the shortcomings of the management system. So Daoguang Emperor was cheated, and I really don't know who to settle accounts with.
After the minister's persuasion and enlightenment, Emperor Daoguang gradually calmed down from his anger, and it was impossible to find out the truth. Except for a few Kubing with conclusive evidence and bad circumstances who were sentenced to death, exile and imprisonment, officials were basically not investigated for criminal responsibility. This is not a leniency to them, but an ulterior motive of Daoguang Emperor. This country is in urgent need of money. For officials who should bear the responsibility, in addition to administrative sanctions, the key is to order them to share the losses of the state treasury and recover them as much as possible.
On the seventh day of April (May 6th of Gregorian calendar), Daoguang decided to investigate the financial responsibility of the person in charge of treasury affairs in Jiaqing for five years and ordered him to share the losses according to the length of his term of office. Among them, the monthly salary of the treasury officer and treasury censor is 1200 two; The treasurer pays 500 A Liang months; The minister of searching the library has to pay 6000 Liang for each search. The compensation standard for those deceased officials is halved and paid by future generations.
Soon, Daoguang Emperor also worked out a detailed compensation schedule. During this period, some officials refused to pay compensation. According to Daoguang, those who refuse to pay compensation will be "supervised", that is, put into prison without losing money; If no compensation is paid within a certain period of time, criminal responsibility shall be investigated according to the crime.
What was the result of Daoguang Emperor's recovery?
This is not ideal.
With such a huge amount of money, the operating efficiency of the state machinery was also very low at that time. These factors determine that the recovery result is not ideal, which is also expected by Daoguang.
In the process of recovery, some officials or descendants are unable to pay compensation even if they are "supervised", so Daoguang Emperor has to adjust the compensation standard, such as extending the compensation period or appropriately lowering the compensation standard. At the same time, Daoguang also agreed to exempt some special officials from compensation. For example, if an official dies and his descendants are underage, they should not be compensated.
The case of the silver treasury dealt a great blow to Daoguang. Not only is 9.25 million taels of silver missing, but Daoguang, who advocates frugality, is also distressed. What's more, there is no reason for such a big case, and several library soldiers who have committed crimes for many years are still at large.
The ancients said, "It's worse to grieve than to die in your heart". Daoguang emperor has been in office for more than 20 years, and although he has made great efforts to govern, he has achieved little; He tried, but in the end he failed to turn the tide. Before the Opium War, it was a heavy attack, and then it was a big national treasury. One wave after another of setbacks made political affairs worse. In addition, at this time, Daoguang Emperor, who was over 60 years old, was gradually exhausted in physical strength and energy, and his ambition was exhausted, showing obvious slack and fatigue. He began to avoid the contradictory reality, slowly became disheartened, and finally reluctantly accepted the reality of the decline of the Qing Dynasty.