Subjective and objective reasons for ancient corrupt officials' greed for jewelry
Yan Song, a notorious traitor in the Ming Dynasty, was also a corrupt official. He controls the rise and fall of officials, regardless of ability and political integrity, stupidity, incorruptibility and greed, taking the amount of bribes as the standard, so that people who pay bribes to him are in an endless stream, opposing each other and giving gifts, and Qi Xin works together. Zhiyuan, the principal of punishments, bribed Yan Song Gold by 20,000 yuan and was promoted to official department minister. Yan Song and his son took bribes and plundered money. Their family wealth is richer than the royal family. They built a mansion in the capital and dug an artificial lake with dozens of acres of land with migrant workers. There are countless gold, silver and jewels in their home. Later, when the Yan Song incident happened, more than 30,000 taels of gold, more than two million taels of silver and several million taels of jewelry and antiques were confiscated. At the strong request of courtiers, Emperor Shizong of Ming Dynasty beheaded Yan Song and his son in Xishi. From the pre-Qin period to the beginning of 2 1 century, every dynasty in the history of China has a certain representative of corrupt officials: Bohuo, the grandson of Bozhou Plough, the minister of Chu, fled to Wu because of his grandfather's punishment, and He Lv thought he was a doctor. Later, he was favored by Fu Cha, the king of Wu, and became the king of Wu. In order to avenge the death of Wu, Gou Jian, the king of Yue, sent eight beautiful women and a lot of jewels to bribe Bohu. Gou Jian was not killed, but returned to China. After the destruction of Wu, Bohuo was executed by Gou Jian. Liang Ji, a general in the Eastern Han Dynasty, was both a consort (the emperor's father-in-law) and a general (the commander-in-chief of the whole army), so he had great power and officials scrambled to bribe him. When he was executed, he had more than 3 billion in cash, not counting real estate and fields. Cai Jing: Prime Minister of Northern Song Dynasty. After gaining the trust of Song Huizong, he used the privilege of the emperor's "imperial edict" to wantonly appoint private individuals, openly set up hundreds of high-paying positions, and then sold them out. In the name of building a garden for the emperor, the "flower stone class" was greatly converged. There are more than 500,000 mu of land. Qin Zong died in exile in Hainan after he succeeded to the throne. Liu Jin: Eunuch of Ming Dynasty. He took advantage of the seal (in charge of the emperor's seal), colluded with traitors and eunuchs, set up a special agency for the East Factory and the West Factory, persecuted Zhongliang, and caused all officials in the world to pay bribes to him. When Ming Wuzong executed him, millions of gold and silver, countless jade articles and jewels were found in his home. He also copied his own fake seals, jade belts and weapons. Yan Song and Yan Shifan and his son: great scholars in Ming Dynasty (equivalent to prime ministers). After Yan Song entered the cabinet, he took his son Yan Shifan into the court to be an official. Father and son are in charge of state affairs and are known as "big prime ministers and small prime ministers". They firmly grasped the Royal Guards, which did great harm to Zhongliang. They sold officials and titles and collected private property. When the property was stolen, there were more than 1 million mu of land, more than 8,000 houses, more than 30,000 taels of gold and silver, and more than 2 million taels of gold and silver, which was equivalent to the total revenue of the national treasury for one year. Wei Zhongxian: The eunuch who wrote in the imperial palace of the Ming Dynasty (drafted the imperial edict for the emperor). Collusion with Ming Xizong's foster mother Rong, the ruling and opposition parties are in power. Collaborating with the East Factory Secret Service to persecute Lindong Party members is called the "Nine-year-old Party". Greedy for money, even stealing gold, silver and jewelry from the state treasury. Chongzhen was executed when he succeeded to the throne, and his property was confiscated countless times. The imperial edict of Chongzhen "spread the rare treasures, gold and silver of my ancestors, and friends stole some." "Little Shenyang: Minister of Military Affairs, Minister of Household Affairs and Minister of Official Affairs before the Qing Dynasty. He holds several posts and is in charge of the national household registration, finance, military power and palace hall. He used his power to accept bribes and corruption by hook or by crook, amassing money, and even dared to intercept tributes to the emperor from all over the country. After his downfall, when he bought real estate, the list included more than 8,000 hectares of land, more than 2,000 houses, more than 2 million yuan of raw placer gold, 5.8 million yuan of red gold, 9.4 million yuan of silver ingots, 75 pawn shops and 42 banks. There are countless antique treasures left. According to the statistics of later generations, its total wealth was 820 million yuan, which was more than the national treasury income of the Qing court 10. Cai Jing, born in Xianyou (now Fujian), was a Jinshi in Xining. He was highly valued by Song Huizong and served as prime minister. In 18, he ruled justice, rejected dissidents and installed cronies. His followers spread all over the government and the public. He accumulated a lot of wealth and lived a luxurious and decadent life by selling officials and titles, accepting bribes and embezzling public property. There are even many chefs in the kitchen, and the division of labor is very fine. Cooking, stir-frying, making soup, making buns and even cutting onions are all handled by special personnel. He has many concubines, all young and beautiful, who indulge in debauchery all day. Seeing that the country was in crisis, Hui Zong asked the emperor to be located in Qinzong, and signed a letter with Chen Dong, a teacher of Kaifeng, demanding that the "six thieves" headed by Cai Jing be severely punished. Qin Zong ordered Cai Jing to be exiled to Danzhou (now Hainan). On the way, he ordered his most beautiful concubines, Xing Shi, Wu Shi and Murong Shi, to be given to Ren Jin.