This corruption case began as early as the thirty-ninth year of Qianlong (1774), and the truth was concealed for seven years. It was Su Sisan, a Salar in Xunhua Hall, who rebelled against the Qing Dynasty, that triggered the complete disclosure of this big case.

in March of the forty-sixth year of Qianlong, Su Sisan, a Salar from Xunhuating (now Xunhua County, Qinghai Province) under the jurisdiction of Hezhou, Gansu Province, was dissatisfied with the ethnic discrimination and oppression of the Qing government, and led Salars and Hui people to revolt against the Qing Dynasty and advance on Lanzhou. Emperor Qianlong was afraid of Lanzhou, and urgently dispatched reinforcements from Liancheng, Liangzhou and Shaanxi to suppress it. Tens of thousands of loyalists have gathered in the provincial capital, and military expenditure has become a big problem. Because the loyalist couldn't win quickly, Qianlong was furious and dismissed the post of Le Jin, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu. At that time, local officials in Gansu were in a state of panic. At that time, Wang Tingzan, Gansu's political envoy, took the initiative to play for Emperor Qianlong in order to get rid of the predicament. The throne said, "I am willing to pay 42,111 yuan of pension accumulated over the years to the treasury of Gansu Province to pay for the soldiers." Wang Tingzan never imagined that one of his memorials was discovered by the shrewd emperor Qianlong. Gan Long asked: "Wang Yanzan is only a vassal of Gansu (that is, a political envoy). Why is his family rich?" A Gui, a university student who is already in Gansu, and Li Shiyao, the acting governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, were immediately sent to closely investigate whether Wang Yanzan was involved in the donation of prison in Gansu because of his abundant family resources.

So, Emperor Qianlong gathered heavy troops in Lanzhou to suppress the forty-three uprisings in the Soviet Union. At the same time, it opened the inside story of tracing local officials to invade poverty at the expense of relief in Gansu. The specific circumstances of the case are as follows: in the Qing Dynasty, "donating prison" was practiced in Gansu. The so-called "donation to prison" means that all scholars who are willing to obtain the academic qualification of imperial academy Guo Jian diploma must donate grain to the local official warehouse according to the prescribed number, and use the grain to help the victims in case of famine. Later, "donating to prison" once stopped. After Wang Danwang was appointed as the deployment envoy of Gansu Province, he persuaded the Governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, Le Er Jin, on the grounds that Gansu was short of storage and could use "donating supervision" to help the victims, and the Le Er Jin invited the Qing court to get permission. In the thirty-ninth year of Qianlong, he began to donate in various parts of Gansu. However, this time, Wang Danwang adopted a different approach, allowing Guo Jian Zi to convert the beans and wheat that should be donated into silver, and changed the "original order to accept only natural grain and rice" to "privately accept the color and silver". In this way, grain and rice became silver, which facilitated Wang Danwang and officials at all levels to enrich themselves. At the same time, Wang Danwang transferred Jiang Quandi to be the magistrate of Lanzhou, specializing in "donating prison" affairs. Jiang Quandi acted in full accordance with Wang Danwang's intention, and arbitrarily spent the privately collected silver in the name of disaster relief to benefit from it. Jiang Quandi negotiated with Wang Danwang to book the disaster situation for each county, set the amount of donations according to the severity of the disaster reported by each county, and the Francisco yamen will send a bill to each county in a predetermined number of copies, so that each county can open the relief according to the bill. This is "taking relief".

It is also discussed to set up a method of "sitting at the governor's beck and call" to take over stolen money in Lanzhou. Every county feeds Wang Danwang with silver for disaster relief, and sends it according to the method of "sitting with the governor". Jiang Quandi also took the opportunity to extort feeds from various places. Later, after Wang Tingzan took over as the Minister in charge of Gansu Province, although he found that it was not in conformity with the provisions of "donating money to the prison", he also consulted with the governor and wanted to stop donating money. However, after all, he could not withstand the temptation of interests. Instead of telling the truth, he changed the matter of private collection from the state and county to the Lanzhou magistrate's general office, making it worse and repeating the quagmire. In the Qing dynasty, the political envoys of a province (ministers, in charge of finance, personnel, and criminal names) were assistant officials of the governor and the governor. Gansu is barren and poor, and the officialdom is poor. As the envoy of a province, Wang Tingzan can't donate 42,111 private silver anyway. At this time, Wang Danwang, a former Gansu deployment envoy who had been promoted to the governor from Zhejiang, had been exposed to corruption by taking advantage of his 45-year southern tour. It's such a coincidence. Why do the two political envoys in Gansu have such huge sums of money? Are they seeking personal gain in Gansu's prison donation? As a result, on the one hand, Qianlong concentrated heavily on Lanzhou to suppress the uprising, and on the other hand, he opened the inside story of tracing the local officials' greed in Gansu.

Gansu is located in the northwest, and disasters often occur. At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, it was once practiced that any scholar who was willing to obtain the qualification of imperial academy Guo Jian Zi was required to donate beans, wheat and grain to the local official warehouse according to the specified number. Those who obtained the qualification could take the exam and enter the official position, which was called "donating to the supervisor". In case of famine, these grains will be used to relieve the victims. However, in the process of implementation, it was once stopped due to numerous drawbacks. In April of the thirty-ninth year of Qianlong, after Wang Danwang was appointed as the deployment envoy of Gansu, he persuaded the Governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, Le Erjin, on the grounds that Gansu suffered from famine for years and was short of storage, and the old case could be restored by donating grain and rice for disaster relief. So, in thirty-nine years, donations began to be made all over Gansu. In fact, the so-called shortage of storage is just a cover, and the donation of supervision is to obtain a "name" of jobbery. Wang Danwang adopted a different method from the previous donation to the supervisor, and let the supervisor convert the grain he should donate into silver, instead of "collecting only the original grain and rice" into "privately collecting the colored silver". When the Qing court approved the reopening of the prison donation, it stipulated that each Guo-zi-jian diploma should donate 43 stones of grain, and Wang Danwang changed the 43 stones of grain to 47 taels of silver, plus 8 taels of office silver and miscellaneous fees, making a total of 55 taels of cashier for each Guo-zi-jian diploma. In this way, the grain supervisor suddenly became glistening money.

To do such an outrageous thing, you need a right-hand man. Wang Danwang transferred Jiang Quandi, a close friend, to be the magistrate of Lanzhou, and publicly instructed Jiang Quandi to handle all the money collected by various counties. After Jiang Quandi took office, he converted the grain supervision into silver, and arbitrarily spent the collected silver in the name of disaster relief. Only from April 39 to the beginning of 42, less than three years after the donation, he spent more than 6 million mangoku on grain supervision. And these sold grain actually turned into silver and fell into the hands of corrupt officials. In order to make full use of the profit-making opportunity of this donation, Jiang Quandi consulted with Wang Danwang to book the disaster situation for the counties, and set the amount of donations according to the severity of the disaster reported by the counties. The Francisco Department will send the reservation form to the counties, and the counties will open the relief according to the order. In other words, the county can report as much as it wants.

At that time, there was a rule for Wang Danwang to accept money, that is, his subordinates should not let him see the money, otherwise he would not accept it. The briber put the silver in the jar, put it in the vegetable basket, or send it through the janitor, and Wang Danwang and his subordinates naturally knew it. In order to take bribes, state officials also played an extremely disgraceful role. Some of them directly participated in sharing the stolen goods, some took bribes, and some reported false information to cover up their subordinates. At that time, there was a saying in Gansu officialdom: "One thousand two hundred meet, two thousand two hundred eat, and three thousand two hundred shoot arrows." It is a true portrayal of bribery in Wang Danwang. After Wang Danwang was transferred, Wang Tingzan took over as Gansu's envoy. At first, Wang Tingzan found that the conversion of grain from prison to silver did not meet the requirements of donating money to prison. He also discussed with Governor Lel to stop donating money, but he could not resist the temptation of interests. Wang Tingzan also illegally collected silver. From June of forty-two years of Qianlong to the beginning of forty-six, during his term of office, he handled more than 5 million mangokus of grain supervision, just like Wang Danwang, and repeated the quagmire.

before Wang tingzan was appointed as the political envoy of Gansu province, he was a magistrate of anding county, and he was honest and devoted to public service. He also did many good things for the people of anding county. Up to now, there is still a residual "Wanggong Bridge" in Dingxi area, which is the praise of the people for the county officials who built bridges and roads and benefited one side. However, after he took over as Gansu's political envoy, he was greedy for money and was in cahoots with Loer on the matter of donating prison. Emperor Qianlong sent staff to investigate the Gansu case, and He Shen was among them. Wang Tingzan had a good personal relationship with He Shen. After He Shen arrived in Lanzhou, Wang Tingzan grabbed a lifeline and asked him for advice. He Shen asked him to hand over some money, pay for the soldiers, and give relief to the poor, so as to hide people's eyes and ears and reduce their guilt. That's why Wang Tingzan presented the memorial to Emperor Qianlong. After Wang Tingzan played, he quickly tipped off officials in the province and hid gold and silver, so when the case-handling officials ordered the seizure of his family property, there was little left.

As early as the day when Gansu reopened the donation prison, Emperor Qianlong always paid attention to the handling of grain supervision. At the beginning of the forty-second year of Qianlong, Emperor Qianlong sent Yuan Shoudong, the minister of punishments, to Gansu to open a warehouse to check the grain. Officials from various prefectures and counties in Gansu colluded and cheated, laying wooden boards under the granary and sprinkling grain on the wooden boards, giving Yuan Shoudong the illusion that the granary was full. Yuan Shoudong returned to Beijing to reply, saying that "the grain storage system is true", and Emperor Qianlong believed it. The Gansu disaster relief case is obviously not an isolated case. The clever Emperor Qianlong investigated both Gansu and Zhejiang. Emperor Qianlong immediately ordered Chen Huizu, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang Province and the governor of Zhejiang Province, to inquire about Wang Danwang, who was at home in Zhejiang Province, and ordered Wang Tingzan, who succeeded Wang Danwang as Gansu's envoy, to report the donation of private money. At the beginning of June, Wang Tingzan argued that after he took office, he was not allowed to change his color. Because no one reported the donation, he had to go through the formalities as usual. I am also worried that food prices are different, and there are deliberate difficulties in various counties. Therefore, it is uniformly stipulated that the amount of donations will be subject to 55 taels. Of course, Wang Tingzan's words are "extremely untrustworthy". On the 11th day of June, Emperor Qianlong pointed out that the donation in Gansu was originally for grain relief, so it should be collected in its true colors. How can it be openly verified that the price is discounted? Why did no official at all levels in Gansu ever mention such an important matter to the court? Besides, the price of 55 taels of silver shows that the food price in this province is not high, and the food source is sufficient, so why bother to give relief! He ordered A Gui and others to continue the investigation. Three days later, on June 13th, the memorial of Chen Huizu, Governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, was also sent to Beijing. Chen Huizu reported that Wang Danwang admitted that in the process of donation, he did hear about the discount, and once blamed his subordinates for it, but later he thought that he could buy more food after the cashier, so he went away. Emperor Qianlong said that it was still difficult to accept this explanation. He believed that the donation was originally intended to enrich the storage. Since it can be replenished at such a low price, the food sufficiency in the province is known, but why should it be given every year? How can food prices not rise if such a large amount of grain is replenished? Well, it seems that "this matter has accumulated for a long time, and all provincial officials are guilty", and he asked A Gui and others to get to the bottom of it. After a period of hard work, by the beginning of July, A Gui basically found out and reported Wang Danwang and others' illegal activities in Gansu Province, such as collecting and donating money, and selling food for relief. Emperor Qianlong immediately issued an imperial edict on July 31, summarizing the case: Wang Danwang acted in collusion and openly levied a discount; Le erjing is like a puppet, and he has no knowledge. Wang Danwang relied on Jiang Quandi, the magistrate of Lanzhou Prefecture, to make up the drought situation at all levels in the whole province and submit an expense account. The following local officials acted in collusion with each other and were fearless, which caused such a major corruption case. How much money did Wang Danwang and others receive and how much they embezzled? To this day, we don't know the exact number, but we can be sure that the number is bound to be huge. For example, when Zhejiang raided Wang Danwang's property, although Chen Huizu, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, occupied a lot privately, the number reported was still as high as 3 million taels. In addition, because according to what Wang Danwang said, more than 8 million mangokus were donated, more than 81,111 people were donated. At 55 taels per person, there should be more than 11 million taels of silver collected, and these 11 million taels of silver finally disappeared in the "disaster relief" activities, that is to say, they were all embezzled by these "moths". The amount of corruption is huge, which is the highest since the Qing dynasty entered the customs.

In the forty-sixth year of Qianlong (AD 1781), on July 31th, Emperor Qianlong gave an order that Wang Danwang should be executed immediately, and Lel committed suicide, while Wang Tingzan hanged the marquis. On August 18th, Emperor Qianlong dealt with other officials. By October of that year, as many as 56 people had been taken to the execution ground. After that, there were as many as 46 people who were exiled from death one after another, and the officials in Gansu Province were almost "empty". This kind of large-scale collective crime, from the governor to the county officials, was unique in the history of the Qing Dynasty. It is unheard of to slay, strangle and exile so many corrupt officials at one time. In his anger, Master Qianlong didn't know who to cut at, and finally handed He Shen his begging eyes: "I hate being greedy for officials the most in my life. What about loving your heart?" -it is said that the anger of the son of heaven has buried millions of corpses, but when Qianlong really wants to kill such a nest, his old and fragile heart is already chilling; He knows how many honest officials are left in the whole country if he keeps killing like this. If we go on like this, isn't there only a pile of smelly shit left in the great Qing Dynasty, a prosperous and peaceful dynasty? —— He Shen read the grief and indignation of hopelessness, the sadness of being unable to return to heaven, and the helplessness of eating navel; He is calm and calm, and calmly responds; "I thought that the Gansu case was wronged, so I should kill it or not, and whose head should I kill? When it is delivered to the public, I will make a holy decision." I kicked the ball to all the ministers. Civil and military officials, such as ants, are silent. They know best, if Chaogang is lax, which pile is not the curse of your He Shen? When it comes to treating corruption by foreigners, which one can be said to have something to do with He Shen? Gansu bureaucrats are all your He Shen partisans. Who are you to blame? For today's sake, how dare you talk glibly in front of the court, and the thief shouted to catch the thief! He Shen is in power, and seldom manages politics. Besides coaxing Qianlong to play, he just plunders wealth blindly. He not only accepts bribes, but also publicly extorts them; Not only corruption in secret, but also plunder in the open. The more barren and backward border areas like Gansu, He Shen will never give up. The wealth of Gansu and other provincial capitals is like a bottomless hole, and the bribes of officials all over the country are poured into their mouths like a waterfall. In 1799, Qianlong died, the iceberg fell, and He Shen also fell. When the new emperor Jiaqing immediately arrested and executed He Shen and liquidated his property, the total amount was 911 million taels of silver, which did not include the huge amount of corruption of his family. At that time, the total revenue of the national treasury for the whole year was only 82 million. He Shen was in power for 21 years, and the amount of corruption was equal to the total revenue of the whole country for 12 years, which made people horrified. When the French King Louis XIV died in 1715, his total property was only 21 million francs, which has attracted reviled by the whole country. According to the calculation of 3.75 francs for one or two pieces of silver at that time, the king's property was only 1.171 of that of a corrupt official in China. Yan Song, the great greed of the Ming Dynasty, embezzled only two million and two thousand yuan, which was only 1/451 of that of He Shen. Therefore, at that time, there was a folk saying: "He Shen fell down and Jiaqing was full."