History can't bear to look at the complete collection

Chapter 114 Celebrity Privacy 5
Cao Xueqin's grandfather was a "KGB"

Yongzheng was a suspicious emperor by nature. After he succeeded to the throne, in order to guard against the ambitions of his courtiers, he placed many eyeliners all over the place. These eyeliners would report to him every move of the ministers.Such a thing is recorded in "Miscellaneous Notes on the Exposure of the Eaves" written by Zhao Yi of the Qing Dynasty:
In a certain year when Yongzheng was in power, just after the New Year, Wang Yunjin, who was in charge of the Imperial Academy of History, compiled Wang Yunjin. After returning home from the morning court, he felt very bored, so he invited a few friends to his home to play cards and games. , After playing a few games, I suddenly found that a card was missing.Everyone searched around but couldn't find this card. Because of the lack of cards, the game couldn't continue, and everyone had to leave the game angrily.

After a while, after Wang Yunjin, who had already forgotten about it, reported to Yongzheng, Yongzheng suddenly asked, what was Wang Yunjin doing that day?
After reminiscing about it, Wang Yunjin honestly told Yongzheng that he was playing cards at home that day. Yongzheng seemed very satisfied after hearing this. He praised Wang Yunjin for his sincerity. Then Yongzheng took out a card from his sleeve. Wang Yunjin saw it, It was the card that was lost at home that day, and he broke out in a cold sweat.

If Wang Yunjin had lied just now, it might have resulted in death.It can be seen that Wang Yunjin has always been under the supervision of Yongzheng. As for whether the watcher is a friend who played cards with him that day, a servant at home, or a guard hiding in the dark, it is not known at all.

The intelligence agents who worked for Yongzheng came from all walks of life and from various places. Don’t think that the intelligence agents who worked for the emperor were all unknown people, and there were also prominent politicians among them.The most noteworthy spy in the Qing Dynasty should be Cao Xueqin's grandfather, Cao Yin.Cao Xueqin is famous forever because of a "Dream of Red Mansions", but Cao Xueqin's grandfather Cao Yin is little known.But at that time, Cao Yin was also considered a celebrity of the royal family.

Cao Yin was the companion of Emperor Kangxi, and the two grew up together. Kangxi trusted him very much. After Kangxi succeeded to the throne, he appointed Cao Yin as Jiangning weaving.This position is a lucrative job, and it is the most promising and lucrative position in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In addition to purchasing various imperial items for the court, there is also a very important hidden duty, which is to secretly investigate the wishes of the people , social atmosphere, etc., is equivalent to a royal plainclothes investigator.

In addition to his daily work, Cao Yin is also responsible for sorting out all kinds of news and public opinion trends he has investigated, as well as the performance of officials at all levels in governing government affairs, etc., and reporting them to the court, in other words In other words, he served as the eyes and ears of the emperor and was a spy.

Those who can take on this important task will definitely be favored by the emperor, so it is not surprising that the Cao family was prominent for a while, but as the saying goes, if you often walk by the river, your shoes will not get wet.The Cao family, which has flourished thanks to the emperor's grace, naturally cannot avoid the decline after the emperor's grace is lost.

There is such a story in "Copy of People on the Seashore": Zhou Renji, a Tianjin native, was a Jinshi of Yongzheng Dingwei. He once served as the head of the Ministry of Rites.During his tenure, Zhou Renji was diligent, abiding by etiquette, integrity and integrity, and his political achievements were very good.Just before his term expired and he was about to return to the capital, one of his servants bid farewell to him. Zhou Renji felt very strange, "I will return to the capital soon and report to the emperor. We can start together. Why are you in such a hurry? How about leaving immediately?"

The servant said: "I'm going back to the capital to return to my command, and I have to go back earlier than you." Under Zhou Renji's questioning, the servant said that he was originally a bodyguard in Da Nei. , the imperial court sent to monitor him.When returning to Beijing this time, the servant wanted to report Zhou Renji's performance to the court so that the court could reward and punish him.

It can be seen from this story that officials in the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty were always in a high-pressure and deterrent environment. If they were a little careless, they might be informed by informers lurking around, which would lead to death.The decline of Cao Xueqin's big family was also caused by the whistleblower's whistleblowing.

Under the high-pressure policy, the officials of the Qing Dynasty gradually lost their personal dignity. They generally felt a kind of fear and uneasiness.At that time, a man named Li Zutao gave an accurate and vivid description of the social atmosphere: "Human nature looks at the wind and the scenery, and avoids the extreme. When you see an eel, you think it is a snake; It really has something to do with people’s hearts and morals.”

(End of this chapter)