What happened to Li Wei, the favored minister left behind by Yongzheng, during the Qianlong period?

Copywriting planner and producer: Yuan Zaiyu; copywriting: Xu Maona

December 3, 1738, was early winter, and the weather had cooled down. Li Wei was lying on his bed, panting heavily. Every breath seemed to exhaust all his strength. His chest was like a violently pulling bellows, making a huffing and puffing sound as he breathed. He was clearly in his fifties, his wrinkles seemed to be carved into his flesh, and his hair was the color of snow.

The room he was in was not luxurious, but it still had a lot of things. There was a maid holding medicine beside the bed, and a few people with sad faces were sitting on the stools next to them. This nice room exuded a smell of decay for no reason.

Suddenly the door opened from the outside, and with the dry cold wind blowing outside, a man wearing the attire of a Qing Dynasty imperial physician walked in. The man anxiously put down the medicine box, rushed to the bed, and carefully checked the pulse of the person on the bed. Finally, he could only close his eyes and shake his head: "Get ready for the funeral." ?With that said, he left the room.

Suddenly, the person on the bed was breathing more intensely. He seemed to want to say something, but in the end he made no sound. Gradually, the sound of the bellows became quieter, and gradually, his chest no longer rose and fell. Everyone on the side burst into tears, and Li Wei finally ended his glorious and hard-working life.

As mentioned before, the deceased old man’s name was Li Wei. His life was rich and colorful. He experienced the Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong dynasties, and entered the official career in 1717. He saw flowers bloom and fall, and emperors changed.

Although Li Wei became an official during the Kangxi period, it was during the Yongzheng period that he was truly appreciated. During the Yongzheng period, he successively served as a doctor in the transfer department, Yunnan Yanyi Road and other positions. Although he held various important positions along the way, judging from his background, he was not born into a prominent family and had no family support. However, he eventually became a first-rank official. It must be said that he did have the talent to be an official.

Yongzheng

When Yongzheng just succeeded to the throne, he sent Li Wei to investigate smuggled salt. At that time, salt smuggling was very serious, and the salt bandit team was powerful and arrogant. For the emperor who had just succeeded to the throne at that time, For Yongzheng, it was really a thorny issue.

After taking office, Li Wei battled wits and courage with the salt bandits. After several twists and turns, he finally successfully captured the bandits, which earned him the appreciation of Yongzheng. At the same time, he discovered that local people had no choice but to buy private salt because official salt was too expensive. This was also the reason why private salt was rampant. Therefore, he dredged the local waterways to make it cheaper to transport official salt, and at the same time severely blocked the transportation of private salt on the waterways.

It can be said that Li Wei did a good job in detecting smuggled salt from the ground up, and Yongzheng also paid more and more attention to him. After that, Li Wei also raised his own funds to build seawalls and suppress local people. Reactionary forces, such as the "anti-Qing and restoration of Ming" forces that still existed at that time, these things were all accomplished by Li Wei carefully and almost perfectly one by one.

Yongzheng loved this capable minister very much. But in the eyes of the emperor, how could there be a minister who was absolutely infallible? Yongzheng believed that it was great for Li Wei to be an official, but the only drawback was that he was too loyal and a little arrogant, and was afraid of causing trouble in the future.

Once, Yongzheng rewarded him with a batch of gifts, and Li Wei directly ordered them to be used in a brazen manner. Later, he was reprimanded by the emperor: "There are two completely different ways to avoid resentment and to be domineering, arrogant and rude." You should cultivate yourself diligently and strive to be a whole person, so that you can live up to your knowledge and experience. ?

The history is also similar. When Qianlong came to power, this important minister who could do things was still reused by the emperor, but he was also criticized by the Tian family.

I don’t know if it was because he had been in power for so long. During the Qianlong period, Li Wei had become a little presumptuous. When Qianlong went to the south of the Yangtze River, he bumped into the statues of Li Wei and his wives and concubines in the Flower Temple. People worship with incense.

Qianlong

As a dignified emperor, he has not yet received such treatment. A minister may be too favored and become spoiled by relying on favors. As a result, Li Wei also encountered severe criticism.

But the emperor was still kind to Li Wei. When Li Wei was ill in bed, he also sent an imperial doctor to care for him. But in the end, Li Wei passed away at the age of 51.

Looking back at Li Wei's life, Yongzheng commented on him: "I can never run out of words to praise him." ?Fei deeply understands my feelings and does not look at them. Anken resolutely speaks out. ?The meaning of praise is still greater than criticism, and Qianlong is also? Li Weizhi was capable, worked with sincerity, declared his strength to seal the territory, paid close attention to the important areas, and had correct information and principles. Now that I heard that he has passed away, I deeply mourn his death. ?

The two emperors had mostly positive comments about him. It only took ten years for Li Wei to rise from a small idle official to a high-ranking official. The emperors also praised him full of praises. Truly, he was a good minister. In terms of criticizing him, I think that an ordinary person who can do so much for the royal family is already very loyal and capable.

If his arrogance or nature directly annoyed the emperor, I think it is not important. After all, no matter how favored the emperor is, you are just his dog.

In Li Wei's life, no matter the wind and rain, he always devoted a lot of effort to this country and this dynasty.

And he fell ill due to fatigue at the age of 51, and eventually the medicine failed, which is undoubtedly the best proof of his seriousness in serving as an official.

Reference: Li Wei, the only one of Yongzheng's favorites who died well, what happened to his five sons after his death? ?Master talks about history

Encyclopedia entry ?Li Wei ?