Understanding the theory of "marginal effect", we will understand why the more people have, the less they can truly stimulate and generate excitement. This situation is like taking drugs. As you go on, you can only increase the dose of injection to produce the same level of excitement. Corrupt officials are endlessly amassing money, and this is the reason why.
Mozi once told a story to satirize the King of Chu, saying that a rich man had good horses and carriages, but he stole his neighbor's broken carriages and clothes. Mozi's story is a satire on the King of Chu's greedy desire to annex the Song Dynasty, but this mentality of "the rich stealing rags" has been reflected in all dynasties.
The logic of rich people is: the more wealth, the better, and the less fees paid to obtain wealth, the better. Nowadays, there is wealth that can be obtained without paying any cost, so you should take more regardless of the consequences. It is precisely because of this wrong logical reasoning that nobles who usually treat silk and satin as dirt are so ugly. But this idea of ??rich people stealing rags is too tempting, and countless high-ranking officials and dignitaries have been ruined by this erroneous logic.
Heshen in the Qing Dynasty was synonymous with corrupt officials. He Shen is a man from the Zhenghong Banner. His surname is Niu Hulu and his family background is low. He himself was a literary scholar, with a little knowledge of writing. He served as a third-class bodyguard in the 34th year of Qianlong's reign (1769), and it seemed difficult for him to stand out. Unexpectedly, his dignified appearance helped a lot. In the 40th year of Qianlong's reign (1775), the emperor discovered him when he was inspecting the guards.
He Shen's fortune turned around, and he was soon promoted to imperial bodyguard and deputy capital commander. This was just the beginning of a series of good fortunes for him. In less than a year, he was successively promoted to Minister of Household Affairs, Minister of Military Aircraft, Minister of Internal Affairs, Commander of the Infantry, and Tax Supervisor of Chongwenmen in Beijing. Four years later, he was promoted from the Minister of Household Affairs to the Minister of Finance, and the Deputy Governor was changed to the Governor. Above the Minister of Internal Affairs, he was promoted to the Minister of the Guard, and above the Minister of Military and Aircraft, he was promoted to the Minister of Political Affairs, the Imperial Minister, and the Minister of the vassal academy. In order to obtain the unique highest power and prestige under the emperor, Emperor Qianlong also betrothed Princess Hexiao to Heshen's son, and the monarch and his ministers became in-laws.
Heshen is famous for his corruption in history, and his corruption has almost reached the level of shamelessness. An official named Wang Rulong gave him hundreds of thousands of silver to seek a lucrative position. He Shen immediately reported back, and Wang replaced another official, Zheng Rui, in charge of the Lianghuai Salt Administration. Zhengrui contributed 100,000 taels to Heshen every year, but he was unhappy when he saw Wang Rulong being favored and occupying his official position. He asked Heshen: "Master He, every year I also contribute to the country (this country is the home of Heshen)." He also contributed one hundred thousand taels of silver. Why did he move to my border with such a rich contribution?" He Shen grabbed his hands, covered Zheng Rui's hands with his own, and said with a smile: "Others' contributions are greater." Zheng Rui naturally had nothing to say. There was a man named Shi Yuanmei in Wuxian County, Jiangsu Province, who specialized in selling pearls. Each pearl was wrapped in red gold and shaped into a pill. A large pearl was worth 20,000 gold, a second-class pearl was worth 10,000 gold, and the cheapest one was worth 8,000 gold. Officials rushed to buy and donate to Heshen in order to protect their official positions and get promoted.
It is not easy to make donations at your door. A Shanxi governor sent his subordinates to Beijing with two hundred thousand taels of silver to give gifts to He. But even after going there several times, no one greeted me. After asking about it, he understood, and he took out five thousand taels of silver and gave it to the receptionist. Then a young servant in gorgeous clothes came out and asked: "Is it yellow (gold) or white (silver)?" ?" The visitor said it was white. The young servant ordered his men to put the money into the outer treasury. He gave the visitor a written piece of paper and said, "Take this back as proof and say that the things have been collected." After that. , walked away. Sending so much money, He Shen didn't even get to see his face! He Shen had been in charge of the government for more than 20 years, and things like this happened all over the place.
He Shen also engaged in corruption, big and small, and used all means to make money. In order to generate income, he was even willing to serve as the tax collector of Chongwenmen in Beijing! The tax rate set by Heshen was almost as high as a goose plucking its feathers. Ordinary people would rather take a detour than pass through his gate. In order to better control the capital's taxation, Heshen broke with convention and concurrently served as the tax supervisor of Chongwenmen, which should have been under the control of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. With Heshen's control, Chongwenmen became famous all over the world. The Qing Dynasty recorded: "When it comes to tax collection in the world, the subordinate officials of Chongwenmen in the capital are the most extravagant and violent." In order to collect taxes, even officials who went to Beijing for pilgrimage rushed to take the exam. Not letting go of any move! Chen Zhuo of the Qing Dynasty recorded a story in his notes, which can be seen from the taxation situation of Chongwenmen: "When foreign officials enter the capital, the more prestigious the official position, the heavier the demands. When ministers pay homage, they also follow There is no comparison. Lu Zhongcheng of Wujiang saw that the official asked for too much extravagance, so he put his clothes and quilt outside and went forward with a servant, saying, "I have a body and ears, so why should I pay taxes?" "After entering, I borrowed a quilt from my old friend and returned it when I was done." It can be seen that the tax collectors of Chongwenmen collect taxes from travelers when they bring their clothes with them, and even high-ranking officials from other provinces do not show mercy at all.
Why Heshen was able to receive Qianlong's long-term favor is still a mystery. Even how much property he embezzled has been a topic of debate from the Qing Dynasty to the present.
On the third day of the first lunar month in the fourth year of Jiaqing (1799), Emperor Qianlong died. The next day, Emperor Jiaqing ordered Heshen and Fu Chang'an, the minister of household affairs, to take turns guarding the funeral hall. They were not allowed to enter or leave without authorization and were placed under house arrest. Then an imperial edict was issued, ordering the real investigation and suppression of those who failed to do their job in the White Lotus Sect and those who protected them behind the scenes. On that day, some ministers understood the emperor's intention, so memorials to impeach Heshen were continuously sent to Emperor Jiaqing.
Emperor Jiaqing announced Heshen's twenty major crimes and immediately ordered Heshen's arrest and imprisonment.
The wealth of the Heshen family is much talked about by tea stalls in the streets. Some estimate it to be about ten million taels of silver, some estimate it to be twenty million taels of silver, and the highest estimate is twenty million taels of silver. . It is precisely because Heshen's family is so rich that a folk proverb says: "Heshen falls, Jiaqing is full."
Unrestricted and uncontrolled desire leads to endless exploitation, which is precisely the differential land rent. performance. The ancients said "open one side of the net" precisely to avoid the negative impact of this endless plunder on themselves. However, unfortunately, most people are unable to rationally choose the appropriate strategy.
He Shen’s family servants are also incredibly rich. They relied on their power to make money crazily. According to statistics, Heshen had more than 1,200 domestic slaves, who managed banks, shops, libraries, managed land, and served him in daily life, including guarding him. For example, Liu Quan, a domestic slave, has assets of more than 200,000 taels. He and another domestic slave named Ma own 182 real estates and gold and silver antiques worth 3.686 million taels. As for clothing, utensils, foreign goods, furs, silks, satins, Ginseng, etc., with a total value of 1.55 million taels of silver; there are also more than 600 hectares of land, 10 pawn shops, and a principal of 1.2 million taels. Hushtu, the eunuch in Heshen's house, ransacked his house and found more than 100,000 taels of silver and 11,065 shi of grain. The servants became so rich, and He Shen was so rich that it would not be an exaggeration to describe him as being so rich that he could rival the country.
As Qianlong's first favorite, Heshen held dozens of concurrent posts. Even with his normal salary and various rewards from the emperor, he could live a life of a master. In fact, he has amassed so much wealth that if he spends it according to normal expenses, even dozens of generations will not be able to use it up. As for the money itself, it cannot be brought with him in life or taken away with him in death. If he has accumulated too much, It's useless, it will only make others jealous. For this reason, people who were greedy for money in history knew very well that they could be domineering and domineering in the officialdom, and they could play with the emperor at their fingertips. Their IQs are not low, but why do people like Heshen What if you don't have a clear understanding of money, but you have a kind of money-collecting habit?
This kind of crazy money-collecting behavior can be analyzed using modern economics. There is a concept in economics, that is, marginal effect, sometimes also called marginal contribution, means that when consumers gradually increase one unit of consumer goods, the unit utility brought by them gradually decreases (although the total utility brought by it is still increased) of). To give the simplest example, when our salary was about 300 yuan, if the salary was increased by 150 yuan at a time, people would be very excited and felt that the salary increase was too much. But when people have a salary of more than 600 yuan, and if another 150 yuan is added, people's excitement will not be as strong as the first time. When people have a salary of 1,500 yuan, and if the salary is increased by 150 yuan, people will feel that it is too little, and they may even feel resentful. That is to say, the more things people have, the less they can really bring marginal effects to people, or can stimulate people and create a sense of excitement.
In order to pursue marginal effects, people have to continuously increase their pursuit of quantity. This situation is like taking drugs. As you go on, you can only increase the dose of injection to produce the same level of excitement. Corrupt officials amassing money is like playing a game with the excitement they pursue. What they want is the satisfaction and excitement brought by acquiring wealth. The more wealth there is, the harder it is to get this satisfaction and excitement. In order to get Therefore, they must constantly plunder, eager to accumulate all the wealth in the world in their own hands. This gives rise to the mentality of the rich stealing rags. No matter how much they have, as long as they are not in their own hands, they must find ways to steal them. Get it.
It’s just that in this kind of game, corrupt officials are always losers, because the more wealth they have, the smaller the unit marginal effect produced by unit wealth. If they want to get the first place when they have nothing at first, The excitement you feel when you make a fortune is simply not possible. In order to pursue this elusive and impossible goal, they can only continue to embezzle and compete with their inner greed. Only when they are finally ruined will they realize that "life is only a dream, and all things are in vain." .