Looking at the rise and fall of China for five thousand years, perhaps the prosperity of each dynasty is different, but the decline of each dynasty has its own trace, that is, the extravagant wind comes first. Mr. Lu Xun also pointed out that extravagance and debauchery are phenomena of social collapse and corruption. For example, the profusion in the prosperous Tang Dynasty only shines for a while, such as boiling in a little warm water in the late Qing Dynasty.
A, a piece of don't go to sea, insult the country.
As the darkest period in China's history, the biggest reason for the collapse of the government in the late Qing Dynasty was nothing more than the policy of shutting the country out and choosing not to go to sea.
This also made China miss the great discovery of world geography, unable to compete with the western powers that carried out the industrial revolution, and finally forced to open its doors after the Opium War, thus making a great country a piece of fat to be slaughtered on the chopping board.
Five thousand years' accumulation has been wasted. The short-sighted knowledge and extravagant habits of the Qing government brought great disasters to the people of China.
The western powers opened the door of our country strongly and occupied our territory and huge amounts of money with unequal treaties. Among them, the "Xin Chou Treaty" was the most humiliating treaty signed by the Qing government, and its compensation amount of 980 million taels of silver put China in prison. Unable to bear the debt, but still choosing the extravagant royal family, we can only put the debt on the people and officials.
Second, the state treasury is extravagant and extorts low-paid officials.
Even if the war fails, the royal family can't lose face. At that time, the annual income of the Qing government was about 400 million taels of silver, while that of the Song Dynasty was only a few million taels. In the heyday of Ganjia, the annual income of the country was only 52 million silver, and the annual income of the Qing government was almost ten times that of the previous period. Such a rich national treasury is still unable to make ends meet.
The foreign debt owed by the unequal treaties is as high as 65.438+0.3 billion, but the royal family is still a luxury phenomenon and has long dreamed of being a "big country". Even when Empress Dowager Cixi celebrated her 60th birthday, the ministers around her tried their best to flatter her, ordered hundreds of clothes for her and spent all the funds for the Beiyang warship. Beiyang fleet's total annihilation is inseparable from this.
She has a warehouse dedicated to clothes, with more than 2,000 pieces of clothes in a single season, which she didn't even have time to wear before she died. Even the funeral after her death was extravagant, and the value of the funerary objects even reached hundreds of millions of taels of silver.
At the end of the road, people's lives are even more sad. Repeated wars and defeats, coupled with the government's exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous fees, have made some people even unable to afford food.
However, the life of North Korean ministers is not much better. In the late Qing dynasty, the government implemented the "low salary system". If you look at the annual salary of officials like Zeng Guofan, you will know how corrupt and incompetent the Qing government was at that time. A country with clear politics and prosperous economy will not ignore the survival of officials.
Even if the official position rose later, the annual salary of one year was not enough for him to run an official position, and the Qing government would not give any subsidies to officials. Zeng Guofan lived a hard life, but he also worried about money all his life.
Third, courtiers are rich and powerful, and loyalty is difficult to fulfill.
The low salary paid by the Qing government was not enough for most officials, what's more, some people were insatiable, so corruption was rampant in the officialdom, and there were too many places for officials in important positions to move around. Helping to snoop and talk is the source of their gray income.
Zeng Guofan never participated in these things. He witnessed the struggle between the factions and flies in the court and mediated. As an honest official for the country and the people, Zeng Guofan resolutely refused to go along with corrupt officials and scum, but in his letters, he exposed the difficulty of his struggle.
Incorruptibility has always been a shining example for officials in past dynasties. The famous Harry is synonymous with this image, while the villain is the corrupt official Xiao Shenyang. Regardless of personal intelligence, honesty is the primary condition for judging the nature of officials, and Zeng Guofan, who is interested in meritorious service, is even more disdainful of being an official and making a fortune.
He once wrote in his family letter that from the age of 30, he was ashamed of being an official and making a fortune, and even more ashamed of leaving the money for being an official and making a fortune to future generations. He also vowed to stay away from being an official and make a fortune, but it was very difficult to do so.
Sometimes, Zeng Guofan can't even afford to go home. However, after his promotion and salary increase, the situation has not improved, because he has more departments to be responsible for and his transportation expenses have also increased. He even owed a lot of money in Beijing, and borrowing money became a common practice. He wrote down every debt he owed and gradually increased it to more than 1000 taels.
Zeng Guofan misses his family very much, but because he owes a lot of debts, he can't even afford to go home. It's even harder to be alone in a smoky circle.
Zeng Guofan also envied people who received money because he was really poor. He recorded in his diary that he dreamed of seeing others make a fortune and was very envious. After waking up, he was very painful for this: "The person who dreamed last night benefited a lot, and he was envious. After waking up, he punished himself and said that he was interested in profits and full of dreams. "
Zeng Guofan's worries about money can be seen everywhere. He also recorded in his diary that he needed to raise money for grandpa's birthday to tide over the difficulties. As a pillar of a country, he is restless all day because of these things. Look at Zeng Guofan's salary for a month, and you will know how decadent the Qing government is.
Zeng Guofan pursued "frugality and honesty, frankness and forbearance" all his life, and tried to save the people from the mire, but he still failed to prevent the collapse of the corrupt Qing government. The lesson of extravagant winds can be seen.
Luxury and profligacy can make people lost in boundless material desires, unable to find the value of life, morally corrupted by luxury, and finally squandering family property is still visible today.
It is difficult for children and grandchildren who do not cherish thrift and know how to struggle hard to have their own strong will. If they take their parents' assets for granted and are extremely extravagant, they will eventually escape the fate of decline. In this regard, Zeng Guofan has also set an example. His title of "Prime Minister of One Product" comes from eating only one dish per meal.
Luxury is false, ambition is shameful. If you are simple, you don't want anything for others, you are innocent for yourself, and you can nourish your spirit. "The quality of thrift will make people live a relaxed and happy life, without asking others, being worthy of themselves, and living a relaxed and happy life, while luxury is the omen and precursor of failure, which will drag people into the abyss of nothing.