We are all familiar with Li Wei. When I think of him, I immediately think of the rogue-like little guy played by Xu Zheng. However, in real history, Li Wei was thousands of times more powerful than what he acted in movies and TV shows. Not only when Yongzheng was alive, he was the most important minister in the imperial court. Even after Yongzheng's death, Qianlong, who was once emperor and courtier, had to rely on the intangible legacy left by his father. Even many years after Li Wei's death, no one dared to touch him, either officially or in the arena. Why is this? Because in addition to being an official of the imperial court, Li Wei also had another special identity.
In various film and television dramas, including costume movies shot in Hong Kong in the early years, Li Wei is described as an unlearned, bad and smelly rotten stone, the loyal eagle dog of the court... In fact, the reality is Li Wei in the movie does not learn martial arts, but he still reads a little bit. Although he has never learned martial arts, he is the most popular leader in the entire Jiangnan province. His prestige and reputation at that time were no less than those of Du Yuesheng during the Republic of China. Many people will say, how can you compare him with the gangster Du Yuesheng? He is an official of the court, and Du Yuesheng is a person in the world. They are not on the same level at all. The person who said this has never read official history. In Xu Zheng's version of the TV series "Li Wei Becomes an Official", when Li Wei first became an official, because he did not understand the hidden rules of officialdom, he investigated a case and was still investigating it in Tongtian. So he was suppressed by the court. He really couldn't figure out why Yongzheng didn't support him when he was obviously thinking about the people and doing things for the country. When he was at his most lonely, the leader of the Cao Gang who was in charge of water transportation took him in, which leads to the focus of this article.
In the middle and late Qing Dynasty, the Cao Gang became the largest gang in the world because of Li Wei's personal support. Even though Li Wei didn't study much, he had an excellent background. This is not the origin of a beggar as mentioned in the TV series. Would a beggar be named Matata? Li Wei came from a serious wealthy family, and today he is a super rich second generation. Such people are often not good at reading, and Li Wei is no exception, so almost all the memorials in his life were ghostwritten by his secretaries. As an official of the imperial court, why did he create a mafia organization on his own? This is the greatness of Li Wei. After the Qing army entered the customs, the biggest resistance against the Qing rule came from Jiangnan. Because these places have been fertile places and homes of scholars since ancient times. Influenced by traditional Confucianism, they were very dissatisfied with the rulers of this ethnic minority. Therefore, the Third Prince Zhu continued to cause trouble in Jiangnan for a hundred or two hundred years. Until the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the Third Prince Zhu was still not dead.
Under this situation, the emperor must send someone he trusts most to control the situation here. The candidate selected by Kangxi was Cao Yin, Cao Xueqin's grandfather, and after Yongzheng came to power, the Cao family was ransacked. It’s been ten years in Hedong and ten years in Hexi. Accompanying you is like accompanying a tiger! When Yongzheng was still a prince, he valued his aide Li Wei very much. He was decisive and resourceful. In addition, this person is very self-aware. Although his temper is a bit arrogant, he is an honest official and is ruthless in his actions. The most important thing is that he never forms a clique and is a loner. Such a good knife was the favorite choice of the feudal ruling class. It's not good to be too smart (Zhang Juzheng), it's not good to be too capable (He Shen), it's even worse to be too greedy for power (Nian Gengyao), the stinky and tough lone ranger like Li Wei is the emperor's favorite of talents.
Not forming a party for personal gain is both an advantage and a disadvantage. In Chinese society, connections and relationships come first. Although Li Wei has a very high official position (Governor of Liangjiang), it is impossible for him to complete all the work by himself. So Li Wei, with Yongzheng's approval, established the Caobang, an unofficial organization that was half black and half white. Such an organization, under the control of Li Wei, has many benefits. First, at certain times, official intervention seems too powerful and can easily intensify conflicts. It is most appropriate to send this kind of private underworld organization to deal with it.
They can be used to bully and suppress those disobedient and unruly people, and they can also catch one or two scapegoats at critical moments to show the court's prestige. They achieve multiple things with one stone, why not do it? This official method of raising thieves for personal use is not Li Wei's patent, but has a long history in our country's officialdom.
On the surface Li Wei is just a governor, but in fact he has military power. He is responsible for the entire Jiangnan civil investigation. Ensure that there will be no civil unrest or civil unrest in this place that could harm the imperial court. How would any minister dare to offend such a man who takes both black and white? Not only did he not dare to offend, he also had no time to hide. Ortai's younger brother Orqi, the chief minister of the imperial court, minister of the Military Aircraft Department, and known as the "Prime Minister", was taken care of by Li Wei and went home to farm. As the most powerful official in the dynasty, Ertai didn't even dare to fart. The emperor's third brother, Prince Cheng, was beaten up by Li Wei thousands of miles away just for complaining behind his back. Not only did he lose his title, he almost went to jail. Li Wei can kill people like this without fail. Are there any ministers that he dare not touch?
Why didn’t they dare to touch Li Wei? One is because Yongzheng endorsed Li Wei. The second reason is that he is the boss of the underworld. If one day he finds a few people and gives them a few knifes on the way, it will be as easy as chopping vegetables. Although Li Wei is very rude, his ability to do things is extremely strong. Gan Fengchi, the master of the famous assassin Lu Siniang, was captured and beheaded by Li Wei. Under Li Wei's management, Jiangnan became stable throughout the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods. What is capability? This is ability and has nothing to do with academic qualifications. The relationship between Li Wei and Yongzheng? It's not like the relationship between a leader and a subordinate, but more like a pair of good friends. Yongzheng once wrote in the memorial: Don't be afraid. The red stuff on this memorial is not the blood I vomited, it was caused by accidentally knocking over the cinnabar... This is not the author's translation, it is Yongzheng's own handwriting. I don’t know if the emperor was afraid that Li Wei would not be able to understand classical Chinese, or if he was not well-educated himself. Anyway, the whole text was written in vernacular. And he always likes to talk about trivial things, just like a pair of gay friends gossiping.
To sum up, Li Wei was a good helper of Yongzheng. He did a lot of good things for Yongzheng and a lot of bad things for the court. For the Qing Dynasty and Yongzheng, Li Wei was a good minister. To ordinary people, Li Wei was also a good official, but definitely not a good person. Throughout the history of the Qing Dynasty, Li Wei was definitely a legend.