Liu Jin (1451-1510), a native of Xingping, Shaanxi Province, was adopted by eunuch Liu Shun at the age of six, and later became a palace eunuch, so she took Wei Liu's surname. The official residence of Neigong was sealed by the supervisor. He served Prince Zhu Houzun, later known as Ming Wuzong, since he was a child. He gained the trust and protection of Wu Zong. From the year of Zheng Deyuan to the fifth year, as an attendant of the emperor, he lured Wu Zong to indulge in extravagance. He took the opportunity to specialize in state affairs, manipulate state affairs, control the cabinet, and install the "six departments." At the same time, he was in charge of the most elite Royal Guards in Ming Dynasty-Royal Guards and secret service organizations-East Factory and West Factory, and established a private secret service organization with higher power than Royal Guards and East Factory. At that time, it was called "Emperor Li". He, Ma Yongcheng, Gao Feng, Luo Xiang, Wei Bin, Qiu Ju, Gu Dayong and Zhang Yong formed the Eight Tigers. Liu Jin is the king of the Eight Tigers.
He not only rejected dissidents, but also framed Zhongliang. And use power, wanton corruption. He embezzled a lot of money from the national treasury. He also openly took bribes and demanded bribes, engaging in power and money transactions. When officials from all over the country go to Beijing for pilgrimage, they pay bribes to him, which is called "meeting ceremony", and some of them are as high as 2000 yuan. All officials who are promoted and return to Beijing for debriefing should give him gifts. People who are good at bribing are often proud of the spring breeze. In addition, he also sent his cronies to work in the local area to collect money for them. According to Ming Wuzong's records, Liu Jin "ravaged Huguang with assistant minister Han Fu and gave more than 100,000 yuan in silver".
Liu Jin went further and further on the road of power, and was finally moved to usurp the throne. He secretly carved seals and made bows and arrows in an attempt to seize positions. In April of A.D. 15 10, Yang Yiqing, an imperial advisor of various sects, and Zhang Yong, one of the eunuchs of the Seven Tigers, went to quell the rebellion of King Anhua. After putting down the rebellion, Liu Jin's 17 major crimes were exposed when he reported the situation to Wuzong. Surprised, Wu Zong ordered Liu Jin to be arrested for interrogation. The next day, I personally went out to copy Liu Jin's home. As a result, it was found that seals, jade belts and other prohibited things that were forbidden to be privately owned by ordinary people and officials. Two daggers were also found in the fan that Liu Jin often held. Since seeing the great anger, he finally believed the fact of Liu Jin's rebellion. Good is rewarded with good, and evil with evil. Liu Jin, who was full of evil, was convicted of treason and sentenced to one year in Zhizhou. According to the criminal law at that time, the number of knives in Ling Chi was 3357. On the first day, I cut 357 knives, and the meat I cut was as big as a fingernail. On the day of Liu Jin's execution, the family members who were framed and killed by Liu Jin spent a sum of money to buy a small piece of meat cut from Liu Jin's body, offering sacrifices to the wronged dead, and some even ate the meat cut into small pieces by Liu Jin raw to relieve their hatred.
So, how much did Liu Jin take for corruption and bribery?
There are three main versions: First, according to the Notes on the Twenty-two History of Zhao Yi in Qing Dynasty, Liu Jin was robbed with 2.5 million taels of gold and more than 50 million taels of silver (equivalent to about 3.8 billion yuan in cash). Other babies are too soft to count. Second, according to Chen Hongmo's "Follow the Century News", Liu Jin's real estate was copied out of gold 12057800 yuan (calculated by the latest international gold quotation of 306 yuan per gram, it reached1153.24 million yuan); Silver is 259 million taels (526 taels per gram of 6.5 yuan according to the latest international silver quotation). 500 million yuan). Total: 654.38+067.974 billion yuan. Third, according to "Supplement to the History of Ming Dynasty", after Zhu Houzhao of Ming Wuzong led people to personally raid Liu Jin's property, * * got "29.872 million gold ingots (equivalent to 28.732 billion yuan today), 5 million gold ingots and more than 8 million silver ingots (259.252 billion yuan), which alone reached 336.37 billion yuan. In addition, there are two barrels of precious stones, two pieces of golden armor, 3,000 gold hooks and 4,162 bundles of jade belts. It was more than the national treasury revenue (national fiscal revenue) of the Ming Dynasty at that time 10 years.