Chapter 231

【Inventory of the Top Ten Corrupt Officials in History, Eighth Place: Shi Chong】

【Dynasty: Western Jin】

【Birth and Death: 249 AD – 300 AD】

【Background: Youngest son of founding hero Shi Bao】

【Official Position: Jingzhou Inspector, Cavalier Attendant, Attendant】

【Nickname: None】

On the left side of the list, light and shadow condensed into the image of a noble young master in brocade clothes, with an arrogant face and eyes revealing shrewdness and domineering.

He was in a magnificent and extremely luxurious garden, surrounded by groups of beautiful concubines, and seemed to be stepping on brocade under his feet.

He played with a jade Ruyi in his hand, a cold sneer on the corner of his mouth, looking down on everything.

Beside the picture, the seal script revealed an atmosphere of vanity and evil intertwined:

"Father said he could get it, and he really got the mountains and seas.

Robbing merchants to be thieves, extravagant without limit.

Golden Valley turned to ash, leaving only laughter."

【Life of the character:

The picture unfolds, with the chaotic and flashy background unique to the Wei and Jin dynasties.

"Shi Chong, courtesy name Ji Lun, nickname Qi Nu. Born in a prominent family, his father Shi Bao was a founding hero of the Western Jin Dynasty, serving as General of the Cavalry."

"However, when Shi Bao distributed his family property on his deathbed, he did not give any to his youngest son Shi Chong, telling his family: This child, although young, will be able to get it himself later."

In the picture, Shi Bao on his sickbed points to the young Shi Chong and says this prophecy.

The young Shi Chong's face is full of defiance and stubbornness.

"When Shi Chong grew up, he really lived up to his father's expectations."

"In his twenties, he served as the Magistrate of Xiuwu County, then moved to be the Prefect of Chengyang, and because he participated in the war against Wu and made small contributions, he was gradually promoted."

"However, what really made him accumulate the 'incomparable' wealth of mountains and seas was not his salary and military exploits, but his 'way of making money' during his tenure as Jingzhou Inspector."

The picture switches to Jingzhou, the Yangtze River waterway, with merchant ships coming and going.

Shi Chong, as the Jingzhou Inspector, actually engaged in business without capital.

Jingzhou is located at the intersection of north and south, with convenient water and land transportation, and merchants gather there.

Shi Chong used his power to openly organize troops, recruit desperate people, disguise them as water bandits and robbers, and intercept passing merchant ships at dangerous points on the Yangtze River and its tributaries.

Killing and robbing, taking by force, all the money and goods obtained went into his private pockets.

From imperial tributes to civilian goods, none were spared.

In a few years, countless merchants had their blood stained on the river and were ruined.

And Shi Chong's treasury was filled with gold, silver, jewelry, and rare treasures, his wealth skyrocketed, truly reaching the level of 'wealth can rival a nation'."

The picture is cruel and direct:

In the night, official ships with "Shi" lanterns suddenly revealed knives and guns, rushing toward unprepared merchant ships.

Screams, fighting, goods being robbed, corpses being thrown into the river.

Shi Chong sat on a tower ship in the distance, hugging beautiful concubines, drinking wine and enjoying the "moon" (actually the fire of robbery), with a smile on his mouth.

In his treasury, rare treasures were piled up like mountains, and the steward couldn't count them with thick account books.

After becoming rich, Shi Chong brought his extravagance and wealth-showing to the extreme.

He built the famous "Golden Valley Garden" in the northwest of Luoyang City.

In the garden, pavilions and towers were extremely exquisite, rare flowers and plants were everywhere, and hundreds of beautiful concubines were kept, all wearing silk and satin, wearing pearls and jade.

However, what made him famous in history was the farce of wealth-showing that was unprecedented and earth-shattering with Wang Kai, the uncle of Emperor Wu of Jin, Sima Yan, and the General of the Rear.

The picture becomes absurd and extravagant, with the background being the atmosphere of the upper class of the Western Jin Dynasty living in a drunken dream.

Wang Kai used sugar water to wash the pot to show his wealth.

After hearing this, Shi Chong ordered his own kitchen to use candles, which were much more expensive than sugar, as firewood to cook rice!"

In the picture, the cook in Wang Kai's house uses sugar water to wash the iron pot, and the sugar water flows away in vain.

In Shi Chong's kitchen, strong servants throw bundles of well-made candles, which were originally for lighting, into the stove, the flames crackling, illuminating the cook's numb face.

Wang Kai was not convinced, and when he went out, he used "purple silk cloth," which was very precious at the time, to make a step barrier (a screen to block wind and dust), forty miles long.

Hearing this, Shi Chong immediately used brocade from the Shu region, which was more precious than purple silk cloth, to make a fifty-mile step barrier!

The picture has great visual impact:

On the long official road, one side is a forty-mile-long purple silk screen, swaying gently in the wind, extremely luxurious;

On the other side, it is a longer, colorful brocade screen embroidered with exquisite patterns, shining in the sun, blinding people's eyes.

The people on the side of the road were dumbfounded and pointing.

Wang Kai repeatedly fell behind, unwilling to give up, so he asked for help from his nephew, Emperor Wu of Jin.

Emperor Wu of Jin, Sima Yan, also felt interesting, and perhaps had the intention to suppress Shi Chong's arrogance.

He bestowed a "coral tree" to Wang Kai, which was more than two feet high, with lush branches, and rare in the world, kept in the palace, and asked him to take it to suppress Shi Chong.

In the picture, Wang Kai proudly held the bright red coral tree, came to Shi Chong's Golden Valley Garden for a banquet, and displayed it in public, and the guests were all amazed as a treasure.

Wang Kai was proud of himself, but Shi Chong glanced at it, picked up the iron Ruyi (a scratching tool, also for self-defense) on the desk, and with a "pop," smashed the imperial coral tree to pieces!

The picture freezes at the moment the coral is broken, and the shocked expressions of Wang Kai and the guests.

Wang Kai was shocked and angry, thinking that Shi Chong destroyed the treasure out of jealousy, and scolded him sternly.

Shi Chong said lightly: "Not enough to hate, now return it to you."

Then he ordered the servants: "Go, move my coral trees out, let Wang Gong choose compensation at will."

The picture switches.

I saw Shi Chong's servants move out more than a dozen coral trees, each three or four feet high, the branches more exquisite and transparent, the color more bright and dripping.

Spread out in the hall, colorful, setting off Wang Kai's two-foot coral like a firewood stick.

Wang Kai was dumbfounded, his face ashen, completely defeated.

Shi Chong's wealth can be seen.

His wealth is all the blood and sweat of the people, the blood and tears of merchants!

However, extravagance without limit and wealth rivaling the nation eventually brought disaster.

The War of the Eight Princes in the Western Jin Dynasty broke out, and the political situation was chaotic.

Shi Chong offended the powerful Zhao Prince Sima Lun because he supported Qi Prince Sima Jiong.

Sima Lun's confidant Sun Xiu had long coveted Shi Chong's concubine Lv Zhu and his family property, so he took the opportunity to frame him and sent troops to capture Shi Chong.

The picture turned sharply, and the Golden Valley Garden was surrounded by armored soldiers.

Shi Chong was drinking with Lv Zhu upstairs, and seeing the soldiers enter, he sighed: "I am just being exiled to Jiaoguang."

Lv Zhu cried: "I will die before the gentleman."

Then she jumped off the building and died.

Shi Chong was arrested and escorted to the execution ground. Before the execution, he sighed sadly: "The slaves are greedy for my family property!"

(Translation: These villains are greedy for my family property!)

The officer escorting him sneered and asked: "Knowing that wealth causes harm, why not scatter it early?"

(Translation: You knew early on that wealth would cause disaster, why didn't you scatter it early?)

Shi Chong was speechless.

Eventually, Shi Chong and his mother, brother, concubines, children, and other fifteen members of his family were all beheaded at the East Market.

His huge family property was naturally confiscated, or fell into the hands of new nobles.

Shi Chong, who lived an extravagant life, ended up with his family broken and dead, and his body separated.

At the end of the picture, there are heads rolling on the execution ground and the broken walls of the former Golden Valley Garden, forming a miserable contrast.

【Assessment of total corruption:

Shi Chong's wealth is described by historical books as "wealth of mountains and seas is incomparable," and specific silver is difficult to convert.

The core source of his wealth was robbing merchants, killing and robbing when he was the Jingzhou Inspector, and the gains were countless.

Just from the tip of the iceberg revealed during the wealth-showing with Wang Kai (candles as firewood, brocade fifty miles, dozens of coral trees three or four feet high), his family property converted to silver should be at the level of tens of millions of taels, truly "wealth can rival a nation."

His corruption is not ordinary bribery, but openly being a thief, acting as a robber with the identity of an official, and the crime is even worse!】

【Reason for being on the list: As a frontier official, acting as a river pirate, robbing merchants, and accumulating wealth rivaling the nation.

And then extremely extravagant, showing off wealth, squandering the blood and sweat of the people on meaningless comparisons and enjoyment, bringing bad social atmosphere, and aggravating the decay of the Western Jin Dynasty.

Every coin of his wealth is stained with the blood and tears of the innocent!

Shi Chong ranked eighth, well-deserved!】

The viewers of the myriad worlds, especially those emperors and people who have experienced troubled times and know the difficulty of doing business, are furious!

Han Dynasty.

Liu Bang widened his eyes: "My good guy! An official going to block the road and rob? This is even darker than when I was a bandit in Mangdang Mountain back then!"

"I robbed the Qin government, he robbed the common people doing business! Should be killed!"

Ying Zheng glared at Liu Bang, Liu Bang quietly shut up and no longer mentioned the past of rebelling against Qin.