During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty in China, what should be done about the sheer number of corrupt officials? It was simple: just raise the standard for executing corrupt officials. In 1781, the Gansu “embezzled-aid” case broke out. A total of 113 officials in the province were implicated in taking bribes, accounting for 70% of all civil officials. If everyone were executed, the bureaucratic system would collapse outright—so Qianlong could only “treat them leniently,” raising the threshold for execution.

The main figure in the case was Wang Yanwang. He came from a family of honest officials, yet he treated holding office as a business. He entered public service through donation and advanced step by step, eventually becoming the Director of Civil Administration in Gansu, holding major power over finances and personnel. Gansu was impoverished and drought-prone, but he used the opportunity to amass money. He restarted the “donation-supervision” mechanism: what should have been grain collection was changed to collection of silver, and it was concentrated for centralized handling in Lanzhou, completely sidelining oversight. Officials at all levels were bribed and shared the loot, even including the supervisory officials.

To cover up empty storehouses, he also fabricated droughts year after year and staged fake disaster relief, using it to launder money. Grain on the imperial accounts was “used up,” while common people ate tree bark. When imperial envoys arrived to investigate, he temporarily transferred grain to make it look legitimate—somehow he managed to get through the inspection, and he even received a promotion before leaving his post.

His successor, Wang Tingzan, continued to embezzle, but left clues. Reports from the front said it was heavy rain and muddy conditions, contradicting the claim of “drought for years.” He also personally donated 40,000 taels of silver for army rations, directly exposing that his sources of funds were abnormal. Qianlong was furious and ordered a thorough investigation. In the end, they found 113 people involved, with more than 2.8 million taels of tainted silver. Under the law, they should have been sentenced severely—but because there were so many, they could only handle it in tiers: 56 were executed, and the rest received reduced sentences and were sent into exile.

What began as benevolent policies for disaster relief became a tool for systematic profiteering; the law itself was “adjusted” by reality. As for the genuine disaster victims, they never waited for even a single life-saving ration.