245 years ago today, February 10, 1780 (January 6, 1780, the lunar calendar), Qianlong's murder case fell into the river. In the Qing Dynasty, there was a murder case that plunged into a river that alarmed Emperor Qianlong. The case was later investigated clearly and a large group of relevant personnel were also dealt with. Zheng Yimei, a writer of literature and history, recorded the investigation and handling of this murder case that fell into the river in his book "Anecdotes of the Qing Dynasty". Floating corpse in Tongzi River On the 10th day of February in the 45th year of Qianlong (1780), it was early spring, when guard sentries stationed in the Forbidden City discovered a floating corpse in Tongzi River. A murder case that fell into a river occurred in the moat of the imperial city. This was no small matter. The sentry immediately reported it to Zhang Jing, the guard on duty, and Zhang Jing reported it back to the guard commander on duty until it was reported to the royal family's chief steward-the Internal Affairs Office. As a result, officials from the Department of Prudence and Punishment of the Ministry of Internal Affairs quickly mobilized, together with the guards and others, to salvage the floating body ashore. The deceased was found to be a young male. From the waist token (pass for entering and exiting the Forbidden City) hanging on the deceased, it was learned that this person was Changde, an embroiderer from the Manufacturing Office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The body was examined by a coroner from the Ministry of Punishment, but no injuries were found from head to toe. It should have been drowning. If they issue a conclusion on this, it is estimated that there will not be much response. As the saying goes,"It's better to have more things than to have less things." However, the judges of the Department of Discipline Inspection and Punishment just happened to have one more thing, and this led to the story. After delving into the clues, the judges found a pawn ticket from the deceased Changde. Regarding this subtle clue, they immediately followed up and sent people to the pawnshop to verify it. They found that what they were in was a bag of official embroidery, which was the wool embroidered for official use. Embroidery craftsmen dared to misappropriate official embroidery items, which attracted their attention even more. Since the deceased was an embroiderer in the palace manufacturing office and died in the Tongzi River in the Forbidden City, the case should be tried by the Department of Prudence and Punishment of the Internal Affairs Office. So the Department of Prudential Punishment summoned the deceased's father, Tian Baobao, the head of the embroidery department of the manufacturing office, Cui Changzhu, and Cui Taibao, to the case one by one. After strict interrogation one by one, various inside facts about the death of embroider Changde gradually became clear. It turned out that Deshang and Changde both belonged to the coat management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and acted as embroiderers in tapestry and embroidery respectively. There are a total of 24 embroiderers in the embroidery work, who are responsible for the work of embroidery within the time limit. Since these tasks are often time-limited, they are always distributed to each embroiderer to undertake the work within the time limit and must be handed over in time. However, Changde is a person who is lazy and lazy. He often works late and works the slowest. On the seventh and eighth days of November last year, the work assigned to Changde could not be completed as scheduled. On the morning of the ninth day, Changde himself went out until late. Cui Chang Zhu once sent Tian Baobao, the leader of the embroiderer, to his home to inquire. His father saw that Changde had not returned home for a long time, and did not know what he had been doing. He could not answer the question, so he had to pretend that Changde was sick at home and would go back after recovering. Later, he asked him repeatedly, but all of them said they had not yet recovered, so wait. Although some people suspected that Changde had fled, no one expected that he would commit suicide in the river by privately embezzling official embroidery items. Unexpectedly, Changde, which had been missing for three months, had been immersed in ice water until the flowers bloomed in warm spring. Therefore, the chief prosecutor finally came to the conclusion: "Changde has always been cunning and lazy, and the official goods he received were used for private purposes. The pressure was very tight. Changde died in a moment of urgency and seemed to have no doubts." The case of punishing all responsible persons, Changde, who was forced to throw themselves into the river, was not a rare incident. The conclusion has been reached and it could have ended here. However, he dared to leave his body in an important place in the Forbidden City, disturbing the Inner Palace and adding bad luck to the emperor. The Internal Affairs Office was afraid of Emperor Qianlong's blame and had to severely punish the relatives and relevant officials of the deceased to provide an explanation. Therefore, the Ministry of Internal Affairs came up with a handling opinion and reported it to Emperor Qianlong, and a large number of relevant personnel were implicated. The first was Changde's father De Shou and Tian Baozhen, the leader of the embroiderer, who respectively stated that "knowing that his son was a cunning and lazy servant and could not be disciplined" and "knowing that Changde was always cunning and lazy... they dared to hide themselves and forced them to die when the work was delayed. As a result, Changde threw himself into the river in the Forbidden City and died himself." The two should be "sent to Wula to fight livestock." Good guy, he was dispatched to the northeastern border thousands of miles away in an instant. The handling was heavy. The chief executive, who is in charge of embroidery, and Shu Ming 'a, who is also in charge of embroidery, were both sentenced to "dismissal and retention" and "downgraded to one level and retention" respectively. Yongde, Foning, and Fogg, the doctors in charge of the manufacturing office, were all fined for one year in accordance with the law of negligence. As for the head of Zhijun Yong Rong, including Fu Long 'an, Ying Lian, Debao, He Shen, Jin Jian and other ministers in charge of the Internal Affairs Office, as well as Changde's flag management and others, were all fined salaries ranging from three months to one year. The commanders of the Forbidden City and the people of Zhangjing were also handed over to the Military Dispatch Department for discussion on the grounds that "control is not yet complete". After the memorial from the Ministry of Internal Affairs was reported, Emperor Qianlong immediately approved the word "Yi", and the public case was settled.