Yongzheng once talked about Li Jue, a courtier, saying that "this person only takes his heart", which means that Li Jue is not strong enough. It can be seen that Yongzheng's initial impression of Li Jue is not very good. Although Li Jue's performance has a lot of rude madness and publicity, his achievements surprised Yongzheng, so Yongzheng promoted and reused him many times.
In the second year of Yongzheng (1724), Li Wei was promoted to minister from the post of yanyou road in Yunnan, served as governor of Zhejiang in the third year of Yongzheng (1725), served as governor of Zhejiang in the fourth year of Yongzheng (1726), and was appointed to manage the salt administration in Zhejiang in the fifth year of Yongzheng (65438+).
Yongzheng took great pains to train Li Wei, and their frequent correspondence was sometimes more like Yongzheng's "distance education" to Li Wei. Yongzheng once said to Li Jue in Zhu Pi: "I am honest, conscientious, loyal and diligent, and I know this well, but if I take too many precautions, I won't suffer." Where there are hundreds of detailed tests, there is no reckless loss. " Among many bureaucrats, why is Yongzheng so partial to Li Yu? The main reason is that Li Jue dared to think and do more than the officials who came from the imperial examination, and he was not soft in law enforcement. He dared to take an iron fist in complex and special positions and achieved fruitful results. In addition, what Yongzheng valued was that Li Jue, the former slave of Yongzheng, had a very simple background and had nothing to do with either side of the court. He is an official chosen for his excellent work.
In Kangxi's later years, the salt policy was abolished, and various sequelae left over for many years broke out, resulting in a large number of interest groups that monopolized salt policy, colluded with officials and businessmen, and had a triad color. Li Jue impeached a large number of officials involved in the case in Yunnan, vigorously rectified Yunnan's salt policy, and cracked down on a large number of underworld salt officials in Zhejiang, which won the appreciation of Yongzheng. Because he finally met an official who could handle affairs and dared to handle affairs, Yongzheng was worried that Li Wei's behavior would cause dissatisfaction among officials, so he repeatedly warned Li Wei to be "modest" and avoid "bullying the weak and fearing the hard", but Li Wei was arrogant and rude to his colleagues. According to his memorial, he called Governor Gao Qizhuo and Governor Yang "Laogao" and "",and said that he wrote the word "Qin Yong" on the travel sign and occasionally accepted gifts from others. Yongzheng criticized Li Jue in his instructions: "Modesty and harmony are the most important, which is extremely appropriate. The acceptance of Chuanma antiques should be disciplined. Isn't it enough to use cards on both sides? This is the attitude of all villains, why not! "Li Jue assured Yongzheng in the memorial:" I dare not be willful or entrust a snake to do it. "It means that I dare not be willful and reckless at work, nor dare I be perfunctory and irresponsible. Yongzheng appreciated his answer very much, and at the same time further advised him to pay attention to improving personal self-restraint and cultural quality, not to swear at every turn, to pay attention to everything from details, and so on.
Although Li Wei is a lout, he is very clever. Yuan Mei once recorded his expression when dealing with documents, saying that he never looked at documents, so he let his men look at them, and the unpleasant places could be corrected casually. After he changed the very complicated documents, they became clear and unobstructed, so that "although the non-commissioned officers were heartbroken, they thought they were literary talents."
Yongzheng once enthusiastically praised Li Jue, saying that he was "a great instrument of the country" and "the right way to fulfill the Father, and he was both my hero and my benefactor".
Li Wei was in poor health and even vomited blood many times. Yongzheng not only gave him medicine, but also found someone to show him the date of birth, which shows that he is not generally concerned.
On one occasion, Yongzheng asked Yin Jishan to evaluate his three favorite governors: E Ertai, Tian Wenjing and Li Jue, and asked him who he should learn from among these three model governors. Yin Jishan thought very cleverly and said vividly: "likui jy, I learn from its courage, not its coarseness;" Tian Wenjing, I learn its diligence, not its engraving; The overall situation in E Ertai is good, and there are many places to learn, but I don't want to study. " Yongzheng laughed and thought he hit the nail on the head.