Just how much loot was hidden in the Qing Dynasty's secret stash (DOMD)?

[Ken Cheng]

The central macguffin in DOMD (in the absence of all-powerful martial arts manuals) were the 42 Buddhist Sutras that hid the secret location of the loot that the Qing Dynasty took from the defeated Ming Dynasty. Just how much loot was in this stash? If Wai Siu Bo had actually taken it, would he have been far wealthier than even K'ang Hsi?

Also, did anybody ever take/use this loot after DOMD?

[Ace High]

The central macguffin in DOMD (in the absence of all-powerful martial arts manuals) were the 42 Buddhist Sutras that hid the secret location of the loot that the Qing Dynasty took from the defeated Ming Dynasty. Just how much loot was in this stash? If Wai Siu Bo had actually taken it, would he have been far wealthier than even K'ang Hsi?

Also, did anybody ever take/use this loot after DOMD?

1. Nobody knew the exact value of the loot.

2. I doubt even with the loot WXB will be richer than KX. The loot was from an era of widespread famines and draughts. Compared to Shun Zhi and KX's reign where there wheather was good for agriculture. During the peak of KX's reign, the treasury has more than 50 million taels. Even during the last days of his reign, the treasury still has about 32 million taels. In contrast, the Ming treasury during Chong Zhen reign was almost empty.

3. Although KX certainly knew the secret, but he didn't have the location map. The map was destroyed by WXB in order to prevent other people to know the secret. WXB certainly will not excavate the treasure for fear of killing KX.

[Doc Kwok]

2. I doubt even with the loot WXB will be richer than KX. The loot was from an era of widespread famines and draughts. Compared to Shun Zhi and KX's reign where there wheather was good for agriculture. During the peak of KX's reign, the treasury has more than 50 million taels. Even during the last days of his reign, the treasury still has about 32 million taels. In contrast, the Ming treasury during Chong Zhen reign was almost empty.

The treasure was in the form of gold and jewelry plundered during the initial invasion when the Manchus were not seriously expecting to be able to take over China, so the amount left in the treasury is irrelevant - the material wealth would still be around somewhere, even though it might be scattered thinly and not worth much in desperate times.

I still find Kang Xi's attempt to destroy the sutras (to burn the bridges to prevent anyone from chickening out due to the existence of an escape route) unwise. There were very few people who knew of it, and except for KX himself perhaps, none of them had any need of an escape route. It also would have helped immensely in the wake of his grandson Qianlong, who between his expensive military campaigns, holidays and pandering to corrupt officials like Heshen had severely drained the Qing treasury, and started the long death-spiral of the Qing dynasty.

[Ace High]

The treasure was in the form of gold and jewelry plundered during the initial invasion when the Manchus were not seriously expecting to be able to take over China, so the amount left in the treasury is irrelevant - the material wealth would still be around somewhere, even though it might be scattered thinly and not worth much in desperate times.

However, during those time China suffered a major economic breakdown. Northern China also was hit by famines. Therefore, the material wealth should have been concentrated on the southern area of China. As the loot was from initial invasion, it might not worth very much

[Trien Chieu]

It also would have helped immensely in the wake of his grandson Qianlong, who between his expensive military campaigns, holidays and pandering to corrupt officials like Heshen had severely drained the Qing treasury, and started the long death-spiral of the Qing dynasty.

After Qianlong died, Emperor Jiaqing prosecuted Heshen and confiscated all his wealth so the treasury was full. However, Jiaqing and pretty much all the emperors after him were useless and unable to reform the country which lead to collapse. Again, it is good that the Qing dynasty is no more.