Bao Zheng is not really black.
1037 In the spring, a dusty white-faced scholar appeared on the official road in Tianchang County, Anhui Province. He is wearing a robe and carrying some luggage. Unexpectedly, this turned out to be the new county magistrate Bao Zheng.
Bao Zheng was 39 years old at this time. Big brother is not young, but he is an official for the first time. It is not far from the title of "Qingtian" that he is about to get, but it will be 20 years before he becomes the mayor of Kaifeng, a veritable "Kaifeng Bao Qingtian".
Splash on the emperor's face.
Bao Zheng had a happy childhood, which was different from the legendary one. His parents are very nice and lovely. He grew up in an official family, but he is very motivated. At the age of 29, he won the Jinshi. However, in order to serve his elderly parents, Bao Zheng refused to go out to be an official and stayed at home for 10 years until his parents died of illness and the funeral was completed.
So he was middle-aged when he appeared in the officialdom of the Northern Song Dynasty, but his behavior was completely "cynical".
In Zhaoqing, Guangdong, the second stop of his career, the famous Duanyan was his income-generating project. However, under the exploitation of bureaucrats, Duanyan became a fist product of bribery under the banner of "tribute", and few of them were really sent to the emperor, let alone sold in the market.
As soon as Bao Zheng came, he ordered Guangdong inkstone to pay tribute. And he himself, until he left Duanzhou, did not take away an inkstone. "Guangdong inkstone incident" was appreciated by the imperial court, and Bao Zheng was transferred to Kaifeng three years later. This is the second time that Bao Zheng has come to Beijing after taking the exam in Beijing.
It is worth mentioning that the Northern Song Dynasty was a highly conscious era for intellectuals. The "aristocratic society" in the Han and Tang dynasties has completely turned into a "civil society", and many literati "take the world as their own responsibility" and dare to go to court with the emperor. What's more, I didn't think it was enough to fight the emperor one-on-one, so I asked a group of colleagues to launch an aggressive verbal battle to besiege the emperor. Bao Zheng, if not the best, is at least a "candy" for Song Renzong, who focuses on the most sensitive personnel issues.
Song Renzong dotes on Zhang Guifei, and her uncle Zhang Yaozuo soars in a helicopter. In addition to serving as finance minister, Zhang Yaozuo also held four important positions, which is unique in the history of the appointment of consorts in the Northern Song Dynasty.
A group of ministers made a fuss about this, and collectively went all out to ask the emperor to recall Zhang Yaozu. At the climax of the debate, Bao Zheng stood in front of Injong, gushing, spitting and splashing the emperor's head and face. Injong was so angry that he left and returned to the harem. He lost his temper with Zhang Guifei: "You only know that he was promoted to Xuan Hui Ambassador, but you don't know that the current court official is Bao Zheng!"
Under the bias of Song Renzong, the impeachment work did not go smoothly. Around the appointment of Lao Zhang, Bao Zheng and others and the emperor were caught in a protracted war. Lao Zhang experienced ups and downs in the war. At the height of impeachment, his position was slightly lower and then rose rapidly. It was not until Lao Zhang died that the battle officially ended.
Since then, two bombs have been fired at Guo Chengyou and seven bombs at Wang Kui. "Cowhide Candy" Bao Zheng set up a glorious image of never letting go of a corrupt official.
Two Commemorative Activities to Celebrate the New Deal
When Fan Zhongyan gave orders in politics and set off the climax of "Celebrating the New Deal", Bao Zheng was still a "rookie" who had just been transferred from the local to the central government.
Are you for or against Fan Zhongyan's reform? Inevitably, the court was caught in a "party struggle": are you a reformist or a conservative? It was the conservative palace that pulled Bao Zheng out of Duanzhou to supervise the empire.
But the primary goal of this reform is bureaucracy, which coincides with Bao Zheng's political concern. He is targeting "provincial judges", which is one of the important measures of the New Deal. Fan Zhongyan sent provincial judges to various places to supervise local officials. According to the judge's words, you can decide whether the local officials will go to the central government or the prison, which means that they are in power and do whatever they want.
Bao Zheng's memorial, "Please don't abuse people to supervise the work", hit the nail on the head and was menacing.
For a time,
This "rookie" played an unexpected role in the process of overthrowing the reformists. Conservative ministers were overjoyed and thought that Bao Zheng could be used for their own purposes. But what happened next surprised them.
/kloc-in the spring of 0/045, Fan Zhongyan left Beijing, the New Deal failed, and conservatives celebrated. At this juncture, Bao Zheng wrote an article "Please still use the exam to play shady children", which is eloquent, saying that Fan Zhongyan's policy of selecting scholar-officials' children by the exam should be maintained.
So openly affirming a policy that has been rejected, conservatives are dumbfounded: is this person stupid?
As we all know, in Bao Zheng's eyes, there is no faction, only justice, no party struggle, only truth.
Six years later, Bao Zheng, who was promoted to the suggestion institute, apparently forgot all about the unfortunate ending of Fan Zhongyan's political reform. He gave a famous paper to Song Renzong, seven things. In the memorial, Bao Zheng put forward the difference that "treacherous court officials are loyal, don't believe in cronies, have credibility, treat treacherous court officials without doubt, use talents, and use demeaning ministers", which is exactly the same as the "Qingli New Deal".
Ministers all know that Bao Zheng is an honest official.
No one was surprised when Bao Zheng impeached Song Song. Song cong has always been brilliant in literary talent and served as prime minister for seven years. He doesn't take bribes, he's not autocratic, he's immoral, there's nothing wrong with him. But Bao Zheng said, yes, because you didn't work; The etiquette of the country, which has made no achievements, is a vegetarian and should of course be impeached.
His words may be fierce, but his eyes are really thorough.
From Kaifeng to the Ministry of Finance
1057 In the spring, 59-year-old Bao Zheng finally came to Kaifeng.
His first move was to reform the litigation system. In the Northern Song Dynasty, if civilians wanted to complain, they had to submit cases through the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The clever little official took advantage of this opportunity to blackmail the people. Without further ado, Bao Zheng abolished the doorplate department, allowing people to directly contact with the case-handling officials, which immediately made people happy. "Kaifeng has Abao Qingtian"!
In fact, Bao Zheng has only been the mayor of Kaifeng for less than two years. At the age of 6 1, he received another important task from Renzong: to be the third ambassador and take charge of the national finance.
In this position, Bao Zheng showed his ability of economic reform by changing "profit" into "harmony". At that time, the court expropriated the people excessively. Bao Zheng said that tribute items are also commodities, and the court should buy them from the people at a certain price in Hehe market. As for the urgently needed materials, ask the rich for them.
Just these two years, Bao Zheng is in charge of finance, and there are famines in Jianghuai and Zhejiang. The government of the Northern Song Dynasty collected taxes in cash, not in kind. So people had to sell food to the government in exchange for cash, and officials took the opportunity to lower the price of food. Usually, this makes sense. At present, in this famine year, the people are even more miserable. Bao Zheng gave full play to the characteristics of "candy" and made four memorials in one breath, saying, "Please avoid the distortion of Jianghuai and Zhejiang".
The effect of economic reform made the emperor trust Bao Zheng more and more. 106 1 year, Bao Zheng became deputy ambassador, but at the age of 63, he was dying. Ouyang Xiu said that Bao Zheng "had little filial piety all his life, and the village heard that"; One night straight festival, written in court. "But this passion consumed his life. Although there are many things he doesn't like and wants to change, there is nothing he can do.
Song Renzong personally visited Bao Zheng's home, which was the last time for the monarch.
A thousand years later, when we look back on Bao Zheng's life, we will find that his official career is actually very dull. He didn't chop down an ungrateful wife, he didn't have a brave cat around him, he didn't invent three awesome hay cutters, and he didn't even have a black face and a crescent birthmark. You may ask, what did he do?
He led people to dig wells and exempted them from taxes. He was concerned about the construction of Kaifeng and the envoys sent to Liao in Song Dynasty. However, what he did best was to write a factual report to Injong: sometimes he impeached people, sometimes he made suggestions and sometimes he lost his temper. It is not comprehensive to say that he is an "exhorter". He is more of a good minister who works hard. Carry out his reform bit by bit.