Zhang's efforts to promote the sharing of ancestral temples were finally stranded because of his neglect. In February of the fifteenth year of Qianlong, the eldest son of the emperor died. At the beginning of the sacrifice, he greeted Li Hong and then returned to his hometown in Tongcheng. Li Hong was furious at his insensitivity. He called a meeting of ministers to discuss how to punish him. Interestingly, the result of the discussion did not cure him of his repeated contempt for imperial power, but brought back all the treasures that the royal family had given him before.
It is said that the imperial envoy who took the royal Sonny came to Zhangjia and found that Zhang had nothing but these treasures, only then did he know that he was poor. In fact, not only Zhang and JiaHe Zhang Zaifu are the most important confidential ministers around the emperor, but they are honest, diligent and frugal. Zhang Ying, his father, followed Emperor Kangxi, won great trust, and held a high position as the director of Yongzheng. However, his family background is extremely strict, he is not greedy or corrupt, and he does not belong to the party or friends. He is pragmatic and prudent. Zhang Mu often wears patched clothes. She is a bride. Zhang Ying's six sons, except two who died young, were all Jinshi. Zhang was born in such a bureaucratic family. He twice asked Yin G to lower the scientific research ranking of his younger brother and eldest son to dimethyl, on the grounds that he was not the first among the world's poor. His political humility and comity left a deep impression on the ruling party and the opposition party. But when it comes to enjoying the ancestral temple, as Qianlong said, old age is impossible?
Things may not be that simple. It is true that sharing the ancestral temple is a great honor for our ancestors, but there is no way to take it, which is by no means what ancient gentlemen did. What's more, in the Yongzheng dynasty, where the Manchu and Han dynasties were sharply opposed, Zhang, as a senior official of the Han dynasty, was so eager to enter the Manchu ancestral temple. Where would he put himself? How to deal with the relationship between Confucian orthodoxy, family style and family precepts and personal glory? Moreover, which is more important, a person's glory in the royal family, the long-term prosperity of the family, and the eternal beauty of the people?
Since then, the Zhang family has enjoyed a high reputation in Tongcheng, Anhui. They are kind, humble and frugal to their neighbors, but they often do good deeds, which they can't make up for. Now in Tongcheng, Anhui, there are still stories about Liuchi Lane and Liangbi Bridge. Liuchi Lane is three feet long from the family motto that Zhang told him. Liangbi Bridge is a stone bridge built by Zhang to solve the local traffic difficulties in his hometown. The name Liangbi itself expresses the feelings of future generations.
Obviously, as an ancient official family influenced by Confucian culture, the Zhang family paid more attention to conforming to the ideal of Confucian scholar-officials and the general recognition of scholar-officials and the people. His modesty, self-restraint, introspection, attaching importance to the country and neglecting his own family style mean a special political gain. This kind of income is weighed against the risk of honor and disgrace of Zhang sharing the ancestral temple. Obviously, the former is more worthy of persistent management.
In this way, there are only two explanations for the low-level mistakes seen in the retirement storm: distrust of the young, lack of sympathy for the loss of the royal family, and no face-to-face gratitude (people from other official careers in the Zhang family will not make such mistakes). Either he is really crazy, or it is a show from beginning to end. Zhang's insistence on returning to China must have its own reasons. After all, as Qianlong said, there were eighty dynasties in ancient times, and Zhang was not old enough.
Once praised Zhang and another minister, E Ertai, together with Cuba and Du Ruhui. But when he wanted to collect royal treasures, he also said so. When Zhang was in the imperial examination, he only wrote imperial edicts. When he came to me, it was like an antique. Its only value was that it was old and used to decorate the seat.
It is not difficult to understand that these two completely different statements came from the mouth of the same emperor. Just like whether a tool has value or not depends on the owner's temper and usage. Zhang has been the chief confidential secretary of the emperor for more than fifty years. In the view of strong personality, Zhang's cautious, silent and dreary image has long been submerged in the vast literature with his praise and praise. But the fact is that during the Yongzheng period, Zhang not only participated in almost all major decisions, but also established the most important hub system of the empire, and Hui Ze had a far-reaching influence.
He is a system designer in the military department. He created the postal service system, making it redundant and improving efficiency. He is also the maker of confidentiality discipline, which enables major policies and their documents to run stably. He created the memorial system and achieved the most magnificent and brilliant landscape of the exchange of documents between monarch and minister in Qing Dynasty. The Constitution of the Criminal System edited by him runs through the thought of cautious punishment, which is manifested through the practice of quelling local riots twice. With extraordinary energy and wisdom, he presided over scientific research with the editing and revision of major classics in the Imperial Academy and the National History Museum as the main content, and selected talents who are public, loyal, diligent and qualitative (the knowledge structure of learning is better than poetry) to join * * *. It can be said that he made a silent contribution to many major reforms in Yongzheng Dynasty and the prosperity of Qianlong Dynasty. And all this is closely related to the documents he accompanies every day. More interestingly, in his daily writing and writings, he established an extraordinary friendship with Emperor Yin G.
Yin is a rare real figure among emperors in China. When his strict New Deal offended Manchu ministers and gentry, he needed a Zhang who was as moody and opinionated as he was. He cares about Zhang meticulously, and Zhang's gratitude to him comes from the heart. In the first year of Yongzheng, Zhang, who was politically innocent in the struggle to seize the Party, was promoted to imperial academy. Yin wrote poems with the expectation of Shang Shu, the rites department of Han Dynasty, and Fu Yue, an ancient sage. Zhang Ze wrote poetry with a heart of great difficulty. Since then, the monarch and his ministers have worked together to implement the New Deal. Zhang returned to his hometown to offer sacrifices, and Yin G wrote a letter to comfort him all the way, saying with deep affection: In the eleven years since I ascended the throne, the court ministers have been inseparable for a day, and only Qing, loyal people and friends are in love. Zhang Ze mentioned birds twice in his poems and poems, and the words were the most touching.
However, this unique and subtle relationship between superiors and subordinates is somewhat difficult for Li Hong, the new heir of Datong. But Li Hong is a clever emperor. When he saw that the ministers took out the testamentary edict from behind the aboveboard plaque, and the testamentary edict could only be established after Zhang's inspection, he decided to treat the country as an old man. In the event of retirement, he extremely accused Zhang of repeatedly advancing and retreating, without any foundation, and could not say that there was no loss.
Meng: Your minister is like a brother, then I regard you as my heart. If you treat me like a dog or a horse, then I will treat you like a Chinese; If you treat me like dirt, then I treat you like an enemy. For me, Zhang, the confidential secretary of the foreman, is actually a good servant who works for him to the letter, but this is not a friend's affair. Therefore, it is normal that he tried his best to retain veteran Zhang and was rejected.
With the sudden death of Yin, the complicated political reform and court struggle of Yongzheng dynasty gradually subsided, and the romantic and ambitious ruler Li Hong began to govern the country with his own style. Zhang continued to remain silent and promised, but he would still express his opinions when necessary, because he opposed the excessive use of punishment by Yongzheng Dynasty. He voted against it on several issues, such as whether to restore the ancient "three old people's rites", change the scientific research system, and implement the system of land equalization and land restriction. Although Li Hong affirmed his outstanding ideas many years later, the emperor felt challenged at that time. The bigger challenge is that due to the admiration for Yin, there has been a trend of nepotism between Zhang and E Ertai, the foreman of Manchu ministers. Manchu joins E Ertai, * * * joins Zhang. This may not be Zhang's original intention of trying to break the clique, but it has irresistible historical reasons.
At this time, it is urgent to crack down on Zhang and his former imperial aides and cronies, which is a good way to stabilize North Korea and calm the long-term anger of Manchu. And deep * * * deep strict, occupies an important position, for the country and the people to maintain the honor of the best person, Zhang, is also planning to retire. In Cheng Huai Yuan Yu, the old minister repeatedly expressed the theme that the monthly surplus is a loss, and the prosperity is a decline. Now, is he going to put on a good show like Xiao He, deliberately make some illegal acts without intentional power, betray the flaw of human greed, and finally successfully exit in a slightly punished way, while Liu Bangze has been cooperating with him? Or he can be like Liu Ji. Although he left in time, Zhu Yuanzhang's axe finally caught up.
Today, the truth of history has been buried with the historical figures themselves. What we see is that a small storm in the controllable cup avoids a big storm that may get out of control. Zhang's family background has not declined, but has embarked on a more stable and broad career. And Zhang himself finally really walked into the ancestral temple of the Qing Dynasty.
Some rules in history now seem to be contrary to modern political civilization, but some rules are the eternal theme of human politics. As a wise man in politics, we might as well ponder and savor these qualities forged by Zhang in his 50-year confidential position-prudence, prudence, diligence, efficiency, prudence, self-discipline and forbearance, as well as the subtle relationship between the secretary and the boss. These intelligences are expressed in a Confucian way, which can be described as extremely moderate and wise. For example, in today's words, we should abide by the rules and stress self-discipline, so that we can not only see above the iceberg, but also observe below it. Gain and loss, advance and retreat, honor and disgrace, ups and downs, are all between square inches.