Gong Cheng, the eldest son of Gong Zizhen, is a controversial and famous figure in the academic circles in the late Qing Dynasty. Even today, more than a hundred years later, there are still different opinions on his evaluation, and there is no conclusion. The reason for this is that someone linked him with the British and French allied forces burning Yuanmingyuan, saying that he was the chief culprit in guiding foreigners to burn Yuanmingyuan, so he was called a traitor and traitor; Some people think that there is no such thing. Gong Ju was framed by jealous people.
It is difficult to find materials to explain the right or wrong of this matter in the official history, but there are different opinions in unofficial history, both positive and negative, most of which are derogatory, such as:
In the battle of Geng, Britain and Israel marched into the capital and burned the Yuanmingyuan. They are half-hearted, riding horses first, bringing back gems and heavy equipment, and sitting on the ground is conducive to people's criticism.
Or the battle of Yuanmingyuan, that is, Gong issued a longitudinal instruction, so he despised people and died in his later years.
It is a famous note novel published in the early years of the Republic of China. The author Yi Zongkui is also a famous newspaper writer. It is the posthumous work of Li Boyuan, the author of the famous official satirical novel On the New World and one of the four novelists in the late Qing Dynasty. It was published in the early years of the Republic of China. Gong Ju led foreigners to burn Yuanmingyuan. As soon as they publicized, three people became tigers, and some people fixed their minds.
Of course, there are also books with different views and opinions. For example, when Sun Jing Annanting wrote it, he put forward different views; In the first official story, Cai Zhiyong also publicly defended Gong Ju. But their books and articles are not as influential as the first two, and their authors are far less famous. Most importantly, they can. They can't produce convincing evidence. People would rather believe that they didn't. I don't believe in anything So in the past century, many books and articles have been written about the burning of Yuanmingyuan. They still follow other people's opinions, and Gong Ju is degraded to nothing. Some people even called Gong Ju a sinner of the Chinese nation and attacked and vilified him.
Zhao Liewen Miyagi Diary
A close friend who recently read Gong Ju's diary found a completely different Gong Ju.
According to the memory of Yuanmingyuan, Levin is Gong's closest friend. Xianfeng five years, first met in Ceng Wenzheng Nanchang camp. Gong Ju is the best friend, which is really good, but they met earlier. According to Selected Historical Materials of Zhao Liewen Zhonghe Monthly, they exchanged visits on May 6th, 2005 in Xianfeng. Two months later, on July 9, the two officially exchanged positions and became sworn brothers. They are not only friends who talk about everything, but also neighbors who go to Jiangxi across the river. If you need to discuss something, you can call the other person out at home. Xianfeng went to Jiangxi together in the winter of five years. The first thing they arrived at was not Zeng Guofan's Nanchang camp, but Nankang camp near Jiujiang. In Zhao Liewen's diary, these are recorded clearly and in detail.
In addition, on March 26th, 11th year of Xianfeng, Zhao Liewen recalled his relationship with his teacher in his early years, saying that I was twenty-two years old after the three-year rebellion in Xianfeng, so I dropped out of school to explore the ancient times and often invited my brother, my teacher and all my friends. Therefore, Gong Ju and I have not only known each other for a long time, but also established a friendship between teachers and students.
Six years later, in August of the 11th year of Xianfeng, Zhao Liewen came to Anqing and rejoined Zeng Guofan's shogunate. Prior to this, Gong Ju was hired as a secretary by British Ambassador Wade because he knew Manchu and Mongolian.
On February 13th, the seventh year of Tongzhi, Zhao Liewen and Gong Ju met again in Shanghai. After Gong left Wade, he was pushed out by others because of his arrogance, and finally ended up in Shanghai, frustrated. At dawn, send someone to Shanghai to contact Gong Ju. Soon, Gong Ju called a sedan chair to meet him. When old friends meet, they have a lot to say. But the most talked about this day is the exchange of treaties with foreign countries. Miyagi told Zhao Liewen that exchanging treaties with Britain, France, Russia and other countries requires a large number of foreign forces, not only railways and wires, but also creates troubles instead of seeking alliances. Where treaties are exchanged in good faith, this is obviously a provocation. He also said: British chief Vitoma received an urgent order to return to Britain, probably around March. The exchange of contracts has been extended to September, which is unpredictable. He also said that among foreign forces, Russia and the United States are the most urgent to annex, and Japan also has the intention of fishing in troubled waters.
What worries Gong Orange more is that foreign forces are eyeing up and preparing to stir up trouble. However, we China just let off steam and pretended that nothing had happened, and Emperor Gong knew this, but there was nothing we could do. What an embarrassment! They talked all day, but Zhao Liewen didn't. I won't leave until evening.
The next day, Zhao Liewen and Gong Ju had a long talk. This time, it is mainly about the corruption and incompetence at the top of China. Gong Ju said: Prince Gong is insatiable and takes the people as the government, which is for outsiders' reference only. It's not that he is thirsty for talent and can make all the preparations. This speech is full of feelings of worrying about the country and the people.
Ding Richang slandered Zeng Guofan.
In April of the same year, Zhao Liewen accompanied Zeng Guofan to Wuxi, Suzhou and Kunshan, and finally arrived in Shanghai to meet Gong Ju again. During his stay in Shanghai, Zhao Liewen recommended Gong Orange to Zeng Guofan, hoping that Zeng Guofan could meet him and then leave him to work in the shogunate. Zeng Guofan agreed to Zhao Liewen's request.
Ding Richang, the governor of Jiangsu Province who always disliked Gong Ju, immediately vilified Zeng Guofan and said: In the first year of Tongzhi, Zeng Guofan returned to the court to commemorate the peace treaty before the restoration of the United States. The reason why the British could learn more about it was because Gong Ju sold it. Hearing this, Zeng Guofan was very angry.
Ding Richang also asked his subordinate employee Ying Minzhai to tell Gong Cheng that Zeng Dashuai suspected that you had betrayed his script. If you go to see Marshal Zeng, you will not only take the blame yourself, but also have a strange disaster. Gong Ju immediately asked if there was such a thing. Zhao Liewen had to explain to Zeng Guofan that many people had read the manuscript of the first year of Tongzhi, and the British had many eyes and ears. Where do you need to rely on Gong Orange informant to know what's inside? When he answered Gong Orange, he said, I explained to Zeng Guofan that it was not your fault that he won, so I advised Gong Orange to see Zeng Guofan.
Although Gong Ju was down and out at this time and needed to get a decent job, he had a natural pride and rebellious character in his bones, so he voluntarily gave up the opportunity to meet Zeng Guofan, which naturally made him feel very sorry.
After leaving Shanghai, Zeng Guofan returned to Jinling by boat, while Zhao Liewen asked for leave to return to his hometown in southern Jiangsu. On May 3rd, Zhao Liewen returned to Jinling. When I met Zeng Guofan, he defended Gong Ju, and then said: In February, I met Ding Richang, the governor of Jiangsu Province, and he personally told me that he planned to hire Gong Ju; In April, I recommended Gong Ju to a teacher in Shanghai, and the teacher told her in front of her that she was black. His words were repeated, that's all! A few days ago, when I passed Suzhou again, Ding Richang said that it was all because of the deep contradiction between Ying Minzhai and Gong Ju, so she deliberately spoke ill of Gong Ju in front of the teacher. So Zhao Liewen asked Zeng Guofan: Is this really the case? Zhao Liewen told Zeng Guofan that if Gong Ju betrayed his draft, it was Ding Richang who told him, not Zhai Yingmin. Hearing this, Zhao Liewen sighed angrily and said, this is the case again. Alas, this #0
Two or three years after Guangxu, Gong Ju visited his home in Yushan, Changshu, Jiangsu many times, saying that he had a batch of stone rubbings and cultural relics, such as a porcelain statue and stone rubbings, which he wanted to take to Zhao Liewen. I know that Gong Ju's family has a rich collection. I saw his pawn in my early years, which was very different, so I expressed my willingness to have a look. Of course, if he wins T, Gong Ju will be given away for free, and he will definitely pay for it. Soon after, Gong Ju did bring a batch of cultural relics, including many fine works, but few of them were very much wanted by Zhao Liewen, which made him very embarrassed: he felt guilty about accepting Gong Ju's gifts and bought them all, but he was reluctant to part with them. In addition, after Zhao Liewen resigned and returned to his hometown, all kinds of expenses were very high, and his family savings were almost spent. How can he have spare money to buy all these cultural relics? Gong was very disappointed to see this and left without saying goodbye.
In order to save the friendship with Gong Ju for more than 20 years, Zhao Liewen specially wrote a long letter to a friend of theirs, hoping that he would do some mediation work in the middle. Unfortunately, Gong Ju died on December 19th, 4th year of Guangxu.
Gong Jubi is fifteen years older and was born on September 27th, 22nd, Jiaqing. Based on this calculation, Gong Ju died at the age of 62, raped the people, set fire to the garden, and plundered property. There are two other main reasons: First, Gong Orange N.
When Gong Ju first went to Wade as a secretary, although nationalism in our country had not yet developed, it was not taboo to work for foreigners, but because Gong Ju was highly appreciated by Wade by virtue of his own talents, he not only had a high salary, but also was accompanied by guards. Including Wade himself, from top to bottom, he is called Mr. Gong, and he is sour if he can't eat grapes.
In addition, Gong Ju lived in Beijing with his father for many years since childhood and was familiar with the Qing court. In the Sino-British negotiations, the British asked him for advice and even invited him to take part in the translation work. These are all possible, of course, taboo. Besides, the atmosphere soon changed, and xenophobia became a trend. The general public abhors foreign devils, but some people who call themselves China feel sad that they regard thieves as their fathers and act as unfilial tigers in foreign exchanges. Therefore, in the face of foreigners, people avoid them for fear of getting a little tricky and damaging their reputation.
Gong poured oranges. He not only wears a dress, rides a rickshaw, eats foreign food, but also speaks a foreign accent and continues to serve foreigners enthusiastically. In addition, he paraded the streets, not avoiding suspicion. He even publicly threatened that it was better to give China to westerners than to Manchu. It is not surprising that he was misunderstood and framed by jealous people in the end.
Rebellion of nature
When it comes to Gong Ju's reckless and bohemian behavior, there are all kinds of rumors and statements in the society, which is even more.
Although Gong Ju was a great scholar who studied Chinese and Western cultures, he failed in the imperial examination in the late Qing Dynasty and lost his reputation. He is a born rebellious character, and since then he has almost hated everything in this society. In his view, the concepts of courtesy, honesty, loyalty, filial piety, benevolence and righteousness advocated by the scholar-officials are completely hypocritical and harmful spiritual opium. He simply looked down on those literati who flaunted loyalty and patriotism, and naturally they looked down on me and didn't want to associate with him.
He is a sadist. Celebrities and sages are thieves in others' eyes and prostitutes in their mouths. Everyone is afraid of his foul mouth and hates him, so they can't I can't afford to hide. When they saw his figure or heard his voice, they left quickly.
Wang Tao, a famous scholar in the late Qing Dynasty and a good friend of Gong Cheng, wrote in Yuanmingyuan Ci: Hold a horizontal oath, despise the world, despise the times, and tolerate no one. The world is also afraid of evil, aiming at monsters, not liking them, and often avoiding the Tao. Gong Zizhen was originally a maverick, attacking the disadvantages of the times and mocking the powerful and unscrupulous, and was called Gong Chi. Now Gong Ju is worse than his father, and naturally he is not accepted by the world.
Gong Ju is not good for his family. He ignored his wife Chen, and his son Gong Ying didn't see them when he came. To his brother Gong Jiaying, he is just a passer-by.
He also looked down on his father Gong Zizhen and often took out his father's manuscript to change his mind. When he revised it, he knocked his father's memorial tablet out of the water with a stick, chanting: What a shame! He also said: because you are my father, for God's sake, I will help you change it so as not to hurt future generations.
In Gong Ju's world, he only likes one concubine. China people have always paid attention to the five ethics, including monarch, minister, father and son, husband and wife, brothers and friends. Gong Ju only loves his little wife, and Wu Lun has been away for four and a half years, so he never has. Semi-Lun. However, when he was down and out in his later years, the only person he loved ran away with someone else, and finally he lost half of his property.
Gong Ju doesn't seem to have engaged in any other occupation except as Wade's secretary. Xianfeng five years, he and Zhao Liewen, also frustrated in the imperial examination, ran to Jiangxi to Zeng Guofan. Originally he wanted to be in Zeng Guofan, but he didn't do it in the end.
When the ideal can't be found, the spirit loses its home, and cynicism lives in Gong Ju.
Later, the British people lost interest in him, so he had to live on the money left by his ancestors. After Li Hongzhang arrived in Shanghai, he gave some money every month, and his life was basically guaranteed. Later, without this subsidy, Gong Ju had to sell her family's antique cultural relics and calligraphy and painting books. One year before his death, Gong Ju said that he was giving away a batch of cultural relics. In essence, he needed money too much, but it was not good to ask for money in front of his friends at first, and finally fell out. Zhao Liewen sympathizes with Gong Ju, but Gong Ju can't. I don't understand Zhao Liewen's difficulties. It is true that he died of poverty in the end, but it is an exaggeration to say that he died of madness in his later years. There is a saying in China that flies don't bite seamless eggs. Besides, this is another reason to say right or wrong. Gong was detained as a traitor, not a toilet without reason. Some irresponsible saliva can really drown people sometimes. But lies are lies after all.