More than ten years ago, the TV series "Kangxi Dynasty" starring Chen Daoming was all the rage, in which there was a minister named Wei Chengmo, who was not only the teacher of the Kangxi Emperor, but also the father of Wei Dongting, who dared to confront Ao bai head-on, and the iron bone was zhengzheng, which left a deep impression. In fact, there is no Wei Chengmo in history, he is a fictional character of February River, and his prototype is Fan Chengmo.
Like Wei Chengmo, the historical Fan Chengmo was also an iron bone, and the famous Qing Dynasty literary scholar Li Yu even believed that Fan Chengmo was comparable to Wen Tianxiang.
Fan Chengmo (范承谟), courtesy name Duke Xiao, was the 18th grandson of Fan Zhongyan, a famous minister of the Northern Song Dynasty. Fan Chengmo's father was Fan Wencheng, the "First Han Strategist of the Qing Dynasty". During the Nurhaci and Emperor Taiji periods, Fan Wencheng assisted the Manchu Qing in opposing the Ming Dynasty, attacking Korea, and stabilizing Mongolia, and formulated a series of state systems for the qing dynasty. It was precisely because of Fan Wencheng's outstanding merits that as his son, Fan Chengmo was elected to the imperial palace as a royal bodyguard at a very young age. Fan Chengmo, a scholar and martial artist, in the ninth year of Shunzhi, 28-year-old Fan Chengmo entered the Hanlin Academy and became a political star for a while.
Shortly after Kangxi ascended the throne, Fan Chengmo served as the governor of Zhejiang and was in charge of the political side. At that time, shortly after the founding of the Qing Dynasty, the people in the south had not yet resumed production, and the gentry and people in Jiangsu and Zhejiang were still wary of the Qing Dynasty. Coinciding with the floods in Hangzhou, Jiaxing and other places, Fan Chengmo did two major things after taking office:
First, he took the initiative to write to Kangxi and asked for tax reductions and exemptions for the people. At that time, the national treasury was not full, and the Kangxi Emperor was very earnest when he saw Fan Chengmo's folding attitude, and reluctantly agreed to Fan Chengmo's request.
Second, Fan Chengmo used official silver to buy grain and rice in Huguang to relieve the disaster, and strictly controlled it at all levels to prevent officials from filling their own pockets.
Through his series of operations, Fan Chengmo has won the hearts and minds of the people of Zhejiang. Draft History of the Qing Dynasty:
Fan Chengmo served as an inspector for three years, loved the people like a son, investigated and dealt with greedy ink, eliminated maladministration, and was deeply loved by the people.
Three years later, Fan Chengmo fell ill, and the Kangxi Emperor, distressed Fan Chengmo, planned to transfer him back to Beijing to be treated. When the people of Zhejiang heard about it, they spontaneously surrounded the governor's palace of Zhejiang and Fujian, and demanded that Liu Zhaoqi,the governor of Zhejiang and Fujian (Fan Chengmo's superior), write to Kangxi to leave Fan Chengmo in Zhejiang. The Book of Ten Thousand People was handed directly to Kangxi's imperial table, and the Kangxi Emperor was very emotional and agreed to leave Fan Chengmo in Zhejiang.
In the eleventh year of the Kangxi Dynasty, Fan Chengmo was promoted to the governor of Fujian, and the following year, Wu Sangui, the king of Pingxi, together with Geng Jingzhong, the king of Jingnan, and Shang Kexi, the king of Pingnan, raised an army to rebel, which is known in history as the "Rebellion of San Francisco". Fujian was the territory of Geng Jingzhong, the king of Jingnan. Before the rebellion broke out, Fan Chengmo sensed that Geng Jingzhong had different intentions, but Fan Chengmo's secret letter had not yet been sent out of Fujian, Geng Jingzhong had already defected, and Fan Chengmo was detained.
In order to persuade Fan Chengmo to surrender, Geng Jingzhong can be described as both soft and hard, coercing and seducing, and even threatening the life of Fan Chengmo's family, but unexpectedly, Fan Chengmo's heart is like a rock, preferring to die rather than surrender.
Because Fan Chengmo's reputation in the Fujian and Zhejiang generation was extremely high, Geng Jingzhong was afraid of provoking the people, and did not dare to kill Fan Chengmo, so he could only imprison Fan Chengmo in a secret room. In order to prevent Fan Chengmo from committing suicide, Geng Jingzhong also tied up Fan Chengmo, and Fan Chengmo went on hunger strike for 8 days, but could not die. Draft History of the Qing Dynasty:
Thieves enter the slurry, go on hunger strike, and do not die for eight days.
Along with Fan Chengmo, liu bingzheng, the inspector of Fujian, was detained, and Liu Bingzheng soon surrendered and took the initiative to undertake the task of persuading Fan Chengmo, who after knowing Liu Bingzheng's intentions, broke out and scolded: "Traitors should be killed, if I die first, I will definitely take away your soul!" ”
Liu Bingzheng's confidence was half weak, and he still had to open his mouth to persuade him, Fan Chengmo scolded incessantly, and Liu Bingzheng had to go away.
Three years later, as the San Francisco Rebellion was coming to an end, Geng Jingzhong, seeing that the tide was gone, planned to make overtures to Kangxi. However, Fan Chengmo was still alive, and he was afraid that Fan Chengmo would expose his crimes in the future, so he forced Fan Chengmo to commit suicide on September 16, 15th of the 15th year of the Kangxi Dynasty. Before fan chengmo died, he put on the crown hat given to him by the Kangxi emperor, prostrated his head nine times to the north, and then committed suicide. From beginning to end, Fan Chengmo did not have a trace of fear. Fan Chengmo was killed along with his brother Fan Chengpu and 36 others.
After Fan Chengmo's death, Geng Jingzhong burned his body in order to destroy his body and abandoned it in the wilderness, and after the San Francisco Rebellion was settled, Fan Chengmo's remains were found and sent to the Beijing Division. When the Kangxi Emperor saw Fan Chengmo's remains, he was very sad, and when he heard about Fan Chengmo's unyielding deeds, he was very moved, personally wrote a tombstone for Fan Chengmo, and posthumously gave him the title of Bingbu Shangshu.
In the nineteenth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, tens of thousands of people in Fujian asked themselves to build an ancestral hall for Fan Chengmo, and the Kangxi Emperor personally wrote a four-character plaque of "Loyalty and Loyalty Bingri" and sent it to Fujian and hung it above the main entrance of Fan Chengmo Ancestral Hall.
For many years, because the rulers of the Qing Dynasty were not Han Chinese, many loyal ministers loyal to the Qing Dynasty did not receive enough praise. In fact, Fan Chengmo, as the governor of a province, still insisted on loyalty to the imperial court in the face of coercion and inducement, and this spirit deserved the respect of future generations. Li Yu, a famous qing dynasty writer and opera composer, commented on Fan Chengmo when writing an altarpiece for Fan Chengmo:
Mr. Gai's courtiers, seeking thousands of years, only Tianxiang alone, is enough to match.
What Li Yu meant was that Mr. Fan Chengmo's integrity was comparable to that of Wen Tianxiang of the Southern Song Dynasty. In fact, in terms of spirit, the two are indeed comparable. However, because one is the Song Dynasty and the other is the Qing Dynasty, the objects of allegiance are different, and future generations will inevitably have some prejudices. There is no doubt that Fan Chengmo is a loyal martyr of the Chinese nation.