"Reconstruction of datong town city stele" examination - another authoritative historical evidence of Cao Xueqin's ancestral home in Liaoyang
Dream of the Red Chamber Journal, 2003.02 Zou Yuyi
The Datong City Museum has a stele entitled "Reconstruction of the Monument to the City of Datong Town", which records the reconstruction of Datong City by officers and soldiers in the twelfth year of Qing Shunzhi. Among them, there are some important historical facts involving Cao Zhenyan, the ancestor of Cao Xueqin, the author of "Dream of the Red Chamber", which are of great value to today's red studies.
I. About the Restoration of the Monument to the Town of Datong
The stele of "Rebuilding the Monument of Datong Town" is blue basalt rocky, the head of the stele and the turtle do not exist, and the stele body is missing. The stele is 180 cm high, 80 cm wide, 21 cm0 thick, 20 lines vertically, 54 characters in full lines, of which 8 lines have remaining words, ranging from 3 to 6 characters, respectively, filled in the left side of the line at the end of the line (format, see the unpunctuated inscription attached to this article for details). The inscription is as follows:
Reconstruction of the city monument of Datong Town
Jin Shidi and Hubu Henan Qing Official Shilang Zhongjun Xie Yuancai wrote articles
Datong, Guyunzhong County also. The world is a country that is strong and rugged, a majestic town, and a guarantee for one side. In the car auxiliary place Yan Shuo's danger, the wall connection wrong Xuanwei trend, Xiang Hengyue, with Sanggan, its origin of the mouth to build Yandu, then along the border and gradually to the west, the right arm of the shenjing, the north gate lock key, the gateway of the country's domain, this Yan is also.
The land of Ranzi is simple in nature, and it is easy to see virtue with the grace of the lesser, and the one who is in the land is easy to see, and the person who is □□□ the mouth is □ [□□ the court's loyal and loyal ministers, caress and use it, and have no worries in the west. The beast jumps on the beam and makes the soldiers in the pool; the change of the penzi, who is not a naked child, raises the soup fire. Mourning this people, liver and brain, is not the mouth of the mouth□ cover the Chu ape disaster forest, the city fire and fish, this is also reasonable and the inevitable. Looking at this Wucheng, compared to the Wu Palace, the Jin Room, the Ju Mao Grass, the Fox Ghost Field, the Five Readings of Spring and Autumn. Philosophers rejoice in the sorrow of detachment, and those who cannot bear to be relieved.
Before Sima Da and the governor of Sanhan Ma gongzhi, he came from Qin to Jin to restrain this state. He wept bitterly, and asked the people for their lives. For a time, the sages of the holy kings saw the chapter of the flow of painting, leisurely as if they were carrying, and the city was specially ordered. Fu city with the protectors also. The diligence of the momentary attack, the cost of the molded grain, the resources of the plate, the prayer will not be sick to the people but the heart is comforted. Gong also said: "The prosperity of the great campaign, the non-talented and slightly literate authors, I am afraid that it is not enough to build up the merits." Therefore, the special general town of Sanhan Penggong had morality and was full-time. Peng Gong recognized it as a camp and was also one of the main soldiers. He was a pioneer soldier, sleeping in the city, trying to repair it, and preparing for extreme labor. But see that the peasants are at peace with the wilderness, and do not win over the carts and cattle; the merchants are in the city, and they are not disturbed by the hammers; He is at peace in the room and does not stop at reading. Do not hurt the wealth, do not labor the people, such as the attack of the Lingtai, the twilight drum victory. Not half loaded, and the decadent land is easy to be a golden city. It is a great creation of this city people also. One
Oh, is there a way to do this? How can it be dispatched and skillfully managed! Donate your own money without being shy, and help the crowd without being shy! It is enough to benefit the people, to rejuvenate the society, and to benefit the country, although the ancient ministers could not do this. Meritorious service, really immortal mouth.
It is a military service, the governor of the ma gong general its affairs, the yuan rong Peng gong dong qicheng. The discussion of Ruofu's restoration of the city began with Chen Wei, the duke of Tianzhong, and then to the former governor of Xiangping Magong. Its business is indeed, and after its □ relocation, it is now directly pointed to the ancestral hope of the Huijian Weng Gong. At one time, those who donated and lost the Qing Dynasty and shared the affairs with them were RuoBei Three Han Liu Gong Zhen Xing Mo, Xing Tun Zhongzhou Xing Gong Zhen Zhong, Deputy General Rong San Han Liu Gong Zhen Chao Fu, Mouth Mouth Xiang Ping Cao Gong Zhen Yan, Si Li San Chu Shen Gong Zhen Hui Lin, Don't Drive Zhongzhou Li Gong Zhen Xiang, Sam Rong Yuan Gong Zhen Cheng, Li Gong Zhen Fang, county Ling Jin Tai Gao Gong Zhen Xiao Xiao Xiao Xiao. Is it possible to be unsociable and unsophisticated, and the corpse is blessed? Oh shit! Why can you not be for Zhiye, respect for Zhizhi, and use the table to come to Zi.
Yikes
The thirteenth year of the Great Qing Shunzhi was the second time to shen Mengxia Gudan.
The inscription recounts the rebuilding of the city after the Jiang Huan Mutiny in the early Qing Dynasty, the slaughter of Datong by Qing soldiers, and the abandonment of the city for five years. Jiang Huan, commander-in-chief of Datong at the end of the Ming Dynasty. The Qing army entered the pass, first surrendered and then rebelled, causing a mutiny throughout Shanxi. Because the incident occurred in the fifth year of Shunzhi (1648), it was the year of Pengzi, so the history said: "The change of Pengzi" o At that time, the Qing court transferred soldiers and horses from all walks of life to conquest, with little success. In February of the following year, the regent Dolgun unified the internal and external armies in a personal conquest. Helplessly, Datong City was strong and strong, and it could not be attacked for a long time, and the Qing army lost soldiers and generals. In July, Dorgon marched for the second time, and the Manchu, Han, and Mongolian Eight Banners soldiers gathered in Datong, fought bloody battles day and night, and could not be attacked. In August, the city ran out of food, and a large number of soldiers and civilians starved to death, and Jiang Huan's general Yang Zhenwei and other soldiers beheaded Qiong Qiong and opened the door to offer the city. At the Battle of Datong, the Qing soldiers suffered heavy casualties, and the imperial court was furious and angry, and Dolgun ordered that "Twenty-three members of Yang Zhenwei and his family members and 600 soldiers should be beheaded, all of whom were retained and brought to Beijing." The rest of the rebellious officials, soldiers, and people did their best to do their best to cut the Datong City Wall to five feet,......"For a time, the blood in Datong City flowed like a river, corpses were strewn everywhere, and the Golden City Tangchi was suddenly in ruins. At the same time, the rule of Datong Province was moved to the nearby Yanghewei and renamed Yanghefu.
However, because Datong was the key to inner Mongolia's traffic into Shanxi and Hebei, it was "the right arm of Shenjing, the key to the north gate, and the gateway to the country's domain", so in the eighth year of Shunzhi, the fuzhi was moved back to Datong. Thus, there was the above-mentioned move to rebuild the town.
In the "Monument to the Reconstruction of Datong Town", not only the important position of Datong City, the causes of the destruction of the city, the origin and process of the repair of the city are described, but also the list of officials involved in the construction of the project is listed, including "Xiangping Cao Gong Zhenyan". Cao Zhenyan was the prefect of Datong at the time. This inscription not only records his participation in the reconstruction of Datong City, but also reveals a lot of information about other aspects of him, which is a rare physical material for studying Cao Xueqin's family lineage and deeply interpreting "Dream of the Red Chamber", and its value cannot be underestimated.
2. Authoritative evidence about Cao Xueqin's ancestral origin
The family lineage of Cao Xueqin, the author of "Dream of the Red Chamber", is a focus of red studies, and the issue of ancestry is one of the focal points. The Reconstruction of the Datong Town Monument provides extremely valuable evidence in this regard and is extremely convincing in clarifying the current controversy over ancestral origin.
Cao Xueqin's ancestral home, to put it bluntly, is the place of origin of his high ancestor Cao Zhenyan. Cao Zhenyan's place of origin who provided the most accurate, of course, it is the most accurate provided by myself. "Rebuilding the City Monument of Datong Town" just solves this problem. The inscription clearly reads "Xiangping Cao Zhenyan", and Cao Zhenyan was at his time and in the matter, and the origin of this inscription may also be related to him (discussed later), and this place of origin is provided by him personally. This is completely consistent with most of the historical materials we see today, such as the records of various official records about Cao Zhenyan's tenure, such as the "Biography of Cao Xi" during the Kangxi Dynasty, and all of them belong to the first authoritative historical materials.
Xiangping, the ancient name of present-day Liaoyang City, Liaoning Province, has been studied in the field of historiography and red studies, and will not be repeated here. Here is just one supplementary proof. There is also a person whose origin is "Xiangping" in the inscription, that is, the former governor Ma Mingpei. The "Qing History Manuscript Li Qifeng Ma Mingpei Biography" contains:
"Ma Mingpei, Zi Runfu, Liaoyang people, Ben guan Shandong Penglai." His predecessor was the deputy general of Liaodong Baoyi, because he occupied liaodong zuowei. Qi Feng and Ming Pei both returned from various lives, and they were taizong and were on the literary hall. In the first year of Chongde, the ministers of the Wenguan were screened, and the qifeng and Mingpei were listed in the second class, and given to people and livestock. The Han military flag was formulated and the red flag was attached. ...... Ming Pei, Tiancong three years, The Ministry of Works Qi XinLang... Shunzhi... Ten years, changed to governor barn waiter. In February of the eleventh year, he was ordered to serve as the left attendant of the army and the right deputy capital, Yushi, the governor of Xuan, Da, and Shanxi, and persuaded him to reclaim Xuanfu and Datong Wasteland for more than 3,000 hectares. ...... In October, he added shangshu to the army and moved to Jiangnan and Jiangxi. ”
Ma Mingpei was a high-ranking official and high-ranking official of the Feudal Frontier, and it was clearly stated in the Draft History of the Qing Dynasty that he was a "Liaoyang man", which should be reliable. In the early Qing Dynasty, the governor was mostly a Han chinese scholar, who was in charge of the military affairs of the province. At that time, the Governor's Palace of Xuanda Shanxi was located in Datong, and the Viceroy mainly commanded the three general soldiers of Xuanfu (present-day Xuanhua, Zhangjiakou), Datong, and Taiyuan, and was responsible for the border defense of northwest Beijing. The Viceroy of Xuanda Shanxi was an inter-provincial military officer, roughly equivalent to the commander of today's Grand Military Region. At that time, Ma Mingpei and Cao Zhenyan were superior and subordinate. In the inscription, only the two of them clearly signed "Xiangping", which shows that they are indeed Liaoyang people. In the inscription, both are signed with ancient place names, which is a kind of elegance. This situation is more popular even in contemporary times. The connection and contrast between this stele and the Cao Zhenyan contained in the "Monument to the Treasure of the Golden Lama" and the "Monument to the Rebuilding of the Jade Emperor Temple" in Liaoyang, which have long been discovered, further indicate that he is undoubtedly a Liaoyang person. Some people have denied that Cao Zhenyan is a Liaoyang native because not all of the characters contained in the previous two steles, but the "Record of rebuilding the city monument of Datong Town" answers this question unequivocally. Cao Zhenyan is a Liaoyang person, and there is all evidence, if you have doubts or even oppose such a large amount of cultural relics evidence, it is not a realistic attitude of learning.
Nowadays, in the examination of Cao Xueqin's ancestral home, there are "three Han" and "Tieling" theories, the root of which is that the Qing Dynasty Han Ying's "Youhuaitang Anthology weaving Cao Makes Junshou Order" says that "three Han Cao makes junzi qing". Ziqing is a character for Cao Yin, the grandson of Cao Zhenyan and the ancestor of Cao Xueqin. Some people follow this to prove that the "three Koreas" are Tieling, so Cao Yin is the Tieling people, and naturally Cao Xueqin's ancestral home is Tieling. In this way, the already complicated issue of Cao's place of origin is even more confusing. Fortunately, this question can also be answered correctly in the "Reconstruction of the City Monument of Datong Town".
"Xiangping" and "Three Koreas" appear on a stele at the same time, and both of them are provided by the person concerned himself, which is the only thing seen in the current inscription, which creates extremely convenient conditions for us to clarify this problem. There are two "Xiangping" books and four "three Korean" books listed in the same stele, which at least indicate two meanings: First, "Xiangping" and "Three Koreas" are not the same place, the two are clearly distinguished, they are two concepts, two categories, can not be confused. Even if "Three Koreas" is a regional concept, it does not include "Xiangping", at least in the early Qing Dynasty, otherwise these six people can sign "Three Koreas". Their failure to do so shows that there is a strict distinction between the two. Second, Cao Zhenyan signed "Xiangping", indicating that in his thinking, the concept and scope of "Xiangping" and "Three Koreas" are clear and distinct, and in front of many simultaneous "Three Han" people, especially in front of Ma Zhixian, the governor who is much higher than him and directly leads him, he clearly and plainly states that he has nothing to do with the "Three Koreas"; But if there is a slight connection, why not have fun with your boss? From this, it can be said with complete certainty that the claim that the "Three Koreas" are the ancestral home of the Cao family cannot be established at all.
Regarding the "three Koreas", it is also worth mentioning here, because there are actually four people whose nationality is "three Koreas" in the inscription, which is simply a big gathering of "three Koreans". If the "three Koreas" are indeed the names of a city, a state, or a county, it seems that many officers from one place and another of different heights are gathered in one place and one thing at once, it cannot be said that it is completely impossible, but it always makes people suspicious. A search of the chronicle found that the origins of these four people were still different. The specific situation is: Ma Zhixian, the "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty" this biography:
"The Han army is a man with a blue flag, who was originally from Jinzhouwei. At the beginning of the Shunzhi Dynasty, he was granted the state of Changping Zhizhou by zhusheng. Four moved to Huguang to distribute political envoys. For seven years, he was appointed as the Governor of the West of Shaanxi (Jiangsu). ...... In the eleventh year, Liu Erhu and Hao Weiqi of the Zicheng Yu Party entered Shaanxi Province, and first they and Zhao Guangxing, the commander-in-chief of Hanxing, attacked three times, broke xiaoguangyu village, beheaded its general Fu Qi, and moved to the governor of Shanxi. Thirteen years later, the governor of Shaanxi and the governor of Shaanxi, Shang Shu of the Jiabing Department, ,...... "Peng Youde, recorded in the Records of the Ancestors of the Qing Dynasty on the eighth day of the first month of November in the eleventh year of Shunzhi," yiyang and the deputy general Peng Youde were in charge of the general military officers. Qianlong's "Chronicle of Datong Province" volume 11 "Zhen Shou Datong Commander-in-Chief" article: "Liaodong people, generals, Shunzhi eleven years of office, detailed eunuch traces." Liu Xinghan, Qianlong's "Chronicle of Datong Province," volume 11, "Yanghe Bingbei Dao": "A native of Liaodong, Shunzhi took office in the year." Guangxu's "Shanxi Tongzhi" volume 13 "Official Genealogy IV" contains: "Yanghe Bingbei Dao, initially stationed in Yanghe City, later moved to Datong Province, Kangxi six years of cutting." There are... Liu Xinghan, a native of Shengjing. Liu Chaofu, Guangxu "Shanxi Tongzhi" volume 13 "Official Genealogy IV" contains: "Taiyuan Xiezhen deputy general, stationed in Taiyuan Province. Shunzhi was established in two years and cut in ten years. The old zhi has Liu Chaofu, a Shengjing person. "Here, only Ma Zhixian's place of origin is clear and specific, that is, Jinzhouwei. Jinzhou, at the southern tip of the present-day Liaodong Peninsula, was first named in the fourth year of the Jin Dynasty (1216), see The Geographical Chronicle of the History of Jin. During the reign of Ming Hongwu, Jinzhou was renamed JinzhouWei and its seat of government was in jinzhou district of present-day Dalian. The other three, either "Liaodong" or "Shengjing", are not specified. Judging from these data, these four people are not born in a state or a county, and their so-called "three Koreas" is a regional big concept, a face, not a point. If you have to determine the geographical area of the "Three Koreas", take the first horse in the inscription as an example, the Liaodong Peninsula is not only the Tieling area that some researchers have examined. The term "three Koreas" later had a tendency to expand its use, so Liu Tinggong, a Qing dynasty, criticized people at that time for abusing the word "three Koreas", and han Ying also belonged to this list. From this, it can be concluded that it is inappropriate to use "three Koreas" to refer to a certain city, a certain state, and a certain county. It is futile to examine Cao Xueqin's ancestral home on the basis of the "Three Koreas", and it will never lead to correct results.
"Tieling Theory" is a theory that has emerged in recent years, based on the first is that "Xiangping" is "Tieling"; the second is that the "Three Koreas" mentioned above are "Tieling". Regarding the ancient name of Xiangping as Liaoyang, history clearly states that many people who oppose Liaoyang's saying "do not deny it, but some people want to use some second- and third-hand materials to tortuously examine it, and they have to say that Xiangping is Tieling, which is completely an appendage and a misinterpretation." As to whether "Three Koreas" refers specifically to "Tieling", we have made it clear before and will not repeat it. Here, according to the "Reconstruction of the Datong Town City Monument" a little elaboration, it can also prove that Cao Xueqin's ancestral home is definitely not Tieling. There is a person named Li Yufang in the inscription, who did not sign his place of origin, perhaps because his official position was too small. Zha "Yunzhong County Chronicle" volume 5 "Xinping Road Counselor General" article: "Li Yufang, a Tieling native, served in the eighth year of Shunzhi." The Chronicle of Yunzhong County was written by Hu Wenyan, who served as the prefect of Datong from the seventh to the ninth year of Shunzhi, and he was named after the establishment of the prefecture at that time compared with the ancient county. Li Yufang was a subordinate of Hu Wenfeng, and he arrived in office a year before Zhi Xiucheng, so his place of origin must have been provided directly by himself, clear and specific, and very reliable. In this way, we combine the inscription with the county chronicle to see that Cao Zhenyan and Li Yufang are not people in the same place, and it is very certain. The most reliable first-hand information provided by themselves is Xiangping, that is, Liaoyang; One is The Iron Ridge, clear and unrelated. Therefore, it would not work to pull Cao Zhenyan hard toward Tieling.
The above situation shows that the "Reconstruction of the Datong Town City Monument" provides very rare physical materials for the study of Cao Xueqin's ancestral home. It is rare, not only that it clearly contains the historical materials of Cao Zhenyan, but more importantly, it also involves three issues that have been debated endlessly in the study of red studies on the stele: Xiangping, Sanhan, and Tieling; And irrefutably proves that Cao Zhenyan is a native of Liaoyang, and Cao Xueqin's ancestral home is in Liaoyang. The so-called "Fengrun Theory" and "Tieling Theory" are untenable, and they have no meaning for Cao Xueqin's creation of "Dream of the Red Chamber". Regarding the dispute over Cao Xueqin's ancestral homeland, a clear conclusion should be drawn.
Third, Datong is an important turning point in the Cao family's development
Cao Zhenyan is a pioneer of the Cao family's fame and wealth, and it is his achievements that have laid the foundation for the Cao family's nearly one hundred years of "great glory". In his lifetime, datong's experience has a decisive significance.
In the process of inspecting the "Reconstruction of the Monument to the Town of Datong", we found that Cao Zhenyan and Datong had a deep relationship. The Records of Emperor Taizong of the Qing Dynasty, vol. 18: ',' Morgen Dai Qing Belle Dor's decline under the subordinates of the Drum Bull Record Zhang Jing Cao Zhenyan, because of his merits, added half a future. "It is very clear that Cao Zhenyan was a subordinate of Dolgun at that time. This historical record is between March and May of Tiancong's eighth year (1643.4-6). Shortly thereafter, in July, Emperor Taiji led a large army across the Great Wall and invaded the Xuanda region of the Ming Dynasty, and Dorgon's Zhengbai Banner soldiers were also among the conscripts. Book 19 of the same book: "Heshuo Morgen Daiqing Bele dolgun, Erke Chuhuer Bele Dolgun, and Bele Azig marched into Baozhou, conquered its city, killed its garrison, took a few village forts along the way, and met with the city of Yingzhou." "Bao'an Prefecture, then part of Xuanhua Province; Ying prefecture, under the jurisdiction of Datong Province, is about 100 miles south of Datong City. On August 15 (6 September 1634), "The upper rate and the so-yo Murgen Daiqing Bele Dolgun, Erkchuhur Bele Dordor, Belle Haug ... Wait for the elite soldiers to look at Datong City,...... Up to Datong, Li Nangang ,......". Emperor Taizong of the Qing Dynasty did not conquer Datong City this time, but only captured a few prefectures and counties in Xuan and Da provinces, and retreated after plundering. What we want to point out here is that the white flag "Qigu Niu Lu Zhang Jing Cao Zhenyan" under the command of Dorgon must also be in the army. That is to say, as early as the eighth year of Tiancong, Datong had left Cao Zhenyan's footprints.
In the fifth year of Shunzhi (1648), Jiang Huan's change, in February of the following year, "ordered the regent President Dolgun to conquer Datong" (Records of the Ancestors of the Qing Dynasty, vol. 42), so that Cao Zhenyan's second conquest of Datong. As mentioned above, the Battle of Datong was extremely tragic and was one of the most difficult battles in the battle after the Qing army entered the customs. In the second year after the campaign (the seventh year of Shunzhi), Cao Zhenyan was appointed as the Governor of Jizhou in Pingyang Province, Shanxi. For Cao Zhenyan, this is a new turning point, that is, from the military to the local official, and is the chief official of the ruling side, in today's parlance, this is called "promotion and reuse". In its original country, I analyzed two things: First, the Jiang Huan Rebellion affected the whole province of Shanxi, and all places except for the city of Taiyuan rebelled. After the gradual pacification, the local government needs a large number of officials. Therefore, it is necessary for the situation to send some officials from the military to local posts. Second, Cao Zhenyan fought bravely in the Battle of Datong, had outstanding achievements, and was a Manchu Han Chinese, plus he also had a "Gongsheng" qualification, so he naturally belonged to the best candidate. It can be said that the Battle of Datong provided Cao Zhenyan with a rare opportunity, and Datong was his place of achievement.
In the second year, in the spring of the ninth year of Shunzhi (1652), Cao Zhenyan was promoted to the prefect of Datong. This extremely rapid promotion does not exclude his achievements in Jizhou, but it is also related to Datong's military achievements. Because of the eight years of Shunzhi's blessing to pro-government, "The general merits of Datong were promoted to a poor level", and in the following year Cao Zhenyan was promoted to Datong. Although the details are not recorded in history, it is not accidental that he is partial to Datong's appointment, and it must be related to this "meritorious service" and "promotion".
Cao Zhenyan has been in office in Datong for nearly four years, four years is not a short time, and it is at a time when Datong City is in ruins and waiting to be rebuilt, during which he cannot fail to do nothing. Judging from the information conveyed by this "Record of rebuilding the city monument of Datong Town", Cao Zhenyan's political achievements in Datong should be better than his military achievements. First, although Cao Zhenyan's rank in the inscription is low, and his role is in the list of "those who donate and lose money and share the trouble", it seems to be a less important role, but this is not the whole truth. The project is to repair the destroyed city of Datong, the city pool is mainly a military facility, and it is inevitable that the court and the person who presided over the project, mainly the military chief, was also inevitable. But as the supreme administrator of Datong Province, he will never be an insignificant marginal figure in such a major matter. The motion to repair the city must first be addressed to the prefect Cao Zhenyan. Although he had his share in the massacre of Datong, now that he was an official of the imperial court and Datong City was his main territory, he was more urgent than anyone else to restore the city and re-establish the gate. The arrival of the governor and the inspector must have been the first to report to his superiors on the necessity and urgency of rebuilding Datong City (Peng Youde was the first general after the mutiny, established later, in the eleventh year of Shunzhi). Second, the construction of the city is a huge project, and "the cost of molded grain and the resources of the plate" must not be in the minority. Although it is true that the inscription mainly relies on officials to "donate their own money" and "embarrass themselves and comfort the people", although it is a fact, it also has an element of reputation. In fact, it is inevitable that the local official Cao Zhenyan will be responsible for raising grain and raising funds, which reveals a little news in the phrase "the masses help but do not have any help". The "group helpers" are also funded by the crowd, not only a few officials; those who are "unscrupulous" do not hurt, but this is the words of the fundraisers, and the pain is not painful only known to the funders. Third, the inscription reads "Jin Shi Di, Hubu Henan Qing Official Si Lang Zhong, Junren Xie Yuancai Wrote" O According to Guangxu "Shanxi Tongzhi" volume 20 "Gongju Spectrum VII": Xie Yuancai, Shunzhi Three Years Chengshu Ke Jinshi, Datong Fu "Shuozhou Ren, Hubu Langzhong, Chong Ding You, Sichuan Zheng Examiner, Lichi Prefecture Governor. "Ask this eunuch's Datong Jinshi to compose an essay, and the prefect Cao Zhenyan is most likely to be selected and recommended, and he will write or introduce the project in person, and the possibility of participating in the drafting and finalization of the inscription is also the greatest; In the text, it is also reasonable to avoid saying one's own merits for the sake of the superior's praises. Fourth, the inscription reads: "Looking at this Wucheng, compared to the Wu Palace and the Jin Room, bowing to the grass, for the field of fox ghosts, the five readings of spring and autumn." That is to say, when Cao Zhenyan Shunzhi arrived in office in the ninth year, Datong City was still a desolate and terrifying scene. The "Chronicle of Yunzhong County" records a long poem by Liu Guoqin, the head of the Grain Household Department, "Re-entering the Clouds", which describes the situation in Datong City at that time, and here is a paragraph:
Seeing this tragic situation, Cao Zhenyan, who had the responsibility of guarding the land, would never be indifferent, and he would not be able to serve as an official in the "Field of Ghost Foxes". Therefore, it was his urgent task to clean up the rubble, restore the street market, repair the office, attract people, and develop the economy. The painstaking efforts and labor he put into this regard can be imagined. From the ninth year of his reign to the twelfth year of his reign to the restoration of the city, he has achieved initial results in restoring and developing the local social economy, as evidenced by the so-called "agriculture in the wilderness", "business in the city", and "shi'an in the room" in the inscription. By the time he left office in the thirteenth year, it can be said that Datong had basically restored the image and vitality of the capital city. From this point of view, Cao Zhenyan has made important contributions to the restoration and construction of Datong, which can be described as "meritorious service, really immortal", "the people of this city are also created". Cao Zhenyan's re-promotion and his post in the wealthy Jiangnan were a fat difference of "The Salt Transport Envoy of the Two Zhejiang Provinces", which was also a direct result of his military achievements in Datong. For Cao Zhenyan and the Cao family, this is a very crucial step and a historic leap. The "Salt Transport Envoy" was an enviable and important position that combined high-ranking officials and Houlu, and it was rare for non-imperial court followers to hold this position. It can be said that at this time, Cao Zhenyan had gained the trust of the Shunzhi Emperor and became one of the favorites.
Another important figure in the Cao family was Cao Xi, the son of Cao Zhenyan. The "Biography of Cao Xi," written in the 23rd year of the Kangxi Dynasty, says: "To supplement the rank of the bodyguard, he accompanied Wang Shizheng to the right of the mountain, and Emperor Shizuzhang was promoted to the second rank of the inner court." His "rank of replenishing the guard" has his personal efforts, but it also depends on his father's shadow. He was "pulled into the second class of the inner court", that is, to serve at the emperor's side, mainly due to "following Wang Shizheng to the right of the mountain". Zhengshan right, that is, Zheng Shanxi, Zheng Datong. At that time, the father and son of the Cao family fought together in Datong, which was also a good story, and Cao Xi's promotion was more important, which allowed him to get close to the royal family. Cao Xi's wife, Sun Shi, was elected to the palace in the eleventh year of Shunzhi and became the nursing mother of the newborn Kangxi Emperor Xuanyan, the details of which have not yet been examined, but they are directly related to Cao Xi's service to the inner court. After that, Cao Xi also "promoted the Ministry of Internal Engineering", "In the second year of the Kangxi Dynasty, the special Jane supervised Jiangning Weaving." (Kangxi,"Biography of Cao Xi in the Chronicle of Jiangning Province"). That is to say, Cao Xi had also received special credit in the Shunzhi Dynasty; After the Kangxi Dynasty, the Cao family became more and more prominent because the Sun clan was once the nursing mother of the saints, and it flourished for a time.
In summary, the promotion and reuse of the two key figures of the Cao family, Cao Zhenyan and Cao Xi, have a very close relationship with Datong, and since then, the Cao family has climbed all the way, prepared for great wealth and glory, and has become a famous and prestigious family and eunuchs. Mr. Feng Qiyong said in "Introduction to the Dream of the Red Chamber", "Liaoyang is the birthplace of Cao Xueqin's ancestors" Then, it is reasonable to say that Datong is an important turning point in the Cao family's development.