The famous northern Song Dynasty minister Bao Zheng was praised by posterity for his selflessness and fearlessness of power. In literary works, Bao Zheng asked for the people's lives, repeatedly solved strange cases, and was a representative of the Ancient Chinese Qing officials, who was called "Bao Qingtian" by posterity. However, in history, Bao Zheng is not a case-solving wizard, nor will he participate in the adjudication of cases.
For many years, Bao Zheng held the position of imperial history and other positions in the Imperial Yuan, and his duties were mainly to correct the mistakes of administration, the mistakes of the emperor and officials, and the impeachment of ministers was also one of the main tasks of the Court. The Song Dynasty was a dynasty ruled by literature, and the literati were very free of speech, and as long as officials committed misconduct, the imperial history of the Imperial Court could be impeached. During his time in the court, Bao Zheng repeatedly impeached the prime minister, the emperor's relatives and relatives of the state, and also went to the court to correct the mistakes of Song Renzong, which can be described as selfless with an iron face.
In ancient times, the emperor was afraid of officials from forming parties in private, because forming a party would be selfish, which would inevitably cause party strife, affect the government of the dynasty, and pose a threat to imperial power. However, the formation of parties was widespread, and even in the era of Emperor Renzong of Song, the politics of the imperial court were relatively clear, and the formation of parties could not be avoided. Fan Zhongyan, Ouyang Xiu, and others formed a party in a just and just manner when they carried out the New Deal for celebrating the calendar, and eventually they also failed to change the law because of the party.
However, once officials form a party, they are bound to be unable to maintain a fair and fair stance, and even no matter how clean and honest an official is, they will not be able to maintain integrity after forming a party. Bao Zheng was incorruptible all his life, and in the eyes of many people, he would not participate in the party, and he would not even have a few close friends. In Bao Zheng's official career, although Bao Zheng has been recommended several times, he has indeed never been belittled by his friends.
Bao Zheng believed that the partisan party was a great trouble for the country, and he once wrote to Song Renzong: "Therefore, if you enter a wise man, you will know that the friends will help each other; if you retreat from a mediocre talent, you will also know that the friends and the party are jealous." Thus the righteous man stammered his tongue, was loyal and calm, did not dare to speak out, and made it clear that he was admonished, which was the greatest trouble for the country. This letter was written in the second year of Emperor Yu (1050), when Emperor Renzong of Song, because he favored Zhang Guifei, wanted to give Zhang Guifei's uncle Zhang Yao zuosheng palace, and Bao Zheng and another court official, Tang Jie, advised him to stop it. Tang Jie also impeached the then chancellor Wen Yanbo, and caused Wen Yanbo to be demoted from the capital, along with Yushi Wukui. Wu Kui and Bao Zheng belonged to the same court, and Bao Zheng had proposed to Song Renzong that Tang Jie's impeachment was a random impeachment, which made Song Renzong think that Bao Zheng and Wu Kui had deliberately married Wen Yanbo. It just so happened that Wen Yanbo, Wu Kui, and Bao Zheng were all jinshi in the fifth year of Tiansheng (1027), which was a friendship in the same year. Therefore, some people in later generations think that Bao Zheng, Wen Yanbo, and Wu Kui are already forming a party.
"Continuation of the Zhizhi TongJianChang Editor": Xin Ugly, with the Privy Council Deputy Envoy, Liang Shi in the Matter, and the Hanlin Scholar Chengzhi and the Zhizhi Wang Yaochen as the Privy Councillor Deputy Envoy. Wu Kui, a living quartersman and a zhizhiyuan, went out of The Secret State. Bao Zheng played Beg Liu Kui and said: "Tang Jie played the minister and used Zhongkui to slander Tianwen. Emperor Yue: "Jie Yesterday's Words Kui and Zheng Are Yin Jie Wen Yan Bo, and looking at this performance now, it is not false." ”
In fact, this is a fallacy, and there are three reasons for this: 1. Tang Jie did not impeach Bao Zheng. When Tang Jie advised Song Renzong, Song Renzong shirked that Zhang Yaozuo's appointment was under Zhongshu Province, and Tang Jie turned to impeaching Wen Yanbo, saying that Wen Yanbo, Wu Kui, and Zhang Yaozuo had formed a party, and if Bao Zheng was also involved, with Tang Jie's character, he would never fail to impeach Bao Zheng. 2. The fact that Wen Yanbo and Wu Kui are degraded does not mean that they are necessarily in a party. Tang Jie attacked Wen Yanbo for befriending a noble concubine with Shu Jin, and angrily attacked the party, and Wu Kui was implicated. When Wen Yanbo paid his second visit, someone recommended Tang Jie, and Wen Yanbo once said that Tang Jie had heard about his initial impeachment. In fact, wen Yanbo may have befriended a noble concubine with Shu Jin, and it was Tang Jie who had heard of the party. 3. The main content of Bao Zheng's sonata is not a partisan. At that time, Bao Zheng gave Song Renzong a total of 7 suggestions to Song Renzong on the "Seven Things of Speech", including listening to and adopting, cherishing talents, and not insisting on preconceptions, etc., and arguing that the friend party was only one of them. I am afraid that Bao Zheng felt that just because he was the same year as Wu Kui and had a good relationship, he was considered to be a party, which was too arbitrary. This shows that Bao Zheng was extremely dissatisfied with the customs of some officials in the imperial court who casually accused others of being friends.
"History of Song": Except for the Tianzhang Pavilion to be made, the Zhizhiyuan. Number Theory rebukes the Minister of Power, please dismiss all internal removal of Qu En. He also listed Tang Wei Zheng Gong Sanshu, willing to sit on the right, thinking that it was a turtle. He also said that the Son of Heaven should listen clearly, discern friends and the party, cherish talents, and do not preconceived the lord, and do all seven things; please be mean, or take chances, and punish the righteous and forbidden, abstain from doing things, and forbid delusions. The imperial court practiced it a lot.
In fact, the relationship between Bao Zheng and Wen Yanbo has always been criticized by posterity as a party, and historical records have recorded the relationship between the two many times: 1. The two were in the same year; 2. It is said that Wen Yanbo recommended Bao Zheng; 3. The two were the relatives of their children; 4. Wen Yanbo recommended Bao Zheng's son Bao Shou in his later years.
After Bao Zheng and Wen Yanbo became chinese soldiers, their official careers were different, Wen Yanbo's career path rose steadily, and Bao Zheng asked to return to his hometown as an official for the sake of filial piety, and even resigned from the official at one time. In April of the seventh year of the Qing calendar (1047), Wen Yanbo returned to worship xiang, and Bao Zheng returned to the imperial court in the second year of the emperor (1050), which was the first time that Bao Zheng and Wen Yanbo had intersected in the official field, and the two were both officials in the capital. Therefore, I think that before the second year of the Emperor Yu (1050), the relationship between Bao Zheng and Wen Yanbo was average, and after that, the two were in the capital, and it was the same year, and the exchanges became more and the relationship was relatively close.
When it comes to the person who recommended Bao Zheng as an official, it seems that there is no Wen Yanbo. Bao Zheng had three obvious promotions, one for the third year of the Qing calendar (1043) by Wang Gongchen to be recommended to the capital as an inspector of imperial history, which was the first time Bao Zheng entered the capital as an official. Once in the second year of Zhihe (1055), Bao Zheng was demoted to Chizhou for improperly recommending others, at the end of the same year, Song Renzong suddenly fell ill, Bao Zheng Song Renzong offered a box of Chinese herbal medicine Shi Changpu, Song Renzong was grateful for his kindness, and Ouyang Xiu wrote a letter of commendation to Bao Zheng. The following year, because of the flooding, Ouyang Xiu played "On the Flood Disaster Again" to Song Renzong and recommended Bao Zheng to Song Renzong, who was wen Yanbo at that time. Bao Zheng was promoted to prefect of Jiangning, and returned to Beijing as the prefect of Kaifeng in the same year. Although Ouyang Xiu recommended Bao Zheng, his relationship with Bao Zheng was not good, and later when Bao Zheng impeached Zhang Fangping and Song Qi as envoys to the Three Divisions, Ouyang Xiu once wrote "On Bao Zheng's Removal of the Three Divisions envoys to the Book", scolding Bao Zheng for "being like a saver, rarely filial piety, smelling in the countryside, having a straight section in the evening, and writing in the imperial court, but his learning was not deep, his thinking was not familiar, and he was obedient, and his people were also a pity." That's a very ugly thing to say.
Another time was when Bao Zheng impeached Zhang Fangping and Song Qi in the fourth year of Jiayou (1059) and was appointed as the third envoy, but Wen Yanbo was deposed in June of the third year of Jiayou (1058 AD) and transferred out of Beijing to Henan Province. It can be seen from this that although Bao Zheng was promoted many times in his career as an official, it was mainly because of the trust of Song Renzong, rather than Wen Yanbo's secret contribution.
As for bao zheng and Wen Yanbo's marriage to their children' families, it has little to do with Bao Zheng. Bao Zheng's son Bao Shou (包绶) was born in the second year of Jiayou (1057 AD), and Bao Zheng died in the seventh year of Jiayou (1062 AD). Bao Shou first married Zhang Shi, the daughter of Zhang Tian of Luzhou Zhizhou, and then Zhang Shi died early, and Bao Shou married Wen Yanbo's daughter. Later, Wen Yanbo recommended Bao Shou to Emperor Zhezong of Song as an official.
It can be seen from this that Bao Zheng's previous promotions were not helped by Wen Yanbo, and Bao Zheng did not help Wen Yanbo in any way, and the two just had a good relationship. After Bao Zheng's death, Wen Yanbo cared about friendship and took more care of Bao Zheng's wife.
The party struggle in the Northern Song Dynasty was very fierce, and the vast majority of officials were involved in party struggle, and all of them were promoted because of party struggle, and were demoted because of party struggle. Bao Zheng's life was upright, frank, and strictly restrained his personal relationships, in order to ensure that he would be honest and honest all his life. Literature and art prevailed in the Northern Song Dynasty, and literati usually befriended works, such as poetry, music, painting, etc. Bao Zhengjin was born, and the literary level would not be bad, but unfortunately he was not obsessed with literature, and even the works that were passed down to future generations did not, so his circle of friends was much smaller. However, people live in groups after all, and no matter how much Bao Zheng restrains himself, he will always have several close friends, such as Wen Yanbo and Wu Kui. Because personal relations are good, they sometimes help each other in the official arena, which is also normal. Bao Zheng spoke for Wen Yanbo and Wu Kui, just as a friendship of friends, but he never violated the laws of the country or sought private interests, and had nothing to do with forming a party.