Opened in 1415, Qingjiangpu was a well-known and prosperous transportation hub, grain storage and commercial city along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal during the Ming and Qing dynasties, and has a history of 600 years.
(Qingjiangpu is the ancient name of the two districts of Qinghe and Qingpu, the main urban area of Huai'an City, Jiangsu Province, "the canal capital of China")
There are many interesting stories circulating in the Qingjiangpu area, among which Wu Tang inadvertently planted willows and the story of Cixi Zhi'en Tu bao is one of the more well-known.
"The Story of Qingjiangpu, Wu Tang and Empress Dowager Cixi", Jiangsu Local History, No. 5, 2013)
The story of The Qinghe (Tangu Jin according to the non-Hebei Qinghe) County ordered Wu Tang to mistakenly send silver to Empress Dowager Cixi, which occurred at the place where the boat was moored on the downstream of the south bank of the Qingjiang Gate. Empress Dowager Cixi's name was Lan'er, and her father's name was Huizheng, who had been a compensatory Daoist in Anhui, but due to bad luck, she had not been able to fill the vacancy for several years, and her economy was tense and her life was difficult. Wu Tang and Hui Zheng are friendly and often help each other. When Lan Er was ten years old, he was praised by Wu Tang and gave two or two pieces of silver as a greeting gift, and lan er often came and went in Wu Yu after that. Mr. and Mrs. Wu Tang are caring and compassionate, and often give gifts. At the beginning of the first year of the Qing Dynasty, Wu Tang was transferred to Qinghe County and lived in the county of Qingjiangpu. However, Huizheng did not get promoted, became ill with sorrow, had no money to treat his illness, and died of illness in Anhui. Mrs. Hui took her second daughter and one son, and she was helpless. Because her younger siblings were young, Lan Er pleaded with the flag officials, and Fang gathered several pieces of silver to buy a coffin for his father and hire a boat to help him return home. Passing through Qingjiangpu, Lan Er consulted with her mother and squeezed out some silver to make the boatman go ashore to shop. Besides, Wu Tang was appointed to Qinghe and did not hear the news of Huizheng's death. It happened that there was a deputy general of Anhui who died in office, and the ship passed through Qingjiangpu, and Wu Tang got the news and hurriedly sent someone to send gifts and silver. Because this deputy general and Wu Tang were friends with Mo Rebellion, Wu Tang originally had no special skills, and it was only by relying on this person's help that he was able to get good messengers one after another. Transferred to Qinghe, it is also this person who secretly contributed. The messenger came to the Qingjiang Pu berthing boat, Lang Sheng looked for the Anhui funeral ship, Lan Er suddenly remembered Wu Tang, came forward to answer, the messenger misidentified the boat, entered the ship to salute, offered three hundred and two silver, Mrs. Hui turned sorrow into joy, Lan Er wrote back a "thank you" word, and dropped the "orphan Gui Xiang weeping blood audit head", handed it to the person to bring back. Mrs. Hui was short of money and had very little shopping, at this time she got silver, and sent the boat to renew the purchase, and was about to start the ship, the messenger rushed to stop, saying that she had sent the wrong silver two, and Lan Er wrote another one, so that the boatman and the messenger went together to explain the situation. It turned out that the word "Guixiang" in the previous Xie book was the name of Lan Er's younger brother, and Wu Tang did not remember it. Seeing that the messenger sent the wrong silver two, he was furious and ordered the messenger to recover the silver gift, but thanks to the planning of the curtain friend, he ordered the messenger to come again to find out the situation. Wu Tang learned the truth, and also felt that he should give gifts, although he spent more silver, he simply made a mistake, came to the berthing place, boarded the ship to mourn, and took out some silver and gave Gui Xiang pocket money. Mrs. Hui and Lan Er thanked each other and sent them to shore. With this silver, Lan Er not only did not have to worry about his father's funeral funds, but also spared a lot of travel hardships. Lan Er said to her younger sister, "If one of the three of us is successful, we must not forget The Great Grace of Wu Gong." ”
This story also goes on, that is, after Lan Erfuling returned to Beijing this time, she was selected to enter the palace, and after being fortunate, she was made a noble and concubine by the Xianfeng Emperor, and Xianfeng was named Yi Concubine in the sixth year because of the birth of a prince (later the Tongzhi Emperor), and was promoted to Yi Guifei the following year. At that time, the Xianfeng Emperor was hesitant to enjoy pleasures and was ill and ignored the government, so many of the chapters were approved by Yi Guifei. When the Xianfeng Emperor died, the Tongzhi Emperor was only 6 years old, and his mother, Guiyi Guifei, was honored as the Empress Dowager (Western Empress), and after the Coup d'état of Xin You, the Western Empress and the Eastern Empress dowager listened to the government, and the Prince Gong and the military chancellor of bingzheng were interested in secretly cooperating with the Western Empress Dowager's continuous reward for Wu Tang's promotion.
This story is very popular, and in Mr. Gao Yang's series of Qing Palace novels, it is even more brilliant and colorful, and it is written with ups and downs, Cixi's Zhi'en Tu Bao and the speculation of prince Gong privately and prince Gong to meet and secretly set limits, Wu Tang's unintentional willow insertion and foolish foolishness, all of which are depicted vividly and vividly.
(The shadow of Mr. Gao Yang's historical novel "Cixi Prequel")
After that, Wu Tang successively served as a feudal governor for 16 years, and the official became the viceroy of Sichuan, and throughout the Tongzhi Dynasty, he was on a par with Zeng Guofan, the governor of Liangjiang, Li Hongzhang, the governor of Zhili, and Zuo Zongtang, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu. However, unlike Zeng Zuoli, many people believe that Wu Tangcai is mediocre, and it is only because Yin Chayang mistakenly sent silver to Empress Dowager Cixi, did not have the heart to plant willows, and received Cixi's selfish retribution, so that he was promoted to the governor of Sichuan all the way.
This is actually a complete rumor.
(The author's family collection "Chongling Transmission Letter", 1911, the third year of Xuanun, Yun Yuding will see and hear in the Qing Palace, compiled into this book)
This story first appears in Yun Yuding's "Chongling Transmission Record":
After filial piety, he became the Yehenara clan. ...... Xiao Qin's father served as the deputy general of Hunan and died as an official. The sisters were lost, poor, and almost unable to dress. The boat crossed the QingjiangPu, when Wu Qinhui Gongtang zai Qingjiang. Suitable for the deceased official deputy general, the funeral boat is also on the banks of the river. Qin Hui sent three hundred and two (or two thousand two, non-two) to mistakenly send the person to Xiao Qinzhou. Overthrowing life, diligent hui anger, wanting to return to Bi, a scene of guest day: "Wen Zhouzhong is a Manchurian bridesmaid, a talented woman who enters Beijing, An Zhi is not a nobleman, a good marriage, Yu Gong or advantageous." "Be diligent and obedient, and board the boat and hang." Xiao Qin felt very much, and put a thorn in his name, saying to sister Day: "My sister he has a day to achieve the zhi, never forget this order." "Even though Xiao Qin had to enter the palace, he was favored; He Muzong was born, and his sister was also the Prince of Alcohol, Fujin, and the Emperor Dezong. Filial piety hangs down the curtain day, diligently benefits himself as the prefect, tired to the side, not counting the years to oversee Sichuan. Qin Huishi has no other talents, and he has repeatedly impeached officials, but he does not listen. Xue yu was in power, changed his name to Yue Hui, and Yu Zhi was also in the past. ......
In fact, according to the "Song Pin File" of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the First Historical Archive of China (Xianfeng 2nd Year 1-3), the Internal Affairs Office of Cixi entering the palace clearly states that "Lan Guiren", that is, the later Empress Dowager Cixi, participated in the draft in the first year of Xianfeng and was selected on February 21. On the sixth day of the first month of February, the Xianfeng Emperor surrendered his father Huizheng from Guisui Province, Shanxi, to Taiguang Province, Huiningchi, Anhui. After Zhang Luo sent the young girl Cixi into the palace on the ninth day of May, Hui Zheng rushed to Jiangnan with his family and officially took over his post in Wuhu in July. At this time, Cixi had already entered the palace, and she did not go south with her father and family at all, of course, it was absolutely impossible to help her father's coffin go north through Qingjiangpu.
The exact time of Cixi's father Huizheng's death was the third day of June in the third year of Xianfeng (July 8, 1853), at this time Cixi had been in the palace for more than a year, according to the Qing palace etiquette system, it was impossible to go out of the palace to mourn; and at this time, although Huizheng was dismissed for investigation and handling because of his inability to resist the Taiping Army, he was depressed, but the eunuch was very rich, according to records, there were more than 3,000 silver, and the so-called charcoal sent in the snow (even if Cixi was not at the scene) did not have the basis and logic to happen.
After the coup d'état of Xin You, the two empresses of Ci'an Cixi bowed to the government, and at this time Wu Tang was already the governor of Huaixu Province and xuzhou, deputy to the Jiangbei regimental training, rewarded with the title of envoy, and from Sanpin.
In the same month that Wu Tang was ordered to make up the political envoys of Jiangning, the governor of Caoyun, and the governor of Jiangbei Grain Terrace, all the officials below the Jiangbei Town Road were temporarily put under control.
Judging from the official transfer system of the Qing Dynasty at that time, Wu Tang took over naturally, and there was no suspicion of over-promotion; even if the unspoken rules were considered, the main factor was that Wu Tang and Yuan Jiasan (Yuan Shikai's uncle and grandfather) were people of the same system, and they could cooperate with the tacit understanding in the Pingtuo Army, especially in raising military expenses to support logistics.
So why did Yun Yuding make up or spread this rumor?
Some argue that:
Yun Yuding was a scholar of the Guangxu Dynasty, and he had been in this position for 19 years, so he had always been angry. In order to vent his resentment that he had served as a teacher to the Guangxu Emperor for 19 years and had not been promoted and reused by Empress Dowager Cixi, he fabricated the story of Cixi Weishi, helping his father coffin to return to Beijing, passing through Qinghe, falling into trouble, and getting Wu Tang to mistakenly send Dian Yi 300 taels of silver to rescue. It not only scandalized Cixi, but also degraded the image of Wu Tang... "The Little-Known Anhui "Feudal Officials" in qing history", "Hefei Evening News"
Judging from the words left by Yun Yuding, he sympathized with the Guangxu Emperor who lamented that "Yuan is not as good as emperor Xiandi of Han", despised Prince Yiqing and others, and even did not think much of Prince Xiao Alcohol, who was the regent, and he even wrote rumors of Suspected Cixi poisoning Ci'an into the book, and it can be said that Cixi was quite dismissive, and it may not be strange to create rumors or rumors about this gossip story.
(Yun Yuding calligraphy works)
In the end, the evil of Lafayette's world is also considered to be benevolent, but Wu Tang is a bit wronged by lying on the gun.
Yes, Wu Tang's talents are of course inferior to those of Zeng Zuoli and other zhongxing ministers, but they can definitely be regarded as first-class figures among the late Qing Dynasty ministers, especially his level of service in logistics and government affairs, because they are not as conspicuous as front-line combat, and they are undoubtedly greatly underestimated; as for the bureaucrats who imagined him as bloated and mentally retarded according to the nickname "Yipin Meat" he was called "Yipin Meat" during his time as the governor of Sichuan, they are already smeared with slanderous colors as the rumors of "unintentional willow insertion" mentioned in this article.
(Wu Tang's former residence is a municipal cultural security unit in Chuzhou City)
(Wu Tang's former residence was also partially used as a staff dormitory last year.)
Fortunately, according to news reports, Wu Tang's former residence is being sorted out and repaired, and I hope that this article can slightly return Wu Tang's relatively true face.