The image of Bao Zheng has evolved through the rich development of dozens of generations of people, and in this process, Bao Zheng has gradually risen from an ordinary person to a saint or even a god, which is the process of deification of Bao Zheng's image.
The people expect the ruling class to appear more "Bao Zheng", and even every official is a "Bao Zheng"
Bao Zheng is portrayed as a resourceful "superman" who can judge all kinds of intricate cases with superhuman wisdom. The deification and evolution of this image has made the bao zheng in historical facts very different from the artistic role he plays. In fact, this difference carries a certain political expectation of the ancient people.
Bao Zheng stills
In the imperial society with strict feudal patriarchal hierarchy, ordinary people lacked a rational spirit and no completely independent political personality, and they could only pin their feelings on honest officials, virtuous ministers, and holy monarchs, hoping that they could protect their interests.
As a result, Bao Zheng, who is just and selfless, who is not afraid of the powerful, who asks for the people's lives, and who is good at judging doubtful cases, naturally becomes the "green sky" worshiped by the people. People expect more "bao zheng" in the ruling class, and even hope that every official is a "bao zheng".
Therefore, the process of the development and maturity of Bao Zheng's artistic image is the process of the spread of Bao Zheng's image among the people, and it is also the process of the dissemination and development of The political culture of The Qing officials.
The treasure of real history
So, what does the real history of Bao Zheng look like?
Reading the records in the "Biography of Bao Zheng in the History of Song", almost all of them are accounts of Bao Zheng's political achievements. It can be seen that Bao Zheng is indeed a promising official. He often put forward very targeted reform proposals at the imperial court, and did his best to serve the welfare of the people when he was at the local level.
For example, Bao Zheng was transferred to the prefect of Duanzhou (present-day Zhaoqing, Guangdong), he managed floods, promoted education and schools, stored grain and prepared for famine, and achieved remarkable political achievements, and what is even more rare is that when Bao Zheng left office, he did not even take away his usual Yantai - "when he was old, he did not hold a brick and returned". It can be seen from this that Bao Zheng is indeed a model of being a clean and honest official.
Bao Zheng is still a big filial piety. We all know that Bao Zheng's name is "Filial Piety", and the quality of Bao Zheng's "filial piety" is emphasized from the beginning in the "History of Song". Bao Zheng entered the army at the age of twenty-nine, and did not leave his hometown until the age of thirty-nine.
The main reason is that Bao Zheng "takes his parents as old and resigns". Bao Zheng was the third oldest in the family, but his two older brothers died early, and he actually became an "only child".
Later, after the death of his parents, Bao Zheng still could not bear to leave after the expiration of the period of filial piety. Ouyang Xiu once criticized Bao Zheng for his "little learning", but he still praised Bao Zheng's "filial piety", saying that he "rarely has filial piety and is heard in the township". It can be seen from this that Bao Zheng's "filial piety" is indeed enough to make him famous in history.
Is the Bao Zheng case really that powerful?
The world knows that "Song Zhi's most capable prison breaker is Bao Longtu!" "So, is Bao Zheng's kung fu of judging the case and solving really that powerful?"
The "History of Song" points out that when Bao Zheng was in Chushi Tianchang County, he first appeared sharply with the wisdom of breaking the "cow tongue case". However, this is the only precedent in which Bao Zheng is recorded in the canonical history.
Unfortunately, even in this "cow tongue case", Bao Zheng is suspected of plundering people's beauty. In the "Biography of Song Shi Mu Yan", it is recorded that when Mu Yan was in Ren Huachi Ling, he also broke a "cattle tongue case", and the process of this case and the conclusion of the case are very similar to the case decided by Bao Zheng. Therefore, some scholars say that Bao Gong will not judge the case at all, and his only case is also copying other people's case determination methods.
In the 1970s, a family tomb group was excavated and sorted out in Hefei, and 5 stone stele fragments were found, and the contents of which subverted our cognition after stitching. The stone stele was confirmed by experts to be Bao Zheng's epitaph - "TombStone of Xiaosu Bao Cemetery, Deputy Envoy of the Former Privy Council of the Song Dynasty".
There is already a record of this "cow tongue case". We all know that Mu Yan's activity time was later than Bao Zheng's, so this epitaph is the controversy between the creator and the imitator of the "Cow Tongue Case", which ended - the "Cow Tongue Case" is indeed The first judgment of Bao Zheng.