Zhang Tingyu was finally raided by Qianlong because he made a series of confusions in his later years.
There are the most successful Hanchens of the Qing dynasty
Zhang Tingyu was the most successful Hanchen of the Qing Dynasty, and in recognition of his merits, Yongzheng made a will before his death, giving him the treatment of the Taimiao Temple, and he also became the only Hanchen in the entire Qing Dynasty who deserved the treatment of the Taimiao Temple. So what is the treatment of the Taimiao Temple? In fact, it is the highest honor given by the emperor to his subjects, after the death of the subjects, they can put their own tablets in the Taimiao Temple of the Qing Dynasty, placed next to the god of the Qing Emperor's ancestors, and the living emperor will enter the Taimiao Temple to kowtow to the Former Emperor when he worships the ancestors, and at the same time prostrate to the Former Emperor, he also kowtows to the people who deserve the Taimiao Temple. What an honor to have the Emperor kowtow to you!
▲ Zhang Tingyu was the only Hanchen of the Qing Dynasty who entered the Taimiao Temple
Moreover, in the entire 295-year history of the Qing Dynasty, there were very few people who could enter the Taimiao Temple, a total of only 26 people, of which 13 places were returned to the members of the imperial family, and the remaining 13 people were real subjects, it can be said that there is no special merit, and it is impossible to enjoy such a special honor.
Zhang Tingyu's history of his family
As far as Zhang Tingyu himself is concerned, he seems to be a prime minister tailored for the Qing Dynasty. His father was a university scholar and was born in Miao Zhenggenhong. He was a jinshi at the age of twenty-eight, not only did he learn from a small family, but after he became an official, he had the ear of his father, and his endowment as an official was very good, and he was calm and calm at first glance, very minister-like, and when he was thirty-five years old, he was appreciated by Kangxi, joined the South Study, and became Kangxi's secretary. Although he was not a great official during the Kangxi Dynasty, he also laid a solid foundation for the later Feihuang Tengda. As the emperor's secretary, he was directly exposed to various confidential government affairs of the empire, familiar with the operation mode of the entire empire, coupled with his super high ability to understand, after the experience of the Kangxi Dynasty, he soon became a talented politician.
Later, after Kangxi's death, Yongzheng discovered Zhang Tingyu's talents as soon as he ascended to the throne, and immediately promoted him to the position of Rebbe Shangshu, and left Zhang Tingyu by his side to praise Xiang government affairs. Later, Zhang Tingyu became the chief military aircraft minister, a scholar of the Bohol Temple, and also served as an official and a hubu shangshu.
In the Yongzheng Dynasty, Zhang Tingyu not only did a great job as an official, but also had a very good personal relationship with Yongzheng. When Yongzheng was five years old, once Zhang Tingyu took a few days of sick leave, Yongzheng said to the people around him, "I feel a pain in my hands and arms", and others immediately said that since the emperor's hands and arms hurt, then quickly call the doctor. Yongzheng said, "Zhang Tingyu is my right and left arm, and now that he is sick, I will feel pain in my hands." Another time in the eleventh year of Yongzheng, Zhang Tingyu returned home to his relatives and left the capital for a period of time, during which Time Yongzheng gave Zhang Tingyu a holy will, expressing his feelings of thinking about Zhang Tingyu all the time.
These things sound more fleshy, I read in the history books also feel meaty, in fact, the emperors of the Qing Dynasty often like to engage in some small stories that complement the kings and subjects, so that everyone can spread praise and create a good story, although there is an element of showmanship, but it can also be seen that Zhang Tingyu and Yongzheng really have a very good personal relationship.
Later, when Yongzheng was dying, he really did not want Zhang Tingyu, we all said that he would be a good friend for a lifetime, but now he could not take Zhang Tingyu away when he was going to die, so he gave Zhang Tingyu the treatment of the Taimiao Temple, and let Zhang Tingyu come to the Taimiao Temple to accompany him after his death, so that the two of them could continue to be good friends after death.
Zhang Tingyu's way of being an official
What kind of courtier was That Zhang Tingyu, and could he get such treatment? First of all, from his basic plan, Zhang Tingyu is upright, incorruptible, does not collect money and goods indiscriminately, works calmly, never makes mistakes, and more importantly, he is also very diligent and capable, to what extent can he do it? Yongzheng spoke on it, he could crawl on the ground and immediately give Yongzheng a holy will, when Yongzheng finished speaking, his holy will was also prepared, every time he showed it to Yongzheng, Yongzheng directly nodded his head in agreement, and sent it directly without changing. This is a very rare talent, don't say that we understand other people's words, that is, to use their own words to say things, often through thinking to form words, but Zhang Tingyu has such a skill, every day is not moving is a dozen, dozens of edicts, are Zhang Tingyu completed, which shows how agile Zhang Tingyu's talent is!
Zhang Tingyu has been an official for fifty years, including 24 years in charge of military aircraft, every day before dawn to enter the palace duty, both diligent and capable, at the same time the memory is also very good, no matter the size of the official, everyone's origin, resume, place of origin, ability, how to do, he remembers everything clearly, so he stayed by Yongzheng's side, Yongzheng wanted to check what information to directly ask Zhang Tingyu on the line, with such a person around, how can Yongzheng not like it?
So by doing all this, can Zhang Tingyu deserve to enjoy the Taimiao Temple? In fact, you can't compete with the emperor for the name of the hereafter. In fact, any emperor hopes that he can leave a good reputation in the history books, such as Tang Taizong and Wei Zheng, we all know that Wei Zheng often advises Tang Taizong, and Tang Taizong also leaves a name in the annals of history. At the time of Wei Zhenggang's death, Tang Taizong was also very sad, and it seemed that he had lost a humerus. However, later Tang Taizong knew that Wei Zheng would often show his advice to shi guan, which suddenly changed Tang Taizong's view. Because in Tang Taizong's view, Wei Zheng gave him advice, and he asked him to leave a name in history, and now Wei Zheng actually showed the advice to the historian, which meant that he was going to compete with himself in history. Later, Tang Taizong thought more and more about this matter, and originally wanted to marry the princess to Wei Zheng's son, he did not marry, and in the end even personally overturned Wei Zheng's tombstone.
And Zhang Tingyu has done a very good job in this regard, if we look at the "Qing History Draft", the biography of Zhang Tingyu in it records three things, one of which is zhang Tingyu's letter to Yongzheng, suggesting that the widow who has been observing the festival for 15 years should set up a archway. Seeing this, we may wonder, did the historian really not say anything about Zhang Tingyu? Want to write a history of his suggestion to build a memorial arch for widows? It is true that the historian does not have much to write about Zhang Tingyu, although there seems to be a shadow of Zhang Tingyu in many major decisions of the Qing Dynasty, but you just don't know what he did and what role he played.
Zhang Tingyu did this is not to compete with Yongzheng for fame, which is really valuable, if you want to give Zhang Tingyu, the minister, a score, I think even if it is a full score, it is not too much.
The Qianlong Dynasty began to fall out of favor
So why did such a full-fledged minister become so miserable that he was raided? Let's move on.
After Yongzheng's death, Qianlong ascended the throne, in fact, in the first ten years of Qianlong, he still relied heavily on Zhang Tingyu, after all, his father had just died, he came out to manipulate the huge and complex machine of the empire, and there was no instruction manual for him, Zhang Tingyu was a living dictionary, who else could he rely on without relying on Zhang Tingyu? In the early qianlong period, Qianlong was not only very kind to Zhang Tingyu, but when he went out on a tour, the affairs of the dprk were completely assured to be handled by Zhang Tingyu.
For Zhang Tingyu, Qianlong was a difficult lord to serve
We all say that once the emperor is a courtier, the new emperor will always cultivate his own henchmen, and when Qianlong was ten years old, Qianlong took a fancy to a man named Ne Qin, who was the grandson of the former imperial minister Shu Bilong, and Qianlong made him the chief military minister. Although Zhang Tingyu had been the chief military minister for many years, he was also old at this time, and Qianlong ordered him to give up his position. Even in the eleventh year of Qianlong, Qianlong once said to Zhang Tingyu, "When you are old, you will not have to come to work so early in the future, and you can sleep more in the future." This is an obvious political code, which means that Zhang Tingyu is going to take a back seat. How could Zhang Tingyu not understand the meaning of this? So Zhang Tingyu also retired.
Zhang Tingyuqi's ugly landing
However, in the imperial society of our country, when a person is an extremely popular subject, it is also extremely difficult to land safely in his old age, and many famous courtiers are in the late years of the situation of late festival insecurity, not only the merits of life are in vain, but also the life of the whole family. For example, Li Shanchang, the chancellor of Zhu Yuanzhang, followed Zhu Yuanzhang in the early years before he made his mark, and helped Zhu Yuanzhang to lay down the Ming Dynasty all the way, but at the age of seventy-seven, he was still beheaded by the door because he was involved in the Hu Weiyong case with a gun.
Zhang Tingyu arrived at this time, also want to land safely, but people will always have old times, people are old to think less agile than before, only to think is not good, do things are easy to make mistakes, and do things wrong, the emperor will not have your good fruit to eat, in the later years Zhang Tingyu's landing action, I can only use the ugly to describe.
In the first month of the thirteenth year of Qianlong, the royal banquet was held, and after eating, Zhang Tingyu privately told Qianlong that he was old and his legs and feet were inconvenient, and his brain was not good, so could he tell the old man to return to his hometown? Qianlong was not happy when he heard this, and in Qianlong's view, Zhang Tingyu was disgusted that he was not holy enough, that is, he looked down on him, so he said to Zhang Tingyu, "There are still many things in the DPRK that I need to ask you for advice, and since the former emperor has given you the honor of enjoying the Taimiao Temple, you should stand on the last shift and listen to my call at any time, I will not allow you to retire." ”
But Zhang Tingyu, who had been cautious all his life, actually debated with Qianlong, and he said to Qianlong: "Returning to his hometown before he dies, and enjoying the Taimiao Temple after death, is this not without precedent, such as Liu Bowen of the Ming Dynasty, is not this the case?" ”
Qianlong was still energetic when he heard it, and thought to himself, Yo you old man debated with me, didn't you? So Qianlong said, "Liu Bowen of the Ming Dynasty was deposed by the emperor, so why don't you learn from Zhuge Liang?" Bow down, die and die. ”
Zhang Tingyu replied, "Zhuge Liang fights wars every day, and my life is very good, I met a holy lord like you and lived in a peaceful and prosperous world." ”
▲ Qianlong's eyes widened and he said, Zhang Tingyu, what do you mean? Are you still loyal to me?
But the problem is that you can't argue with Qianlong yet, and once Qianlong argues more and more vigorously, he says, "Your words are so uninteresting, am I not good to you?" Don't you have feelings for me? "When Qianlong said this, what he actually meant was, Zhang Tingyu, do you still have loyalty to me (Qianlong)?" When Zhang Tingyu heard this, he knew that he really couldn't argue anymore, and he cried on the spot, and Qianlong was upset when he saw it, so he asked the eunuch to send him home.
But the next day, Qianlong announced this matter in the court, but he did not name Zhang Tingyu, Qianlong said that a courtier was old, and felt that I, the emperor, was useless, should I kick the emperor away? When Qianlong said this, Zhang Tingyu was also frightened, and he did not dare to mention retirement from then on.
In the thirteenth year of Qianlong, two more events occurred, which caused a major blow to Zhang Tingyu. The first thing is that this year Qianlong published a collection of his own personal poems, we all know that Qianlong wrote a lot of poems in his lifetime, but most of them are very smelly poems, but Qianlong can't do anything about it. Qianlong's poetry collection was produced by Zhang Tingyu at that time, but after the poetry collection was printed, it was given to Qianlong, and Qianlong actually saw the typo, because of this matter, Zhang Tingyu was punished.
The second thing was that in this year, Qianlong's Empress Yuanbei died, and she wanted to write a sacrifice text, which was written by Zhang Tingyu, and as a result, there was a word in the sacrifice text, Qianlong, who was very dissatisfied, so Zhang Tingyu gave another year of punishment.
Previously, Zhang Tingyu had been an official for more than forty years, and he had never made a mistake or been punished, and this year he received two punishments in a row, and people's mood became extremely depressed, coupled with poor health, the state deteriorated.
After the next year, when Qianlong was fourteen years old, once Qianlong thought of Zhang Tingyu, he asked Zhang Tingyu with concern, how is Aiqing's health, and he has eaten well recently, Zhang Tingyu saw that the opportunity came, and he once again put forward the idea of retirement. Qianlong listened and told Zhang Tingyu: Let me go back and think about it. The next day, Qianlong sent a holy message to Zhang Tingyu, meaning that Zhang Tingyu was an old minister of the Three Dynasties, with great merit, and now he is really not in good health, and it is time to retire, but my side of the government is really inseparable from you, and I don't know what to do.
In fact, according to Qianlong's meaning, he wanted to arrange such a script: Qianlong ordered that the decision of whether to leave or stay was given to Zhang Tingyu, and then Zhang Tingyu said that although he was too old to walk, but thinking of the royal kindness to me, I was really reluctant to leave. Then Qianlong made another holy decree saying, As an emperor, I should sympathize with the old courtiers, and Aiqing should go home and retire, so that it can be passed on as a good story.
If he put it in Zhang Tingyu's youth, he would definitely be able to see Qianlong's meaning, but at this time Zhang Tingyu was indeed old, and his political wisdom was simply not enough, so he thought that Qianlong had acquiesced to his own departure, so he expressed his gratitude. Qianlong couldn't laugh when he saw Zhang Tingyu's upper table, but he simply ignored it and approved Zhang Tingyu's request to retire.
The elderly continue to be confused
The matter was already over, but Zhang Tingyu returned home and thought about it for half a day, but the more he thought about it, the more wrong it became. Because I have been in the DPRK for many years, there are too many opponents, in case I am gone, those who say bad things about themselves in front of Qianlong every day, then the honor of the Taimiao Temple that I have in mind and miss may not be gone? For this reason, he went back and forth at home for several days, and finally in a cold winter month, he finally plucked up the courage to go into the palace to find Qianlong, talked to Qianlong a lot, and finally proposed to Qianlong, please use a word as a voucher, that is, to ask Qianlong to write him a letter of guarantee to ensure that he will enjoy the Taimiao Temple in the future. Qianlong was angry when he heard this, but he still suppressed the anger and let Zhang Tingyu go home. When Zhang Tingyu returned home, Qianlong conveyed his meaning to Zhang Tingyu, in general, what do you mean by Zhang Tingyu? Are you assured of my father and not assured of me? I'm not a good emperor, and I don't deserve a good courtier like you, do I? Although Qianlong wrote a letter of guarantee, in Qianlong's words, there was already a hidden killing machine.
After receiving Qianlong's letter of guarantee, Zhang Tingyu then made another trick, because according to the etiquette of the monarch at that time, when the courtier received the emperor's reward, he was going to enter the palace the next day to give thanks. But the next day, Zhang Tingyu actually felt that the weather was cold, and he did not go to Xie'en, so he let his son go to Xie'en instead of him. As a result, this behavior made Qianlong furious, and the reason for Qianlong's anger was also very simple, first, it damaged the face of the royal family, as the emperor, if zhang Tingyu was not punished, he would reward other ministers with things in the future, and other ministers also sent their sons to thank him like Zhang Tingyu, where did the royal face exist? Second, from the perspective of personal feelings, Zhang Tingyu's performance made Qianlong think that he had no feelings for Qianlong, and even Qianlong felt that Zhang Tingyu was playing with his feelings.
Therefore, Qianlong immediately issued a decree asking Zhang Tingyu to write a review letter. At that time, there was a man named Wang Youdun in the military aircraft department, who was also a famous minister of the Qing Dynasty, who was a student of Zhang Tingyu, and when he saw that the situation was not right, he wrote a small note and sent it to Zhang Tingyu's house, telling Zhang Tingyu to be careful. But at this time, Zhang Tingyu was really old, and he immediately did something so confused that he couldn't be more confused, and the next morning he ran to the palace gate to plead guilty. But the problem is that at this time, Qianlong's edict has not yet come down, how do you Zhang Tingyu know? What does this mean? It is very obvious that someone in the military aircraft department will give you Zhang Tingyu a ventilated message. If zhang tingyu had been young, zhang Tingyu would certainly not have made such a mistake.
What would Qianlong think at this time? When you Zhang Tingyu wanted to give thanks, you were not in good health and did not come to Thank you, as soon as you heard that I was going to order you to do it, you ran over to ask for the guilt, indicating that your body is no problem, you are lying to me, this is the crime of deception. Besides, is there anyone else in the Military Aircraft Department who will give you a ventilated message? Are you playing lurking with me? You're gone to the military aircraft and your people, what do you mean by that? Qianlong ordered Zhang Tingyu to be scolded with a bloody head, so how to punish Zhang Tingyu? Qianlong thought about it, don't you Zhang Tingyu have the identity of a count? I can't take what my father gave you, but I gave you the title of count, so I stripped him of his count.
Zhang Tingyu had lost an earl, and even if he thought about it, he planned to sell all the property in the capital in March of the following year, that is, in March of the fifteenth year of Qianlong, and return to his hometown to spend his old age. Originally, the matter was over, but in March of the following year, just when Zhang Tingyu was leaving, there was another accident. This year coincided with the death of Qianlong's eldest son Yong Huang, and Zhang Tingyu, as Yong Huang's teacher, naturally wanted to attend the funeral. However, just after the funeral, when the filial piety clothes were not yet taken off, Zhang Tingyu actually went to the table to qianlong and said that he was leaving.
Zhang Tingyu's upper table, but chose the "right" timing, this time Qianlong just died the most beloved son, as a father is also the most sad time, Zhang Tingyu said to leave, in Qianlong's view is that there is no feeling for him, there is no feeling for his son, Qianlong's anger was ignited by Zhang Tingyu to the extreme, and he directly asked Zhang Tingyu: You yourself said, do you still deserve to enjoy the Taimiao Temple?
In the face of the angry Qianlong, what can Zhang Tingyu say? He can only say "I don't deserve it".
"Okay, that's what you said yourself, don't give it, you go."
So in the fifteenth year of Qianlong, Zhang Tingyu suddenly had nothing, the title was gone, the temple was gone, he was busy for most of his life, and his whole life was dedicated to the Qing Dynasty, and in the end there was still nothing. When he returned to his hometown, no local officials and nobles dared to come out to receive him, or a few sons and nephews took him back to his old home, but the matter was not over.
Zhang Tingyu raided the family incident
Qianlong is such a person, if his qi is not finished, he will find an opportunity to continue to come out, Zhang Tingyu's qi is actually Qianlong is not finished, so Qianlong has also been looking for opportunities to breathe. Later, something really happened to Zhang Tingyu, and an accident occurred to one of his sons and daughters called Zhu Quan, what happened? The funeral is not reported. This point has to be explained, at that time, Zhu Quan was Hanlin in the capital, and Hanlin did not have a salary of a few silver or two a month, and usually borrowed to live on debt. When there is an opportunity to go down to a certain province to study politics, that is, to a certain province to preside over the examination, the candidates who are admitted will always give some money to the study and government, and they will be able to make some money in the position of studying politics, and they will be able to repay the debt when they return to the capital. Zhu Quan was arranged to go down to work as a scholar at that time, but just at this time the old woman died, according to the rules, he had to give up the errand of studying politics and go home to keep filial piety, but for the sake of money, Zhu Quan hid the fact that the old woman died. Later, this incident occurred in the east window, you must know that the Qing Dynasty was a world ruled by filial piety, and the matter of hiding and not reporting funerals was inferior to the animals in the eyes of people at that time, and if you committed such a thing at any time, you would be erased by sociality. Qianlong naturally did not let go of such an opportunity, so he issued an edict to Zhang Tingyu, saying: You are married to such a villain, how do you feel? How can you marry such a person?
How can Zhang Tingyu reply? How did his children know that their families were going to do such a thing? I had to reply and said a lot, and finally there was nothing to say, I could only say, I am old, I am confused, if it were not for the emperor you reminded me that I do not know what is going on, now I am like a dream, the emperor you see what to do.
When Qianlong saw Zhang Tingyu's reply, he thought to himself, anyway, his earl is gone, and the Temple of Taixiang is gone, what can he punish him? In this way, you will return all the rewards that my grandfather Kangxi, my father Yongzheng and all the rewards I have given to your family. Zhang Tingyu had no choice but to take this order, so the whole family knelt outside the door and waited for the imperial court to come and raid the house.
The person in charge of copying Zhang Tingyu's home was Debao, and when he was leaving, Qianlong specially instructed him on two points: First, whether Zhang Tingyu had embezzled all these years, you copied his family inside and out, as long as he was corrupt, I immediately dealt with him; second, Zhang Tingyu participated in a lot of imperial court secrets in recent years, and you can see if his family has only a few words to slander the imperial court, and if I have done him immediately. If Zhang Tingyu had left a little bit of dialogue between him and the emperor at that time, which could not be known to the outside world, even if it was a little, Zhang Tingyu would immediately lose his head, and it was obvious that Qianlong had moved his murderous heart.
After Debao arrived at Zhang Tingyu's hometown, he immediately went to Yamen to borrow 200 soldiers to copy Zhang Tingyu's home inside and out, and as a result, neither Zhang Tingyu was found to be corrupt, nor did he find any words left by Zhang Tingyu. Later, after Debao returned to Beijing, he also said a lot of good things about Zhang Tingyu, and Qianlong planned to reluctantly let him go, but since nothing was copied out, which was also ordered by the emperor himself, Qianlong pushed the responsibility to the local officials, saying that he did not copy Zhang Tingyu's home, and that the local officials were ineffective. Later, he issued a Daoist decree, scolded Zhang Tingyu again, and finally said that thinking of your three old courtiers, there is no merit and hard work, no hard work and fatigue, I am exempt from investigation, and here Zhang Tingyu's affairs can be regarded as a thorough understanding.
However, the psychological impact of the whole incident on Zhang Tingyu can be imagined, and later Zhang Tingyu lived in his hometown for another five years, and Zhang Tingyu in his later years had nothing, his reputation was ruined, and his life's income became a white expanse. Zhang Tingyu was depressed all day, did not say a word, and ended the rest of his life in a lonely situation.
But Zhang Tingyu was dead, and Qianlong had not let him go. For Zhang Tingyu's death, Qianlong said that although you did a lot of wrong things before you died, but I am still very kind, give you a good nickname, the name Wenhe (the best nickname in the Qing Dynasty is Wenzheng), as for the matter of enjoying the Taimiao Temple, it is my father who gave it to you, I am actually very generous, the last time I wanted to go to your Taimiao temple was a joke with you, so let's still deserve to enjoy the Taimiao. In the whole thing, Qianlong was a Ming Jun and a Ren Jun, while Zhang Tingyu was a villain, even if he died, he was still played by Qianlong.
But even if Zhang Tingyu was given the treatment of enjoying the Taimiao Temple, what could he do? For Zhang Tingyu, he was already dead, and he did not know that he could get the treatment of the Taimiao Temple after his death, served the royal family for fifty years, and finally fell into such a fate, which was inevitable to make people sigh.