#Qing Dynasty#Kang Yongqian, as the three promising emperors in the early and middle periods, was the most glorious century of the Qing Dynasty. In the face of such a strong and shrewd emperor, Zhang Tingyu, as a courtier, especially according to the relationship between the imperial power and the relatives, should be the last class of ministers, which can be said to be a model of courtiers.
In the context of a strong monarch and a complex situation, it is difficult to be an official as a class of "enemies and friends"
In front of the emperor, the Manchu nobles were the emperor's "slaves"; the "Han Eight Banners" were the imperial power and the Manchu nobles' defense class, although they were born in the Han people, their psychology and customs had been Manchu, as a bridge between the ruling class and the ruled class, they were valued by the imperial power and the Manchu nobles, so they also belonged to different camps.
so? What about the Han elite? They become objects of "care". Under the imperial power, the Manchu ministers, and the Han Eight Banners, the Han elite became their allies under the premise that they were "either friends or enemies, but generally distrusted.".
Because the Han elites after a hundred years of running-in, and finally in the "White Lotus Sect Uprising" at the end of the Qianlong Dynasty and the "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement" of the Xianfeng Dynasty, the Han elites rose twice and finally became the mainstay of the Qing Dynasty. With the division of the Qing court and local power, the Han elite gradually took over local power. But within the Qing court, imperial power and Manchu aristocracy occupied the main body from beginning to end until the fall of the Qing Dynasty.
In the process of running in a hundred years, in fact, it mainly refers to the time of Kang Yongqian's more than one hundred and thirty years. In these one hundred and thirty years, Zhang Ying, Zhang Tingyu father and son were the most eye-catching forces.
The role of Zhang's father and son
Zhang Ying and Zhang Tingyu are symbols of Manchu-Han unity and a typical representative of the mutual checks and balances between imperial power, nobles, and ministers. The position of the Han courtiers in the ruling class of the entire Qing Dynasty went through several stages: elevation (before San Fan), suppression (after San Fan), gradual elevation (middle and late Kangxi to Yongzheng), repression (Qianlong Dynasty), balance period (Xianfeng, Daoguang Dynasty), and gradual rise until the confrontation (Xianfeng to the Qing Dynasty).
As a minister of the Han Dynasty, Zhang Tingyu spent 55 years as an official, and for the first 45 years he practiced his father's way of being an official. Later generations had a misunderstanding of Zhang Tingyu, that is, the famous saying of Huang Tingjian, a Song Dynasty official and great scholar, on the "way of survival of literature and martial arts", "It is better to win a hundred battles than to endure; it is better to be silent than to be silent in a thousand words." The former is aimed at military generals, and the latter is aimed at civilian subjects. In fact, Zhang Ying and Zhang Tingyu are not silent, their silence is only silent outside their own work, and within their own work, they dare to speak, but they always "attribute their achievements to the leaders and blame their mistakes on themselves."
Looking at the "secret service rule" of the Ming and Qing dynasties, Zhang Tingyu's "internal forbearance thinking" is very strong. At the same time, it is also a way of self-preservation in the process of checks and balances between "nobles and Han subjects". Zhang Tingyu's "self-preservation" psychology has three major reasons: the resistance characteristics of the family in the late Ming Dynasty, the "basic distrust" of imperial power, and the natural balance of the basic aristocratic power of imperial power.
The status of Han vassals before and after the San Francisco Rebellion
Around the Time of the San Francisco Rebellion (1673-1681), Han officials were in an awkward position. Before Shunzhi, Han officials were reused by Shunzhi as a counterweight to the nobility in the form of "restoring the Ming Dynasty patrol system".
After the "San Francisco Rebellion", the power of the nobility increased greatly, the imperial power declined, and Han officials were once again suppressed. It was in this situation that Zhang Ying gradually became a close vassal of Kangxi. Zhang Ying became a jinshi for six years as an attendant, becoming a close confidant of Kangxi, and the existence of Hanchen after Kangxi's "wisdom capture" became an embarrassing position.
With the successful succession of Yongzheng in Kowloon, because of Zhang Ying's reasons, Zhang Tingyu, a capable minister among han officials, became the Han courtiers that Yongzheng relied on. At this time, Yongzheng faced a situation similar to that of Shunzhi and Kangxi, and faced with the threat of the nobility to the imperial power, Yongzheng began to rely on Hanchen as a counterweight. At this time, it should be the most enjoyable period in Zhang Tingyu's official career.
Because the aristocratic forces were suppressed and the Hanchen forces grew, Qianlong suppressed the Hanchen forces before and after he succeeded to the throne, and co-opted the noble forces. Chinese rode and shot became the most important means of consolidating imperial power during Qianlong's reign, and Zhang Juzheng's suppression also appeared in this historical background.
At this time, the struggle between Zhang Tingyu and Qianlong was ostensibly an act of "gambling", but in essence it was a check and balance on imperial power. In the end, the Han chancellor system was defeated, but for the sake of consolidating imperial power, Qianlong's own legitimacy and many other issues, Zhang Tingyu still became the only Hanchen in the Qing Dynasty.
What is the historical value of Zhang Tingyu?
Doing things in front of Kang Yongqian's three powerful monarchs, prudence is the first element. Zhang Tingyu was not unaware of this, but the root of his daring to confront Qianlong was Yongzheng's will. In the more than one hundred years from the establishment of the Qing Dynasty in 1644 to Zhang Tingyu's gambling, in the process of Getting along with the Manchus and Han Dynasties, both the Manchu nobles and ordinary Manchus had an influence on the customs of the Han people, especially Confucianism.
In the process of "Confucianism", on the one hand, this is the process of independent learning by the rulers; on the other hand, it is the professor of the Han chancellor. But have the "professors" been thoroughly Confucianized? It is difficult to say that this is also the fundamental reason for Zhang Tingyu and Qianlong's "anger".
No matter what Zhang Ying and Zhang Tingyu did, in helping the emperors in the process of "Confucianization", the two succeeded. Therefore, no matter how much he suppressed it, Qianlong could not throw away zhang Tingyu's brand. His presence is a continuation of Confucianism.
To be continued!