The ancients had a saying that "the Yellow River is clear, and the saints are out".
This means that the Yellow River has a large content of cement and sand, is turbid all year round, and suddenly becomes clear, which will be regarded as a sign of good fortune by the ancients.
During the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, the Yellow River was clear for more than a thousand miles, and its duration was the longest in history.
The Tongzhi of Shaanxi records:
Beginning in early December of the fourth year of Yongzheng (1726 AD), the Yellow River flowed through the five provinces of Shaanxi, Jin, Henan, Lu and Su, and the river gradually became clear until the beginning of the fifth year of Yongzheng.
Qi Sule, the governor of Hedao, Zhang Dayou, the governor of Caoyun, and Tian Wenjing, the governor of Henan, and other officials reported good news one after another.
In the song that The Inspector of Henan, Tian Wenjing, forwarded to the Yongzheng Emperor, said: "The classics of the Examination of the Subjects, the Yellow River ten years and one qing, the most holy king thought that Darui, but there has never been a Qing to more than a thousand miles, as long as January and now the only one who is prosperous." The subjects of Tong Province cheered and praised enthusiastically! ”
Tian Wenjing said that he consulted the historical materials and learned that the Yellow River was clear once in ten years, and the Most Holy King would think that it was Daxiangrui.
However, there has never been a phenomenon in history that is clear for more than a thousand miles and lasts for nearly a month, and the officials and people of the province are all cheering and praising the auspicious scene that appeared on the Yellow River.
The Yongzheng Emperor was overjoyed, and immediately sent people to the Qing Dynasty to worship the ancestors, report the good news to the old father, the Kangxi Emperor, and at the same time send envoys to the Yellow River to worship the river gods.
The officials who found the Heqing Annunciation and the praises of merit were all promoted, except for one person who slapped the horse's ass, slapped the horse's hoof, and almost died, this unlucky ghost was called Zou Rulu.
Zou Rulu, a native of Macheng County, Huangzhou Prefecture, Hubei Province, was admitted as a jinshi in the 30th year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1691), and successively held official positions such as Fujian Province Inspector Yushi, Henan Province Inspector Yushi, Zuo Youdu Yushi, Fengtian Fu Yin, and Taichang Temple Secretary.
Zou Rulu heard that the Yellow River was showing auspicious signs, and quickly wrote a "Ode to the River Qing" horse ass article dedicated to the Yongzheng Emperor to congratulate the emperor.
The Yongzheng Emperor read the article and was extremely dissatisfied with one of the sentences, "The old dyes and restores the new, and the customs are easy to change", and angrily rebuked: "Who is the wind of the person who has been moved?" What is the custom of the changers? What happened to the old dyeers? What about the Reformers? ”
Zou Rulu's original intention was to praise the new emperor for his bold efforts to promote the advantages and eliminate the disadvantages and change customs, and the implication was that the atmosphere of the former dynasty was not correct, and the style of the current dynasty was clean and upright.
The ancients paid attention to "three years without changing the father's way, which can be described as filial piety" - the son cannot change the system that his father has formed within three years, and inheriting his father's legacy is in line with filial piety.
Zou Rulu's so-called "change of customs and customs" is obviously saying that the Yongzheng Emperor changed the old rules of the Kangxi Emperor's dynasty.
In the early years of the reign of the Yongzheng Emperor, folklore said that he tampered with the edict and plotted to seize the throne, so degrading the former dynasty and praising the current dynasty, it was too explicit, zou Rulu's words seriously stimulated the yongzheng emperor's sensitive nerves.
The Yongzheng Emperor immediately thought of the sentence in the Book of Shang, "The old is stained with customs, salty and new", and decided that This was Zou Rulu ridiculing himself, so he put forward four questions in a row - what wind was moved? What's the custom? What was the bad habit in the former dynasty? What new policies did the dynasty reform?
The Yongzheng Emperor then explained: "Since he ascended the throne, all the canonical systems have been imitated by the previous dynasty and followed the imperial examination, without making any changes. What exactly is he referring to? Nowadays, there is a River QingZhirui, and there is no edict ordering the ministers to write poems and compose songs and praises. Zou Rulu's article is really a wild and contradictory remark, ridiculing the imperial court, too hateful! ”
The Yongzheng Emperor ordered Jiuqing to jointly interrogate Zou Rulu, who argued that he had not read the Book of Shang, and the result of Jiuqing's trial in the lobby of the Punishment Department was that Zou Rulu "acted in a vain manner and was disgusting." He should be dismissed from his post and sentenced according to the law of slandering the imperial court! ”
When the Yongzheng Emperor approved the judgment documents, he felt that Zou Rulu was after all an old minister of the Kangxi Dynasty, and that handling too much would cause controversy between the government and the public, and thinking about it, he thought that he should still be pardoned, so Zhu Bi replied: "Dismiss from office, and avoid death from leniency!" ”
Zou Rulu drew a tiger and did not become an anti-dog, and as a result, he was relegated to Jingzhou, Hubei Province, to atone for the construction of the project along the river, and there was no day to emerge.
However, the Yongzheng Emperor thus killed two birds with one stone, that is, he killed chickens and monkeys, deterred his subjects, and demonstrated his image of a tolerant and generous benevolent monarch.