"There is a bag qingtian in Kaifeng, and the iron mask selflessly distinguishes between loyalty and adultery." The lyrics of this song are from the song "Bao Qingtian", and the protagonist in the lyrics is Bao Zheng, who is famous in history, passed on by word of mouth, and active in the theater stage.
He was the Governor of Kaifeng during the Reign of Emperor Renzong of the Northern Song Dynasty, and was known for his wisdom, honesty and justice during Bao Zheng's tenure.
Therefore, it has the names of "Bao Qingtian" and "Bao Gong"
。 Bao Zheng once handled a case in which the farmer's own cow's tongue was cut off and the murderer could not be found, and Bao Zheng's suggestion was to kill the cow and sell the meat so that the murderer would turn himself in.
The course of the case
During the Reign of Emperor Renzong of the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a farmer named Liu Quan in Xiaoyang Village, The East of Tianchang County, who worked diligently in the field with his cattle every day, and one evening, when Liu Quan finished his farm work and went home, he found that there was something wrong with his cattle.
He stopped and looked closely at his cattle,
He found blood on the corners of the cow's mouth,
Liu Quan, who felt something was wrong, opened the bull's mouth to look at it, and the scene in front of him made him stunned!
The tongue of his own cow was actually cut off. For a moment, Liu Quan didn't know what to do, he suddenly had a flash of inspiration, thinking that the county order on the county court would definitely help him find the murderer.
This is because cattle had an extremely important position in ancient times and were protected by law, and ancient cattle were different from modern cattle, which were used as arable land by farmers during farming and were important laborers.
During the Zhenzong period of the Northern Song Dynasty, it was forbidden for the people to slaughter cultivated cattle privately, and those who violated the order would be beheaded. So early the next morning,
Liu Quan came to the county gate to beat the drum and sing his grievances
Bao Zheng, who had just taken up the post of county commander of Tianchang County in Yangzhou, heard the people beating drums and sounding grievances, so he immediately went to the church to inquire about the situation.
Liu Quan cried to Bao Zheng above the court: "This cow is the hope of our family's life, now that the cow's tongue has been cut, it will soon be impossible to live, if we don't rely on this cow for farming, what can our family do in the future?"
Only to see Bao Zheng frowning and thinking of a solution.
Bao Zheng asked, "Do you have any people who offend in your daily life?" Liu Quan replied, "The little people don't know." So Bao Zheng said to Liu Quan: "You go home and kill the cattle and sell the meat to your neighbors." After saying that, Bao Zheng ordered the man to give Liu Quan some copper coins and continued: "These money plus the money from the sale of meat are enough for you to buy a new cow."
Liu Quan took the copper coin and said, "But the government has ordered that the killing of cattle is prohibited."
Bao Zheng replied: "You just have to kill the cattle and sell the meat, the murderer will naturally throw himself into the net."
When Liu Quan returned home, he killed his beloved cow and sold it to his neighbors, during which time Liu Quan did not say that the county magistrate agreed to kill the cow himself.
A few days later, I saw a man who came to the county court to file a complaint, and this person was Liu Quan's neighbor Bu An, who said to Bao Zheng: "Liu Quan disregarded the official government's ban, killed his own cattle and sold meat, and asked the adults to punish Liu Quan."
After Bao Zheng listened to Bu An's words, he smiled slightly and asked Bu An: "Do you know why Liu Quan slaughtered his own cultivating cattle?" Bu An replied, "The little people don't know, but the other day I heard that his cow's tongue was cut off."
At this time, I saw Bao Zheng shouting: "Dare to cut off the people, even dare to cut off the tongue of the Liu family's cattle without permission, do you know the guilt"? The sense of oppression brought about by Bao Zheng's momentum shocked Bu An,
Suddenly, Bu An prostrated his head in shock and confessed his guilt, and confessed the details of his crime in 1510.
It turned out that Bu An and Liu Quan had a grudge over some things, and in order to retaliate against Liu Quan, Bu An cut off the cow's tongue of his family and planned to falsely accuse Liu Quan.
After the case, the people around Bao Zheng asked: "How did the adults know that the murderer would throw himself into the net?" Bao Zheng replied: "After the cow's tongue is cut, it will be unable to eat, the cow will definitely kill me, let Liu Quan sell the cow, and the people around him will think that Liu Quan will definitely be punished for violating the regulations of the government."
The key is that people who have no grudge against Liu Quan will not be nosy, and only the murderer who has a grudge with him will come to Yamen to report the case."
Historically, the Bao Zheng
Bao Zheng was a figure in the Northern Song Dynasty during the Reign of Emperor Renzong, during which many celebrities were born, and Song Renzong was the most perfect era in Chinese history to rule the world with scholars.
Therefore, this period was also called "the rule of Kasu" by later generations.
In the folk, six of the eight masters of the Tang and Song dynasties were in the Song Renzong period, and above the imperial court, there were such famous generals as Fan Zhongyan, Fu Bi, Han Qi, and Di Qing.
It can be seen that the talents of the Northern Song Dynasty during the Renzong period flourished.
So what did the historical Bao Zheng look like? First of all, the Bao Zheng we are familiar with is probably dark skin and a crescent crescent on the forehead, but in fact, the historical Bao Zheng is not like this, his image was in the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties when drama was prevalent.
The artist created the bao zheng in order to highlight his personal image, and the historical bao zheng did not have a crescent moon, and the skin was also a normal color.
Secondly, it is Bao Zheng's position, Bao Zheng's position is not only the governor of Kaifeng Province, Fu Yin is just one of his more than thirty years of career,
This also included central officials such as envoys, appeasement envoys, and envoys of the three divisions.
Bao Zheng is not only an iron-faced and selfless judge, but also a counselor who dares to speak out and advise. Although the economy and culture of the Northern Song Dynasty were extremely developed during the Reign of Emperor Renzong, under the influence of social contradictions and ethnic contradictions, the rule of the Northern Song Dynasty has shown a downward trend.
In order to stabilize the rule of Zhao Song,
Bao Zheng repeatedly proposed reforms to Emperor Renzong of Song
It advocated restricting the landlord class internally and helping the development of the peasant class in policy, while externally it was amassing strength to guard against the Khitan and the Party.
Chinese folk beliefs
Confucianism has always been the mainstream of thought in Chinese history, Confucianism has had a profound impact on society through integrated development, influenced by Confucianism, and the objects of folk worship are mostly real figures in history, some of whom have contributed to the sacrifice of the people, such as Yue Fei, etc., and some are figures who have made great achievements or are deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, such as Bao Zheng.
It was the excessive worship of Bao Zheng in later generations and the artistization of Bao Zheng that made Bao Zheng lose his original appearance.
In the Ming Dynasty, Bao Zheng's black-faced image was fixed by the world to become a representative of folk art, and also became an omnipotent protector of people, which was deeply rooted in people's impressions, and in the Qing Dynasty, the crescent on Bao Zheng's forehead appeared. In this way, a literary bao zheng is becoming more and more full, while a bao zheng that is in history is becoming more and more diluted.
As the saying goes: some people are alive, in fact, he is already dead, some people are dead, in fact, he is still alive. Although Bao Zheng died, his single-mindedness was for the people.
The image of selflessness in the iron face and the noble character of the powerful have been preserved in future generations and have been passed down through the ages
It has become an important part of the excellent traditional culture of the Chinese nation.