Walk along the long stone road to the end to see the drum tower, the landmark building of Luoyang Old Town, and go through the drum tower for fifty meters to the east, and a luxuriant ancient locust tree in the north courtyard of the road comes into view. People in the past knew that it was an ancient tree, but few people knew that it was more than four hundred years old. There is also an ancient story about this ancient locust, and the protagonist of the story is a famous Qing official in ancient times, who is Dong Xuan of the Eastern Han Dynasty Luoyang County Order, known as the "Strong Order".
The place where the ancient locust is located is the Dong Xuan Ancestral Hall, which was built in the late Ming Dynasty, an ancestral hall built by the people of Luoyang to commemorate this Qing official. Unfortunately, the bucket has shifted from star to star, and now Dong Xuanci Temple has disappeared, leaving only this ancient locust in front of the ancestral hall to tell the past of Los Angeles a thousand years ago to the tourists who came to hang on to history...
Luoyang
In the nineteenth year of the Eastern Han Dynasty (43 years), Luoyang Xiamen.
A luxurious carriage slowly pulled out of the city gate.
"Adults look, come out!" The plainclothes squatting in the Summer Gate Pavilion whispered.
Next to an old man came the spirit. A wave of the hand: "Action! ”
A bunch of tolerances behind him rushed out...
The old man's name was Dong Xuan, and he was currently the commander of Luoyang County.
The carriage was stopped, and the driver of the carriage, Hu Nu, angrily scolded: "Bastard, you are tired of living, dare to stop the princess's car!" Get out of the way—"
Dong Xuan quickly stepped forward and said, "Luoyang County ordered Dong Xuan to arrest the murderer Hu Nu here, and asked Her Highness the Princess to let Hu Nu get off the car and lay down the law." ”
Hu Nu scoffed and laughed, "Catch me? You also don't look at who I am. ”
Sitting in the car was Liu Huang, the princess of Huyang, the eldest sister of Liu Xiu, the Guangwu Emperor, and she knew about Hu Nu's murder, but she had been shielding Hu Nu and refused to hand him over. Dong Xuan could not enter the palace to arrest people, so he had to crouch outside the door for many days, and finally waited for this day. Dong Xuan, seeing that Hu Nu was so rampant, was furious that he ordered his men to drag Hu Nu off the car, verify his body, declare his guilt, and execute him on the spot.
Princess Huyang was furious and depraved, and the sky was spinning...
Dong Xuan
Who was this Dong Xuan, and why did he publicly execute the emperor's sister's house slave? We have to start with Dong Xuanqi in this matter.
Dong Xuan (東宣), courtesy name Shaoping, was a native of Chenliu Commandery (陳留郡圉地; present-day southern Qixian County, Henan). In his early years, he was recommended by Situ Houba and served as the Minister of Beihai. Soon after Dong Xuan's arrival, Gongsun Dan, the military attaché of the county, spent a huge amount of money to build a luxurious mansion, but after the completion of the construction, Mr. Feng Shui said that the feng shui of the mansion was not good, it was a murderous mansion, and it was bound to die after moving in. In order to eliminate the disaster, Gongsun Dan instigated his son to kill a passerby and carry the body to the mansion as a substitute ghost. Dong Xuan was furious and sent people to hunt down and kill Gongsun's father and son, but thus offended the Gongsun family, which had a great influence in the local area. The Gongsun family gathered more than thirty people to block the Yamen to make trouble, dong Xuan was not frightened, he claimed that Gongsun Dan had attached himself to the rebellious thief Wang Mang as an excuse, claiming that the gang colluded with pirates to avenge Gongsun Dan, and took them all into custody, and later ordered the subordinate official Shui Qiu Cen to put them all in prison.
At once, more than thirty people were killed, and it was also the Gongsun family that the local people said that they were not two, and this disaster was great. The matter reached Taishou in Qingzhou, who arrested Dong Xuan and Shuiqiu Cen and sent them to the capital court (the highest judicial organ) for disposal. After interrogation, Ting Wei believed that the facts of the case were clear, the evidence was conclusive, the means were cruel, and the impact was bad, so he sentenced the two people to death accordingly and could not reduce their sentences.
Dong Xuan did not care after learning that he had been sentenced to death, and he should eat and drink in prison, chant poems every day, be dashing and happy, and see through life and death.
On the morning of the execution, the cell boss sent wine and food to pay tribute to the "resignation", but Dong Xuan refused to eat or drink, and said sharply: "I have never eaten anything from anyone else in my life, and I am going to die today!" He calmly boarded the prison cart and went to prison. At that time, there were 9 people in the same batch of beheadings, and Dong Xuan ranked second. Before the knife was dropped, the envoy sent by the Guangwu Emperor rushed to the scene, pardoned Dong Xuan for a suspended sentence, and was taken back to the prison.
The special envoy interrogated Dong Xuan as to why he had killed innocent people indiscriminately. Dong Xuan informed gongsun of the causes and consequences of the case, the ins and outs, and stated that Shui Qiu Cen had been ordered to kill people by his orders and should not be convicted. Hoping that the imperial court would find out and kill him and save Shuiqiu Cen, the envoy told Emperor Guangwu the truth, and Emperor Guangwu ordered Dong Xuan to be demoted to Huai County (present-day Wuzhi, Henan) County, and asked Qingzhou Taishou to no longer hold Shuiqiu Cen responsible.
Although Dong Xuan suffered from this prison disaster and turned around at the ghost gate, his character of being upright, jealous as a vendetta, and preferring to bend has been known to the world. Soon after, due to the serious problem of bandits in Jiangxia Commandery (江夏郡, in present-day northern Hubei and southern Henan), the imperial court transferred Dong Xuan to Jiangxia Taishou. As soon as Dong Xuan arrived, he issued an official document warning the thieves: "The imperial court sent me to Jiangxia to eliminate the thieves, and I hope that you will change your hearts and face and surrender as soon as possible, otherwise as soon as the army arrives, the jade will be burned!" ”
The thieves led by Xia Xi had long heard of Dong Xuan's thunderbolt tactics, and when they heard the news of Dong Xuan's arrival, they all surrendered their weapons and surrendered, and Jiangxia's banditry soon subsided. After Dong Xuansheng promoted Taishou, the temper of the cattle did not change, and the Jiangxia Du Wei Yin clan was a relative of the Empress Dowager Yin, and he was usually arrogant and arrogant. Now, seeing that Dong Xuan, instead of currying favor with him, despised him everywhere, felt angry in his heart, and often said bad things about Dong Xuan, which led to Dong Xuan being deposed again soon after.
But we say that although Dong Xuan's officialdom is not pleasing to people, it is indispensable to him, just like Hai Rui in the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court needs an example to inspire the official heart and appease the people.
So a few years later, Dong Xuan was appointed again as the Commander of Luoyang County, and this year he was already 69 years old.
It looks like a small county order, but in fact this county order is not ordinary. Although Luoyang County is a county, because it is located at the foot of Tianzi and the important land of Gyeonggi, its status is very important, and it was known as "the first county in the world" in ancient times, so it was also called "Jing County". On the one hand, the status is important, on the other hand, this Luoyang County order is not good. Since Luoyang was the capital at that time, the imperial relatives, high-ranking officials and dignitaries gathered here, and any one of them could make the small county order eat and walk. Therefore, the Luoyang County Order also became the most difficult grass-roots county order at that time.
Soon after Dong Xuan arrived in office, he encountered a difficult and big case.
One day, Dong Xuan went to the street to inspect the people's feelings, met an old woman sitting on the side of the street crying bitterly, and after some inquiry, learned that the old woman's son was beaten to death in the street. Dong Xuan was furious, Lang Lang was clean, and it was really arrogant that someone at the feet of the Heavenly Son actually committed murder in broad daylight. After in-depth understanding, Dong Xuancai learned that the murderer was not small, and was a domestic slave of Princess Huyang Chang, and this case was really difficult to handle.
After returning to the county court, Dong Xuan sent people to the Princess Mansion to get people, and everyone was frightened like earth, and no one dared to go. Dong Xuan had no choice but to think of another way, so there was the scene at the beginning...
Luoyang County Bureau
In the palace. Princess Huyang screamed from heaven to earth, crying, making trouble and hanging herself, and Liu Xiu was forced to be helpless, so she had to immediately summon Dong Xuan into the palace.
Dong Xuan came, and Liu Xiu was furious and prepared to execute him at the instigation of Princess Huyang. Dong Xuan's eyes narrowed: "The minister has something to say, and although he has no regrets after saying it, he will die." ”
Liu Xiu: "You say." ”
Guangwu Emperor Liu Xiu
Dong Xuan: "Your Majesty's Heavenly Indulgence Shengming, Zhongxing Han Room, but now he indulges evil slaves to kill people, how will he educate the people of the world in the future?" Without his majesty's action, the subject will die. Saying that, he slammed his head into the pillar, and suddenly his head broke and bleed.
Liu Xiu was horrified, and hurriedly ordered someone to stop Dong Xuan, and prostrated his head to the princess to apologize, wanting to make a big thing small and give himself a step down, this matter is over.
As a result, Dong Xuan held his hands on the ground, and no matter how hard the eunuch tried, he held his neck and refused to bow his head, which looked like a lying tiger, so he later got the nickname of "Crouching Tiger".
Princess Huyang was angry and blamed Liu Xiu: "When Your Majesty was staying in Nanyang, he hid outlaws, and the government did not dare to ask, now that he is emperor, how can he not even clean up a county order." ”
Liu Xiu smiled awkwardly: "The emperor is different from the common people." ”
Saying that, he quickly said to Dong Xuan, "Let the strong order go out quickly." ”
Subsequently, Liu Xiu left Dong Xuan to eat lunch in the palace, watching a large number of elderly Dong Xuanfeng rolling up the clouds and eating the food cleanly, Liu Xiu was very surprised, and asked: "Why did Ai Qing eat so many particles?" ”
Dong Xuan replied: "A minister does not dare to eat leftovers as he does not dare to do his best in performing his duties. ”
Liu Xiu was greatly touched and very touched by this, and immediately gave him 300,000 yuan and issued an edict asking hundreds of officials to learn from Dong Xuan. After Dong Xuan returned, he gave all the money to his grass-roots employees, and he did not take a penny.
After this incident, Dong Xuan's prestige spread throughout Luoyang, and the bullies and gentry in the city were all terrified and frightened, and did not dare to rely on power to do evil, and the capital was solemn. Even Princess Huyang dared to clean up, who dared to touch Dong Xuan's tiger whiskers. The people clapped their hands and called him "Crouching Tiger Order", and made up a song and praised: "The drum does not sound Dong Shaoping." This means that the drum in front of Dong Xuan's gate has never sounded again, that is, no one in Luoyang City dares to stand up to the wind and commit crimes.
Dong Xuanzhiluo died of illness at the age of 74 in five years. Liu Xiu sent someone to mourn, and found that Dong Xuan's family was surrounded by disciples, the body was still covered with a rough old quilt, there were only a few barley and a broken carriage in the family, and the wife and children were crying opposite each other. After Liu Xiu heard about it, he said sentimentally: "Dong Xuan's incorruptibility will not be known until he dies." ”
"Five years in the county. At the age of seventy-four, he died an official. The emissaries of the edict came to see only the cloth being reincarnated, the wife weeping, and the barley counting and the chariot riding. Emperor Hurt zhi, he said: "Dong Xuan is incorruptible, and death is known!" ——" The Book of the Later Han Dynasty
Subsequently, the edict was solemnly buried with the ceremony of a doctor.
Although Dong Xuan, a generation of honest officials, died, his spirit has always lived in the depths of the hearts of the people of Luoyang. No matter how many years have passed in history and how many dynasties have been changed, people have never forgotten this parent official who "bumped into pillars and protected Li Min", so there was the later Dong Xuan Ancestral Hall.
In the last years of the Ming Dynasty, politics was dark, officials fished the people, the people did not have a good life, and the world became increasingly turbulent. In the context of such an era, the people of Luoyang at that time witnessed the arrogance and extravagance of King Fu, the incompetence of the officials, and the misdeeds of the gentry, and their hearts became more and more nostalgic for Dong Xuan, the strong lord of the people two thousand years ago, so they built an ancestral hall at the intersection of Luoyang Chayuan Street (now Old Town East Avenue) and County Qianjie to commemorate Dong Xuan, which is Dong Xuanci Temple.
Dong Xuan Ancestral Hall
Dong Xuanci's appearance in that stormy era is undoubtedly the greatest irony of the imperial court at that time, which is the same as building a Hairui Temple opposite a luxury organ building today, whose heart was broken? Whose face did you punch again?
Because Dong Xuan Ancestral Hall is a product of the people, the scale is not large. The ancestral hall seat is north to south, the main hall of the ancestral hall, a roll shed, after hundreds of years of vicissitudes, these buildings have long disappeared, only the old locust tree at the door is still leafy and vibrant.
Nowadays, there is an endless stream of tourists visiting the old town every day, and few people will notice the ancient locust tree in the wall, let alone the story of the burial under the locust tree.
At the snap of a thousand years, the wind and current are always blown away by the rain and the wind.
Whenever spring returns to the world and everything recovers, the spring of that tree seems to tell the people of the past that what it carries is a spirit that lasts for thousands of years...