#历史开讲 #
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There is an ancient tradition that has lasted for more than 2,000 years in ancient times, that is, the system of flowing officials. This means that an official cannot serve in one place for a long time, and cannot be an official in his place of origin.
This move is intended to allow local officials to move frequently, break the monopoly power formed by local officials, and leave officials with no time or energy to form their own power gangs.
But there is one family that is an exception. The family's prefectural office has been hereditary for more than 600 years and has always been in charge of it in its place of origin.
Over the centuries, dynasties have changed, emperors have changed one after another, but the family's prefectural position has remained unharmed.
What is the status of this family? Why didn't the emperor of every dynasty dare to shake it? It all starts with the sage Confucius.
First, in the hometown of the saint, the Kongshi County Order began to be hereditary from the Tang Dynasty
Confucius lived in the Spring and Autumn Era and made great achievements in education and thought. Throughout his life, he has pursued a harmonious society, traveling between countries to offer ideas to improve society and enhance people's livelihood and well-being.
After his death, his ideas were revered as Confucianism, and he himself was revered as a "Confucian saint", with a prominent position and enjoyed reverence.
As the saying goes: A man ascends to heaven. Qufu is the hometown of Confucius, and the local Kong family was originally just a household that was no different from ordinary people.
However, as Confucianism became the law of statecraft, Confucius's status continued to rise, and his descendants rose in status, and he was even revered as a "holy descendant".
Beginning in the Han Dynasty, in order to unify the country's thinking, the emperor deposed the hundred schools of thought and respected Confucianism. The whole country has great respect for Confucius, and the Kong family in Qufu has also received special care.
Liu Bang honored Confucius's ninth grandson, Kong Teng, as a "worship prince", which made the Kong family jump from ordinary households and officially step into the threshold of nobility.
In the Tang Dynasty, although Confucianism was not advocated, in order to unify the people's thinking and show respect for Confucianism, the Tang Emperor also gave the Kong family great preferential treatment.
When selecting the Qufu County Order, the Tang Dynasty pioneered the descendants of the Kong clan as the county order. Since then, the county order of Qufu has been concurrently served by the eldest grandson of Confucius.
You must know that in ancient China, although the county order was a local official of small grade, it was an official that could be large or small.
The record of the duties of county orders in the New Book of Tang shows that Zhixian is usually responsible for various affairs such as politics, economy, military, and culture of a county.
And the county order, as an official of the imperial court, should have implemented the system of exile officials and avoided serving in his hometown. The Tang emperor let the Kong family be ordered in Qufu County, apparently as a preferential move to honor Kong Shangru.
The "Archives of Confucius" states the reason why the Tang Dynasty made the Kong family a county order: they are the descendants of the Kong family, and Qufu is the hometown of a saint, and they cannot be controlled by others, so they give the Kong family the right to control Qufu.
It turned out that the descendants of the Kong family were called "holy descendants" in Qufu, and if outsiders were allowed to control Qufu, they would inevitably encounter a scene where the descendants of the Kong family were subject to county orders, which was disrespectful to Confucius.
In 866, the seventh year of Emperor Yizong of Tang's Xiantong, the first official of Kong County in Qufu, he was the 40th grandson of Confucius, named Kong Xuan.
Since Kong's continuation, Qufu County has been hereditary by Kong's descendants, and its status has never been shaken after more than 500 years of Tang, Song, Jin, and Yuan.
Beginning in the Song Dynasty, the descendants of Confucius once again ushered in the official Jin Jue, and the title has been hereditary for more than two thousand years.
In 1055, Emperor Renzong of Song officially canonized the eldest grandson of Confucius at that time, and named it "Yansheng Gong", which means the reproduction of the descendants of Confucius saints.
The title of Duke of Yansheng can only be inherited by Confucius's eldest son, even if the eldest son is dead, it will be inherited by the eldest grandson, and there is no chance for the side lineage.
After being added to the Jin Dynasty, Yan Shenggong's status in Qufu was already higher than the county order to some extent.
Kong's County Ling and Yan Shenggong were also selected from the descendants of Confucius, but the bloodline requirements of Kong's County Ling were not strict.
Most of the time, the order of Kong's county is concurrently served by the eldest grandson of Confucius, and sometimes the wise and virtuous people in the Kong family are also selected, some of whom are succeeded by their fathers and sons, and some are replaced by brothers and brothers.
Whether it is the Kong County Commandery or the Yan Sheng Gong, all dynasties and generations give the Kong family officials and Jin Jue preferential treatment, all in order to let them play a role model and role model.
But the fact that Confucius is a saint does not mean that everyone in Confucius's descendants is a saint. There are also bad people in the Kong family, and during the Ming Dynasty, the dirty and ugly side of the Kong family finally came to trouble.
Second, the disaster caused Xiao Wall, and the family infighting, Kong's county order, changed the world's office
As the descendants of Confucius, some people have always adhered to the family discipline at the local level, actively fulfilled the role of edifying the surrounding people, diligently and cautiously said and deeds, and valued their own specimens and role models.
But among the descendants of Confucius, there are also people who do wrongdoing. In the past, the antipathy against them was only hidden, and gradually increased during the Ming Dynasty, and finally broke out into a major scandal.
After Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor in the Ming Dynasty, he still respected Confucius. He not only retained the hereditary position system of Kongshi County, but also increased the title of Duke of Yansheng from the third rank to the second rank.
In addition, he also has special rules for the other descendants of the Kong family. According to the "Records of Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty", Zhu Yuanzhang personally announced that "the descendants of Confucius are exempt from military service, and all criminals are subject to the law." ”
In the 7th year of Hongwu, the local floods in Qufu were frequent, and the county ordered Kong Xiwen to hide it in order to protect the reputation of the government. Some people also complained to Kong Xida, saying that he had committed such undesirable behaviors as raising taxes, accepting bribes, and privately selling official land and property in local governance.
The matter involved the descendants of the Kong family, which was extremely tricky, and the criminal department submitted his various charges to the emperor and asked him to decide.
At first, in order to save the face of Kong's descendants, Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to delay time, so he ordered a thorough investigation of the matter but did not arrest Kong Xida.
Who knew that Kong Ting, the patriarch of the Kong clan, also couldn't stand the practice of the county commander Kong Xida, and submitted a complaint to the emperor. The Kong family had internal strife, and Kong Xida had to deal with it.
In order to preserve the privileges of the Kong family in Qufudang County, Kong Xixue, the then Yan sage, together with more than 20 people from the Kong family, personally went to the capital to elect Kong Keshin, who was a talented descendant, as the new county commander.
Kong Ke stretched out a poem in front of Zhu Yuanzhang, making Zhu Yuanzhang clap his hands and praise, saying that he was only incoherent and more than enough to be a county commander.
Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered: "Those who have obtained the truth count things, and the rest are false, and Xida has offended and sat on the Ministry of Punishment." Absolved of his sins, abolished hereditary and replaced with hereditary office. ”
The result of the handling of Kong Xida himself was to remove the official but be exempted from the crime and not prosecuted, I am afraid that punishing the descendants of the Kong family will hurt the family morality of the Kong family.
And Zhu Yuanzhang also broke the hereditary tradition, allowing the Qufu County Order of the Kong family to be changed to a hereditary position, and Yan Shenggong selected sages to send to the imperial court, and directly led the edict to the post.
Since then, Kong's County Order has changed from a hereditary system to a hereditary system. In other words, the descendants of the Kong family can still be county orders in Qufu, but their pursuit of bloodline is not strict, and they value character and talent more.
The system of Qufu Shizheng County Decree was used throughout the Ming Dynasty, and this provision was also used in the early Qing Dynasty, and it was not abolished until Qianlong 21.
And the opportunity to abolish the hereditary office was also because of the infighting between the descendants of the Kong family. This time, Qianlong did not give them preferential treatment and directly abolished their privileges.
Third, the family ugliness was raised, and Kongshi County brought 600 years of glory to an end
In 1747, the 6th year of Qianlong, the name of Qufu County was Kong Yuju, and the name of Yansheng was Kong Guangdi. The scandal of the Kong family, which shocked the world, occurred between the two of them in an infight.
Kong Guangdi was the 70th grandson of Confucius, and on the day he paid his birthday to the Qianlong Emperor on the fifth day of September of that year, he wrote a letter impeaching the county commander Kong Yuju.
I saw that after he returned to Qufu, he said emotionally: "I have already made a list to impeach Kong Yuju, see how many days can he still be a blessing?" ”
You know, Kong Yuju is his great-grandfather's respected relative, and he is the county commander of the previous Yansheng Gong. Not only was he his respected elder but also a local parent official, Kong Guangdi's move made Qianlong scratch his head.
Opening Kong Guangdi's letter of impeachment, one by one, depicts a dirty image of Kong's county order, with a total of nine charges.
They are greedy taxation, deduction of subsidies, seeking employment for one's own family, buying land property, buying prostitutes and raising prostitutes, gambling addiction, forcibly occupying official land, and private use of official materials...
In the end, Kong Guangdi put forward his own demands, and asked the imperial court to dismiss Kong Yuju from his post, temporarily replace the post of county commander himself, and later select meritocracy among the clan and reappoint qualified county commanders.
As soon as the twist came out, the stone broke the sky, and the whole court was talking about it. Originally, the purpose of honoring the descendants of saints was to set an example to the world, but who knew that there were also bad people among the descendants of saints.
The Qianlong Emperor handed this over to Zhou Xuejian, an attendant of Hubu, for trial. The trial of the case here has not yet begun, and another snitch letter has arrived, this is from Ling Kong Yuju in Qufu County.
In this compromise, the plaintiff became the defendant, and Kong Guangdi became a heinous sinner.
Kong Yuju burst into tears and told about his difficulties as a county order, because Qufu Yansheng had the power to seize real power by life and death, and assigned the county order to carry out all civil marriage and property affairs, above the county order, lawless.
In his letter, he also listed five crimes against Kong Guangdi, the Duke of Yansheng, namely, selling official posts in clear numbers, buying and selling official documents, nepotism, bullying the people, and imposing taxes...
At the end of the twist, Kong Yuju said that the people of Yansheng Gongyu ran amok in the township, completely insulting the name of Confucius.
These two letters, whether true or false, surprised the world, and the Kong family was completely pulled off the altar.
As a descendant of a saint, the Kong family has flawless morality, is high and admired all year round. But as soon as this scandal came out, it was morally bankrupt, not to mention the infighting and mutual accusations, which further exposed the family scandal.
Qianlong had a thorny problem in front of him, both of them were descendants of saints, one was the county commander and the other was Yan Shenggong. Weighing it up, he chose to preserve the reputation of Yan Shenggong.
Therefore, after some verification, he convicted the county commander Kong Yuju, and abolished the Qufu Kongshi County Ling Shi and put it in charge of a lieutenant sent by the imperial court.
Since then, the Qufu County Order is no longer selected from the descendants of Confucius, and the Kongshi County Order has officially ended in the glorious years of more than 600 years in Qufu.
Qianlong dared to abolish the Kongshi County Decree, but did not dare to abolish the title of Duke of Yansheng. Because the Kong family has been treated favorably for many years, it has become a contemporary Confucius ideologically, and is the anchor of the royal sea, and maintaining the status of the Kong family is safeguarding the imperial power.
Therefore, although the Kongshi County Order was abolished, the bad style among Kong's descendants still existed. Because Yan Shenggong's privileges have been practiced for many years, it has already had a backlash effect in the local area.
The title of Duke of Yansheng was retained from the Song Dynasty until the 24th year of the Republic of China, and it was not until 1935 that Kong Decheng, the last Duke of Yansheng, was abolished as a saint.
The Kong family finally stopped consuming the aura of Confucius, and the saint could finally rest in peace.
Epilogue:
The Kong family, honored by virtue of the bloodline of the saint Confucius, has enjoyed privileges for thousands of years in history, and people worship them as representatives of contemporary Confucius.
Hereditary county order, hereditary county order, Yansheng dukedom ... One by one, they were all their privileges under the aura of Kong Saint.
It is true that most of them always remember the family teachings of Confucius and cultivate themselves by following Confucius's example, which is quite a saint's legacy.
But for thousands of years, the bad guys in the Kong family have also continued to emerge. They roamed the countryside with their privileges, forming a monopoly in the localities with privileges, making the people miserable.
It can be seen that the best respect for a family is not a golden wire cage that gives them rights, and supports them with privileges, because excessive respect often does not produce the desired results.
To propagate ideology, we cannot rely on systems and materials to complete it. Because morality is in the hearts of people, not in prosperity and wealth.
Bibliography:
"Records of Ming Taizu"
New Book of Tang
"Archives of Confucius"