"Search for God" is a Zhiwei novel written in the Wei and Jin dynasties, which contains many mythological stories, the more famous of which are the stories of the general Mo Xie, Dong Yong and the fairy.
Gan Bao's "Search for God" is mainly to express an emotional concept of the people, so the protagonists of many small stories are more famous people at that time. For example, Zhuge Ke catches ghosts, and everyone thinks that Zhuge Ke is a witty figure; Yu Liang went to the toilet to meet a ghost, Yu Liang was a famous official in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and when he was the prime minister, the Eastern Jin Dynasty almost perished.
The protagonist we will talk about below also enters the "Search for God", and its story content reflects his impression in the hearts of the people.
First, will audit the three kang
Kong Yu was born into a family of eunuchs, and his great-grandfather, Prince Taifu, lived in the capital Luoyang. Helplessly, in the turmoil at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Kong family ran to Huiji to take refuge. Kong Yu's grandfather was the official of Eastern Wu to Yuzhang Taishou, his father was Xiangdong Taishou, and his cousin was the Great Si Nong of the State of Wu. Kong Yu is famous for his "filial piety", and others call him one of the "Three Kangs of Huiji".
When Kong Yu was able to become an official, the Jin Dynasty destroyed Eastern Wu, and the Kong clan was forced to move back to Luoyang from Huiji. After a few years of stable life, the Western Jin Dynasty was in turmoil, and the Kong family had to run back to Huiji to avoid disaster.
At the same time that Kong Yu's family fled, Zhang Chang of Jingzhou launched a rebellion, and the rebels captured Yangzhou and other places, just in time to encounter the Kong family who had returned to their hometown to take refuge. The rebel leader Feng Yun knew of Kong Yu's fame and insisted that the latter serve as his staff.
How could Kong Yu, who had received an orthodox education since childhood, agree to such a request and sternly refuse it on the spot. Feng Yun was ashamed and angry and wanted to kill him, but fortunately there were still people in the rebel army who had not lost their conscience and let Kong Yu's family go.
After returning to Huiji, Kong Yu lived in seclusion in the Xin'an Mountains, farming and reading as a profession, which was also a leisurely and self-satisfied.
2. Go out of the mountains to become an official
The idyllic days ended when Sima Rui came to Yangzhou, and Sima Rui was also well aware of Kong Yu's great name during his time in yangzhou, and invited him to help him. Kong Yu first went out of the mountains to become the staff secretary of the King of Langya. Who knew that the King of Langya suddenly became emperor one day, and Kong Yu also rose step by step, and finally was crowned the Marquis of Yubuting.
As a hero of the founding of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Wang Dun was pampered and proud, and became increasingly arrogant. In order to weaken the power of the Wang family, the emperor gradually alienated Wang Dun's younger brother Wang Dao, and vigorously promoted the opposing forces of the Wang family to high officials.
Kong Yu felt that this move was inappropriate, and he wrote to Emperor Sima Rui, saying that although Wang Dun was hateful, Wang Dao was still loyal and that the emperor should not alienate him.
The emperor was furious, believing that Kong Yu was a friend of Wang Dao, and zhongshu lang denounced him as Situ Zuo Changshi. Zhongshu Lang was the emperor's confidential secretary and future prime minister. Situ Zuo Changshi was equivalent to the section chief of the examination officer of the bureaucracy. Although the latter is also considered to be a fat difference, it is far worse than the future with Zhongshu Lang.
During his tenure as Situ Zuo Changshi, Kong Yu was still "unenlightened". At that time, the mother of the Pingnan general Wen Zhao died in Luoyang. But Luoyang was a war-torn place, and Wen Yu couldn't go north to bury his mother. This is a helpless thing, and it is understandable that no son wants to do it.
However, this move did not conform to the Wei and Jin Dynasties' assessment of the "filial piety" of officials, and Kong Yu did not raise Wen Yu's rank on the basis of this.
A few years later, the emperor's anger subsided and he promoted Kong Yu to be in charge of the sacrifice. Unexpectedly, the Wang Dun Rebellion had just subsided, and the Su Jun Rebellion had emerged. When the rebels burned and plundered the capital, Wang Dao, Xun Song and others were killed to protect the 8-year-old Jin Cheng Emperor, and only Kong Yu was wearing imperial clothes to guard the Taimiao Temple.
He believed that the Taimiao Temple was his duty and the dignity of the imperial court. When everyone behaved in front of the emperor, he was alone and insisted on his job.
The general who quelled Su Jun's rebellion was Wen Yu, who was originally pressed by Kong Yu and did not give him a promotion. After the chaos was quelled, Wen Yu took the initiative to see Kong Yu, and everyone thought that General Wen was bound to take revenge for his previous humiliation.
Unexpectedly, Wen Yu cried and said to Kong Yu: "It is said that the rivers are now falling day by day, and the folk customs are not ancient." But when I saw sir, I felt that there was still hope for this country. ”
Third, there are talents and no names
After Su Jun's rebellion was quelled, the emperor rewarded the meritorious service. Shang Shu made Lu Play and Kong Yu similar in their evaluations, so the rewards were also similar, and they were all given a quota of 30 people to be officials. Kong Yu believes that this is a wanton cultivation of his own forces, and he resolutely refuses to accept it.
He was not favored, and Lu Play was not easy to accept. Fortunately, Lu Play even knew Kong Yu's personality very well, and he smiled and passed. There are also those who can't go through, that is, Wang Dao.
Kong Yu's reason for his concession was simple: now that the war was raging and the treasury was empty, it was impossible to reward it. Meritorious people are still not rewarded enough, why can the meritorious people in high positions get rewards frequently. Moreover, they can also elect mediocre people to become officials and arbitrarily cultivate their own cronies.
This made Wang Dao very unhappy to hear this, and he scolded Kong Yu in person in the courtroom: Who do you say is a "meritless person in a high position"? Who do you say "elects mediocre officials"? Who do you say "cultivates power arbitrarily"?
Kong Yu said of course it was you!
However, Wang Daoquan turned to the opposition, and even Kong Yu's righteous words could not change the situation. It didn't take long for Kong Yu to be kicked out of the center and became a general of the Zhen Army in his hometown.
In Huiji, he repaired the old canal so that more than two hundred hectares of fertile land were irrigated. After three years of service, he resigned from office, abandoned everything, and only built a few grass huts under the Nanhou Mountain.
Some people in the DPRK appealed that Kong Yu's talent was enough to worship the Three Dukes.
But Wang Dao's evaluation is: Kong Yu has the talent of the Three Gongs, but does not have the fame of the Three Gongs.
4. Search for God
The Book of Search for God also records a small story about Kong Yu. The story goes that when Kong Yu was young, he passed by a stall and saw someone putting a turtle in a cage and selling it. Kong Yu couldn't bear it, so he bought the turtle and took it to the stream to release it.
Later, Kong Yu was given the title of Marquis of Yubuting and needed to cast an official seal, and according to the regulations, there was a turtle-shaped seal above the official seal. The strange thing is that the turtle-shaped seal on the official seal of "Yu ButingHou" always appears to be the appearance of the turtle turning its head and looking back, and it has been recast 3 times in a row.
The craftsman who cast the seal really had no choice but to report it to Kong Yue. Kong Yu knew that this was the turtle repaying his kindness.
Although this story does not stand up to scrutiny, it shows the simple feelings of people at that time. The turtle knew to repay Kong Yue, let alone a human being.
Author: Our special guest author Kan Dashan
References: "This Jin Dynasty is so interesting", "Those Things about the Jin Dynasty"