Li Dongyang, an evergreen tree in the officialdom of the Daming Dynasty, entered the cabinet in the eighth year of Hongzhi (1495 AD) and served as a cabinet minister for 17 years until the seventh year of Zhengde (1512 AD).
Because he had succumbed to the power of Liu Jin during the Zhengde period, he was terrified in his heart after his death, and he was afraid that his posthumous name would be affected.
On August 17, the eleventh year of Zhengde (1516 AD), Li Dongyang was already in a dying state, and the imperial court entrusted Yang Yiqing to visit.
Yang Yiqing saw Li Dongyang's suffering at a glance, and he couldn't bear it, but revealed: "Since the National Dynasty, there has been no Wen Zheng in the Wen Chen, please be the Duke of Chen."
Hearing this, the terminally ill Li Dongyang struggled to get up and kowtowed to Yang Yiqing on the spot.
Knowing that his nickname is "Wen Zheng", Li Dongyang can indeed laugh at Jiuquan.
Statue of Li Dongyang, now in the Nanjing Museum
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Although it is said that "take on the affairs of life, why fear the posthumous name", no Wen Chen can completely care about the "name" after death, and no one can resist the ultimate temptation of the nickname "Wen Zheng".
Although the courtiers will basically have nicknames when they die, the nicknames are graded, the more general ones are Wen Jian, Wen Yi, Wen Da, Zhuang Jing, Wen Xian, the higher level is Zhongxian, Wen Ding, Wen Yi, Zhongsu, and the higher level is Wen Xiang, Wen Zhong, Wen Jing.
But there is only one tallest, and that is Wen Zheng.
"Wen" represents the wisdom of heaven and earth, kindness and love for the people, and moral knowledge; "Righteousness" represents innocence, constitutionalism, honesty and loyalty.
In particular, Sima Guang of the Northern Song Dynasty proposed that "Wen Zheng is extremely beautiful and incomparable", which made Wen Zheng's status hammered.
Obtaining the title of Wen Zheng is the final word, and it is the greatest affirmation of his political career, achievements as an official, and moral character.
And the emperor, as the ruler, will not easily give the nickname "Wen Zheng" to others. Therefore, there are very few people who can obtain the title of Wen Zhengchen in history.
The first to be given the nickname "Wen Zheng" was Wei Zheng in the early Tang Dynasty, but at that time it was not called Wen Zheng, but "Wen Zhen". It was not until the Northern Song Dynasty that it was changed to "Wen Zheng" in order to avoid the name of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty.
Statue of Wei Zheng, now in the Xi'an Museum
Interestingly, after the Northern Song Dynasty, there were still people who received the nickname "Wenzhen", that is, Yang Shiqi and Xu Jie of the Ming Dynasty. However, this Wen Zhen is no longer Wen Zheng, although the gold content is also okay, but it is far from being as good as Wen Zheng.
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The earliest date back to the Zhou Dynasty, but at that time the control of the number was very strict: "life without a knight, death without a name", generally only the monarch is qualified to fix the name.
In the Qin Dynasty, the overbearing president Ying Zheng directly abolished the nickname.
Although the Western Han Dynasty regained the title, the threshold was extremely high, limited to heterogeneous kings and marquises; During the Eastern Han Dynasty, many of the people who could obtain nicknames were eunuchs who had brought calamity to the country and the people, and foreign relatives who had little ability.
Until the Tang Dynasty, because of the standardized law, the qualifications for obtaining the court, the procedures for the appointment and the criteria for granting the counsel were all clarified.
In the Tang Dynasty, there were only four ministers who received the nickname "Wen Zheng", which shows this.
These four people are Wei Zheng, Lu Xiangxian, Song Jing, and Zhang Shuo.
Without exception, they all served as prime ministers. It can be seen that if you want to obtain the title of Wen Zhengchen, serving as the prime minister is a hardware standard, and the same is true for later dynasties.
Of the four "Wen Zheng" of the Tang Dynasty, the first three were not controversial, only Zhang said that there was a dispute.
This is because although Zhang said that although he was the prime minister during the Tang Xuanzong period and was also the Emperor of Heaven, his people had a very bad temper and were greedy for money and lustful.
Zhang Shuo's portrait, now in the Luoyang Museum
This caused Zhang to be given the title Wenzheng after his death, which caused great controversy, and finally Tang Xuanzong personally came forward and forcibly suppressed the controversy.
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In the Song Dynasty, because it was the peak dynasty of Wenzhi, the number of ministers who received the nickname "Wen Zheng" was slightly higher, with a total of 9 people, namely Li Fang, Fan Zhongyan, Sima Guang, Wang Dan, Wang Zeng, Cai Bian, Huang Zhongyong, and Zheng Juzhong.
Among them, Li Fang relies on his qualifications for old age and long life. He was born in the Later Tang Dynasty, successively Later Jin, Later Han, Later Zhou, and served as prime minister for 10 years in the Northern Song Dynasty. It can be described as a living fossil of five generations and ten countries.
After paying homage to Shi, if there is a banquet at the court, Li Fang will still be in the prime minister's shift, acting as an official mascot.
Finally, at the age of 72, he accompanied Emperor Taizong of Song to worship in the southern suburbs, accidentally fell on the ground while dancing, and then died.
At such an age, it is really not easy, even if there is no merit, there is hard work, so I got the nickname "Wen Zheng".
And Fan Zhongyan needless to say, if his nickname is not Wen Zheng, then this nickname is not necessary.
Fan Zhongyan statue, now in the Nanjing Museum
As for Sima Guang, he is probably finishing his own path and making it difficult for others to walk...
Sima Guang statue, now in the National Museum
It is worth mentioning that Wang Zeng, the legendary prime minister, offended the emperor and the empress dowager to death when he was in power, and as a result, he was able to obtain the nickname "Wen Zheng" after his death, which is really breathtaking.
The "Picture of Listening to the Lecture on Transformation", which describes Wang once invited Emperor Renzong to the Chongren Hall to listen to the lectures of the bachelor, is now in the National Library of France
And Cai Bian, as Cai Jing's own brother, is actually two people with his brother. He was a clean official, supported the reform of the law, and was Wang Anshi's son-in-law. Moreover, his calligraphy achievements are quite high, not inferior to Cai Jing at all.
As for Huang Zhongyong and Zheng Juzhong, although their reputations are not obvious, they can be known by being familiar with Song Shi that these two people are qualified for the title of Wen Zheng, whether they are personal morals or official achievements.
In the Yuan Dynasty, there were 6 people who received the title of Wen Zhengchen, namely: Wu Cheng, Yelu Chucai, Liu Bingzhong, Xu Heng, Lian Xixian, and Jia Juzhen.
I won't mention it specifically, because the social governance of the Yuan Dynasty is extremely bad, and the so-called "Wen Zheng" is a child living a family, and the cards of Yelu Chu are still okay.
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In the Ming Dynasty, the lessons of the Yuan Dynasty were learned, and the threshold for the granting of the nickname "Wen Zheng" had been raised to the sky.
In the Ming generation, there were only two people who really won the nickname "Wen Zheng", namely Li Dongyang and Xie Qian.
Both of them are the cabinet saisuke of Koji ZTE. In fact, there were three important ministers in the cabinet at that time, belonging to the Golden Triangle, and they said: "Li Gongmou, Liu Gongjue, Xie Gongyou Kankan".
Li refers to Li Dongyang, Xie refers to Xie Qian, and Liu refers to Liu Jian.
Liu Jian was also a generation of sages, the elders of the four dynasties, honest and loyal to his duties, but he did not receive the nickname "Wen Zheng", but the second level of "Wen Jing".
This is because Liu Jian died in the fifth year of Jiajing (1526), and friends familiar with Ming history know that this time was just after the end of the Great Rite Debate, and the contradictions between monarchs and subjects were prominent.
In addition, there are two people who have obtained the nickname "Wen Zheng", that is, Fang Xiaoxiao and Ni Yuanlu, although the qualifications are definitely enough, but the situation is more special - they were posthumously called "Wen Zheng" during the Southern Ming Hongguang period.
In the Qing Dynasty, there were 8 people named "Wen Zheng", namely: Tang Bin, Liu Tongxun, Zhu Jue, Cao Zhenyong, Du Shoutian, Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzao, and Sun Jiayi.
On the whole, a considerable part of the Qing Dynasty Wen Zheng is not worthy of the name, and in terms of gold content, it is stronger than that of the Yuan Dynasty.
Tang Bin was honest and honest, known as the "famous minister of science", but in fact he was not high in terms of political achievements, and he was given the nickname Wen Zheng, only because the rulers of the early Qing Dynasty needed to advocate Cheng Zhu Lixue.
Liu Tongxun, Zhu Jue, and Li Hongzao (not brothers with Li Hongzhang, one in Baoding, Hebei and one in Hefei, Anhui) are qualified; Needless to say, Zeng Guofan has a hobby of shaving people's heads, but he does have the power of rebuilding rivers and mountains.
As for Cao Zhenyong's nickname Wen Zheng, it is completely unworthy of the name and unworthy of the position. This important minister who has not fallen for three dynasties once openly preached that the secret of being an official is "kowtow more and talk less." I only know that he blindly catered to the emperor and did nothing in office, belonging to the high-end version of Sun Liancheng of the Qing Dynasty.
At the same time, the historical status is also seriously inadequate, with only 700 words in the "Qing History Manuscript: The Biography of Cao Zhenyong".
And Du Shoutian and Sun Jiayi's nickname "Wen Zheng" can be regarded as taking advantage of the imperial master. In particular, the former was directly given by the Xianfeng Emperor and was not discussed by the court.
In addition, the three heavyweights of the late Qing Dynasty: Li Hongzhang, Zhang Zhidong, and Zuo Zongtang, did not receive the title Wen Zheng after their deaths, but were "Wen Zhong", "Wen Xiang", and "Wen Xiang".
The reason is: these three people have offended the imperial court fiercely...
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In general, these people who have received the nickname "Wen Zheng", whether they are worthy of the name or not, are all people who have left a strong mark on Chinese history.