The ancient imperial examination system is the real "thousands of troops and horses crossing the single wooden bridge". Some famous historical figures have struggled in the swamp of the imperial examination all their lives. For example, Pu Songling, the imperial examination career lasted for 53 years, 10 times to participate in the township examination are named Luosun Mountain, until the age of 72 is still a show talent.
There are also "lucky ones" who participate in the imperial examination all the way to "open and hang", and they passed the examination at a young age. For example, the protagonist of this article, Yu Minzhong, a famous minister of the Qing Dynasty.
Yu Minzhong
One
Yu Minzhong, zi uncle, a native of Jintan, Jiangsu, was born in 1714. Yu Minzhong was born into a family of official eunuchs, his great-grandfather Yu Sichang served as the prefect of Yuan Prefecture, his grandfather Yu Hanxiang worked as Shanxi Xuezheng, and his father Yu Shufan worked as Xuanping Zhi County. Yu Minzhong was intelligent and studious from an early age, and was a "scholar bully" on the road of keju, and at the age of 15, he passed the examination and became one of the youngest lifters in the history of the Qing Dynasty.
Maybe It was that Yu Minzhong's road to the field was too smooth, and fate wanted to make a joke with him. When Yu Minzhong first entered Beijing to participate in the examination, he unfortunately fell behind and returned to his hometown sadly. Yu Minzhong was not discouraged, he firmly believed in his own strength. In 1737, Yu Minzhong entered Beijing for the second time to participate in the examination, the title of the golden list, and also achieved a good result in the first place in the temple examination, and was named a champion by the Qianlong Emperor.
The Qianlong Emperor
This year, Yu Minzhong was only 23 years old. As a result, Yu Minzhong became the youngest member in the history of the Qing Dynasty.
Interestingly, in 1723, Yu Minzhong's brother Yu Zhen also passed the examination. People refer to them as "brothers".
Two
Yu Minzhong's erudition, elegant poetry, and especially his beautiful calligraphy were appreciated by the Qianlong Emperor, and he rose through the ranks and rose through the ranks and rose frequently. By 1754, Yu Minzhong had moved to The Soldier Shilang from Erpin and became a hot figure in the imperial court.
How much did the Qianlong Emperor favor Minzhong?
In 1758, Yu Minzhong's heir apparent, Yu Fang (who had been passed on to Yu Fang), fell ill and died. In accordance with the etiquette system, Yu Minzhong resigned from his official position and returned to his hometown to give Yu Fang the shou system. Unfortunately, Yu Minzhong's mother also died soon after. This means that Yu Minzhong will have to keep the system for a total of 6 years. In order to return to the imperial court as soon as possible, Yu Minzhong concealed the news of his mother's death.
There are no impermeable walls in the world. Soon, Yushi Zhu Ji learned of this and impeached Min. In ancient times, filial piety was very important, and so was the Qing Dynasty. Officials who do not observe filial piety have little place in the official arena. However, the Qianlong Emperor forgave Yu Minzhong for what he had done, and instead rebuked Zhu Ji for "defaming people's reputations." When Yu Minzhong returned to the imperial court, the Qianlong Emperor arranged for him to serve as a household attendant.
Three
In 1760, the Qianlong Emperor appointed the 46-year-old Yu Minzhong as the Minister of Military Aircraft to participate in the affairs of the aircraft.
We know that in the early qing dynasty, there was no such institution as the Military Aircraft Department, and after the Yongzheng Emperor established the Military Aircraft Department, he relied on it to handle the important affairs of military aircraft. The Minister of Military Aircraft of the Military Aircraft Department became the de facto Prime Minister. Initially, most of the officials who could serve as military aircraft ministers were eight banner nobles, and very few Han Chinese could enter the military aircraft department to serve as military aircraft ministers. It can be seen that the Qianlong Emperor placed great importance on Minzhong.
Military Aircraft Division
Yu Minzhong continued to be promoted to an official position, successively serving as a Tobe Shoshu, a co-founder university fellow, and a scholar of Mandarin University. According to the Cabinet system of the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty gradually evolved into the "Three Halls and Three Pavilions". Namely, Bohol Hall, Wenhua Hall, Wuying Hall, Wenyuan Pavilion, East Pavilion, Andern Pavilion. Bohol Hall University Fellows are not permanent, so Mandarin University Fellows are de facto first assistants to the Cabinet. At the same time, Yu Minzhong also served as the foreman of the military aircraft minister.
The Qianlong Emperor took Minzhong as his right arm and left arm, and whether he was in the imperial court or inspecting the south, he had to accompany Minzhong.
Four
In 1778, the Qianlong Emperor issued an edict commending those who had made meritorious contributions in quelling the Jinchuan Rebellion. Although Yu Minzhong did not directly participate in the war, he gave many opinions to the Qianlong Emperor when he was a scholar of the Wenhua Temple and a foreman of the military aircraft. The Qianlong Emperor issued an edict to reward Minzhong, wearing a pair of eyes and a yellow coat, and also painted his image and enshrined it in the Purple Light Pavilion.
Yellow coat
On January 14, 1780, Yu Minzhong died of illness at the age of 67. The Qianlong Emperor issued an edict that He would be kind to Min, allowing him to enter the Ancestral Hall of Xianliang and giving him the title of "WenXiang".
Wen Xiang comes from the phrase "Jia Xiang has a labor and a labor, and is in urgent need of conquest", and is generally given to ministers with military merit. Zuo Zongtang, one of the four famous ministers of the late Qing Dynasty, received the nickname of Wen Xiang for recovering millions of territories in Xinjiang. Obviously, Yu Minzhong's acquisition of the title of Wen Xiang was related to the pacification of the Jinchuan Rebellion.
Five
Yu Minzhong died, but the story did not end.
In June 1780, Yu Minzhong's descendants had a dispute over family property, which caused trouble in front of the Qianlong Emperor. The Qianlong Emperor sent people to investigate, and inadvertently discovered that Yu Minzhong, who had always regarded himself as incorruptible, actually owned a family property of 2 million taels of silver. The Qianlong Emperor was very angry, but he remembered the merits of Minzhong's life and did not pursue it.
However, "a wave of uneven waves arose again", and in 1781, the Gansu impersonation case involving high-ranking officials such as Wang Qiwang, the governor of Zhejiang, and Le Erjin, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, was also implicated in the case. In the Gansu Case, the Qianlong Emperor killed many heads, but he was kind to Minzhong again and did not hold him responsible.
It was not until 1786, when the Qianlong Emperor was playing with a piece of porcelain from the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, that he thought of Yan Song, a powerful minister of the Jiajing period, and associated him with Yu Minzhong, that he felt that he had been fooled like the Jiajing Emperor, and he was immediately ashamed and angry, and withdrew From the Xianliang Ancestral Hall in Order to show his commandments.
Yan Song
All this Yu Minzhong had no way of knowing.