Article source: Culture Henan Magazine
Author: Song Xinhuan
The phrase "treat the people as wounds" comes from the "Left Biography", and Cheng Hao, a famous thinker, philosopher, educator and founder of science in the Northern Song Dynasty, regarded it as his motto. Cheng Hao (1032-1085), also known as Mr. Ming Dao, and his brother Cheng Yi were the founders of the Northern Song Dynasty, known as "Ercheng", and their brothers set the essence of Confucianism, Yixue, Taoism, and Buddhism, and founded a reason-based ideological system, which was later inherited and carried forward by Zhu Xi, known as Cheng Zhu Lixue. In the second year of the Northern Song Dynasty (1057), the twenty-five-year-old Cheng Haoju entered the army and began to enter the career, after that, no matter where he was, Cheng Hao always wrote these words and posted them in a prominent position, always reminding himself to treat the people as if they were wounded and sick, treat them sincerely, lest they be ashamed of these four words. During his tenure as a county official, Cheng Hao always cared for the people and was pragmatic for the people, and he always embodied this ideological concept to the extreme, always and everywhere "regarded the people as a wound.".
Cover of the second issue of "Culture Henan" magazine in 2021
In Shangyuan, rush to repair Pitang
Shangyuan County (present-day northern Nanjing) is hilly, and rice field irrigation basically relies on Pitang for water supply. Pitang is an important water storage project in hilly areas, and its main purpose is to regulate drought and flooding, and to take into account flood distribution and flood control for water storage and irrigation. One summer, Cheng Hao was reading the documents for the approval of county order affairs on behalf of Shangyuan County, when suddenly his subordinates panicked and reported: Continuous rainstorms caused Pitang to break the mouth! When Cheng Hao heard the news, he immediately led the county magistrates to rush to the scene of the incident. Only to see the polder collapse, the pond water flowing, Cheng Hao was anxious to see the situation, and the lost pond water was related to the livelihood of the people! It is the height of summer, if the seedling irrigation lacks water, it will die in a few days, if the farmland is out of harvest, how can farmers live? And where is the grain tax credit? The consequences are unimaginable! The scene situation is critical, and pitang needs to be repaired urgently! However, the polder was long, collapsed in many places, and the amount of repair work was huge, and it was useless without a thousand laborers. According to the regulations, the county order does not have the right to distribute such a scale of servitude, according to the normal procedure, it must first be reported to the state capital, and then the transfer department, and then the work can be started after the approval decision, which will take more than a month before and after. If you act in violation of the law, you will be punished with a light penalty, and if you are serious, you will be dismissed from your post and investigated.
Cheng Hao looked in his eyes and was anxious in his heart: In order to protect the people, why bother! "The situation is urgent and cannot be delayed! Repair the embankment immediately! Regardless of his personal gains and losses, Cheng Hao immediately made a decision, and immediately ordered the mobilization of manpower, repair and reinforcement of the polder, and took the time to report in detail. Under Cheng Hao's resolute arrangement and careful command, the people who heard the news enthusiastically joined the ranks of repairing the polder, and the group acted quickly and non-stop, repairing and reinforcing the polder in the shortest possible time, effectively controlling the water situation, and the function of the pit pond continued to play a stable role. By the autumn, the grain harvest was abundant, the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, and the outstanding political achievements impressed the imperial court, and finally did not absolve Cheng Hao.
In Jincheng, it is clever to pay taxes and grain
When the people of Jincheng (in present-day northwestern Jincheng District, Shanxi) paid taxes every season, they had to send it to a place close to the border, and the peasant households first carefully packed the grain at home, and then went in groups to the designated place of the government to collect grain. Because of the long distance, the rich often bring hay, fast horses and whips, it is relatively easy to go back and forth, and for ordinary people, rickshaws need to carry enough dry food to fill the hunger on the way, and some widows, sick and disabled families are very worried when it comes to paying taxes and grain, because there is not enough labor to cope with the pain of grain transportation. In the event of rainy and bad weather, transportation is doubly difficult, the roads are muddy, and the carriages and horses are slow, which is not only time-consuming and laborious to travel back and forth, but also inevitably damages the quality of food.
Some people came up with the idea of temporarily buying grain to pay taxes nearby to reduce the suffering of traffic and horses, but at that time, the price of grain in the border areas was always inflated and high, and most of the people could not bear it. Cheng Hao sympathized with the poor people who came and went, and through investigation came up with a clever trick, he selected those trustworthy rich households, "entrusted them with heavy responsibilities", ordered them to store sufficient grain and millet in advance, prepared for the payment of taxes and grain, and when the tax deduction time arrived, they were directly transported to the designated place, the trustworthy rich households and the local people cooperated with each other, fair collection and sale, the official government strictly supervised, convenient and efficient, saved time and effort, saved a lot of costs, and finally the rich and the poor were happy. Cheng Hao also established a village Wu Bao in the local area, so that the villages and villages help each other, the disabled and the weak and widowed, let relatives and friends and neighbors give them pensions, cultivate and help each other, ensure their livelihood, and avoid displacement, so that in Jincheng County for three years, "the people love like parents." ”
Cheng Hao often examines himself in the face of the four characters of "Seeing the People as Wounds"
In Fugou, water conservancy was built
After Cheng Hao arrived at renfugou (任扶沟, in present-day Gucheng Village, northeast of Fugou County, Henan), he found that there were often people on the street carrying utensils back and forth to fetch water. It turned out that the local water quality was very poor, the well water was salty and difficult to drink, and people with conditions went outside to pull water to eat. There is a well in the nearby monastery, the well water is slightly sweet, but the monks strictly forbid women to draw water, for many years, because of the problem of water extraction, the monks often have unhappiness, the people have been living in this way. The status quo led Cheng Hao to ponder, and he secretly made up his mind: we must dig a well that can be drunk by ordinary people! Then sent people to seriously investigate, repeated arguments, after many consultations, quickly organized people and horses, in the same vein of the monk's house on the deep digging and drilling well, the construction personnel are full of energy, soon chiseled out of the water, and the water quality is exactly the same as the monk's house well water, the people are ecstatic: "Cheng County ordered a coming, many years of draft water problems immediately solved!" ”
Cheng Hao painstakingly solved the problem of drinking water for residents' daily life, and was even more ingenious in solving the problem of local drought and flood. Due to the lack of channel drainage, drought and flood disasters in Fugou County occurred frequently, and Cheng Hao combined with the local situation to lead the county people to repair canals and dig wells, so that drought can be irrigated and floods can be drained. Drawing up a blueprint, "painting a ditch", building a water conservancy project, and saying: "If the land of the ditch is all ditched, it will be completed in a few years." Those who come after know its benefits, and there will be successors. Cheng Hao not only took the lead in raising this project to benefit the people, but also considered that there should be successors to this project that benefited the people, and the people of Fugou were well aware of their good intentions, and they all respected and loved it, and when Cheng Hao left Fugou, the county people chased and cried bitterly, and they were in love, according to Wen Yanbo's "Mr. Mingdao Table", "Mr. Mingdao's visit to the county does not let people know, the old child chases after the situation, and the climbing number cries and refuses to go."
Back cover of the 2nd issue of "Culture Henan" magazine in 2021
In Lanzhou, Zhi Rong fled
During the reign of Emperor Shenzong of Song, the Yellow River often flooded and needed to be governed, and the eunuch Cheng Fang was the minister of river defense in the imperial court, who considered himself to be an official of the capital, arrogant and arrogant, and often did not pay attention to local officials such as prefectures and counties. Once, Cheng Fang wanted to transfer 800 soldiers from Liaozhou (澶州, in present-day Puyang City, Henan) to rectify the river, but was rejected by Cheng Hao, then the judge of the Zhenning Army Festival: "The law stipulates that soldiers and soldiers have special responsibilities, and they cannot leave their posts without authorization, let alone transfer them to other places at will. When Cheng Fang saw that this official of the family did not buy it, he went to the Divine Sect and forced the Zhenning army to allocate 800 soldiers to Cheng Fang to rule the river according to the holy will. It was the middle of winter, the weather was cold and frozen, Cheng Fang never pitied the soldiers, often caused a lack of clothes and food, the soldiers were hungry and frozen, suffering and accumulating, and finally could not bear the tyranny, and scattered back to Lanzhou, gathered at the city gate, shouting and anxious to enter the city. The officials in the city looked at the soldiers who fled back outside the city gate, and they were all afraid of offending Cheng Fang, and out of self-preservation, they unanimously wanted to refuse to open the city gate.
At this time, Cheng Hao, who cherished and loved the people, did not echo it, but put his personal honor and disgrace aside, and in a firm tone, he immediately stood up and retorted: "The pawns went out to work hard, and now they risk death to escape back, counting nine cold days, leaving them in the wilderness, how can they bear it in their hearts?" If the city gate is not opened, it will be difficult for them to return home, which will definitely lead to chaos! If Cheng Fang really blames it, then I cheng Hao will be responsible! "After saying that, I personally went to the city gate and opened the city gate to meet the soldiers. When the city gate opened, the soldiers and soldiers were eager to enter, and Cheng Hao hurriedly stopped everyone and said in a serious tone: "Listen carefully, today you are allowed to enter the city, not to recognize your reasonable approach, but to understand your hard work in the harsh winter, let everyone go home for three days of vacation, and then continue to work in the river, how?" The hungry and cold soldiers saw that Cheng Hao was so sympathetic, one by one, they were grateful and shouted together: "Obey the order!" Yes, sir! "Pour into the city. Cheng Hao then sent the abuse of the sailors to the imperial court, explaining the cause of the incident and asking the imperial court to distinguish between right and wrong and act according to law. After Emperor Shenzong of Song received the song, he saw what was going on and quickly approved that the Zhenning army would no longer send soldiers and pawns to serve in the army. The soldiers were appeased, and the hidden danger of a riot was safely resolved by Cheng Hao, who was worried about the people and had the courage to take responsibility.
A generation of great Confucian Cheng Hao observed the concerns of the people, the anxieties of the people, pragmatic and truth-seeking, and achieved the real "regard the people as wounds", this lofty realm and noble feelings can be called a model for eternity. As a member of the Communist Party, every time I see these stories of Cheng Hao, I can't help but be in awe, and now I fill in a poem to pay tribute to this sage who is buried in the land of Ihara: "Appealing to Heartfelt Feelings, Cheng Hao Looks at the People as Wounds" Cheng Men Ming Dao Grand Confucian General. People are often treated as wounded. Only lived in the Northern Song Dynasty five sons, science alone. Pay the same tax, make up the polder. Water tongchang. Wisdom and escape, righteousness, and eternal life.
(Song Xinhuan, a native of Yichuan, Henan, director of the Office of the Leading Group for the Inheritance and Development of Excellent Traditional Culture in Chengguan Street, Yichuan County, researcher of the Ercheng Cultural Research Institute of Henan Province)
(The article was originally published in the second issue of "Culture Henan" magazine in 2021, published on August 26, 2021)