Follow Shi Kefa throughout the Ming Dynasty
He Ru pet passed through Huai'an Province
Written by Sceptenberg
As the sun was about to set, an official ship sailed along the canal to the outskirts of Huai'an, where a group of officials on both sides of the river had been waiting for a long time. As soon as he saw the ship slowly stopping at the dockside, without waiting for the owner of the ship to appear, one of the leaders of the waiting officials immediately boarded the ship, entered the cabin, and prayed to an old man with gray hair sitting in the cabin:
"Yang Yipeng, the governor of Caoyun, led the officials stationed in Huai to meet Elder He Ge!"
"Lord Yang is too humble, He Mou is a cloth cloth, how dare he alarm Lord Yang!"
"Old Man He Ge is highly respected and is a model for us to study, not to mention that the Emperor's holy will has been issued, please ask Lord He to go out of the mountain again, how dare you not come to greet him!"
"Lord Yang, please sit down, and also ask the officials on the shore not to be formal, and to rest at will!"
Lord He's personal bodyguard conveyed his master's orders to the shore, and those officials who had been waiting on the shore for a long time and who had already suffered from waist and leg pain immediately found a place to rest, and Yang Yipeng, the governor of Caoyun, sat down on a stool on the right side of Lord He.
This elderly and gentle Attitude of Lord He was the scholar of Wuyingdian University, the second assistant and rebbe Shangshu He Ruyu, who had resigned two years ago. He Rupet was a native of Tongcheng, Anhui Province, and a scholar of the Ming Dynasty in the twenty-sixth year of the Wanli Calendar. In the first year of the Apocalypse, he was promoted to the rank of attendant of the Ministry of Worship, but due to the illness of his mother, he did not arrive in place, and only after the completion of filial piety did he go to the original official. At that time, when Wei Zhongxian was in power, Yang Lian and Zuo Guangdou of the Donglin Party were framed. At that time, Wei Guangwei was arrogant and arrogant, and Shangshu impeached He Ruyu, saying that he and Zuo Guangdou were both fellow countrymen and friends, and were actually the same party, so he was dismissed from his post. When the Chongzhen Emperor ascended the throne, Erwei was punished, and the imperial court appointed He Ruyu as the right attendant of the official department, and immediately changed his position to Libu Shangshu. In the second year, he, Zhou Yanru, Qian Xiangkun, and others entered the cabinet as their own officials and scholars of Dongge University. In October of that year, Emperor Taiji led more than 100,000 Qing soldiers to bypass the Mongols and invade the Beijing Division, causing the unjust case of Yuan Chonghuan, the military secretary and governor of Jiliao, being executed by Ling Chi, and also exterminating the Nine Tribes against his family. As a good friend of the same dynasty, He Rupet believed that Yuan Chonghuan would never collude with the foreigners, let alone lead the Qing soldiers behind the emperor's back to attack the Beijing Division, which must have been the emperor's misbelief. Relying on the emperor's trust in him, he tried every means to rescue him, although in the end he did not save Yuan Chonghuan's life, but he still saved more than three hundred mouths of the Yuan clan's nine tribes. Soon after, some people impeached the cabinet minister Qian Longxi, saying that he had a special relationship with Yuan Chonghuan, saying that he supported Yuan Chonghuan's ability to kill Mao Wenlong, and that he also came to the rescue after Yuan Chonghuan was imprisoned, and provoked Zu Dashou to defect. Because of this series of problems, Qian Longxi was dismissed from his post and investigated, and was on the verge of being greatly dismantled. The old minister Han Ye was also impeached for being Yuan Chonghuan's teacher, and Yu Chongzhen resigned his official post and returned home in three years. Then the university scholar Sun Chengzong also resigned and returned home, Li Biao, Cheng Jiming, and Qian Xiangkun successively sent letters, leaving only him and Zhou Yanru, Zhou Daodeng, Wen Tiren, and Wu Zongda in the cabinet. In August of the fourth year, He Rupet felt that the direct ministers in the imperial court were being ostracized, the traitors had formed a party for personal gain, and even staying in the cabinet was also very twisted, so he gave the emperor nine consecutive letters of neglect, and finally was allowed to resign and return to Nanjing to retire.
After only a little more than a year, Jingshi suddenly issued a holy decree, and the Chongzhen Emperor summoned him to go to Beijing immediately and let him go out of the mountain again as the first assistant. Although he did not want to go back to the official field in his heart, but even if the emperor's holy will came to summon, he could not refuse, so he hurriedly got on the road, took a boat from the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal all the way north, through Yangzhou, over the high post, day and night rest, and did not alarm the official government along the way. I didn't want to come to Huai'an today, but I was alarmed by so many officials in Huai'an.
Huai'an was founded in the seventh year of the reign of Emperor Yixi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and was a province under the rule of Nanjing during the Ming Dynasty. It is bordered by Yangzhou to the south, Xuzhou to the north, Fengyang to the west, the East China Sea to the east, and Nanjing to the southwest for 500 miles. Because the Huai River and the Grand Canal flow through it, it has a long history, convenient transportation and humanities. During the Yongle period, Ming Chengzu Zhu Di moved the capital to Beijing, in order to strengthen his rule over the south, so that the southern rice, satin, tribute energy was continuously transported to the imperial capital, and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal was renovated and repaired on a large scale. In order to control this major economic artery and make it unimpeded, the Ming Dynasty set up the Caoyun Governor's Office in Huai'an, established the prefectural office and the banknote customs, and was in charge of the affairs of the provinces under the world. The Viceroy of Caoyun not only had powers in armaments, finances, judicial trials, and even administrative management, but also also inspected the four capitals of Huai'an, Yangzhou, Fengyang, and Luzhou, and supervised military affairs. In order to ensure the smooth flow of caoyun, in addition to the original caoyun general soldiers, staff generals and other military officers, they were also equipped with a series of officials and subordinates such as Cao Chu Dao and Cao Yun Li Punishment, who had a clear division of labor, and they were urged by wen and urged, and wu supervised the transport, and also managed the river. In addition to the local garrisons of Huai'an, Dahe and other guardhouses, each guard has several thousand people, and the small in Huai'an City is as small as the Qipin County Order, as large as the second and third pin governors, and there are officials everywhere, which is known as "official like a pass-off house".
As soon as he heard that the new first assistant had passed through the local area today, he hurriedly commanded officials up and down the ranks to greet him at the docks, and prepared a grand banquet in the office to prepare for the old man of the he cabinet.
Not wanting Yang Yipeng to explain his intentions to He Rupeng, Lord He's head shook like a rattle, and he repeatedly pushed and said:
"He Mou went to Beijing this time, and he did not alarm the place all the way. Besides, due to the occasional wind chill on the road, I am unwell, I just want to rest, I don't think about tea and dinner, and the hearts of the people are thanked, but He mou will not obey his fate today. ”
What a capable person Yang Yipeng was, who could have sent him away with just these few words. He laughed and said:
"Adults worked hard all the way to cause physical discomfort. It is said that you should go ashore for a two-day break, move your muscles and bones, increase nutrition moderately, and raise your body well, so that you can hurry faster. Tonight, I am not polite, and I have not prepared any mountain treasures and seafood for the adults, but all of them are some light and refreshing snacks. Adults use some as they like and go to the station to rest for a night. Chuzhou is located at the main canal traffic, and many literati and inkers have left precious chapters here. Tomorrow, if adults have the energy, they can also go to the nearby scenic spots and historical sites to take a look around, and there will be things that will be of interest to adults. ”
I don't want these few words to arouse the interest of He Ru pet. He asked with a smile:
Huai'an Wanliu Pond
"I remember that in the second year of the Tang Dynasty's Bao Calendar, Bai Juyi and Liu Yuxi should return to Luoyang together, passing through Chuzhou, assassinating Shi Guo Xingyu and staying with great affection, visiting the famous places in Chuzhou. They left a set of poems in places such as the Song of The Goji Well in the Kaiyuan Temple, among which there was Bai Juyi's famous sentence 'The first state in the southeast of Huaishui, the mountain is surrounded by pheasants and water as a building', which has been passed down through the ages and is very influential. I wonder if this poem is still there?"
"Adults are memorable. This poem is still preserved in the Kaiyuan Temple. Kaiyuan Temple was built during the Tang Kaiyuan period, in the wanliu pond southwest of the city. Wanliu Pond is a famous scenic spot in the Tang Dynasty, and in Wu Cheng'en's song "Nanlu YizhiHua", the first sentence is 'Tang Dynasty Wanliu Pond'. Yang Yipeng saw that Lord He was interested in poetry, so he threw himself into his favor and searched his stomach to find some crepe content to talk about.
Lord He still had a fondness for the Kaiyuan Temple, and he waited for Yang Yipeng to finish "Nanlu YizhiHua", and then continued the topic just now:
At that time, Liu Yuxi also wrote a poem "Chuzhou Kaiyuan Temple Goji Berry Well", which was a poem: "The monk's house medicine tree is based on the cold well, and the well has a fragrant spring tree and a spirit." Cui Dai leaf raw cage stone, Yin Hongzi ripe copper bottle. The branches are originally immortal staffs, and the roots are old and new in the shape of a ray dog. The top product features nectar flavor, and it is also known that a spoonful can be trilled. There is also a small preface before the poem: "The north courtyard of the Kaiyuan Temple in Chuzhou, the wolfberry is near the well, and it is lush and considerable." The sages give poetry, because of the succession. Since there are 'Qunxian fu poems, because of the succession of peace', it is probably that Guo Lingjun and others have previously written one or more good poems here, and Liu and Bai later followed suit. It is just that Bai Juyi and Liu Yuxi's peace poems are still there, but the poems of this host Guo Zhijun are not transmitted today. Hey, the old man is here blindly saying, I don't know if it is or not, let Lord Yang see the smile! ”
"Yes, yes, it is true that there is no original poem of Guo Xingyu left in the temple, and Bai Juyi's poem entitled "And Guo Lingjun's Inscription Goji Berry" also ensured that it remained in the temple. The poem seems to be written like this: 'Shanyang is too strict in government, and the officials are quiet and have no dogs.' I don't know that the elixir is rooted in a dog, and I smell the barking night when I am strange. I didn't know if I remembered it right, so I got an axe in front of Elder He Ge. ”
"Yes, yes, that's how the poem was written. Lord Yang is easy to remember. ”
Seeing that He Rupet still had no intention of going ashore, Yang Yipeng said:
"Lord, there are eight other scenery in Wanliu Pond, they are: Yueying Immortal Bridge, Snow Seal Crane Well, Willow Causeway Smoke and Rain, Maozi Lights, Noji Evening Bell, Luting Goose Set, Yuanpu Guiyu, Shulin Jixue, all of which are worth adults to go and see." In addition, during the Qin and Han dynasties, Huai'an Province also produced two celebrities of Wen and Wu. The first is the famous general Han Xin, one of the three masters of Xinghan. Not far away, in Qinghe City, there are still many relics related to Han Xin today, such as the Crotch Bridge, the Han Han Hou Ancestral Hall, the Drifting Mother Ancestral Hall, etc.; the second is to give everyone a number of relics, Ming Gao father and son, and also left a lot of relics in the local area..."
Yang Yipeng said a lot, but He Rupet still had no intention of going ashore, he just said:
"Huai'an is indeed a place with a long history and a gathering of humanities, but the old body is really lacking in energy today, and it is really impossible to visit ashore." I would just like to ask you to explain to all of you on the shore that you will have a chance in the future. What do you think? ”
Seeing that He Rupet already had the meaning of sending a guest, Yang Yipeng had no choice but to say:
"Since this is the case, it is better to be respectful than to obey the order, stay for a while and send some light and delicious food to the ship, Lord He will eat some suppressed hunger, so that we can feel better in our hearts."
Seeing that Yang Yipeng had such a statement, He Rupet said:
"Or maybe. In addition, if It is convenient for Lord Yang at night, don't leave now. There was also the prefect Wan Da, who stayed on the boat, ate some randomly together, and talked about his heart by the way. ”
Yang Yipeng hurriedly said:
"Convenient and convenient. Just do as Elder He Ge said. I went ashore to say hello. ”
He Rupet used a gesture to stop Yang Yipeng, who turned to get off the ship, and said:
"Since everyone came to see me, the old man can't be so rude, no matter what, he should go out and meet everyone."
With that, he stood up, walked out of the cabin, came to the bow of the ship, first waved his hands at the hundred officials on the shore, and then said loudly to everyone:
"Fathers and elders on the shore, I am passing through Huai'an this time, and I am grateful that everyone has come here to see me. Due to the discomfort of the journey and the lack of energy, I will not go ashore to disturb everyone. He hereby expresses his deep gratitude to everyone for their hospitality! ”
As he spoke, he made three more strokes at the people on the shore, and the crowd cheered in unison and returned the salute.
In the evening, in the cabin, Yang Yipeng and Wan Zhifu accompanied He Ru pet while eating and chatting. Of course, these fine wines and delicacies were brought from the shore by the two landlords. At this time, He Ru was spoiled but his appetite was open, his spirit was radiant, he talked about the world, he talked about the past and the present, and there was no "discomfort" at all. When Yang Yipeng and wan zhifu were surprised, they only listened to He Ru pet and asked:
"Coming all the way from Nanjing, I saw that there were many official ships gathering along the way, and the water transport was busy, and there was a peaceful scene, which was not in line with what the old man heard in Nanjing."
Yang Yipeng replied:
"The lowly post has also just arrived in Huai'an, but I know that this area has not been peaceful recently." The Governor of Manjue is the local parent official, and he knows the local situation in much more detail than I do. I think I would like to ask you to introduce it to Lord He!"
The Prefect said modestly:
"Where, where, Lord Yang smiled, and the inferior position there will be clearer than Lord Yang." However, as a local magistrate, it is natural that it is still necessary to report to Lord He from a lowly post. ”
Therefore, the Wanzhifu introduced the situation around Huai'an in detail to He Rupet.
Huai'an scenery
From ancient times to the present, Huai'an has always been an important hub of the Grand Canal. The previous capital was located in Shaanxi or Henan, so Caoyun first went from the south to Huai'an, and then from the Huai River to the west and north to reach the capital. After the Yuan Dynasty, the river channel directly south from Beijing was dredged, and in the area of Xuzhou and Huai'an, it was connected to the original Grand Canal, and Huai'an and other places became the center for transporting grain, official salt, tea, and hemp, plus the Taizu Mausoleum in Sizhou on the southwest side of Hongze Lake and the Zhongdu Imperial Mausoleum in Fengyang, which were all places that the imperial court should focus on guarding. However, the administrative layout and troop allocation of this area are not enough, especially in Huaixi and northern Anhui, to wujian city, the armament is long-term, the defense is difficult, once there is a problem, the soldiers can stay in the capital. As early as the first year of Chongzhen, there were many anti-people activities in western Anhui against the government. Recently, in the area of Anqing and Luzhou in jiangbei, Zhang Yichuan, the sweeping king, took Yingshan and Huoshan as caves and plundered jute in the wild. If the western stream flowed down the river, or infiltrated from the rolling mountains at the junction of Eyu and Anhui, it would be difficult to resist with the current defensive measures.
Huai'an Evening Sweet Garden
He Ru pet listened to the analysis of the Wanzhifu and nodded his head repeatedly, indicating that he deeply felt the same way. When the Pansyoin had finished his introduction, he suddenly changed the topic and said:
"Since he was old, he has been living a reclusive life of Tao Yuanming, never asking about current affairs. This time, the saint suddenly made a comeback to the old body, which made me wonder. So many young and promising figures in the DPRK assisted him, and he didn't know why he suddenly remembered him again. ”
Yang Yipeng replied:
"Don't you know that not long ago, the first assistant Zhou Yanru was deposed, and the emperor had no one at hand, so naturally he would think of using Lord He."
"Aren't there other people in the cabinet?"
"As soon as Zhou Yanru left, wen tiren and Wu Zongda were left now."
"Why didn't the emperor use Wen Tiren?" He was originally in the position of second assistant, and he was deeply trusted by the emperor, so it was said that Zhou Yanru was gone, and it was his turn. ”
"The emperor's thoughts, the subordinate officials really don't know." However, the subordinate official can guess that the emperor still thinks that Lord He is highly respected and is the best candidate for this position! ”
This slap on the back did not make He Ru pet happy, on the contrary, he fell into deep contemplation...
Excerpt from chapter 3 of The Complete Biography of Shi Kefa
Editor-in-charge: Yan Jingping's "White Wave Love"