I don't know when it began, "Master Shaoxing" became a colloquialism that satirized others. In fact, during the Qing Dynasty, Master Shaoxing was a very important group of staff and played a role that could not be ignored in history. Sometimes, Master Shaoxing can save a life with just a few words.
That was during the Kangxi Dynasty.
In the first month of the 28th year of the Kangxi Dynasty, the Kangxi Emperor excitedly launched his second southern inspection activity.
During this southern tour, the Kangxi Emperor passed through four provinces, namely Zhili Province, Shandong Province, Jiangsu Province, and Zhejiang Province, focusing on Inspecting Jiangsu Province and Zhejiang Province. Among them, he stayed in Zhejiang Province for 11 days (entered Zhejiang territory on the seventh day of february, and returned to Luan from Hangzhou on February 17).
This was the first time the Kangxi Emperor came to Zhejiang. Five years ago, when the Kangxi Emperor made his first tour of the south, he only arrived in Jiangsu Province and returned home. This time, the Kangxi Emperor made Zhejiang Province the focus of his inspection and deliberately stayed for a few more days. He initially planned to leave for Beijing on February 16, but stayed for another day in the custody of the Hangzhou general Guo Pi and others.
What did the Kangxi Emperor do in Zhejiang? In his own words, it is "to read the river and consult the customs of Lu Yan." There is a Dayu Mausoleum in front of Huiji Mountain in Shaoxing, Zhejiang, which is the mausoleum of Dayu, a water hero in ancient times and the founding prince of the Xia Dynasty, and is one of the 36 royal tombs of the Ming Dynasty. On this trip, the Kangxi Emperor specially crossed the Qiantang River to Shaoxing and led hundreds of officials to worship dayu Ling.
The Kangxi Emperor himself wrote the tribute text, and the imperial system yuling ode and preface. During the worship, the Kangxi Emperor and the Wenwu Hundred Officials wore imperial clothes and wore imperial crowns. As the leader of the team, the Kangxi Emperor stood alone at the front, and the rest of the civil and military officials ranked behind him according to their ranks. Together, everyone performed the ritual of three kneeling and nine kowtows to the Great Yu Tomb.
Just as he was performing the ritual of three kneels and nine prostrations, an accident occurred.
It turned out that Bian Yongyu, the envoy of Zhejiang Province, may have been too nervous, and accidentally dropped the crown on the ground while performing the ritual of three kneeling and nine kowtows. The Qing Dynasty was a dynasty that paid great attention to etiquette. On important occasions when the Emperor was paying homage to the Great Yu Tomb and the emperor was present, the official took off the imperial crown, which was a "great disrespect" behavior, and the light dismissal was dismissed, and the heavy was the head fell to the ground. After the death of Empress Fucha, the beloved empress dowager of the Qianlong Emperor, two governors were executed by order of the Qianlong Emperor for shaving their heads during the mourning period.
Although Bian Yongyu quickly picked up the crown and put it back on his head, there were still many officials looking at it. Among them was the Hangzhou general Guo Pi.
Guo Pi had always had a conflict with Bian Yongyu and planned to take advantage of the opportunity to clean him up, so he filed a complaint with the Qing court afterwards and impeached Bian Yongyu for "great disrespect". The imperial court ordered that Zhang Pengfei, the governor of Zhejiang, should conduct an investigation. Zhang Pengfei was honest and honest, honest and kind, fair in his work, and had the heart to protect this unfortunate envoy. However, he did not want to easily offend Guo Pi. After all, Guo Pi was a garrison general of the Eight Banners, and behind him he had the power to use Suo Ertu as a patron, and his power was prominent. Not long ago, the former governor of Zhejiang, Jin Feng, was dismissed from his post and exiled because he had offended Guo Pi.
What to do? Zhang Pengfei asked his staff for consultation. After a Shaoxing master learned about the causes and consequences of this matter, he meditated and came up with a way to make Zhang Pengfei add 9 words to the recital: "The subjects are listed in the front, and there is no back-up." What does this mean? It is said that when Zhang Pengfei participated in the worship of day at the Dayu Tomb, he was listed before Bian Yongyu, and according to the provisions of the ceremonial law, he could not look back. Since this was the case, whether Bian Yongyu had taken off the Chaoguan or not, he would not be able to pay attention to it.
The implication of these 9 words is that the Hangzhou general Guo Pi was also standing before the envoys. If he wanted to find out that Bian Yongyu had lost the chaoguan, he would definitely look back. In this way, the Hangzhou general Guo Pi also belonged to a kind of "great disrespect" behavior.
After the imperial court received Zhang Pengfei's recital, it did not deal with Bian Yongyu, so that the matter could not be resolved. Bian Yongyu escaped the disaster safely.
After the matter subsided, Zhang Pengfei gave a heavy reward to the Shaoxing master who had dedicated his plan, and rewarded him with 1,000 taels of silver.
As the saying goes, "If you don't die, you will be blessed." Later, Zhang Pengfei and Bian Yongyu's official road was very smooth. Zhang Pengfei successively held important positions such as Shangshu of the Punishment Department, Governor of Jiangxi in Jiangnan, Governor of Hedao, and Shangshu of Hubu, and was an official of Wenhuadian University, known as "Suining Xiangguo" (Zhang Pengfei was a native of Suining, Sichuan). Bian Yongyu was later promoted to Inspector of Fujian, and was promoted to the rank of Left Attendant of the Punishment Department.