Fang Guancheng, the governor of the Qing Dynasty, was born into a family of officials and eunuchs, but his grandfather and father died early, the family was in decline, and he was destitute, so in order to live, he had to hang up a stall in the Wushan area of Zhejiang Province to make a living.
There is a salt merchant in Wulin County, Zhejiang Province, who is rich in wealth and has a family wealth. This salt merchant loved xiangshu all his life, and he read a lot of books about feng shui xiangshu, and when he met a person with high xiangshu, he would humbly ask for advice and study seriously, so his ability to see the picture himself was very high. The rich merchant had a daughter, and the rich merchant showed her a picture and felt that she was destined to be Mrs. Yipin. After the daughter of the salt merchant grew up, there was an endless stream of people who proposed relatives, and the salt merchant gave these people a look at each other, and then shook his head and refused: "These are not good matches for my daughter." ”
The daughter of the salt merchant is already in her twenties, and she is still in the middle of the word, there is no promise to match the family, and the relatives and friends all think that the salt merchant's practice is ridiculous, and the daughter's lifelong event has been delayed.
This year, the salt merchants went out, encountered rain on the road, and went to a temple to shelter from the rain. Idle, the salt merchant was playing around in the temple, and saw a young man setting up a stall. The salt merchant looked at the young man's face and clear bones, and saw his footprints pacing back and forth in the temple, full and powerful, and the salt merchant was very happy, feeling that he had met a nobleman. So the salt merchant stepped forward, talked with the young man, asked his place of origin, and knew that his name was Fang Guancheng, a descendant of the official eunuch family, who had won xiucai but had not yet been married. Seeing that he was the same age as his daughter, the salt merchant already had the heart of recruiting in his heart, and asked: "Mr. Bu Junping (Strict Obedience in the Han Dynasty, who once lived in seclusion and sold In Chengdu) is also a good story, but it is not as beneficial as teaching each other." ”
Fang Guancheng said: "I am a foreigner, I am not familiar with life here, who wants to invite me to be a gentleman?" The salt merchant said, "If sir really has this idea, I will invite my husband to my house. Fang Guancheng gladly agreed and followed the salt merchant back home.
The salt merchant prepared clothes for Fang Guancheng, let him live at home, and taught his two young sons to read. After half a year, the salt merchant secretly observed, saw that Fang Guancheng's learning and calligraphy were very good, and his temperament was also very good, so he found a matchmaker and said that he had recruited him as a son-in-law. But not long after, the salt merchant died, the salt merchant's eldest son was in charge of household affairs, the eldest son looked down on his sister-in-law, and did not let the two younger brothers study with him again, saying: "A broken beggar, what can he learn with him?" ”
Fang Guancheng's wife listened to this and felt that there was no light on her face, and the other party Guancheng said: "A manly husband, you can't rely on your own ability to work hard, but live by relatives, which makes me feel faceless." Fang Guancheng was very angry, and was about to pack up his things and leave, but his wife was unwilling and asked, "My father married me to you, and he will be with you all his life. I just want to persuade my husband to stand on his own two feet. Now that my husband is leaving me, where are you going? ”
Fang Guancheng was not moved, and said: "It is my destiny to suffer poverty, and I cannot live on the nose of others." I still leave as I did when I first came, where in the world can I not live? Madame struggled to keep it, fang Guancheng had already made up his mind, he took off all the new clothes on his body, put on the old clothes, took nothing, and left with only the pen and stone he carried when he came.
Fang Guancheng came to Jiahe, there was no entanglement in his body, there was no way to continue to move forward, he lived in the local Three Pagoda Temple, he would not do anything else, he had to still set up a stall and calculate. Next to his stall, there was a Taoist monk who gave people a good look, very spiritual, prosperous business, and earned thousands of yuan a day. Because they are all the same people, the two people talk very happily. The Daoist priest felt that Fang Guancheng was different from ordinary people, so he gave him a careful look back and said, "Your Excellency's fate will be Guanju Yipin, you go all the way north from here, and before long, you will definitely go straight up." I look at each other a lot, and I will never be wrong. ”
Fang Guancheng smiled helplessly: "More than a beautiful word, but I am penniless, how to go north?" The Daoist priest said, "This is not difficult, I have come here and have accumulated more than a dozen pieces of silver, all of which I have given to Your Excellency." Ten years later, your excellency, don't forget today, you can repay me more. Fang Guancheng thanked him one after another, "If this is the case, where do I dare to forget your great kindness?" ”
Fang Guancheng accepted the support of the Taoist priests, sat on a grain ship, and when he arrived in Tianjin, he ran out of money. Hearing that there were family relatives selling tea in Baoyang, Fang Guancheng thought of going to run, but he did not expect to inquire about it in Baoyang, only to hear that the person had closed his business and returned to the south. Fang Guancheng found some fellow villagers, who were also unable to support him. Later, after being recommended, he was asked to go to the department of the clan to help write posts, and he could get dozens of yuan every day, just enough to make ends meet.
A few months later, Fang Guancheng contracted malaria, and at that time, there was a good chance that the disease could not be treated, and the people of the official office abandoned Fang Guancheng outside. One of the chief officials, with sympathy, placed hundreds of copper coins in Fang Guancheng's arms, and riding on his unconsciousness, he was carried out and placed outside the door of an ancient temple.
At this time, the snow was flying, and the snow covered Fang Guancheng's body, but the hot poison on his body was solved, and Fang Guancheng was able to wake up. Fang Guancheng, who woke up, also knew that he had been abandoned here, and he did not return to the same place, and he was angry in his heart, all the way north, to the Caohe River, the snow fell even more, the road and lake were full of snow, and it was impossible to distinguish. Fang Guancheng was not careful, fell into the river, and it was difficult to climb out of the water, his body was frozen stiff, and he fell on the side of the road and could no longer stand up.
There was a temple by the river, and the old abbot of the temple sat by the stove and dozed off, dreaming that the god Buddha enshrined in the temple said to him: "The noble man has difficulties, go and save him." The old abbot opened his eyes and saw a white tiger lying in the river, he was surprised, and rushed out of the temple to see, but he saw a poor boy lying in the snow, and he did not know whether he was dead or not. The old abbot did not dare to save people, returned to the temple to continue sleeping, and dreamed that the gods and Buddhas were angry with him: "The monks should take compassion as the basis, and if they see death and do not save, there will be disasters, save him, and will definitely help you to light the temple." ”
The old abbot decided to save people and let people carry Fang Guancheng into the temple. The presiding disciples all tried their best to dissuade them, but the old abbot did not listen to them, and ordered Fang Guancheng to be helped into the temple, helped him take off his wet clothes, covered him with a quilt, and fed him ginger soup. Fang Guancheng woke up and asked him about his situation, knowing that he was a reader, and had great respect for him, so he settled down in high school. After the new year, the host said to guancheng: "Sir, if you want to win a meritorious name, there is no way to achieve it here." My brother and master were abbots at Longfu Temple in the capital city, and they had contacts with the princes and ministers, and I wrote a letter to my husband, who went to Longfu Temple with a coil to join my brother, and maybe there would be an encounter. ”
Fang Guancheng came to the capital and saw the abbot of Longfu Temple, and saw that he had extraordinary temperament, which was completely different from the abbot of an ordinary temple. Because the abbot had a letter from his brother, the other party looked at him differently, and let people lead him into the guest room, let him stay first, and then slowly find an opportunity. Fang Guancheng lived in the temple, although he did not worry about eating, but he had no income from silver money, and his clothes were torn and he did not have money to buy new ones. Those monks and Fang Guancheng had a good relationship, often chatted with him, and when they saw that Fang Guancheng's calligraphy was very good, they gave him advice: "Why don't you write outside the temple and sell couplets, so that you will have income." ”
Fang Guancheng thought it was a good idea, just take out words in the temple, there are many guests who come to buy every day, and they can have hundreds of yuan of income. Fang Guan used the money to buy himself a spring coat. Just at this time, the empress dowager wanted to find someone to write the Lotus Sutra, planning to copy hundreds of copies and give away the world's famous mountains as a great merit. The emperor ordered the people of the Hanlin Academy to write it, but it did not meet the wishes of the empress dowager, so the emperor asked the princes and ministers to find people who were good at calligraphy.
A prince gave this task to the abbot of Longfu Temple, and the abbot ordered the monk in charge of the temple to copy the scriptures and submit it, but the empress dowager was still not satisfied when she saw it. The abbot had no choice but to summon the monks in the temple to find a way, and one monk recommended Fang Guancheng, and the abbot laughed: "He is just a street writer and sells Spring Festival, can he also take on this big responsibility?" The monk said, "I can't find anyone else but him, so I might as well let him try it first." ”
The abbot had no other choice but to let Fang Guancheng try to write it and hand it over to the prince, and when the empress dowager saw Feng Yan Da Yue, she ordered the prince to invite Fang Guancheng into the palace, let him concentrate on copying the scriptures, and then thank him heavily after the scriptures were copied. The prince personally came to the temple to ask Fang Guancheng, and the abbot was sincerely afraid, prepared clothes for Fang Guancheng, and sent him to the palace.
Fang Guancheng copied the scriptures, and the empress dowager was full of appreciation, and personally recommended them to the emperor: "It is not that there are no manchus who have calligraphy surpassed this person, but these ministers have enjoyed full blessings, and the copied scriptures have no merit to speak of." This man is now downcast, but in the future he will certainly become a righteous minister and contribute to the country, so his calligraphy is thick and powerful. You can reward him with an official position and make him serve the country. ”
The emperor then summoned Fang Guancheng and gave him the title of a man to temporarily belong to the Six Ministries, and to see where there were vacancies in the official positions. After Fang Guancheng became an official, he immediately wrote a letter to his wife, but the lady replied: "Since my husband left, I have devoted myself to the Buddha, and I have become accustomed to living a quiet life, and I feel that I can no longer teach my husband and son, and if my husband still thinks about your and my love, you can marry another concubine." ”
Fang Guancheng thought that his father-in-law had the grace of knowing him, so he never took another wife. Because Of Fang Guancheng's loyalty and simplicity, the emperor promoted his official position three levels a year, and in less than ten years, he was directly subordinate to the viceroy. Not long after, a Taoist priest came to the Governor's Palace, and Governor Fang gave him a heavy sum of money, grateful for his support that year. The old abbot of Qinghe County was more than eighty years old, because Governor Fang went to his temple to handle Buddhist affairs, and the civil and military officials also accompanied him and sent congratulatory ceremonies, and some people rebuilt the temple, and the scale of the temple continued to expand. Fang Guancheng also let people set up a lonely garden here, and in the cold winter month, they took in the displaced people, and the province set up a retention bureau, so that there would be no more hungry and cold victims in the world.
Governor Fang opened paddy fields, built canals, and built bridges in his jurisdiction. In addition to growing grain, but also to guide the local people to grow cotton, the northerners did not have the habit of planting cotton, Fang Guan undertook to invite people from the south who were good at growing cotton to teach them to plant, drew a picture of cultivation and weaving into the emperor, the emperor in order to encourage him, personally inscribed a poem on the reward. Fang Guancheng also built a righteous warehouse, drew a map of the righteous warehouse, and encouraged grain storage in many places, so that in the future, in the event of a famine, he could help the victims. Under his administration, the whole territory of the jurisdiction was politically clear and food was plentiful. The emperor was very satisfied, and when he summoned him, he asked him why he did not have a son, and Fang Guancheng returned the song truthfully, and the emperor personally decreed that Lady Fang Guancheng be made a pin of life, and immediately went to the capital to reunite with Fang Guancheng and his wife. Madame had to come to the capital, saw Fang Guancheng, and said: "I have to come because of the king's order, but I am old, I am not able to have children, I can only help you take charge of the housework, you still have another concubine." ”
Fang Guancheng did not want to take a concubine, and when the emperor found out, he selected a palace maid from Jiangnan Weaving to give him the title of Lady Ru and gave birth to a son. The emperor was very satisfied with the generosity of his wife, and crowned Fang Guancheng the Prince Shaobao, and made her a lady of a pint, such as a lady who was made pleasant. Fang Guancheng's son later became an official in the rank of Da Zhongcheng (大中丞).