Liu Guangdi is one of the famous "Six Gentlemen of Wushu", deeply involved in the Pengshu reform method, and his name occupies a place in modern history. However, many people did not know much about him, only that he was killed by Empress Dowager Cixi after participating in the Penghu Rebellion. In fact, Liu Guangdi is a typical "hanmen noble son", he studied hard, twenty-four years old and the first, is a bully; after becoming a Beijing official, he worked diligently and worked very hard; he was honest for the official, willing to be poor, and in the late Qing officialdom, he was also a green lotus that came out of the mud and did not stain. How could he not be reused, and he was not promoted for ten years.
Let's take a look at Liu Guangdi's resume:
1859: Born in Fushun County, Zigong City. His father died early when he was thirteen years old and was raised by his mother.
1880: Participated in the county examination and won the first place in the boy examination.
1883: Participated in the examination of the Temple of Decay, zhongjinshi, ranked 88th in the second class, and was appointed as the alternate chief of the Punishment Department. Due to the poverty of his family and the death of his mother, he could not go to Beijing to serve, and he was delayed in his hometown for five years.
From 1888 to 1898, he served as the alternate chief of the Criminal Department.
September 5, 1898: Guangxu issued an edict, rewarded with the rank of Sipinqing, walked on the military aircraft Zhangjing, and participated in the New Deal.
He was killed in Beijing on September 28, 1898.
From this resume, it can be seen that Liu Guangdi's official fortunes are really not prosperous. From the time he entered the ranks of Beijing officials, there was no change in his position in the past ten years, even if he was not promoted, he also changed his position. It is said that "trees move dead people to live", and the official field attaches importance to multi-post exercise. If he sticks to a position for a long time, the future will not be bright. Compared with his predecessor Zeng Guofan, he was much inferior: Zeng Guofan's Beijing official career was eleven years, but during his time in Beijing, he "moved seven times in ten years, and jumped ten levels in a row", when he first entered the post, he was already a left attendant of the official department when he returned to his hometown, and he was a member of the Hall of Fame and Second Grade. Liu Guangdi was killed by Empress Dowager Cixi just after being promoted by the emperor to Sipin Zhangjing, which can really be described as an untimely death.
Of course, Liu Guangdi and Zeng Guofan lived in different eras, and the political environment was even more different. Comparing them, I just want to show that Liu Guangdi's official fortunes are indeed not prosperous.
The reason why Liu Guangdi's career was very unsmooth, in addition to the harsh political environment of the entire Qing Dynasty, were there any other factors?
First of all, I want to explain that Liu Guangdi is very hardworking, and he also wants to be promoted. The evaluation of his colleagues and leaders at that time was also positive.
The Governor of Hunan, Chen Baozhen, was the man whom Liu Guangdi recommended to the Guangxu Emperor, and he commented on Liu Guangdi's "great knowledge and integrity" in the recommended song. The Compendium of Liu Guang's Annals records that he was working in the Punishment Department as follows: "After taking up his post, he was very diligent in going to the bureau, and he would arrive twenty-eight or nine times a month. He was so diligent that his colleagues encouraged him: "All the people in the same country speak, so the law, after a few years, will surely become popular." However, it did not. Ten years later he still does not get promoted.
What is the reason why this hard-working young man has not been promoted? It goes without saying that corruption by officials in the late Qing Dynasty was an objective cause. So, is there a reason for Liu Guangdi itself? The answer is, there is a reason.
After analyzing his personality, we understand that people of his personality are not suitable for the official arena.
First of all, Liu Guangdi's personality is too strong. This is due to his family reasons. His father died when he was thirteen years old, and his mother took him through hardships and the family's financial conditions were poor. This makes him develop a strong personality trait, can eat the suffering that ordinary people cannot eat, but lacks a mellow personality. At the last moment of his life, the executioner was about to be executed, and refused to kneel. The executioner pressed him to his knees, and he did not obey. After the torture, the head was cut off and the body was still "erect." And so on, it's really an iron bone. Although this is a manifestation of his high character, it also shows that his character is too rigid. This is not easy to go through in the official arena.
Secondly, Liu Guangdi is introverted, withdrawn, and not good at communication. Children from poor backgrounds are often prone to two extremes, one is arrogant and ignorant, and the other is inferior and introverted. Liu Guangdi belongs to the latter. He is introverted and not sociable. He himself said that in his daily life, he "traveled less and avoided socializing." Having to go to socializing, he is also sitting in the corner, "in harmony". A friend named Hu Sijing said that he was "cautious and widowed, thick people sitting in the middle of the light, or not saying a word all day long, and the official Cao was sentenced to more than ten years, although his fellow villagers did not know his name." This is enough to show that he is not good at sociability and socializing on a daily basis. This personality trait of his affected his "official fortune" and led to a delay in promotion.
In the end, he cherished feathers too much and lacked the temperament to be with the light. When he first entered his career, Liu Guangdi was determined to learn from Wei Xiangshu, a famous minister of the Kangxi Dynasty, and become a Qing official. This is certainly worth affirming. But he was too harsh on himself and lacked the temperament to be with the light. This point is far worse than Zeng Guofan. When he entered Beijing as an official, he set standards for himself at the beginning and refused any gray income. He rejected all the gray income that was publicly disclosed in the late Qing Dynasty, such as respect, carbon respect, and gifts, not to mention the more vicious corruption, bribery, and so on. He was so harsh that he didn't even accept the normal help of his friends. Later, he was promoted by the emperor to sipin Zhangjing, and his colleagues came to pay their respects, but he did not accept it. The minister of military aircraft, Yu Lu, was promoted to the rank of Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites, and his colleagues all went to congratulate him, but he did not go. Colleagues asked him why? He replied, "Current events are difficult, but my generation worships the emperor in the dynasty, and when the king is in charge of things, how can I have time to run away and charm the powerful and powerful?" "This is a manifestation of integrity, but also a manifestation of not knowing how to be with the light." Such a character is doomed to be unpalatable in the official arena.
In the environment of corruption in the late Qing Dynasty, Liu Guangdi, a high-purity lotus flower that came out of the mud and was not stained, was destined to render a tragic color in his life.
After the Guangxu Emperor made up his mind to change the law, he urgently needed talents. In August 1898, Chen Baozhen, the governor of Hunan, recommended Liu Guangdi and others to the Guangxu Emperor. After that, Guangxu summoned him, and the two had a pleasant conversation, and Guangxu had a good impression of him. On the second day of the summons, he issued an edict to promote him to the rank of Sipin Military Aircraft Zhang Jing, and the same batch of people who were promoted were Tan Sitong, Yang Rui, and Lin Xu, who were collectively known as the "Four Secretaries of military aircraft." After the failure of the Penghu Reform Law, Liu Guangdi and others, as "unforgivable crimes", were pushed to the execution ground.
There is a saying that goes like this, "Men are afraid of entering the wrong line, and women are afraid of marrying the wrong man." Perhaps, for Liu Guangdi, it was a mistake to come out and become an official. He was well educated, his poetry was excellent, and he could enjoy his old age peacefully by running a private school in his hometown, so why should he go to the muddy waters under the auspices of Cixi?