Author: Wang Xindi
Watching his grandfather Fang Dengyi and his father being taken away in a big way, the young Fang Guancheng personally experienced a disaster that had only been told to him from his father's mouth in the past. Gaozu, great-grandfather Fang Xiaobiao and Fang Gongqian were exiled to Ninggu pagoda fifty years ago for a spurious case of fraud in the field of science, and this time their grandfather and father were exiled to Bukui (present-day Qiqihar, Heilongjiang) because of the Nanshan Ji case. Gao Zu, great-grandfather, grandfather, father, four generations have been assigned to guard the border, such a life and fate, can be described as amazing! The young Fang Guancheng leaned closely on his brother Fang Guanyong, and felt the kind of grief that children of their age should not bear, for a while, they felt so helpless.
Gushing river
A few days ago, his father, who was becoming an official, was still counting on Guan Cheng to study with peace of mind, and he was full of expectations for Guan Cheng to advance from the imperial examination. However, one night of wind and rain blew away his dreams. Fang Guancheng also began his ups and downs in his life.
Parents were exiled and their possessions confiscated. Because of the young Fang Guancheng brothers who were exempted from distribution, they became orphans and were only temporarily sheltered in the temple of Qingliang Temple in Nanjing.
In the temple, The Fang Guancheng brothers lived with tears in their eyes and experienced hardships, but Fang Guancheng missed his grandfather and father the most. He summoned up the courage to make a request to the elders and allowed them to travel to the frontier to visit the elders. The elder remembered that the two were young, and although they had some filial piety, they were afraid that they would not be able to make the trip, so they strongly discouraged them. Fang Guancheng pleaded: "Grandfather and father are far away in the end of the world, looking at the relatives at home, if we can go, it will definitely add some comfort." In order to give the second elder a little comfort, even if we are a little tortured and suffer a little hardship, we will not give up. Please, the elders, let us set off. The righteous deeds of the Fang brothers touched the elders, who sent them the travel expenses and tearfully watched them embark on the journey to visit their relatives.
In this way, the young Fang Guancheng began a trek from Jiangnan to Saibei, and carried out a life experience of reading thousands of books and traveling thousands of miles.
From Nanjing to Bukui, separated by thousands of mountains and rivers, the two brothers ate and slept in the wind, waded through the mountains and waters, endured hunger, supported each other, dressed in rags, calluses on their feet, and sometimes even traveled hundreds of miles a day without a meal. In the midst of suffering, we can see the truth, and we can see the personality even more. Between Fang Guancheng's long journey, there are many touching stories, the most famous of which is the so-called "Friendship of The Car Kasa". One year, Fang Guancheng, who had once again gone north to the province, was walking alone on Shandong Road, and Shen Tingfang, a native of Hangzhou, and Chen Bi, a native of Hainan, happened to be riding together to Kyoto to take the exam, and the two saw the young Fang Guancheng walking all the way with the car, undertired, tired, but with a strong head and a stern demeanor, they couldn't help but ask each other. During the conversation, Shen Tingfang and Chen Bi learned that Fang Guan had inherited his life and experience, and expressed deep sympathy, so they invited him to ride together. The problem was that the carriages were so small that they could only accommodate two people, so they decided to take turns walking thirty miles and sixty miles each way. The three of them went all the way to the capital. When Shen and Chen separated from Fang Guancheng, they gave Fang Guancheng a new piece of clothing to resist the wind and cold of the road. A few decades later, Fang Guancheng, who was already a feudal official, learned that Shen Tingfang (Later Guan Hanlin Academy Editor, Imperial History) and Chen Bi (Later Guan Yunnan Capital Official) were going to Beijing to report for duty and passed through their official residences, so they immediately sent someone to invite Shen and Chen to the palace. A period of anti-travel mutual help strange feelings, flowing through the ages!
A few months later, they finally met the second elder. After the four of them hugged their headaches and cried, their grandfather and father were happy in their hearts that they had such filial piety.
In this way, in more than ten years, Fang Guancheng actually made seven round trips from north to south. Along the way, he read the terroir of the world, experienced the vicissitudes of the world, intentionally or unintentionally, Fang Guancheng trained himself from a young scholar into a young man, but he was well-informed and cultivated.
For Fang Guan's experience of trekking thousands of miles, reuniting relatives and regretting goodbye, his grandfather Fang Dengyi has poetry records. Fang Dengyi has a poem in the "BaoSu Zhai Collection": "Zhi'er is difficult to come to joy, and the trace fee is wandering. Looking at the tears of three years, the arms must be temporarily opened today. As a grandfather, the complex emotions of missing and feeling sorry for grandchildren are expressed in this poem.
Fang Guancheng stayed in Bu Kui to serve his grandfather and father for five years, during which time some poems were also retained. I think the most moving of them is the verse in the "Five Songs of the Shangyuan": "Five years of spring wine serving the side of the sand, the sky is full of throats. The white-haired conscience is the most bitter, and the cold moon shines on the end of the world. In this poem, Fang Guancheng is simply crying and pleading: Grandfather and father are white-haired old people, their hearts are the most bitter, cold moon, please stop your pace of moving to the side, don't add desolation to the dreams of their second old.
After his father and grandfather died of illness in Heilongjiang, the extreme poverty of Fang Guancheng, exiled to the capital, and earned money and food expenses by measuring words for people outside the Donghua Gate. But there will always be times when gold shines. One day, the young and heroic Manchu Qing iron hat prince Fu Peng passed through Donghua Gate on the way to the upper dynasty, surprised by the calligraphy skills of Fang Guancheng's signboard, stopped the car to talk, and found that Fang Guancheng was a son of a family who was not equally idle in learning and knowledge, and immediately extended to the palace as a staff member, which was highly courteous. In the tenth year of Yongzheng (1732), he was discovered by the Yongzheng Emperor and given the title of Zhongshu, so that Fang Guancheng, who was dressed in cloth, actually became a minister of the imperial court, and from then on began the road of smooth steps. In the short period of more than a decade that followed, Fang Guancheng went from being a penniless commoner, not by examination, not by military merit, and finally to a feudal official who monopolized the military and political power of one side, and was one of the famous "five overseers" of the Qianlong Dynasty, which was very rare. Fang Guancheng was erudite and capable, and as an official, he could always benefit one party, and his political achievements were numerous, and there were countless stories about the "Governor Fang" of the Qing officials and officials left by the people in various places. Fang Guancheng's greatest achievement as an official was in the management of water conservancy, and his thinking and ability were deeply trusted and rewarded by Qianlong. In the twenty-eighth year of Qianlong, because of the accumulation of water in Tianjin, the emperor became angry and reprimanded Fang Guancheng for failing to fulfill his duties. The imperial court officials listened to the collegiality and demanded that Fang Guan be relieved of official responsibility, but Qianlong instructed him to be lenient. Yushi Ji mengxiong, Zhu Xujing, and others were still chattering, constantly playing chapters to impeach Fang Guancheng, and Qianlong directly said: "Words are easy to do, and those who hold arguments are easy to deal with, I am afraid that they may not be able to support it as Guan Chengzhi's strength!" ”
During Fang Guancheng's tenure as an official, he attached great importance to cotton production. Based on his long-term experience in planting cotton, he also painted 16 "Cotton Maps" in the thirty years of Qianlong, counting cloth seeds, irrigation, ploughing, picking tips, picking cotton, drying, harvesting and selling, rolling cores, bullet flowers, restraints, spinning threads, pulling the warp, pulping, machine, weaving, and practicing dyeing, each picture is equipped with a text description and a poem of seven words, systematically explaining the whole process from planting cotton to becoming cloth, and at the same time listing the process experience in each production process, which is presented to the Qianlong Emperor and 16 poems written by the Qianlong Emperor and the Qianlong Emperor, which are fully praised.
Qiqihar Zhalong Wetland Photo by Zhang Yuling
Looking at Fang Guancheng's ups and downs in life, it is true that it is the result of his intellectual preparation and life experience, but it is not unrelated to the discovery and favoritism of the Yongzheng Emperor. Emperors who have no "drama" words are actually addicted to drama. Therefore, they often personally derive scenes of tragedy and comedy for the world. The four generations of the Fang family have all played tragic and joyful roles in the dramas they directed.
Today's Qiqihar Labor Lake Hong Sheng photo
Fang Guancheng, who ended his troubled career and entered his career, moved the remains of his grandfather, grandmother and parents from Bukui when he was in the office of Fu Peng, the king of Pingjun, and buried in Tongcheng. He also wrote a lot of works in his lifetime, and he also wrote poems and calligraphy works such as "Bu Kui Customs" and "Wei Xiang Collection", "Yan Xiang Collection", "Yan Xiang Second Collection", "Qing Ting Collection", "Shu Ben Tang Poems" and so on.
The author is a member of the Chinese Writers Association of Qiqihar City and a national first-class writer
Editor: Qin Hua