In 1652, the ninth year of Shunzhi, the Qing court held the 4th imperial examination for entering the customs. A young high school senior from Suizhou (睢州, in present-day Sui County, Henan) entered his career.
His name is Tang Bin.
Born in 1627, Tang Bin was born in a family of scholars, received a good education from an early age, and had not yet reached the age of 15 to read classic books such as "Zuo Zhuan", "Warring States Policy", "Ram", "History", "Book of Han" and so on. Interestingly, he took the Boy Scout Examination in the Ming Dynasty and obtained the name of Xiucai Gong, but he took the examination in the Qing Dynasty and obtained the title of Jinshi Gong.
After passing the entrance examination, Tang Bin was selected as a Shu Jishi of the Hongwen Academy and was awarded the Review of the National History Academy. Three years later, in 1655, Tang Bin was sent to Shaanxi and served as a Tongguan Daoist. In the Qing Dynasty, Daoists were Zhengsipin officials. The first time Tang Bin was released, he served as a zhengsipin magistrate, and the starting point was still quite high.
Tang Bin was a very simple official. On the way out of Beijing, Tang Bin bought 3 mules, 1 for himself, 1 for his servants, and the remaining 1 for two pairs of worn-out bedding and a bamboo bookcase. In this situation, there is no grandeur of the four pins to take office.
In fact, Tang Bin's official road has also been uneventful, and his promotion has also been carried out step by step. In addition to guarding his father's filial piety for 3 years, Tang Bin successively served as an attendant of the Hanlin Academy, the president of the History of Ming, and a cabinet scholar. In 1684, inspector Jiangning became vacant. When the imperial court recommended the right person, the Kangxi Emperor spoke up. He said: "Tang Bin learned from Sun Qifeng, has moral integrity, and can supplement Inspector Jiang Ning. ”
Tang Bin once took Sun Qifeng, a master of science in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, as his teacher, and the Kangxi Emperor considered him "moral". In this way, Tang Bin served as the inspector of Jiangning at the age of 57 and became one of the officials of the feudal territory.
Before Tang Bin left, the Kangxi Emperor gave an exhortation: "Officials should put correct customs first." Jiangsu Xi Shanghua luxury, his intention to guide, not a matter of tranquility, will be calm and gradual, so that it can change their minds. "The Kangxi Emperor asked Tang Bin to change customs and customs in the Wudi area, remove luxury customs, and return to simple folk customs.
The Kangxi Emperor also gave him the 3-axis imperial pen calligraphy, saying: "Stay away from it now, and show this as if it were against Yuanye!" This is said very affectionately, where is the parting of the monarch, it is clear that the lovers are clinging to each other.
After Tang Bin took office as the governor of Jiangning, he did not live up to the trust of the Kangxi Emperor.
Earlier, huai'an and yangzhou provinces suffered floods, and the former inspector of Jiangning, Yu Guozhu, reported to the imperial court that after the water receded, he could still cultivate land, and that taxes should continue to be levied the following year. After an on-site investigation, Tang Bin found that the flood waters still had not receded and could not be cultivated at all, so he reported to the imperial court and retracted Yu Guozhu's words.
Outside Suzhou, there is a wutong shrine that has a history of hundreds of years. Whenever a young woman became ill, it was said that the five gods wanted to marry her as a wife, and they were not allowed to treat her, resulting in the death of sick women. Tang Bin resolutely cracked down on this feudal superstitious ideology. He sent people to destroy the statues of the five gods, and also demolished all similar ancestral halls in various states and counties to avoid harming people. All the wood that was torn down was used to build the school.
With Tang Bin's unremitting efforts, the atmosphere in Wudi has been renewed, and the people are satisfied and convinced.
Tang Bin is an upright official and never flatters or deceives. At that time, there was a university scholar named Nalan Mingzhu in the imperial court, and his power was temporary, and many officials flattered him, but only Tang Bin never bothered him. When the imperial court evaluated officials, officials who were serving outside the country sent gifts to Nalan Mingzhu one after another, but Tang Bin did not give gifts.
However, "Mu Xiu will be destroyed by Lin Feng", Tang Bin was hated and slandered by Nalan Mingzhu, Yu Guozhu and others, and was summoned to the imperial court by the Kangxi Emperor for questioning. When Tang Bin was sick, he took the illness into the pilgrimage to see the Kangxi Emperor, and did not defend himself, but only said that he was talented and ignorant, had many faults, and asked for severe punishment.
Seeing that Tang Bin had a very good attitude, the Kangxi Emperor had nothing to say.
In 1687, Tang Bin died of illness. Although he was an official for 35 years, including 3 years as an inspector in the wealthy Wudi, as long as he "relaxed" himself a little, he would also make a lot of money. But Tang Bin did not do so. When he died, he had only 8 taels of silver around him. Friend Xu Qianxue donated 20 gold to get out of the funeral.
[References: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, etc.]