Readers familiar with the book "Mirror Flower Edge" know that Li Ruzhen was a native of Daxing County, ShuntianFu Province, directly under the Qing Dynasty, but since the publication of "Mirror Flower Edge" in the 22nd year of Qing Jiaqing (1817), there were nearly 30 editions until the end of the Qing Dynasty, and there was no name of the author. In the preface to the book, it is said that "the book "Mirror Flower Edge" was made by Beiping plum pine stone for more than ten years", but as for who this "Li Songshi" is, few people know.
It was confirmed that the author of "Mirror Flower Edge" was Li Ruzhen, Mr. Hu Shi, who said in the "Introduction": "Mr. Qian Xuantong told me that Li Songshi was a phonologist named Li Ruzhen, a native of Daxing County, Jingzhao, and that he had written a "Li's Yinjian". Since then, all the literature involving the "Mirror Flower Edge" and its author has been called "Li Ruzhen, zi songshi, (Qing) Daxingren". So, how did Li Ruzhen's family come to Beijing? What kind of living is it in Beijing?
"Mirror Flower Edge"
Grandfather was a "college entrance immigrant" plus "North Drift"
It should be explained that during the Qing Dynasty, Daxing County was located in Daxing Hutong, Dongcheng District, and at that time, ShuntianFu had Daxing County and Wanping County, and the area under the jurisdiction of Daxing County included Dongcheng District and Chaoyang District east of the central axis, as well as Qinghe Town in Haidian District, in addition to most of the daxing district of Beijing today.
Is Beijing really the ancestral home of Li Ruzhen's family? I'm afraid we'll have to dig into that. According to Kong Jiyi's "Heart Yearning for The Collection", the migration and wandering of the Li family began with "hard work from Chiyang". The so-called "Chiyang" is the ancient name of today's Sanyuan County in Shaanxi Province, and Sanyuan is the true ancestral home of this "aggressive Beipingzi" (Li Ruzhen). Why should we believe Kong Jijun's account? This was because he had an extraordinary relationship with the Li family and Li Ruzhen's in-laws, the Panpu Xu family in Haizhou (present-day Lianyungang).
Kong Jiyi (孔继鑅), courtesy name Youhan (宥函), was a member of the Daxing people who were a mid-level scholar in 1836. He recounted his dealings with Li Ruzhen's nephew Li Weiol. He and Li Weiol are both from Beijing, and they have also lived in Banpu, Haizhou for many years, and worship together under the door of Li Ruzhen's in-laws Xu Guilin, which belongs to "Fa Xiao". The two of them had a deep friendship, so Kong Jizhen knew the Li family lineage very well.
It is recorded in the "Daoguang YiweiKe Examination Record of the Same Year" that Li Ruzhen's grandfather Li Tingdong was a "too student". Taixue was the common name of Guozijian at that time, and students studying in Guozijian were called "Taisheng". In the Qing Dynasty, those who entered the prison industry were Gongsheng (i.e., "Gongjian", including Gonggong, Engong, Vice Gong, Bagong, Yougong, and Zhigong), Jiansheng (Enjian, Youjian, Yinjian, and Xianjian), Guansheng (a congrecient and good scholar of the sons of officials above the seventh grade), and Liao Zeng's appendages who were selected and promoted by the examination of the Officials of The Imperial Examination. Generally speaking, those who have not entered the government, prefecture, or county school and want to take the township examination, or who want to become an official without obtaining the meritorious name of the imperial examination, must first make a donation to obtain a birth as a prisoner, but they may not be studying in prison. Some eunuch families often received the first meritorious title of "Taisheng", which was the elegant name of donating "invigilators" at that time. The advantage of donating inmates is that they can bypass the child test and directly participate in the township test, and more importantly, they can not only participate in the township test in this province, but also go to the Beijing Division to directly participate in the township test in Suncheon Province, which is a bit similar to some of today's "college entrance examination immigrants".
In the "History of Ru Lin", Zhou Jin, who failed to pass the imperial examination, passed the imperial examination and embarked on a career path by relying on the donation of invigilators to him by several businessmen. Under the circumstances at that time, the cost of donating inmates needed between 100 taels and 108 taels of silver, which was absolutely beyond the reach of ordinary peasants, which showed from the side that the economic situation of the Li family was at the middle and slightly upper level at that time. It is likely that from the beginning of Li Tingdong, a "college entrance examination immigrant" who went to Beijing to participate in the township examination as a prisoner, the Li family began a "north drift" career, although the township examination failed to succeed in studying, but finally established a foothold in Beijing.
During the years of "North Drift", Li Tingdong earned a family business, so that his son's generation could occupy Daxing County in Suncheon Province and become the people at the feet of Tianzi. The so-called occupation of nationality is the meaning of reporting the hukou and naturalizing and settling. In the Qing Dynasty, the management of occupation was very strict. According to the "Qing History Draft, Food Commodities I. Hukou", "There are four different nationalities for those who are the authors of the people: the nationality of the people; the nationality of the military, also known as the Wei nationality; the register of the merchants; the nationality of the stove (boiling salt household); and the manager of the family must also check his ancestral home..." The Li family belongs to the nationality, and the conditions for the naturalization of those who have placed graves in the place of residence for more than twenty years" and "those who have been dead, and whose descendants have land and soil grain in other provinces, are willing to be attached to the naturalization."
"Ru Zhen's Book Diagram" wang Hongxi painted
His father and eldest brother were scribes
Li Ruzhen's father, Fu, was a candidate for the main book. Li Ruzhen's eldest brother, Li Ruhuang, was a prisoner who had "transcribed the Examination and Supplement Strategy Museum" before going to Banpu in Haizhou to serve as an ambassador of the Salt Lesson Division.
What kind of living state does the Li family live in Beijing? Combined with a number of historical materials and analyzed, it is possible to draw a generally correct conclusion. First of all, Li Ruhuang's official position of "transcription of the strategy museum" is generally an uninformed petty officer who is "examined" by a scribe who serves in the military aircraft strategy museum. The scribes of the Qing Dynasty were generally inherited by father and son, so Li Ruzhen's father, Li Fu, should also be supplemented by the scribes. Both Li Fu and Li Ruhuan were scriptural scriveners who belonged to the central organs of the Qing Dynasty, and they were from the Ministry of Worship. The so-called "scribes" are the scribes recruited by the laws and regulations of each department, which is equivalent to the state civil servants in the establishment. There are three kinds of scribes in the capital, namely, the Scriptures, and the Confucians, of which the three museums of the ZongrenFu, the Cabinet, the Shangyuan Pavilion, the Wenyuan Pavilion, the Hanlin Yuan, the Zhan ShiFu, the Zhongshu Branch, and the Three Pavilions of the Inner Court have the highest status.
According to the "Qinghui Dian, Official, And Seal of the Qing Official": "The distinction between all The Officials of The Capital is three: one is to offer things, the second is to be Confucian, and the third is to be promised. Among them, the confessions of the Zongren Mansion, the Cabinet, the Hanlin Yuan, and the Zhan Shi Mansion were examined by the xiucai and invigilators of the people. The Qing court attached great importance to the examination of the ministry, which was similar to the specifications of the imperial examination, which was located outside Tiananmen Square, supervised by the supervision of the imperial history and the cabinet bachelor, and the examination was assigned by the cabinet university scholar to be responsible for each member of the Manchu han bachelor, and the commander of the escort army led the army to inspect the examination at the examination place. The content of the exam is a notice, with a rate of 200 words, mainly to assess whether it is well-organized and well-written. The offerings of the Three Pavilions of the Inner Court are selected from the offerings of the Cabinet, the Hanlin Temple, the Zhan ShiFu and other yamen. The so-called "Three Pavilions of the Inner Court" are the "Wuyingdian Book Repair Office" (belonging to the Ministry of Internal Affairs), the National History Museum (belonging to the Hanlin Academy), and the Fang Strategy Hall (belonging to the Military Aircraft Department), of which the Strategy Hall is a special book revision agency responsible for compiling "Strategy" and "Ji Strategy". Every time an important military achievement of the imperial court was completed, or in the event of a major political event, it was compiled into a book by the Strategy Museum to record its beginning and end. In addition, other books specially prepared by the emperor were also repaired, and their offices were located in the Forbidden City. The importance of the Strategy Museum can be imagined, and those who can serve in the Strategy Museum are even more of the best.
According to the qing system, those who have not committed any transgressions after the five-year period of service can be appointed as officials, that is, there is an opportunity for officials to be admitted. Li Fu took the first class and was awarded the main book of the candidate of the Nine Pins, while Li Ruhuang was admitted to the second class, and was awarded the transcription official who was not in the class. Li Ruzhen was born into this family of low-ranking civil officials.
In the Qing Dynasty, the city of Beijing implemented a policy of Manchu and Han separation, with Manchus living in inner cities and general Han Chinese living only in outer cities. In order to facilitate the Han officials living in the outer city to enter the inner city every day to work, the Chongwen Gate in the inner city generally opened shortly after midnight, becoming the earliest city gate opened in Beijing. This made the scriveners working in the various offices in the inner city, for the convenience of work, generally gather in the Ciqikou area outside the Chongwen Gate, which is where Li Ruzhen first left his footprints in life.
As an adult, the family moved south
In Beijing in the Qing Dynasty, there was always the saying that "Beijing officials are poor and Beijing officials are rich", because most of the chief officials were born in the "right way of examination and examination", studied the eight strands of literature but did not learn the affairs of the law and the world, were not familiar with the documents of the case, and had to "take the officials as teachers" in handling practical affairs. Guo Songtao, an official of the late Qing Dynasty, once lamented this: "This dynasty shares the ears of the world with Xu officials!" Among them, the power of the scribes of the central ministries is the greatest, and it is said that "there is no difference between the handle of the prime minister."
The salaries of scribes are meager, but the power they hold in their hands can naturally be exchanged for many practical benefits, and rich Officials often outperform poor Officials. Someone wrote a couplet to describe the generous and comfortable life of the Beijing officials: canopy, fish tank, pomegranate tree; sir, fat dog, fat. "Li Ruzhen's family has been engaged in two generations of scribe work, long-term immersion in it, with many years of accumulation, the overall standard of living is not as good as those of the top rich, but it is not bad, which can be seen from Li Ruhuan's donation according to Jinchuan's example, and was tried to be the ambassador of the salt class in Haizhou Banpuchang in the forty-seventh year of Qianlong (1782).
Donation is the donation of bribes and officials, the Qing Dynasty donation is mainly divided into two categories, one is to solve special problems, that is, for the famine, military supplies, river workers to open a "temporary practice"; the other is mainly to donate false titles, canons and origins, that is, civilians change their identity through donations and tribute supervisors and students. Regardless of the form of donation, the procedure is roughly the same. In the early years of Qianlong, due to the conquest of Jinchuan, Jinchuan was routinely opened, and civilian, military posts, and foreign officials in Beijing could be donated. Civilian officials are from langzhong or below, to the criminal department prison, the soldier and horse division, the foreign officials from below the Daofu, to the ninth and uninvolted, the military posts from the generals, guerrillas below, to the thousand, the total and must be donated. In the thirty-ninth year of Qianlong (1774), Jinchuan was re-enlisted, and because of the tight military expenditure, the Jinchuan case was reopened. Li Ruhuang, who was not a recorder, decided to seize this opportunity for promotion. His position in the picture was that of the ambassador of the salt class of Zheng Bapin, and although the grade was not high, it was a fat difference. To seek this official position, you need to donate 3,000 taels of silver, which is higher than the silver required by Zhengqi Pinzhi County in some places, which was by no means a small amount at that time, which shows that the economic strength of the Li family is good.
The forty-seventh year of Qianlong (1782) is definitely the most important year for the Li Ruzhen family, and in the autumn of this year, they ended the "Beijing family lineage" that has lasted for three generations, moved south to Haizhou, and began another family migration since Sanyuan, and li Ruzhen, who had just come of age, ended his life in Beijing, and his true life legend had undoubtedly just begun.