In the fifty-sixth year of the Kangxi Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty (1717 AD), Li Guangdi, a scholar of Wenyuange University, gave Kangxi a recital and asked him to return to his hometown. Kangxi said to Li Guang, "Wang Tuan and you are both Wenyuange University scholars, you are both the same age, Wang Tuan has not retired, you will work for two more years!" ”
In fact, at that time, Li Guangdi was already 76 years old and dying of old age, because Kangxi was very fond of Li Guangdi, so he was reluctant to let Li Guangdi give his life. Therefore, Li Guangdi dragged the sick body and continued to assist Kangxi in handling government affairs, and the next year, Li Guangdi died in Beijing due to hernia. When Kangxi heard this, he was overwhelmed with grief and said to the crowd:
"The truest of the knowers, and the one who knows the truth of the earth!"
This passage of Kangxi's words comes from the "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Volume 262", which means: Li Guangdi knows me, I know Li Guangdi, and Li Guangdi is a confidant.
After Yongzheng ascended the throne, he worshipped Li Guangdi endlessly, and he enshrined Li Guangdi in the Ancestral Hall of Xianliang, commenting that Li Guangdi was "a perfect generation".
As a confidant of Kangxi and an idol of Yongzheng, Li Guangdi enjoyed a rare honor of Han ministers during the Kangyong period. However, unexpectedly, in the Republic of China period, historian Liang Qichao said that Li Guangdi was a "despicable villain".
In this article, the author came to share Li Guangdi with you, hoping to bring you to re-understand this famous minister of the Qing Dynasty through historical data and analysis.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="11" >, the first sharp, made a great achievement</h1>
Li Guangdi, the character Jinqing (the same character as Yelü Chucai). According to the Li Guangdi Chronology:
His ancestors lived in Jianzhou, and it is said that he was the queen of Tangjiang Wang Yuanxiang.
Li Guangdi's ancestral home was Jianzhou (南平), Fujian, and later moved to Anxi County, Quanzhou, and it is said that his ancestor was Li Yuanxiang, the twentieth son of Li Yuan, the emperor of Tang Gaozu. Li Guangdi had three brothers, and his two younger brothers were named Li Guangyuan and Li Guangyan respectively.
Born in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty (1642), Li Guangdi was intelligent from an early age and was known as a "child prodigy". When Li Guangdi was 3 years old, the Qing army entered the customs, and Fujian became the main battlefield of the confrontation between the Southern Ming and the Qing court, and for many years after that, the public order in Fujian was very chaotic, and thieves were rampant. Li Guangdi grew up in this environment. When he was 13 years old, a group of unidentified thieves broke into Li Guangdi's home and ransacked his home, which had a great impact on Li Guangdi, so that he was very disgusted with various rebellions, bandits and other acts.
In the ninth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, 28-year-old Li Guangdi entered Beijing to take the exam and won the second place in the second division in one fell swoop. Among the same list of jinshi, there were two people who had deeper ties with Li Guangdi, one was Xu Qianxue, who ranked third in the first rank (Tanhua), and this person later became Li Guangdi's colleague and a famous courtier of the Kangxi Dynasty. The other is Chen Menglei, who ranks 30th in the second division. Chen Menglei was not famous in the Qing Dynasty, but he and Li Guang had a deep relationship, and this person will be mentioned below.
After passing the entrance examination, Li Guangdi stayed in the Hanlin Academy for 3 years, and he was selected as a Shu Jishi and taught editing. Three years later (the twelfth year of the Kangxi Dynasty), Li Guangdi returned to his hometown. Coincidentally, Chen Menglei also returned home to save his relatives.
The Draft History of the Qing Dynasty records:
Chen Menglei, Hou Guanren. He is the same age as Hikari and is a fellow official.
Li Guangdi is a native of Nanping, Fujian, and Chen Menglei is a native of Fujian Houguan (Minxian County), and the two are not only fellow villagers, but also fellow scholars, and now they are returning to their hometowns to visit their relatives together, and they naturally have to take care of each other along the way.
After Li Guangdi and Chen Menglei returned to Fujian, a major event broke out in the Qing Dynasty- the San Francisco Rebellion.
In the twelfth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, Wu Sangui, the king of Pingxi, launched a rebellion in Yunnan. Because Wu Sangui had killed Zhu Guozhi, the governor of Yunnan, and sent troops to surround the governor of Yunnan, Gan Wenkun, the news was completely blocked, and it was not until the first month of the thirteenth year of Kangxi that Kangxi learned that Wu Sangui had rebelled. Kangxi was very passive at that time, and when Kangxi sent troops to meet Wu Sangui, Geng Jingzhong, the king of Jingnan who was far away in Fujian, also erected a counter-banner, echoing Wu Sangui. At the same time, Taiwan's Zheng Jing (Zheng Chenggong's son) was also sending troops to counterattack Fujian, and there was great chaos on the Fujian side. At this time, Kangxi only cared about Wu Sangui's side and did not know the situation in Fujian at all. It was at this time that Li Guangdi made a contribution.
The "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty and the Biography of Li Guangdi" records:
For thirteen years, Geng Jingzhong rebelled, Zheng Jing was based in Quanzhou, and Guangdi was dedicated to his relatives in the valley, and after being loyal and sending people to recruit him, he refused.
The first step in Geng Jingzhong's rebellion was to control the imperial court officials, and Li Guangdi, as a court official who returned to his hometown to visit his relatives, was soon included in Geng Jingzhong's arrest list. Fortunately, Li Guangdi was clever and hid in the valley with his parents, and Geng Jingzhong sent people to surrender many times, but Li Guangdi refused. Chen Menglei, who returned home with Li Guangdi, did not have such good luck, Chen Menglei was captured alive by Geng Jingzhong and forced to become Geng Jingzhong's staff.
Li Guangdi not only refused Geng Jingzhong's surrender, but also collected military intelligence from Fujian in many ways, and finally wrote a recital, in which Li Guangdi wrote all the military deployments and offensive routes of Geng Jingzhong and Zheng Jing, and the "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Biography of Li Guangdi" Yun:
In the middle of the wax pill, he sent the envoy to the Kyoshi, because the cabinet scholar Fu Hongji went up. The upper part was unmoved, Jia Qizhong, and the lower military department was recruited to pay the leading minister.
Li Guangdi packed the message into a wax pill, and then sent someone to flee Fujian from the mountain path and send the message to the capital. On the way, he happened to meet Fu Hongji, a cabinet scholar, who relayed the news to Kangxi, who was shocked to learn that Geng Jingzhong had rebelled, and saw the intelligence collected by Li Guangdi and praised Li Guangdi. Immediately sent Prince Kang, Ai Xinjue luo Jieshu, to send troops to suppress the rebellion.
The Rebellion of San Francisco was a war disaster of the Kangxi Dynasty, and Li Guangdi seized the opportunity in time to make a steady progress.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="11" > two, six years in the blink of an eye, and then make new achievements</h1>
Before the outbreak of the San Francisco Rebellion, Kangxi only knew that there was Li Guangdi as a person, and he was not familiar with him. Li Guangdi sent people to pass on the information in a timely manner, made great achievements, and left an excellent impression in Kangxi's mind. Nevertheless, Li Guangdi's real reuse by Kangxi occurred six years later.
Draft History of the Qing Dynasty:
The division was stationed in Fuzhou, and the capital was ordered to command Lahada and Ganta to consult the ZhengJing and ask for the light of the place.
When Li Guangdi sent people to deliver intelligence, he himself remained in Fuzhou, and later Geng Jingzhong blockaded Fujian, and Li Guangdi could not get out at all. Three years later (the sixteenth year of Kangxi), the Qing army invaded Fuzhou, Geng Jingzhong surrendered, and Kangxi specially sent orders to the two generals of Lahada and Ganta to find Li Guangdi.
Later, Rahada found Li Guangdi in Zhangzhou, and he found that Li Guangdi had taken refuge for three consecutive years, and he was always unwilling to bow to Geng Jingzhong. Lahada reported Li Guangdi's deeds to Kangxi, and when Kangxi heard about it, he specially praised Li Guangdi:
"Guangdi is committed to serving the country, unswerving, and it is advisable to praise!" (From the Draft History of the Qing Dynasty)
Kangxi ordered Li Guangdi to go north immediately and promote him to a bachelor's degree, but unfortunately, "go to Fuzhou and return with his father's death", Li Guangdi had just arrived in Fuzhou, and his family caught up with him and told him that his father had died of illness. Li Guangdi had to return to his hometown and keep filial piety for his father for three years.
That is to say, Li Guangdi was first blocked by the rebels for 3 years, and it was difficult to quell the rebellion, and he had to keep filial piety for three years. By the time Li Guangdi returned to the capital again, it was already the nineteenth year of Kangxi six years later. The "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty and the Biography of Li Guangdi" records:
In the nineteenth year, he went to Kyoshi and conferred the Cabinet Bachelor.'
In the nineteenth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, Li Guangdi had just arrived in the capital. Under normal circumstances, Li Guangdi needs to report to the officials first, and then wait for the officials to rearrange their positions. But Kangxi was anxious to see Li Guangdi, directly skipped over the officials, summoned Li Guangdi to the palace, and awarded him a cabinet scholar. You must know that six years ago, Li Guangdi's official position before returning to his hometown to visit his relatives was the editor of the Hanlin Academy (正七品), and now he has just returned to the capital and is serving as a cabinet bachelor (from Erpin), and this soaring speed is staggering.
During Li Guangdi's tenure as a cabinet scholar, he also gave lectures to the princes, and all the princes, including Yongzheng (胤禛), admired Li Guangdi's knowledge.
In the twentieth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, Zheng Jing of Taiwan died, his eldest son Zheng Kezang was killed, and the second son Zheng Kezun inherited the title of Prince of Yanping with the assistance of Feng Xifan and others. Li Guangdi had been looking forward to being in Fujian for a long time, and was more sensitive to this matter, and when he got the news, he immediately said to Kangxi:
"Zheng Jing is dead, Zi Kezun is young and weak, and his subordinates are fighting for power, so it is advisable to take it urgently."
This means that Zheng Jing is dead, and now that Ming Zheng has been in great turmoil, it is a godsend opportunity to recover Taiwan!
In fact, Kangxi was already 28 years old at the time, and he had just put down the Rebellion in San Francisco, and it was the time to make great plans, and he had long wanted to recover Taiwan. Unfortunately, there have always been different voices in the DPRK and China, for example, Soetu advocated: "Taiwan is isolated overseas, and it is all barren land, if it risks recovering, it will not only deplete troops, but also the cost of governance is huge, so it is better to abandon it." ”
At the imperial meeting, Li Guangdi openly recommended a person to Kangxi, this person's name was Shi Lang.
Regarding Shi Lang, the author wrote about him last week, Shi Lang is an excellent general in the water army, but unfortunately, he changed hands three times and was never trusted in the Qing Dynasty. According to the Qing History Manuscript Li Guangdi's Biography, Li Guangdi, as a guarantee of his life, said to Kangxi:
"Shi Lang is familiar with the situation at sea, knows the soldiers, and can carry heavy responsibilities!"
Li Guangdi's proposal was naturally opposed by many people, and in the end, Kangxi li defied the public opinion, chose to believe Li Guangdi, appointed Shi Lang as the admiral of the Fujian Water Division, added the title of prince shaobao, and led the army to attack Taiwan.
At that time, Kangxi asked Yao Qisheng, the governor of Fujian, Wu Xingzuo, the governor of Fujian, and Shi Lang, the admiral of Fujian, to jointly administer the army, but the three did not agree. Li Guangdi and Nalan Mingzhu and others proposed to Kangxi that Shi Lang be given the right to lead troops independently, and Kangxi finally agreed to put Yao Qisheng and Wu Xingzuo in charge of logistics and fully support Shi Lang. In the twenty-second year of the Kangxi Dynasty, Shi Lang recovered Taiwan in one fell swoop and made an immortal contribution to Kangxi. The reason why Shi Lang can have such merit is that Li Guangdi's recommendation is crucial.
Kangxi's life was a great talent, and the pacification of San Francisco and the collection of Taiwan were Kangxi's ancient deeds, and these two deeds had the participation of Li Guangdi.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="11" >3</h1>
In fact, when Kangxi regained Taiwan, Li Guangdi was not in the capital, and history records that he "begged for his mother to return", and due to the death of his father, Li Guangdi has always been very filial to his mother. Li Guangdi served his mother at home for three years, and in the twenty-fifth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, Li Guangdi re-entered Beijing and was immediately promoted to the position of head of the Hanlin Academy, and soon after he was promoted to the rank of military attendant. In the thirty-first year of the Kangxi Dynasty, Li Guangdi was appointed as the chief examiner of the examination, and then Li Guangdi participated in the Jin Auxiliary Governance of the River and served as the scholar of Suncheon Province. In short, in the past few years, Kangxi is deliberately exercising Li Guangdi, and Li Guangdi will always make good achievements in different appointments.
By the thirty-sixth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, Li Guangdi had already served as a servant of the Ministry of Works, and due to the old age and illness of The Minister of Works Shangshu Samuha at that time, Li Guangdi was actually acting as a servant of the Ministry of Works. The following year, Li Guangdi was appointed by Kangxi as a direct subordinate inspector. This year, Li Guangdi met a deceased person, a deceased person who discredited him.
It turned out that in September of the thirty-seventh year of Kangxi, Kangxi inspected Shengjing, and a prisoner exiled to Shengjing presented a poem to Kangxi, and Kangxi felt that the prisoner was good at writing, so he ordered a pardon for him and asked him to assist the third son of the emperor in compiling the book. This prisoner is the aforementioned Li Guangdi's compatriot Chen Menglei.
Originally, during the original San Francisco Rebellion, Chen Menglei was coerced by Geng Jingzhong and forced to become Geng Jingzhong's aide, and later the San Francisco Rebellion was put down, Geng Jingzhong was killed, and Chen Menglei, as Geng Jingzhong's "accomplice", was exiled to Shengjing. If it weren't for Kangxi inspecting Shengjing, Chen Menglei would probably have buried his bones here for the rest of his life.
When Chen Menglei returned to the capital, he was as thin as wood, and soon after, he wrote a "Letter of Renunciation with Li Guangdi", which attacked Li Guangdi, the inspector of direct subordination, for deceiving the king and his friends, which was not tolerated by heaven and earth. As soon as this article came out, the Manchu Dynasty was in an uproar.
According to Chen Menglei, in the twelfth year of Kangxi, he and Li Guangdi joined hands to return to their hometown and relatives, but the following year encountered the Rebellion of San Francisco, he was coerced by Geng Jingzhong and could not escape from Fujian, but he privately sought out Li Guangdi and cooperated with Li Guangdi. Draft History of the Qing Dynasty:
(Chen Menglei) Fang's home, jingzhong chaotic work, lightly make the sun sneak Menglei detective news, get false reality, and have a dense Chen broken thief.
Chen Menglei meant that he was "in Cao Ying's heart in Han", he had secretly collected intelligence on Geng Jingzhong, written it into a recital, and then took advantage of Li Guangdi's opportunity to visit his home and handed it over to Li Guangdi, hoping that Li Guangdi could find a way to secretly spread the news to the capital.
Unexpectedly, Li Guangdi Surian sent people to the capital, but did not indicate that this information was provided by Chen Menglei, and the "Qing History Manuscript Li Guangdi Biography" said:
The light is alone, and it is greatly favored.
Li Guangdi swallowed the credit alone, but he left Chen Menglei aside.
Later, Geng Jingzhong was killed, and when dealing with his henchmen, Kangxi did not remember Chen Menglei at all, so he was imprisoned and beheaded. Unexpectedly, Li Guangdi interceded for Chen Menglei twice:
Menglei arrested The Beijing Master with a rebellion and went to prison to behead him. Guangdi was a secret covenant twice, and Menglei had to reduce his death to Fengtian. (From the "Qing History Manuscript Li Guangdi Biography")
This means that just when Chen Menglei was about to die, Li Guangdi interceded with Chen Menglei twice, and in the end Chen Menglei was not executed, but exiled to the northeast. According to Chen Menglei, although Li Guangdi interceded for himself at that time, he did not say a word about "separating from the rebellious party, mitu nei should and conspiring to invite soldiers."
This means that Li Guangdi did not mention a word about Chen Menglei's provision of intelligence.
After the news of Chen Menglei's accusation against Li Guangdi spread, it caused an uproar in the DPRK, and Li Guangdi, who was 56 years old at this time, was so humiliated that he was so humiliated that he became angry and said in Li Guangdi's argument to Kangxi:
"When the minister went to Ben, he went to Chen Menglei's house to discuss with him, but he didn't answer a word, and as for the draft that the minister shang wax pill book was his final draft, there was really no such thing!"
Li Guangdi's remarks were very cruel, not only denying that the intelligence had Chen Menglei's credit, but also saying that he had advised Chen Menglei to flee the rebels, and as a result, Chen Menglei "did not answer a word" and was loyal to Geng Jing.
This is like saying that Chen Menglei has become Geng Jingzhong's "die-hard loyalist".
Good things do not go out, bad things spread thousands of miles, Li Guangdi did not expect that the dispute between him and Chen Menglei became the hottest "gossip" in the capital in the thirty-seventh year of Kangxi.
The author believes that the key to the historical public case between Li Guangdi and Chen Menglei lies in whether there is chen Menglei's credit in the information that Li Guangdi handed to Kangxi. If there is, then Li Guangdi is destined to be a villain, and no matter whether he finally interceded for Chen Menglei out of guilt or hometown feelings, he could not hide this conclusion.
The author's conclusion is that when the San Francisco Rebellion broke out, Li Guangdi was still young, and he may have made a big mistake because of his greed for merit, and I supported Chen Menglei for three reasons:
First, Chen Menglei was exiled for more than ten years, and it was difficult to return from Shengjing, and he should have performed well and caused less trouble. Although he did not have to curry favor with Li Guangdi, there was no need to slander Li Guangdi. Chen Menglei did this, and if he didn't get it right, he would be imprisoned again. But Chen Menglei had to take this road, which showed that he did have grievances in his heart.
Second, according to the "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty", when Geng Jingzhong rebelled, Li Guangdi fled to the mountain stream with his family, and he did not have the opportunity to find out the intelligence of Geng Jingzhong's military deployment, and Chen Menglei had already been coerced into Geng Jingzhong's team at that time, and Chen Menglei was more likely to get the intelligence.
The third is Kangxi's attitude. After this matter was big, Kangxi's handling method was very delicate, kangxi did not blame Chen Menglei, but let Chen Menglei compile the book well. It is reasonable to say that if Kangxi believed Li Guangdi, then Chen Menglei had committed the crime of "slandering the imperial court officials", and Kangxi would have severely punished him, but Kangxi did not do so, which shows that Kangxi also knew that Chen Menglei did not lie.
Because Kangxi liked Li Guangdi and still wanted to use Li Guangdi, Li Guangdi's image could not be destroyed. In that year, Kangxi assigned Li Guangdi a heavy responsibility, allowing Li Guangdi to control the flooding of the capital as a direct subordinate inspector. It is a euphemism that diverts everyone's attention.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Liang Qichao commented on Li Guangdi in volume 3 of the Complete Works of Liang Qichao:
"With Li Guangdi's forgetting to kiss and betrayal, the position is a treacherous..."
By the time Liang Qi was famous, Li Guangdi had been dead for more than 200 years. It can be seen that because of Chen Menglei's case, after two hundred years, Li Guangdi is still carrying the insult.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="11" >4, a very popular minister, meritorious and commented</h1>
As mentioned above, in order to divert attention, Kangxi sent Li Guangdi to repair the river as a direct inspector, and Li Guangdi worked very hard. On the one hand, Li Guangdi managed the Zhanghe and Tuotuo rivers, personally surveyed them, and squatted day and night; on the other hand, he requested that the people on both sides of the river be exempted from taxes. After more than two years of hard work, the task was finally completed.
Li Guangdi was deeply trapped in the vortex of right and wrong, and could only prove himself with the fruits of his labor.
Seeing Li Guangdi's achievements, Kangxi was overjoyed and directly promoted him to the position of official Shangshu, and Li Guangdi finally breathed a sigh of relief.
In the forty years of the Kangxi Dynasty, Li Guangdi was once again entrusted by Kangxi with the heavy responsibility of letting Li Guangdi govern the Yongding River, and Li Guangdi lived up to his trust and solved the river problem that had plagued Gyeonggi for many years at one time.
The rule of the river was Li Guangdi's third greatest contribution to Kangxi after he leveled San Francisco and took over Taiwan. After the Kangxi and Yongzheng dynasties, the Gyeonggi River affairs did not have major problems.
In the forty-fourth year of Kangxi, Kangxi worshipped Li Guangdi as a scholar of Wenyuange University, and in this year, Li Guangdi was 63 years old, which can be regarded as an official "worship". In his edict to the officials, Kangxi said:
"Li Guangdi was a very good official, had excellent talents, and was promoted to a scholar of Wenyuange University."
Kangxi used the eight words of "very good officials and excellent talents" to evaluate Li Guangdi, which made Li Guangdi quite pleased.
In his later years, Kangxi was obsessed with the study of Cheng Zhu Lixue and the I Ching, and Li Guangdi was well versed in this way, so Kangxi "summoned into the temple every day to seek discussion", that is, Li Guangdi entered the palace every day to discuss these studies with Kangxi at close range, so Li Guangdi was very familiar with Kangxi's thoughts, which is why Kangxi said that Li Guangdi was his confidant. The Draft History of the Qing Dynasty records the following:
In the seventeenth year of Kangxi, the crown prince was deposed, and Kangxi ordered the ministers to recommend the new prince, and after everyone listened, they all took sides and recommended the "new prince" in their minds. At that time, most of the courtiers, including Gongbu Shangshu Wang Hongxu, recommended the eighth son of the emperor, Yin Yu, as crown prince, which eventually angered Kangxi. Kangxi then asked Li Guangdi, "They all recommend the new crown prince, why don't you say a word?" Li Guangdi replied:
"The former emperor asked his subjects to abolish the prince's illness, and the ministers slowly adjusted the treatment, and the blessings of the world were not told by the ministers."
Li Guangdi meant that the emperor was deposed as a prince because the prince was ill, and since he was sick, it would be better to take care of himself slowly. When he is well, it will be a blessing for the people of the world.
I have to say that Li Guangdi did know Kangxi, and he knew that Kangxi's original intention was not to elect a new prince, but to let those who were restless jump out. Therefore, Li Guangdi was still on Yin Rong's side, because this was the righteousness of the monarch.
Li Guangdi's approach made Kangxi very appreciative. In the forty-ninth year of Kangxi, Li Guangdi proposed to give a letter due to hernia, but Kangxi retained it fruitlessly and let Li Guangdi return to Fujian for the elderly. Three years later, in the fifty-second year of The Kangxi Dynasty, on the sixtieth birthday of the Kangxi Emperor, a banquet was held, and Kangxi specially sent someone to Fujian to pick up Li Guangdi to attend the banquet. Soon after, Li Guangdi was reinstated.
In the fifty-sixth year of Kangxi, Li Guangdi was 76 years old, dying of old age and old diseases, he asked for retirement again, but Kangxi refused Li Guangdi's request on the grounds that "Wang Tuan did not retire, you wait for two more years", but unexpectedly, the next year Li Guangdi died of illness.
Li Guangdi died at the age of 77, and he died very suddenly, and Kangxi was very sad that he could not see him for the last time. Kangxi eventually sent his fifth son, Yin Qi the Prince of Heng, to mourn Li Guangdi on his behalf and reward him with a thousand taels of gold, with the courtesy name "Wen Zhen". After Yongzheng ascended the throne, he put Li Guangdi into the Ancestral Hall of Xianliang and gave him the title of Crown Prince Taifu.
Li Guangdi was a 28-year-old scholar, died at the age of 77, and served as an official in the Kangxi Dynasty for nearly half a century, and he made important contributions to the unification of the Qing Dynasty, the governance of Gyeonggi's important affairs, and the development of science. There were many famous Han courtiers in the Kangxi Dynasty, such as Zhang Ying, Gao Shiqi, Chen Tingjing, Xu Qianxue, and others who were all leaders for a while, but the degree to which Kangxi favored Li Guangdi far exceeded the above-mentioned people.
Kangxi once commented on Li Guangdi: "Li Guangdi is cautious and diligent, always a section. Li Guangdi was full of admiration, but the Qing Dynasty historian Quan Zuwang said of Li Guangdi: "In his early years, he sold friends, and in middle age, he won love..."
This is Li Guangdi, the official gave a high evaluation, but the people always scolded him as a despicable villain.
The author believes that from a political point of view, Li Guangdi is undoubtedly a famous courtier, and his contribution to the Kangxi Dynasty is self-evident. However, from the perspective of personality, Li Guangdi left a flaw in his life in dealing with Chen Menglei.
In fact, when the four words "selling friends and seeking glory" are pasted on the back of "a generation of famous courtiers", everyone is destined to point out behind his back, thus ignoring his contribution. History is unified and dialectical, and when future generations look at Li Guangdi, they cannot blindly stare at his mistakes, but must make contributions and deeds, which is the correct attitude toward history.