Bao Gong's Story

Bao Zheng was born in an official family in Luyang. At the age of 28, he was admitted to Jinshi. According to the system of Song Dynasty, a scholar can be an official by passing the exam, but Bao Zheng is a dutiful son. He abides by the sage's teaching that "parents are here, don't travel far". It was not until the age of 36 that he officially came out of the mountain and became a small official like a magistrate. During his tenure as magistrate of a county, he solved a mysterious case and became famous. At the age of 38, he was promoted to be well-known, honest and clean, valued by his boss and praised by the world. After that, he began his political career and became an important official of the court. Family Profile Bao Zheng is the thirty-fifth generation grandson of Chu and Shen (Epitaph of Bao Zheng, Biography of Bao Zheng in Song Dynasty, Tongzhi, Volumes 8-5). Grandpa Bao Shitong is a common people, studying and farming. His father was peaceful for eight years, rejuvenating the country and ordering me to be a scholar. He was an assistant minister of punishments. He worked in the Cabinet with Yan Wen Bo's father, Wen Yue, and became friends with their family. Therefore, Bao Zheng and Wen Yanbo were "scholars and close friends" and later married their children's in-laws. Father went back and forth to his hometown to be an official and gave it to Taibao. Mother Xuanshi, to Mrs. Fengxiang County. Bao Zheng's three brothers, Bao Ying, the eldest brother, and Bao Ying, the second brother, all died earlier, and only he passed down from generation to generation. His family is well-off, so he was educated and edified by good traditional knowledge since he was a child.

Primary occupation

Song Renzong Tiansheng five years (A.D. 1027), Bao Zheng was twenty-eight years old, and he was admitted as a scholar. The court appointed him as a "Dali juror", roughly equivalent to the current court juror, with a very low level. Then, he was appointed as the magistrate of Jianchang (now Yongxiu, Jiangxi). Because his parents were too old to go to Jiangxi with him, Bao Zheng had to give up his official position and stay at home to wait on his parents. Later, the court appointed him as an official in Hezhou (now Anhui County) near his hometown, responsible for the management of tax money and food. This time, Bao Zheng went to his post, but because he was really worried about his parents staying at home, he only insisted on going home for a few months.

Determined to be an honest official

After his parents died one after another, Bao Zheng left the countryside and went to Beijing to wait for a new office. He lives in an inn and studies hard in Bao Qingtian at night.

He wrote the only five methods in his life: "pure heart is the foundation, and the right path is the plan." Show dry eventually becomes a building, fine steel don't make a hook. The warehouse is full of mice and birds, and the grass is full of foxes and rabbits. There are teachings in history, and no one is ashamed. The general idea is that a man should be aboveboard, just as Meimu should be the pillar of the house, and fine steel should never be iron. I want to be an honest official worthy of the teachings of history books. In the third year of Jingyou (1036), Bao Zheng was appointed as the magistrate of Tianchang (now Anhui Tianchang). There, he solved a large number of backlog cases fairly and won a good reputation as an honest official.

Refuse Duanzhou inkstone

Soon, Bao Zheng was promoted to Duanzhou (now Zhaoqing City, Guangdong Province). Duanzhou produced a kind of inkstone, which was a tribute of the imperial court. Together with tiger skin, Huimo and Xuan paper, it is called the best product in Four Treasures of the Study. As we all know, when I worked in Duanzhou before, I always gave the imperial court several times more than Guangdong inkstone as the capital to bribe Beijing officials. After taking office, Bao Zheng changed his bad habits and never charged more. When he left office, he even handed in the Duan inkstone he usually used in the court. Later, Bao Zheng was promoted and left Duanzhou. His ship was caught in a strange storm in Antelope Canyon. He personally went down to check and found a Guangdong inkstone hidden in the cabin, which was quietly given to him by the locals. Without saying a word, Bao Zheng threw the precious Guangdong inkstone into Jiang Xin. According to folklore, there is a sandbar called "Ink inkstone Sand", which is the relic of Bao Gong throwing Duanyan.

Edit this paragraph with Wei Zhi as the teacher.

In the second year (1050), Bao Zheng was promoted to "Zhang Tian Dave" system and served as an admonition officer. As soon as Bao Zheng took office, he took Wei Zhi, a famous remonstrator in the Tang Dynasty, as his teacher, carefully selected three copies of Wei Zhi's memorial, copied them in small letters and presented them to Song Renzong, hoping that the emperor could learn from them the statue of Bao Zheng.

Learn from experience and lessons. When Bao Zheng was an admonition officer, he made many comments on state affairs, which made the emperor avoid serious mistakes in many major decisions. Bao Zheng once summed up his experience with the word 16: "Disdain the liver and drain the gallbladder, offend your majesty, know no taboos, and avoid resentment and hatred". He wrote three memorials from Wei Zhi to Emperor Taizong, and dedicated them to Song Renzong, as his motto, always be vigilant and concentrate on state affairs. I asked Injong to be humble and trainable, to distinguish right from wrong, not to engage in "preconceptions", but to cherish talents, remove harshness, prohibit punishment, myths and heresies, and not to build at will, and so on, which was adopted and implemented by the court.

Objection, Qin En.

In September of the second year in Huang You, the weather cleared up after the flood. Emperor Renzong thought it was a good sign. In addition to holding a grand celebration of heaven and earth in Beijing, he also issued letters to criminals all over the world, raising all civil and military officials to a higher level. This is called "Qin En". Bao Zheng objected to this and told Injong that criminals served their sentences as punishment for their past crimes. How to alleviate these problems after the flood recedes? As for the promotion of officials, it is necessary to assess political achievements. Isn't it unfair to those officials who do have achievements? In this case, who will diligently contribute to the court in the future?

Three bullets Zhang Yaozuo

Zhang Yaozuo is the uncle of Song Renzong's favorite concubine Beauty Zhang. He has no talent, but with the help of Beauty Zhang, his career is thriving. Initially, Zhang Yaozuo was appointed as the "Third Secretary". Bao Zheng strongly opposed it and remonstrated with the emperor, saying that people like Zhang Yaozu were not qualified to be small officials, not to mention such dignitaries as the "Third Division". However, Renzong not only refused to listen to his advice, but also blocked our time in Yao Zhang and Zuo Wei. Bao Zheng is very sad. He continued to remonstrate and insisted on accusing Zhang Yaozuo, but Renzong still turned a deaf ear. The following year, Zhang Yaozuo was appointed as the ambassador of Xuanhui South Hospital. Bao Zheng remonstrated with the emperor for the third time, and even argued with the emperor in court, which finally forced the emperor to remove Zhang Yaozu.

Fall on Zhang.

Zhang, the "three secretaries", used his power to serve public and private interests. Once, a businessman named Liu Baoheng in Tokyo opened a restaurant, which was poorly managed and owed the government wheat, equivalent to more than one million dollars in cash. He can't take it out at the moment. Zhang Fangping ordered Liu Baoheng to sell his property and pay off his debts. At the same time, he took advantage of people's crisis and bought Liu Baoheng's real estate at a very low price. Bao Zheng was furious when he learned that Zhang, as a court official, used his power to extort money without forgiveness, so he wrote to the emperor and participated in one of Zhang's books. Zhang was fired for this.

Attack Song Qi.

Song Qi is a poet, but a scholar knows nothing. When he was an official in Sichuan, he lived in luxury. Every meal must have at least 36 kinds of dishes, including 12 kinds of meat dishes, 12 kinds of vegetarian dishes and 12 kinds of semi-vegetarian dishes. He also raised 32 maids to fan, beat his back and tap his feet. At the bedside where he stayed, a maid waited all night to take care of his needs at any time. Song Qi is also very lewd. Once a girl with a little beauty is attracted to him, he will do everything possible to treat her as a concubine. He was morally corrupt and scandal-ridden, but he was repeatedly valued by the court. Bao Zheng's Portrait of Bao Zheng

Very dissatisfied, he wrote to the emperor many times, criticized Song Qi's scandal, and finally dismissed him in Song Qi.

Punish Zhang Kejiu severely

Transshipment in Huainan made Zhang Kejiu use his power to sell more than 10,000 kilograms of smuggled salt, which was a very serious crime in the Song Dynasty. After the case was exposed, Zhang Kejiu was sent to Dali Temple for trial. According to the law, the severity of the crime of selling smuggled salt is determined according to the quantity of smuggled salt seized. The more numbers, the heavier the conviction. Zhang Kejiu is very cunning. Every time he sells smuggled salt, although the quantity is large, he changes hands quickly, never leaves the warehouse, and the quantity seized is not much. When Dali Temple was sentenced, there was nothing it could do. Bao Zheng advocated that Zhang Kejiu should be severely sentenced instead of being too rigidly bound by the law. He said that Zhang Kejiu, as a transshipment ambassador, was lawless and openly sold illicit salt. This crime cannot be equated with ordinary people and must be severely punished. At his suggestion, Zhang Kejiu was severely punished and exiled to a distant and desolate place.

Li Shen Yang Ren

When Yang Ren was the magistrate of Fenzhou, he used his authority to let 100 soldiers do private work for him. Yes, weaving camel hair satin for him; Yes, do all kinds of personal chores for him. When his crimes were exposed, he occupied more than 23,600 laborers, equivalent to 1600 pieces of fine silk. According to the laws of the Song Dynasty, this is a very serious crime, which requires not only compensation and a fine of ten Jin of copper, but also banishment to the frontier three thousand miles away. Song Renzong sympathized with Yang Ren's contribution to the imperial court, and with a stroke of a pen, he was exempted from the punishment of being exiled for 3,000 miles. In his letter, Bao Zheng argued that a big official like everyone knows the law and breaks the law, so he can't be given a lighter punishment. The emperor had to take back his words.

Qi men Wang kui

Wang Kui is a famous painter. When he became a local official, he ran amok and arbitrarily increased all kinds of exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous fees, and only one of them overcharged 300 thousand yuan. He used the money he collected to bribe Beijing officials for personal gain. His bureaucratic methods are very cruel, killing people at will. When he was appointed as the traffic ambassador of Hunan Road, people fled and hid in caves in deep mountains and forests to avoid persecution. Ordinary people hated him, but he was favored by the court, and his career was booming, and he was even promoted to the higher vocational position of Huainan transshipment ambassador. Bao Zheng pleaded for the people and wrote to the court seven times to recall Wang Kui. On one occasion, he was impassioned in front of the emperor, urging him to be interested, and even accidentally spit on the emperor's face. Under the constant impeachment of Bao Zheng, Wang Kui was finally dismissed.

Editing this paragraph, law enforcement is like a mountain.

In the second year of Jiayou (1057), Bao Zheng was entrusted with an important task and became the magistrate of Kaifeng, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty. Kaifeng magistrate is an extremely important position. In the past, it was usually held by a prince and a minister. This has always been a difficult problem for Beijing officials. On the one hand, the imperial power can interfere in local affairs at will, on the other hand, the royal family and relatives gather here to bully the city and make trouble without reason. During the Northern Song Dynasty 100 years, there were as many as 180 Kaifeng prefects, and the average term of office of each magistrate was only over half a year. During his tenure as Kaifeng magistrate, Bao Zheng was impartial. Although he offended many members of the royal family, no one could do anything about him because he walked straight and sat straight.

Edit this paragraph to severely punish bribery.

Shen Kuo's "Meng Qian Bi Tan" recorded a story about Bao Gong's judgment when he was the magistrate of Kaifeng: when a prisoner went to court, he had to spank him with a stick. He wanted to escape the pain of flesh and blood and bought off an official. The official said, "I made a statement in front of the judge. When you see the magistrate, shout. " On that day, the prisoner was brought before Bao Zheng and cried loudly. The bribed official said, "This prisoner doesn't know good or bad. He can go out with rattan. Why are you yelling? " ? "Bao Zheng took one look and immediately saw the flaw. He released the prisoners and told his men to catch the officials. Under the first trial, the official told the truth. Bao Gong sentenced him to bear the punishment of Roderick instead of the prisoner.