Pictures of Bao Zheng when he was 39 years old

In the spring of 1037, a dusty white-faced scholar appeared on the official road of Tianchang County, Anhui Province. Wearing a long gown and a few pieces of luggage, no one would have guessed that he was the newly appointed county magistrate Bao Zheng.

At this time, Bao Zheng was 39 years old. The eldest brother is not young, but it is his first time to join the officialdom. He is not far away from the famous title of "Qingtian" he is about to receive, but there are still 20 years before he becomes the mayor of Kaifeng and is worthy of the name "There is a Bao Qingtian in Kaifeng".

Splashed the emperor's face with spit

Bao Zheng had a happy childhood - which was different from the legend. He had both parents and was much loved. Growing up in a family of officials, he was very motivated and won the Jinshi at the age of 29. However, in order to serve his aging parents, Bao Zheng refused to go out to be an official and stayed at home for 10 years, until his parents died of illness and his filial piety was completed.

So, when he appeared in the official circles of the Northern Song Dynasty, he was already middle-aged, but his behavior was completely that of an "angry youth".

In Zhaoqing, Guangdong, the second stop on the official career - it was still called Duanzhou at that time, the famous Duan Inkstone was its income-generating project. However, due to bureaucratic exploitation, the Duan Inkstone under the banner of "tribute" most likely became a key product for bribery and bribery, and few parties actually delivered it to the emperor, let alone sold it on the market.

As soon as Bao Zheng arrived, he ordered Duan Inkstone to pay tribute in a fixed amount. And he himself never took a Duan Inkstone with him until he left Duanzhou. The "Duan Yan Incident" was appreciated by the imperial court, and three years later Bao Zheng was transferred to Kaifeng. This is the second time Bao Zheng has come to the capital since taking the exam in Beijing.

It is worth mentioning that the Northern Song Dynasty was an era when the consciousness of scholar-bureaucrats was highly awakened. The "aristocratic society" during the Han and Tang Dynasties has completely transformed into a "civilian society". Many scholar-bureaucrats "take the world as their own responsibility" and dared to confront the emperor head-on in the court. What's more, he felt that challenging the emperor alone was not enough, so he gathered a group of colleagues and launched a fierce verbal battle to besiege the emperor. As for Bao Zheng, even if he was not a leader, he was at least a "noxious candy" that gave Song Renzong quite a headache. His main focus was on the most sensitive personnel issues.

Song Renzong doted on Concubine Zhang, and her uncle Zhang Yaozuo soared all the way in a "helicopter". In addition to being the Minister of Finance, he also held four important positions, setting a unique record in the history of the appointment of relatives in the Northern Song Dynasty.

A group of ministers were noisy about this, and collectively went all out to demand that the emperor remove Zhang Yaozuo from his post. When the debate reached its climax, Bao Zheng stood in front of Renzong and talked endlessly, with spittle flying everywhere and splashing on the emperor's head and face. Renzong was so angry that he couldn't speak. He walked away and returned to the harem to get angry at Concubine Zhang: "You only know how to promote him to Xuanhui Envoy and Xuanhui Envoy, but you don't know that the current Yushi Zhongcheng is Bao Zheng!"

Under Song Renzong's favoritism, the impeachment work did not go smoothly. Bao Zheng and others were locked in a protracted war with the emperor over Lao Zhang's personnel appointment, and Lao Zhang fluctuated up and down in the war - his status was slightly lower when the impeachment was at its peak, but quickly climbed up again after the limelight. It wasn't until Lao Zhang died soon that the entire battle was officially over.

Bao Zheng in his prime

After that, Guo Chengyou in the second bomb, Wang Kui in the seventh bomb... "Nowhide" Bao Zheng established a reputation that would never let go of a corrupt official. glorious image.

Two memorials of the "Qingli New Deal"

When Fan Zhongyan was making waves in the political arena and setting off the climax of the "Qingli New Deal", Bao Zheng was still a "little boy" who had just been transferred from the local government to the central government. Rookie".

Do you support or oppose Fan Zhongyan’s reforms? The court inevitably fell into "party disputes": Are you a reformist or a conservative? It was the conservative Wang Gongchen who pulled Bao Zheng from Duanzhou to the position of supervisory censor. Wang Gongchen's recommendation was probably to embolden the conservative camp, and he did not expect that this young "rookie" could make any contribution to crushing the reformists.

However, this reform took official administration as its first goal, which coincided with Bao Zheng's political concerns. He focused on the "Inspection Envoys" - one of the important measures of the New Deal. Fan Zhongyan sent inspection envoys to various places to specially supervise local officials.

A single word from the inspector can decide whether a local official will go to the central government or go to prison. As the saying goes, he has great power and can do whatever he wants.

Bao Zheng's memorials have always been sharp and powerful, and he presented "Please do not use cruel people as supervisors". Immediately, the debate over whether "inspecting envoys" aggravated corruption in officialdom reached a fever pitch. Song Renzong began to realize that reformist officials were not a pool of clear water. There were also people fishing in troubled waters.

The "little rookie" played an unexpected role in overthrowing the reformists. The conservative ministers were overjoyed, thinking that Bao Zheng could be used for themselves. But what happened next shocked them.

In the New Year of 1045, Fan Zhongyan dismissed his ministers and left Beijing. The New Deal failed, and the conservatives rejoiced. Unexpectedly, at this moment, Bao Zheng wrote a eloquent article titled "Please continue to take exams to educate the children of the scholar-bureaucrats", arguing that Fan Zhongyan's policy of using exams to select the children of scholar-bureaucrats should be maintained.

Conservatives were dumbfounded when they affirmed a vetoed policy in such a grand manner: Is this person guilty?

As everyone knows, in Bao Zheng's eyes, there are no factions, only justice; no party disputes, only the truth.

Six years later, Bao Zheng, who was promoted to the Imperial Court, had apparently forgotten all about the unfortunate consequences of Fan Zhongyan's reforms. He handed Song Renzong a famous memorial "Seven Matters" ——Distinguishing between traitors and loyalists, distrusting cliques, trusting talents, treating treacherous and deceitful people, employing people without trust, visiting talents and using talents, and using and expelling ministers--it is exactly the same as the "Qingli New Deal". The ministers now understood: Bao Zheng was an outlier in officialdom who told the truth.

When Bao Zheng impeached Song Xiang, no one was surprised. Song Xiang was a man of literary talent and had served as prime minister for 7 years. He was not corrupt and perverted the law, he was not tyrannical, and he was morally corrupt. There was nothing wrong with him. But Bao Zheng said, yes, it's because you have done nothing; an important official of the country who has made no achievements is just "a corpse eating nothing", and of course he should be impeached. His words may be strong, but his vision is truly penetrating.

From Kaifeng Mansion to the Ministry of Finance

In March 1057, 59-year-old Bao Zheng finally came to Kaifeng Mansion.

His first move was to reform the litigation system. In the Northern Song Dynasty, if civilians wanted to file a complaint, they had to submit the case through the "Family Registration Department". The cunning little officials took advantage of this opportunity to blackmail the people. Without saying a word, Bao Zheng abolished the Door Registration Department, and people could directly contact the officials handling the case. The people were immediately happy, "There is a Bao Qingtian in Kaifeng!"

In fact, Bao Zheng only served as the mayor of Kaifeng. Did it for less than two years. At the age of 61, he received another important task from Renzong: serving as the third envoy to manage the country's finances.

In this position, Bao Zheng showed his talent for economic reform - changing "interest rates" to "harmony". At that time, the imperial court imposed excessive requisitions from the people. Bao Zheng said that tribute items are also commodities, and the court must buy them from the people at the "He Market" at a certain price; as for urgently needed supplies, just ask the rich.

As it happened, during the two years that Bao Zheng was in charge of finance, famines continued in Jianghuai and Zhejiang. During the Northern Song Dynasty, the court collected taxes only in cash, not in kind. So people had to sell grain to the government and "convert" it into cash, and officials took the opportunity to lower grain prices. It's fine in normal times, but in years of famine, people are in dire straits. Bao Zheng gave full play to the characteristics of "cowhide" and wrote four memorials in one breath, "Please avoid the deformation of Jianghuai and Zhejiang."

The results of economic reforms made the emperor trust Bao Zheng more and more. In 1061, he rose to the rank of deputy privy envoy (deputy prime minister) and became an important minister in the central government. But 63-year-old Bao Zheng is already in his final years. Ouyang Xiu said that in his life, Bao Zheng "rarely had filial piety, which was heard in the countryside; late in life, he had Zhijie, which was practiced in the court." Such sincerity consumed his life. Although there were still many things that he couldn't stand and wanted to change, there was nothing he could do about it.

Song Renzong personally went to Bao Zheng's home to check on his condition. This is the last meeting between the monarch and his ministers. In May 1062, Bao Zheng died of illness in Kaifeng, and the whole country mourned.

Thousands of years later, when we look back on Bao Zheng’s life, we will find that his official career was actually very dull. He has never beheaded a betrayed prince-in-law, there is no heroic Seven Heroes and Five Righteousness around him, he has never invented a three-bit majestic guillotine, and he does not even have a black face and a crescent birthmark.

Maybe you want to ask, what has he done?

He led people to dig wells and exempted people from taxes; he was concerned about the construction of Kaifeng and the Song Dynasty's diplomatic mission to Liao. However, what he did best was writing reports to Renzong based on the facts. Sometimes he impeaches people, sometimes he makes suggestions, and sometimes he gets angry. Calling him an "admonishing minister" is not entirely accurate. He is more of a good minister who works hard. Bit by bit, carry out his reforms to the end.