Although Hong Chengchou was born in a poor family, he didn't study in a private school. But because he loves learning since he was a child, he goes to a private school to listen in on some knowledge every day. This move also touched a teacher who was willing to accept him as a student for free. This laid a solid foundation for his brilliant future and talented people.
Hong Chengchou couplets
Originally, his mind was also very flexible and he was eager to learn all kinds of knowledge. Therefore, his skills in writing couplets are getting deeper and deeper.
Hong Chengchou was an important official in Chongzhen of Ming Dynasty. He liked writing and calligraphy very much, and he also liked couplets. He felt that he was loyal to today's emperor and could be a model for the world, so he wrote a couplet for himself: "Your kindness is as deep as the sea, and your minister's festival is as heavy as a mountain." The first couplet says that he is very grateful to the emperor for his kindness, and the second couplet says that he is loyal to the emperor. This is a good couplet. However, Hong Chengchou finally settled down.
In order to satirize Hong Chengchou, someone added a word at the end of the first couplet and the second couplet. The first couplet added a word "Yi" and the second couplet added a word "Hu". These two words are auxiliary words in classical Chinese. In modern Chinese, it means "your kindness is as deep as the sea, and your minister's day is as heavy as a mountain?" This is a great irony.
As for his talent, many people think that he has trained the wrong talents. Especially after he surrendered to the Qing dynasty, many people thought that since everyone had to surrender to the enemy, it was tantamount to raising an enemy. But if you think about it carefully, although everyone is righteous and righteous, you should have national integrity, be unyielding and die for your country.
In fact, we can't blindly deny his talent. At least many rules, regulations and etiquette rules in Qing Dynasty were established at the suggestion of Hong Chengchou. His extensive knowledge was applied to the construction of the state system, which laid a certain foundation for the improvement of the state mechanism in the Qing Dynasty and the prosperous and lasting rule in the future.
There are numerous controversies about Hong Chengchou, especially treason and apostasy. But his great achievements on the battlefield deserve people's infinite admiration. Only by looking at history dialectically can we really learn useful knowledge from it.
How to evaluate Hong Chengchou?
Hong Chengchou was from the Ming Dynasty. This man's life is full of wonderful and legendary stories, but the evaluation of such a character in history is varied and mixed. So, what kind of person is this? How to evaluate a person like Hong Chengchou? Next, let's take a look at Hong Chengchou's evaluation.
The decline of every era and dynasty is closely related to the bad policies of the rulers. After the Ming Dynasty, it was the same, the rule was very corrupt, and the whole society put the whole dynasty in jeopardy by attaching importance to villains and abandoning good ministers.
In the Battle of Songshan, Emperor Chongzhen killed Yuan Chonghuan, a good minister, because he didn't listen to Hong Chengchou's advice, which happened to be the most important reason for the failure of the Battle of Songshan. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the whole economy and society were in turmoil and went further and further on the road of doomed extinction.
At the same time, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Jurchen society began to exert its strength rapidly, and at this time Nurhachi established the post-Jin, and changed its name to Jin in A.D. 1636. At that time, the military was very strong, the politics was very virtuous, and the punishment was very lenient, which can be said to be the will of the people. It has become an established fact that the Qing Dynasty replaced the Ming Dynasty.
Some people say that Hong Chengchou was a traitor, while others say that it was a wise man's practice. In my opinion, a truly capable person can't be stupid and loyal, but should know how to improvise. The most important thing for him is to use his ability to benefit the people and society. So, Hong Chengchou was right.