What about Weng Tonghe's biography?

[This article was first published in Sinology Forum] Lin Wenren, a scholar at Taiwan Province Provincial Political University, commented on Levin in the postscript of his two books, Factional Differentiation and Politics in Late Qing Dynasty and Debate between North and South and Politics in Late Qing Dynasty: "In my mind, he will always be a great historian outside the college." In the "Introduction" of Factional Struggle and Politics in the Late Qing Dynasty, Lin even used a long space to introduce this man whose original name was Xu. In the study of factional groups in the late Qing Dynasty, some people who devoted themselves to the study all the year round were wasted because they did not enter the school wall and the people in the academy knew nothing about their own careers, which limited their possibilities of broadening their horizons or increasing their thinking resources. I am thinking of the historical novelist Xu, whose pen name is "Levin". To tell the truth, the author always feels that it is not appropriate to name Xu Shi a novelist. In addition to admirable historical novels, especially those involving courts, bureaucrats and factions in the Qing Dynasty, Xu Shishang has as many textual research works as his novels, which are of guiding significance to the structure of his novels, especially to show the origin of Xu's family studies. Xu Yanqing, a native of Renhe, Zhejiang, was a famous minister in the late Qing Dynasty. Xu Shi mentioned that he grew up in an environment with old stories about Gong Yu as bedside stories, and was deeply impressed by these stories, so he will have the opportunity to explore the basis of childhood stories by combining literature, history and family studies. This is true of his historical novels, and so is his textual research works. In fact, the academic circles have some knowledge of his strengths, but the due evaluation of his expertise in the political history of the late Qing Dynasty and the Dream of Red Mansions is not detailed. But most of them are people outside the mainstream circle, which makes this "historian outside the college" rarely mentioned in relevant classes. That is to say, most of them are cynical. Unfortunately, if people talk about "Levin" in one sentence, that is, those who only express contempt, nine times out of ten have not read his textual research or even know that he has such a book. In all fairness, Xu Shi is romantic, bold and imaginative as a novelist, and some of his contents are also arrogant and arbitrary. Therefore, he made an ironic comment that "first-class novels often cannot have biographical loyalty". The author thinks that this is Peter's self-study, and he is too confident without academic training. He not only knows books, but also knows people. Is it because the orthodox researchers in the college ignored him and touched his shortcomings that he formed greater self-esteem? This fear has been discussed in psychology, and this article is irrelevant. I just want to emphasize one point: even so, in Xu Shi's works, the reading and thinking of private diaries and notes in the late Qing Dynasty is really unparalleled. This specialty can be seen from several of his works, which were deeply involved in the factional struggle in the late Qing Dynasty, such as Companion with the Old, Biography of Weng Tonghe, Four Scholars in the Late Qing Dynasty and Emperor of the Qing Dynasty. Among them, the book Biography of Weng Tonghe is particularly focused, and it is very hard to read Xu Shi. The author replied to Xu Shi's words, but there are still many people deeply puzzled. However, according to the research theories of various schools in the late Qing Dynasty, it is incomplete to let go of Xu Zhu. [1] The reason why I took the trouble to record the full text of Lin's high evaluation of Levin is that I think there are some drawbacks in today's academic circles. On the one hand, I don't know much, on the other hand, I have prejudice in the circle, which unconsciously limits the development of research. What Lin Wenren didn't directly point out was that Lin's Factions and Politics in the Late Qing Dynasty could not have reached such a high academic level without the inspiration of Levin's Emperor and Elder of the Qing Dynasty and Biography of Weng Tonghe. Levin's understanding of the political history of the late Qing Dynasty can only be matched by a few scholars, while the new generation of scholars may never surpass Levin's ability to comprehensively use official books, archives, diaries, notes, letters and poems in their research and "discuss the world" on the basis of "knowing people". Professor Sang Bing of Sun Yat-sen University said in the introduction of his monograph Prince Gengzi and the Political Situation in the Late Qing Dynasty: "In modern times, most officials and gentry who are good at participating in political competitions are hard to detect. Non-mental and able to understand and sympathize from a political point of view, unable to see through his inner thoughts, so it is impossible to judge his external words and deeds. This can be said to be a great test of the wisdom and endurance of scholars. " [2] In my opinion, Levin is one of the few scholars who can pass this severe test. His extraordinary knowledge is based on his family history, his own qualifications and extensive reading. His pursuit of learning is not to catch a topic and then look for literature, but to find a topic from in-depth reading, so he can gain a lot. When reading Biography of Weng Tonghe, the first impression is that the author is not only familiar with Weng Tonghe's diary, but also able to integrate a large number of historical materials with the diary, open up thousands of households, reach a handy realm, and find important information in the text that ordinary people have not noticed. In his early years, Weng Tonghe sent people to Shaanxi for a short-term trial tour. He wrote in his diary: "There is Wang Jinghua in the north, Huaidian in the east and Wumen in the south. Nine times a day, thousands of miles away, a wanderer can't do it. " Looking north, I miss Weng Xincun, the father of a college student in Beijing; Dong Zhanzhe, then the brother of Anhui Governor Weng Shu Tong; People who care about the south are worried that Taiping rebels will capture their hometown Changshu. According to this, Levin analyzed Changshu's character: "Weng Tonghe is a filial gentleman, but he is gentle and cowardly by nature." He is only suitable for being the Taiping Prime Minister who educates talents, not suitable for being an official and not suitable for being in troubled times [3]. Levin's conceit of knowing people does have his capital. Weng was found guilty of mishandling the Miao incident, and Zeng Guofan ordered him to go to jail. As for his death, Levin quoted Guo Zezhen's Ten Dynasties Poems, "or spread the theory of Xiangxiang to illegally sparse grass, and Li Wenzhong's hand, Weng Li failed to cooperate with it", which is not conclusive, but instructive. Weng Tonghe and Li Hongzhang fought for many years, and eventually both lost. Although there are differences in political lines and acting styles, the factors of internal grievances cannot be ignored. Guo Zezhi has been an official in Beijing for many years. His Gengzi poems are very important to the world because they are included in the historical materials of the Boxer Rebellion. However, the poems of the Ten Dynasties were rarely quoted by historians before, which shows that Levin's sense of smell in collecting historical materials is unparalleled. Weng Tonghe's talent and knowledge are indeed the foundation of both sides. Mu Zong suddenly and violently collapsed, welcoming the son of the imperial edict wine king into the palace. Pan Zuyin "means that the book should be written as the heir of the literati" and Weng Tonghe "means to be written as the heir of the emperor" [4]. Levin believes that Pan Zuyin's original intention is to "sever the father-son relationship between Alcohol King and Guangxu"; Weng Tonghe's original intention was to "follow the unification of Mu Zong without establishing a new monarch" and rule out the possibility of abolition in the future. As a result, Weng Tonghe was greatly favored by his biological father Wang Chun and became a teacher of Guangxu, which also laid the foundation for his rapid rise. Levin's extraordinary historical knowledge is always revealed in the book, and the true face of Qu Bianzhang is just an example: "Everything that Zhang Zhidong did was for hunting officials; Zhang Peilun does have the ambition to rule the country and conquer the world. First of all, he wanted to help Li Hongzao achieve something. Later, when he saw that Li Hongzao could not do much, he shifted his goal to Li Hongzhang. " [5] Li Hongzhang can accept the incorruptible Lord of the hostile camp as his successor, which is based on the foresight of multiple considerations. Unfortunately, people are not as good as heaven, and the succession plan of Beiyang in Huai Dynasty failed, which inadvertently made Yuan Shikai. Weng Tonghe became the leader of the Southern School, but he made full use of the opportunity of serving as an examiner for many times and tried his best to accept celebrities from all over the world as his disciples. He planted an echelon, and Zhang Jian and Wen won the Zhongweike Award, all of which were the results of Weng Tonghe's painstaking design. Among them, Levin made a compromise and poured it out, which was very interesting. Yan Jingming is loyal, frank and capable, and has made painstaking efforts to manage the national finance, which has been known before. However, after Levin made a comparison between Yan and Weng, who are in charge of the household registration department, who gained a benefit for the country and lost a benefit, Yan's characteristics of being loyal to the country and being an official are highlighted. After Hu Wenzhong and Ceng Wenzheng, I'm afraid he is the only one. It was also during Weng's financial power that Empress Dowager Cixi was able to make great efforts in construction, ignoring the naval construction that was extremely important to the national movement and replacing the Bohai Sea with Kunming Lake. The factional conflict between Weng Tonghe and Li Hongzhang, two Han Chinese officials, destroyed ZTE's hope. After the Reform Movement of 1898, Kang Liang took advantage of the influence of the reformists in the minds of the new bachelor, started a powerful propaganda machine, shaped Weng Tonghe into the nominal leader of the reformists, and spared no effort to highlight the close relationship between Weng and Kang, with the aim of raising money overseas. Kang Liang's strategic management is very successful, and people still believe in it. The material Levin used to expose Kang's lies was unexpected. Historians who changed their records often look at the relationship between them from the aspects of politics and Confucian classics, ignoring that Weng and Kang are both giants of modern calligraphy and have high attainments in epigraphy. Kang Youwei's Talks on Guang Yi and Zhou Shuang was written in the 15th year of Guangxu, which established his position as the number one calligraphy theorist in modern times. Weng Tonghe is regarded as the first calligrapher in the late Qing Dynasty. However, in Kang Youwei's Chronicle and Weng Diary, there is no trace of discussion between the two sides. Levin proved that they had no contact with each other fifteen years ago in Guangxu. It's amazing. That's great. The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 was a major turning point in the history of the late Qing Dynasty, and the texts studied by historians were overwhelming. Levin is unique in that he can talk about a series of new ideas from old materials. "After the assassination of Li Hongzhang was broadcast internationally, it was very unfavorable to Japan, that is, Japanese domestic public opinion sympathized with China, but Gong Wang and others did not know how to take advantage of this favorable situation and instigated friendly countries to put pressure on Japan. So Japan began to fear and soon reappeared. " [6] After humiliation and peace, Li Hongzhang deliberately managed the United Russia route after a calm calculation. "It must be emphasized that Japan is extremely vicious and it will pave the way for the reunification of Russia." Therefore, in the negotiations after the injury, he did not argue according to the situation and reasons. Scholars in the professional circle may think that this is a "heart-killing" theory, but they don't know that this is the bold place of Levin's artists, that is, "knowing people" and "judging the world", and non-top experts dare not do it. In the 23rd year of Guangxu (1897), Li Hongzhang took advantage of his special relationship with Russia to "spoil" the Sino-German Jiaozhou Bay negotiations hosted by Weng Tonghe. Levin's statement has its own rationality. Li Hongzhang's acceptance of bribes from Russia is still controversial, and some people think that the isolated evidence is not valid. Levin quoted the Russian historian romanov's History of the Russian Empire's Invasion of Manchuria as evidence, and through the analysis of Weng Tonghe's two visits to Li Hongzhang's birthday recorded in his diary, it was proved from circumstantial evidence that Li Hongzhang was under Russian control when negotiating with Germany, and his reeling skills were amazing. "The fifth day of the first month is Li Hongzhang's birthday. As far as records are concerned, there are five people who are 70 years old. Why can't you be called a birthday by your children and grandchildren in peace and go out at night in cold weather? Who is in the DPRK, that is, someone who can't come to the door for advice in an emergency, but wants the birthday girl to visit him personally? If you go out at night, you will go to the Russian legation to discuss the matters mentioned in the telegram from Tomu, Wu Ke. Isn't it clear? " [7] This inference based on Zhou Bei's background knowledge and exclusion method is not easy for professional historians, and sometimes they worry that the actions of historical figures are out of common sense. However, this inference does not open up space for further research. The most wonderful thing is the thrilling process uncovered by Levin. From the negotiation between China and Germany in Jiaozhou Bay to the coup in 1898, Zhang, Li Hongzhang's Weng's ally, defected to Weng's family. Li Hongzhang instigated the overthrow of Weng and the coup of 1898, first of all out of self-protection. Emperor Guangxu was quite skeptical about Li Hongzhang's contribution to Russia in Sino-German negotiations. If you pursue it further, it will be difficult to find it. Therefore, for Li Hongzhang's department, only by expelling Weng Tonghe and encouraging the Queen Mother to resume political training can they pass the test smoothly. Weng Tonghe's attitude towards Zhang experienced a process from dependence to doubt, which was recorded very clearly in Weng Diary. Li Hongzhang's support for the British loan sponsored by Zhang earned Zhang's compromise cooperation with Russia, and took advantage of the favorable opportunity for Zhang to gain the trust and appreciation of Emperor Guangxu to recall Weng Tonghe. According to the "hidden rules" at that time, the amount of kickbacks received by Zhang should be amazing. Under the temptation of money, Zhang became Li Hongzhang's accomplice and eventually could not escape the fate of exile in Xinjiang. "When you go up the mountain, you will eventually meet a tiger." Lin Wenren's comment that Levin is sometimes "a little arrogant and arbitrary" is true. The fourth chapter of Biography of Weng Tonghe contains a passage of Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio in Changxin Palace, which, with its imagination and knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine, infers that Empress Dowager Cixi had an abortion in Guangxu for six years, and then attaches a legend that there is "destiny takes a hand's love" between Empress Dowager Cixi and Rong Lu, which is "over-interpretation". I don't know anything about Chinese medicine, but I often theorize that the Queen Mother's illness and medical records show that she has symptoms similar to "blood collapse". Don't jump to conclusions. Since the middle of Qing Dynasty, the imperial court system has been very strict. For Cixi, who has a strong desire for power, when Ci 'an was alive, it was extremely risky to do so, and years of painstaking efforts could easily be destroyed. What's more, even if Cixi really has the ability to deceive people, she can't just rely on folk nonsense, that is, Rong Lu is the "handler" of this matter. It is more reasonable to analyze the reasons why Rong Lu surrendered at this time from the perspective of factional struggle. Although Levin's book has some flaws, it can be said that it is full of victories on the whole, and its contribution to the study of political history in the late Qing Dynasty is unparalleled in the world. But professional historians regard him as a novelist and completely ignore him. Most people who love reading his novels can't appreciate the exquisiteness of his academic works, which leads to his academic achievements being concealed and not obvious. Readers will believe me if they can read Levin's "Emperor of Qing Dynasty, Grow Old Together" and Lin Wenren's "Biography of Weng Tonghe". Remarks: [1] Lin Wenren. Factional separation and politics in late qing dynasty. Beijing: China Social Sciences Press, 2005, p. 10- 12. Sang Bing: Gengzi Wang Qin and the Political Situation in the Late Qing Dynasty. Beijing: Sanlian Bookstore, 2004, p. 652. [3] Levin: Biography of Weng Tonghe, Hefei: Huangshan Bookstore, 2008, p. 6. [4] Diary of Weng Tonghe, Zhonghua Book Company, No.3, 2006, Tongzhi, December 13th. [5] Levin: Biography of Weng Tonghe, Hefei: Huangshan Bookstore, 2008, pp. 89-90. [6] Levin: Biography of Weng Tonghe, Hefei: Huangshan Bookstore, 2008, p. 2 13. [7] Levin: Biography of Weng Tonghe, Hefei: Huangshan Bookstore, 258 pages.