Weng Tonghe (1830- 1904) was born in Changshu, Jiangsu Province, with the name Shu Ping, the name of Fu Sheng, and the name of Song Chan and the name of bottle temple lay man. The son of a great scholar Weng Xincun. Xianfeng six years (1856), jiajia Jinshi. He has served as assistant minister of the Ministry of Finance, adviser to the left capital of Duchayuan, minister of punishment, minister of industry, minister of finance, minister of military aircraft, and minister of state affairs of various countries. Weng Tonghe, the master of Guangxu, "has advice in case of trouble". Guangxu "asks for harmony in everything, especially when leaning on it as soon as possible."
In the Sino-Japanese War, Weng Tonghe fought hard for the main battle. On July 14, Li Hongzhang sent a telegram demanding the withdrawal of troops from North Korea, which was forbidden by the Qing court. Weng Tonghe called for more soldiers to "transfer troops from the three northeastern provinces and Lushun to North Korea as soon as possible."
On August 1 day, China and Japan declared war at the same time. Weng Tonghe 17 read Li Hongzhang's "Telegraph that the Russians have the intention to drive the Japanese" in the military department. "Arguably, Russia can't refuse or join forces. We should always focus on our soldiers defeating the Japanese, and don't expect foreign aid to dilute our affairs. "On September 16, Pyongyang fell. The next day, Weng Tonghe made an attack: "Hefei (Li Hongzhang) is all backward, so it can't be said that it's not a delay", which prompted Emperor Guangxu to issue the order of "removing three dazzling feathers and yellow jacket". 17 The Yellow Sea naval battle broke out and beiyang fleet suffered heavy losses. Weng Tonghe thinks that "the Yalu River can be dangerous, even the Bohai Sea can be dangerous. On "2 1 day, it was suggested that" soldiers from three northeastern provinces should be transferred, large grain platforms should be set up urgently, and senior managers should be sent to build earth castles along the Yalu River. "10 14, Weng Tonghe learned that the British ambassador Ou Ren proposed joint action by major powers to promote Sino-Japanese peace talks, but Japan wanted to send troops, which was extremely indignant. In front of Empress Dowager Cixi, he "accused Chen Ou of being hateful" and urged him to continue fighting. On 24th, the second Japanese army landed at Huayuankou, and the first army crossed the Yalu River the next day, and even entered Jiuliancheng Scenic Resort Scenic Area, Anton (now Dandong), Fenghuang and other places. On 3 1 day, Weng Tonghe met Emperor Guangxu and said, "Please don't be a moment late." 1 1 On March 3rd, Weng Tonghe was awarded the post of Minister of Military Affairs.
On the 8th, Weng Tonghe learned that Jinzhou had been lost and Lushun was in a hurry, so he asked Tang Renlian to send reinforcements to Lushun. On the 22nd, Lushun fell, and Weng Tonghe was "angry and worried". When the Qing court sent envoys to Japan to make peace, Weng Tonghe and others still advocated that the Xiang army should be incorporated and Liu Kunyi should be the commander in chief to save the crisis. The Qing court adopted their suggestion and ordered Liu Wei to send an imperial envoy to control the internal and external troops.
At the beginning of the twenty-first year of Guangxu, the Japanese army stepped up its invasion and leveled the ground and fell on January 10. 14, Weng Tonghe commented on the peace talks: "I dare not go along with the peace talks, but this matter cannot stop. I'm afraid Peter will make excuses. I just want to make peace with him, so I have to get ready first. " Fortunately, there is little attention. "In order to encourage officers and men to fight bravely, Weng Tonghe put forward the suggestion of" rewarding others, staying still and being the spirit of officers and men ". After the fall of Rongcheng and Nanbangbao in Weihai, Weng Tonghe felt that "the overall situation was eroded and he was anxious and resentful." On February 2nd, Wei Hai Acropolis and Beibangbao were completely lost, and Weng Tonghe issued "Extremely angry and ashamed! Coach deep yi, if you think, "said with a sigh. At this time, he also learned that the Qing government sent negotiators to Japan, but they were unreasonably driven to Nagasaki by the Japanese government. He lamented that "it was almost humiliating." 13, the Qing court reassigned Li Hongzhang as the plenipotentiary for peace in Japan. On the 22nd, Guangxu met with Li Hongzhang. In the history of the military department, Sun Yuwen thought that "the field needs to be divided for the bureau", while Weng Tonghe insisted on "persistence". On March 2, Li Hongzhang talked about land cession again, but Weng Tonghe firmly opposed it, saying that "Taiwan Province Province is beyond discussion and unreasonable".
On April 3, Weng Tonghe learned about the ten appointments in Li Hongzhang's call, and he felt more and more that "the thunder in his chest is not easy." The next day, Weng learned that Emperor Guangxu wanted peace quickly, and he "urged Taiwan Province not to lose it", pointing out that if it was broken, it would "lose the hearts of the world". After treaty of shimonoseki was signed, Weng Tonghe also "said it was too early to approve". /kloc-on 0/9, Weng Tonghe received a phone call from Qiu and others from Taiwan Province, saying "every word is blood and tears". Weng felt guilty and "ashamed to stand in the world". Once again, "strongly in favor of appropriate delay" to save the emergency. At this time, there were many executors, among which "a large rate means breaking the contract". Although Weng Tonghe disagreed, he still believed that "public opinion should not be falsified and people's hearts should not be lost". On May 2nd, Emperor Guangxu approved treaty of shimonoseki. On the 8th, representatives of China and Japan exchanged contracts in Yantai. The Qing court decided to cut Taiwan within a time limit. Weng Tonghe 17 "saw the public electricity of the people of Taiwan Province and wept for it".
In the twenty-fourth year of Guangxu (1898), Weng Tonghe assisted the university students with the ministers of the household department, and urged the reform to survive. On June 16, Empress Dowager Cixi ordered Guangxu to send Weng back to his hometown. 1after the coup in 898,1February 4, Weng was dismissed by Zhu Yu and never used again, and was "handed over to local officials for strict control." Thirty years (1904) died at home. In the year of Xuantongyuan, the official was reinstated and pursued "Wen Gong".
Weng Tonghe was born in luoquan Hutong, Shima Street, Beijing on April 27th in the 10th year of Daoguang reign (1830). Weng's family lives in Changshu County, Suzhou (now Jiangsu Province). Weng Tonghe's father, Weng Xincun, is famous for two words and is a scholar. He used to be the Minister of Rites, the Minister of Housing and Industry, the Bachelor of imperial academy, the Master of Tiren Pavilion, and the Master of Study, teaching Prince Gong, County King and County King. In his later years, he served as the director of Tongzhi Emperor, and was an important minister of Daoguang and Xianfeng Dynasties. Weng Tonghe's mother Xu was born in a bureaucratic family. Since childhood, she has been familiar with poetry and the Book of Changes, and knows the Five Classics like the back of her hand, especially reading history books. After Xu's marriage, Weng Xincun worked as an official in Beijing for a long time and didn't go home often. She did all the housework alone. Weng Tonghe has four brothers and sisters. Eldest brother is a fellow scholar, named Zu Geng, No.1 pharmacy, Daoguang Jinshi, official to Anhui Governor. The second brother, with the same rank, was once the governor of Shaanxi and Hubei and the governor of Huguang. Both brothers have certain knowledge, and Weng Tonghe is deeply influenced. The two sisters are also very clever, and the elder sister Zhu Shou is especially clever. Her poems and books are unforgettable. Weng Tonghe is the youngest of the brothers and sisters and is loved by them. Before Weng Tonghe was four years old, his father had been a student in Sichuan, Jiangxi and other provinces, and his family followed him, so his life was not very stable. During this period, his mother and elder sister taught him to read Sanzi Jing and thousands of poems, recited dozens of Tang and Song poems and Wu Meicun poems, and began his enlightenment education. At the age of six, his father returned to Beijing to work, and Weng Tonghe went to a private school. In the first two years of private school, his homework was tutored by his elder sister in the morning and evening, and the four books, five classics and Shi Mao were taught by her own elder sister.
Cao twice acted as a criminal and handled cases in prison according to law.
In August of the first year of Guangxu (1875), Weng Tonghe was ordered to temporarily replace the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice. It was not until the beginning of the second year of Guangxu (1876) that he served as the master of Emperor Guangxu for four months. Although the time was short, Weng Tonghe insisted on handling cases according to law within a limited time and did a lot of work. Among them, the case of Yang Naiwu Pakchoi, one of the four major cases in the late Qing Dynasty, has the greatest influence.
This strange case is like this: Ge Pinlian, a waiter in a tofu shop in Yuhang County, Hangzhou (now Zhejiang Province), married Bi Xiuying in the spring of the twelfth year of Tongzhi (1873). Bi is born beautiful and likes to wear green clothes and white aprons. People nicknamed him "Chinese cabbage". After Ge and Bi got married, they rented a house, became new family members and lived together. Shortly after Yang Naiwu's wife died, the two families had frequent contacts, and Yang Naiwu and Chinese cabbage also had separate contacts, but there was nothing immoral. Ge Pinlian died suddenly in the early winter of Tongzhi 13th year (1874). Ge's mother suspected that her daughter-in-law and her husband had conspired to kill her, and she was sent to Yuhang County for trial.
Liu Xitong, the magistrate of Yuhang County, took over the case and sent someone to lead three class officials to open the coffin for autopsy, confirming that Ge Pinlian died of poisoning. So Liu Xitong ordered the arrest of Chinese cabbage, and Chinese cabbage confessed that he didn't know. Liu Xitong ordered torture, Chinese cabbage or frankly don't know. Liu Haisheng, the son of Liu Xitong, idled and seduced Chinese cabbage. County magistrate He Chunfang also tried to rape Ge Bi, but failed. Liu Haisheng and He Chunfang were afraid that the confession of Pakchoi would implicate them, so they threatened Pakchoi that as long as she confessed to conspiring with Yang Naiwu to murder her husband, she would be exempted from the death penalty, otherwise the crime would be aggravated. However, Chinese cabbage was punished and had to admit that Ge Pinlian had conspired with Yang Naiwu to poison it, as Liu Haisheng and Chen Chun-Who specified. Liu Xitong ordered the arrest of Yang Naiwu to the court, but Yang Naiwu refused to admit it. In order to protect his son, Liu Xitong reported the forged autopsy records and interrogation records to the Hangzhou municipal government and demanded a "second trial". Chen Lu, the county magistrate, did not confirm this. According to the materials provided by Liu Xitong, Yang Naiwu was tortured, and Yang Naiwu was unbearable and had to confess. The government reported to the province again and planned to execute Chinese cabbage and Yang Naiwu.
Yang Changrui, the governor of Zhejiang Province, personally tried the case, but it was difficult for Pakchoi and Yang Naiwu to reverse their conviction and retract their confessions. Yang Changrui once sent officials to Yuhang County to investigate, but because his officials were bribed by Liu Xitong, Yang Changrui listened to empty talk and reported to the punishments according to the charges raised by Hangzhou government. At this point, Yang Naiwu wrote a handwritten confession in prison, exposing the misdeeds of Liu Haisheng, son of Yuhang county magistrate Liu Xitong, and He Chunfang, the county magistrate, on Chinese cabbage, and tried to give this handwritten confession to his sister Ye Shi Yang. Ye and his later wife, Yang Zhanshi, went to Beijing to sue with a "yellow list" (unjust list). After Ye and Yang Zhanshi went to Beijing, they suffered a lot. The punishments accepted the case and considered it suspicious. The imperial edict was handed over to the Governor of Zhejiang for personal examination. During the review, both Yang Naiwu and Pakchoi retracted their confessions, and the Governor of Zhejiang found the case difficult, so he shelved it. It was not until the first year of Guangxu (1875) that Yang Zhanshi and Ye repeatedly went to Beijing to redress their grievances, and the official department raised an objection to Wang Shurui, a Zhejiang-born Beijing official, and asked for another interrogation. Empress Dowager Cixi ordered the punishments to examine it as soon as possible.
At this time, among the six officials of the Ministry of Justice, for various reasons, only Weng Tonghe was in power. Weng Tonghe read the relevant materials about the case of Yang Naiwu and Chinese cabbage in detail, and found many doubts, so he decided not to perform for the time being.
In order to thoroughly find out the ins and outs of the case, Weng Tonghe conducted an in-depth and detailed investigation. He visited many colleagues familiar with case law and Zhejiang officials in Beijing, discussed the case with them and asked their opinions on the case. After investigation, Weng Tonghe became more and more convinced of his skeptical views on the case, saying that as long as the case is unknown, he would never make a hasty decision. Later, fearing that his judgment was wrong, he further investigated and verified and played the Queen Mother of the West. After the Western Pacific, Weng Tonghe's opinion was adopted, and all prisoners and witnesses were ordered to be escorted to the punishments for interrogation, and the coffins were opened again for autopsy. As a result, witness material evidence proved that Ge Pinlian died of sudden illness, not poisoning. Chinese cabbage and Yang Naiwu didn't collude to harm people. They were acquitted and the case was made public.
Since the case was made public, Weng Tonghe and several of his colleagues made it clear that Empress Dowager Cixi should punish the offenders in this case. In order to buy people's hearts and show their purity, Empress Dowager Cixi adopted the opinions of Weng Tonghe and others, and dismissed and exiled more than 100 officials under Zhejiang Governor Yang Changrui. At this point, the case of Yang Naiwu and Chinese Cabbage, which lasted for three years, has come to light.
In January of the fifth year of Guangxu (1879), Weng Tonghe was appointed as the minister of punishments, and his term of office lasted until May this year.
This time, Weng Tonghe reorganized the punishments department and replaced some incompetent officials. Laws and regulations are vague and easy to steal, and the definition is clear; Personally check the materials of major doubtful cases, and insist on handling cases and punishing them according to law.
Weng Tonghe served as a criminal Cao twice, and the total time before and after taking office was only 10 months. Although the time was short, he was highly praised by Empress Dowager Cixi and ministers of princes during his tenure.
Five, for the emperor Guangxu of Yuqing Palace.
On December 1st, the first year of Guangxu (1875), the Empress Dowager of the two palaces ordered Weng Tonghe and assistant minister Xia Tongshan to walk in Yuqing Palace as masters of Guangxu, who had just acceded to the throne and was only four years old.
Weng Tonghe was both happy and worried after receiving the order. I'm glad that the Empress Dowager has repeatedly used herself as an imperial envoy. What worries me is that it is a great responsibility to mold a four-year-old child into a generation of saints. He thought twice and refused again and again, but he was not allowed in the end. Moreover, Empress Dowager Cixi repeatedly asked him to "do his best to help this difficult situation", so Weng Tonghe had to obey hard.
March 21st, the second year of Guangxu (1876), was the first day when Weng Tonghe spoke to Emperor Guangxu. Weng Tonghe first taught Emperor Guangxu to write the words "peace in the world" and "aboveboard". Then, he taught Emperor Guangxu to recite the words "emperor" and "virtue". Finally, I talked about the first article, Three Emperors and Five Emperors. From this day on, until January of the 23rd year of Guangxu (1897), Yuqing Palace's study was removed, and Weng Tonghe served as the master of Guangxu emperor for more than 20 years. For more than 20 years, Weng Tonghe tried his best to seduce Emperor Guangxu and forged a deep affection for each other.
In the first two years of teaching, Weng Tonghe mainly taught Emperor Guangxu to read, read and recite. Weng Tonghe stipulated that raw books should be read 20 times a day and mature books 50 times a day. At that time, the text was very short, but because Emperor Guangxu was young, inexperienced and sickly, he often stopped reading in the middle. The master urged me to be the wind in my ear. Whenever I see this scene, Weng Tonghe is a little anxious, and sometimes he can't help but reprimand a few words in the breeze and drizzle. Emperor Guangxu roared and simply stopped reading for a few days. Weng Tonghe saw that hard work was not good, so he came to the soft side and slowly advised the right side. However, Emperor Guangxu refused to eat hard or soft, so Weng Tonghe had to personally play the role of the Empress Dowager. After hearing this, the Western Empress Dowager was extremely dissatisfied and decided to severely punish him and prevent him from eating more food. Weng Tonghe could not bear it, so he gave birth to another plan. Why didn't he turn to Emperor Guangxu's father, Prince Yi Huan? Huan Yi came to the study, first severely reprimanded, and then coaxed. Emperor Guangxu had some scruples about his father's shock, but over time this method also lost its effectiveness.
Weng Tonghe thought it was always bad to go on like this for a long time, so he agreed with other masters to reduce the number of readings relatively, and the master wrote it down in front of Emperor Guangxu every time he finished reading. After adopting this method, Emperor Guangxu recovered for a period of time, but after a long time, his old illness recurred, and he argued with the masters that the number of times of reading should be based on proficiency. However, teachers and students have different opinions on the standard of "proficiency" and are arguing endlessly. When the masters failed to make plans, they made rules. If Emperor Guangxu didn't read the prescribed number of times, he was asked to sit still in his seat for a long time. But how can a four or five-year-old child sit still? For this reason, Emperor Guangxu often cried endlessly. Weng Tonghe disagreed with the plan. Seeing that Guangxu was so noisy, he announced the cancellation and the dust settled.
From the second year of Guangxu (1876) to the fourth year of Guangxu (1878), I attended classes in Yuqing Palace study room for half a day. With the growth of emperor Guangxu's age, classes began in the fourth year of Guangxu (1878) and changed to full-time classes. There were more and more books to read, and Emperor Guangxu, who was already afraid, became more and more afraid of difficulties. Weng Tonghe saw that Emperor Guangxu was getting older, and not urging him to read good books would delay the life of Emperor Guangxu and endanger the whole Qing Dynasty, so he agreed with other masters to adopt the penalty reading method, and the penalty for reading less increased by two times. At the beginning of adopting this method, Emperor Guangxu resisted by keeping silent and not reading, and then cried loudly, completely ignoring Weng Tonghe and other masters, recording what Emperor Guangxu did and playing it on the queen mother. On one occasion, Emperor Guangxu left his study in a rage and returned to the palace. Weng Tonghe and other masters had to play Empress Dowager Cixi. After the persuasion of Empress Dowager Cixi, the masters also admitted that their actions were a little extreme, and Emperor Guangxu agreed to return to the study. In this way, the storm that sensationalized Sydney Palace subsided.
After Emperor Guangxu's strike, Weng Tonghe and his masters learned a lesson and thought that the penalty reading method was not a good way to persuade students to study. So, at Weng Tonghe's suggestion, the masters decided to use the praise method instead, praising every time they read it and educating them positively. After adopting the praise method, Emperor Guangxu felt very comfortable, greatly increased his enthusiasm for learning, changed the bad style of study in the past, and made continuous progress in his study.
Weng Tonghe is not only a mentor of Emperor Guangxu in school, but also a good friend of Emperor Guangxu in life. Emperor Guangxu was sickly and timid since childhood, and he was particularly afraid when it thundered in rainy days. At this time, Weng Tonghe always held Emperor Guangxu in his arms to comfort him from fear. Emperor Guangxu left his parents to enter the palace in his early years and was served by eunuchs. Eunuchs knew that the emperor was a child and often blackmailed him. He was not satisfied, so he snubbed Emperor Guangxu. When Weng Tonghe learned about it, he sometimes reprimanded the unruly eunuch in person, and sometimes beat two queens to punish him. To this end, Emperor Guangxu regarded Weng Tonghe as a confidant and was willing to talk about any joy with Weng Tonghe.
Year after year, in the seventh year of Guangxu (188 1), Emperor Guangxu was a handsome boy and began to understand. At this time, the invasion of western powers has started from the coastal areas to Chinese mainland, and China is facing a crisis. Therefore, Weng Tonghe decided to strengthen the education of Emperor Guangxu. While retaining more than 20 courses of feudal ethics, such as the Four Books and Five Classics, courses such as Chinese and foreign history, Westernization Movement and early reformist works have also been added.
When Weng Tonghe taught the new course to Emperor Guangxu, he actively guided Emperor Guangxu to think about practical problems in combination with the major political, military and diplomatic events that occurred at that time, thus linking Yuqing Palace's study with the whole society. Emperor Guangxu listened to these newly added courses and felt that he benefited a lot. This had a certain influence on his early political maturity, especially when he later launched the Reform Movement.
Weng Tonghe not only taught Emperor Guangxu academically, but also paid attention to strengthening the education of Emperor Guangxu's moral cultivation. When Weng Tonghe gave a lecture to Emperor Guangxu for the first time, he taught Emperor Guangxu the truth that "the emperor's virtue is like the sky". In the course of teaching and reading for the next 22 years, Weng Tonghe often advised Emperor Guangxu to be solemn and generous in his words and deeds and not pedantic.
After careful teaching by Weng Tonghe and others, Emperor Guangxu became more and more sensible with his age and determined to be a generation of saints like Kangxi, so he studied very hard and went to his study every day before dawn, almost every day all year round. Every Spring Festival holiday, he still insists on studying in the study. In order to satisfy his desire for learning, he often asks the masters for new books, and the scope of reading is getting bigger and bigger. Before he took office in the 15th year of Guangxu (1889), he always read eighty or ninety kinds of books. This knowledge laid a solid foundation for his personal management.
After Emperor Guangxu ascended the throne in the 15th year of Guangxu (1889), Weng Tonghe went to Yuqing Palace's study as usual to give lessons to Emperor Guangxu. In order to satisfy Emperor Guangxu's pursuit of western learning, he continued to present books on western learning to Emperor Guangxu, and often discussed current politics with Emperor Guangxu in his study. All this aroused the suspicion of Empress Dowager Cixi and imperial party bureaucrats. In January of the 23rd year of Guangxu (1897), Empress Dowager Cixi ordered the abolition of Emperor Guangxu's study in Yuqing Palace. At this point, Weng Tonghe ended his 22-year career as a professor in Yuqing Palace.
6. Being the minister of military affairs for the first time was removed from his post and retained.
In October of the eighth year of Guangxu (1882), the court appointed Weng Tonghe as the military affairs minister, and Weng Tonghe became the military affairs minister for the first time.
As a minister of military affairs, Weng Tonghe mainly participated in two major political activities. First, participate in handling the fraud case of reimbursement of Yunnan military personnel; The second is to participate in the Sino-French-Vietnamese negotiations.
In the fifth year of Guangxu (1879), Du Ruilian, the governor of Yunnan, sent Cui Zunyi and Pan Yingzhang to Beijing with huge sums of money to get through the joints. After entering Beijing, Cui and Pan moved to the military department and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development. Finally, they paid 82,000 yuan to Zhou Ruiqing, Wang Wenshao, Jing Lian, the military ministers, and the department managers and bookkeepers of the housing department, and settled the reimbursement.