In the Kangxi Dynasty, after hearing the news that Galdan invaded the border, Kangxi lamented that a great Great Wall could not stop a small Galdan, so he led the army to seize Etu, Mingzhu, etc. A group of ministers inspected a section of the North Great Wall in order to build defenses in time.
During this period, Kangxi saw the poems written by various Jinshi scholars on the Great Wall. He noticed that the name of the new Enke Jinshi Zhang Tingyu was among them, but did not mention the poems, so he called Zhang Tingyu to inquire. Zhang Tingyu spoke from memory two lines of poetry he had carved before: "The Great Wall is thousands of miles empty, a century-old hero's dream for generations."
Although there are many poems about the Great Wall, there are also some gorgeous words and content. However, they are either praising the magnificence of the Great Wall or praising the merits of Kangxi. There are only two poems by Zhang Tingyu. Although the meaning of the sentences is simple, they are useless. There are too many laudatory words, but Kangxi believed that this was the "real insight and backbone" and was not ordinary.
Afterwards, Kangxi rejected Suo'etu's suggestion and ordered "Never build the Great Wall, but govern the world with kingly principles", and appointed Zhang Tingyu with the rank of fifth rank, wearing a single-eyed flower feather, as the magistrate of Huairou County, and as the magistrate of Huairou County. He has laid out his future official career. As long as he has made political achievements, he will be promoted to prefect within one year, promoted to feudal minister in the next year, and then directly enter the central hub to work.
Kangxi made an exception and promoted Zhang Tingyu based on two poems. Although he was demoted from the sixth rank of Wenyuan Pavilion to the ninth rank of Huairou County Magistrate, which was equivalent to devolution from the central government to the local government, his official position was raised to the fifth rank. , and also bestowed the honor of having a single eye and a dazzling feather.
You must know that the flower feathers in the Qing Dynasty were not given casually. They had to be worn strictly according to hierarchy: princes, county princes and below wore three-eyed flower feathers, and relatives such as Zhen Guogong and Fu Guogong wore double-eyed flower feathers. Internal ministers and counselors of the fifth rank and above wear single-eyed feathers, and they must be bannermen of the upper three banners to be eligible to wear them. They are much more precious than yellow mandarins. Kangxi's move is equivalent to officially recognizing Zhang Tingyu's status as a "relative household". No wonder Mingzhu looked so surprised when she heard "Give Zhang Tingyu a single-eyed flower feather".
Kangxi was very taboo about the private use of public instruments. When he was young, he was very dissatisfied with Obai and Mingzhu for promoting their cronies over the top. When he reached middle age, he was relatively stingy in granting official positions unless it was absolutely necessary. For example, when a young Mongolian prince invaded the border, he temporarily granted Zhou Peigong military power and the power to act on his own initiative, which he would immediately take back in the subsequent war. Another example was granting Yao Qisheng the post of Governor of Fujian, with full authority over Taiwan affairs, but he also arranged for Mingzhu, Suo, etc. Etu goes to monitor.
However, Kangxi seemed very generous on the Great Wall. He openly awarded Zhang Tingyu an honor and asked Mingzhu to look at him. He made it clear that he wanted Mingzhu to take good care of Zhang Tingyu. Kangxi's meaning was very clear, that is, to arrange Zhang Tingyu's future. Shunshun entered the central government without hesitation and became his confidant. At the same time, he also warned Mingzhu and Suo'etu. After all, at that time, there were basically no Han ministers around Kangxi. Chen Tingjing, Zhou Peigong, Wei Dongting, Li Guangdi, etc. left one after another. He originally wanted to promote Yao Qisheng, but gave up because of his too straight character.
The emperor was not afraid of having fewer people around him, but was afraid of fewer people telling the truth. At that time, there was intrigue among the Manchus, with those who talked more and those who did less, basically what Kangxi relied on to establish San Francisco and Taipei Bay. The Han people and the court were controlled by people like Mingzhu and Suo'etu who were superficial and good at party fighting. Kangxi was too afraid that he would not be able to hear the truth in the future, just like the words of praise on the Great Wall, but no one was willing to Or dare to mention the situation of the people and external worries at that time, which is a terrible thing for an emperor with great wisdom.
That's why Zhang Tingyu's two sentences were particularly valued by Kangxi. A man who dared to tell the truth that "the Great Wall is just an empty dream" in an environment where everyone was drunk, and a new Jinshi, no Being polluted by the dye vat of society and not joining the Suo'etu and Mingzhu parties, they can be used to check and balance the Suo and Ming parties. What's more, they are Han people, which is in line with Kangxi's Manchu-Han family governance philosophy.
This is what Kangxi said, the concept of "ruling the world with kingly principles". If the Manchus and Han returned to Tibet and Mongolia to marry one another, how could there be any national antagonisms such as San Francisco, Taiwan, and Junggar? , it will not repeat the mistakes of the Xiongnu in the Qin Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty after the Ming Dynasty. Naturally, there will be no need to spend huge manpower, material resources and time costs to build a Great Wall to "defend enemies".