In popular folklore and TV series, the relationship between Ji Xiaolan and Gan Long is very harmonious, full of trust, ridicule and humor. This is a beautified description, which is not the case in history. In fact, Ji Xiaolan is just a literary poet. This should start with Ji Xiaolan's appearance.
In folklore, Ji Xiaolan's image is charming and handsome; On the screen, the image of Ji Xiaolan, which is basically monopolized by Zhang Guoli, is also reasonable. The real situation is completely different. According to historical records, Ji Xiaolan was "short-sighted". The so-called "sleep" is ugly; The so-called "myopia" means short-sightedness. In addition, Zhu Gui, who has been friends with Ji Xiaolan for decades, once wrote a poem describing Ji Xiaolan like this:
Hejian is a scholar who stutters and writes books.
Immersed in four warehouses, summarizing and recording ten thousand volumes.
So, Ji Xiaolan still stutters. Of course, because Ji Xiaolan was able to pass the imperial examinations at all levels, a voice examiner checked his appearance and speaking ability through dialogue and visual inspection, so as not to affect the "image" of courtiers in the court, and he could not be too ugly to see anyone. However, there is no doubt that Ji Xiaolan is ugly. Ugliness, shortsightedness and stuttering have become the important reasons why Ji Xiaolan can't really trust him because of his appearance.
We need to introduce some background knowledge here. The fate of Ji Xiaolan officialdom is in the hands of Qianlong. Qianlong is a famous "holy Lord" in the history of China and an emperor who grew up in a deep palace. He has many strange habits. For Ji Xiaolan, the most fatal point of Qianlong is the employment standard for the ministers close to him. He not only requires these people to be alert, agile, smart and capable, but also handsome, young and beautiful. For example, Xiao Shenyang, Wang Jie, Yu Minzhong, Gao Dong, Liang Guozhi and Fu Changan are among the best "handsome men", so they are highly valued. Needless to say, the beauty of Xiao Shenyang, even Fu Changan, can be prized in his later years, on the one hand, because he is dead set on following Xiao Shenyang instead of forming girlfriends, and on the other hand, because he is young and beautiful. Margaret, the British special envoy who has been to China, records in her works that Fu Changan is a typical noble, beautiful and energetic teenager.
Looks are predestined, there is no way to choose. Ji Xiaolan, who is ugly, happens to meet Qianlong again, so even if he is clever, it is difficult to get real attention, and it is difficult to participate in major political decisions, so he can only settle down in words. Ji Xiaolan can only be a ci minister of Qianlong, but it is difficult to be a favorite and important minister of Qianlong. Ji Xiaolan's two examiners, six examiners, and three officials of the Ministry of Rites in his life all reflected this opportunity. This kind of official position has no heavy power or real power, but the decoration of the Qing court. Even if Gan Long appoints him as the president of Douchayuan, he should be punished for his wrong judgment. However, Gan Long said: "The appointed Ji Xiaolan is a useless corrupt scholar. He just wants to make up the number. In addition, he is not familiar with the criminal's name and other things, and he is nearsighted ... his mistake can be forgiven. " Visible Ji Xiaolan's position in his mind.
In fact, appearance is only a superficial reason. There is a deeper reason for Ji Xiaolan's estrangement from Qianlong, that is, autocratic monarchs don't like intellectuals with a little personality and sense of justice in essence. On one occasion, Yin Zhuangtu, a bachelor of cabinet, pointed out Chen's dereliction of duty, saying that provincial governors were "notorious and bureaucratic management was lax." When I passed by the provinces and asked about the quality of officials, people frowned and sighed, and the atmosphere in the provinces was basically the same. "Because Gan Long was too old to listen to advice, the Minister of Military Affairs wanted to behead Yin Zhuang. Yin Zhuang-tu's father Yin Yu was a scholar in the same year. When Ji Xiaolan was going to intercede for Yin Zhuangtu, Gan Long flew into a rage and immediately scolded: "I am very good at your literature, so I just want to spread the best and save it. Why talk about state affairs! "Originally, the emperor asked Ji Xiaolan to compile" Sikuquanshu ",but he didn't really regard him as an independent etiquette, just regarded him as a player to amuse the emperor. In the first century BC, Sima Qian, a great historian, was put into prison because he said a few words for Li Ling, which provoked the wrath of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Sima Qian said from a bitter experience: "The ephemeris of literature and history is almost between divination and blessing, which strengthens the teasing of lords and the worship of superior livestock, and also lightens the folk customs. "1800 years have passed, but Ji Xiaolan is facing the same situation: it is difficult for an intellectual to have dignity in the face of autocratic imperial power. In the face of the accusation of Qianlong, Ji Xiaolan can only submit to humiliation. I don't think there will be such a scene in the TV series, right?
As Zhicheng Deng, an expert in Qing history, said, Qianlong judges a book by its cover, and Wenda (that is, Ji Xiaolan) is short-sighted and a native of Jiangbei, so he is not liked by Pure Emperor (that is, Qianlong). At that time, if Weng, Zhu, Wang Lanquan and Zou Yigui were all rejected as officials, their fates were quite similar. Emperor run allowed them to have wisdom and talent, and they led the governor. For example, Yu Wenxiang, Liang and Dong Wengong were all stored by jesters. "Judge a book by its cover is the sorrow of history.
As mentioned above, Ji Xiaolan's position in Qianlong's mind is nothing more than that. So, from Ji Xiaolan's point of view, how did he realize his situation? Ji Xiaolan worked as an editor in imperial academy, giving lectures every day, a servant of Zuo Shuzi, a servant of Zhan Shifu, a bachelor of cabinet, a prime minister, an assistant minister of the Ministry of War, an official of Zuodu imperial academy, an official of the Ministry of War, an official of the Ministry of Justice, and a co-organizer of university students, and was awarded the Forbidden City by Dr. Guang Lu, an official of the banquet and an official of the Wen Yuan Pavilion. It was only in the thirty-third year of Qianlong (1768) that he was involved in the salt policy deficit case because he tipped off his in-laws Lu Jian, and was sent to Urumqi, but only two years later he was recalled to Beijing to be an official. So in the eyes of ordinary people, Ji Xiaolan can also be regarded as a successful person. However, Ji Xiaolan, who stayed in the officialdom for a long time, didn't realize how much fun he had gained in his official career. His heart is full of lonely and sad sighs. This can be seen from several details in Ji Xiaolan's life.
Ji Xiaolan wrote a lot of works in his life, including Sikuquanshu, Sikuquanshu Catalogue, Records of Rehe and so on. And the Notes of Yuewei Caotang written in his personal capacity. But before Ji Xiaolan died, there was a saying that he had never written a book.
Some people say that Ji Xiaolan thinks that his works can't surpass the ancients, so he doesn't pay attention to writing and doesn't keep his works. Liu, his favorite pupil, said that his teacher is famous all over the world, and he often writes articles for people, but all of them are "easy to lose but not to save the manuscript". It turns out that Ji Xiaolan always thought that these words were just the dross of the ancients and had no printing value. Michael Chen, another student in Ji Xiaolan, also said that since the teacher presided over the compilation of Si Ku Quan Shu, he knew that everything was available after reading ancient and modern works. Later people could not find the scope of the ancients no matter how hard they tried, and those who claimed to be more than the ancients were just biting off more than they could chew. Therefore, Ji Xiaolan "never wrote a book in his life", and occasionally words such as preface and tablet table were immediately discarded and never saved. Michael Chen said with emotion, now some people occasionally write a little thing to show off everywhere, eager to show off. What a cheek!
Fan Jiang, a great scholar in the Qing Dynasty, said in the History of Sinology that Ji Xiaolan devoted his whole life to the book "Summary of Sikuquanshu" and liked to write novels about officials, so he was "lazy to write books", and his works in his youth were hidden at home and never circulated in the world. According to Ji Xiaolan himself, it is slightly different from the above. In his later years, Ji Xiaolan once said, "I studied poetry in my early years, during which I was in high spirits and sang with the world, never wanting to lag behind. Now I am almost 80 years old, but I dare not say a word, and I dare not keep the manuscript I have written for a lifetime. " He said that this is because with the growth of experience, looking back at his proud works, most of them are what the ancients have said, and they have worked hard to write them, but they are just a bitter ear. Judging from Ji Xiaolan's words, he didn't "never write a book". In his early years, he dared to recite poems and write poems, but later he gradually got a deep understanding of his own world, and he was more and more afraid to write his own manuscripts and save them. It seems reluctant to say that I stopped writing because I was afraid of surpassing the ancients. There is also a great social and political background behind this reason, that is, during the Qianlong period, ideological control was strengthened and literary inquisitions were common.
The literary inquisition in Qing Dynasty was concentrated in the periods of Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong, and it was called the flourishing age. Among them, the famous ones are Zhuang's "Ming Shi" prison and "Nanshan Ji" prison in Kangxi period, and Justin prison and prison in Yongzheng period. Among them, the court's investigation is an unwarranted charge, and others are more or less taboo because of the text. During the Qianlong period, the network was more dense, and most of them were made out of nothing, using topics to kill people. For example, there is a cabinet bachelor Hu Zhongzao in prison. Two of Hu Zhongzao's poems are sensitive to Qianlong. There is a saying that "a heart is turbid", which Qianlong thinks is true.
It is disrespectful to deliberately add turbid words to Daqing's title; One sentence is "The old Buddha is not sick now, so he can't open the door when he hears it." Gan Long thought it was ironic that he couldn't open the door to talents. It is also because during his tenure as a political scholar in Guangxi, Hu Zhongzao once wrote an examination question "There are three stubborn things that are not like dragons", and Gan Long thought that dragons and dragons are homophonic, which is a topic that slandered him. Gan Long used these excuses to kill the algae in Hu Zhong. Most of the literary prisons during the Qianlong period were like this. As a poet in Qianlong period, Ji Xiaolan had a deep understanding of these literary problems.
At the same time, Ji Xiaolan and his colleagues suffered from the embarrassment brought by writing because of compiling Sikuquanshu, and even their families were ruined. It is inevitable that there will be some mistakes in the middle of such a big cultural project. As long as we try our best, we will correct our mistakes and improve ourselves. It's a pity that Ji Xiaolan faced the autocratic and ambitious Emperor Qianlong, and a little flaw would lead to fatal disaster. In the process of compiling Sikuquanshu, the editor-in-chief, Liu He and the general school Lu were reprimanded many times and handed over to the Ministry for discussion, fines and compensation for mistakes. Finally, the editor-in-chief Lu died on the way to the northeast school book. Lu was dismissed because he could not afford the revision fees of the three Jiangnan schools, and he was unhappy, his family property was confiscated and his wife and children were separated. The personal experiences of colleagues and themselves will certainly bring Ji Xiaolan deeper feelings and make him truly aware of the dangerous environment he is in.
There is an anecdote about Ji Xiaolan in Clearing Banknotes, which is worth recalling. It is said that when Ji Xiaolan was an academician, one day, when he was drafting official documents, his literary thoughts dried up and he went out for a walk along the corridor. There was a veteran who was sleeping soundly and snoring on the porch. Ji Xiaolan woke the soldier and asked him how he slept. The veteran said it was good. Ji Xiaolan then showed him a book, but the veteran said he couldn't read. Ji Xiaolan said thoughtfully at this moment: "Literacy in life is the beginning of hardship. If you can't read, you are really happy. " This anecdote may not be true, but the mentality it reflects may not be far from the real Ji Xiaolan. At the age of 4, Ji Xiaolan became attached to the brush and inkstone, and then embarked on a literary career. However, he didn't expect that words would often kill people and embarrass him. It is understandable to have such a sigh. Let's look back at the phenomenon that he "cringed and didn't dare to say anything", doesn't it reflect his trembling feeling in front of the autocratic monarch?
Ji Xiaolan has a unique self-name, called "Taoist Guan Yi". In his later years, Ji Xiaolan liked playing Go very much. While playing chess, he also learned about officialdom, the world and people's hearts. In the fifty-first year of Qianlong (1786), I asked my friend Shen Yunpu to draw a child's voice Guan Yi and wrote a poem by himself:
Constantly jingling, Wen (qiū) wins or loses all day.
The Taoist priest sat in the shade of tung trees and watched, smiling at the cool breeze.
Here, he compares himself to "a Taoist priest watching the war" and watches the world change. Seven years later, he checked the "Tongyin Guan Yi Map" again and sighed again. He believes that when people were invited to watch the game, it was just that the Taoist priest (that is, Ji Xiaolan himself) did not personally participate in the victory or defeat, but he still had a winning heart in his heart. Now it seems that even this winning heart is an illusion. This mentality is exposed in another poem related to chess. This poem is about the Eight Immortals. In the picture, the Eight Immortals have their own modes: He Xiangu and Han Xiangzi are playing games, while the other five immortals are watching, while Tie Guai Li is sleeping alone. Ji Xiaolan wrote:
It is a popular feeling that the two men met mahjong at close range outside thoughtfully.
The stubborn fairy seems to have lost consciousness, and the butterfly is sleeping in the spring breeze.
"Stubborn Immortal" refers to both Tie Guai Li and Ji Xiaolan. Butterfly in the Spring Breeze, borrowed from Zhuangzi's story, turned into a butterfly, which is a metaphor for freedom. There is no winning or losing heart in the world. Ji Xiaolan expressed his detached attitude here, which can be said to have seen through the world of mortals. However, he has been in the Qianlong officialdom for half a century, and it is not so easy to be detached.
When Ji Xiaolan was 69 years old, he was chatting with his colleagues one day. He said: "In the past, Tao Yuanming wrote his own elegy, and today I write my own elegy. I hope everyone can hold me with it after I die. " This self-elegy is as follows:
Ups and downs like seagulls,
Life and death books are like catfish.
The first sentence of elegiac couplet is about the ups and downs of officialdom, just like seagulls, depicting the hardships of official career. The second sentence is that he is immersed in the book, just like a mullet who lives and dies in the book, expressing his lament for his fate. From this elegy, we can see that Ji Xiaolan is tired of officialdom, which also includes Ji Xiaolan's understanding of his own life.
As can be seen from the above details, Ji Xiaolan is unlikely to be a grand minister. At best, he is just a literary minister raised by the emperor.
According to historical records, Xiao Shenyang sang with literary celebrities after he made his fortune. Sometimes he privately asked Ji Xiaolan and Peng Yuanduan to polish his works. And Ji and Peng's strength, if they don't follow, he can't afford to wear little shoes, and he often has to get a knife. Of course, it's just a touch-up on the text. Ji Xiaolan doesn't want to rely on small Shenyang to seek high position. According to North Korea's special envoy Xu Youwen, Shenyang has been dictatorial for decades, and all officials inside and outside have taken refuge except Liu Yong, Ji Xiaolan and Zhu Gui. It seems that in the sinister political environment at that time, all Ji Xiaolan could do was try his best not to go along with the small Shenyang.
In his later years, Ji Xiaolan often used Yi Dao as a metaphor to express his thoughts. For example, the poem "Eight Immortals Map" quoted in the previous article expresses his detached attitude. In fact, this is a very sophisticated attitude, which is also the experience that Ji Xiaolan has accumulated from officialdom for many years. Ji Xiaolan has been in the officialdom for a long time, and his position is not low. He can make ends meet in officialdom, and there must be his way to be an official. This way of being an official is to avoid offending each other and try to remain neutral. However, he followed Qianlong for a long time, traveled around the mountains, recited poems against him, and made many flattering works, which shows that he is a man. Judging from Ji Xiaolan's personality, he will not have a face-to-face conflict with Xiao Shenyang. Those scenes in TV series will never appear.
In the 10th year of Jiaqing (1805), Ji Xiaolan died of old age in Beijing at the age of 82. Before he died, he wrote down his elegy: "The official sea rises and falls like a gull, and the book of life and death is like a squid." It is such a "sophisticated old man". How could he be willing to confront Shenyang, which is in power?