Niu Yunzhen

Niu Yunzhen

Niu Yunzhen (1706-1758 AD) was named Jieping, known as Mr. Kongshan. He was born in Maqing, Ziyang County, Shandong Province (now Niulou village, Xinyan Town, Yanzhou District, Jining City). He was born in the 45th year of Emperor Kangxi and died in the 23th year of Emperor Qianlong. Yongzheng 11 years (AD 1733) Jinshi. In the 13th year of the Qing Dynasty, he took a broad learning of Hongci and published it. Li official Pingfan County, the value of Guyuan mutiny, plunder, Yunzhen for the painting policy calm. Shangguan Xianyi its talent, for those who avoid, avoid return. Yunzhen Kaimin has a decision, the official does not delay the screen friends, everything is self-care. Good nature, stone, fine classics, articles. His works include 12 volumes of kongshantang anthology, 20 volumes of Shi Lun, 4 volumes of saishantang Yi Jie, 12 volumes of Chunqiu Zhuan and 2 volumes of jinshituo, all of which are handed down to the world.

Profile

Niu Yunzhen, a native of Ziyang, Shandong Province, was a Jinshi of Yongzheng. At the beginning of Qianlong's reign, he became the magistrate of Qin'an County in Gansu Province. Yuzhong gorge in the north of the county collapsed and blocked the river. The water overflowed as a disaster. The earthquake led Dingfu to dredge the river. The water retreated four days and night. Yuanshan walk, money and rice to disaster households. " The former wrongly tried the five brothers surnamed Ma as thieves, but refused to appeal to the court, but one of them was put in prison. Niu's trial proved the truth and made it clear. The local culture and education were backward, so the Longchuan Academy was set up. Guyuan mutiny, captured 300 people, the governor called him to come up with ideas, he "please release the innocent, into the city comfort.". Three of them were beheaded and four of them were in prison. Yu Yu's staff was in vain, but on the other side he was safe. He himself was impeached and removed from office, "poor can not return", had to stay in Lanzhou Gaolan academy lectures.

Character experience

Although Niu Yunzhen lived only 52 years, he crossed the three dynasties of Kang, Yong and Qian. His great ancestor Niu Tianzhu, great grandfather Niu Qizong, and grandfather Niu Hongfan were all Gongsheng. His father Niu mengrui was also a tribute puller. His family style was honest from generation to generation, which made him receive good education since he was a child. At the age of 10, he could recite four classics and write beautiful articles, which is known as "Niu talented son". In the early years of Yongzheng (1723), when he was 17 years old, he was elected as a county born student. He was famous for his outstanding articles. In 1729, he was elected bagongsheng. In 1732, he took the imperial examination, and the next year he was promoted to the imperial examination. In 1735, Shandong Fengzhao held the examination of erudite CI. Yue Rui, governor of Shandong Province, selected him to take the examination, showing his outstanding talent and strategy. However, it is a pity that when he went to Kyoto to attend the palace examination, he failed because his articles did not conform to the rules of style.

In the third year of Qianlong (1738), Niu Yunzhen was awarded the post of magistrate of Qin'an County in Gansu Province. At that time, all the sages in the capital regretted that he went to such a remote place to fill the vacancy, but he gladly went. Qin'an is surrounded by water on all sides and Longshui on the West. When Niu Yunzhen arrived, he led the people to dig nine rivers and canals to irrigate ten thousand mu of dry land. The collapse of Yuzhong gorge in the north of the county blocked the river course and damaged the houses. Niu Yunzhen recruited strong migrant workers and led hundreds of officials and their families in the county to supervise and manage in person. After four days and nights, the river course was unblocked and the people along the river were saved. In Xigu, more than 200 miles away from the county seat, the villagers spent a lot of time and energy on long-distance transportation to pay the grain. They were forced to pay the grain by petty officials, while the villagers resisted in groups with sticks. Niu Yunzhen went to the village alone to ask the people about their suffering and the reasons for their arrears. The villagers asked for silver to replace the grain. After consideration, he agreed to them, and the people of Xigu There's no more delinquency.

During his term of office, Niu Yunzhen was very observant and vindicated many unjust convictions. He also instructed farmers to make new farm tools, learn advanced farming methods, and give interest free loans to poor farmers. The people welcome and support such an official. He set up Longshan Academy in the east of the county office. He often went to the academy to give lectures. The people of Qin'an, who were located in the remote area, began to admire learning and had many high school imperial examinations. Qin'an is also known as "Longyou Zou County". Up to now, the stone tablet engraved with "Mr. zhengu lecture office" still exists in the former site of the Academy.

In 1741, the court appointed Niu Yunzhen to be the magistrate of Huixian County, practicing his long cherished ambition of "serving the people in politics". In the eighth year of Qianlong's reign (1743), he also took charge of the magistrate of Liangdang county and governed the three counties at the same time. His affairs were even busier. Especially because of the vast territory, it was very difficult to hear. He specially set up an office in Damen town (also known as xiaoganzhou), the central point of the three counties, to hear and settle cases. His five character poem "Xiaoxing in Damen town" describes this experience

When the sun is setting, the wind is far away.

The book hinders the moon night, and the pommel horse dominates the autumn.

The tiger in the gorge is hungry, but the ape in the river is late.

A three county slaughter, haggard little Ganzhou.

In the three years when Niu Yunzhen was also the magistrate, 26 tigers were recruited to kill. After that, the roads in Huixian were smooth. In order to show their gratitude, the people of Huixian drew the picture of taming tiger when he left office, which expressed their love and respect for Niu Yunzhen. In the ninth year of Qianlong (1744), Niu Yunzhen was called to Xi'an as an examiner in the Jiazi rural examination. Because of his excellent performance in the examination, he was transferred to Pingfan county (now Yongdeng County, Gansu Province) the next year.

Pingfan county is an important place for military strategists, with more than 3000 troops. After Niu Yunzhen took office, he adopted the policy of friendship with foreign countries, domestic appeasement and equal emphasis on kindness and prestige, which achieved remarkable results and greatly increased his prestige. He also aimed at the current situation that the place was often threatened by drought, built water conservancy projects, mobilized people to manage the salt water river in the southeast of the county, dredged more than ten miles of channels, and irrigated more than 180 hectares of farmland nearby. In 1747, famine broke out in yudaoxian and other five places in the southeast of Qianlong county. He took the lead in donating 200 loads of grain to save the people who were threatened by starvation and death. Later, in order to show their gratitude, the local people donated a penny, made a "clothes for all", cashed the remaining money into silver and presented it to him. Niu Yunzhen repeatedly refused to accept the "clothes of the people", but he received no money.

Guyuan, located in the southeast border of Gansu Province, is the seat of the governor's Yamen. In this year, there was a mutiny in Guyuan. The chaotic army captured the governor's office, plundered the residents and robbed people's money. The situation was very critical. The governor of Shaanxi and Gansu sent his troops to Pingliang. Before the suppression, he heard of Niu Yunzhen's resourcefulness and called him to offer advice. Niu Yunzhen advised the two adults to act calmly and not take soldiers to suppress He ordered and persuaded the captured soldiers to go back to camp to lobby, and gave them good advice personally. They acted according to the plan, and eventually convinced a large number of soldiers to capture the leaders of the army and hand them over to the outside of the city. After that, the governor and governor took a new crackdown, sending a guerrilla general surnamed Ren into the city to arrest more than 300 rebels, and escorting them out of the city to be executed. As a result, the terrified other chaotic forces would have a new disturbance again. Niu Yunzhen came forward and asked the governor to release the innocent people, and personally went into the city to appease them. He volunteered to hear the rebellion, in addition to the execution of three principal criminals and 10 principal criminals After the fall, he absolved the followers and put an end to the rebellion. Through this incident, the governor gave Niu Yunzhen a high evaluation and highly appreciated his talent. He also appointed him to be the magistrate of Gulang county.

However, it was difficult for the dark feudal officialdom to tolerate such an upright, honest, erudite, and capable official who had a good career. Some state officials felt threatened by the fact that he was also a magistrate of Qipin County in four counties. In the 13th year of Qianlong's reign (1748), when his superiors listed him for promotion, those people seized the incident of "people's clothes" and impeached him. As a result, Niu Yunzhen was stunned. He was not only not promoted, but also dismissed from all official posts. For a moment, the grievance and anger in his heart can be imagined. However, Niu Yunzhen was a cultural man from the hometown of Confucius and Mencius, and his anger became calm. At the time of leaving office, nearly a thousand people in Pingfan County cried and sent him away. However, after ten years as an official, he was poor and finally could not get enough money to go home. His integrity has reached an incredible level. Mu Shouqi, a historian, once gave him such a comment: "I think In the former Qing Dynasty, Niu Yunzhen was the first in Gansu Province. Don't hear the canon of praise and difference, on the contrary, it's arranged by the curfew. This is true of the different types of politics in ancient and modern times. " Some of his superior officials made friends with him and sympathized with him. Seeing this, they were deeply moved. They hired him to be the lecturer of Gaolan Academy in order to accumulate resources for returning home. Because of his profound knowledge and good teaching skills, he won the admiration of the students. When he returned to his hometown, some students took him to Baqiao in Xi'an on foot.

After returning to Yanzhou, Niu Yunzhen studied Confucian classics behind closed doors, discussed and exchanged academic experience with scholars in his hometown, and traveled all over the world, making friends with many famous scholars in the world. During that time, he also taught in Jinyang and Hedong academies, which was highly respected by the educational circles of Shanxi and Henan provinces, and was honored as "the first born in empty mountain". At this time, Niu Yunzhen had completely completed the transformation from a feudal official to a great Confucian. His research and writing on knowledge also began to enter the golden age of broad and profound. However, it was not too late. Just when Mr. Kongshan began to carry out his plan of "throughout all families, deleting and picking up former officials" and writing several works of "Yongwei Dianji", it was on the 22nd of the first month of the 23rd year of Qianlong (1758) It is a pity for Yanzhou to pass away at the age of 53.

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