Biography of Bao Qingtian

Bao Zheng (999 A.D.-1062 A.D.), with the character Xiren, was a native of Hefei, Luzhou (present-day Hefei, Anhui Province), and was of Han nationality. Born in the bureaucratic family. Born in North Song Xianping two years (999 years). He was a jinshi in the Tiansheng Dynasty. He was promoted to the rank of Imperial Inspector General, and recommended the training of soldiers and generals, and the enrichment of the border. After being sent to Khitan, he served as a magistrate in the Household Department of the Three Departments, and as a forwarding agent for the eastern part of Beijing, Shaanxi, and Hebei Roads. He entered the imperial court as the deputy envoy of the Household Department of the Three Departments and requested the court to authorize the release of salt for commercial trading. He changed to the Admistrative Office and impeached the ministers of power and honor for many times. Authorized Longtuge straight Bachelor, Hebei transit ambassador, moved to know Ying, Yangzhou, and then called to the court, successive right to know Kaifengfu, the right to the Imperial Historical Chancellor, the three Secretaries of Departments and other positions. Jiayou six years (1061), served as Deputy Secretary. Later died in the position, posthumous name "filial piety su". Bao Zheng was famous for his wise and upright judgment of prisons. When he was in Luzhou, he enforced the law without avoiding his relatives. When he was in Kaifeng, he opened the main door of the government office, so that the litigants could go to the front of the hall to tell their cases and put an end to the treacherous officials. Rigorous, noble relatives, eunuchs for the convergence of the hand, the capital has "joints, there is Yanluo Bao Lao," the words. Later generations took him as the embodiment of the Qing official - Bao Qingtian.

[edit]Biography

Bao Zheng Bao Zheng was born in the second year of Xianping in Northern Song Dynasty (999). In the opera "Guillotine Bao Mian" and "Bao Gong Compensation", it is said that Bao Zheng was abandoned by his parents when he was a child and was brought up by his sister-in-law, which is not in line with the historical reality. As a matter of fact, Pao Zheng's early childhood and teenage years were y favored by his parents and brought up.

Official career

When Bao Zheng grew up, he was also extremely filial to his parents. Ouyang Xiu, who was a contemporary of Bao Zheng, once impeached Bao Zheng for "having little learning". The "learning" here does not mainly refer to the level of reading and culture, but refers to the lack of understanding of the human world. In fact, Ouyang Xiu did not disparage Pao Zheng, but thought that Pao Zheng "had filial piety when he was young, and was known in the townships; he had uprightness in his later years, and was famous in the imperial court", and he should be given a more suitable and appropriate official position. In his youth, Pao Zheng studied hard, so when he was twenty-nine years old, he finally passed the examination for the first grade of jinshi. According to the regulations of the Song Dynasty, he could become an official after obtaining the grade of jinshi. Bao Zheng was sent to Jianchang County (now Yongxiu, Jiangxi Province). However, Bao Zheng thought that his parents were old and he should do his filial piety to support them, so he requested to return to Anhui Province to work as an official in Hezhou (present-day He County, Anhui Province). However, his parents wanted his son to be by their side, so Pao Zheng decided to resign and return home to honor his parents for many years, until his parents died and Pao Zheng's mourning period was over, but he still didn't want to leave his hometown. At that time, this kind of feudal filial piety was praised by people in his hometown. In recent years, Hefei, Anhui Province, found a piece of Bao Zheng for his father Bao Ling Yi Shinto monument. On the monument, there are twelve characters in seal script, "The late Song Minister of the Ministry of Criminal Justice Bao Gong Shinto monument". This is not only a precious cultural relic left by Bao Zheng, but also a witness of his filial piety.

Due to the advice of his hometown parents, Bao Zheng left his hometown, left his parents' spiritual land, and went to Tianchang County (present-day Tianchang, Anhui Province) as a magistrate. At this time, Bao Zheng was already a middle-aged man of about forty years old. In the first year of Kangding (1040), Bao Zheng went to Duanzhou (present-day Zhaoqing, Guangdong). Duanzhou produced a famous inkstone called Duanyan. The inkstone was paid tribute to the imperial court every year. Due to the local officials and gentry and other layers of code deduction, the production of DuanYan although more, but become a heavy burden on the people. Bao Zheng ordered the powerful officials, not to embezzle, only according to the specified number, to the court tribute. And he himself, until he left Duanzhou, also did not want a side of the inkstone.

Perhaps because of this iron face and selfless character of Bao Zheng, which was appreciated by the ministers, the court transferred Bao Zheng to Kaifeng, the capital, in the third year of Qingli (1043). This was the second time that Bao Zheng came to the capital since his examination in the capital. Bao Zheng was appointed as the Imperial Inspector General. At that time, although he did not have much real power, he was very important to him. This is because, from then on, he could directly participate in the government, and he could give his opinions and suggestions on various aspects of the court, especially on the employment of people. In fact, during his tenure as the royal inspector, Bao Zheng did put forward a lot of criticisms and improvements to the domestic and foreign affairs of the Northern Song Dynasty, and he also went on a mission to the Khitan (Liao), and accomplished his task with great success.

Qingli six years (1046) summer, Bao Zheng transferred to the three departments of the Ministry of the Household Judge. At that time, the three departments were the central financial institutions, the household department was in charge of the national household, the two taxes, etc., and the judge of the household department assisted in the work of the three departmental envoys. Soon, Bao Zheng successively served as the transfer ambassador of Beijing East, Shaanxi, Hebei, and the transfer ambassador was responsible for the administrative affairs such as finance and supervision of the whole way (equivalent to the province). At the local level, Bao Zheng attached great importance to the people's sentiments, and asked the court to let the people recuperate and live in peace and work in contentment. Two years later, Bao Zheng was recalled to Kaifeng and promoted to the position of deputy envoy of the Ministry of Revenue. During this period, he traveled to Hebei to solve the problem of military food, and also traveled to Shaanxi to solve the problem of salt industry in Yuncheng (now belonging to Shanxi). In Hebei, he petitioned for the fields used for horse breeding to be returned to the localities and farmers. In Yuncheng, he reformed the salt tax decree, so as to facilitate the traders to operate the salt industry.

The outstanding work, the effectiveness of the country and the people, so that Bao Zheng in the Huanghu two years (1050 years) was promoted to the Tianzhangge pending, know the remonstrance. Tianzhangge is the place where the court books and documents are stored, and the title of "to-be-producer" has a name but no power. Bao Zheng was also called Bao Zhi Zhi Shi, but it was just an honorific title for him. However, it was very important for him to serve as an admonition officer. The task of an admonition officer is to advise the emperor on the shortcomings of the government, which can involve all aspects of the government. During the period when Bao Zheng was also an admonition officer, he not only repeatedly attacked the powerful ministers, but also put forward suggestions for innovation in many aspects of the current political situation. Unfortunately, two years later, Bao Zheng was reappointed as Longtuge straight bachelor, which is also a false title (since then people also called him Bao Longtu), and once again left the capital, to Hebei, Luzhou, Chizhou (now Anhui Guichi), Jiangning (now Jiangsu Jiangning) and other places to serve as a local official. He did not return to the capital until the third year of Zhihe (1056), when he became the governor of Kaifeng. In the fourth year of Jiahu (1059), Bao Zheng was promoted to the position of the important minister of the time with the official positions of the direct bachelor of the Central Intelligence Bureau and the ambassador of the Three Secretaries of Departments of the Ministry of Justice. In the following year, he was promoted to be the ambassador of the three secret departments and the vice ambassador of the Privy Council, which was equivalent to the position of vice prime minister. However, Bao Zheng, who was over sixty years old, was already sunset at this time. On the 25th day of the 5th month of the 7th year of Jiahu (1062), Bao Zheng died of illness in Kaifeng. Emperor Renzong went to Bao Zheng's home to bid him farewell, recognized him as the Minister of Rites, and gave him a posthumous title of "Xiaosu", so Bao Zheng was also called Bao Xiaosu after his death. In his later years, he set up a stone tablet in his home, engraved on the "precepts of integrity family training" said: "the future generations of children and grandchildren, there is a stolen person ...... is not my son if grandchildren also." His deeds have long been spread to the folk, the past novels, operas more than take as the subject matter. Yuan miscellaneous drama has "Chenzhou black rice" and other works. Later circulated widely, the formation of rich legends. The legacy of "Bao Xiaosu Zaoji".

Reform

The Renzong era, in which Bao Zheng lived, was not as vigorous as the beginning of the Song Dynasty, when redundant officials, soldiers and expenses became the three major disasters, and the burden of the people increased, with soldiers' riots and peasants' uprisings in different parts of the country. In the face of such a situation, Pao Zheng advocated the rectification and reform of the government from the perspective of worrying about the country and the people. It should be said that Bao Zheng's reform ideas, its purpose is to consolidate the feudal autocratic rule of the Song Dynasty, but from the objective effect, but in favor of the lower class people. The reason why Bao Zheng is loved by the people of the world is here.

The huge bureaucracy of the Northern Song Dynasty, the redundant officials into a disaster, Bao Zheng that must be rectified and innovation. He not only advocates the use of people to be loyal and straight gentleman, can not use the evil villain, and suggests that the promotion of "not to be afraid of their own bodies, diligent in the country" has the ability to be straight and honest people". He not only seven times impeached the "tyrannical government" of the transit ambassador Wang Kui, and not afraid of the risk, and will be a relative of the emperor, "the mediocre people" Zhang Yaozuo removed from important positions. In Bao Zheng's view, "in the government nothing to build Ming" mediocrity, no matter how big its official position, must step down. He suggested reforming the system of selecting and employing people. He advocated that officials must leave office when they reached the age of seventy. He exposed bureaucrats who were unwilling to leave their posts as those who did not know how to be honest and "who were greedy for the honor of their positions but cared for the plans of their children and grandchildren". He advocated that officials should not be appointed arbitrarily, and that even those who were given the gift of being recruited by their father's merit should pass an examination. All these are to solve the problem of redundant officials. Pao was actually not against the Qingli New Deal presided over by Fan Zhongyan. When the new government failed and many officials were punished, Pao went all out to fight for these bold and courageous officials and advocated for their rise.

In terms of economy, Bao Zheng advocated compression of expenditure on the one hand, and on the other hand, he advocated not to exploit the common people. At that time, there was a policy that the government forcibly purchased materials needed by the state from the townspeople at a price lower than the market price. This became a means of exploiting the people. Bao Zheng was firmly against this kind of harmful policy. He cited the hazards of the forced purchase of military supplies in Shaanxi, "before and after the people's households to break the amicable family property a lot", and therefore asked for the abolition of this approach. Bao Zheng suggests that the country's urgently needed materials should be "purchased in the field", at a fair price, free to buy. This suggestion, whether to reduce the burden of the people, or the flow of goods and commodity production, are favorable. The salt problem in Yuncheng mentioned earlier was also due to Bao Zheng's strong support for the reform, so that the production and sale of salt, from the original official monopoly, reformed to allow merchants to buy and sell. This reform, not only lifted the people for the government to carry the suffering of the official salt, but also conducive to the circulation of salt. Shen Kuo praised this kind of "commercial law", "which has been practiced for decades, and is still considered to be beneficial," In addition, Bao Zheng also advocated the equalization of taxes on square fields, i.e., measuring the land of the landlords and the powerful, and preventing them from evading taxes and escaping from the service. He also encouraged the private mining and iron making, and so on. It can be seen that Bao Zheng's economic thinking and economic reform, the purpose is to "broaden the country and benefit the people".

In terms of the Song Dynasty's defense and foreign policy, Bao Zheng also advocated for a rich people and a strong country, and improved the border defense measures to maintain the independence and dignity of the country. When he was on a mission to Liao, Liao made things difficult for him, and he argued righteously without being overbearing. Upon his return, he immediately reported to the court what he had seen and heard in Liao. He said that the Liao was massing troops and gathering grain and grass in the northern part of Shanxi, and its intention could not be avoided. He suggested, must strengthen Shanxi Song Liao border Daizhou (Daixian), Yingzhou (Yingxian), Yanmen Pass area of war preparations, before, the Liao encroachment of border territories, is because of the border ministers of cowardice, do not dare to confront, now should be ordered to the border ministers, so that the defense of the strict, can not lose an inch of land. In addition, the original guards here, in the military is amateur, now must send people who know military to lead the command. The court adopted Bao Zheng's opinion and strengthened the defense of Hebei and Shanxi. More importantly, Bao Zheng put forward the idea of reducing the number of "old, sick, redundant and weak" soldiers in order to facilitate the training and strengthening of the fighting force. At the same time, he also proposed to strengthen the training of civilian volunteers at the border. Song dynasty generals are often mobilized to prevent military generals from dominating the power, but caused the soldiers do not know the generals, the generals do not know the soldiers ills. Pao Zheng believed that this policy should be changed, so that generals have the right to have a job and not to be easily mobilized. What is valuable is that Pao suggested to strengthen the national defense and military force on the premise of not increasing the burden of the people. At that time, peasants in the Central Plains, especially in Hebei and Shanxi, suffered from transportation of military rations. Pao Zheng suggested that in the year of harvest, local peasants' grain could be purchased and stocked up for military rations in the future, so as to reduce the transportation difficulties. Bao Zheng's advocacy of reforming the government for the benefit of the country and the people has its ideological basis. He always believed that the common people were the foundation of the country. Only when the people had a better life and were not bullied by corrupt officials could the country be rich and strong and peaceful. If the people are over-exploited and put in dire straits, not only can the country not be rich and strong, but it will also cause the officials to force the people to rebel, shaking the feudal rule． The reason why he advocated reforms and became a famous "clean official" in the history of China, his ideological origin lies in this. Although Bao Zheng's starting point and motivation is for the long-term peace and stability of the world in Song Dynasty, not for the people of the world, but compared with the "corrupt officials" who oppressed the exploited people to the fullest, no matter for the society, or for the people, it is much better. The view that the clean officials are more cunning than the corrupt officials and more harmful to the people is obviously wrong.

Just and honest

The history of a person's merits and demerits, to use their own actions to write. Once their behavior has been proved to society, the people have merit favorable, then, the people will eventually give him a proper evaluation. This evaluation, I am afraid, will not disappear with some temporary reprimand. The famous Pao Qingtian is praised and remembered by the people, it is because Pao Zheng's life practice is favorable to the society and the people. This practice is not only due to the fact that he did good things for the people at that time, but also due to the fact that his personal moral qualities are really unattainable by many of his contemporaries and even later people.

First of all, he was upright, neither two-faced, more will not engage in conspiracy. He never tends to the trend, look at the color of the action, not to say big words, falsehoods. Even in front of the emperor, he is also blunt, not afraid to offend the emperor. In order to set up the matter of the crown prince, Bao Zheng had risked his life to admonish the emperor, openly said to the emperor, I have been old, and no son, if you think I said wrong, it does not matter, anyway, not for their own want to be promoted and rich. Fortunately, Emperor Song Renzong was not too hard on himself and did not deal with Bao Zheng, but said that he could take his time to discuss the matter. Bao Zheng also said, the Palace of the close eunuchs, too much power, too much treatment, should be streamlined personnel and expenditure. This, of course, will offend the emperor's close friends and attract untoward troubles. Fortunately, the emperor said, "loyal and candid words, solid bitter mouth and against the ear, the whole has a benefit, or no benefit, but also no harm and why refuse to blame." Bao Zheng finally ran into a more enlightened Song Renzong. Otherwise, has been head to the ground. This kind of uprightness and fearlessness, so that the people at that time and some have a sense of justice of the bureaucrats, to Bao Zheng are very admirable. Ouyang Xiu admired Bao Zheng for his "heavenly appearance and uprightness". Yes, the loyal and upright Bao Zheng sometimes even disregarded the relevant rules and etiquettes and rebuked the prime minister or other ministers face to face, causing the ministers to be embarrassed. He made the ministers feel embarrassed. Ouyang Xiu disapproved of this practice of Bao Zheng, thinking that Bao Zheng was more than straight and "not well thought out". In fact, in the era of Song Renzong, who was conformist and did not care about anything, there was a great need for people like Bao Zheng. This is always good for correcting the shortcomings of the times. As for the way and method, it is secondary. Unfortunately, Emperor Song Renzong thought that Pao Zheng was not ideal enough and did not promote him to the important position of Counselor of Government (i.e. Deputy Prime Minister). Bao Zheng is upright, but not subjective and arbitrary. He is good at investigation and research, but also willing to listen to the views of others. His face seldom has a smile, but when others point out his mistakes, but can be accepted with an open mind. So Sima Guang said he "just and not back, this person is difficult.

Secondly, he was selfless and did not seek personal gain. He was frugal all his life, even when he became an official and had a position, his food, clothing, housing and living habits were similar to those of ordinary people. Bao Zheng once wrote a family motto and carved it on the wall of his house. The full text of the family motto is: "If the descendants of the future generations are officials or eunuchs, and if they have committed any crimes, they shall not be released to their own families, and they shall not be buried in the graveyard after they die, and it is not my descendants if they don't follow my will." In other words, Pao Zheng sternly requested his descendants to follow his will. In other words, Bao Zheng strictly requested his descendants not to be greedy and not to bully the people, and if someone did not do so, then he was not a descendant of the Bao family, and he was not allowed to be buried in the ancestral tomb of the Bao family after his death. This famous family motto embodies Pao Zheng's noble sentiment of not seeking the interests of one family. This kind of sentiment, is not Bao Zheng intentionally do out, to show their own noble, but his life code of conduct. Early in the hometown of Luzhou as an official, Bao Zheng is known for his selflessness. Bao Zheng as a parent official, his relatives are very happy, think from now on there is a backer. However, the iron face of selfless Bao Zheng impartiality, even if their own relatives broke the law, he is also the law enforcement. In this way, the reputation of Bao Qingtian was so great that after Bao's death, his fame spread in all directions, and an official, who was an ethnic minority, patronized the Song Dynasty. This official said to Emperor Shenzong of Song Dynasty that he had heard that Bao Zheng was a loyal official, and that he had no other requests, but to allow me to change my surname to Bao. The Emperor agreed and changed his name to Bao Shun. Legend has it that soldiers at the border robbed a woman. The woman was so anxious that she said she was the granddaughter of Bao Zheng. The woman was sick, a witch heard of it, pretending to toss some, then cursed who is bullying my granddaughter, and to limit the woman within ten days to release. People thought that the witch was really the incarnation of Bao Zheng, and after bowing and kneeling, they immediately released the woman.

Upholding the Rule of Law

In novels and operas, Black Bao Zheng is a typical image of law and justice. This is an artistic image evolved and created by the historical Bao Zheng. However, the historical Bao Zheng did love the people like a son, defied the powerful and the rich, and enforced the law strictly, thus winning the praise of the people at that time and in the future generations, who regarded him as the savior of the suffering people. In enforcing law and order, PAO Zheng was of course acting in the fundamental interest of the ruling class and maintaining the feudal order. He was not and could not be the leader of the people and the vanguard of resistance against feudal rule. However, in the feudal society, the far-sighted bureaucrats and scholars in the ruling class could realize that the people should be loved and cared for, and should not be tyrannical and abusive towards them, not to mention that they should not act in accordance with the King's law and oppress the people arbitrarily. Otherwise, the result is bound to shake or even destroy the rule of the feudal dynasty, so fundamentally, tyranny is obviously better than benevolent government. Bao Zheng is such a person. The reason why he has been praised by people for ages is that his legal thinking and law-enforcement actions are in line with the requirements and wishes of the people. Compared with the corruption and abuse of the law, the two-sleeve cleanliness, the law is always better, more favorable to the people.

Although the early Song dynasty developed a series of legal system, but, an ordinary people were oppressed, to sue or difficult. Not only is there a lot of formalities, but it is impossible to see the face of the officials. In this way, the officials and the powerful are working together to extort money and make the law a child's play.

Bao Zheng served in Kaifeng, made a new provision: open the front door, where the complaint, you can go in directly to see the official, directly face the case, no one shall block the difficult. Do not think this is a small thing. Whether from the people to help redress grievances, or from the hearing of cases, this is a very important reform. This reform, in China's legal history, both has a certain status and role, and progressive significance. There are two characteristics of Bao Zheng's handling of cases: one is that he is not afraid of power, and the other is that he seeks redress of grievances for the people. The combination of the two is Bao Zheng. Not afraid of power, dare to work against the wind, in the Song Dynasty is not an easy thing. That intricate relationship, has long been a vested interest that the rope of privilege, the bureaucrats, aristocrats, gentry, bullies are linked together. To break through this has been woven, protect the interests of landlords and aristocrats of the network, how easy it is. However, Bao Zheng rose to the challenge, and with the courage of not being afraid of losing his reputation, he made "the nobles and eunuchs restrain their hands, and those who heard of him were afraid of it". Here is an example.

In Kaifeng city, there is a Huimin River, both sides of the river, both the common people live, but also the residence of the dignitaries. When Bao Zheng served as governor of Kaifeng, it was raining heavily, the river flooded, flooding the streets, so that many civilians homeless． What caused the flooding? Bao Zheng after investigation, understand that the river plug not, can not drain the reason, lies in the big bureaucrats and aristocrats in the river built a dam, will be within the dam of the surface of the water for already, planting flowers and fish, and with their own homes connected to a piece of the garden on the water. Therefore, in order to benefit the people, to dredge the Huimin River, the only way to dig out these dams, dig out the dams, wash away the water garden, the nobles can agree? Bao Zheng drew a map, took the relevant evidence, and ordered all the dykes and gardens to be demolished. Some people, who thought they were powerful and prominent, sued to Emperor Song Renzong. Bao Zheng took out the evidence and proved that they built the water garden illegally. In this way, the Huimin River was dredged. Song Renzong also had to turn a blind eye, closed a blind eye, can not speak for the royal relatives. Bao Zheng was not afraid of power and opposed to the substitution of power for law, which objectively safeguarded the interests of the people． There is also another situation, that is, a group of social scoundrels, thieves, these people have no power, but the same harm to the people. Bao Zheng has no mercy on them.

Once, Kaifeng, a small street fire. Some scoundrels even teased Bao Zheng. They chased him to the front and asked him, "Is the fire to Sweet Water Lane, or is it to Bitter Water Lane? The first time I saw him, I saw some hooligans, and now they want to destroy the fire, so I ordered them to kill them all.

As early as in Tianchang County, Bao Zheng has dealt with a cattle theft case. There is a scoundrel, the farmer's ox tongue cut off. The farmer sued the government, Bao Zheng said to the farmer, you go home to slaughter the cow to eat. The farmer really went home and killed the cow. According to the law of the Song Dynasty, it was against the law to kill a cow without authorization. Therefore, the scoundrel went to the county and accused the farmer of killing the cow. Bao Zheng was furious and immediately interrogated the scoundrel, "Why did you cut the tongue of the cow? The scoundrel could only confess and was surprised: How did you know that I had committed the crime? In fact, Bao Zheng is based on the reasoning method to make a judgment: since someone wants to harm others, then others break the law, that person must take the opportunity to report, so Bao Zheng told the farmers to simply kill the cow, in order to lure the cut cow's tongue to report.

To crack down on the powerful and the criminals, to defend the interests of the common people, to directly act for the people, and to reduce the burden of the farmers. When Bao Zheng served as a supervisor, there was a strange thing; Wang Kui, a transit ambassador, complained to the emperor that Chenzhou (now belonging to Henan Province), a local official, Ren Zhongshi, was harshly stripping the peasants and overcharging money and grain. In the minds of the people at that time, Ren Zhongshi clean, Wang Kui greedy, this is the first to complain? So he sent someone to investigate. Many people are afraid of Wang Kui's power, unwilling to go. Bao Zheng to find out the truth, for the people to get rid of the harm, resolutely came to Chenzhou, after the investigation, and mastered the evidence, Bao Zheng returned to the capital, reported to the emperor, to the farmers arbitrarily searched, caused the farmers dissatisfaction with the inability to live, it is Wang Kui. Bao Zheng demanded that Wang Kui be removed from his post and the overcharged money and grain be returned to the peasants. The opera "Chenzhou Grain Release" is based on this deed of Bao Zheng, rendered and fictionalized. Bao Zheng did not show any favoritism or malpractice in handling cases, so the people of the world, men and women, young and old, knew about Bao Gong at that time. The people in the capital city even rumored Pao Gong as the savior of the world. They said, "If you can't get through the joints, there is Yama Bao Lao." Joints means to get through the joints. If you can't find the way to get through the joints, don't be anxious because there is Bao Zheng to do it for us. However, Bao Zheng is a man and not a god. Although he focuses on investigation and research and emphasizes evidence in handling cases, he also has mistakes. When he was in Kaifengfu, a prisoner bribed a law enforcement official. The official deceived Pao Zheng and let the prisoner be sentenced to a lighter sentence. This shows that Pao Zheng could also make mistakes and was brave enough to correct them.

The history of Bao Zheng is worthy of being recognized and praised as a statesman, reformer and law expert. His life of serving the people will always be remembered.

Legend has it that Bao Zheng's family was poor, his fate was not favorable, and he was born a "black, bright oil" child, abandoned by his parents. The legend has it that Bao Zheng's family was poor and his fate was not favorable. This is also not in line with reality. As a matter of fact, Pao Zheng's childhood and teenage years were y loved and taught by his parents. When Bao Zheng grew up, he was also extremely filial to his parents, which is why the history books say that he "had filial piety at a young age and was known in the township." Because of his filial piety to his parents, he resigned from the government and returned to his hometown at the age of 29 after he was awarded a bachelor's degree, so he could take care of his parents and end his life. Until successively to his parents to the end, and after the full period of observance, Bao Zheng went out to do the official. First, he served as the governor of Tianchang County, and then he served as the governor of Duanzhou (present-day Zhaoqing, Guangdong Province). Duanzhou produced a famous inkstone, Duanyan, as a tribute to the imperial court. Due to the large amount of corruption of the officials, the number of inkstones paid to the court every year was increasing, and the people were unable to bear the burden. After Bao Zheng took office, he ordered that the tribute should be paid only according to the specified number, and no officials should be allowed to increase the number or embezzle the money, thus reducing the burden of the people by sweeping away the greedy winds of the past. And Bao Zheng himself later left office, even a side inkstone did not take away.

Bao Zheng's integrity and selflessness are appreciated by the people. In the third year of Qingli (1043 AD), Bao Zheng was transferred to the capital as a supervisor, which did not have much real power, but Bao Zheng was able to do his duty, and put forward a lot of criticism and suggestions on the internal and external affairs of the Song Dynasty. Three years later, Pao was transferred to the post of Judge of the Household Department of the Three Secretaries of State, assisting the Three Secretaries of State in controlling the household accounts and taxation of the whole country. He had successively served as Beijing East, Shaanxi and Hebei transit ambassador, responsible for all the way (equivalent to the later province) of the financial and supervision affairs, the work was done very well, so two years later, he was promoted to the Ministry of the Household Deputy Ambassador.

Indeed, there is only one case of Bao Zheng's that has been recorded in history, and that is the one he encountered when he was the governor of Tianchang County: there was a scoundrel who sued a farmer to the county government office, and Bao Zheng said to the farmer, "You go home to kill the cow, and keep a little bit of it for yourself to eat, and the rest of it to be sold in the market." According to the law of Song Dynasty at that time, it was against the law for private people to kill the oxen, but with the permission of the county magistrate, the farmer went home and really killed the oxen. The next day, someone accused that farmer of killing the cow to Bao Zheng, but instead, he detained the accuser and angrily asked, "Why did you cut out the tongue of the other cow?" The man was so alarmed by this sudden questioning that he could only confess truthfully. This scoundrel never thought that this was a plan of "luring the snake out of the hole" made by Bao Zheng. After receiving the report that the cow's tongue was cut, Pao immediately realized that there must be an enemy who intended to frame the farmer.

If the farmer kills the cow, he will violate the law, and the enemy will definitely report further. So Bao Zheng told the farmer to go home and kill the cow, so as to lure the person who cut the cow's tongue to come to report. This plan really worked. This incident reflects the wit of Bao Zheng.

[Edit Paragraph]Related Legends

A collection of short stories in Ming Dynasty. Also known as "Longtu God to break the case", full name "Beijing this popular yuanyi Baolongtu hundred cases of the whole biography". An Yao time edited, preface "Jiangzuo Tao Longyuan Nai Bin father title in Huqiu of the realization of the stone Xuan". 10 volumes. Today, there are two kinds of traditional and simplified version, the traditional version of 100, the simplified version of 62, 63, 66, etc., are listening to five Zhai (or Li Zhi) point. Recounting the story of Bao Zheng in the Song Dynasty. The subject matter or from folklore, or from historical sources, or copied from the "Hai Gong case", or from current events. Most of the stories are about Bao Zheng's clear judgment of cases of murder, bullying and theft and fraud, portraying the image of an upright and righteous official, while mixing a lot of feudal ethics and morality sermons and the idea of karma and retribution. The storyline is relatively vivid and twisted, but the language is dull and banal. It has a certain influence on the later generations of novels about public crimes.

Longtu Gongcai is a collection of vernacular short case novels produced at the end of the Ming Dynasty. The book is divided into ten volumes, containing one hundred case stories. It is not titled by the author.

Legend has it that Bao Gong's most brilliant achievement was to try out a big case that happened in the palace - the case of the civet cat swapping the prince, and recovered his real mother for Emperor Renzong. The Three Heroes and the Five Heroes devoted several episodes to this event.

It was after the death of Song Zhenzong's first empress. At the time, both Consorts Liu and Li were pregnant. It was obvious that whoever gave birth to a son would be likely to be established as the main palace. Consort Liu long harboring jealousy, fearing that Consort Li gave birth to a son to be established as Queen, so with the Palace Chief Du Tang Guo Samuel plan, in the midwife You's cooperation, while Consort Li in labor due to the blood dizziness and unconsciousness of the opportunity, will be a civet cat stripped of fur, blood, oil, oil, in exchange for a newborn crown prince. Liu Fei ordered the courtesan Kou Zhu to strangle the crown prince, but Kou Zhu couldn't bear to do it and secretly delivered the crown prince to the eunuch Chen Lin. Chen Lin puts the crown prince in a box and sends him to Nanqing Palace to be raised. When Emperor Zhenzong saw the skinned civet cat, he thought that Consort Li had given birth to a demon, and relegated her to the Cold Palace. Soon after, Consort Liu went into labor and gave birth to a son, who was made the crown prince, and Consort Liu was also named queen. Six years later, Queen Liu's son died of illness. When Liu after the line of knowledge Li Fei born son did not die, is to take him to raise, and let him make up for the lack of the crown prince. One day, the crown prince in the cold palace and the birth mother of Li Fei met, mother and son nature, both with tears. When Empress Liu learned of this, she tortured Kou Zhu, who touched the steps and died. As a result, Queen Liu slandered in front of Emperor Zhenzong, who decreed that Consort Li be given to death. Yu Zhong, a young eunuch, was willing to die for Consort Li and released her. Another eunuch, Qin Feng, picked up Consort Li and sent her to Chenzhou, where she also burned herself to death. After that, Princess Li could not live in Chenzhou and had to live in a dilapidated kiln and beg for food. Fortunately, Bao Zheng, who was in Chenzhou, learned of the truth and falsely recognized Consort Li as mother and son, and brought Consort Li back to Kaifeng. At this time, the real emperor has long been dead, Li Fei's son has become the emperor, known as Song Renzong. Bao Zheng also took advantage of the opportunity to enter the palace to celebrate the birthday of Emperor Renzong Di, the Li Fei brought into the palace, Li Fei was able to meet with his own son Renzong, and told the truth.

Later, Pao devised another way to get Chen Lin to confess the truth. Liu, who had already become the empress dowager, knew that the plot had been foiled and died of convulsions.

As Bao Zheng made great achievements in this case, he was appointed as the prime minister by Emperor Renzong.

The whole story is so vivid and twisted, with a beginning and an end, that someone made it into a drama and put it on the stage, which had a great impact on the society.

The reason why there is a civet cat for a prince story is because in history, Renzong did recognize his mother.