Zhu Village in Genxi, in front of Gaoan City, is a small and ordinary village, but in the fourth year of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, an ordinary but outstanding figure was born. , Emperor Yongzheng praised him as "a good assistant in the court", and the Gao'an tea-picking opera "Pumpkin Story" was created with him as a model. This person was Zhu Shi. Zhu Shi (1665-1736), whose courtesy name was Ruozhan and whose nickname was Keting. Born in a farming family in Gao'an. "The Genealogy of the Zhu Family" records that during the Yuanfeng period of the Northern Song Dynasty, Su Shi visited Genxili on his way to Junzhou (later changed to Ruizhou) to visit his younger brother Su Che. As a result, the river flowing through Genxili , it was renamed Suxi River, and the mountain in Genxi was also renamed Poshan. People in Genxi considered it a great honor for Su Shi to visit here, and they highly respected Su Shi. This kind of respect also had a great influence on Zhu Shi. For this reason, he gave his scientific name Zhu Shi.
Zhu Shi studied hard in Hanchuang since he was a child, and was familiar with hundreds of schools of Confucian classics and history. He was a famous Confucian scholar and writer, and was a Jinshi in the 33rd year of Kangxi (1694). He successively served as magistrate of Qianjiang County, academic administrator of Shaanxi Province, governor of Fengtian Prefecture, governor of Zhejiang Province, and censor of Zuodu. During the reign of Yongzheng, he served as the president of the Holy Ancestor Records, a bachelor of Wenhua Palace, and a minister of the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of War. During the Qianlong period, he served as the president of Shizong Shilu and ordered him to coordinate the affairs of the prime minister. The deceased gave it to the Taifu. Zhu Shi rose to the rank of prime minister and was the first rank in the dynasty. He was appreciated by Emperor Kangxi, reused by Emperor Yongzheng, and relied upon by Emperor Qianlong. He was a prominent figure who was "extremely favored by everyone" during the Kang, Yong, and Qian dynasties.
Zhu Shi adhered to "imperial autocracy plus moral education" throughout his life as his political views and as an official. When he took office as the magistrate of Qianjiang County, he believed that there was no better way to teach the people to change their customs than to teach the people to change their customs, which was the sixteenth article of the Holy Edict. He quoted the local language of Chuzhong, annotated it as an explanation, and preached it to the four towns every month. No matter where he was an official, he would emphasize the importance of education and advocate Confucianism in his academies. He presided over the examination of three people, and used the criterion of "reading the right books to discover their meanings" as the selection criterion. During his tenure in Zhejiang, he published the "Book of Rites of Da Dai", "Jie Li" and "The Complete Book of Zhang Zi", Books such as "Yan's Family Instructions" and "Wen Gong's Family Instructions" changed Zhejiang customs.
Zhu Shi was an upright official and expected to be upright. At that time, Kangxi advocated Zhu Xi's theory, and Zhu Shi was an important representative of the Cheng-Zhu school of thought in the imperial court at that time. He lived a frugal life. The "Zhu Gong Banquet", a popular banquet among Gao'an people in the old days, usually consisted of four plates and two bowls when entertaining guests. It is said that Zhu Shi created it when he entertained Qianlong.
Zhu Shi also advocated "people-oriented", "the people can carry the boat, the people can overturn the boat." When he got off the bus in Qianjiang, he immediately issued an order to avoid rice dumplings and not to take anything more than the main offering. Zhu Shi cared about people's livelihood and was very hands-on in planning and implementing all aspects of water conservancy in the camp. He supervised the construction of seawalls in Zhejiang and made many creations. Haining, Shangyu and other counties were often affected by sea tides. Zhu Shi used the "wooden cabinet method" as the embankment foundation, so that the embankments and ponds were strong, the tide trouble was eliminated, and the people were safe. Therefore, people say "Zhu Shi" What Shi built will not collapse.” In the 59th year of Kangxi's reign, Zhu Shi promoted Zuodu to be the censor. In the 1960s, there was a severe drought in Shanxi and Shaanxi, and Zhu Shi sent people to Shanxi to persuade people to provide relief. He severely punished corrupt officials, rewarded wealthy households and gentlemen for donating food and money, and provided relief to disaster victims. He also organized labor to renovate the Caohe waterway and stopped taxing rice boats to facilitate the circulation of grain. Local officials were responsible for setting up factories to treat sick victims. After that, Shanxi was asked to build communes and warehouses to prepare for shortages; water conservancy was greatly developed and springs were used to irrigate the fields, and the people benefited from it.
In the first year of Yongzheng's reign, he was given a plaque and a fan with poems on "Liangzuo of the Chaotang". He was transferred to the Ministry of Civil Affairs and was promoted to be the Crown Prince's Taibao and the Prince's Taifu. Yongzheng regarded him as his right-hand man.
In Gao'an City, Zhu Shi's hometown, the Gao'an tea-picking drama "Pumpkin Story" with Zhu Shi as the model is still performed. "Pumpkin Story" tells the story of Wang Shouting, a bully landowner in Nanchang County who colluded with the government and became the tenth wife of Du Lanying, the wife of the poor scholar Ding Wenxuan. This was heard by Prime Minister Zhu Shi, who was returning to Gao'an to pay birthdays to his mother. He set up a clever plan to rescue Du Lanying and severely punished Wang Shouting and a group of corrupt officials in accordance with the law. To express his gratitude, Ding Wen chose to carry pumpkins to celebrate Zhu Mu's birthday. This program has been broadcast many times on the Central People's Broadcasting Station and Jiangxi People's Broadcasting Station, and has become a well-known tea-picking drama.
In September of the first year of Qianlong (1736), Zhu Shi became ill due to overwork and died in Kyoto.
More than two hundred years have passed. Today, at the end of the twentieth century, people can only pay tribute to this man who benefited the people from the manuscripts he left, his handwriting, and the few cultural relics such as Biluo Bridge and his cemetery. , a "good assistant in the court" who selects talents for the country, devotes himself wholeheartedly to his death. The poet Yuan Mei wrote in his "Works under Zhu Wenduan Cemetery": "The egret once occupied the first class, and its clothes and clothes often attracted the fragrance of the emperor. He alone mastered the scriptures and the three saints, and since then the breeze has spread to the nine realms. The jade soul rides on the Ji Canghao , Shi Lin is bathing in the rain and green, thinking about a few drops of Xizhou tears, looking up to the pines and holding on to them." Zhu Shi's story will be passed down forever, sung from the tea-picking opera "Pumpkin Story". According to historical research, Zhu Shi was an honest official throughout his life, upright, fair, strict in enforcing the law, providing relief to victims of disasters, and generous administration. He was called the "Great Honest Official" by the people. When he patrolled Zhejiang, his political achievements were even more remarkable. He was sometimes called "Shi Zhi Feng Qian, Leading by example, governing within the territory, and ranking first in the country." He is one of the prominent ministers and famous politicians included in the history of the Qing Dynasty. Cha Tongzhi's "Gao'an County Chronicle" records that Emperor Yongzheng gave Zhu Shi an imperial plaque titled "Liang Zuo" in 1723 to express the emperor's respect and trust in him.
Zhu Shi was not only an outstanding figure in history who made significant contributions to politics, but also a well-known historian and educator who was erudite, prolific in writings, devoted to education, and good at cultivating talents. He was successively summoned by Emperors Yongzheng and Qianlong to serve as the president of "Records of the Holy Ancestor" and "Records of Sejong". His handed down works include "Annotations on Zhou Rites", "Annotations on Zhouyi", "Wen Duan Gong Ji" and "Spring and Autumn Notes", "Biographies of Famous Officials of the Past Dynasties", "Biographies of Famous Confucians of the Past Dynasties", "Essentials of Etiquette", etc. have a great influence on the academic circles of literature and history in my country to this day. In his memorial tribute to Zhu Shi, Emperor Qianlong said that "Zhu Shi had excellent scholarship and rich talents. He entered the Ci Garden early and was famous for his works."
In terms of education, Zhu Shi not only cultivated Emperor Qianlong, an outstanding talent with both civil and military skills, who was able to rule the country, but also made great contributions in revitalizing the literary style of his generation, stricting the imperial examination system, establishing various academies, and selecting outstanding talents. made a huge contribution. For this reason, Emperor Yongzheng once gave Zhu Shi a high-quality Suzhou folding fan as a tribute and wrote a poem on the fan to commend him. The poem goes: Gao Yuesheng gave birth to a good assistant, and he made the court prosperous and auspicious to the old ministers. Nanchang holds algae as a warning, Beidou weighs heavily. Loyalty is only about serving one's job, and one who is capable is not close to his name. The words of family members and thoughts on principles are for the benefit of the country and the common people.
This imperial fan has been treasured by Zhu Shi's descendants. It was donated to the local people's government before the "Cultural Revolution" and is now stored in the Gao'an City Archives. A copy exists in the Gao'an City Museum.
Only the fan surface of Zhu Shi's imperial fan remains. The fan surface has a light smokey yellow background, is made of "imperial list paper" sprinkled with gold, and is mounted with Bai Xuan's exquisite workmanship. The color is clear and beautiful. The fan is 54.5 cm in width and 28 cm in height. There are 13 vertical lines of calligraphy from the right. There are fifty characters in a poem on the top, each character is 2-2.5 cm square. The calligraphy is round and hairy, as if imitating pine and snow style, each line The number of words varies, the density is consistent, and it is quite beautiful. Next to the first word of the poem, there is a long red seal with a bell. After the poem, it is signed with the line "I give the imperial pen to the minister Zhu Shi", and there are two imperial seals of Emperor Yongzheng in Zhu Wen. The entire fan is intact, the handwriting is clear, and the printed text is legible. According to the appraisal of relevant cultural relic experts, this fan is confirmed to be a national precious cultural relic and is of great value to the study of Zhu Shi's life and the history of the Qing Dynasty.
When donating the fans, Zhu Shi’s descendants introduced a little-known historical event recorded on this royal fan: During the scientific research in the Yongzheng Dynasty in a certain year, the emperor appointed Zhu Shi as the chief examiner, and his minister Liu Bi as the deputy. Examiner.
The day before the exam started, Emperor Yongzheng secretly summoned the two examiners to set the exam questions. In the afternoon of the same day, the uncle ordered his cronies to send gold, brocade and other valuable gifts to the chief examiner and deputy examiner, hoping to ask the examiner to take care of his son. At the same time, some officials from the Ministry of Punishment, the Ministry of Industry, and the Ministry of Household Affairs also sent many gifts. For gifts, the examiner is requested to take care of his relatives and friends. Liu Bi was greedy for money and leaked the test questions, but Zhu Shi brought all the gift lists and gifts to the palace overnight to report to the emperor. Yongzheng was furious and immediately wanted to punish Liu Bi, Guojiu and other officials. Zhu Shi asked Emperor Yongzheng not to deal with personnel matters for the time being and to re-issue the examination questions first. As a result, after the examination, the relatives and children of the officials who gave gifts to the uncle of the state were dismissed, but those who passed the examination were all outstanding talents with beautiful articles and unique insights. Emperor Yongzheng praised Zhu Shi for "writing all the good articles and eliminating shortcomings", and gave Zhu Shi an imperial fan with a poem as a reward.
From the analysis of the tone of the first line of the poem on the imperial fan, "Gao Yuesheng is a good assistant" and the fact that Emperor Yongzheng once gave Zhu Shi an imperial plaque "A good assistant in the court", it is completely credible that this imperial fan was given to Zhu Shi by Emperor Yongzheng.