Chapter 3 The relatives of high officials are not so easy to recognize

Those who have watched the TV series "Prime Minister Liu Luoguo", we all know that in "Prime Minister Liu Luoguo", the following passage was played: After Liu Yong, who was originally from Shandong, came to Beijing, he first became the son-in-law of the sixth prince, and later worshiped the emperor The queen mother is godmother. We can see from this that Liu Yong's identity is very, very special.If you look at it from the perspective of Emperor Qianlong's mother, then Liu Yong is the godbrother of Emperor Qianlong; but if you look at it from the perspective of Emperor Qianlong's own brother, the sixth prince, then Liu Yong is the niece and son-in-law of Emperor Qianlong.

Here, first of all, there is a question we need to answer: Are Liu Tongxun, Liu Yong and his son in history really from Shandong? To answer this question itself is simpler - yes! However, Jiangsu, Anhui, and even Henan and Cantonese quit!They have to say that the historical Liu Tongxun, Liu Yong and his sons should have been from their place.What is going on here? Let's first look at an article from the "Pingdingshan Evening News" on January 28, 2002.The title of the article is "Is Liu Tongxun from Baofeng?".The full text is as follows: Right now, the TV series "The Granary of the World" is on the air, and Liu Tongxun, a little-known honest official in the Qing Dynasty, came into people's sight and became a household name for a while.At this time, the interview department of this newspaper received a letter signed by "Liu Shiheng", which aroused the reporter's interest in this historical figure.This letter is excerpted as follows:

Today, in my hometown, there is a story of Liu Tongxun returning to his hometown to recognize his relatives.According to legend, Liu Tongxun was born in Liuwan Village, Baofeng County. When he was young, he fled to Shandong because of a famine in his hometown.Liu Tongxun is an official, but he still has not forgotten the hometown where he was born and raised.Therefore, Liu Tongxun came up with the idea of ​​returning to Liuwan Village, Baofeng County to recognize his relatives. The reincarnation of the sun and the moon has been going on for a long time.In Liu Tongxun's memory, the bluestone bridge over the river in the north of the village has been buried deep in the ground by silt, and the riverbed has rolled tens of meters to the northwest. This is the first reason why Liu Tongxun did not recognize his marriage.Second, the county magistrate at that time was afraid that after Liu Tongxun confessed to his relatives, it would be difficult to do official affairs, so he threatened the people not to pretend to be relatives and invite death.In view of the two, it was a waste of time for Liu Tongxun to return to his hometown to recognize relatives. Although he entrusted the matter of recognizing relatives to the county magistrate at that time, the county magistrate let it go without investigation.

Although Liu Tongxun didn't recognize his relatives, he still wanted to return to his roots. After his death, he built his own cemetery in Liuwan Village, Baofeng County. On the stele was written: Liu Tongxun, Prime Minister of the Qing Dynasty. Before the "Cultural Revolution", there were more than 20 green cypresses in Liu Tongxun's cemetery, and the cemetery was perfect. During the "Cultural Revolution", trees were felled and steles were pulled down, and they have not been repaired so far. ... Such a letter aroused many curiosity among reporters: Is Liu Tongxun from Baofeng?If yes, why is there no record in history?If it is rumored, why are the stories and details so vivid?The reporter decided to take a trip to Liuwan Village, Baofeng County, to find out what happened.

Liuwan Village is located in Zhouzhuang Town, Baofeng County. On the morning of January 22, 2002, the reporter went to Liuwan Village with Li Weiying, chairman of the Municipal Overseas Chinese Federation, and others. At around 9 o'clock in the morning, the reporter set foot on the land of Liuwan Village. The sun was just right, and several villagers were chatting and basking in the sun by the river in the village.The reporter asked them about Liu Tongxun. "I know, I know, isn't it playing on TV right now?" "His grave is in our village." Several villagers said one after another.A villager named Liu Xuansheng told the reporter: "When I was a child, I heard that there was Liu Tongxun's tomb and monument in the north of the village."

There are more than 900 people in the village, of which the surname Liu accounts for more than half. 65-year-old Wang Fuan once saw the tomb and stele, "The stele is not too high, and the bluestone seat, the tomb was flattened in the 1970s, and I don't know who carried the stele away." He also told reporters that one year the village Someone dug up a seal from the side of the cemetery, it was copper-colored, and people showed it to him. He only recognized the words "General Admiral" engraved on the side of the seal. Later, the seal was sold, and they all said it belonged to Liu Tongxun. print.

Where is Liu Tongxun's grave?Several villagers enthusiastically led the reporter to a wheat field in the north of the village, but there was no trace of the cemetery at all. Stele." An old man pointed to a small mound on the east side of the cemetery and a river on the west side and said, "Liu Tongxun's tomb is selected here very carefully. river……" Can the stone tablet in front of the grave be found?A villager said that there was a very old stone tablet in the small river ditch at the south end of the village, and the reporter rushed to it excitedly. This is a stone tablet that has been broken into two pieces. Several villagers helped to turn the two pieces of the tablet over. Someone brought water and wiped the tablet clean with a cloth.The neat regular script has beautiful handwriting, and most of them can be recognized except for some characters that have faded. "Henan and other places in the Ming Dynasty... Chengxuan announced the political envoy to the east of Baofeng County, Ruzhou... to the Jingchang River Yidongfang Langbao for a picture..." The date of inscription was the "Daming Chongzhen" year, it seems that at that time Liuwan Village already existed.It's a pity that this monument was erected in recognition of people's donations to build the Niuwang Temple.

The reporter's visit caused quite a stir in the village. Many people gathered around and told the stories and plays they had heard in their childhood. The story of Liu Tongxun spread so far in the village, which surprised the reporter very much. . When Wang Baoan, a 75-year-old man, told the story of Liu Tongxun, the words gushed out like a spring.According to him, only Liu Quanhai's ancestors and Liu Tongxun belonged to the same family in the village, and the other Liu families all moved from Shanxi later.After Li Zicheng's rebellion, he ordered to kill more than 20 kilometers to the south of the Yellow River. Unexpectedly, Niu Jinxing, who received the order, misheard and killed more than 200 kilometers to the south of the Yellow River. The villagers of the village were also massacred. Liu Tongxun's father or Grandpa took him away from Liuwan and went to Shandong to beg for food. Later, Liu Tongxun became a high official.His son Liu Yong once came to recognize his relatives, but the county magistrate was afraid that he would be implicated and did not recognize them. When Liu Quanhai's ancestors heard about this, they went to the capital to recognize their relatives.

This is a relatively complete story about kinship recognition that the reporter heard in Liuwan Village. There are also different versions of this story. Some say that Liu Quanhai’s ancestors entered the capital with a family tree. letter. The visit to Liuwan Village is coming to an end. Unfortunately, the tombstone mentioned in Liu Shiheng's letter could not be found. However, the legends and stories that are almost known to everyone make the reporter feel that it seems unconvincing to say that this matter is "nothing". force.Liu Shiheng said with certainty that someone had seen that tombstone, and it said "Liu Tongxun, Prime Minister of the Qing Dynasty" written on it, and he would continue to look for it in order to "excavate" this period of history.

Is Liu Tongxun from Baofeng Liuwan?When visiting Liuwan Village, although the villagers could not produce any visible and tangible "evidence", the legends and stories that have been passed down for several generations are enough to convince them.How to explain and treat this incident, the reporter interviewed some experts on Qing history. Pan Minzhong, director of the Henan Provincial Historical Society, vice president and secretary-general of the Pingdingshan Historical Society, chief editor of the Pingdingshan Historical and Cultural Research Series. According to Pan Minzhong, "Manuscripts of Qing History" and "Biographies of Qing History" clearly record that Liu Tongxun was born in Zhucheng, Shandong.According to Liu Tongxun's "Dongwu Liu's Genealogy", it is said: "My family started from the Hongzhi period of the previous Ming Dynasty. The ancestor of my family, Fu Gong, moved from Dangshan County, Jiangsu Province to Zhucheng County, Shandong Province." Counting from the ancestor Liu Fu, Liu Tongxun is the eighth generation.Judging from the above situation, there is still room for deliberation about the tomb of Liu Tongxun in Liuwan, Baofeng, and the statement that Liu Tongxun was born here and left Zhucheng in Shandong.If Liu Tongxun is really from Baofeng, the local chronicles compiled after Qianlong will definitely spare no effort to write special books.However, the "Baofeng County Chronicles", "Ruzhou Chronicles" and "Henan Provincial Chronicles" compiled during the Jiaqing, Daoguang, Tongzhi, and Guangxu years have no record of it.This cannot but be puzzling.

So, if Liuwan, Baofeng really had a tomb with a stele inscribed "Liu Tongxun, Prime Minister of the Qing Dynasty", how can it be explained?Pan Minzhong believes that there are three possibilities: one possibility is that the Liu family in Liuwan is a branch of Liu Tongxun's descendants who moved from Zhucheng in Shandong.The second is that after Liu Tongxun became famous, especially after dramas such as "Liu Tongxun's Private Interview" were widely circulated, the Liu family who lived in Liuwan sealed Liu Tongxun's tomb and recognized his ancestors in order to strengthen his family's momentum.These practices are not surprising in the era before the Republic of China when the concept of clan was relatively strong.The third is that in the "Genealogy of Dongwu Liu's Family", the description of the second generation after Liu Fu is vague. That period was also the time when Li Zicheng launched an army in the late Ming Dynasty and the world was in chaos. It is also possible that Liu Tongxun's ancestors fled from Liuwan. And left behind a branch of the Liu family, which is the ancestor of Liu Quanhai.However, to prove its authenticity, hard evidence must be found. Niu Jianqiang, director of the Chinese Ming History Society, director of the Henan Provincial History Society, professor of the School of History and Culture of Henan University, and a Ph.D. in History of Ming and Qing Dynasties from Northeast Normal University. Professor Niu believes that it is unlikely that Liu Tongxun is from Baofeng.The villagers said that they found a seal, and the side of the seal was engraved with "General Admiral". After checking the "Index of Ming and Qing Jinshi Inscriptions and Steles", Liu Tongxun was the 17th Jinshi in the second year of Yongzheng. "Admiral" is a military official title, obviously there is no relationship between the two.If there is really that tombstone, it does say "Liu Tongxun, Prime Minister of the Qing Dynasty" on it, which is also very suspicious.Because the ancients attached great importance to names and taboos, their names would not be written directly on the tombstones, especially for officials like Liu Tongxun. In response to the stories of "recognition of relatives" spread in Liuwan Village, Professor Niu believes that there are ten brothers Liu Tongxun, and the descendants have even larger branches. One possibility is that one of these branches traveled to Baofeng Liuwan, so Here there are legends and stories about Liu Tongxun.Another possibility is that when Liu Tongxun was a bachelor, he went to Henan to deal with the breach of the Yellow River. During this period, he made private visits and did a lot of things for the people. The people of Liuwan Village recorded his story and added it. To show off, after the interpretation and even grafting of later generations, it will be vivid.But all of this is speculation. To say that Liu Tongxun is indeed from Liuwan requires evidence such as genealogy, documents, and ancestral halls, which cannot be produced now.However, why are these stories spread so far in Liuwan Village?When did it start spreading in Liuwan?Who spoke first?This is worthy of further investigation by researchers. Yang Yu, member of the Standing Committee of Baofeng Political Consultative Conference, editor-in-chief and deputy editor-in-chief of "Baofeng County Chronicles". Twenty years ago, Yang Yu participated in the compilation of "Baofeng County Chronicles".He said that when compiling the county annals, he heard a lot of legends and stories about Liu Yong killing harm for the people in Baofeng and donating money, but he didn't know much about Liu Tongxun's legends in Liuwan Village.Since there are so many legends and stories in Liuwan Village, it at least shows that there is some kind of connection between the two, and this is exactly the topic he wants to study next. Regardless of the credibility of the article titled "Is Liu Tongxun from Baofeng?" in the "Pingdingshan Evening News" on January 28, 2002, at least the title of the article is still open to discussion—at least The question ends with a question mark.Let's look at another article from "Zhongshan Daily" on November 30, 2006.The title of the article is "Liu Yong: His ancestral home was originally Longrui Village, Xijiao Township, Shaxi Town, Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province".The full text is as follows: Liu Yong (1719-1804), a famous prime minister of the Qing Dynasty.In previous historical records, Liu Yong was from Zhucheng, Shandong.However, after years of archaeological evidence, this statement will change. Zhucheng in Shandong is only the birthplace of Liu Yong. The theory that Liu Yong is a native of Xijiao Township has been circulating among the villagers for a long time. Only recently was the family tree of the Liu family verified, and authoritative experts went to various cities in Shandong to investigate.The verification process should start from the beginning. The descendants of Liu Bang bred to Liu Bei, and the descendants of Liu Bei bred to Liu Shaoxiong. According to legend, the descendants of Liu Shaoxiong moved from Nanxiong Zhuji Lane to settle in Xijiao Township, Zhongshan, and they are the ancestors of Xijiao Township.Liu Shaoxiong's descendants have three sons: Liu Zifang, Liu Zizhong, and Liu Ziping, who continue to multiply and expand, and have today's big Liu family.The ancestral hall is the witness of the generation of family members. It can be said that the ancestral hall itself is a kind of family culture that maintains the past and present. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, in Xijiao Township, the descendants of Liu Shaoxiong multiplied to Liu Ziping (1336-1391). Liu Ziping was an official in Nanjing and had five sons. Liu Ziping's fifth son left Nanjing to make a living in Zhucheng, Shandong. Propagating in Shandong, Liu Yong is the grandson of Liu Ziping's fifth son. He was admitted to the prime minister of the capital in Shandong.Liu Yong was clean and honest in politics, and he was upright. He did many good things for the people and became famous all over the world.Liu Yong is a descendant who immigrated from Zhongshan, Guangdong to Shandong, where he flourished and multiplied. His real hometown is Longrui Village, Xijiao Township, Zhongshan. Liu Yong has never forgotten that his grandfather is called Liu Ziping, and that his hometown is in the Xiangshan area of ​​Guangdong. He has been trying to find his roots for many years. After many inquiries, he found out that there is a Liu family ancestral hall in Xijiao Township, Xiangshan. The plaque of Ziping Gong.After Liu Yong was admitted to be the prime minister of the capital in Shandong, he sent a special letter to the then Xiangshan county government, requesting to send his family to Longrui Village, Xijiao Township to find his roots and worship his ancestors.When the villagers heard that Liu Yong, the Prime Minister of the capital, was going back to his hometown to find his roots, the elders of the clan were both surprised and happy, because the villagers knew that since Liu Ziping became an official in Nanjing, he had never returned to his hometown to visit his relatives, and they did not know that their descendants had How much, where to branch.So the elders in the clan talked a lot.Some said: "Okay, it's a good thing that the prime minister will come back to pay homage to the ancestors. Our Liu family is really honoring our ancestors." But a squire in the clan said: "Elders, although Liu Yong is the prime minister of the court, but, As the saying goes, "Three generations of official titles" can't be granted to us. As the saying goes, accompanying a king is like accompanying a tiger. If it doesn't work, it will implicate the nine clans and implicate us. What should we do? But if he really wants to come back to worship the ancestors, you can't refuse him Ah, so what should I do..." At this time, an older squire said: "How about changing the plaque of Mr. Liu Ziping? Chisel and flatten it, and then cover the plaque of Mr. Liu Ziping, the second son of Mr. Liu Guande, and this will solve the problem.” The elders of the clan unanimously agreed with this approach, so they found a carpenter overnight and put Mr. Liu Ziping Then the plaque of the Liu Guande ancestral hall of the same size was covered... Maybe the time for changing the plaque was too hasty, and I heard that the capital had sent people to Xiangshan County and was on their way to Xijiao, so, The craftsmen actually painted the plaque with yellow characters on a black background, and did not decorate it with gold leaf, which was very eye-catching at first glance. After more than a month, Liu Yong's family, Liu Zhanglu and his party traveled thousands of miles from the capital to Xiangshan, and then from the county to Xijiao Township. Although the small village was not very big, it was small and decent, and the blue brick houses were neat and orderly. Lu and his party did not show any signs of expression, checking the ancestral hall and plaques one by one.However, from morning to night, I searched repeatedly and found that there are plaques for Mr. Liu Guande, etc., but there is no plaque for Mr. Liu Ziping. The plaque of Mr. Liu Guande is very thick, with yellow characters on a black background, and other plaques are mostly red. Zhang Lu and his party couldn't understand the golden characters on the bottom, but they always felt a little strange in their hearts, and they didn't dare to ask the villagers, so they had to go back to the capital and report the truth to Liu Yong with some questions, saying: "After I arrived in Xijiao Township, I searched all the plaques repeatedly. The plaque of Mr. Liu Ziping has not been found, but the plaque of Mr. Liu Guande is very strange. The house is old, but the plaque is new, and the plaque is very thick, like two pieces combined into one. In addition, the plaques of the local ancestral halls are all red background Gold characters, only Liu Guande’s plaque has yellow characters on a black background, I don’t know why?” At this time, Liu Yong understood what a smart person he was, and Liu Yong said to himself: “Liu Guande’s The plaque is that of Mr. Liu Ziping. It seems that they are afraid of causing trouble. They are afraid that if something happens to me, they will implicate the whole family and the villagers. I won’t go back.” Liu Yong wanted to go back to Xijiao Township to worship the ancestors in person but failed.The plaque of Mr. Liu Guande covering the plaque of Mr. Liu Ziping has been seen by many villagers. Unfortunately, it was sold as timber to Yuezhong Shipyard in the 1950s and could not be preserved. see?The article titled "Liu Yong: His ancestral home was originally Longrui Village, Xijiao Township, Shaxi Town, Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province" published in "Zhongshan Daily" on November 30, 2006 clearly confirmed that the ancestral home of Liu Yong's family was Guangdong. up. Tell me, although the article titled "Liu Yong: His ancestral home was originally Longrui Village, Xijiao Township, Shaxi Town, Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province" published by "Zhongshan Daily" is not very long, but there are too many mistakes in it There are too many - we don't know if the author of the article is limited?Or did the newspaper that published the article have limited editorial skills?Anyway, there are too many mistakes in this article. Don't you believe it?I will try to tell you the most important point or two. You can see that the article once said the following sentence, "In the late Ming Dynasty, in Xijiao Township, the descendants of Liu Shaoxiong multiplied to Liu Ziping (1336-1391)".Tell me, where and where is this?In the last years of the Ming Dynasty, it must be after 1600 AD, right?However, Liu Ziping, who lived in the last years of the Ming Dynasty, was born in 1336 A.D. - at that time, it was the second year of Yuan Shundi to Yuan Dynasty. 1391——At that time, it was the 24th year of Emperor Hongwu of the Ming Dynasty. Having said that, can you tell me which dynasty this Liu Ziping lived in? When I come to this point, some readers will definitely say that if this is not the clerical error of the author of the article, it must be the clerical error of the editor of the newspaper.The meaning of the author of the article is very obvious. It should be "at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, in Xijiao Township, the descendants of Liu Shaoxiong multiplied to Liu Ziping (1336-1391)"—that is, this Liu Ziping should be a surname in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty. ! I understand your words very well, because I used to think so too.But after seeing it later, I became more and more confused, because the article then wrote, "Liu Yong is the grandson of Liu Ziping's fifth son." Do you understand? "Liu Yong is the grandson of Liu Ziping's fifth son"!Liu Ziping was born in 1336 AD, and his great-grandson was born in 1719 AD.In 383 years, only four generations!Within four generations, 383 years passed in a flash, and it was 1719 AD.Tell me, where can you see such a story?Let me tell you, even the reincarnation system of the Dalai Lama and Panchen Erdeni from Tibet is completely incomparable! Having said that, based on these points alone (not to mention the name of Liu Ziping's fifth son and the name of the fifth son's son, the article did not mention it at all), you can still be sure of what the article said Is the messy view that "Liu Yong's ancestral home was originally Longrui Village, Xijiao Township, Shaxi Town, Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province" correct? Of course, anyone with a little bit of historical common sense will see the confusion in this article and completely deny the erroneous views of this article.However, on July 20, 2010, four years after this erroneous article was published, the Nanfang Daily went further and further on the basis of this completely erroneous research. Tell me, the erroneous views have not been killed at the beginning of the rumors, on the contrary, the fallacies have spread more and more widely!It's really shocking! Tell me, just such a very simple question of the ancestral home of Liu Tongxun, Liu Yong and his son in history, the Henan people are also vying for it, and the Cantonese are also robbing it. What is it for? It is undeniable that a very important reason is that the descendants of Liu surnamed everywhere think that Liu Tongxun, Liu Yong and his son are great positive figures in history, and they all feel that if they are descendants or relatives of Liu Tongxun, Liu Yong and their son, how much should they be? OK!As a result, they randomly mistook the ancestors of others who were completely irrelevant to their own family as their own ancestors, regardless of whether their real ancestors were willing or not.Of course, this kind of thinking is still understandable.After all, Liu Tongxun, Liu Yong and his son are good people! However, there is another factor that cannot be ignored, which is the use of celebrity effects to earn unexpected money that should not belong.As long as there have been famous people in our place in history, first build a few new houses, make the new houses old, and then buy a few fake cultural relics and put them in the fake houses, people in the whole world will not immediately All come to visit me? You said, living in this world and at this time, who can be more stupid than anyone else?With your little IQ, you still want to live by defrauding people from all over the world?Where in the world is there such a good thing? I am afraid that there is such a kind of person who is actually much more stupid than anyone else, but wants to rely on these extremely mentally retarded ideas to earn unexpected money that should not belong to you!Are you too stupid to say this kind of thinking and practice? Not to mention, the more stupid this idea is, the more leaders in many places believe it.Forget about people who have lived in history, let's not care whether the person who has lived is Wu Dalang or Ximen Qing-don't mention it, even a bastard like Ximen Qing with a third level has two People in the three counties of the province are fighting for their hometowns—now, even the half-human and half-god "characters" in novels such as Monkey King and Zhu Bajie, and gods who are obviously religious, such as Guanyin Bodhisattva, have their own words in China What about the authentic hometowns—there are actually four hometowns of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva in China! Mess?Never mind that.Let's get down to business and talk about something serious.First of all, continue to answer your question: where is the ancestral home of Liu Tongxun, Liu Yong and his son in history?Is it in Henan?Is it in Guangdong? I can say with certainty that the ancestral home of Liu Tongxun, Liu Yong and his son in history is neither in Henan nor in Guangdong! Where is the ancestral home of Liu Tongxun, Liu Yong and his son in history? I can say with certainty that the ancestral home of Liu Tongxun, Liu Yong and his son in history is of course in Shandong! As we said earlier, it is not very difficult to answer this question in itself.However, people from Jiangsu and Anhui quit!They have to say that the ancestral home of Liu Tongxun, Liu Yong and his son in history should have been there. People who think that the ancestors of Liu Tongxun and Liu Yong are Jiangsu people think that they have conclusive evidence.why? Speaking of the ancestors of Liu Tongxun and Liu Yong, the "Liu" of Liu Tongxun and Liu Yong, but the "Liu" of Liu Bang, cannot write two "Liu" characters in one stroke.The "Liu" of Liu Tongxun and Liu Yong is really the same as the "Liu" of Liu Bang. They are from the same hometown.But not Liu Tongxun and Liu Yong, but the era of Liu Tongxun and Liu Yong's ancestors. Where did the ancestors of Liu Tongxun and Liu Yong live for generations? It is said that today's Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province, belonged to Nanzhili in the Ming Dynasty and was called Xuzhou. In the early Qing Dynasty, it belonged to Jiangnan Province and Jiangsu Province and was renamed Xuzhou Prefecture.There was a Dangshan County under the administration of Xuzhou—now this Dangshan County is not under the jurisdiction of Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province, but has been assigned to Anhui Province—at that time, there was a village of Daliu under the administration of Dangshan County in Xuzhou. And this small village called Daliu Village is the residence of Liu Tongxun and Liu Yong's family since ancient times. Since the pre-Qin period, the ancestors of Liu Tongxun and Liu Yong's family have been living here.The people surnamed Liu here are the descendants of Liu Lei, who lived in the 19th century BC in the era of Kong Jia, the king of the Xia Dynasty, and the descendants of Liu Bang, the great ancestor of the Han Dynasty, who was born in 256 BC.And this is why Liu Tongxun and Liu Yong are said by Jiangsu and Anhui people to be from Jiangsu and Anhui! Then, why do we say that Liu Tongxun and Liu Yong are from Shandong?Hey, didn't the ancestors of Liu Tongxun and Liu Yong move again?Moreover, they moved three times in total! What is going on here?We also need to start with the large-scale immigration activities in the early Ming Dynasty.