In traditional Chinese tales, the snobbery of the father-in-law and mother-in-law often became the main background of the story. And the male protagonists in these stories often change their fate by virtue of their diligent study, and finally win their true love, which also makes the once snobbish elders regret it.
Among them, there is a more tortuous story recorded in the notes of the Qing people, and the protagonist is Tao Shu, who is known as "the Kunlun of the Yellow River, the Min of the Great River". He was a poor scholar, but he was lucky enough to marry the daughter of a "landlord's family".
Many years later, he learned that his bride had been dropped by a maid, and this maid later became Mrs. Yipin.
In the middle of the Qing Dynasty, Anhua, Hunan, although it is located on the bank of the Zijiang River, but the mountains are high and the forests are deep, the transportation is inconvenient, and it is a closed and remote place. When he was later summoned by Daoguang, he said that the place where he lived was "not a major transportation artery, and it was rarely patronized by dignitaries" and was a not prosperous mountain town.
And the Tao family's family is also quite poor. It was recorded in the Qing people's notes that someone saw a raised wart on the back of Mrs. Tao Shu's right hand and asked about the cause.
Mrs. Tao said that in the early years, our family's financial situation was very difficult, and I personally pushed the grinding, and this scar was left by the grinding handle. The inquirer saw that Mrs. Tao was depressed as she recounted these past experiences, and it was clear that she remembered those days that were not easy and pleasant.
Therefore, he chose not to pursue any further questioning. Tao Shu's wife, as a housewife, needs to be polished by herself, which shows that their life is not rich. Her father, Tao Biquan, attaches great importance to studying and career, not only has he participated in scientific examinations many times, but also has very strict requirements for his son.
He often told his son inspirational stories of the ancients to inspire his ambition. Even when he was eating and walking, he would casually educate his son, and even at night, when he was ready to go to bed, he would ask him what he had learned that day.
Tao Shu's father respected his learning style, but had strict requirements for his diligence. In order to support the family's livelihood, Tao Biquan often took Tao Shu out to teach, and gave Tao Shu a strict education.
This type of education has made Tao Shu highly anticipated from an early age, and he is considered to have the potential to become an accomplished person.
Tao Shu's marriage may change because of this decision. When he was young, a fellow villager surnamed Huang already had a marriage contract with him. At that time, Tao Shu himself did not have any fame, and his family background could be described as "poor".
Although the Huang family is not wealthy, they can at least hire a maid, and their economic situation is obviously better than that of the Tao family. Why did they choose to marry the Tao family in the first place?
Although we cannot know for sure the true intentions of the Huang family, we can infer some clues through the subsequent development of this marriage. It is said that a local wealthy man surnamed Wu heard that the daughter of the Huang family was beautiful and decided to marry her as his son's stepfamily.
However, Huang Nu already had a marriage contract, which made the Wu family feel tricky. However, the rich man is convinced"Money solves problems that are not a problem", he proposed a rich dowry to Huang Nu's father.
The whole Huang family, except for Huang Nu's mother, who was against it, the rest of the people supported it. Although Tao Biquan is poor, he has the backbone of a scholar and resolutely refuses to divorce. This impasse was finally resolved in an unexpected way, and a "maid" of the Huang family replaced the original young lady and married Tao Shu, while the real Huang family lady married into a wealthy family as she wished.
Although some have questioned that there may have been deception or conspiracy in this marriage, in fact, it was approved by Ms. Huang's mother from the beginning. In addition, Tao Shu himself accepted it calmly and did not reveal any complaints about being deceived.
It is gratifying that this woman who "married" is also very virtuous, she always prepares the meal first, so that Tao Shu can eat first, and then she eats the leftover leftovers.
With the support of virtuous internal help, Tao Shu's years of hard work finally paid off, and his career rose all the way from Jinshi to ** everywhere and then to a courtier trusted by Daoguang.
His wife Huang Defen was originally born as a "maid", but in the end, she also became a first-class fate because of Tao Shu's success. This story is full of drama and also reminds us to be wary of "don't bully the poor of young people".
However, this plot is not recorded in the Tao Shu chapter of the Qing Historical Manuscript, and even Chen Puqing, the author of Tao Shu's Biography, considers it "too unreliable." So, where exactly does this twisty story come from?
The answer may be found in the notes of Liang Gongchen of the Qing dynasty "Records of the North East Source".
Qingren notes are a way of recording, similar to the modern collection of gossip anecdotes, recording what they see and hear, without forcing factual accuracy, and not making up stories like **. "
Yahuan married on behalf of her"The story is recorded in this book.
So in this story, how likely is it that everyone will spread the word of mouth and the author will fabricate it? If we consider the connection between the author Liang Gongchen and Tao Shu himself, and the possible ways to obtain information, the reliability of this story is quite high.
Liang Gongchen's father, Liang Zhangju and Tao Shu, were famous ministers at the same time, and they had a close relationship, and even Mrs. Tao Shu often corresponded with Liang Zhangju's wife. Although Liang Gongchen did not experience Tao Shu's life when he was young, he learned a lot about Tao Shu through his parents and familiar elders.
Because his relationship with Tao Shu is quite close, when describing Tao Shu's affairs, he has a tendency to "hide for His Holiness", and will describe things better rather than write badly.
If the wife of the elder is not from a humble background, if the younger generation writes like this, I am afraid that it will be suspected of making it up. Liang Gongchen not only recorded these two marriages, but also recorded the outcome and follow-up of the incident.
According to Liang Gongchen, the young lady of the Huang family, who was eager to marry into a wealthy family, got what she wanted, but her married life was not happy, and it was even a tragedy. Soon after, the Wu family and another family fought over the land, and Huang Nu's husband unfortunately died of injuries in the fight, and Wu himself died of illness in a fit of anger.
Huang Nu had no choice but to support the portal alone, and the clansmen rushed to "eat the desperate households" when they heard the news, and carved up the original land of the Wu family.
Tao Shuguan Gao Juexian, who returned to his hometown because of his father's funeral, heard about the plight of the Yellow Girl, and generously gave fifty taels of silver, which improved the life of the Yellow Girl. Huang Nu accepted the money, with mixed feelings, her heart was full of sad thoughts, and she was reluctant to use this aid; However, fate made people, and the silver was stolen soon after, and Huang Nu was heartbroken, and finally chose to hang herself.
Many years later, Tao Shu went to the banquet and watched the story of Bilian, a servant girl who knows kindness and righteousness, supported the family alone, Tao Shu watched the play, tears in his eyes, and almost burst into tears.
The hundreds of people at the banquet looked at Tao Shu and were all moved by his tears. The story of "Double Crown" makes people believe even more that Tao Shu must have seen such a real woman.
The veracity of the matter was once again confirmed, although Chen Puqing held a different view when compiling The Biography of Tao Shu. He believes that another folk theory is closer to the truth, that is, the Tao family was originally married to the Peng woman, but the Peng family changed the marriage contract due to snobbery, so the Tao family married Huang Defen instead.
Originally, it was just a common snobbish story, but in the process of folk word of mouth, the plot became more and more twisted"Retribution in this world"The color is also getting stronger and stronger, and finally forms a twists and turns and bizarre Yahuan marriage story.
Huang Defen is loved by everyone for his virtue and dedication in life. Her daughter Tao Qiongzi already showed extremely high moral standards at the age of only twelve or thirteen, and was known as "Tao Xiaonu".
Tao Qiongzi was praised by the people at the time for her heroic behavior of "cutting her wrists to heal her mother on a snowy night", and even won the appeal of the literati and Tao Shu himself. Although modern medicine believes that cutting the wrist to treat the mother is not a worthy filial piety, Tao Qiongzi's behavior still allows people to see the cultivation and influence of Huang Defen.
Huang Defen's behavior of Tao Qiongzi, the second daughter born to Tao Shu, is admirable. It is precisely because of the support of women like Huang Defen that Tao Shu has worked hard all the way to many places across the country after realizing his ambitions in the imperial examination room, leaving a commendable political achievement.
When Tao Shu served as a military garrison in the eastern Sichuan region, he demonstrated excellent governance skills in the face of the complex population and relationships in the region. He sat in the court every day to hear cases, handled them with great efficiency, and quickly resolved the cases left by his predecessor.
His outstanding performance was highly recommended by the governor of Sichuan, Jiang Youquan, who praised him as "the first ruler of eastern Sichuan, who can be of great use". This left a deep impression on Emperor Daoguang, and also won him the trust of Daoguang, laying the foundation for him to be deeply trusted by Daoguang for many years.
When Tao Shu was transferred to Anhui, in the face of the chaotic financial situation, he resolutely set up a special agency to audit the accounts, and it took only one year to find out all the debts, which was highly praised by Wei Yuan.
Later, Tao Shu was appointed governor of Liangjiang, responsible for governing the three provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui and Jiangxi, which were the most important economic regions in the country at that time. During his tenure as governor of Liangjiang, Tao Shu dared to take responsibility, regardless of gains and losses, and he made remarkable achievements in the fields of Cao administration, water conservancy, disaster relief, government management, and smoking ban.
Tao Shu's accumulation of political achievements won the long-term trust of Emperor Daoguang, who called him "a good minister of the country". In the fifteenth year of Daoguang, Tao Shu returned to Beijing to report on his work, and was summoned fourteen times before and after, and Emperor Daoguang even wrote the imperial book "Initiation Stone House" to him to commemorate his past study in Zishui.
This honor not only made Tao Shu engrave these four words on the Yushu Cliff in his hometown, but he also erected them in Changsha Yuelu Mountain, Jiangxi Lushan, Wuhan Qintai, Dongting Jun Mountain and other places.
Tao Shu is good at excavating and cultivating talents, he is an active advocate and strong promoter of the trend of thought in the Jiadao period, he advocates the study of the history to solve practical problems, known as "the action school in the Jingshi school" and "the mainstay of the Hunan Jingshi school", and has an important influence on the growth of the late Qing Dynasty ministers Zuo Zongtang, Hu Linyi, Lin Zexu and others.
Some of them became in-laws, some were strongly introduced, and some were strongly supported. These people were later promoted to important positions, and they often remembered Tao Shu's kindness and praised him.
For example, the initiation stone house in the Canglang Pavilion in Suzhou retains the four characters of "Yuanling Zhengmeng" in Lin Zexu's handwriting, expressing deep admiration and gratitude to Tao Shu. Zuo Zongtang also built the Taolin Ergong Temple in Nanjing to commemorate their outstanding contributions to the people during their tenure in Jiangsu.
From that time to later, the attitudes of countless people continued to improve Tao Shu's status and popularity. Zhang Peilun once commented with Zhang Zhidong on "the Kunlun of the Yellow River, the Min of the Great River", and believed that he was the source of modern talents, just like the source of the Yangtze River and the Yellow River.
Tao Shu's life has remarkable achievements and far-reaching influence, which makes him often cited and shaped in literary creation. For example, in the Hunan Flower Drum Opera, there is the drama code of "Tao Shu's Visit to Jiangnan", which tells the story of his wisdom and courage during his tenure as the governor of Liangjiang, and successfully captured Cao Million**.
And Gao Yang, a famous modern historian, combined this historical background with Tao Shu's story to create ** "Initiation Stone". Everyone is curious, and gossip and anecdotes about celebrities, especially those with lace, are very popular.
Therefore, the saying of "Yahuan marrying" in Tao Shu's marriage has been widely spread and is also popular with the public.
Tao Shu: The first talent of the late Qing Dynasty |China Yiyang Portal |2021-12-20 Tao Shu, the word Yuruo, the number Yunting, is from Anhua, Hunan.
He was an important politician, reformer and military strategist in the late Qing Dynasty, and was known as the "first talent of the late Qing Dynasty". He devoted his life to promoting China's modernization process and had a profound impact on Chinese history.
Tao Shu's life story is rich and colorful, and his intelligence and courage have won praise from all sides. He once performed prominently in the Taiping Rebellion, participated in the pacification of the Twist Army Uprising, was known as the "Pacifier", and was awarded the title of First Baron.
During his tenure as governor of Hunan, he advocated the improvement of agricultural production, the reform of the tax system, the introduction of education, and the implementation of military reform, making Hunan a model province in China at that time.
Tao Shu's contributions were not limited to Hunan, but he also implemented a series of important reforms throughout the country, such as the establishment of customs duties, the reform of land endowments, the establishment of the Bureau of Commerce, and the opening of post offices.
His reform ideas and practices have had a profound impact on China's modernization process. After Tao Shu's death, his deeds were widely publicized, and his thoughts and contributions were remembered by future generations.
He is known as the "first talent of the late Qing Dynasty" and is an important figure in modern Chinese history.