Bao Zheng is an iron-faced and selfless clean official, he has offended many powerful people in law enforcement, but he has been able to rise through the ranks and stay unharmed. When it comes to Bao Zheng, we can't fail to mention the three copper guillotines in his hands, these knives were personally authorized by Song Zhenzong, under his law enforcement, the royal magnates were beheaded, the traitorous villain was beheaded, and his justice and honesty were called Bao Bicang by the people. Today, in the opera mask, Bao Zheng is portrayed as a black-faced judge, who is deeply loved by people for his responsibility to enforce the law impartially and protect the interests of the people. Bao Zheng has held important positions in the history of two generations of emperors, Song Zhenzong and Song Renzong. However, Bao Zheng was 28 years old when he was admitted to the Jinshi, and when he could have made a big difference, he stayed in Hexian County, Anhui Province to work as a tax supervisor due to his parents' old age. It was not until the age of 38 that Bao Zheng inherited the heavy responsibility of the imperial court and became the magistrate of Anhui. After taking office, he managed diligently and achieved outstanding results, and was promoted to the prefect of Duanzhou four years later.
At that time, Duanzhou was the holy place for the manufacture of inkstones, producing a variety of exquisite inkstones, which attracted the interest of many literati and magnates of the Song Dynasty. Even the royal family collects a certain number of inkstones from Duanzhou every year. However, in order to cater to the dignitaries and nobles, the former Duanzhou prefects squeezed the common people to produce more inkstones in order to obtain their own official promotions. In contrast, Bao Zheng lived a decent life and never made an inkstone privately. His integrity and fairness were appreciated by King Gongchen in the imperial history, and he was finally able to enter the core of the first power, and was appointed as the palace of Cheng, and then served as the Yin of Kaifeng Mansion and other important positions.
At that time, most of the people who served as the Yin of Kaifeng Mansion could only be held by imperial relatives and nobles, which shows how deep Song Renzong's trust in Bao Zheng was. In addition, he was selfless and impartial in enforcing the law during that time, infringing on the interests of many royal relatives and nobles, and even Zhang Yaozuo, the uncle of Zhang Guifei of Song Zhenzong, was deposed by him, offending many powerful people. However, Bao Zheng was unscathed, not only continued to be promoted, but also spent his life safely, which is very rare in history.
Indeed, Bao Zheng was able to be safe and sound, mainly due to the fact that he met a good boss, Song Renzong was a rare emperor in the Northern Song Dynasty, who was able to employ cronyism. Although Bao Zheng has always been ruthless, he put forward many suggestions for governing the country and punished many ** dirty officials, such as Zhang Kejiu, Wang Kui and others. In addition, he also assisted in solving the legendary tanuki case of changing the crown prince, and strongly recommended Song Renzong to establish the crown prince. These things made Bao Zheng deeply favored by Song Renzong, and with a strong background, he could naturally display his talents.
In addition, although Bao Zheng severely punished high-ranking officials and nobles, he also recommended many poor students, such as Wang Ding, Wang Zhuo and Yang Wei, who were known as the Three Tigers of Jiangdong and were as committed to punishing evil officials as Bao Zheng. It is worth noting that the poor students at that time did not have any background, and they naturally supported each other. And Bao Zheng was born as a Jinshi in the fifth year of Tiansheng, and there were thousands of classmates and friends in his class, many of whom became prime ministers or feudal officials, and there were countless others. Bao Zheng did not ignore interpersonal relationships, he naturally knew how to use his connections, especially when he had close contacts with the then Prime Minister Wen Yanbo. So when Bao Zheng was demoted for a wrong recommendation, it didn't take long for him to continue his promotion, and the connections he had built paid off.
In addition, when Bao Zheng cracked down on corrupt officials, officials and magnates, he was to protect the interests of ordinary people and won the trust of the people. With the love of the people, the trust of the emperor and the help of his colleagues, Bao Zheng was naturally not afraid of offending the dignitaries, so he was steadily promoted and spent his life in peace.