The story of praying for blessings in Gongwangfu
Gongwangfu is located in Qianhai West Street in Beijing today, covering an area of about 90 mu. The southern half is a magnificent mansion, and the northern half is a beautiful garden. In the center of Cuijinyuan Middle Road is a towering rockery in Taihu Lake. There is a cave at the foot of the mountain. The center of the cave is backed by a stone wall, and a niche is built with stone. The "blessing tablet" is placed in the niche. This blessed word was given to Xiao Shenyang by Emperor Qianlong and written by Emperor Kangxi. There is a seal of Kangxi directly above. The six characters "the treasure of Emperor Kangxi's imperial pen" are enough to illustrate this point. The field under the blessing word is not sealed, which means that the territory is boundless.
I can only say it from the historical facts. At present, according to the poems written by Prince Gong and his descendants, I have not found such a description of happiness.
What if "Blessing Monument" is in Prince Gong's game? If you enter the yamen during the period, according to common sense, Prince Gong should put it in a conspicuous place to show off, and it should be recorded. If not, then the biggest possibility is that the "blessing tablet" already existed in this mansion before Yixin. In fact, it was not Gong's first master.
In the forty-first year of Qianlong, Emperor Qianlong personally approved the promotion of one of his minions from Zhenghongqi to Zhenghuangqi, which was called "raising the flag". He also gave a piece of land by the Shichahai River in Deshengmen, Huang Zheng, to build a garden. This minister is Xiao Shenyang, and this member is He Fu. According to records, the place given by Emperor Qianlong at that time was very close to the later location of Gongwangfu.
Such treatment should be a great honor for a minister. For Xiao Shenyang, this is just one of the many honors he has enjoyed in his life.
Xiao Shenyang is a famous traitor in history. He embezzled, took bribes and collected money in his official career. But he was young, promising and successful, and won the favor of Emperor Qianlong.
It is said that Ganlong found him because Ganlong came all the way. He wants to recite Zhu Zhu and Zhu Zhu's works in The Analects of Confucius. He felt that there was a place that seemed a little unbearable, or a little forgotten. He occasionally asked the ministers nearby, but none of them could get through. At this time, Xiao Shenyang was only 27 years old. He walks on the left side of his car, he answers.
Since then, little Shenyang has risen to the top. In October of the 40th year of Qianlong, 26-year-old Shenyang was promoted to the bodyguard of Ganqingmen, and in November he was promoted to the imperial bodyguard, and was awarded the deputy commander of Zhenglanqi. In the first month of forty-one, Assistant Minister Zuo of the Ministry of Accounts was granted, Minister of Military Affairs in March and Minister of the Interior in April. In a short period of half a year, Xiao Shenyang jumped from an ordinary guard officer to the highest power figure in the Qing Dynasty and became the deputy curator of the National History Museum.
When he was in the summer resort, there was a small Shenyang residence and a temporary residence next to him. Wherever he goes, he follows the nobles. On one occasion, it was written in Xiao Shenyang's own poem. One dog day, the gentleman stayed at home, and Qianlong sent someone to bring him fallen litchi and fresh litchi.
In this sense, as his favorite, it is also reasonable for Emperor Qianlong to give a mansion to Xiao Shenyang as a mansion. Is this mansion the present Gongwangfu?
According to the strict hierarchical system of the Qing Dynasty, there is a clear distinction between origins. Xiao Shenyang is a Manchu, born in humble origins. According to the regulations, a man of his background can be rich, but not valuable. No matter how much the emperor dotes on him, it is impossible to live in such a prince-level mansion. Some scholars have put forward their own views on this issue.
A Dream of Red Mansions is one of China's four classical novels, which has an immortal position in the history of literature. According to scholars' research, Cao Xueqin's description of Jia Zhai in A Dream of Red Mansions comes from his own living environment, namely Cao Zhai. More interestingly, the scenery of the Jia family described in A Dream of Red Mansions has many overlaps with that of the Gong family. For example, Tianxiangyuan and Tianxiangge in Gongwangfu, Xijinzhai and Hongyiyuan in A Dream of Red Mansions and so on. Accordingly, some scholars believe that the predecessor of Gongwangfu was actually the residence of Cao Xueqin's grandfather Cao Yin, which existed as early as the Kangxi period.
Then, can small Shenyang build such a mansion for its own living?
So the house he built here was mainly for the princess, and he built the Princess House, which was discovered in the process of our transformation. Moreover, according to the reaction of his descendants, the gate was decorated with phoenix at that time, so it can be proved that this place is the Princess House, so he built it after he was engaged to the princess and before she got married.
It turns out that Xiao Shenyang is very good at gaining a foothold in officialdom. In order to completely change his humble origin, he took the initiative to marry into the royal family to improve his status. He once took his 6-year-old son to see the emperor. Gan Long likes this clever boy very much, and now he is named Fengšenyende. And betrothed his beloved daughter Princess Xiao to him.
In the fifty-fourth year of Qianlong, 15-year-old Princess Gulun and Xiao married to what family. At that time, there were countless treasures accompanying him, which showed that Emperor Qianlong loved little Shenyang and the princess. Could Fuzibei have arrived at Hefu at this time? There is no way to check this problem now. But if this mansion is used by Qianlong to marry his daughter, it will meet the standards of status and rank. But new problems have emerged. If Qianlong gave the "blessing tablet" to Xiao Shenyang or the princess, why didn't they hang it in a conspicuous place to show off, but hid it in a secret cave?
This place can be said to be a treasure trove of feng shui. Why is it said to be a treasure trove of geomantic omen? It depends on the map. According to the photo album, this place is where dragons and tigers meet, so his place is hidden dragon and crouching tiger.
This is a map of Beijing in the long years of Zhang Qian. From the map, the mansion of Little Shenyang is located in Huangzheng Banner in the northwest of Beijing, and it is built by water. Legend has it that this is the Long Mai in Beijing, and He Fu's back garden was built on this Long Mai. Xiao Shenyang is very superstitious about Feng Shui. After getting the "blessing tablet", he put it in the dragon cave of Miyun Cave and dedicated it carefully, hoping to make himself prosperous through Long Mai and the first blessing in the world.
Legends are legends after all. After Jiaqing ascended the throne, Xiao Shenyang was sentenced to 20 felonies and was dismissed. Little Shenyang is not as lucky as he hoped.
Then, if the "blessing tablet" is a dowry given to his daughter by Emperor Qianlong, why didn't he give him Mo Bao, but a relic of the previous dynasty? Some scholars have questioned this issue.
In the book A Dream of Red Mansions, the author puts forward a new view on the origin of "Confucius Monument". He believes that the owner of the Confucius tablet should be a person who has close ties with Emperor Kangxi and has many ups and downs in politics. Who could this person be?
According to this book, the earliest owner of Fuzi Monument may be Cao Xueqin's grandfather Cao Yin. Emperor Kangxi is inextricably linked with the Cao family. Cao Yin's mother Sun Shi is Kangxi's wet nurse, and Cao Yin is Kangxi's wet brother. They are very close. Emperor Kangxi lived in Cao Yin's home many times when he went down to the south of the Yangtze River. Kangxi also married a princess to Cao Yin's son Cao Yong. Under such circumstances, it is also reasonable to give the princess a word "blessing" to balance her psychology of marrying and painting. At the same time, the Cao family experienced ups and downs and was quite cautious politically. Therefore, during the Yongzheng period, placing a blessing tablet in the abode of fairies and immortals was not only a reverence and nostalgia for Kangxi, but also a hostility and awe for Yongzheng.
As for how the "Confucius Monument" came to Gongwangfu, we don't have an exact history to verify whether it was Cao's mansion or He's mansion, but this royal treasure has survived hundreds of years of wind and rain, and it is very valuable to show it to the world. It also left us with a historical unsolved case to be solved by future generations.
The reason why the "blessing tablet" becomes a treasure is that the blessing words on the "blessing tablet" include the words of talent, longevity, domain and multi-domain, which embodies the meaning of being blessed, versatile, longevity and multi-domain. Besides, Tian Zi has no seal. Who doesn't want to have an endless field? Aren't these what people want most in life? Therefore, the "Blessing Monument" is sought after by the world.
The reason why the "Confucius Monument" has never been taken away by the emperor in Gongwangfu is because the small Shenyang has set the Confucius Monument at the intersection of Long Mai, a secret cave. It is impossible for the emperor to destroy the geomantic omen of the whole capital for this Confucius Monument, so he has stayed in Gongwangfu until now.