Selling plaster to tell fortune
In the forty-four years of Qianlong, there was a charlatan named Zhi Tianbao in Gaoyi County, Zhili. Zhi Tianbao's medical skills are average, and his luck has been bad. He once opened a drugstore in Zhou Qi, but because of bad business, he had to close it soon. In order to save the rent on the pavement, Zhi Tianbao became a quack, living without a fixed address, and could only sell plasters everywhere to make a living. At that time, there was a helper named Zhang who often went to Zhitianbao to buy medicine because of chronic back pain. In the long run, the two gradually became acquainted.
For Zhang, selling coolies as servants is not a long-term solution. It happened that once, Zhi Tianbao lived in his house for a few days, and Zhang wanted to learn from Zhi Tianbao as a teacher and learn from him to boil plasters. Although Zhi Tianbao has no level, his mind is full of crooked ways to make a fortune. Facing this cheap apprentice delivered to the door, Zhi Tianbao suddenly had a plan.
One day after his apprenticeship, Zhi Tianbao took out a book called "The Destiny of the Qing Dynasty". He told Zhang that this book was passed on to his treasure by Qianlong when he met the old master on the way to collect medicine at Camel Cliff in twenty-seven years. If this book is dedicated to the emperor, it will be rich in the future. Egged on by Zhi Tianbao, Zhang finally failed to resist the temptation. After learning that Ganlong was going to be buried, Zhang rushed to the Imperial Road one day in advance and knelt on the ground, blocking the way to present the book. The book finally got into the hands of Qianlong.
In fact, this book was not given to Zhi Tianbao by an old master, but was fabricated by Zhi Tianbao himself. The general content of the book originally said that the Qing National Games lasted for a long time, even longer than the Zhou Dynasty, and he also calculated the names of the years after Qianlong through gossip, and he set the number of years after Qianlong as 57 years. This means that Gan Long will live 13 years, and be 80 years old. Zhi Tianbao did this just to please Emperor Qianlong. Because ancient emperors rarely lived to be over 80 years old. Zhi Tianbao finished writing this book and intended to give it to Gan Long himself. But he was not sure, so he found Zhang and asked Zhang to submit a book.
What he thinks is that if Qianlong is happy, he can say that he has found it. If Qianlong is not happy, then put the matter on Zhang. Unexpectedly, after reading this book, Ganlong flew into a rage and immediately ordered Zhang to be executed. Zhang certainly doesn't want to be such a sucker. He tried to argue that it was given to him by Zhi Tianbao and asked him to show it. As a result, Zhi Tianbao was quickly arrested and brought to justice. Qianlong sentenced Zhitianbao to death on the grounds that Zhitianbao lied about the number of days and mentioned the respect and taboo of emperors in previous dynasties. Zhang was sentenced to beheading for his deception and ignorance, and waited in prison, which was executed in the autumn.
This is the famous literary inquisition in the Qing Dynasty, "Zhitianbao fabricated a book case for ten thousand years". It is estimated that Zhi Tianbao will be very unconvinced until he dies. As I said before, Zhitianbao did this just to please Qianlong and get some benefits. In Zhi Tianbao's view, 70-year-old life is already rare, not to mention being a hard-working and energy-consuming emperor. Moreover, it is true that few emperors in history can live to be over 80 years old. Anyway, this sentence made Qianlong happy, but how could the emperor be unhappy instead?
Speaking of it, this is what we often say today: "Poverty limits imagination". As an ordinary person, Zhi Tianbao is over 80 years old and feels very satisfied. But the emperor would never think so. What the emperor wants is "I really want to live for another 500 years" and "Long live". Then, where can the wisdom of leopards meet the requirements of Emperor Qianlong?
Besides the age that Zhi Tianbao said, Gan Long was not satisfied with the accident. There is another very important reason. Zhi Tianbao talked about the emperor, the royal family and the dynasty. This incident itself is a gross violation of the Tao. Can the emperor's dynasty be discussed? When you talk about it, you have a judgment. Whether it is good judgment or bad judgment, it will affect the dignity of imperial power. Zhi Tianbao didn't understand this truth. He was executed, which he deserved. (Reference:
"Qing Shi Lu")