What kind of person is Yongzheng?

Yongzheng ruled the country with pragmatism all his life. As soon as he succeeded to the throne, he resolutely punished and eliminated the wind of corruption. He said bluntly to the civil and military officials, "I hate the word" fraud "and" false reputation "most in my life. A "hate" and an "evil" clearly expressed his critical attitude towards corruption such as hypocrisy and fraud. Yongzheng read a lot of memorials every day, ranging from a dozen or twenty to thirty or forty. To this end, he often works late into the night, and sometimes his comments even exceed the words of the memorial itself. Today, there are tens of thousands of memorials approved by Yongzheng in Qing archives, from which we can see Yongzheng's hatred of corruption and pragmatic style. I don't know when the official resume became popular in the officialdom of the Qing Dynasty. When provincial officials first arrived, almost all of them were complaining about the poor management and people's livelihood of local officials. In a few months, they must report how the situation has improved through vigorous rectification to show their talents and achievements. For this kind of report, Yongzheng bluntly pointed out: "Only half of it is credible." On one occasion, Yue Zhongqi, governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi, truthfully reported the severe drought in several provinces and regions. Yongzheng praised him for saying: Everything in the local area was truthfully reported, and there was nothing to hide, only to my liking. I hope that ministers at home and abroad will only say one word from the heart in their work. The usual methods used by corrupt officials to squeeze the people are apportionment and deduction. In the third year of Yongzheng (AD 1725), Yue Zhongqi, the governor in charge of Sichuan-Shaanxi military and political affairs, synthesized the names of more than 30 provinces, and he truthfully reported the situation to the court. Yongzheng praised Yue Zhongqi for not protecting her fault. He also pointed out that not only Sichuan and Shaanxi, but also other provinces. To this end, Yongzheng sent a large number of officials to Sichuan and Shaanxi to let Yue Zhongqi resolutely and decisively replace the illegal corrupt officials in various counties. The memorial is a tool for communication between the monarch and the minister, which is uploaded and issued. The memorials of civil and military officials in the Qing dynasty were sent to Beijing and directly to the palace gate. Yongzheng pointed out: if something happens, it doesn't hurt to report it several times a month; It's okay. I won't blame you even if I haven't had a passbook for several years. He repeatedly stressed: "only implement, not play by the rules." Ge Sen, the political envoy of Yunnan, is always looking for trouble and playing. Yongzheng criticized him, saying: It's a long way to send people to send these useless letters. I want to know what your intention is. If you want to please the emperor, blackmail your boss, and intimidate your subordinates by secretly typing newspapers, it is really clever. Kangxi's southern tour map (partial) Yongzheng repeatedly warned ministers that one foot is better than one foot. What he cares about is whether the civil and military officials are really doing things, not whether there are many newspapers or not, and whether they are beautiful or not. So he has been strictly controlling officials to go to Beijing to see the emperor. Yongzheng had long discovered that some local officials only looked at the emperor's face and asked the emperor for instructions on the size of their own affairs. In this case, he hit the nail on the head and pointed out that these people are actually shirking their responsibilities and leaving a way out for themselves. In the late Yongzheng period, the Qing government fought against the rebel leaders in Junggar for six consecutive years in the northwest. Yue Zhongqi, the military commander at that time, asked the emperor when to March and how to use troops. Yongzheng severely criticized him, saying: how can I know the local specific situation when I am thousands of miles away? This is something that your general should deal with at the right time and place. How can I be creative and give you an order? Yongzheng believes that it is not necessarily a good official to act according to the rules without considering the local actual situation. E Ertai, governor of Yunnan-Guizhou Province, dared to flexibly execute the imperial edicts that were not completely suitable for local conditions, and put forward different opinions. Yongzheng appreciated him as an official for the country. The governor of Yunnan, Shen blindly catered to the decree, and Yongzheng severely reprimanded him: being an official for himself. Yongzheng just sneered at the sycophants who didn't do practical things, but only put on airs and made superficial articles. On one occasion, after being criticized, A Lang, governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi, and Wu Ge, governor of Shaanxi, blamed themselves on the passbook and said that they were "ignorant slaves". Yongzheng drew a heavy stroke next to the word "ignorance" with a red pen and reprimanded: You are an ignorant person. How can I say that I am ignorant? Yongzheng Zhu criticized Yongzheng that honest officials should also be analyzed in detail. An official, no matter how good his character is, is just a puppet, and can't play a role in governing the world and helping the people. The magistrate of Wuqiao, Zhili, is always happy, clean and quiet, and there is nothing wrong with him, but he is timid and cowardly, so that many things in the local area have been delayed for a long time and it is difficult to improve his work. Li, the governor of Zhili, wanted to promote Chang Sanle from the position of county magistrate, but the official department thought Chang Sanle had no bad record and refused to approve it. Yongzheng had to know about it, and unequivocally pointed out that Chang Sanle was incompetent as an official, which was dereliction of duty and should be removed from office. It seems that under Yongzheng, not to mention corrupt officials, even mediocre people are difficult to get along with. Yong Zhengdi showed no mercy to the removal of corrupt officials and mediocrity, but he showed great care for talents. Tian Wenjing, a senior official in Henan province, resolutely eradicated corrupt officials, which caused many people's dissatisfaction. Someone gave him a list of the top ten crimes. After verification, Yongzheng convicted the false accuser and ordered Tian Wenjing to be promoted to two levels. Yongzheng praised Tian Wenjing's "loyalty to the country" at the memorial service. And kindly comforted Tian Wenjing and said, "Why don't little people gossip? You don't have to be petty. " Li Jue, the governor of Zhejiang Province, was strict and fierce, and did not practice favoritism, which offended many senior officials. These people filed a complaint with Yongzheng in partnership. Yongzheng said that Li Jue had a rough temperament, which is known to all, but he was an "honest man". I admire Li Wei because he is honest and practical. In order to cultivate an efficient team of officials, Yongzheng ordered hundreds of civil and military officials to recommend talents. Yongzheng reigned for only thirteen years. Because he is strict in governing the country and rectifying the bureaucracy, he left a lot of blame. But he can speak freely, encourage officials to express their opinions, and speak freely about local affairs that he does not understand. Yongzheng, as the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, did not pretend to be omnipotent. He doesn't know much about things that are difficult to decide, and he often admits them frankly instead of jumping to conclusions easily. Once, Yongzheng received a memorial on how to handle the affairs of Taiwan Province Province. After reading it, he thought, "There are many merits in it." . However, he did not immediately order the implementation, but very cautiously instructed that he did not dare to issue orders easily without knowing the local situation. Yongzheng transferred the memorial to Fujian Governor Bowman, and asked him to consult with the prefect, company commanders and other officials dealing with Taiwan Province affairs, and select a feasible one to do. Since ancient times, the emperor has been called the son of heaven, and he thinks he knows everything and can do anything. But Yongzheng thought it was unnecessary. He has issued decrees many times, asking the ministers around him to see my fault and directly point out, "If there is something, then correct it, and if there is nothing, then encourage it." In the first year of Yongzheng's accession to the throne, he ordered the Minister of Civil and Military Affairs of the DPRK to write a letter to specifically find fault with the emperor, telling him that I don't blame the fault even if it is inappropriate, but if I go back and prevaricate with some empty words, it is absolutely impossible. There is a man named Zhou Ying in Pagoda of Six Harmonies, Hangzhou, Zhejiang. Yongzheng sent him to Tibet to command the army. Later, he found that Zhou Ying was incompetent and impetuous, which was not well reflected by local officials. Yongzheng said frankly to the ministers around him: Sending Zhou Ying to Tibet was a mistake in employing people. Yongzheng is commendable, not only because he believes that he may make mistakes, especially because once he finds mistakes, he can openly admit them and correct them immediately. In the history of China, Yongzheng was one of the most outstanding emperors. However, as a feudal emperor who tried his best to strengthen autocratic rule, there were inevitably many mistakes, and some even accused him of being a tyrant. But Yongzheng was indeed a pragmatic feudal monarch in governing the country. It was his spirit of seeking truth and being pragmatic that, to a certain extent, got rid of the malpractice left over from the later period of Kangxi, and laid a good foundation for the early development of Qianlong.