ebookland Chapter 207: Zhang Tingyu defiles himself; he is still entitled to be enshrined in the Imperial Ance
Chapter 207: Zhang Tingyu defiles himself; he is still entitled to be enshrined in the Imperial Ance
Zhang Tingyu, a native of Tongcheng, Anhui Province, was born into a family of scholars and officials.
His father, Zhang Ying, served as prime minister during the reign of Emperor Kangxi. Under the strong family learning atmosphere and his father's careful teaching, Zhang Tingyu was well-read since childhood. At the age of 28, he passed the imperial examination and successfully entered the official career.
With his real talents and his father's experience in officialdom, the ambitious Zhang Tingyu had a platform to display his knowledge, and he soon gained the appreciation of Emperor Kangxi.
However, not long after, the "Nine Princes' Struggle for the Throne" incident broke out. Due to his unique vision, Zhang Tingyu stood on the side of the fourth prince Yinzhen early on, and from then on ushered in the peak period of his life.
Since Yongzheng ascended the throne, he has been promoting and employing Zhang Tingyu, giving him high positions and generous salaries. However, Zhang Tingyu is indeed a piece of real gold. No matter where Yongzheng puts him, he can always achieve remarkable results.
Therefore, Yongzheng trusted him even more and promoted him to the chief military minister to assist Yongzheng in dealing with the chaotic and complicated military and national affairs.
During the 13 years of Yongzheng's reign, Zhang Tingyu helped Yongzheng plan and improve the military system, and made great contributions to the harmony and stability of the Qing Dynasty.
Therefore, when Yongzheng died, he left an edict to his successor, Qianlong, stating that when Zhang Tingyu died in the future, he should be given the treatment of being enshrined in the Taimiao.
Zhang Tingyu was very happy to hear this.
However, Yongzheng had another arrangement before his death. When arranging the regents, he not only arranged Zhang Tingyu, but also another person who was at odds with Zhang Tingyu, Ortai.
It is obvious that Yongzheng was very grateful for Zhang Tingyu's contribution to the Qing Dynasty, so he promised him to "enshrine in the Taimiao". However, facing the Qing Dynasty, Yongzheng had to take precautions and kept Ortai and Zhang Tingyu as ministers of state in order to check and balance Zhang Tingyu.
Qianlong naturally understood his father's intention in making such an arrangement, so for many years, Qianlong had been balancing the power between the two sides.
However, in the tenth year of Qianlong's reign, with the death of Ortai, this balance was broken. For this reason, Qianlong had to promote another Manchu to check and balance Zhang Tingyu.
For some reason, Zhang Tingyu changed his humble attitude at this time. Not only did he look down on the newly promoted ministers, but he also began to frequently ask Emperor Qianlong for rewards - the "enshrined in the Taimiao" that Emperor Yongzheng had promised him before.
Emperor Qianlong issued an edict promising that he would be allowed to "enshrine in the Taimiao". However, Zhang Tingyu, after receiving the edict, still refused to give up and asked the emperor to write another letter of guarantee.
Qianlong had no choice but to write a letter of guarantee. After several twists and turns, Emperor Qianlong was completely enraged and decided to strip Zhang Tingyu of his title.
Who would have thought that after only one year of peace, Zhang Tingyu would ask to return home again, but this time Emperor Qianlong did not give the old minister any face.
His only privilege of "being enshrined in the Taimiao" was also revoked. Zhang Tingyu, who was stripped of all his titles, returned to his hometown in Tongcheng, Anhui.
Five years later, he died of illness at home.
However, during these five years, the emperor continued to grow and gradually understood Zhang Tingyu's strengths.
Therefore, he obeyed his father's order and allowed Zhang Tingyu to be enshrined in the Taimiao.
Many people still don’t quite understand the brilliance of Zhang Tingyu. Why did Zhang Tingyu do this? What was so brilliant about it?
As we said before, Zhang Tingyu was well-read and had outstanding abilities, so he must be familiar with those ministers in history who were outstanding in abilities and whose achievements were so great that they threatened the emperor, but who ultimately did not have a good end.
So he had to choose to protect himself. Even though he was at the peak of his career now, if the emperor felt threatened and could not tolerate him, he and his family would probably suffer, so he chose to defile himself.
His brilliance lies in that he grasped the fact that the Qing emperors attached great importance to the legacy, and used the opportunity of being enshrined in the Taimiao as a test run. This move enabled him to spend the last five years of his life in peace, and at the same time, he was also given the honor of being enshrined in the Taimiao after his death.