A few years ago, when I was reading the Qing Feng County Records in the Three Years of the Republic of China, I read a tragic event in qingfeng county 374 years ago (the fifteenth year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty 1642) in the chapter of Loyalty Festival:
"Chongzhen Renwu (1642), the Qing army went south, and the counties in Hebei province ran away. Qingyi city was holed up for eight days, and the city fell. Temporary martyrdom is not a way to die. "
The subsequent "Qingfeng County Records" recorded the tragic course of the incident in detail, which made me cry several times and couldn't bear to watch it again. In this incident, I learned about the extraordinary family story of Zheng He, a saint of Qingfeng.
After field visits and investigations, I have a deeper understanding of this family. According to the introduction of the descendants of Zheng in Qingshituo Village, Daliu Township, and Huangying Village, Datun Township, qingfeng county today, and the records of Zheng's genealogy, the history of Zheng's family began in the late Ming Dynasty, and the ancestors were Zheng Shitong and Zheng Shida. The second is Zheng Zicheng, a filial piety official in Dongchang, and Zheng Ziqing, an official in Hanzhong, Shaanxi. According to Qingfeng County Records, "Zheng Ziqing was born in this city. Offering poems with children is expensive, and Shaanxi Hanzhong satrap promotes officials. I have been very good at taking care of my loved ones since I was a child, and I will take care of them when I am sick. The prosecution delayed seeing a doctor until I gave up sleeping and eating. On the day of his death, he mourned and died, and three years passed like one day. ...... Since the Qing Dynasty, people have been frank and frank, enthusiastic about helping the world, and the clan party has relied on it for its wealth. Tasting the word "honesty" in the book is the first step. There are three in seventy. " As can be seen from the records, Zheng Ziqing was a charitable and dutiful son, and he advocated the family style of "integrity and loyalty". Because of his son Zheng's contribution to society, he was promoted to be an official in Hanzhong, Shaanxi.
In order to defend Qingfeng-xiangguang fracture, two brothers were killed at the same time.
Zheng, his son, was very clever since he was a child. Because of his excellent academic performance, he was "walked" to imperial academy as a student, which was called "selecting tribute". According to "Qingfeng County Records", Zheng "gave the manager of Hanzhong a warning, but the criminal officer ordered people's lives, so as not to help their joys and sorrows, so as to make me worry. Dedicated to poetry and service. He used to be a colleague of Qingyang House, and he was quite official. " "* * * thousand, the human body wishes it." Three years later, he got the best score in the examination, so his father was blocked. Zheng was promoted to Sima of Qingyang County, and he was in office for five years. "When it comes to this matter, he is the best." Later, he was promoted to Qingyang Prefecture Tongzhi. Zheng is "born with integrity and filial piety". He has a younger brother named Zheng, who is the supervisor of the Ming Dynasty Temple. Zheng is very kind to his brother. "You are very friendly and affectionate, and your family is also very tolerant. Do your best to make way for your brother and be willing to pay for it. " Brotherhood is obvious.
In the fifteenth year of Chongzhen (1642), Zheng was very worried because his father was old and seriously ill, so he resigned and went back to his hometown to take care of his elderly father. In the twelfth month of this year, Huang Taiji sent Abatai, the seventh son of Nurhachi, to lead the army south again, plundering property and attacking qingfeng county crazily. Faced with the precipitous situation, the Zheng brothers resolutely bid farewell to their families, gave everything they had, and joined other gentry and sages in Qingfeng at that time in the battle to defend the city. After eight days of hard fighting, the city was still breached and Zheng's brother was captured by the enemy at the same time. At this time, Zheng "was indomitable with his harsh voice, which surprised everyone." He is giving a poem and trying to kill a book. The poet took the book and said,' This is my brother. He is ill. I am willing to die for him. The crowd laughed at it and dragged it away. Poetry sticks when it is given, and knives are littered. When the two brothers found out, they both called them killed. "
This touching scene is recorded in detail in the History of Pain in Chongzhen: Zheng "fought for several arrows in the face, and brothers fought side by side, each seeking his own death, with the ancient style of brothers and sisters, and his death was the worst." What a tragic scene it is to "hit your face without rest"; What a touching scene it is for brothers to "ask for more happiness". In this battle, this true and sincere brotherhood has been brutally confirmed. Hu Shi, the wife of Zheng, and Zheng's wife, after hearing the bad news that their husbands died generously, the two sisters-in-law met and came to the temple to "cry and worship, draw their swords and kill themselves, and their throats are still unfinished to save their lives." (Chen) His neck is broken. "From this bold move, we can see Zheng Zhonghou's family style.
The son refused Li Zicheng's official seal and surrendered to the Qing Dynasty.
Zheng's son's name is Kevin·Z. He is "honest and talented in financial management". During the Chongzhen period, he was appointed as the county magistrate of Feicheng, Shandong Province by the Ming Dynasty. At that time, society was in turmoil and bandits were everywhere. Zheng donated his salary and organized local armed forces with the squire of Feicheng County to protect the safety of the people in the county and became famous in one fell swoop.
At that time, as a Fujun, he appreciated Zheng's talent very much, just in time for bandits to invade Tai 'an and let Zheng lead troops to solve the siege of Tai 'an. Wang Yongji admired his talent, promoted him to "pre-military discipline", and later served as "Shandong Dongchang Military Supervisor, according to the Procuratorate", and was stationed in Qingyuan. After hearing his father's death and the bad news at home, he hurried back to Qingfeng's house. At this time, the Qing soldiers had retreated, and Zheng secretly looked for the traitor who tipped off the Qing soldiers and helped them kill their father. After finding it, "kill it, spit out its flesh, and let the ancestor mourn in front of him." And built a house in front of the tomb to guard his father's grave.
In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, wars continued. While Kevin·Z was guarding his father's grave and doing filial piety, thieves and robbers became rampant again. For safety, Kevin·Z was advised to leave the cemetery, but Kevin·Z was unmoved. Later, the magistrate of Qingfeng at that time was Duan Tengzao (the last magistrate of Qingfeng in Ming Dynasty and the first magistrate of Qingfeng in Qing Dynasty), who personally went to the grave to ask Zheng to come out of the mountain to help qingfeng county resist bandits. So, Zheng donated his savings and defended qingfeng county with the county magistrate * * *, successfully repelling the thieves' attack. Later, Li Zicheng's army passed by the Qingfeng-xiangguang fracture, and Kevin·Z was asked to wear official clothes. Kevin·Z refused and burned the official clothes they brought, expressing his loyalty to the Ming Dynasty.
Two years later, the Ming Dynasty perished. Wang Yongji, a former "Shandong right-wing imperial envoy" who was grateful to Kevin·Z, surrendered to the Qing Dynasty and became an assistant minister of the Ministry of Industry. Zheng was advised to make it clear, but Zheng refused. Kevin·Z "has been generous and generous all his life, and his demeanor once lived in the forest, so there are mountains and rivers." After being captured by Qing soldiers, Qingfeng arrived in Jiangnan and vowed not to be cleansed. He died in Gaoyou in his fifties. Later buried in Zhengjiafen. Kevin·Z's son, Zheng Ruqing, is a doctor.
I admire Kevin·Z's talent and moral character very much, and praise Kevin·Z: "His bones are very proud, his appearance is Dong, his poetry and wine have fallen through the ages, and his skills are rampant, and he has been able to praise the wind, the weapon of a national scholar, the chest of talents, and the feathers are." After Kevin·Z's death, Wang Yongji erected a big tombstone for Kevin·Z. In the 18th year of Jiaqing in Qing Dynasty (18 13), there was a famine, and the tombstone of Zheng's position was sold by his people privately, so more than a dozen people could not lift it. At this time, the mother of Zheng Kuiguang, the tenth grandson of Zheng, was disturbed. She offered to redeem the stone tablet, but the people did not agree. Fan Shi sued the county government to redeem the stone tablet for reconstruction. Because of this, Fan Shi was named "Feng Qingzhen Festival County Records". However, more than 200 years later, this huge monument has disappeared.
The descendants of Zheng can't tell the story of their ancestors' loyalty and filial piety.
After more than 370 years, I am still moved by the story of Zheng, a saint of Qingfeng. I went to Huangying Village, Datun Township, qingfeng county to look for descendants of Zheng. Speaking of these stories of the Zheng family that deeply moved me, the descendants of the Zheng family are unheard of.
They took out a portrait of an ancestor whose name they didn't know. After carefully identifying the praise written by Wang Yongji above the portrait, they determined that it was a portrait of Kevin·Z. Through the introduction of the Zheng family in the village, we saw the Zheng family tree hanging in Qingshituo Village, Daliu Township. More than 370 years ago, Zheng Xianxian was in power, but no one knew their touching stories. In the Zheng family cemetery-"Zhengjiafen", according to the descendants of Zheng, in recent years, the cemetery has been repeatedly excavated, and people have been stolen again after being reinforced with cement. We saw a grave with half the soil cut off. Zheng's descendants said that this is Zheng's tomb. After excavation, it was found that Zheng's tomb was a double-layer structure, with a fake tomb above and a real tomb below. Visible at that time, Kevin·Z was afraid of his father's coffin being occupied, and took great pains. His filial piety is still touching. Unfortunately, the true and false tombs have been stolen and dug, which is embarrassing.
I am proud that the son has such sages in Qingfeng, the hometown of hippo chef, and I am deeply ashamed and uneasy that these sages, which can be regarded as models of loyalty, filial piety and righteousness, have been buried in old paper for a long time. Turning to the yellow pages of Historical Records, the tearful and fiery words seem to have penetrated the long historical vicissitudes. It seems that we can still see the tenacious Qingfeng people, who are loyal to their guts, and we can really feel their angry breathing and splashing blood.