Gongsun Hong, a native of Fengchuan, was famous for his knowledge of "Poetry" and "Book". In the first year of Emperor Wen of Han (179 BC), the 21-year-old Gongsun Hong was recruited as a doctor together with the same age of Jia Yi . Dong Zhongshu was just born that year. When Emperor Wen just ascended the throne, a group of meritorious officials and nobles, including Chen Ping, , , Zhou Bo, , and other meritorious officials. Young Confucian scholars like Jia Yi and Gongsun Hong were excluded. Jia Yi was exiled to serve as prime minister in Changsha Kingdom, and Gongsun Hong also left his post for a mistake. When he was poor, Gongsun Hong was forced to be a pigherder in the county and country to go to the beach to raise pigs. At the age of forty, he started to learn " Spring and Autumn Gongyang Chuan ", and also achieved success in his studies and became famous in counties and countries.
Han Dynasty Confucian scholar
After being summoned to the court for the third time, Emperor Wu sent a book to all the virtuous people to ask about the way of heaven and man. Taichang After marking the paper, I think Gongsun Hong’s countermeasures are cliché and have little novelty, so I listed them as inferior. Unexpectedly, after the memorial was submitted, Emperor Wu took a fancy to Gongsun Hong's article at a glance, promoted it to the top, and ordered Gongsun Hong to come to see him and become a doctor.
As a Confucian classicist, Gongsun Hong's study of "The Book of Gongyang in the Spring and Autumn Period" is not as good as Dong Zhongshu, who has a more scholarly atmosphere. But Gongsun Hong's work has been smoother after years of polishing, and his thoughts are closer to reality. The four key points of governing the country proposed in the countermeasures are benevolence, righteousness and etiquette promoted by Confucian , and the power and skills of Legalism . Emperor Wu of Han Confucianism outside and law inside . Although he accepted Dong Zhongshu's suggestion that Confucianism was the only one who respected Confucianism, he only used Confucianism's unification idea to safeguard the imperial power, and did not truly use Confucian classics to govern the country. Deep down, Emperor Wu of Han recognized the Legalists, which was in line with Emperor Wu's usual domineering style. Dong Zhongshu was too angry and more idealistic, and would not be flexible and flexible, so Emperor Wu respected him without using it.
outside Confucianism and internal law in Han Wudi
Gongsun Hong is different, he is good at integrating and adapting. For example, if you advocate that law is not far away from righteousness and not far away from etiquette, that is, law should take into account morality and human feelings and not far away from morality, the people will obey the law and not deviate from morality; harmony should adhere to basic interpersonal principles and not far away from etiquette, and the people will be close to each other without conflict. This concept of governing the country with the convergence of Confucianism and Law is more practical than pure Confucianism, and it is also very compatible with the temper of Emperor Wu of Han, so Gongsun Hong was valued by Emperor Wu. In the fifth year of Yuanshuo (124 BC), Gongsun Hong was granted the title of marquis and presided over by Emperor Wu and reached the peak of his life.
Since the founding of the Han Dynasty, the prime ministers have been meritorious officials and nobles. Only Gongsun Hong was born in a commoner and did not have Marquis . Therefore, Emperor Wu issued an edict to grant 650 households in Pingjin Township to Prime Minister Gongsun Hong as the Marquis of Pingjin. Gongsun Hong thus became the first person to be granted a marquis as prime minister in the Han Dynasty, and the practice of being granted a marquis as prime minister began here.
Emperor Wu appointed Gongsun Hong on the one hand to promote Confucianism in governing the country, and on the other hand, he valued Gongsun Hong's background and had no political background. Gongsun Hong, the common prime minister, also knew the intention of Emperor Wu and never had a head-on dispute with Emperor Wu. Once Emperor Wu disagrees with him, Gongsun Hong immediately admitted his mistake and apologized for the long-term plan. When Emperor Wu asked about politics, Gongsun Hong always put forward all kinds of suggestions and let Emperor Wu choose himself.
However, Gongsun Hong was not obedient to Emperor Wu without principles. As a Confucian scholar, he defended his bottom line. Emperor Wu of Han once wanted to implement the construction of Shuofang County in the north, Canghai County in the North, and the operation of the southwest Yi . Gongsun Hong believed that the people's burden was too heavy, so he submitted a memorial to not repair Shuofang County in the north, and Emperor Wu refused to allow it.But Gongsun Hong did not give up, but took a step back to apologize to Emperor Wu and gave Emperor Wu a step. Then he made Emperor Wu of Han stop canghai County and operate the southwest barbarians, reducing the burden on the people.
Map of the Western Han Dynasty
Doctor of the Han Dynasty specializes in academic research. Although the emperor can ask about politics for doctoral affairs, he is only consulting. Doctors do not play much role in political decision-making. After Emperor Wu of Han dismissed hundreds of schools of thought, the court only established doctors who studied the Five Confucian classics, but at this time, the Five Confucian classics doctors only had more say than before and still had no decision-making power. It was not until Gongsun Hong's appearance that changed this situation.
Gongsun Hong stipulated that the Five Classics Doctors have 50 disciples to be used as a backup for the talent pool, and select talents from them to become officials through the classics and art exams, linking classics with fame and fame. So people from all over the world competed to study the scriptures, and Confucian scholars and officials became an independent political force. When Emperor Wu of Han died, the four auxiliary ministers who left for Emperor Zhao of Han , Huo Guang , , Jin Rizhi , , Shangguan Jie , and , Sang Hongyang were all heroes and nobles. When Emperor Xuan of Han was dying, he left three auxiliary ministers Shi Gao, Xiao Wangzhi and Zhou Kan, and only Shi Gao was the relative of the foreign affairs, and Xiao Wangzhi and Zhou Kan were both Confucian scholars. The promoter behind this change is Gongsun Hong.
Dong Zhongshu laid the theory, Gongsun Hong implemented it in detail, and the two made great contributions to the development of Confucianism . But when people mention "abolish all schools of thought and respect Confucianism alone", they will only think of Dong Zhongshu, and Gongsun Hong's popularity is much smaller. On the one hand, Dong Zhongshu took the lead in putting forward the views and concealed the light of later generations. On the other hand, Gongsun Hong’s personal morality is a disadvantage and is not praised by later generations. Gongsun Hong is a broad-minded person, but in fact he is narrow-minded. Because Dong Zhongshu was more talented than Gongsun Hong, Gongsun Hong tried to move Dong Zhongshu to the Prime Minister of Jiaoxi. King Jiaoxi is spoiled and illegal, cruel and violent. Gongsun Hong wanted to kill someone with a knife, but Dong Zhongshu was lucky. After being the prime minister of Jiaoxi for several years, he resigned from his post and went to concentrate on his studies.
For other court officials, Gongsun Hong also often digs holes to mix. Every time he reported something, Gongsun Hong would ask others to tell him first, and he would change his mind when he saw Emperor Wu's face, so he was praised and trusted by Emperor Wu. But he also offended the court officials. Zhichen Ji An has been tricked by him many times. Ji An was so angry that he accused Gongsun Hong of being deceitful and ruthless in front of Emperor Wu and the court officials. He agreed to submit a memorial with me, but in the end he changed his mind and opposed the memorial he had discussed at the beginning, which was a manifestation of disloyalty. Gongsun Hong held a grudge against Ji An because of this. There are many high-ranking officials and royal relatives living in the world, which is difficult to manage. Gongsun Hong proposed to Emperor Wu to transfer Ji An to the right inner historian, hoping that Ji An would violate the great officials and nobles and cause trouble. But Ji An is upright and has strict law enforcement, and Emperor Wu respects him very much. In the right internal historian's position, the political affairs were handled in an orderly manner and never been neglected.
has such a stain, so it is not surprising that Gongsun Hong is not as famous as Dong Zhongshu. But it is not right to conclude that Gongsun Hong is a bad person. The fact that he was able to persuade Emperor Wu to put the people of the world as the most important thing is a highlight. In addition, as a prime minister, Gongsun Hong had a high salary, but was very low and frugal. History records that he "slept at night to make a cloth quilt" and "eat a meal with a meat and a grain of rice." The salary was used to help Zhou Zhuan's grassroots era friends. Ji An said that his frugality was to seek fame, and he responded that Qi State Guan Zhong's life was rich and luxurious, while Yan Ying's frugality and simplicity, both of them governed the Qi State well. The conclusion is that whether the life of a subject is luxurious or simple is just a matter of personal life style and has nothing to do with his contribution to the country. From this perspective, Gongsun Hong did suffer from personal morality, but it did not have much negative impact on his governance. He established the political status of Confucian Confucianism, and was able to put the people of the world first in the process of governing, and he still made contributions to the country and the people.
