After Yongle in the Ming Dynasty, the imperial examination system became the main way for the imperial court to select officials, and this practice was broken by a talented Taiyuan man. This man from Taiyuan is Yangguo.
Kangxi ·The Annals of Yangqu County records: "Yang Guo, a native of Yangqu, is the Chief Secretary of the People's Republic of China. Min Hui has a plan to see the experience of electing Xining Wei with his talent. The army is promoted and dispatched, and his breath responds. According to the recommendation of envoys, Jinzhou will be promoted and sentenced. People who move to Dongping Prefecture will have political achievements. People who move to Feixian County will be recommended..."
Yangguo, named Rushi and Huaiquan, was born in Yangqu County, Taiyuan Prefecture, Shanxi Province in the Ming Dynasty. He initially served as a junior official in Xining Wei (today's Huangzhong County, Xining City, Qinghai Province). Due to his outstanding achievements, he was promoted to be a general judge in Jinzhou (today's Linfen, Shanxi Province). Later, he was transferred to Dongping, Shandong Province, and was re elected as the county magistrate for three consecutive terms. His reputation is very good. So, the third year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty（ 1575), the imperial court appointed Yang Guo as the magistrate of Feixian County.
The promotion of Yangguo as the magistrate caused a lot of controversy at that time. Ming History ·Biography records that Li Zhen, who was then the Imperial Historian of the Right Capital of the Imperial Procuratorate, wrote that Liang Daoning, the magistrate of the county, had followed his official duties, but had been recorded as a lower level official, and should punish those who were selfish in order to warn others. The recommendation of officials should not specifically involve high-level people. Lower level aides such as Zhao Jiao and Yang Guo should also be highly commended. Yang Guo and Zhao Jiao were Tongzhi and Judge of Dongping Prefecture respectively at that time. Both of them were officials and were recommended because of their outstanding political achievements. According to the practice at that time, those who were not born in the imperial examinations were not allowed to serve as official seals. Therefore, the Shandong Chief Executive reported to the court and requested that another magistrate be appointed. The prime minister Zhang Juzheng was hearing the corruption case of Sun Mingfeng, a magistrate of Changyi County, Shandong Province, so he explained and instilled the way of "meritocracy, not qualification" to Emperor Wanli, and promoted talents exceptionally.
The Forty second Record of Emperor Mingshen Zongxian recorded: "Shandong Fu pressed the meeting, and the two counties in Feixian County, Tancheng City were short of county magistrate, so it was appropriate to know Yang Guo and Zhao Jiao, the magistrate in Dongping Prefecture, respectively, to take charge of the printing business. However, because they were born in the capital, they were better off than the scholar, and the commission department was granted the order. The imperial court set officials for the people. Since Yang Guo and Zhao Jiao were qualified to govern the people, they could be promoted to two counties. Why should they be qualified?"
The third year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty（ 1575) On October 12 in winter, Yangguo took office in Feixian County. At that time, Fei County, Yizhou, Shandong Province, had frequent natural disasters, rampant bandits, and people were living in poverty. No one could effectively manage it. From the fourth year of Zhengde in the Ming Dynasty (1509) to the second year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1574), Fei County successively replaced 28 prefects, few of whom had served for three years. In particular, in the first year of Wanli (1573) and the second year of Wanli (1574), two new prefects were appointed.
Qianlong ·According to the records of Taiyuan Prefecture, "(Yangguo) got off the bus and released more than 200 people who were negative to Bu, free of rent, and many people were returning to business. They walked through the fields and asked about their sufferings. The two taxes were only for their own. Although there were only a few feet to fight against millet, every chicken and grass had to be sent to the county, and the losers were like a stream. When they were old and ripe, they urged the rich people to go out of the country and set up warehouses in each community. In autumn, they collected and in spring, they scattered, and they collected their rest slightly to prepare for hunger in the old age. Anyone who opens wasteland, resets refugees, supplies official cattle, plants mulberry and jujube, and establishes an official village. " As soon as Yang Guogang came to office, he released all the more than 200 people detained for tax arrears and exempted the rent arrears. Those who stopped business due to tax arrears also started business in succession. Yangguo went to the fields and villages to ask the people of Fei County about their sufferings. For the spring tax and autumn tax collected by the imperial court, it is no longer restricted to the grain. Even a foot of cloth, a chicken and a bunch of grass can be used to offset the tax. The people who pay taxes are flowing. In the year of bumper harvest, Yangguo persuaded the rich farmers to take out some grain to set up a charity warehouse, and in the spring of the next year, he would pay the poor households a little interest, so as to solve the famine in the year of poor harvest. He mobilized farmers to reclaim wasteland, leased the land managed by the government to tenants for farming, and also "planted mulberry and jujube" to perform in person to persuade people to spin. In less than three years, the social outlook of Fei County has been fundamentally improved. According to the Biography of Yang Guo, the magistrate of Fei County, at that time, "Fei County was abandoned and repaired, fallen and lifted, and did not pick up any leftovers. The officials were free from evils, lazy and indifferent, white and unfeeling, and the customs were mellow and beautiful.".
It is recorded in the Biography of Yangguo, the magistrate of Fei County, that on the second day of his tenure, Yangguo went to the county school to worship the Confucius memorial tablet and called scholars to give lectures. However, when he went to the county school to sit down, no one came to see him. Obviously, Confucian scholars did not pay attention to the magistrate who was born as an official. Yangguo saw the clue and immediately posted a notice saying that the county school would be held on a certain day in a certain month "Quarterly exam". In this way, the Confucian scholars dare not neglect, because according to the system, if they fail in the quarterly examination, they will cancel the plasters and silver, or take off the square towel on their head, which is to revoke the scholar qualification. However, the Confucians still bullied Yang Guo for not having won the imperial examination. They secretly colluded and decided to play a trick on the county magistrate. They scribbled on the test paper, or deliberately wrote an article that was illogical and had a string of rare words, or just perfunctorily used several lines of words, or played as slang words to make jokes. They wanted to test Yang Guo and see how he rated the article. Yangguo did not show any emotion, and rewarded the Confucian scholars with good wine and food. After that, Yang Guo packed all the test papers and sealed them, and wrote a report to the Yanzhou School Inspector overnight. The report said: I have no official reputation, and I can't evaluate the merits of the article; The county school's teaching instructions, instructions and Confucian scholars are too familiar to make a fair judgment. Please review it in person and evaluate it. The news spread before the report was sent. The Confucian scholars wore prison clothes one by one, kowtowed and begged Yang Guo to review them in person. No one dared disobey. Teach Shi Bozuo, instruct Gao Yunyi and plead on behalf of him. Yang Guo goes down the slope and immediately draws a pen to mark the points to determine the pros and cons. Until Yang Guo stepped down, no Confucian scholar dared to make trouble again.
When Yangguo left office, the people competed with each other to cry, like losing their parents. Yang Yunfang, a native of the town, and others built a shrine for Yang Guo to repay him. Later, Yangguo was worshipped "Fei County Minghuan Temple"
Sun Kun
