★Travel location: Pingyuan Ancient Town, Zhijin County, Bijie, Guizhou
The Ding Gong Temple commemorates Ding Baozhen. In the front is a full-body statue of Ding Baozhen. There is a white screen wall behind it. The relief in the middle part is actually two dragons, which was definitely made in ancient times. What Ssangyong is holding is a seal, I don't know what it means. The main building is newly built and turned into the Ding Baozhen Exhibition Hall. In addition to some manuscripts and materials, there are also graphic introductions, which give a comprehensive introduction to Ding Baozhen's life and achievements.
Walking into the hall, there is a seated portrait of Ding Baozhen in the middle, with a pair of couplets on both sides: "Dezhen first-rank officials follow first-rank, merits are nearly ten and silver is short of ten", which highly summarizes the life of this famous official of the Qing Dynasty.
Ding Baozhen, a Jinshi in the third year of Xianfeng, was selected as a scholar of the Imperial Academy. There is nothing special about this official title. In my opinion, if it is not released as an official, many Jinshi are in this position, which is relatively noble. Soon after Ding You returned to his hometown because of his mother's death, just as Yang Longxi in Zunyi rebelled, Ding Baozhen recruited 800 strong men to defend his hometown with all his wealth. When Ding You's term expired, the Miao people rebelled again. The governor of Guizhou at that time asked Ding Baozhen to stay in the anti-insurgency army. Ding Baozhen was awarded the post of editor and recruited 4,000 soldiers. . Later, he successively served as the prefect of Yuezhou and the prefect of Changsha.
In the second year of Tongzhi, Ding Baozhen was appointed as the inspector of Shandong. Yan Jingming, the governor of Shandong at that time, greeted him in person in the suburbs. In the third year of Tongzhi, he was promoted to be the governor of Shandong Province. Seng Gelinqin died in battle in Caozhou, and Ding Baozhen was impeached and demoted to the fourth rank. Later, Sun Ji and Zhu Zhen collected Luo Zhi for other crimes and impeached him. Zeng Guofan believed that Luo Zhi was not guilty. Yan Jingming recommended Ding Baozhen when he was old, so the imperial court appointed him governor of Shandong. In the sixth year of Tongzhi and the seventh year of Tongzhi, in the battle between the East and West Nian Army, Ding Baozhen led 3,000 elite infantry to aid the north, and moved to the states of Xiongxiong, Ren, Shen, Qi, Gao, and Su, regained Raoyang, and added the title of Prince Taibao.
Ding Baozhen then did a very gratifying thing, which was to punish An Dehai in Jinan, Shandong. Although An Dehai was an eunuch, people in the country were familiar with him. He was a celebrity in front of the Empress Dowager Cixi. In the eighth year of Tongzhi, when Andehai arrived in Tai'an, Ding Baozhen sent cavalry to arrest him, took him to Jinan, and reported to the court closely, enumerating his illegal activities and rectifying him on the spot. This efficiency was also carried by the procrastinating Qing Dynasty.
In the second year of Guangxu, Ding Baozhen was granted the title of Toutin Dingdai, Prince Shaobao, Minister of the Ministry of War, and Yudu Yushi of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. He acted as the governor of Sichuan and became a local official. At that time, the officials in Sichuan were corrupt, and incidents of theft and robbery emerged one after another. After he took office, he worked hard to rule the country and declared that he would not pick up lost things on the road. Cixi specially wrote a picture of "Baozhen of the Country", which shows that the Qing Dynasty attached great importance to Ding Baozhen at that time.
In the twelfth year of Guangxu, Ding Baozhen died at the age of sixty-six. This high-ranking and powerful figure in the Qing Dynasty's real power faction was in debt when he was critically ill, and the entourage around him gathered funds to handle the funeral and help the coffin back to his hometown. In fact, as a great official in Xinjiang, Ding Baozhen's salary was definitely not low, but at that time Sichuan was poor, and most of it was used to help the poor people. Therefore, when he was governor of Sichuan, he was deeply loved by the people.
Of course, as a man of action, the people of Shandong are also very grateful to Ding Baozhen, so after his death, the Shandong elders jointly signed a petition to the court, requesting that his coffin be transported back to Shandong for burial. The coffin returned to Jinan, the gentry and common people mourned in the fields, and the soldiers and civilians mourned. Shandong, Sichuan, and Guizhou all built shrines to enshrine Ding Baozhen.
"Drafts of Qing History" said that Ding Baozhen was "powerful in politics. So far, those who talk about officials are often called together with Shen Baozhen, and you Li Qingshu." Li Duanfen, Minister of the Ministry of Rites, spoke highly of Ding Baozhen's merits and sentiments, and compared him with Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang He was promoted by others as a famous minister of ZTE in the Qing Dynasty.
Speaking of Ding Baozhen’s achievements, in addition to punishing Ande overseas, he also organized a machine bureau and devoted himself to the Westernization Movement. He is a model of "learning from barbarians to control barbarians". Xue Fucheng, a famous modern diplomat and industrialist in Wuxi, is him Pulled up with one hand. During his tenure in Shandong and Sichuan, he founded the Machinery Bureau, which became the beginning of modern industry in the two provinces. Ding Baozhen also made great achievements in water conservancy management. In the 10th year of Tongzhi, the Yellow River burst in Yuncheng, Shandong Province, and went to the construction site in person to direct the emergency rescue. After the completion of the 250-mile barrier east embankment, the Yellow River has not breached here for nearly a hundred years. In the third year of Guangxu, he presided over the overhaul of Dujiangyan, went back and forth twelve times for survey work, and built a permanent flood control embankment. To this day, on the edge of Dujiangyan, there is still a statue of Ding Baozhen. In terms of cultural construction, Ding Baozhen has also done a lot. In the eighth year of Tongzhi, Shangzhi Academy was founded, commonly known as Shangzhi Hall, which is still in Baotu Spring Park in Jinan, Shandong. At the same time, Shandong Bookstore, the earliest official bookstore in modern Shandong, was established, and Ding Baozhen personally participated in the collation of the most famous engraved edition of "Thirteen Classics Readers".
Walking out of the exhibition hall and coming to the lake, from this angle, if there is no green hills in the background, I once thought I was back in the water town of Jiangnan. The arched white bridge is exquisite and small, a bit like the small bridge outside Jinxi Ancient Town in Kunshan. The water pavilion by the lake is also a standard configuration in a water town.
Back to the main road from the side of the lake, almost to the end of the scenic spot, here is Savage Valley. Looking at the gate, it is quite impressive, and going up the stairs is the gate of Savage Valley. Here you can climb high and look far away. In front of the "Dengchun Gate", you can see the style and features of the ancient town, and you can also see Zhijin County.
Savage Valley is really a valley, with karst rocks exposed on three sides, and green mountain curves exposed in the distance.
We found a road that looked like an exit, but who knows that it will not work at the end. Turning the direction again, there is a path that has not been completed yet, and it seems that a relatively large parking lot will be built here. After seven rounds and eight bends, we reached the avenue. Although the neighborhood is not as prosperous as the city center we walked through last night, it still looks like the former county town center. The buildings are relatively dense, and many houses are a bit old.
