There are many legends about Liu Yong, some say that he was born in an ordinary family, and some say that he is poor, but on the contrary, Liu Yong was born in an official family, and his father is the famous Liu Tongxun, who was a very important minister during the Qianlong period, serving as the Minister of Military Aircraft, with a high status and many part-time jobs, which can be compared with the later gentry, and Liu Tongxun is also Ji Xiaolan's teacher, Liu Yong and Ji Xiaolan are not only brothers, but also colleagues.

Liu Yong has always been called Liu Luoguo because he is a hunchback, and Qianlong and the gentry often make fun of him for this. When Liu Yong participated in the imperial examination, Qianlong saw that he was a Luo pot, so he teased him and asked, "Can you make a poem on the topic of Luo Guo?"

Liu Yong replied: "Yes, with a hunched back, a high chest and a full economy." Distinguish loyalty and treachery at a glance, and jump the dragon gate with one leg. Dan Xin Fu Sheji, Tu Brain Xie Huangen. How can a person who judges talents by appearance win people by virtue?" Emperor Qianlong was surprised and ashamed, and appointed Liu Yong as the champion on the spot.

Liu Yong entered the court as an official, and his posture of bowing always made people laugh. Qianlong saw Liu Yong's hunched bow very funny, and said: "Liu Aiqing, if you bow like this, won't you become a Luo pot?"

Liu Yong said: "Thank you, Lord Longen." ”

Emperor Qianlong and everyone were puzzled and asked him why he thanked the lord Longen, Liu Yong said: "According to the laws of the Qing Dynasty, the emperor gave his courtiers the title, one word, which can increase the amount of Yulu by 10,000 taels per year. Qianlong couldn't cry or laugh, thinking that this Liu Yong really had a set.

The legend of Liu Yong's Luo pot is interesting, but it is misinformation, there is no description of Liu Yong's appearance in history, but at least it is not a hunchback, it should be a good facial feature. Because the criteria for selecting officials in the Qing Dynasty were body, speech, calligraphy, and judgment, and the body was placed in the forefront, which showed that it was very important, and required officials to have good appearance and strong physique; speech required officials to be articulate, able to speak well, and express themselves clearly; books required officials to have beautiful and delicate handwriting; and judgments required officials to have high ability to judge cases.

Therefore, Liu Yong can enter the court as an official, if he is a hunchback, it is not only difficult to establish official authority, but also damage the Qing Dynasty, even if he relies on his father's help, Liu Yong will not be able to enter the court as an official.

The reason why Liu Yong is called Liu Luo pot is that after Emperor Jiaqing succeeded to the throne, Liu Yong is over eighty years old, it is inevitable that he is a little hunchbacked, Emperor Jiaqing often calls him Liu Luozi, the folk think that Liu Yong is really a hunchback, Liu Yong is the teacher of Emperor Jiaqing, Emperor Jiaqing respectfully called him Liu Ge Lao, because the pronunciation of the pavilion and the pot is similar, the old Ge has become the pot waist, the meaning of the pot waist in the capital is Luo Guo, so the name of Liu Luo pot is called away.

Liu Yong read the scriptures since childhood, rich in knowledge, because of his famous background, he directly participated in the examination and the palace examination held in Beijing, because of his outstanding talent, Qianlong originally planned to hand-pick him as the champion, but Liu Yong's father Liu Tongxun strongly opposed, after winning the jinshi, Liu Yong entered the Hanlin Academy for further study, and later served as the examiner of the imperial examination many times, and also served as the vice president of the "Siku Quanshu", at the same time Liu Yong's calligraphy skills are extremely profound, and Wang Jie and Dong He at that time were equally famous.

Liu Yong's officialdom career, the first half of his life can be said to be upright, for the country and the people, and the people call him Liu Qingtian. One year, Liu Yong was appointed governor of Hunan, when the disaster situation in Hunan was serious, the people were struggling to make a living, and corrupt officials were rampant. After Liu Yong arrived, Weifu made a private visit, found out the true situation of the disaster, investigated and dealt with several corrupt officials and corrupt officials, and made the atmosphere of officialdom new.

Liu Yong's most commendable thing is that he investigated and prosecuted the corruption case of Shandong Guotai, Guotai was the uncle of the imperial concubine and a henchman of Heshen, and he used these connections to make a fortune in Shandong, corrupt the law, and form a party for private purposes, and the ministers of the court dared not speak out. Qianlong sent He Shen, Liu Yong and others to investigate this case, because Cathay Pacific was Heshen's person, and He Shen defended him more, which created a lot of trouble for Liu Yong's investigation.

Liu Yong disguised himself as a businessman, secretly went to investigate, and found that Cathay was really fishy, Liu Yong secretly collected evidence, at this time the imperial concubine, some ministers in the court have interceded for Cathay, Liu Yong eliminated a lot of resistance, to the court to count Cathay's crimes, and finally Cathay because of the conclusive evidence, confessed to the law, this case caused a sensation at the time, Liu Yong also became a celebrity.

After this case, Liu Yong was appointed as the secretary of the ministry, but after being transferred to Beijing, Liu Yong seemed to have become a different person, pursuing the kind of sleek and sophisticated, wise and self-preserving official philosophy, and the water chestnut on his head seemed to be smoothed out. Liu Yong always fights wits and courage with He Shen and fights against He Shen's arrogance, Liu Yong and Ji Xiaolan are He Shen's sworn enemies, but this is not the case.

Although the two are officials in the same dynasty, He Shen has always been a big celebrity around Qianlong, Qianlong's love for him is simply to the point of no addition, Liu Yong and He Shen are not the same, Liu Yong does not want to offend He Shen, Liu Yong at that time is no longer the kind of sharp person, he began to become sleek and sophisticated, and he does not want to offend anyone anymore.

Qianlong once asked Liu Yong how a person named Dai Shiyi was, and Liu Yong said ambiguously: "It's okay." ”

In fact, Qianlong knew this person well, and he was very dissatisfied with Liu Yong's sloppy attitude, which was simply a perfunctory attitude.

Liu Yong always made mistakes in the later period of his official career, which provoked a lot of scolding from Qianlong. For a period of time, it rained in the capital, and the masters who went to the study room for the Pope did not start classes for several days, and the chief master of the study room was Liu Yong, Qianlong was very angry when he found out, saying that Liu Yong was derelict in his duties, and demoted him; later, he served as the chief examiner of the examination, because of the sloppy arrangement, he did not pay attention to the careful reading of the papers, resulting in a lot of unqualified test papers, which was a typical chief examiner's failure to take responsibility, and naturally he was even more unpopular.

A series of events deprived Liu Yong of the opportunity to be awarded a university scholar, and it was not until later that he was awarded a fellowship of Tiren Pavilion, Liu Yong never entered the military aircraft department in his life, let alone came into contact with the center of imperial political power, and later generations called Liu Yong the prime minister, most of which was not appropriate. The Qing Dynasty did not have the position of prime minister, and the reason why there is a saying that the prime minister Liu Luoguo is because Liu Yong's highest position is equivalent to the position of the prime minister before the Ming Dynasty.

Liu Yong was very different before and after he became an official, and the mistakes he made were not big or small, so that he would not be beheaded by the emperor, but he was often scolded by the emperor. The reason why Liu Yong went from being upright to being unscrupulous is that those who are mediocre and can't make high achievements can be liked by Qianlong more. Liu Yong saw through this, so he would rather behave nonsense, at least to protect himself. It is impossible for such a good official to seek the well-being of the people, but in Liu Yong's time, in the face of a monarch like Qianlong, Liu Yong sometimes had to do it as a last resort.

He Shen was a famous corrupt official in the Qing Dynasty, rich enough to rival the country, and known for being good at making Qianlong happy, while Liu Luoguo, who was a minister in the same dynasty, was known for being upright and honest.

He Shen is vigilant by nature, does not read much, but can remember strongly, and after being an official and noble, he often invites Wu Xingqin and others to his home to talk about the past and the present. Therefore, He Shen can also be rough about poetry and articles, and some of the things he writes privately ask Peng Yuanrui and Ji Xiaolan to polish them, Peng Yuanrui and Ji Xiaolan are afraid of being slandered by him, so they often write on his behalf.

Only Liu Yong can compete with him, Liu Yong is honest and honest, but he doesn't know that there is a witty side in his character, he has repeatedly stimulated He Shen with teasing words, which makes He Shen unbearable. Qianlong also knew that the two people were not harmonious enough, and often reconciled them with gentle language.

One year, in the Spring Festival, Liu Yong learned that He Shen was called into the palace, and it was windy and snowy, and the ground was full of mud, so he intended to show He Shen's foreign appearance. He changed into a shabby leather robe and hurried to the road to the palace to wait for He Shen. After He Shen arrived, Liu Yong sent someone to stop the sedan chair and handed over the post, saying: "Lord Liu didn't meet Lord He during the New Year yesterday, and now he is waiting on the side of the road." ”

Although He Shen doesn't like Liu Yong, Liu Yong respects himself so much, and he is also the emperor's favorite minister, so he can't be rude at this moment. He had to brave the wind and snow to get out of the sedan chair.

He Shen was about to say hello to Liu Yong, when he saw Liu Yong kneeling on the snow with a plop and said, "Congratulations to Lord He!"

When He Shen saw Liu Yong kneeling on the ground to congratulate him on the New Year, he also had to kneel on the ground to worship back, but what he wore on his body during the New Year was a particularly expensive mink fur robe, covered with a splendid horse coat, which suddenly made it dirty. After the two stood up, He Shen found that although Liu Yong also had a lot of mud on his body, he was wearing an old leather robe, which was already worn out and not worth a few dollars at all.

One year, Liu Yong had to say goodbye to his old man and return to his hometown, but Emperor Qianlong had no choice but to let him go back. But not long after Liu Yong left, Qianlong wanted him to come back, but he was afraid that Liu Yong would put on a show and not buy his account, so he came up with an idea.

He said to the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty: "I have three questions, and you are limited to three days to answer them, and if you can't answer them, you will all be dismissed." ”

"What's the problem?"

He said, "What is up, what is down, what is east, what is west, what is fat, what is thin?"

When the Minister of Civil and Military Affairs heard this, he muttered, how could he answer this? If only Liu Yong were here, he would definitely be able to answer. They thought about it, but they couldn't come up with an answer, and in desperation, they had to ask Liu Yong's apprentice and Shen to rush to Zhucheng, Shandong overnight, to ask Liu Yong for advice, and save everyone.

He Shen wished that Liu Yong was no longer in the court, but everyone begged him vigorously, if he didn't go, not only would other people's officials not be able to keep it, but his own officials would also not be able to keep it, so he had to rush to Shandong. When he arrived at Liu Yong's house, Liu Yong was cleaning up the vegetable garden. He Shen couldn't take a break, so he told his intention and Qianlong's question, although He Shen had a good memory, but this time he forgot "what is fat, what is thin".

Liu Yong said: "It's not easy to answer. ”

Pointing to the vegetables in the garden, he said, "Look, the cucumber is on top, the eggplant is down, the east melon is east, and the watermelon is west." ”

When He Shen heard that it was so simple, he happily hurried back again. When he arrived in the capital, he was just in time for the morning of the third day, and He Shen hurriedly put on his court clothes and went to the Jinluan Palace. Qianlong asked: "It's been three days, who can answer my question?"

He Shen knelt out of class and played: "The minister can answer." ”

"Tell me about it. ”

"The cucumber is on the top, the eggplant is on the bottom, the melon is on the east, the melon is on the west. ”

"So what is fat and what is thin?"

He Shen patted his head: "Oh no, I forgot to ask." ”

Qianlong deliberately got angry: "What cucumber and eggplant, east melon and watermelon, nonsense, pull it out and cut it!"

He Shen hated Liu Yong, so he shouted: "The emperor is angry, this is what my teacher Liu Yong said." ”

"What a Liu Yong, just teach this to the students, bring Liu Yong to me!"

He Shen was proud at this time: "Liu Luo pot, see how you end this time?"

A few days later, Liu Yong was announced to the Jinluan Palace, and Qianlong asked him: "What is up, what is down, what is east, what is west, what is fat, what is thin? Can you answer that?"

Liu Yong replied: "The minister can answer." The king is the top, the minister is the bottom, the text is the east, the martial is the west, the fat, the fat is not the spring rain, the thin, the thin is not the frost of September. ”

After hearing this, Qianlong gave a thumbs up: "Good answer." But why do you teach your students cucumbers and eggplants?"

"I say this wherever I want. That day I was in the vegetable garden, and naturally I was talking about cucumbers and eggplants; today I am in the court, and of course I am talking about national affairs. ”