Accumulating Merit for Future Descendants 上书救民 累世福报
Accumulating Merit for Future Descendants
In the Qing Dynasty, Mr. Xu Diansheng from the Qiantiang area was a top ranking government official. For four generations in a row, members of his family had been appointed to be government officials. In every year's local academic examination, someone in his family passed the examination and became an official. People said that this was because his ancestors had accumulated lots of virtue.
It was said that Xu Diansheng's ancestor was Mr. Le Ting, who had performed compassionate acts throughout his life. Initially his roles were in the western Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. Later on, he was hired to serve in a government position under the Governor of Zhili Province, Fang Guancheng. One year, there was a serious famine in Pingliang and Qingyang Counties, and people there suffered miserably. Mr. Le Ting was very sympathetic. He wrote a memorial and asked Governor Fang to submit it to the emperor, requesting that the central government assign two hundred thousand liang (an ancient Chinese currency) of silver to provide relief to the famine victims.
Several days later, Governor Fang still hadn't submitted Mr. Le Ting's memorial to the emperor. Mr. Le Ting then decided to resign from the position and packed his luggage. Governor Fang asked him, "I have always treated you with respect and yet you want to resign suddenly. Is it because I haven't submitted your memorial?" Mr. Le Ting replied, "I won't resign if the memorial is submitted." Governor Fang then submitted the memorial right away.
After the submission, Governor Fang was very worried that the memorial requested such a large amount of money that the emperor would not approve it. One month later, the edict arrived. The emperor highly commended the request; he thought two hundred thousand liang of silver might not be enough for the famine victims so he assigned an additional two hundred thousand liang. Governor Fang was overjoyed. He went to tell Mr. Le Ting and apologized for his previous unwillingness to submit the memorial.
As a result, hundreds of thousands of lives were saved.
Several years later, Mr. Le Ting's son passed the local academic examination for official selection. Later on his grandsons, Xu Xuefan and Xu Xuezeng, both passed the nationwide academic examination. Mr. Le Ting's family became increasingly prosperous. Some said that Mr. Le Ting’s home enjoyed excellent fengshui. The truth is that with a compassionate heart, Mr. Le Ting did not hesitate to discard his own position and career to save people's lives, and his act rescued hundreds of thousands of lives. Because of this, he accumulated lots of virtue; no wonder his family and descendants gained such rewards.
上书救民 累世福报
清朝时，钱塘的许滇生尚书家中，接连四世科第，每年的乡试中，必定有许氏家族中的人登第。明白人都说这是因为许家的祖上积了大德了。
相传，许滇生的祖上是乐亭先生，一生行善积德。起初他曾就任于陕甘两省，后来被直隶总督方观承聘请至门下任职。有一年，平凉、庆阳等数个府县闹饥荒，百姓苦不堪言。乐亭先生听说后非常怜悯，于是私自写了一个奏折，请方观承上秉朝廷，希望朝廷能够下发二十万两银子用来赈济平凉等地饥民。
乐亭先生将奏折交给方观承几天时间了，可奏折还没有发出。乐亭先生于是背上包袱准备辞职回家，方观承问他：“我待先生没有丝毫怠慢，今天忽然要辞职回去，想必是为了那个奏折迟迟没有发出去吧？”乐亭先生说：“此奏折如果能发出去，我就不辞职了。”方观承于是答应了他，在当天就将奏折发出去了。
奏折发出去后，方观承总督心中仍忧虑不安，心想，要这么多的银子，恐怕朝廷不会批准的。一个月后，奏折的批示回来了，原来皇帝看了后对此举大加赞赏，并以二十万两银子可能不够为由，又给多加了二十万两。方观承看了后大喜过望，立即亲自去告诉乐亭先生，并向他承认先前自己的过失。
就因为如此，平凉等府数十万人的性命得以保全，免遭困厄之苦。
没过几年，乐亭先生的儿子便在乡试中登第，孙子许学范、许学曾也接连成为进士，家族日益昌盛起来。有人说乐亭先生家的风水真好，却不知因为乐亭先生心存善良怜悯，曾不惜舍弃自己的功名爵禄，以一纸上书而救活了数十万人的性命，做了这种积大德的好事，能享此福报也是必然的。