In the history of China, there have been countless officials, some of whom are upright and upright, and who have a clean wind in their sleeves, and some of whom are corrupt and pervert the law and do no evil. In addition to the titles of clean officials, corrupt officials, loyal ministers, and traitors, there is also a kind of officials who are difficult to describe and judge, they are "cool officials".
As the name suggests, a cool official is an official who performs his duties in a cruel way. If you want to talk about the cool officials in history, the more famous ones are probably Zhou Xing and Lai Junchen, who created the allusion of "inviting the king into the urn". In addition to them, in the early Han Dynasty, there was also a cool official who was not afraid of the power of the clan in the dynasty, and the courage of the Xiongnu was threatened by shubian, that is, the capital of Zhi, who was called "Goshawk".
Although The capital is not very famous, it is quite controversial. Some people will be juxtaposted with famous generals such as Lianpo, "Zhao has Lianpo and Mafu, and Qiang Qin does not dare to spy on Jingjing; near the Han Dynasty, there are Zhidu and Wei Shang, and the Xiongnu do not dare to go south to the sand curtain." Sima Qian had always opposed the use of harsh methods to govern the country, so although he was known as "the general of war and the minion of the country", he was ranked first by Sima Qian among the cool officials in the past.
Then, why would such a well-known figure be killed by Empress Dou?
Xi Du (郅都), whose year of birth and death is unknown, was born in Yang County (郅县, in present-day southeastern Hongdong County, Shanxi Province). During the reign of Emperor Wen of Han, he served as a Lang official, that is, a subordinate officer of the king. After the death of Emperor Wen of Han, Emperor Jing succeeded to the throne, and Zhi Du was given the title of General of Zhonglang, and Zhi, who was promoted to a higher position, had a greater say. According to the Chronicle of History: "'Dare to speak directly, face the minister Yu Dynasty. He dared to speak out, and whenever he felt was inappropriate, he would persuade other ministers in person above the court.
Once, Zhi Du followed Emperor Jingdi of Han to the royal hunting spot "Shanglin", and when Emperor Jing's concubine Jia Ji went to the toilet, a wild boar suddenly broke in. Emperor Jingdi of Han motioned for Zhi Du to go to the rescue, but Zhi Du was unmoved. In a hurry, Emperor Jingdi of Han himself tried to save Jia Ji with weapons, but Zhi Du stopped him and said, "'Death of One Ji Ji And One Ji Jin, what about Jia Ji of the World?' Your Majesty indulges himself in self-contempt, Empress Dowager Naizong Temple! ''
This means that His Majesty has died a concubine, but there will be other concubines entering the palace. There are not many women like Jia Ji in the world, even if His Majesty can look down on his own life, but in this way, what will Jiangshan Sheji do? What about the Empress?
This passage of Zhi Du seems to be very excessive today, but in that era, the life of the emperor was indeed more important than many concubines in the eyes of the people. Later, the wild boar retreated, and Jia Ji was safe. When Empress Dowager Dou heard about this, she gave her a hundred gold. Since then, Emperor Jing has also used him more.
At that time, There was a clan with the surname "Jian" in Jinan County, they had more than three hundred families, treacherous and cunning, and ran amok in the local area. The so-called "strong dragon does not suppress the head snake", even the county guards sent by the imperial court could not do anything to them, so the Han Jing Emperor sent the famously strict Zhi Du to Jinan County as a taishou.
Zhi Du did not live up to his "notoriety", and he "destroyed the evil of the Clan of zhize, and the rest were chestnuts". For the local clans, the officials generally adopted a gentle approach to suppress and restrict, while Zhi Du had no scruples and directly led the army to wipe out one of the most notorious households of the Jian clan, and the other clans were terrified and did not dare to do evil from then on.
The blessing of the simple and rude way of governance, during his reign, "the county did not pick up the rest of the year." More than ten counties are guarded like a large province. "In Jinan County for more than a year, Zhidu implemented strict laws, the people in the county did not pick up the road, and the surrounding counties saw Zhidu as much awe as they saw the superiors, which showed its prestige and influence.
The "Records of History" commented on Zhi Dudao: "All are brave, powerful, honest, do not send private books, ask for nothing, please send nothing to hear." He was energetic, just and honest, and he never opened a letter when someone sent him privately, and he never accepted a gift from someone, and he ignored a request for something. Even today, such behavior is a model for clean officials.
In 150 BC, Zhi Du returned to the central government, was made a lieutenant by Emperor Jing, in charge of the security work of the capital, he "did not avoid noble relatives", and was called "goshawk" by the princes and nobles. Two years later, Liu Rong, the eldest son of Emperor Jing of Han, the Prince of Linjiang, broke the law and was escorted to the Lieutenant's Mansion for interrogation, and after a harsh interrogation by Zhidu, he committed suicide in prison.
Liu Rong's grandmother, Empress Dou, heard of her grandson's death and immediately demanded the removal of Zhi Du.
In order to protect this retainer, Emperor Jing made him the Taishou of Yanmen and stationed him on the frontier. As we all know, with the development of the Central Plains Dynasty, the nomadic Xiongnu in the north also gradually grew. At the beginning of the establishment of the Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu's Mao Dun Shan Yu also besieged Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gao, at Baideng Mountain.
After that, the Han Dynasty pursued a national policy of recuperation and avoided war with the Xiongnu, so it was often in a passive situation of being beaten, and could only be forced to defend, dispatch envoys and relatives. Before Emperor Wu of Han took the initiative to attack, the Han Dynasty was deeply troubled by the Xiongnu, so Emperor Jing sent Zhidu to Yanmen, in addition to avoiding the harm of Empress Dou under the anger, but also with the help of his bravery and ability to resist the Xiongnu.
The extreme and cruel methods of Zhi Du were even heard of by the Xiongnu thousands of miles away, and they were afraid to hear about it. According to the historical records: "The Xiongnu Suwen Zhidu Festival, jubian, in order to attract troops, even Zhi Du died near the Yanmen Gate. The Xiongnu were even more like Zhi Du, so that the riders could shoot in the middle, and they were afraid to do so. However, the Xiongnu were afraid of Zhidu, but Empress Dowager Dou was not, and he sent people to arrest Zhidu and prepare to execute him.
Emperor Jingdi of Han pleaded, "All loyal subjects." However, Empress Dowager Dou was immersed in the sadness of losing her grandson and asked, "Is the King of Linjiang the only loyal and evil?" ”
In the end, Zhi Du was executed, and the "goshawk" was broken with its wings. Although he is not afraid of the powerful, he does not favor personal feelings. But in the face of imperial power, after all, it is just a small person.