The total text number is 1507 words, 5 pictures, and the reading time is 5 minutes
There are not many celebrities in front of the door, and the same is true of the famous Ming Dynasty minister Hai Rui.
There's a story that goes like this: Harry had a 5-year-old daughter who was eating a pastry one day. Harry asks who gave the cake. The daughter replied that it was a male servant. Harry was furious: "How can a good woman accept men's things casually?" You are my daughter hai rui only if you starve to death. His daughter cried in fright from then on, did not eat or drink, and it was useless for her family to coax her, and she finally starved to death after 7 days.
Harry starved his daughter to death... Doesn't that sound too shocking, a bit like a story made up? In fact, this story has a source. It is from the Ming Dynasty yao shuxiang (姚士麟) compiled the "See only compilation". The original text reads as follows: "Hai Zhongsuke has a five-year-old daughter who is fang bait. Tadasuke asks who bait from? Female answer: 僮. Tadasuke angrily said: Will a woman be pampered? Non-my daughter also, can be starved to death, Fang called my daughter. The woman wept and did not drink. His family members ate everything, but they refused, and they died in seven days. ”
Hae-tatsusuke refers to Hae-rui. After His death, Hai Rui was posthumously given the title of "Zhongsuke" by the imperial court, so people respected him as "Hai Zhongjie".
Interestingly, the author Yao Shuxiang wrote this story not to attack Hai Rui, but to praise him. He commented at the end of the story: "Yu yu is not loyal to the suke does not give birth to this daughter." "This means that, I think, it is not a loyal minister like Hai Rui who cannot give birth to such a daughter who has integrity at such a young age." Yao Shuxiang praised Hai Rui and praised his daughter.
However, in any case, the authenticity of this story is very problematic.
First, the story of "Hai Rui starved her daughter" belongs to the isolated evidence, and there is no other literature to confirm it.
The story of "Hai Rui starving her daughter to death" is only recorded in the "See Only Edited" compiled by Yao Shuxiang. In addition, the canonical histories such as the History of Ming, the Records of Ming Shilu, the Guoyu, and the Ming Tongjian, as well as the notes of literati such as The Compilation of Wan Liye, the Night Sailing Ship, the Baike Manzhi, and the Seven Revision Drafts, do not mention this matter. If it is said that the history of Zhengshi will not record such stories in detail because of the limitation of space, then why do even the notes of the literati not mention anything?
After "See only editing", qing Dynasty scholar Zhou Lianggong's "Book Shadow" and Yu Fan's "Tea Room Continuation" have mentioned this matter, but Zhou Lianggong's "Book Shadow" directly quotes The content of Yao Shuxiang's "See Only Edit", and Yu Fan's "Tea Room Continuation Banknote" directly quotes the content of Zhou Lianggong's "Book Shadow". They can only be considered the same source of information.
In archaeology, it is known as "isolated evidence". If there is only one source (evidence) for an event, and there is no record of other different sources as evidence, then the authenticity of the event cannot be proved and generally will not be used as a definite historical fact. Since the story of "Hai Rui starved her daughter" has only one source, and there is no other documentary material to corroborate it, it is a typical orphan evidence, and it should not be regarded as a definite historical fact.
Second, Hai Rui has many political enemies in his life, and if "starving his daughter" is true, he will definitely be made a big fuss by political enemies.
Hai Rui was honest and honest, did not fear the powerful, did not act according to the "unspoken rules" of the officialdom, and forcefully implemented the "one-whip law", which offended many powerful people. He was an official in the three dynasties of Jiajing, Longqing, and Wanli, and almost offended the ministers in the imperial court, and even Zhang Juzheng, who presided over state affairs, did not like Hai Rui and refused to reuse him.
Hai Rui was repeatedly impeached by political opponents in the official arena. There are many reasons for impeachment of political opponents, but none of them mention the so-called "Hai Rui starved her daughter". If Harry had really starved his own daughter to death, he would have been made a big fuss by his political enemies. Now, even Hai Rui's contemporaries did not mention the fact that "Hai Rui starved her daughter", and the authenticity will be greatly discounted.
Third, Harry is not an unreasonable person.
In the eyes of many people, Harry is a rigid and inflexible person, and doing things like "starving his daughter" is in line with his style of doing things.
In fact, Harry is not an unreasonable person. When he entered the official arena, on the one hand, he used the means of rigidity and softness to carry out government affairs, and on the other hand, he used a more mellow means to deal with practical problems in the official arena.
As we all know, Hai Rui once carried the coffin to the Jiajing Emperor and scolded him to the point of bloodshed, and under the protection of Xu Jie and Huang Guangsheng, Hai Rui saved a life. Later, Hai Rui sent Ying Tian to implement the "One Whip Law" in Jiangnan, violating the interests of Xu Jie, a large landowner in Jiangnan. Hai Rui bitterly advised Xu Jie to take the initiative to return the donated land, and while adhering to the principle, he also gave the benefactor Xu Jie the greatest respect. Hai Rui did not forget another benefactor, Huang Guangsheng, and went to see him many times to thank him in person for the grace of rescue. In 1586, when Huang Guangsheng died of illness, Hai Rui took the illness to Jinjiang for mourning.
Harry is a person who lives in society and has seven passions and six desires. It is hard to believe that he would personally strangle his own flesh and blood for the sake of the illusory "etiquette".