The Jiajing dynasty can be described as varied, from the perspective of the monarch: the emperor Zhu Houxi is lazy in politics and confused, the power minister Yan Song steals power and profits, the good general Qi Jiguang resists the Uighurs, and the loyal minister Hai Gangfeng prepares a coffin for death!
Who is this Haigangfeng? Haha, he is known as the "first Qing official of the Ming Dynasty" Of Hai Rui Hai Qingtian, such a reputation is not out of thin air, today let's talk about what Hai Rui has done, so that the people are so admired, and finally named "Hai Qing Tian"?
Hai Rui, the character Ruxian, the number Gangfeng, is a native of Haikou City, Hainan Province, and has gone through the four dynasties of Zhengde, Jiajing, Longqing and Wanli in his lifetime.
In the thirty-seventh year of Jiajing (1558 AD), Hai Rui was appointed as the county magistrate of Chun'an County, and after his arrival, he re-measured the land, implemented the Baojia Law, reduced taxes for the people, and established social studies, resulting in a large number of displaced people returning to their hometowns.
For the sake of the people, it is bound to offend some lawbreakers, and before Chun'an County, the county officials often committed many corrupt and perverted the law, and when they tried cases, no matter whether they were reasonable or unreasonable, as long as whoever gave money could win, so that many unjust, false and wrong cases were handled. When Hai Rui arrived in Chun'an, he reviewed all the backlog of cases in the past, and handled them impartially, so that those powerful landlords suddenly felt a terrible headache, some rich households saw that the situation was not good, secretly moved their families out, and the people rushed to tell each other, saying that Chun'an County came to a big old man in the sky!
Hai Rui's life is very frugal, completely different from other extravagant and wasteful officials. The Ming dynasty's gifts to civilian officials were relatively small, and the low-ranking officials were not even enough for the daily expenses of the family, so most officials would always find ways to loot the blood and sweat of the people under their rule.
But Hai Rui is not like this, he is content with poverty, never accepts a penny from others, as a county grandfather, usually only wears a green shirt and cloth robe, the family eats coarse tea and light rice, even vegetables rely on the family to grow themselves, not to mention what fish and meat.
But once, Hai Rui's old mother had a birthday, in order to make her happy, he secretly ran out to borrow some money from his friends before buying back two pounds of meat to eat.
This incident later spread to Hu Zongxian, the governor of Zhejiang, and he could not help but be amazed and often told to his subordinates as a good story.
One day, Hu Zongxian's son passed by Chun'an with his entourage and stayed at the guanyi next to the county court.
He thought that Hai Rui was his father's subordinate, and he would definitely go to great lengths to come to him, but he thought that Hai Rui just sent someone to bring an ordinary meal, so angry that Hu Gongzi lifted the table when he boarded, and also ordered his entourage to hang the stagecoach personnel upside down and beat him severely.
When Hai Rui heard the news, he hurriedly arrived and loudly ordered the messengers to arrest Hu Gongzi and his entourage and escort them to the county court for interrogation.
Hu Gongzi was not convinced, shouting loudly, and when Hai Rui saw that he was so arrogant, he couldn't help but have a plan, and he said to Hu Gongzi with his hands behind his back: "I have long heard that Governor Hu is a clean and honest official, and that he has a good godson, but you are so arrogant and unreasonable, and you carry a lot of gold and silver with you, presumably a cunning person who pretends to be Governor Hu's son to do evil!" ”
After saying this, he confiscated all the money and property of Hu Gongzi, and at the same time sent someone to report to Hu Zongxian.
Later, the matter came to light, and although Hu Zongxian was blushing with shame, he had nothing to say.
In the thirty-ninth year of Jiajing, the old thief Yan Song's henchmen and Du Yushi Yanmaoqing went out to tour the two Zhejiang Provinces, eating and drinking heavily, embezzling and extorting money.
Nevertheless, this house wants to be a bitch and wants to set up a memorial arch, and whenever he goes to a place, he always pretends to send someone to inform him in advance that "no extravagance and waste" are obviously covering his ears and stealing bells, giving people time to prepare for the feast.
On this day, Hai Rui also received such a notice, he was very aware of Yan Maoqing's personality, and he also understood his intentions.
Thinking about it, he wrote a letter to Yan Yushi with a pen, which said to the effect: "Knowing that the lord is coming to Chun'an, I have also received your admonition from Jane, but the subordinate officer heard that Lord Yan has been eating and drinking all the way, enjoying the taste of the mountains and treasures of the sea everywhere." It is a pity that Chun'an County is located in the middle of nowhere, if you follow the wishes of the adults, you are afraid of neglecting you; if you follow other places, you are afraid of violating the heart of the adults who are loyal to the king and love the people, so I implore the adults to be frank and clear, how should the lower official Hairui handle it? ”
It is said that Yan Maoqing read Hai Rui's letter, and he was so angry that his beard plucked up the old man, he had long heard that Hai Rui was upright and not afraid of the character of the magnates, and he had also heard about hu Zongxian's son suffering losses. So he tore up the letter with hatred, and ordered the entourage to never go to Chun'an, change his route, and even bypass the Yan prefecture capital.
Later, Yan Maoqing returned to the Beijing Division, and his anger was difficult to calm down, so he instructed his party to weave charges and impeach Hai Rui.
Hai Rui thus lost the opportunity to be promoted to Jiaxing, and was reappointed to Xingguo County, Zhi County, after taking office, he continued to do things for the people as always, deeply loved by the people, and two years later, due to his outstanding political achievements, he was finally selected by the imperial court as the head of the Yunnan Department of the Household Department and went to Beijing to take up a post.
In the winter of the third year of Longqing (1569 AD), Hai Rui was impeached for offending Xu Jie, Gao Gong and others, and was impeached for protecting adulterers, fish and meat doctors and other crimes, causing Hai Rui to retire due to illness and return to his hometown in Qiongshan.
On the day of his resignation, the common people cried and sent him off, and many people also enshrined his portrait in their homes and worshipped him every day.
In the first year of the Wanli Calendar, Zhang Juzheng presided over the imperial government, and he had always disliked Hai Rui's severe and uprightness, but he could not stand many court officials recommending him, so he sent a royal history to the mountains to review Hai Rui.
In order to continue to be an official for the people, Hai Rui killed chickens and drank wine to entertain Yu Shi, and when Yu Shi was halfway through, he looked up and saw that the house where Hai Rui lived was cold and simple, and he couldn't help but shake his head and sigh, and Zhang Juzheng did not appoint Hai Rui in the end.
In the twelfth year of the Wanli Calendar, Zhang Juzheng died, and Hai Rui was only then awarded the title of Right Governor of Nanjing by Emperor Shenzong, who was already seventy years old at the time, and after taking office, he still severely punished corrupt officials, upheld justice for the people, always picketed the trend of corruption, and yushi occasionally listened to the drama and enjoyed himself, and was known to Hai Rui, and also had to be punished according to the taizu regulations.
On October 14, 15th year of the Wanli Calendar, Hai Rui died of illness in Nanjing, at the age of 73, because he had no heirs, Yushi Wang gathered several friends to help take care of the aftermath.
When he went to Hai Rui's house to see, there were only eight silver and eight two, one gebu horse, plus a few tattered bamboo utensils, and nothing else, and everyone who saw it was in tears.
On the day of Hai Rui's funeral, the citizens of Nanjing involuntarily went on strike, and all the businesses were closed, and people wore filial piety clothes to line up for him.
It is said that the portraits of Hai Rui in Nanjing have been sold for five dollars, but they are still in short supply.
When Hai Rui's coffin was transported back to his hometown by boat, people from all over the world who heard the news and rushed to the river stood on both sides of the river. And the people who wept and prayed for him were even more endless, and the imperial court posthumously awarded Hai Rui the title of Prince Taibao and his nickname was Zhongsuke.