Xie Jin's life is a story that guessed the beginning but did not expect the end.
He is one of the three talents of the Ming Dynasty and the first assistant of the first cabinet of the Ming Dynasty, if there is no "accident", then just looking at these two titles, we can probably predict that his career should be beyond the reach of ordinary people. However, a "surprise" happened. Contrary to the prediction, Xie Jin's career is full of ups and downs, and his life is also high and low, and finally ends in a tragic death.
When we review his life, we can see that the tragedy of Xie Jin is not accidental. Because, although he has the talent of the world and the ambition of helping the people through the world, there are too many points in his personality that are incompatible with the power field, such as honesty, impulsiveness, and lack of understanding of progress and retreat... All this set the stage for his ending.
Sharp and exposed, the talent of "persuasion" is indulgent
Xie Jin was born in Jishui, Jiangxi, a place where the cultural vein flourished.
He was born in a family of scholars, and was born precocious, since childhood is a recognized reading seedling, not only can recite poems, but also can write a good article, at the age of 19 to participate in the township examination to win the first place in the province, at the age of 20 and high school into the soldier. Young, talented, and confident, Xie Jin has thus entered his career.
It is also thanks to the wisdom of Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang. He discovered Jin's talent early in the midst of a crowd of jinshi, and deliberately left him to accompany him. Zhu Yuanzhang not only personally cultivated Xie Jin, but also encouraged him: "We are nominally monarchs, but in fact, we regard you as your own son, so you should know everything about You." ”
This "encouragement" made Xie Jin enthusiastic. On the same day, he wrote a book of ten thousand words and presented it to Zhu Yuanzhang. Xie Jin did "know everything" in the text, and even carried some "criticism" of Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang was not angry about this, but praised Xie Jin for his talent. Soon after, Xie Jin presented the Ten Strategies of Taiping, stating his governing strategy, which also talked about the issue of dividing the kings of the domain. I have to say that Xie Jin, who has just entered the workplace, can have such insight, which is rare and valuable; on the other hand, he is too straight, repeatedly involving "sensitive" topics, and also exposes his political unworldliness.
It is not an easy task to let a hot-blooded young man in his early 20s achieve convergence. What's more, Xie Jin really had great talent, was cultivated by the emperor's focus, and seemed to have more arrogant capital. Therefore, in the imperial court, he always said that others did not dare to speak, and did things that others did not dare to do, which made a "splash" and offended people.
He once accused the officials of the Military Department of dereliction of duty, thus annoying the Bingbu Shangshu; Yushi Yuan Tai relied on his power and corruptness to pervert the law, and Xie Jin directly wrote a letter to impeach him; Lee Sun-chang, the Duke of Korea, died because he was implicated in the Hu Weiyong case, and Xie Jin took the initiative to come forward and defend Li Shanchang on behalf of others... In this way, there were more and more voices of dissatisfaction with him in the imperial court, and even Zhu Yuanzhang, who vigorously cultivated him, also changed his attitude.
Perhaps thinking that this young man still needed to "cultivate", in the twenty-fourth year of Hongwu (1391), Zhu Yuanzhang summoned Xie Jin's father to Beijing and said to him: "If the great instrument is late, if Erzi returns, Yi Lingjin, in the next ten years, it is not too late to use it." ”
Xie Jin was thus "dissuaded", which was the first major setback in his life.
Too impulsive, he still can't escape the cold bench
At the beginning, Zhu Yuanzhang let Xie Jin go home to continue studying, which was set for a period of ten years.
Others do not know what this long time means for Xie Jin. Fortunately, although the ten years are long, there is still hope for the emperor's promise first. In his hometown days, Xie Jin wrote behind closed doors, silently waiting for the opportunity to come.
However, the date of returning to the court did not arrive, and in the eighth year, the news of Zhu Yuanzhang's death came first, which was a heavy blow to Xie Jin. And at this time, his mother also died. As a rule, he should bury his mother at home and keep filial piety for her. But he still impulsively chose to go to Beijing to mourn Zhu Yuanzhang.
It was this choice that allowed the person who had sinned against the original to seize the handle! Soon, someone impeached Xie Jin in front of Emperor Jianwen: first, he violated the edict of the former emperor to return to Beijing after ten years; second, he did not keep filial piety for his deceased mother, and he did not serve his father, who was nearly ninety years old. Ignoring this, Xie Jin was suddenly charged with "disloyalty and filial piety." As a result, he was relegated to the northwest.
At this time, Xie Jin was already the year of establishment. He was silent for 8 years for the sake of a sentence of "late completion of the great instrument"; now he was sent to the bitter cold land, with the officials, and his pain and unwillingness can be imagined. Therefore, he wrote to Dong Lun, the attendant of the ceremonial department, for help. In the letter, he dissected his loyalty to the court. Dong Lun was deeply moved, so he recommended him to Emperor Jianwen, and Xie Jin was recalled to the capital to serve.
However, during the years of Emperor Jianwen's reign, Xie Jin still did not have the opportunity to get the "great use" he expected.
"Government and business" are not online, and the relationship between monarchs and subjects is gradually drifting away
After the change of jing difficulties, Xie Jin's career finally ushered in a big turnaround.
In the ming dynasty and emperor Jianwen, Xie Jindu had called for attention to the issue of the king of the domain. Now, The Yan King Zhu Di successfully challenged the throne, and Xie Jin's former "worries" have become a reality. At this time, Xie Jin, who was an old vassal of The Jianwen Emperor, made a major choice: kneeling to welcome Zhu Di into Beijing.
After Zhu Di succeeded to the throne, Xie Jin was reused as desired. He drafted the "Edict of Ascension to the Pole" for Zhu Di, which fully expounded the legitimacy of Zhu Di's ascension to the throne, which made Zhu Di very satisfied. After that, he was also ordered to the president of the "Records of Taizu" and revise the "Yongle Canon"... Almost all of the important official documents in the imperial court came from his pen.
Soon Xie Jin entered the cabinet initiated by Zhu Di, participated in the confidential affairs of the imperial court, and became the first assistant of the cabinet. During this period, he became Zhu Di's most trusted close subject, so much so that Zhu Di once said: "The world cannot be without me for a day, and I cannot be relieved for a day." Zhu Yuanzhang's "late success" was finally realized after more than 10 years, and Xie Jin ushered in a bright moment in his life.
If you only fight for talent, Xie Jin's career can continue to write brilliant. However, he once again committed a "big taboo" in the official arena.
On the issue of establishing a prince, Zhu Di was a little hesitant. Because according to the ancestral system, the eldest son of the emperor should be established, Zhu Gaozi. But he preferred to establish his second son, Zhu Gaoxu. Therefore, Zhu Di summoned Xie Jin for consultation.
"Li Chu" is a sensitive topic, not to mention that Zhu Di already has a clear bias in his heart. Xie Jin, who is close to the attendant, will not fail to understand this. However, he still insisted on the establishment of the eldest son, on the grounds that it was the eldest son, and this was the case in ancient times. Crown Prince Ren Filial Piety, the whole world is subordinate, if it is abandoned, it will be a dispute. As soon as the precedent is set, I am afraid that it will be difficult to have a peaceful day, and the events of the past can be a lesson for the past. Zhu Di did not let go after listening. In order to persuade Zhu Di, Xie Jin added another sentence: "Good Saint Sun! This is a reminder to him to focus on the long term, if he establishes the eldest son Zhu Gaozi, there will be another emperor's eldest grandson Zhu Zhanji in the future. It was these three words that strengthened Zhu Di's determination to make his eldest son crown prince.
Although the throne has been determined, this matter has become a watershed in the relationship between monarchs and subjects. Xie Jin's support for the prince so firmly would somehow make Zhu Di feel bad.
And what followed was a sharp deterioration in their relationship. Zhu Di loved his second son, Zhu Gaoxu, and his reward even exceeded that of the crown prince. Xie Jin then wrote to advise: "This will cause contradictions between the princes, and you can't do this." Zhu Di felt that he had solved too much, thinking that he was alienating himself, and after getting angry, he began to alienate him. On the other hand, Zhu Gaoxu lost touch with the throne, held a grudge against Xie Jin, and constantly framed him in front of Zhu Di. Soon, Xie Jin was relegated to Guangxi for his sins, and then to a more distant jiaoxing.
In just 5 years, Xie Jin is getting farther and farther away from the center of power.
Unnatural death, the tragic fate of the talented child
Although Xie Jin was demoted, he saved his life. Perhaps, waiting for the right moment, he can still make a comeback with his talent. However, once the valve of doom is opened, it has no intention of stopping – this time, he pushes himself to the end of the road because of "carelessness".
In the eighth year of Yongle (1410), Xie Jin entered Beijing to report for duty, just in time for Zhu Di's northern expedition to return. So he returned to the garrison after meeting the prince. The emperor was not in the capital, and it was not a violation of the law to meet the prince who stayed behind. However, Xie Jin had once supported the prince, and he had offended Zhu Di because of the prince, and this move was easy to give people a pretext. Therefore, when Zhu Gaoxu took advantage of this to make a big fuss and throw out the conspiracy theory that Xie Jin deliberately stole the prince, Zhu Di's anger could be imagined. Soon, Xie Jin was arrested and imprisoned.
In prison, Xie Jin survived a long period of 5 years. Once, when Zhu Di looked through the prisoners' roster, he saw jin's name and asked seemingly casually, "Jin is still in Yay?" Ji Gang, the commander of the Jinyi Guards, who had always been good at greeting, heard the sound of the strings, so he drunk Xie Jin and buried him in the snow. Xie Jin was frozen to death at the age of forty-seven.
Xie Jin is a talent of heaven and indulgence, but he lacks some wisdom of the Hidden Front, so in the whirlpool of politics, he has suffered great losses and encountered suppression. Of course, he also reflected on himself, knowing that he was "blunt and frivolous, and had nothing to avoid", and he also knew the truth that "words will follow and disasters will follow". However, he could not give up his ambition and persistence: "Shame stands on the Holy Pilgrimage, and there is no slanderer." ”
Perhaps it is precisely this that it is destined to understand that there must be ups and downs in the fate of Jin, and it is difficult to escape an ending that makes people sigh.