He is upright, has risked death and offense many times, asked for the people's lives, and fought for the court without fear. Although it often made Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty very unhappy, he finally died in office, which can be regarded as the end of his life. From 135 B.C. to 118 B.C., the sea of Ji Di was up and down, and although his official position changed from time to time, his outspoken and straightforward admonition never changed.
"Zizhi Tongjian" said that he was "a dark person, a stubborn and rude person, a folded face, and could not tolerate people's mistakes." "He has an arrogant temperament, likes to criticize people to his face, and cannot tolerate the faults of others.
Let's take a look at the earliest deeds of Jidian:
At that time, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was recruiting literary Confucians, and he was full of spirit at the court meeting, pointing out the country and saying what I should do.
Before others could figure out how to pick up the stubble, Ji Di responded and said, "Your Majesty wants a lot of benevolence and righteousness outside, so why do you want to follow the rule of Tang and Yu!"
He said Don't look at Your Majesty, you pretend to be benevolent and righteous on the surface, but in fact, you have too many desires in your heart, how can you achieve the situation of Tang Yao and Yu Shun ruling the world?
Emperor Wu of Han was petrified on the spot and was silent, and then he was furious, and his face turned pale and announced the end of the court meeting.
After Emperor Wu retreated to the inner palace, he angrily said to the attendants on the left and right, "This Ji Di's direct advice is too much!"
The ministers were worried about Jidi. At this time, some people criticized Ji Di, and Ji Di said that he was in the position of the minister, how could he only care about his own life and have the courage to bear the burden of Emperor Kuangzheng.
After Emperor Wu heard about it, he no longer bothered with him.
Ji Huang has a shortcoming, he is very sick, so he has to take time off frequently. Once he took sick leave for three months, but his condition still did not improve, and Emperor Wu extended his vacation several times.
As a result, Jidi's condition worsened. Zhuang Zhu came to help him ask for leave, and Emperor Wu couldn't help but ask, "How is Ji Huang like a person?"
Zhuang Zhu replied: Ji Di does not have a talent beyond ordinary people, but a person like him assists the young master, and he will inevitably be loyal, and no temptation can change his original intention.
After hearing this, Emperor Wu thought deeply and praised Ji Di as the minister of the society.
Ji Di's style of handling political affairs is "to do nothing, to lead to the general situation, and not to follow the grammar." "That is, to ensure that the general direction is okay, and not to care too much about the details. The county where he is located is well governed, and the people praise him.
At that time, there was a fire in Hanoi County, and the fire spread and burned down more than 1,000 houses, and Emperor Wu sent Ji Di to inspect it.
As a result, Ji Dian came back and said: It is only because the houses are adjacent to each other that this is the case, and there is no need to worry. However, I passed through Henan County and saw that there were tens of thousands of people suffering from floods, even to the point of cannibalism between father and son, so I exercised the power given to me by His Majesty to act on my own and ordered Henan County to open a warehouse and release grain. Please punish me, Your Majesty.
This incident also confirms the idea of taking the darkness into the government, and the fire is a sudden and accidental event, and it will end when it is dealt with. However, the floods have deprived the people of their source of livelihood, and more people have been affected.
Emperor Wu also recognized Ji Di's treatment, appreciated him very much, and did not punish him for his mistake of releasing grain without authorization.
Once, Gongsun Hong and the ministers agreed on a matter in advance, and wanted to advise Emperor Wu together. When it came to the last dynasty, Gongsun Hong turned to cater to Emperor Wu's wishes, which was completely contrary to the previous negotiated statement.
Everyone was angry, but they were helpless, Ji Di said loudly in the court: "Qi people are deceitful and ruthless, and they have proposed this with their ministers at the beginning, and now they are all doubled, disloyal!"
Emperor Wu then asked Gongsun Hong, who did not panic and calmly replied, "Those who know the ministers are loyal, and those who do not know the ministers are disloyal." ”
Sometimes, changing the subject really worked, how could Emperor Wu of Han not know the truth? But he also needed to have his own followers, as long as Gongsun Hong could talk about it, it was not a big deal. Since then, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty has become more and more fond of Gongsun Hong.
In 126 BC, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty appointed Gongsun Hong as the imperial historian. After taking office, he "did not eat heavy meat for the cloth quilt", what does it mean, using linen cloth to make a quilt, and not placing two kinds of meat dishes in a meal.
Others didn't say anything, Ji Di couldn't stand it, and said: Gongsun Hong is the third prince, has a lot of money, and has so much salary, but he uses cloth to make a quilt, this is just a trick to deceive people, and he is just selling his reputation there.
The advantage of Emperor Wu is that when he hears rumors, he will verify and verify them, so that the parties can defend themselves.
This time he came to ask Gongsun Hong again. Let's look at Gongsun Hong's defense:
Yes, I have a good relationship with Ji Di, and he said that I was pretentious, and it was true. If it weren't for Ji Di's uprightness, how could His Majesty have heard these words?
To a certain extent, Ji Di and Gongsun Hong are complementary to each other, one does, the other says, the two sing and harmonize, so it's not lively. It not only achieved the reputation of Ji Di's loyalty, but also achieved the character of Gongsun Hongqian to others. And Emperor Wu is their best audience.
However, not everyone is Gongsun Hong, and they can use their strength to achieve a win-win situation. The next person is arguing with Ji Di.
In 126 BC, Zhang Tang was appointed as a court lieutenant, equivalent to the current minister of justice. "Zizhi Tongjian" said that this person "is a lot of deceit, and he dances wisdom to control people." "It is to make good use of the art of power and deceit, and to play clever against people.
As long as it is a criminal that Emperor Wu wants to punish, he will hand it over to someone who has a strict review for trial, and if Emperor Wu wants to be lenient, he will hand over the prisoner to someone who enforces the law laxly, which can be said to be deeply favorable.
Ji Di naturally couldn't see enough of such a person, and the two argued in the court many times. Zhang Tang closely followed the provisions of the law, his logic was rigorous, and his arguments were meticulous, while although Ji Di was upright and severe, his high-minded arguments could not be put into practice, and he could not convince Zhang Tang at all.
Ji Di couldn't say it when he saw it, he was extremely angry, and scolded directly: Sure enough, the sword and pen officials can't serve as ministers and ministers, if they all do what Zhang Tang said, then everyone in the world will be in fear of standing on their feet and looking sideways!
The debate is just scolding, and it can be said that Ji Di also has a unique style.
But even so, because of his selflessness, Emperor Wu of Han respected him very much. When receiving Wei Qing or Gongsun Hong, sometimes he would be by the bedside or without a hat, but when Ji Di came, Emperor Wu would inevitably be dressed up to meet him.
Will Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty always treat Ji Di like this?
In 121 B.C., the Hun evil king surrendered, Emperor Wu wanted to mobilize 20,000 chariots and horses to meet him, and the court could not afford to buy so many horses, so he borrowed horses from the people on credit, and many ordinary people hid their horses at home.
There were not enough horses, and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was so angry that he wanted to kill the Chang'an County Order. At that time, Ji Di, who was the head of the Right Internal History, admonished: If the evil king surrenders to our dynasty, it is not enough for the post horses from all over the country to come out and send them away, so why should it make the world uneasy? Emperor Wu was silent when he heard this.
Emperor Wu's vanity, it is estimated that no one dares to say it, and Ji Di will dare.
When the evil king came to Chang'an, more than 500 local merchants traded with them but committed capital crimes. Ji Di couldn't stand it directly, he asked Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to meet him in the Gaomen Hall of Weiyang Palace, and when they met, he played and said:
The Xiongnu invaded our dynasty, and our army raised troops to conscript, with countless casualties and millions of dollars. I thought that His Majesty would give their belongings to the families of the soldiers when he got these surrenderers. As a result, you reward them with a great deal of money, as if you were a distinguished guest. Nowadays, the merchants are ignorant, who would have thought that if they did business in Chang'an City and sold them to the Hu people, they would commit the crime of illegally leaving the customs? Your Majesty is really hurting the branches to protect the leaves, and I think it is not right to do so.
Ji Di is right. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty loved face so much, and let the common people suffer with him. However, this time, Emperor Wu did not continue to be silent, but refused to accept Ji Di's suggestion.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty also said in "Zizhi Tongjian", "I haven't heard the words of Ji Di for a long time, and now I am reckless!"
It's been a long time since I've heard Ji Di's voice, look at him talking nonsense here again! Not only did he not accept it, but he also ridiculed Ji Di.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty always attached great importance to recruiting talents, but he was mean to others, and he could execute them at the slightest mistake, and never forgive. Ji Di persuaded Emperor Wu: Your Majesty is bent on seeking talent, but before you can give full play to your talents, you will kill him, so that all the virtuous people in the world are lost, who will help Your Majesty govern the world?
Ji Di became excited as he spoke.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was not in a hurry, and said to him with a smile, "He has no talent, and people can't know their ears." The so-called talented man is still a useful tool, and he is talented but refuses to make full use of it, and he is the same as the talentless, so what is the way not to kill!"
Here we can see Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's concept of talent, as long as he is good at discovering, he will not worry about having no talents. And talent is like a useful utensil, if you have talent, you can't stretch it, it's equivalent to having no talent, so what are you waiting for if you don't kill it?
Ji Di is theoretical. But if you can't say it, Ji Di will continue to say: I can't say anything about Your Majesty, but I feel that Your Majesty has done something wrong, and I hope you will correct your mistakes in the future, and don't think that I am ignorant and unreasonable.
Emperor Wu turned to the surrounding ministers and said: Ji Huang said that he was ignorant, and he was quite right!
In 119 B.C., he was dismissed from office for breaking the law. Temporarily away from the political center, a year later, Emperor Wu of Han summoned him back, this time, Emperor Wu of Han sent him to serve as the Taishou of Huaiyang.
Because there were too many people in Chu Di who minted money privately, Emperor Wu thought of Ji Di, who was selfless and selfless, and should be able to govern it well.
Ji Di lay on the ground, refusing to accept the official seal letter given to him by Emperor Wu. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty forcibly granted it over and over again, and Ji Di reluctantly accepted it.
He cried and said to Emperor Wu: I am a dying person, I didn't expect His Majesty to appoint me. I am often sick, and I am not able to handle the heavy work of the county at all, I am willing to be a Zhonglang in the capital, and do something to make up for your Majesty's mistakes, this is my wish.
It is estimated that Emperor Wu of Han secretly complained in his heart, and you made up for me a lot of mistakes. Emperor Wu Zhengse said: Don't you look down on Huaiyang Taishou? I will summon you back soon. That is, your prestige can handle the government affairs there, and if you are not in good health, you can just lie down and handle the official affairs.
In Huaiyang, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty gave him the treatment of prime minister of a vassal state. Ten years later, Ji Di died in Huaiyang.
Throughout Ji Di's career, there have been ups and downs, and he has never forgotten his original intention, and has always demanded himself with the standards of his direct ministers. As long as Emperor Wu of Han did something wrong, he would definitely point it out, and it could be said that he disregarded his own safety.
And he finally died in Huaiyang, which can be regarded as a kind of protection for him by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. At that time, Zhang Tang and others, the ministers around Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, were not all the way to Ji Di. Ji Di's own popularity is not good, and leaving the capital is also a good thing for Ji Di.
Moreover, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty said that he could "lie down and rule".
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