Biography of Di Renjie
Di Renjie (630-700), whose name is Huaiying, was a native of Jinyang County (now Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province). An outstanding politician of the Tang Dynasty, he served as prime minister twice.
A virtuous man who knows people and is good at his duties
Di Ren was born in the family of an official eunuch, and since he was a child, he has had a lofty ambition to help the world. When he became an adult, he passed the imperial examination and entered the official career.
When Di Renjie first started as an official, he was falsely accused by a small official, which happened to be the case of Yan Liben, a famous minister of the court. During the interrogation, Yan Liben found that Di Renjie had both talents and virtues, and praised him: "Confucius said that by observing the nature of a person's mistakes, we can know who he is. You are like a pearl left in the sea!" So he recommended him for a more important official position.
Later, Di Renjie was promoted to Dali Temple, responsible for hearing criminal cases, and within a year he dealt with a large backlog of cases, involving more than 17,000 people, but not a single person involved disobeyed his verdict. As a result, Di Renjie became famous for being good at solving cases.
Once, two generals mistakenly cut down the cypress tree in Taizong's mausoleum, and according to the law, they should be removed from their posts. But Tang Gaozong was furious, thinking that this was putting himself in a place of unfilial piety, and insisted on executing them. Di Renjie thought that the sentence was too heavy and did not comply with the law, so he skillfully dissuaded Tang Gaozong and upheld judicial fairness, leaving a deep impression on the then empress Wu Zetian.
Since then, Di Renjie has served as a magistrate many times, and he loves the people like a son everywhere he goes, and is deeply supported by the people. One year, Prime Minister Zhang Guangfu led an army to fight against the rebellion, and took the opportunity to connive at his subordinates to extort and loot in Di Renjie's jurisdiction. Di Renjie boldly stopped it, and angrily condemned Zhang Guangfu, saying: "If I had Shang Fang's sword, I would definitely kill you and eliminate harm for the people, and I would die without regrets!" Zhang Guangfu was annoyed and ashamed, and accused Di Renjie of committing the following crimes and demoting his officials.
In 690, Wu Zetian was officially proclaimed emperor, and the following year he appointed Di Renjie as prime minister. Only four months later, the famous cool official Lai Junchen falsely accused him of rebellion and arrested him in prison. At that time, the law provided that a person who confessed to rebellion after interrogation could have his death penalty commuted. After Di Renjie was imprisoned, he immediately pretended to confess. Lai Junchen thought that Di Renjie was frightened, so he no longer guarded him closely. Di Renjie immediately secretly wrote a complaint of grievances, hid it in the mezzanine of the cotton clothes, lied that the weather was getting warmer, and asked the jailer to hand over the cotton clothes to his family. Di Renjie's son got the grievance and immediately sued Wu Zetian, and finally made the truth come out. Di Renjie was lucky to escape death, but was demoted again.
A few years later, when the situation stabilized, Wu Zetian no longer needed to use cool officials to fight opponents, but needed a prime minister who was highly respected and good at governance, so he appointed the sixty-eight-year-old Di Renjie as prime minister again. Wu Zetian trusted and respected him very much, and did not call him by his first name, but respectfully called him "the elder of the country". On the one hand, Di Renjie vigorously recommended talents, and on the other hand, he guided Wu Zetian to return to politics in order to restore the Tang Dynasty.
Once, Wu Zetian asked Di Renjie to recommend the talent of the prime minister, and Di Renjie recommended Zhang Cambodia. Wu Zetian was as good as a stream, and immediately promoted Zhang Cambodia. Not long after, she asked Di Renjie to recommend talents, and Di Renjie said: "The Zhang Cambodia recommended by the minister before has not been reused." Wu Zetian said: "I have already promoted him." Di Renjie said earnestly: "The minister recommended to His Majesty that he was the prime minister, and now he is only allowed to be a magistrate, which is not considered to be important." So, Wu Zetian transferred Zhang Khan Zhi to the central government, and later made him the prime minister.
After Wu Zetian was old, he wanted to pass on the throne to his nephew, Di Renjie said: "The first emperor entrusted his two sons to His Majesty, does Your Majesty want to entrust the world to his foreign surname? Besides, Your Majesty has appointed his son as the crown prince, and he will be able to serve in the Taimiao Temple in the future." If you set up a nephew, you have never heard of matching your aunt to the temple. After hearing this, Wu Zetian was very unhappy, Di Renjie insisted on continuing to admonish, and finally made Wu Zetian change his mind and re-appoint Li Xian, the third son born to her and Tang Gaozong, as the crown prince.
In 700, Di Renjie died of illness. Wu Zetian cried bitterly and said, "The court is empty!" After that, whenever he couldn't make up his mind about a major military matter, Wu Zetian couldn't help but sigh: "Why did God take Di Guolao away from me so early!"
Five years later, Wu Zetian was seriously ill, and Prime Minister Zhang Khan Zhi and others took the opportunity to launch a coup d'état and supported the crown prince Li Xian to ascend the throne, realizing Di Renjie's long-cherished wish. Di Renjie did not serve as prime minister for a long time, but he changed the trend of history. Under the painstaking management of the "Restoration Tang faction" headed by him, Li Tang was able to restore the country and continued his reign for more than 200 years.
The story of Di Renjie's good at solving cases is widely circulated among the people and has been interpreted as a variety of detective stories. More than 1,200 years later, the Dutch sinologist Gao Luopei took him as the protagonist and wrote more than 1.4 million words of "The Case of Di Gong of the Tang Dynasty", which was translated into dozens of languages, and was deeply loved by Chinese and foreign readers, so Di Renjie won the reputation of "Sherlock Holmes of the East". Many film and television works also use Di Renjie as the theme, making him a well-known historical figure.
Biography of Yao Chonglie
Yao Chong (650-721), a native of Kipshi County, Shaanzhou (now Shaanxian County, Henan Province). A famous minister of the Tang Dynasty and an outstanding politician.
The prime minister who saved the evils of the times
Yao Chong was born in a family of eunuchs, and since he was a child, he has been free and easy, advocating integrity, and being diligent and studious.
As an adult, Yao Chong entered the official career through the imperial examination and was repeatedly promoted to become the deputy chief of the military department. At that time, the Khitan invasion, and the military documents reported to the imperial court were piled up, and Yao Chong handled them in an orderly and fast manner. Empress Dowager Wu Zetian, who was in charge of the government, greatly appreciated Yao Chong's administrative ability and promoted him to prime minister.
As a woman, Wu Zetian had a lot of opposition in the early days of her reign, so she appointed cool officials to Junchen and others to fight against opponents for ten years. After Lai Junchen's death, Wu Zetian asked the courtiers around him: "Junchen has killed a lot of rebels in the past, why didn't anyone rebel after his death?" Yao Chong replied: "Those officials who were killed for the crime of rebellion were all unjustly forced to admit their guilt, and the cool officials took this opportunity to ask for merit and reward." Although His Majesty had sent someone to review it, they were afraid of being targeted by the cool officials, so they didn't dare to take it seriously. The sinner is afraid of being poisoned, and he does not dare to retract his confession. The minister dared to use the life of the whole family to guarantee that there would never be a rebel in the future. If Your Majesty receives another whistle-blowing letter, please don't believe it, and you are willing to be punished if something goes wrong. Wu Zetian said very happily: "You are right. It's all to blame for the obedience of the former prime minister, which made me a monarch who abused punishment. "I ordered to reward Yao Chong with a thousand taels of silver as a reward.
Later, Prime Minister Zhang Cambodia and others took advantage of Wu Zetian's serious illness to launch the "Shenlong Coup" and support the restoration of Tang Zhongzong. Hundreds of officials held a celebration banquet, all of them cheered, only Yao Chong cried in a low voice, and was reprimanded by Zhang Cambodia. Yao Chong said: "I have served Emperor Zetian for a long time, and I suddenly bid farewell to her, and I feel sad in my heart, which is the behavior of a courtier. If I am convicted of this, I am willing. Soon, Yao Chong was demoted to the rank of magistrate.
After the death of Tang Zhongzong, Tang Ruizong ascended the throne and recalled Yao Chong to serve as prime minister again. Because he offended Tang Ruizong's sister Princess Taiping, Yao Chong was demoted to a magistrate again.
At the beginning of Tang Xuanzong's accession to the throne, he was interested in reforming the accumulated defects and rectifying the rule of officials in order to restore the vitality of the imperial court. For this reason, Xuanzong took the opportunity of traveling and secretly summoned Yao Chong. After some in-depth conversations, Xuanzong decided to make Yao Chong the prime minister. Yao Chong said: "The minister has ten governing principles, if His Majesty feels that it is not feasible, then the minister will not be able to obey his orders." Then he put forward ten measures to correct the maladministration of the Wu Zetian period, including the implementation of benevolent government, the light punishment of small endowments, the dismissal of eunuchs, the crackdown on the powerful, the reuse of virtuous ministers, and the cessation of the construction of Buddhist temples. After hearing this, Tang Xuanzong immediately said that he could do it all. Yao Chong accepted the appointment at this time.
One year, a severe locust plague occurred in Shandong. Many officials are superstitious that locusts are natural disasters, not within the reach of manpower, and that hunting and killing locusts will damage the harmony of heaven and earth, and that only by cultivating morality can we move the heavens and eliminate the locust plague. The common people did not dare to hunt and kill locusts, so they could only worship the gods and pray for protection. Yao Chong resolutely opposed this argument and said to Tang Xuanzong: "There are many records of locust hunting in ancient books, which shows that it is not a big deal. Now, in the face of locusts encroaching on the seedlings, the people in the disaster area not only did not dare to destroy them, but instead burned incense and worshipped, seeing that the grain was about to be cut off. The extermination of locusts should be ordered immediately. ”
Tang Xuanzong eventually adopted his suggestion and sent commissioners to supervise the extermination of locusts, but there was strong resistance from some magistrates. Yao Chong was furious and sent an official document accusing a magistrate, saying: "It is said that in ancient times, a good official with high morals, locusts did not dare to enter his jurisdiction. Is it because you are morally corrupt when the locust plague is raging in your area now? How can you bear not to go to the disaster when you see the locusts devouring the seedlings? What should you do if it leads to famine? I hope you will not hesitate any longer, otherwise the consequences will be serious, and you will not be able to regret it!" The magistrate then carried out the order to exterminate the locusts, effectively avoiding a decrease in grain production. Despite this, there were still doubts among the courtiers, and Yao Chong said impassionedly: "If you anger the heavens because of the extermination of locusts and the salvation of the people, then please bring disaster to me, and it has nothing to do with you!" Yao Chong insisted on exterminating the locusts under the tremendous pressure of public opinion, and his insistence proved to be correct.
Later, Yao Chong took a leave of absence due to illness, and the government was temporarily handed over to another prime minister to deal with, but when it came to military affairs, Xuanzong asked him to consult Yao Chong. If the prime minister's recital was in line with the holy will, Tang Xuanzong said, "This must be Yao Chong's idea." If it was not in line with the holy will, Xuanzong asked him: "Why don't you ask Yao Chong's opinion?" The prime minister had no choice but to reply truthfully: "I really haven't consulted Yao Chong yet." ”
Although Yao Chong served as prime minister for a short time, Tang Xuanzong gave him full trust, so that he could fully display his talents, the political atmosphere changed greatly, the economy developed, and the society tended to be stable, laying the foundation for the "prosperous era of the Kaiyuan Dynasty", and Yao Chong was also known as the "prime minister of saving time". When Yao Chong left office, he recommended Song to Tang Xuanzong to replace him.
In 721, Yao Chong died of illness at the age of seventy-two.
This article is excerpted from "Twenty-four Histories Read Now, Language and History Are Progressing" - the eighth volume of "Old Tang Book", which is officially authorized to be published, welcome to continue to pay attention.