Hai Rui, nicknamed Ruxian and nicknamed Gangfeng, was a famous upright official and expert on Ming law. Zhu Yijun and Zhang Juzheng discussed his rise.
Zhang Juzheng believes that Hai Rui has gained too high a moral status because of his extremely clean style, but in terms of actual ability, he cannot live up to his reputation.
He advised Zhu Yijun: "Hai Rui is famous because he is honest. However, he sticks to the laws established by his ancestors, handles affairs carefully and puts the people first, and often ignores the merits. If he goes to Songjiang, I am afraid that the Jin gentry will be like this.
The story of the third year of Longqing's reign disrupted the overall situation of Jiangnan."
Just as Hai Rui's reputation for being pure is the best in the world, so is his reputation for extreme behavior. Hai Rui acted based on the teachings of saints and the laws of the Ming Dynasty. He believed that all issues in the late Ming Dynasty should be governed by the "ancestral system", which was established by Hongwu.
Rules to solve - this is of course impossible.
Therefore, despite his recommendation over the years, Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng, two pragmatic cabinet ministers, were unwilling to use him.
To a certain extent, Hai Rui is also a martyr. Just as he said two words of encouragement to himself: "If you use yourself as a barrier, you will be overwhelmed; if you use yourself as a standard, you will open the way to restoration."
He wanted to use what he had done to ask everyone in the Ming Dynasty to be self-responsible, honest, and everyone should be in their own place like him. Although he was much better than those who asked others to do the same but did nothing themselves, he still
It's too idealistic.
Zhu Yijun originally did not have to recruit Hai Rui, but as Wang Yixiu stated in the memorial, the main resistance to retreating from the land mainly came from the various lawsuits involved. If the lawsuits were not cleared up, no one would dare to return the land.
.Therefore, in his memorial, he requested the imperial court to send a minister who was good at handling litigation to Songjiang.
The judicial theorem "Hai Rui's Theorem" named after Hai Rui is a subject in the history of Chinese legal system. Zhu Yijun listened to the professor in later generations' petition training courses. The so-called Hai Rui's theorem is actually Hai Rui's theorem in settling cases and settling lawsuits.
Summary of judicial experience. It can be roughly divided into three theorems: one: only fair justice will be truly efficient - the fairness theorem; two: the principle of differential protection - the difference theorem; third, no suspicion of guilt.
Zhu Yijun believes that the current situation in Songjiang, if the case is decided slowly based on the merits, it will not be clear for a while. A minister who is good at settling lawsuits and whose reputation is known to the world must be tried according to some principle of quick decision.
, in order to solve the problem quickly. Otherwise, if you miss the spring plowing, you will inevitably be laughed at by the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River, and it will also affect the effect of the Xu family's retreat from the land.
He told Zhang Juzheng this idea, and Zhang Juzheng also felt that what the emperor said was reasonable: no matter how Hai Rui judged the dispute over property and land, others would not suspect that he had taken bribes to favor one side, which was indeed conducive to quick settlement.
Litigation.
In addition, this was the second time that the emperor expressed his intention to use Hai Rui to him, and he could not stop him, so he did not insist on his opinion.
Because Hai Rui had returned to his hometown in Hainan at this time, Zhang Juzheng made two preparations in order not to delay things. First, he sent out the decree immediately; second, he transferred several judges from Dali Temple who were good at litigating property disputes and established Songjiang.
The Tuitian Judge Working Group also set out subsequently. At the same time, Zhang Juzheng, who was well aware of Hai Rui's influence, also drafted a notice to calm the people.
The will was made clear. The first people to take action were the gangsters on the ground in Songjiang. In the third year of Longqing, they used the second theorem of Hai Rui's theorem to get some benefits from Hai Rui. Now that they heard that Old Qingtian was coming again, everyone
Have you all prepared the papers? Whether you have dates or not? Prepare to hit three poles first.
The second person who heard the news and was about to run away was the Jin gentry from Mansongjiang. When Hai Rui was dismissed from office in the third year of Longqing, the red door was changed from black. Now it is time to change it back. According to the "Governor's Charter" stipulated by Lord Hai when he was the governor of Yingtian.
》, none of the luxuries at home can be used - how about taking advantage of his absence? We should hurry up and arrange the children's wedding.
At a time when people were panicking, the imperial edict and the peace notices arrived at Songjiang at the same time. When the imperial envoys arrived, they always put up notice boards first. This practice of posting peace notices in cities along the way was unprecedented.
No one is coming.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that the edict limited the scope of power of Envoy Hai to Songjiang and mainly managed dispute cases. Fortunately, Zhang Juzheng had thought carefully, otherwise all the gentry in the city would have fled when Hai Rui arrived.
.......
On March 3rd, Hai Rui finally arrived in Songjiang. Wang Yixiu, who had been prepared for a long time, followed him. He first sent him to his back office to rest, and discussed with him the departure of the imperial envoy.
Hai Rui was sixty-one years old at this time, but he still walked like the wind and sounded like a bell. His dark face had deep-set cheeks, and a pair of big eyes were piercing under his thick, inverted eyebrows, making his cheekbones even more prominent.
Wang Yixiu saw that he had arranged the arrangements, and asked him where he planned to arrange the palace. Hai Rui asked, where are the people from Dali Temple in the imperial court now? Wang Yixiu is all in my magistrate's office. These days, they are divided into four groups.
The case is being judged today.
After hearing this, Hai Rui smiled and said: "In that case, if there is no inconvenience, there is no need to find an imperial envoy to travel to the prison. Let's leave it in your yamen."
The prefect Wang only asked Hai Rui to help him share some of the responsibilities, so there was no reason not to agree. He said to himself that even if I move out, you can just settle the lawsuit with me, and I really don't care.
On the fourth day of March, Hai Rui immediately began to settle the case. Because Qingtian's name was so resounding and he had to have rich grassroots experience, Hai Rui's case was settled very quickly, and there were almost no complaints.
This year, many Songjiang gangsters thought he could support the proletarians like he did five years ago. They had prepared petition papers and handed them in when Hai Rui started to review the case.
Unexpectedly, Hai Rui had anticipated this event. He had already kept the list of people involved in lawsuits over land withdrawals last year. Seeing that the new petitions contained new cases, he first sent someone to investigate and find out the truth.
A few days later, when the court went to court, he first asked the plaintiff in the new case what he did for a living? Why had he never filed a lawsuit before? Then he paired the facts of the visit with his words, and basically no one could stand up to his three or five questions.
Hai Rui was the most disgusted person in his life to stir up trouble through lawsuits. He spent the first half of the day. Outside the Songjiang magistrate's office, a row of people with big wooden shackles stood in front of the public, which suddenly knocked down the evil thoughts of these social rats.
After Hai Rui joined the work of settling cases and settling lawsuits, he became even richer than Wang Yixiu with five, and finally completed the trials of all lawsuits before mid-March.
Wang Yixiu was relieved, and regardless of Hai Rui's taboos, he insisted on spending money to treat him to a meal in a big restaurant.
Hai Rui was not aloof from the world. Seeing the sincere invitation from the prefect, he changed into casual clothes and followed him out of the government office.
Before he could reach the place where he was going to eat, Hai Rui pointed to the groups of men and women on the roadside with straw signs indicating that they were selling their bodies and asked the prefect: "Why are there so many people selling themselves as slaves? Why don't you go do some serious business?
born?"
Wang Yixiu smiled bitterly and said: "These are all slaves sent by the Xu family. They can only serve people and cannot make a living by farming. There are relatively few in Songjiang, and there are thousands in Huating."
After hearing this, Hai Rui's face changed color and said: "The imperial court has just issued an order to retain slaves. The officials and the people are expelling slaves, so how can anyone recruit them from home? As a result, these people have no food and clothing for an unknown amount of time.
?”
Seeing Wang Yixiu's face turn pale, Hai Rui's heart thumped and asked him again: "When did the Xu family fire them?"
Wang Yixiu was speechless and just stretched out his hand to make a "six" gesture, meaning it had been more than six months.
After hearing this, Hai Rui carefully looked at the faces of the men and women on the roadside. Seeing that they were all dishonest, and looking at them with hatred in their eyes, he was shocked in his heart: "Chaos is just around the corner!"