Hu Zongxian, a scholar, served as magistrate, suggestion and governor in Yidu, Shandong Province, organized people to put out drought locust disasters and recruited bandits. Rectify military discipline and consolidate the border defense of Fu Xuan and Datong; In Huguang, the Miao uprising was put down and the local people were appeased. Hu Zongxian is famous all over the country for its military talents and outstanding achievements. In the thirty-third year of Jiajing, Emperor Jiajing appointed Hu Zongxian to work in Zhejiang, where the Japanese pirates were most rampant. This shows the importance attached to Hu Zongxian. Before Hu Zongxian went to Zhejiang, he made an oath: "I won't go back to Beijing until I take Wang Zhi and Xu Hai alive and settle down in the southeast."
When Hu Zongxian took office in Zhejiang, it was the time when Yan Song and his son were in power. At that time, anyone who offended Yan Song and his son in the Ming Dynasty would lose his official position. Therefore, Hu Zongxian had to make a choice, whether to stick to his integrity and fight against Yan Song, or to please Yan Song and his son to win support and achieve something. Hu Zongxian used Yan Song's adopted son Zhao Wenhua to inspect the coastal military affairs in the south of the Yangtze River, and got on the line with Yan Song. Since then, he has been in power, and has served as the governor of Zhiren, the military affairs of Zhejiang, Nanzhili and Fujian, and commanded the troops of several provinces in Jiangnan, Jiangbei and Zhejiang to pacify the enemy.
After Hu Zongxian took office, he vigorously rectified the discipline of the army under his jurisdiction by means of strict rewards and punishments, making the Nanming army full of fighting capacity; Reuse Yu, Qi Jiguang and other famous soldiers, and allow Qi Jiguang to recruit, making Qi Jiajun the main force of the Japanese army in Zhejiang Empire; Listen to the strategy of Xu Wei, the chief of staff, suppress and appease, finally capture Wang Zhi, kill Xu Hai and other Japanese giants, and pacify the Japanese invasion of Zhejiang.
In the forty-first year of Jiajing and the eighth year of Hu Zongxian's stay in Zhejiang, he won an unprecedented victory in the struggle against Japan, but the day when he was accomplished was also the beginning of his bad luck. In May of the forty-first year of Jiajing, Yan Song, the cabinet record, fell. Hu Zongxian was regarded as a strict party and was liquidated by Xu Jie. He was impeached for embezzlement, excessive collection of taxes, and the party sheltered Yan Song. Finally, Emperor Jiajing read Hu Zongxian's exploits and saved his life, but Hu Zongxian's official career was over.
Two years after Hu Zongxian left his post and returned to his hometown, he still could not escape the ruling party's liquidation of the remnants of Yan Party. In the forty-four years of Jiajing, Luo Longwen, the chief staff of Yan Song and his son, was looted and even copied the so-called imperial edict of Hu Zongxian. In the end, Hu Zongxian wrote the poem "Sword buries unjust prison, loyal soul surrounds white clouds" and committed suicide with a horizontal knife.
Hu Zongxian was a rare talent in the Ming Dynasty, with courage and resourcefulness. His death can only be said that he was born in the wrong era, was labeled as strictly administering the party, and died under party struggle. For example, the suggestion impeached Hu Zongxian for corruption, excessive tax collection, profligacy and other charges, which were almost the same in the whole officialdom in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, and even the famous ministers Xu Jie and Zhang also had these problems; Another example is the "false imperial edict" that led to Hu Zongxian's death. Hu Zongxian is just a local official who has no conditions and false imperial edict, which is more like a fabricated crime. Otherwise, why did Zhu Zaihou, son of Jiajing, rehabilitate him?