Zheng Ji, courtesy name Tinggang and nickname Dongyuan, was a master from Wenxianli in Xianyou County. Born into a poor family, his father was a charcoal burner. He experienced three dynasties including Yingzong, Xianzong and Xiaozong in his life, and was known as the "Elder of the Three Dynasties". He has successively served as Hanlin Shujitu, Guozijijiu, deputy envoy of the Ministry of Finance, minister of the Ministry of household affairs, and minister of the Ministry of household affairs. Because in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, Zheng Ji proposed the "Six Things to Prepare for Famine", which fundamentally solved the economic crisis of the imperial court in the middle of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, Zheng Ji was also known as a "famous economic official" in history.
How to evaluate Zheng Ji?
First of all, he is upright and fearless of power. During the reign of Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Zhu Jianshen especially favored eunuchs such as Wang Zhi, Liang Fang, and Wei Xing. He appointed Wang Zhi as the eunuch in charge of the royal horse and the governor of the West Factory, and made him the commander-in-chief of the "Twelve Regiments Battalion" of the elite Beijing troops, making Wang Zhi Zhi and others caused harm to the imperial court and were arrogant. They repeatedly set up jails and murdered good ministers.
Liang Fang relied on the emperor's backing and was corrupt and flattering. In order to please Xianzong's favorite concubine Wan Guifei, "she spent every day with beautiful pearls and treasures to please the concubine", she went around searching for people's wealth and anointing, which made the people complain, and Xianzong Zongyin loved Concubine Wan Gui but turned a deaf ear. At this time, an upright Zheng Ji stood up and risked his life to submit the "Ten Strategies for Peace" to Xianzong, hoping that the emperor would "stay away from evil and evil, appoint loyal and good people, show compassion for the people, and promote ethics and education." However, Zhu Jianshen ignored it, so Zheng Ji was angry. He resigned and retired to his hometown for 20 years. As the saying goes, "The harm to one body is less severe than the harm to the people."
Secondly, he is an honest and upright official. When Zheng Ji was young, his mother once taught him: "Thrifty family tradition, loving mother's teachings, don't forget poverty when you are rich in the future." In the following decades of his official career, he always kept his loving mother's instructions in mind and never dared to forget them. Zheng Ji was re-employed during the reign of Emperor Xiaozong of the Ming Dynasty. He served as an examiner at the same time as Jing Yan and had the important function of judging papers for the imperial examinations. Some people tried various methods to get Zheng Ji to favor specific candidates when judging papers, but Zheng Ji severely criticized him. Rejection: "The title is a public instrument of the country, how can it be given to and received privately?"
When the Imperial Prince was offering wine, there was a lot of money left over from the school's food expenses. Chen Kuan, the director of etiquette, wanted to win over him and transfer the balance. He gave more than a thousand silver taels of food expenses to Zheng Ji, but he flatly refused. As a result, Zheng Ji was framed by his colleagues and repeatedly requested to resign. As the saying goes, "If we have different paths, we will not conspire against each other."
Thirdly, he loves his hometown and cares about his hometown. During the 22 years that Zheng Ji lived in the countryside, he advocated the construction of schools, and together with Chen Qian and others, organized the first literary society in the history of Xianyou, the "Qile Society", pioneering literary activities in Xianyou; planted trees and built bridges, He successively donated money and raised funds to build the Luming, Dengying, Buyun, Chaotian and Wolong bridges. When he learned that the people in Xianyou could not bear the taxes, Zheng Ji immediately went to Shu Xiaozong and begged for tax exemptions. Emperor Xiaozong was moved by the true feelings revealed in his memorial and ordered the Ministry of Household Affairs to reduce the land tax for the three years of Xianyou.
Zheng Ji also attached great importance to custom education, reforming bad habits, establishing new trends, and advocating frugality. To this end, he specially formulated the ten articles of "Guitian Consultation", the purpose of which is as stated in the preface: "To police yourself, to train your descendants, and to inform the villagers. I don't dare to take the responsibility of changing customs, but I don't want to help them indulge in extravagance." ! "
Fourth, he is full of knowledge and outstanding talent. Zheng Jiming was a scholar in the first year of Jingtai; he was a scholar in the fourth year of Jingtai; he was a Jinshi in the fourth year of Tianshun. He wrote many books throughout his life. Both the Kangxi and Qianlong editions of the "Xianyou County Chronicles" of the Qing Dynasty record that Zheng Ji wrote eight volumes of "Records of Return to the Fields", four volumes of Poems, fifty volumes of "Collected Works", and ten volumes of "Pictures of Holy Gongs". "Dongyuan Collected Works" included "Sikuquanshu" in the Qing Dynasty. As the saying goes, "literature is in the four treasuries, and poetry is called tranquility and beauty." "If you live high in the temple, you will worry about the people; if you are far away from the rivers and lakes, you will be the king; worry about the world first, and then rejoice when the world is happy."
Finally, can we use the famous sentence of Northern Song Dynasty writer Fan Zhongyan to summarize Zheng Ji?