Liu Ji

Liu Ji

Liu Ji (July 1, 1311 - May 16, 1375), born in Qingtian, Zhejiang Province (now Wencheng, Zhejiang Province). At the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty, he was a statesman, writer and founder of Ming Dynasty.

During the yuan and Shun dynasties, Liu Jiju was a Jinshi. In 1359, he was appointed by Zhu Yuanzhang. He wrote to state the eighteen policies of current affairs, which was very popular. He participated in the plan to pacify Zhang Shicheng, Chen Youliang and the northern expedition to the Central Plains. The first year of Wu Dynasty (1367) was the order of Taishi, which entered into the Wushen Datong calendar. Please legislate to stop indiscriminate killing. After Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne, he asked for the establishment of the military and defense law, and asked Su Zheng and Ji Gang to establish the capital in Fengyang. In the third year of Hongwu (1370), he was granted the title of Uncle Chengxin, so he was also called Liu Chengxin. The next year. Liu Ji lived in his hometown and was invisible. He only drank and played chess. Hu Weiyong, the Prime Minister of Zuo, was framed and robbed of his salary. He died soon after entering Beijing to apologize. In the Ming Dynasty, Wu Zongshi gave him the title of "Wencheng".

Liu Ji is proficient in astronomy, art of war, mathematics and so on, especially in poetry. The poems are simple and unrestrained, and there are many works criticizing the decadence of the rulers and sympathizing with the sufferings of the people. Together with Song Lian and Gao Qi, they are called "three masters of poetry and prose in the early Ming Dynasty". All works are included in the collection of works of Cheng Xin Bo.

Liu Ji assisted Zhu Yuanzhang to make peace in the world, and his plan was established. Zhu Yuanzhang called him "my son" many times. Among the Chinese people, there is also a saying that "ZHUGE Liang divides the world into three parts and unifies Liu Bowen; Zhuge Liang, the former military adviser, and Liu Bowen, the later military adviser.".

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Life of the characters

Young and studious

Liu Ji is a native of Wuyang village in Nantian mountain, the ninth capital of Qingtian, Zhejiang Province (now Wuyang village, Yuemei Township, Nantian Town, Wencheng County, Zhejiang Province). At the end of Yuan Dynasty, Qingtian County was located in Chuzhou Road (now Lishui, Zhejiang), Zhejiang Province, and Wenzhou Road (now Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province) in the East. Nantian mountain is 150 Li south of Qingtian County. The situation of Nantian mountain is that "the top of ten thousand mountains, only open dozens of miles in Pyongyang, is called Nantian blessed land". "Dongtianfudi Ji" records that: "in ancient times, it was called 72 Fudi, and Nantian was one of them.".

Liu Ji is intelligent and studious. He was enlightened by his father. Reading speed is very fast, it is said that all seven lines. At the age of 12, he was admitted as a scholar, and his father in the countryside called him "child prodigy".

In the first year of TAIDING (1324), at the age of 14, Liu Ji entered Junxiang to study. He studied the spring and autumn classics as a teacher. This is a Confucianist classic with obscure and profound meaning. It's hard to understand it, especially for beginners who just read it with books in their hands. Liu Ji is different. He can not only recite it silently twice, but also explain it according to the meaning of the text. The teacher was very surprised to see this. He thought he had read it before, so he tried several other passages. Liu Ji could read all of them. The teacher admired him very much and said in secret, "what a genius! I will not be an ordinary person in the future!" Liu Ji didn't spend much time studying the spring and autumn classics.

In 1327, when Liu Ji was 17 years old, he left Fuxue, studied Cheng and Zhu Neo Confucianism under the guidance of Zheng Fuchu, a famous scholar in Chuzhou, and received the education of Confucian classics. In a visit, Zheng Fuchu praised Liu Ji's father and said, "your ancestors have accumulated a lot of virtue, and they have protected future generations. This child is so outstanding that he will surely be able to shine your family in the future." Liu Ji has a wide range of books and a wide range of scholars. He has a special interest in astronomy, geography, military science and mathematics, and is very proficient in them.

A new official career

In the first year of Yuantong (1333), 23-year-old Liu Ji went to Dadu (today's Beijing), capital of the Yuan Dynasty, to take part in the examination. He won the entrance examination at one stroke. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, he lived at home for three years in chaos and war.

It was not until 1336 that he was granted the title of "zhengbapin" by the Yuan government to assist the county magistrate in handling government affairs. He was diligent in his duty, strict in law enforcement, and soon made achievements. He went deep into the countryside and observed the situation of the people. He found that some gentry and landlords in Gao'an County colluded with corrupt officials, acted lawlessly, cheated people of money, robbed people of their wives and daughters, killed people, and committed all kinds of crimes. After listening to the people's crying, Liu Ji was filled with righteous indignation and determined to eliminate harm for the people. After thorough investigation and secret investigation, we firmly punished several tyrants who were notorious for their bad deeds, and rectified the officials who were corrupt and perverted the law in the county yamen. The social atmosphere of Gao'an County soon improved. Liu Ji's integrity has won the praise of the people. During his five years in office, the principle of dealing with local affairs was "strict and benevolent". He was able to sympathize with the people's feelings, but did not forgive illegal acts. He did not avoid power when he committed adultery. Therefore, he was loved by the local people. However, because of his integrity, the local gentry hated him to the bone and always wanted to find trouble to frame him. Fortunately, the governor and his subordinates trusted him so that he could avoid disaster.

An ill fated career

After resigning, Liu Ji returned to Qingtian. In the third year of Zhizheng (1343), the imperial court recruited him to be the deputy governor of Confucianism in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and also the provincial examiner. Later, he failed to get the support of the Minister of the central government for reporting and supervising the Royal censor, and gave him a lot of censure, so he had to submit a letter to resign for a term of about one year.

Live in seclusion

In 1346, Liu Ji accepted the invitation of his good friend Ouyang Su and came to Dantu with him. He lived in Jiaoxi book house near Ouyang Su's home and lived in semi seclusion. He made a living by teaching the children in the village to read, and occasionally returned to his friends such as yuehutan and Tao Kai.

In 1348, Liu Ji ended his two-year semi seclusion in Dantu and entered the crowd again. He came to live in Hangzhou and his wife gave birth to a son, Liu Lian. During his four years in Hangzhou, he interacted with other scholars, such as master takekawa and master Zhaoxuan, as well as with Liu Xianren, Zheng shiting, Xiong Wenyan and yuehunan.

In July of 1352, Xu Shouhui conquered Hangzhou. Before he conquered Hangzhou, Liu Ji brought his family back to his hometown. Soon after returning to his hometown, an official letter came from the imperial court. The imperial court appointed him as the capital of Marshal's office in Jiangsu and Zhejiang Province, whose main task was to help the local government to pacify the thieves in eastern Zhejiang, especially Fang Guozhen. Yuan zuocheng Tie Li Tie mu'er wanted to recruit Fang Guozhen. Liu Ji thought that Fang's brothers were the first criminals, and there was no way to punish them if they were not punished. Fang valued bribes to the government, and was eventually recruited and granted official posts. Instead, he accused Liu Ji of being good at power and fortune. Liu Ji resigned in anger to express his dissatisfaction with the corruption of the Yuan Dynasty.

Helping the Ming Dynasty and the country

In 1360, he was invited by Zhu Yuanzhang to Yingtian (today's Nanjing) and appointed him as a counsellor. In view of the situation at that time, Liu Ji proposed to Zhu Yuanzhang to avoid fighting on two fronts and break through each other, which was adopted. He assisted Zhu Yuanzhang in concentrating his forces to destroy Chen Youliang, Zhang Shicheng and other forces. Liu Bowen also suggested that Zhu, on the one hand, break away from Han lin'er's self-reliance, but on the other hand, use "Daming" as the national name to attract the support of the world's volunteers.

At this time, Chen Youliang conquered Taiping (now Dangtu County, Anhui Province), intending to move eastward. Some of the generals under Zhu Yuanzhang's charge urged Zhu Yuanzhang to surrender, while others believed that they had to evade his influence and defend Nanjing (Nanjing was called Zhongshan at that time). Zhu Yuanzhang's intention is still undecided, and Liu Ji is silent. Zhu Yuanzhang knew that he had his own opinions, so he called him into the inner room to make decisions with him. Liu Ji thought that those who said they would surrender or fled should be punished to avoid disturbing the morale of the army. Liu Ji believes that Chen Youliang is arrogant and arrogant. He doesn't pay attention to us at all. We should take advantage of his arrogance and complacency, and can't listen to different opinions, to lure the enemy into ambush, and to destroy his spirit. Liu Ji said: "if the way of heaven is later, the winner will win. I'll wait for work with ease. What's the trouble? I'd better be honest and open. I'd like to strengthen the heart of the scholars, ambush them and attack them in order to win and become a king.". It was at the beginning of the Wu Kingdom, when everything was to be done, and at the critical moment when the enemy was strong and the internal views were different, that Liu Ji spoke a few words, cleared the fog, pointed out the situation, made decisions, united the people, and made progress for the completion of the king's career.

In 1367, he took part in the formulation of Zhu Yuanzhang's strategy of destroying the Yuan Dynasty and realized it. He has participated in military aircraft planning for eight years.

Persuading you to buy goodness

In the first year of Wu Dynasty (1367), Zhu Yuanzhang took Liu Ji as the order of Taishi, and Liu Ji presented the Wu Shen Da Tong Li. Liu Ji asked Zhu Yuanzhang to issue an edict to punish himself. It was a severe drought, and Liu Ji asked to deal with the case of Jiuji injustice. Zhu Yuanzhang immediately ordered Liu Ji to vindicate himself, and the heavy rain fell from the sky. Liu Ji took the opportunity to request the establishment of a legal system to prevent indiscriminate killing. When Zhu Yuanzhang was about to execute the prisoner, Liu Ji asked why. Zhu Yuanzhang told him his dream. Liu Ji said: "this is an auspicious sign of gaining territory and people, so the sentence should be suspended and waiting." Three days later, Haining surrendered. Zhu Yuanzhang was very happy and gave all the prisoners to Liu Ji for release. Yuanzhizheng 27 years (1368) is the emperor, the capital should days (now Nanjing), the state name Daming. The Ming Dynasty was officially established, and Liu Ji was granted the title of Zhongcheng and Taishi.

Strict law and discipline

After Zhu Yuanzhang became the emperor, Liu Ji made the military law. At the beginning, when it was decided to pay taxes and grain in Chuzhou, it was modeled on the song system, with the exception of Qingtian County. Taizu said, "let Liu Bowen's hometown pass on this matter for generations." When Taizu visited Bianliang, Liu Ji stayed in the capital with Li Shanchang, the Prime Minister of Zuo. Liu Ji thought that the song and Yuan Dynasties lost the world because of too much leniency, so they should clean up the discipline. So he ordered the censor to impeach without any scruples. All those who committed mistakes in the Su Wei, eunuch and servant would be punished according to the law. Therefore, everyone was afraid of Liu Ji's dignity. Zhongshu

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