Xue Xun

Xue Xun

Xue Xuan (1389-1464) was named Dewen and Jingxuan. Hejin is a native of Pingyuan village, liwang Township, Wanrong County, Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province. Xue Hedong is a famous thinker, Neo Confucianist, litterateur and founder of Hedong school in Ming Dynasty.

Xue Xun was a Jinshi in the 19th year of Yongle (1421). He was an official of Tongyi, a minister of rites and a Bachelor of the Imperial Academy. He died in 1464 and was given the title of Wenqing as a gift to Zishan doctor and Minister of rites. Longqing five years (1571), from the worship of Confucius Temple.

After Cao Duan, Xue Xun created "Hedong school" in the north. His disciples spread all over Shanxi, Henan and Guanlong. His study spread to the middle of Ming Dynasty, and formed a "Guanzhong study" dominated by Lu Dajun's brothers, whose momentum "almost separated from Yang Mingzhong's feeling". In the Qing Dynasty, Xue Xue was regarded as the successor of Zhu Xue, which was called "the top of Neo Confucianism in the early Ming Dynasty" and "the foundation of enlightened Daoism". Gao Panlong believes that there are two schools of learning in the Ming Dynasty: one is Yangming school in the south, and the other is Xue xuzhu school in the north. It can be seen that its influence is great. His works include 46 volumes of complete works of Xue Wenqing.

(source of picture in overview)

Life of the characters

Confucian family

Xue Xun was born on August 10, the 22nd year of Hongwu (August 30, 1389). His grandfather Xue Zhongyi was proficient in classics and history. Because he was in the war at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, he did not want to be an official. He spent most of his life teaching in his hometown. After her father Xue Zhen was elected in the 17th year of Hongwu (1384), she successively served as an official of Confucianism in Yuanshi of Hebei, Xingyang of Henan, Yutian of Hebei and Yanling of Henan for more than 30 years.

Because of his good learning environment and intelligence, Xue Xun was able to recite primary school and four books at the age of six or seven, and write poems and Fu at the age of eleven or two.

In the first year of Yongle (1403), when Xue Xun's father was in charge of education in Xingyang County, Chen Zongwen, the chief political officer of Henan Province, came to inspect the ship. When he was on the ship, he occasionally felt that "green water has no worries, wind has wrinkled his face". But he couldn't think of the right sentence for a moment, so he asked the officials present for advice. As a result, no one could be right. When his father came home and told Xue Xuan about it, he thought a little and said, "green mountains never grow old, snow white head.". Chen Zongwen was surprised to learn that, so he visited the school in person and read his usual poems. He said that he was outstanding in talent and learning and would become a great tool when he grew up.

In his youth, under the guidance of Xu Huaiyu, Wei Xiwen, Wang suheng and other famous scholars at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Xue Xun devoted himself to the study of Neo Confucianism in the song and Ming Dynasties. After he became a politician, he studied hard. Whenever he was free, he copied the book "the complete book of human nature", read it carefully, and often fell asleep late at night. Especially in winter, he still studied hard despite the cold. If he had any experience in his reading, he wrote it down immediately. Later, when he remembered more, he integrated the two books, reading record and reading sequel, with a total of 23 volumes.

In the 17th year of Yongle (1419), Xue Xun's father was appointed the Jiaoyu of Yanling County. He is still studying with his father at the age of nearly 30. At that time, however, he had already devoted his main energy to studying Cheng Zhu Neo Confucianism, including the history of Confucius, astronomy and geography, but he was not interested in the knowledge of imperial examination. However, there was something strange. According to the regulations at that time, when no one in the county where the edict was located was able to pass the examination for Juren or Gongsheng for a long time, they had to be sent to serve in remote areas. In August of the next year, he took part in the provincial examination of Henan Province and won the first place of gengzi, Jieyuan. The next year, he went to the capital to take part in the national examination and was awarded the title of Jinshi. From then on, he began his political career.

Have a voice in politics

From the third year of Xuande (1428) to the first year of Tianshun (1457), Xue Xun lived as an official for 24 years, and most of them were in charge of law and discipline, such as supervising the censor, Dali Temple Shaoqing and Dali Temple Qing. During this period, he was strict with himself, diligent and incorruptible in politics, upright and unswerving, and was praised as a "bright and handsome" honest official.

In the third year of Xuande (1428), Xuanzong of Ming Dynasty planned to reorganize the discipline. With the recommendation of Yang Shiqi, the first assistant of the cabinet, Xue Xun was appointed as the censor of Guangdong Province and the Bank of Hunan Province. Huguang Yinchang, namely Yuanzhou Yinchang, governs more than 20 silver mines in more than 10 counties in Western Hunan, with more than 500000 people. For many years, the management here has been chaotic and corruption has become a common practice, which needs to be rectified. When Xue took office, he was well aware of the great responsibility he shouldered, so he warned himself with the poem of the Tang Dynasty: "there are many treasures in this town. Don't be tired of poverty.". He was stationed in Yuanzhou, Chenxi and Luxi in turn. He made repeated inspections, made secret investigations, and handled important cases. In particular, he reported corruption cases one by one, dismissed officials and severely punished them according to law. So that the county and the silver market order, the public praise. He has been in office for three years and has never returned home. As he said in his poem, "Mo Yan's white pen (on behalf of himself) went to the south for a long time and won nothing.".

Unyielding to Wang Zhen

In the sixth year of Zhengtong (1441), Xue Xun became the Shaoqing of Dali temple and participated in the trial of criminal and prison cases. At this time, Wang Zhen, who was the eunuch of rites and controlled the government, in order to form a clique for personal gain and cultivate cronies, soon sent someone to give him gifts and invite him to meet him, but he refused. When Yang Shiqi, an important official in the imperial court, saw Xue Xun's upright disposition and was afraid of being blamed by Wang Zhen, they repeatedly urged him to go to the palace to thank him. But he replied with a straight face: "is it reasonable for an to accept the imperial court and thank the private family? I won't do it Not only that, when the officials went to the East Pavilion to discuss business, the ministers knelt down to worship Wang Zhen, but only Xue Xuan bowed his hand. From then on, Wang Zhen had a more grudge against him.

After taking office, Xue Zhen did his best to redress the injustice and vindicate himself. In just over four months, he completed more than 10 unjust prison cases in the royal guards. As it happens, during Xue Xuan's case, the beautiful and romantic wife of an officer in the royal guards who had been dead for two years had an affair with Wang Zhenzhi's nephew and Wang Shan, the captain of the royal guards. They wanted to get married immediately, but he's wife, the officer's first wife, stopped them on the ground that the three-year filial piety period was not over. As a result, they were dissatisfied. Wang Shan instigated the officer's wife to sue he, saying that she smothered her husband with magic. So the royal guards detained the he family and put it on file, and the censor's prison of the ducha court tried him and sentenced him to death. Xue Yu found that there was an injustice in it, and repeatedly asked the censor who was in charge of the case to review and vindicate the case. However, those people were afraid of offending Wang Zhen, so they had to transfer it to the Ministry of punishment. After the Ministry of punishment found out that it was really an unjust case, Xue Xun angrily impeached the censors for dereliction of duty. In this way, Ma Shun, the commander of the royal guards, and Wang Wen, the censor of the imperial court, were strongly dissatisfied. They immediately slandered Wang Zhenda. Wang Zhen was furious after hearing this, and ordered the admonishment to impeach Xue Xun. On the ground of dissatisfaction with the current court, they were sentenced to death and sent to the prison of the royal guards. After he was put into prison, many people went to see him one after another, but he was calm and still reciting the book of changes. When Li Xi, the history of General Administration, knew this, he said with admiration: "true iron man!" when Wang Wen was in charge of the examination at the noon gate, Xue Zhen immediately rebuked him, saying: "as the censor officer, you should avoid yourself, and an Neng asked me!" he was too ashamed to answer. Xue Xun was wronged and shocked the government and the public. Even Wang Zhen's old servants cried bitterly for him. Wang Zhen saw that the public anger was hard to break, so he had to give in. Later, after Wang Wei, the Minister of the Ministry of war, and others went up to resist and apply for salvation, Xue Xun was saved from death, and he was demoted to his native place. It was seven years later, that is, 1449, that the unjust case was vindicated.

plead for the people

As an official, Xue Xun was not only honest and self disciplined, but also diligent and loving the people. "He is sincere in his love," he pointed out "An official, though a fool of a man or a fool of a woman, should be treated with respect and should not be ignored." "Those who love the people but are not close to them will not love them." (see the book of reading) he profoundly expounded the importance of loving and supporting the people and making them rich. He said: "wealth comes from the people. If the expenses are wide, the wealth will be insufficient; if the wealth is insufficient, the tax will be heavy; if the tax is heavy, the people will be poor; if the people are poor, they will be exhausted, and if they are exhausted, they will be shaken." (see famous political sayings) it was under the control of this kind of thought of loving the people that Xue Xun constantly pleaded for the people's orders and vindicated the people during his official career, and his moving deeds were widely spread.

In the first year of Jingtai (1450), Xue Xun, who was not long after his restoration, was ordered to go to Sichuan to help Li Kuang, the governor of Jindu, quell the rebellion of Miao and Yi people in Western Sichuan. During this period, he personally went to various places to observe the people's situation, and found that local corrupt officials were cutting off and extorting money, which led to the hardship of the people's life and the difficulty of applying for unjust suppression, which mainly caused the riots. As a result, after the rebellion subsided, he immediately wrote a memorial to the imperial court, saying, "Fanchuan is far away from the barbarians, but it's not appropriate to punish them with tribute." He cited the facts to show that the people and financial resources of Miao Yi and other minority areas have been exhausted. Only by reducing the tribute and tax can there be no change. However, the court did not comment on this proposal. In his anger, he asked the court to resign and return home.

In 1453, there was a great famine in the whole country. People in Suzhou and Songjiang borrowed grain from rich families. But the rich took advantage of the danger of others, raised the price of food, hoarded and refused to borrow. To this end, aroused public resentment, it took place in groups to rob the rich households of food, burning the rich households of the house. The imperial court sent Wang Wen, the Taibao, to investigate and deal with the case. In order to show his merit, Wang immediately raided more than 500 families of civilians, arrested more than 200 people, and sent them all to Beijing for treason. He asked them to be executed together. Many ministers thought it was a case of great injustice, but they were afraid to raise objection because of Wang Wen's power. Only Xue Xuan wrote a memorial to the court to identify the injustice. Wang wennu said to others, "this old man is still stubborn." However, Xue Xun solemnly said, "if we can identify the injustice and get the blame, why should we regret our death?" In the end, the officials of the duchayuan found that only three or four leaders were severely punished.

Go back to hometown

Chinese PinYin : Xue Xuan