Gu Li

Gu Li

Gu Yu (1476-1545), with the name of Huayu, was called "Mr. Dongqiao" in the world. He was born in Changzhou (now Wuxian County, Jiangsu Province) and lived in Shangyuan (now Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province). Ming Dynasty statesman and writer.

In 1496, Gu Xun became a Jinshi in the ninth year of Hongzhi reign of emperor Xiaozong of Ming Dynasty. He successively served as magistrate of Guangping County, Kaifeng Prefecture, Quanzhou Prefecture, Taizhou Prefecture and Zhejiang governor. During the period, he participated in the pacification of Liu Liu and Liu Qi uprisings and made remarkable achievements. In 1537, he was once again appointed governor of Huguang and later promoted to minister of the Ministry of industry. In the 23rd year of Jiajing (1544), he returned to Li as a minister of the Ministry of criminal justice in Nanjing. He built the Xiyuan, and often held wine meetings with guests and sang poems. He died in 1545 at the age of 70.

Gu Yu was famous for his poems. He was also known as the "three talents of Jiangdong" with Liu Yuanrui and Xu Zhenqing, and the "four masters of Jinling" with Chen Yi, Wang Wei and Zhu Yingdeng. Gu Yu was also one of the ten talents of Hongzhi. His works include Fu Xiang Ji, Shan Zhong Ji, Xi Yuan Shi Wen draft, etc. He also commented on Yang Shihong's Tang Yin.

(the general picture is taken from the collection of Gu Yuan in the Qing Dynasty, the printed edition of biography of famous talents in Wujun in the ninth year of Daoguang, and the painting of Kong Jiyao in the Qing Dynasty.)

Life of the characters

Young and proud

Gu Yu was born in 1476, the 12th year of Chenghua, Xianzong, Ming Dynasty. Gu's family lived in Wu County, Suzhou (now Suzhou, Jiangsu). Gu's grandfather, Gu Tong, was recruited as a court craftsman during the Hongwu Period. His native place was moved from Suzhou to Shangyuan (now Nanjing, Jiangsu). Gu Yu was quite famous when he was young, and he Jingming and Li Mengyang, who were among the "first seven sons", were on the same level.

In the eighth year of Hongzhi (1495), Gu Li, who was only 20 years old, took part in the rural examination. The next year, he became a Jinshi, and went to the Ministry of household affairs for an internship. This is the beginning of his career. Due to physical reasons, Gu soon returned to Jinling. His acquaintance with friends in the capital had a profound impact on his official career and literary creation.

In the 12th year of Hongzhi (1499), Gu Yu, who recovered from illness, was appointed magistrate of Guangping (now Guangping County, Hebei Province). At that time, Gu was still young. However, he made a good arrangement in government affairs, dealt with important affairs decisively and resolutely, and changed the atmosphere of Guangping. Because of his outstanding achievements, Gu Li was promoted to the post of head of the Qing Li Si in Nanjing Li Bu in 1504, and then promoted to the post of doctor of the Qing Li Si. South Cao had always been a place of leisure. With simple government affairs, Gu Yu had more time for literary activities. During this period, he had extensive contacts with Xu Zhenqing of Suzhou and Liu Lin of Huzhou. He was known as "three talents of Jiangdong".

Career twists and turns

In the fifth year of Zhengde (1510), Gu Li was appointed as the magistrate of Kaifeng Prefecture. Kaifeng is an important town in the Central Plains. In the face of the complicated situation, Gu Fen has to deal with more and more administrative affairs. At this time, bandits were rampant in Hebei and Henan. Liu Liu and Liu Qi raised their banners to revolt in ba'an, Hebei Province, and they moved around, losing officers and soldiers repeatedly. On the one hand, Gu Li evacuated the people and stabilized their hearts; on the other hand, he trained troops, raised food and salaries, actively responded to the war, and worked together with Peng Ze, the then governor of Henan Province, to stabilize the situation.

Liao Tang, the eunuch of Henan Province, was under the protection of Liu Jin, the eunuch who had the seal of the Secretary for rites. Most of the officials could not avoid it. Instead, he petitioned for the people and refused to bow down. After the incident of Liu Jin and Liao Tang's east window, Wang Hong, his successor, became more arrogant and asked Gu to kneel down. Gu Li would rather die than surrender. Wang Hong, relying on himself as the commander of the royal guards, sometimes supported by Qian Ning, falsely accused Gu Li of bullying and neglecting the eunuch, and bribed the royal guards to escort him to the capital. At that time, none of his old friends dared to help him for fear of being implicated. Instead of giving in, Gu argued against Qian Ning. Fortunately, with the help of Peng Ze, who was then the censor of Youdu, he was saved from death.

In the eighth year of Zhengde (1513), Gu Yu was demoted as the prefect of Quanzhou. During this period, he constantly reflected and injected the feeling of worry, greed, fear and ridicule into his poems. At this time, the culture and education of the whole Prefecture stagnated, so Gu Zhen devoted himself to the culture and education of the whole Prefecture. So he paid a visit to the Confucius Temple, and immediately met with the cultural and educational officials, teachers and students in Quanzhou to investigate the situation, and vigorously rebuilt the Quanzhou school and reorganized the style of study. In addition, he rebuilt the Qing Xiang Academy. During his official career in Quanzhou, Gu often traveled between mountains and rivers and set up pavilions in scenic spots, such as Lusheng Pavilion, Ruizhi Pavilion, siliu Pavilion, wangloushan Pavilion, Hejiang Pavilion, etc. in addition, he dredged springs and rebuilt Xiangfeng tower.

Official fortune

In 1516, Gu Xun rose to the prefect of Taizhou. Taizhou is located in the southeast of China. Most of the officials are rich in their own pockets, and the people are not well-organized, so it is difficult to govern Taizhou. Gu Li personally investigated the advantages and disadvantages of all things, renovated the chaos between the government and the people, rebuilt the city wall, dredged the river, built water conservancy, renovated the salt industry, renovated the supply of military pay, and so on. All of them made great efforts to standardize, so that the officials and the people had no place to escape, the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, and the government and the people were harmonious. In addition to managing the social chaos, Gu Li did not forget the culture of education. According to the records of the unified annals of the Qing Dynasty, Gu Li "held the general plan for the government, although he was redundant, he did not abandon his studies.". According to mingshancang, when Gu Li left Taizhou, he cried constantly in the streets and alleys. It can be seen from this that Gu Li won the hearts of the people and had a voice in politics when he was an official in Taizhou. Because of his meritorious service in power, Gu Xun was promoted to Zhejiang Zuo to participate in politics in 1521.

In the first year of Jiajing (1522), Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty ascended to the throne. Gu Feng was sent to the capital to celebrate. On his way to the capital, he was promoted to Shanxi's envoy. Gu Li resigned on the ground of supporting his father, and soon he was free of illness.

In the sixth year of Jiajing period (1528), after six years of idleness at home, Gu Xun was once again appointed as the governor of Jiangxi Province. Once again, I live in Hangzhou. During this period, Gu Li actively administrated, eliminated and innovated, dealt with the problems of Taxation and the selection of officials that had been avoided by all previous officials, rectified the official style, formulated regulations, and eradicated the old disadvantages. During his stay in Hangzhou, Gu Li devoted himself to rectifying the official style, fundamentally rectifying the malpractice and eliminating it, which greatly improved the atmosphere of the officialdom.

In the ninth year of Jiajing (1530), Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty issued an imperial edict to appoint Gu Li as the right deputy censor of the capital inspection yuan and governor of Shanxi. However, he refused to resign and return home, hoping to raise his relatives. He rebelled against emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty and eventually became an official in Shanxi.

New official

In 1537, at the age of 62, Gu Yu was appointed as the right deputy censor of the capital inspection court, and soon became the governor of Huguang. They are willing to travel with the vast territory, but willing to travel with the people. He only served in Huguang for more than one year, but he made a lot of achievements, and repeatedly made suggestions to the imperial court, such as: the land in Huguang was poor, the people were poor, the imperial court troops could not make ends meet, and the hidden danger of vassal kings could not be eliminated; the two provinces of Huguang were related to the safety of the border, the land was wide and complicated, and the frequent replacement of the censor was not conducive to the implementation of the policy, so he hoped that the imperial court would send more censors. The ten or so things mentioned by Gu Li all hit the key point of the current situation, but they were of no help because of the heavy local problems in Huguang.

After retiring as governor of Huguang, Gu Yu was promoted to the right Minister of the Ministry of punishment in 1539, and soon became the Minister of the Ministry of justice. When the Xianling Mausoleum of Zhu Youyu, the father of emperor Jiajing, began to be built, Gu Yu changed to the left Minister of the Ministry of work and was promoted to minister of the Ministry of work. However, due to offending Yan Song, after the completion of Xianling, he was appointed Minister of the Ministry of punishment in Nanjing. In 1544, Gu was dismissed because he was slandered by villains again.

In 1545, Gu died at the age of 70.

Main impact

overview

Gu worked in poetry and was very friendly with Chen Yi and Wang Wei of Tongli. He was known as "three heroes of Jinling". After that, Zhu Yingdeng, who is now Baoying County in Jiangsu Province, located in the northwest of Gaoyou County, became one of the top ten talents. Regardless of the official position, the high reputation and the attainments of poetry are the most.

Gu Xun's life has experienced four dynasties: Chenghua, Hongzhi, Zhengde and Jiajing. His long life can be divided into three periods, that is, from the ninth year of Hongzhi (1496) to the fifth year of Zhengde (1510). During this period, Gu Xun's experience was relatively simple, his main activities were in Nanjing, he spent a lot of time engaged in literary activities, and his literary thoughts began to take shape. From the fifth year of Zhengde (1510) to the first year of Jiajing (1521), he was in the ups and downs of official life. He was busy in governing the country, and his literary activities decreased accordingly. Due to their own experience, social factors and other reasons. His literary thought also changed. From the first year of Jiajing (1521) to the 24th year of Jiajing (1545), Gu Li lived in the countryside first, and then became an official of the southern criminal department. His official career reached its peak. During this period, Gu Li had been engaged in literary activities for a long time, and his works were considerable. At the same time, he lived in Jinling for a long time. His reputation is growing and his influence is also great. His literary career has reached a high point and his literary thought has finally come to an end. These three stages cover Gu's life experience. At first, he was full of ambition, then he became famous and came to the fore; at last, he became the leader of the literary world.

Politics

In the 12th year of Hongzhi (1499), Gu Li was appointed Guangping county. At the beginning of Guangping, Gu Xun was famous for his ability and ability. He was good at managing officials, and he was quick at solving cases, just like an old official. Even if the official is busy, he does not forget to create literature, which has the style of an ancient official.

In the fifth year of Zhengde (1510), Gu Li became the magistrate of Kaifeng Prefecture. During his tenure, he managed with great care, trained his troops, decorated his armour, raised food and salaries, and helped Peng Ze, the local governor, to pacify the uprising. He had a lot of strategies. "A general examination of the martial arts of the Guochao Dynasty" affirmed Gu Yu's role and contribution in the pacification of the chaos,

Chinese PinYin : Gu Lin