Ye Heng

Ye Heng

Ye Heng (1122-1183), a native of Jinhua (now Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province), was born in Mengxi. The Prime Minister of the Southern Song Dynasty.

Shaoxing eighteen years (1148), ye Heng examination Jinshi, was granted Ningde County book, acting County captain. He was promoted to the magistrate of Yuqian County for his meritorious deeds in capturing the salt bandits. In the first year of Qiandao (1165), he was promoted to Changzhou. In the second year of Qiandao (1166), he was promoted to the position of Shaoqing in Taifu and moved to be the Minister of the Ministry of household. After his mother died, he left to mourn. In 1170, he began to return to Luzhou. Before he set out, he was appointed as a privy officer. He learned about Jingnan, Chengdu and Jiankang. In the first year of Chunxi's reign (1174), he was called as the Minister of the Ministry of household, signed a letter to the Privy Council, paid homage to the government affairs, and moved to the right prime minister and secretary. In the second year of Chunxi reign (1175), Tang Bangyan slandered him, removed his position and demoted him to Jianning mansion. In the third year of Chunxi (1176), he was demoted as the Deputy envoy of the German army and settled in Chenzhou. Later, he returned to his hometown. Chunxi ten years (1183) died, 62 years, gift zizhengdian bachelor.

During his tenure in the local government, ye Heng took good care of the people and had a lot of political voice. After entering the imperial court, his advice was adopted repeatedly, and he was ordered to regulate the use of "Huizi", which made a certain contribution to maintaining the economic stability in the early Southern Song Dynasty. In addition to his political achievements, ye Heng also has a lot of poetic talent. There are four of his poems in Quan Song Shi.

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Life of the characters

Early experience

Ye Heng was born in 1122, the fourth year of Xuanhe reign of Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty, and became a scholar in 1148, the eighteenth year of Shaoxing reign of Emperor Gaozong of Song Dynasty. At first, he was appointed as the chief of Ningde County, Fuzhou, acting County captain. He was promoted to the magistrate of Yuqian County in Lin'an Prefecture for his meritorious service in arresting salt bandits. At that time, the problem of population was serious, rich families concealed the number of people, and poor people were forced to pay the poll tax repeatedly. After he took office, ye Heng divided the households into nine grades, exempted them from tax from the fifth grade and below, and shared their share equally among the households in the fourth grade, thus lightening the burden of the poor. When collecting taxes, a time limit was set and announced at the gate of the county government. Let Li Zheng tell the people that he would not send an official but pay himself. There was a plague of locusts in that year, but they didn't go through yeheng's hospital. Therefore, ye Heng's achievements in governance ranked first in all counties. His officials reported the situation to Emperor Gaozong of Song Dynasty. Emperor Gaozong affirmed Ye Heng's practice and thought that he was good at governing the county. In the first year of Qiandao (1165), ye Hengsheng knew Changzhou. At that time, the flood disaster was serious, and the hungry people scattered everywhere. Ye Heng decided to open a warehouse to cook porridge to relieve the victims. Some people say that the warehouse can not be opened easily. Ye Heng said: "saving grain is just to prepare for an emergency. How can we watch the people starve and not help them?" When the plague was rampant, ye Heng, regardless of his personal safety, went to the alleys with his doctor for consultation, saving the lives of many victims. Ye Heng recruited Li mengjian, the Prime Minister of Jinling County, to act as the magistrate of Wuxi County. Because of his great achievements, ye Heng recommended Li mengjian to song Xiaozong and made him known to Xiuzhou immediately. This shows that Xiaozong's trust in Ye Heng.

Suggestions and suggestions

In the second year of emperor Xiaozong's reign of Qiandao (1166), ye Heng was promoted to the position of Shaoqing in Taifu. There are 40 Li polder fields near the lake in Hefei. Ye Heng suggested that people should be recruited to cultivate them, and hundreds of thousands of grains can be harvested every year. After two or three years, the land became large, and then the government and the private would collect half of the land in the same way. Song Xiaozong followed his advice. In the sixth year of Qiandao (1170), ye Heng was appointed Minister of the Ministry of household. At that time, there was a lot of salt tax deficit. Ye Heng said, "the tax revenue has not increased in recent years. It is the result of private merchants selling salt. We should control the place where salt is boiled, manage the use of salt pots, check the amount of salt stoves, and give salt farmers the capital on time. If we buy more salt on time, and choose honest and competent officials to visit them, the illegal traders will naturally disappear." So Xiaozong set up a processing officer in Tongzhou of Huainan, Mingzhou of eastern Zhejiang and Xiuzhou of Western Zhejiang to be responsible for salt affairs. later, ye Heng left to mourn for his mother's death. On April 4, the seventh year of Qiandao (1171), he began to know Huaixi road again. Later, he was granted the title of "Shumi Du Cheng Zhi" and "Fu Wen Ge Dai Zhi". During his term of office, ye Heng told the court about the malpractice of the horse policy, and proposed that each control should be responsible for the number of horses, calculate the number of horses at the end of the year, and determine the advantages and disadvantages. When Li Xun, a man from Danling, responded to the strategy of the virtuous and upright, he was listed in the fourth class because of his boldness and boldness. Ye Heng said: "Your Majesty has a good eye on his loyal character, and does not blame him for his arrogance, which is enough to show your Majesty's moral character of tolerating advice." Therefore, Li Xun was given a background in the Department of science and technology. Some people suggested to song Xiaozong that the names and records of soldiers along the Yangtze River and Huaihe River were full of forgery, so Xiaozong ordered Ye Heng to inspect them, and gave them robes, saddles, bows and arrows, and ordered Ye Heng to deal with and resettle the militia. On September 1, 1173, ye Heng played in Zhijing Nanfu: "because of the drought in the previous year, the people's strength of the Jingxiang militia has not yet recovered. I hope they can order them to study martial arts at home. In the spring of next year, they will send representatives of martial arts elite to the prefectural government, and give a banquet according to the same order to encourage the rest of the people. The usual practice of training every year is to wait until next winter. " Song Xiaozong followed his advice. He was praised for grasping the key points of running the army. When ye Heng finished the pilgrimage, he went to see song Xiaozong. At that time, Xiaozong visited the side hall to inspect the warriors, called Ye Heng to participate in the ceremony, gave wine and calligraphy.

one has reached the highest rank open to a subject

In April of the first year of Chunxi (1174), ye Heng took the post of secretary of the Ministry of household and concurrently served as the Secretary of the Privy Council. In June of the same year, ye Heng said: "today's military power depends on the generals, and the lives of the people depend on the local officials. If there are problems in the military and local governments, it is often because of the frequent replacement of the officers. I hope that from now on, we can make more choices so that the selected talents can be competent for their posts, and then they can hold certain posts for a long time, so as to avoid the problems of inefficiency and command difficulty caused by the repeated changes of the chief executive. " Song Xiaozong followed his advice. In the same month, he was taught to participate in political affairs. In November of the same year, ye Heng served as the right prime minister and secretary. Ye Heng was promoted from a local minor official to prime minister in less than ten years. at that time, song Xiaozong was determined to restore his territory and consulted Ye Heng. Ye Heng strongly fought against Jin. He carefully considered the situation of generals, weapons, mountains and rivers, and defense, and answered them one by one. At the end of the performance, Xiaozong gave him a seat in private to discuss secret affairs and called him in from time to time. In December of the same year, ye Heng was in charge of compiling the Zhenzong yudie and the records of the vassal clan of the upper five generations under the third patriarch. In July of the second year of Chunxi (1175), Lai Wenzheng, a tea merchant, launched an uprising. Jia Hezhong, the general manager of Jiangxi Province, went to suppress the uprising and was defeated. Using Ye Heng's suggestion, song Xiaozong appointed Xin Qiji, the doctor of cangbu at that time, as the punishment officer of Jiangxi Province, and restrained the army from attacking the uprising army. In August, the uprising was pacified by Xin Qiji.

Demoted for words

In August of the second year of Chunxi (1175), song Xiaozong sent pan envoys to the Jin Dynasty, hoping to obtain the land south of the Yellow River. Ye Heng said: "Si Jian Tang Bangyan has eloquence and is suitable to be sent to the Jin Dynasty." In September, Tang Bangyan was about to send an envoy. He met Xiaozong and learned that his mission was due to Ye Heng's recommendation. Tang Bangyan resents Ye Heng for crowding him out. When he hears that ye Heng has slandered song Xiaozong to his guests, he reports it to him. In a rage, Emperor Xiaozong dismissed Ye Heng as prime minister and demoted him to Jianning Prefecture. In March of the third year of Chunxi reign (1176), ye Heng was impeached by Yan Guan for "indulging in wine and betraying the public", and was demoted to be deputy envoy of the German army and resettled in Chenzhou.

Reinstatement and death

In the fifth year of Chunxi (1178), Tang Bangyan returned as an envoy. As expected, he did not complete his mission. Xiaozong was angry and exiled Tang Bangyan to Lingnan. He treated Ye Heng leniently and allowed him to live at will. Later, he returned to his hometown. In 1183, ye Heng died at the age of 62. After death, he was presented as a Bachelor of zizhengdian.

Main achievements

Politics

Decisive administration and care for the people

When ye Heng was the magistrate of Yuqian County, he set the household as the ninth grade, removed their names from the fifth grade and distributed their share to the fourth grade households. He eliminated the drawbacks of the household register and solved the problem that most of the rich households concealed and failed to report, while the poor and weak households repeatedly paid taxes. Ye Heng knew that during the period of Changzhou, he met with floods, and regardless of the opposition, he opened warehouses for the people to release grain, so that the people could be relieved.

Give advice and suggestions, work hard for the people

when ye Heng was the Minister of the Ministry of household affairs, he reported the chaotic situation of the salt market, proposed to rectify the private salt, in order to restore the economic order of the salt market, which was adopted, and improved the relevant regulatory system. When the later privy ministers accepted the order, shangzou eliminated the malpractice of horse administration and should manage the number and quality of horses.

Economics

In the early years of Chunxi, the paper money "Huizi" issued by the Song Dynasty had the problem of discount. When ye Heng was the right prime minister and secretary, he was ordered to change the gold, silver and copper coins into "Huizi" to stabilize the circulation.

military

Ye Heng worked in the Privy Council for many years and was familiar with military affairs. He once suggested that song Xiaozong should strictly select officials to avoid management difficulties caused by frequent replacement of officials, which was approved by Xiaozong. Ye Heng, who knew people well, recommended generals for the country many times. For example, he sent Xin Qiji, who was a doctor of cangbu at that time, to serve as a punishment officer in Jiangxi Province, and successfully suppressed Lai Wenzheng's uprising army.

Historical evaluation

Zhao Min: Qing Zhen, Prime Minister! The history of the Song Dynasty: 1. Ye Heng was intelligent enough to be responsible for military affairs, and he knew about military affairs very well. When he came to the prime minister in less than ten years, it was said that he came from Zeng Yun. ② Chen KangBo made his own economic decisions. Liang Ke's family is well-known and loyal to the country. If Wang Che's theory was that he was loyal to Harcourt and recommended talents, ye Yiwen was honest and upright and swept away Qin Hui's remaining party. However, he did not grow up in the army and faced the enemy

Chinese PinYin : Ye Heng