Xu Qi

Xu Qi

Xu Qi (1385-1453), whose name is Liangyu, was born in the 18th year of Hongwu (1385 A.D.) in Yinchuan, Ningxia. His ancestral home is Qiantang (now Hangzhou, Zhejiang). Because his grandfather violated the royal law, he was sent to Ningxia by the imperial court to guard the frontier. His family followed him to Ningxia and became a native of Ningxia. Xu Qi has been very smart since she was a child. She never forgets reading books, and is praised as "a child prodigy". In the sixth year of Yongle (1408 AD), 23-year-old Xu Qi passed the provincial examination with excellent results. In the 10th year of Yongle (1412 AD), Xu Qi, who was only 27 years old, became the first Jinshi of Ningxia in the Ming Dynasty with excellent results in the national college entrance examination.

Life

The highlight of Xu Qi's life is that he was an excellent diplomat in Ming Dynasty. After he became a Jinshi, he served as a member of the Ministry of war in the imperial court. Xuande six years (AD 1431), promoted to right Tongzheng. The Department of General Administration, or the Department of General Administration for short, was the central organ in the Ming and Qing Dynasties to receive and inspect internal and external memorials and complaint documents. Xu Qi, the right general secretary of the general affairs department, is the deputy chief of the general affairs department (similar to the current deputy director of the general office of the CPC Central Committee and vice ministerial level) and the fourth grade official of the central government. During his term of office, he accompanied Zhang Chang, the Minister of rites and the official envoy to Annam, whose main task was to canonize Li Li as king of Annam. As a diplomat on his first diplomatic mission to a foreign country, on the one hand, he insisted on principles in foreign affairs. He supported Zhang Chang and criticized the unfriendly reception of Annam Riley. He pointed out that disrespect for diplomatic envoys was disrespect for the Ming court. Li Li was so embarrassed that he had to kneel down and treat each other with courtesy. On the other hand, he also paid attention to uniting Annan's subjects, especially maintaining the incorruptible image of the diplomatic envoys of big powers, refusing to accept the gifts given to them by Annan, not insulting the mission of diplomats, and being respected and praised by Annan people. Zhang Chang was very satisfied with Xu Qi's performance. After returning to China, he reported to the imperial court that Xu Qi was promoted to the right Minister of the Ministry of War (equivalent to Vice Minister of national defense).

The year of death

On March 22, 1453 A.D., Xu Qi died in Rensuo at the age of 68. Emperor Zong granted him the title of Taibao in Ming Dynasty. Later, when Annan's envoys were sent to the Ming Dynasty, they often said to Chinese officials, "we all know Xu Qi's name in Annam's plants and trees!" the officials and people in Ningxia, Xu Qi's hometown, built a memorial archway for Xu Qi, on which the word "Sima" was written to commemorate him.

Ambassador to Annan

In the eighth year of Xuande (1433 A.D.), there was a friction between the Ming Dynasty and Annan. The imperial court appointed Xu Qi as the prime minister and sent him to Annan again. At that time, King li of Annan had passed away, and his son Li Lin became king. The new king had doubts and hesitated about the relationship between the two countries, and his direction was unclear. After arriving in Annan, Xu Qi took the initiative to call on the new king Li Lin, patiently analyzed the pros and cons of bilateral relations with him, and convinced and moved Li Lin. The new king also decided to cast a substitute Jin man to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty, to show respect to the Ming emperor, to make the Ming Dynasty and Annan get along well again, and to write a brilliant page in the history of Sino Angolan relations. During his current diplomatic mission to Annan as a prime minister, Xu Qi still refused all the gifts given by Annan as he did for the first time. He continued to maintain a clean image as a diplomatic envoy. He was respected by the king and ministers of Annan and enjoyed high prestige in Annan. This is in sharp contrast to the behavior of some envoys who, seeing that Annan had many treasures, tried to seek benefits for private use and made Annan people look down upon. After Xu Qi's second mission to China, Xuanzong of Ming Dynasty was very happy. He immediately summoned Xu Qi and gave him a banquet at the imperial palace. In recognition of Xu Qi's contribution, the original punishment for his grandfather's assignment to guard the border of Ningxia was cancelled, and the nationality of Xu's family in Ningxia was restored.

reputation

Xu Qi's official voice and character were unanimously praised by the government and the opposition, and his official career was also very smooth. Later, he became the Secretary of the military capital (equivalent to the Minister of national defense) in Nanjing, the capital of his company. He was still high and did not forget the people.

In the 14th year of Zhengtong (1449 AD), when he was the Minister of the Ministry of war, the imperial court wanted to move tens of thousands of family members of the army from Nanjing to the north. The army and family members were not willing to leave Nanjing, so the morale of the army was unstable. Xu Qi wrote to the emperor and proposed to move tens of thousands of family members. His heart was shaken, and I was afraid that something big would happen. The emperor accepted Xu Qi's advice and did not let the family members of the army move to the north, avoiding a possible great turbulence.

When he was a minister of the Ministry of war, he found that there was no Confucian education institution in the military garrison in the remote areas of the country. In this way, the children of the officers and soldiers in the border areas lost the opportunity to enjoy equal education, and also lost the opportunity to seek a way out through the imperial examination. As a result, the officers and soldiers in the border areas were uneasy to guard, and the border defense could not be consolidated. So Xu Qi wrote to the imperial court, and the imperial court approved his proposal Following the suggestion of setting up Confucianism in Neidi Prefecture and county, the frontier health centers all over the country (including Ningxia) generally set up regular schools, which played an important role in developing frontier culture, cultivating frontier construction talents and promoting the consolidation of national defense.

Anecdotes of characters

Paixuanxia village, located at the south foot of Douyan, is said to have been granted the title of "governor of two prefectures" by the ancestors of Xu family in ancient times. A paixuan was built here. It is named because the village is under paixuan. However, there was a famous person in the village. At that time, Hainan Island was not yet civilized. During his ten years in office, Xu advocated clothing in the mainland and taught wedding and funeral customs. So far, the story of Xu Qi's governance of crab chaos has been widely spread.

Xu Qi's treatment of crab

In 1447, Xu Qigong went to Yazhou of Hainan Island as governor. When he saw that people's fields were desolate, they mostly made a living by fishing for small fish and shrimps? It turns out that Hainan Island is desolate, with snakes, insects, birds, insects and beasts. Sea crabs are as big as little buckets. They come ashore day and night. Its shell is as hard as a stone, and two crab tongs are like two guillotines. The crops planted by the common people were soon clipped by all the crabs. The villagers were frightened and thought that it was the "crab monster" who made trouble. As time goes on, the land becomes barren.

Xu Qi decided to cure crab chaos. There was a group of Zhuji villagers nearby, including two blacksmiths, who tied up more than ten pieces of two toothed iron overnight, built a high platform by the sea, and installed wok stoves nearby. Early that morning, the local people came to see the strange, only to see Zhizhou adults sitting on the high platform, a group of people in Zhuji ready. All of a sudden, groups of sea crabs swagger up to the shore, "Zila Zila" spits out bubbles, shakes the chopper like crab claws, and their eyes pop out. It's a frightening scene. The common people gradually gave in and turned their eyes to the governor of Zhizhou to see how he would rise and fall.

Xu Qigong wiped his beard and gave a command. A dozen strong men in Zhuji rushed over and tied one by one. They tried their best to dig on the crab's back and put the iron on his shoulder. The crab had to dance in the air. At this time, the water in the wok was boiling. Everyone threw the crabs into the wok one by one, and the firewood under the stove was boiling. Not long after, Xu qigong "pa" to stand in front of the stage: "fellow villagers, crab is not strange, crab meat is very fresh, don't believe it, I personally taste." He went to the wok and "Ba" dropped a crab claw with one stroke. He split it with his sword to reveal the snow-white meat. Holding crab feet, he went to the common people and made a show of it. Then he ate it with relish and called everyone to eat it.

A group of Zhuji villagers quickly gathered around, you one, I one, dip in the soy sauce sour vinegar bowl, "Ba, Ba, Ba, Ta, Ta" eat with relish. Several officials around them also went to eat with fear. Xu Qigong ordered his subordinates to take some of them to the common people. Timidly, he quickly gave in. He patted his chest boldly, closed his eyes, put out his tongue, licked the crab meat, and narrowed his eyes with a smile With that, everyone began to chew.

Since then, people are no longer afraid of crabs. Xu Qi also taught us to play two teeth tie, crab hide in the hole, can also dig out. With more and more people eating crabs, the crabs no longer dare to go ashore and make trouble.

After the crab chaos was cured, Xu Qigong sent people from his hometown Zhuji to plant seeds and teach the people to plant good fields. The life of the people in Yazhou is getting better day by day.

After leaving office, we called the two toothed iron bar "crab claw hoe" in memory of his kindness, so the two scars on the crab's back are the marks left by the crab claw hoe.

Chinese PinYin : Xu Qi