Wei Yunzhen

Wei Yunzhen

Wei Yunzhen (1542-1606), named Maozhong and Jianquan, was born in Nanle County, Daming Prefecture of Ming Dynasty (now Nanle County, Henan Province). In 1577, Jinshi and his younger brothers Yunzhong and Yunfu (both Jinshi) were called "three Wei dynasties of Nanle". Li Ren was a magistrate of Xuzhou, a magistrate of youtongzheng, a censor of youjindu, a governor of Shanxi, and a right servant of the Ministry of war. His posthumous title was Jiesu.

Life of the characters

I don't admire the powerful

Wei Yunzhen was a scholar in the fifth year of Wanli (1577) and was appointed as a Tui official in Jingzhou. When Zhang Juzheng returned home for burial, the officials rushed to him. Wei Yunzhen was the only one who didn't go, and he whipped the servant who wanted to persuade him to mourn.

Assistant Minister of power

Wei Yunzhen was promoted to the rank of censor for his outstanding achievements. After Liang Menglong, the Minister of the Ministry of official, was dismissed, Wei Yunzhen wrote: "the official position of the Ministry of official is very important. In the past, the appointment of officials of the Ministry of official was before the recommendation of Huitong. Therefore, the officials concerned were influenced by the people in power and the officials in the ceremony, and appointed some unsuitable officials." The emperor accepted his advice and specially appointed Qingming officials, which convinced the court both inside and outside. Wei Yunzhen also explained four things about the current situation: "since Zhang Juzheng stole power, the promotion and appointment of the second Department of the civil service and the army must be reported to him first, so all the people who were appointed were those who had personal relations with Zhang Juzheng. Your majesty should make a good investigation of the leaders of the civil and military departments with his assistant ministers, so that they can have their own matters under their jurisdiction. So that the auxiliary minister should not infringe on the power of the minister and seek private interests, and the minister should not take advantage of the gap between the auxiliary minister and himself, so that the official style will be eliminated. In addition, since the exchange with me, the border has been relaxed. Half of the monthly salary of the three armed forces is deducted as a reward from the market, and the other half is deducted as a reward from the dignitaries. How can the soldiers resist the border bandits without food overnight? The war achievements from Liaodong are even more amazing. The reputation of the military is growing, and the population is decreasing every day. How can we defend the country if the memorial is false, the promotion is out of line, and the rewards and punishments are unorganized? " After the memorial was uploaded, the emperor adopted Wei Yunzhen's advice and sent it to the duchayuan. During the period of Zhang Juzheng's first assistant, he was selfish to his son. His other assistant ministers, Lu Diaoyang's son, Lu Xingzhou, Zhang Siwei's son, Zhang Taizheng and Zhang Jiazheng, and Shen Yongmao's son at the time of Shen Xing, were all promoted to be scholars one after another. Jiazheng and Yongmao are about to take the imperial examination, and Wei Yunzhen's Shangshu is just delivered. Zhang Siwei was furious and said, "there is nothing I should not have heard about when I work in the government. This is not a system because the predecessors did not allow the officials to interfere with the affairs of the officials and the soldiers So he defended his son and begged to go home. Shen Shixing also sparsely argued. The emperor comforted and urged Wei Yunzhen to stay together, blaming Wei Yunzhen for his improper words. Li Sancai, a member of the Ministry of household affairs, thinks that Wei Yunzhen is right. They are demoted from the capital together. Wei Yunzhen got the magistrate of Xuzhou. The emperor refused to accept the offer of assistance to Shizhong, censor Zhou Bangjie and Zhao Qing. Although Wei Yunzhen was demoted, his son did not become a Jinshi again when he was in power. After a long time, he was promoted step by step to the right general envoy.

Governing Shanxi

In 1593, Wei Yunzhen became the governor of Shanxi Province. Because of the poor land and the poor people in Shanxi Province, he made great efforts to cut down on the shogunate's annual contributions and the redundant expenses of the prefectures and counties. He used the money saved to repair pavilions and barriers, build beacon towers, and buy utensils and horses in exchange for food. He also requested that Pingyang station be exempted from the fixed amount of silver 80000 per year, to be supplemented by the savings of postal service in Shanxi Province. Yanmen and Pingding army fled because they evaded the grain tax. Wei Yunzhen ordered the two armies to resume reclamation by exempting them from land rent. Kelan mutual market, the provincial governor rewarded 60000 silver. There are two princes in Fenzhou. The administrative staff and the army and the people are mixed. The position of magistrate is too low to be subdued. Wei Yunzhen asked to change to the government. Since the end of the border trade, Wei Yunzhen saw the key point and built more than ten thousand walls. The emperor praised him several times for his talent. It happened that an imperial edict was issued to let eunuch Zhang Zhong mine in Shanxi Province. Wei Yunzhen urged that he should not, but the emperor did not reply to him. Soon after, Wang zhisui of Xihe asked to excavate minerals in Jiezhou, Anyi and Jiangxian counties, and urged them to do so with Yibin. Wang Shouxin, the commander, asked to excavate mines in Pingding and Jishan. The emperor agreed. Wei Yunzhen was afraid that the common people would be more interfered, so he asked for an order to let Zhang Zhong manage by himself, but the emperor also didn't agree. the third hall was damaged, and the emperor issued an edict to beg the minister to tell the truth. Wei Yunzhen thinks that the fault lies in the assistant minister, counting the crimes of Zhao Zhigao and Zhang Wei. And he said, "these two people were favored in February. After a month, there were disasters and chaos in the two palaces. This year, the third hall was hit by disaster again. It's God's will Zhang Wei tried his best to defend himself and asked to be dismissed. The emperor comforted Wei Yunzhen and asked him to stay. He blamed Wei Yunzhen for his improper comments on the government. Because he was repeatedly elected and not appointed, he spoke recklessly and was suspended for five months. Soon after, Wei Yunzhen recommended the neglected sages, and asked them to recall Wang Jiaping, Chen Younian, Shen Li, Li Shida, Wang Ruxun, Shi Menglin, Zhang Dong, Wan Guoqin, Ma Jinglun, Gu Xiancheng, Zhao Nanxing, Zou yuanbiao, and so on. It was a long time before he was promoted to the rank of right deputy censor. In the spring of the 28th year of Wanli (1600), Wei Yunzhen talked about the faults of Chen Ming's current politics: "after several debates and recommendations, the emperor did not lightly grant an official to the officials selected from the local investigation. Lu Kun, Ma Tang, Gao Huai and sun dynasty did not do anything, let alone recommend anyone, but the Emperor gave them the power to run the court. It's all up to them to say what they want. What the ministers of the imperial court have stated are the great plans of the state. They have shelved everything in the cabinet and refused to implement it. What's more, they have been severely criticized. They are all scoundrels and villains who are despised by the common people, but they play in the morning and get a reply in the evening, just like a voice and an echo. I can't think about it. When small officials went to the countryside, the people were still disturbed, not to mention the official service, such as a tiger like a wolf, and the common people were ruined. For example, Wu Baoxiu and Hua Yu were extremely miserable, but his majesty didn't think about them at all. There are also many disadvantages in the flow of money and food, the delay in the flow up and down. These people are in power, tens of thousands of them. The officials concerned did not dare to interfere, nor did they dare to report. Don't you get rich by sucking people's fat? But your majesty didn't notice. Gold is taken from Yunnan. If you are not satisfied, you will not stop taking it. Pearls come from the sea. They don't stop until they are finished. Brocade from Suzhou and Hangzhou, not to the extreme, never stop. The elders left them idle, and almost all upright ministers were forbidden to participate in the government forever. Your Majesty's love of wise people is better than that of pearl, jade and brocade. " On the sparse play, but the emperor did not pay attention. At first, Zhang Zhong went to Shanxi for mining. Later, Sun Chao also came to collect taxes. The voice of blame and pleading came from all sides. Wei Yunzhen ruled and restrained each time. It happened that Zhang Zhong killed the three heroes of Taipingdian, Li Fengchun, Cheng of Jianxiong County, and Wei Yunzhen exposed their crimes. The sun Dynasty was angry and impeached Wei Yunzhen for disobeying orders and obstructing wantonly. The emperor left the memorials of Wei Yunzhen and sent the memorials of sun Dynasty to the Ministry. Li Dai, the Minister of the Ministry of officials, and Wen Chun, the censor of the capital, praised Wei Yunzhen's wisdom and requested that Wei Yunzhen's memorials be sent to the Ministry for comment. The emperor left their opinions behind. Thousands of soldiers and civilians in Shanxi were afraid that Wei Yunzhen would leave, so they went to the capital one after another to cry for injustice, and the imperial censors of the two capitals also played a series of rescue. The emperor did not ask for any crime. In the 29th year of Wanli (1601), Zhang Zhong was impeached because Yuan Yingchun, the magistrate of Xia County, was impolite to him, and asked to be demoted. Wei Yunzhen asked to remain yuan Yingchun, but the emperor refused.

Go home

Wei Yunzhen's father is more than ninety years old. He begged for support every year and wrote 20 memorials. The court minister thought that the emperor's special envoy did harm to the people, not because Wei Yunzhen could not subdue him, so he stayed in his post. In May of the 29th year of Wanli (1601), Wei Yunzhen was more determined to allow him to return to his hometown. Officials and the people set up ancestral temples for him. Soon after, the inspectors of the Imperial Court played the credit of Wei Yunzhen's defense of the frontier and promoted him to the right servant of the Ministry of war at home. Soon he died. In the early years of Tianqi, Jiesu was posthumously granted.

literary works

Yueyang Tower, dengdaizhou tower and zijintan.

Character evaluation

Zhang Tingyu's "history of the Ming Dynasty" said: "it is expected that Zhuo Luo will be magnificent."

Historical records

History of Ming Dynasty by Zhang Tingyu

member of family

Younger brother: Wei Yunzhong. brother: Wei Yunfu.

Memorial of tomb site

The epitaph of Yunzhen in Ming and Wei dynasties is composed of two parts and three stones. The epitaph of Lianghe is the stone of the tunnel in Wei Yunzhen's tomb. It was unearthed in 1947, outside the Nanguan pass in Nanle county. After the epitaph was unearthed, it had been moved several times, first scattered among the people, and moved to the county cultural center in the early 1960s. The epitaph, with 68 lines in regular script and 79 characters in full line, was written by Li Sancai, who was known as "the master of Donglin" in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. The epitaph is free and meaningful, and was also written by Li Hualong, an important Minister of the Ming Dynasty. Zhiqing stone, preserved in good condition, only zhigai is missing in the lower right corner. There are four lines of Yin carved seal script, full of five characters. It is 17 characters of "Ming Tong Yifu's army right servant Jian Quan Wei Gong's epitaph" and lacks the word "Fu". It is the seal seal seal of Ming Dynasty famous Minister Yang Shiqiao. The second is stone carving in the 37th year of Wanli. Qingshi, 100 cm high, 99 cm wide, 14 cm thick, 47 lines of Zhiwen, 51 words full of lines, beautiful and bright font. The epitaph was written by Wang Ruxun, sealed by Sun Wei, and written by the kingdom.

Chinese PinYin : Wei Yun Zhen