Xu Jie was an outstanding statesman in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, and his life experienced a rich and colorful political career, leaving a profound historical impact. His personality and political stance have been evaluated and disputed differently at different stages. From a young age, Xu Jie showed his intelligent and studious qualities, was full of enthusiasm for learning, and studied the Yangming School in depth. His talent and knowledge were recognized at a young age, and although he lost the opportunity to be the champion due to factional struggles in the palace examination, he eventually became a tanhua and was highly regarded by Yang Tinghe. During his political career, Xu Jie adhered to his political stance, defying power, and speaking out against unreasonable proposals. He was demoted from the capital for opposing the dictatorship of the powerful minister Zhang Xuan, but continued to uphold his principles in his position as local school inspector.
Later, Xia Yan's help enabled him to return to the capital and train Zhang Juzheng, an important prime minister in the future. Xu Jie successfully overthrew Yan Song's father and son and other powerful ministers in the political struggle, bringing a certain degree of reform to the imperial court. However, he also faced controversy, especially in the case of Hai Rui's land withdrawal, whose policies affected the Xu family's land. This incident caused him to receive some negative evaluations, thinking that he was a "traitor in the fish and meat country". Xu Jie was a politician with a strong political stance and profound knowledge, and he has an important place in Chinese history. His life has gone through ups and downs, and no matter how you evaluate it, there is no denying his importance in the history of the Ming Dynasty.
Extraordinary origins
Xu Jie's early experience was quite bumpy and extraordinary, Xu Jie's two accidents when he was young, one fell into a well and one fell off a cliff, and he miraculously survived, which made his father feel that he was very special. Therefore, Xu Hao began to educate Xu Jie, starting from "Primary School" and ending with "Four Books". Xu Jie's Xi ability to learn was outstanding, and he was soon able to recite the full text of the Four Books. In the twelfth year of Zhengde (1517), Xu Jie was selected as a student member of the prefecture and county, and although he failed in the township examination for the first time, he later achieved excellent results in the township examination in the first year of Jiajing (1522). During this period, Xu Jie met Nie Bao, a Yangming scholar, who had a profound influence on Xu Jie, believing him to be a "national weapon". In the second year of Jiajing (1523), Xu Jie went to the capital to participate in the examination and achieved the results of exploring flowers. Although some thought he should be the champion, he was eventually awarded the position of editor of the Hanlin Academy. In the capital, Xu Jie became acquainted with Luo Hongxian and others, and was dismissed for his insistence on his stance in the Great Rites Discussion Incident.
The opposition to the power of the minister was demoted
The controversy over etiquette was an important turning point in Xu Jie's early political career. In the ninth year of Jiajing (1530), he was appointed as the compiler of the "Ritual Ceremony" and participated in the compilation of the suburban ritual classics. At that time, Zhang Xuan, the first assistant, proposed to change Confucius's honorific title and sacrifice methods, advocating the abolition of Confucius's title of "King Wenxuan" and changing the title to "Holy Teacher", and replacing the statue with a wooden tablet, reducing the sacrificial specifications. Xu Jie, who adhered to the ancestral system and opposed Zhang Zhang's proposal, bluntly proposed at the court meeting to retain the honorific title and sacrificial method of Confucius. His stance was praised by scholars all over the world. However, Zhang Xuan was extremely dissatisfied with this, reprimanded Xu Jie, and passed Yu Shi Wang