**Yan Song, a bumpy career, honest and famous.
In the Qingxiu Mountain Scenic Area of Nanning City, there is a garden with the theme of incorruptible culture. In the park, there are many statues of Qing officials and honest officials in the past dynasties on both sides of the bamboo forest path, including Bao Zheng, Hai Rui, Yu Chenglong and other well-known ministers.
Next to these statues, there is a statue of Wu Shilai, which expresses the deep admiration and nostalgia of the people of Nanning for this Qing official. So, what are the life deeds of Wu Shilai, and why is it so highly respected by the people of Nanning?
Wu Shilai, born in the sixth year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty (1527 AD), was a scholarly family in Xianju County, Zhejiang. When he was young, he was studious, and he studied hard in Jingxing Rock for three years, and rarely went down the mountain, and it was a good story for a while.
At the age of twenty-six, he was admitted to the Jinshi and served as the magistrate of Songjiang Prefecture (present-day Shanghai), in charge of criminal prisons. He is fair and honest, purging officials, and has the lofty ambition of "picking comets and clearing crape myrtles", and is deeply loved by the people.
In April of the 34th year of Jiajing, tens of thousands of Japanese invaders launched a frenzied siege of Songjiang City. The walls were almost breached, and the situation was critical. At this critical moment, Wu Shilai stepped forward, and as a civilian official, he led his soldiers to hold on to the gap in the city wall, resisting to the death and stopping the attack of the Japanese invaders.
At the same time, he also adopted the method of breaking the embankment and releasing water, successfully trapped the enemy army in the water, and then led the army to attack, defeated the Japanese and killed more than 3,000 enemies. This feat won him the emperor's appreciation, and he was promoted to the rank of criminal officer.
Wu Shilai was determined to take this opportunity to clean up the corruption of officialdom and ask for the people's lives. However, he knew that in order to achieve this goal, the first thing to get rid of was Yan Song, the head of the cabinet who leaned towards the government and the opposition.
Because Yan Song's power is too great, it has caused serious damage to the atmosphere of the imperial court. Wu Shilai decided that no matter how difficult the road ahead was, he would fight for the people, the country, and justice.
Since Yan Song took control of the government, in order to eliminate dissidents, he has carried out brutal retaliation, killing Yang Jisheng, a member of the criminal department, Jin Yiwei, Shen Lian, and even Xia Yan, the former cabinet chief.
This caused the court to fall into silence, and fewer and fewer people dared to oppose him. Wu Shilai is clear about his situation, but he still has no hesitation for justice.
One day in March of the thirty-seventh year of Jiajing (1558), he and his friends Dong Chuance and Zhang Chong launched an attack on Yan Song**. In the compromises, Wu Shilai listed Yan Song's crimes such as "comparing friends with traitors, exploiting the people for personal gain, and making false reports to enrich his disciples".
But the emperor was silent about it, with an ambiguous attitude.
Emperor Jiajing was intoxicated with power, and when his authority was challenged, he became furious. He threw the three men into prison and brutally tortured them in an attempt to find out who was behind them.
However, even though Wu Shilai was beaten and bleeding and his body was incomplete, he still insisted: "Confucius taught us to be loyal to the monarch, and this is my master." In the end, the three were all sent to remote areas to fill the army, Wu Shilai was demoted to Hengzhou, Guangxi, Dong Chuance was demoted to Nanning, and Zhang Chong was demoted to Duyun, Guizhou, so they were called "the three sons of Wuwu".
Hengzhou, a military town in Guangxi during the Ming Dynasty, was named after the Hengcha River that ran through the city. It was once the place of derogation of Qin Guan, a great poet of the Song Dynasty, who left poems such as "Drunken Spring", and Hengzhou also had scenic spots such as Begonia Bridge and Huaigu Pavilion.
However, even with such an elegant event, Hengzhou was still regarded as a barren land of smoke and mist at that time. However, there is a unique elephant taming guard in the country, specializing in domesticating elephants, with more than 20,000 people, and it is one of the largest guards in the Ming Dynasty.
From a noble official to an unemployed pawn, Wu Shilai has experienced the ups and downs of life, but he has not been depressed, but has inspired greater enthusiasm for life with an open-minded attitude and firm ideals.
He wrote in "The First Arrival in Hengzhou": "Wet enough to cross the river, for home and this city." Hiding everywhere you live, drowning is not possible. He encourages himself to be at peace with the situation, and sees every setback and difficulty as an opportunity to hone and improve himself.
Wu Shilai was at peace with his encounters, and with his noble personality and profound cultural attainment, he won the admiration of Fan Ru, the commander of the Hengzhou Elephant Guard. He was invited to become a literary instructor for the officers and soldiers, and built a study in Wushiling, west of the city.
He wrote in "Looking for Wushi Ridge": "Lin Duan sees distant mountains, surrounded by green mountains. In this way, I am willing to raise my spirit. This study is named after his name "Wu Zhai", and he hopes that through enlightenment, he will regard derogation as tempering, self-cultivation, and cultivation of righteousness.
At that time, Hengzhou was located in a remote area and the literary style was not flourishing, so Wu Shilai regarded it as his responsibility to promote learning and educate the people. He found the commander Fan Ru and Gao Shinan, the governor of Hengzhou, hoping to build a academy in Wushiling, so that more students could receive education.
He firmly believes that only through education can people be lifted out of poverty and ignorance, and that society can progress and prosper. Wu Shilai's life is a life of using his wisdom and courage to seek welfare for the people of Hengzhou and contribute to the progress of society.
This small slope near the Hengzhou bus station was once the location of the "Wuzhai Academy" (also known as Wushi Academy) founded by Wu Shilai. Even though the academy has disappeared in the long river of history, the spirit of Wu Shilai's construction of the academy still lives on.
Wu Shilai established an academy in Hengzhou to cultivate talents, so that the local folk customs and government officials took on a new look. However, the authorities of the imperial court have forgotten about him. In the forty-first year of Jiajing (1562), Wu Shilai had been demoted to Hengzhou for four years, and finally the traitorous minister Yan Song fell, and the court began to change.
However, the new first assistant, who was also Wu Shilai's teacher Xu Jie, did not dare to recall several of Wu Shilai's senior disciples because he was worried that the emperor would suspect him of forming a party. As a result, Wu Shilai could only continue to be in Hengzhou with elephants and peddlers.
During the derogatory period, it was rumored in his hometown that Wu Shilai had died in Hengzhou. His father and father-in-law came to visit him, but they contracted the disease and died. Wu Shilai, who was alone in the land of smoke and miasma, experienced a heavy blow to his soul.
However, in the midst of loneliness and suffering, he still has like-minded friends who can accompany him. Wu Shilai and his friend Dong Chuance, who was relegated to Nanning because of the same Yan Song, visited places of interest and historic sites together many times, such as Haitang Bridge, Qingxiu Mountain, Fuwen Academy, etc., they sang poems and sang harmoniously, inspired each other, and became a good story in the literary world.
Dong Chuance was fond of Qingxiu Mountain, known as the "Lord of Qingshan", and composed 32 poems describing Qingxiu Mountain. Influenced by it, Wu Shilai also embarked on a trip to Qingxiu Mountain more than once, leaving four masterpieces of visiting Qingxiu Mountain.
The poems of the two men all reveal their optimism and positivity in the face of difficult conditions.
Figure Dong Chuance and Wu Shilai You Qingxiu Mountain Poetry Excerpt) Begonia flowers bloom and fall, the years go by in a hurry, Wu Shilai has lived in Hengzhou for ten years. In 1567, Emperor Jiajing died, and the new Emperor Longqing was anxious to recall Wu Shi to return to Beijing to serve as an engineer.
Ten years of obscurity did not wear down Wu Shilai's spirit, and after he took office, he took office and became aware of the scandal of collusion between Liu Bingren, the imperial historian of the capital, and the eunuchs, which shocked the entire government and the opposition.
However, the corrupt court could not tolerate such direct ministers, and the following year, Wu Shilai was demoted again because he offended Gao Gong, the second assistant of the cabinet, and returned to his hometown.
According to the "Xianju County Chronicle", when Wu Shilai returned to his hometown, he had no fixed place to live, and could only supervise the cultivation of dozens of acres on barren land.
This time, the demotion lasted for 16 years. It was not until the twelfth year of Wanli (1584) that Wu Shilai was recalled to Beijing by Emperor Wanli and given a heavy responsibility, and three years later he was promoted to the imperial history of Zuodu and became the head of the highest supervisory body of the Ming Dynasty, the Metropolitan Procuratorate.
His ambition to remove the comet and clean the crape myrtle when he was young was finally realized.
During his tenure as the imperial history of the Zuodu, he actively advocated honesty and thrift, so that the Imperial Procuratorate got rid of the atmosphere of luxury and decadence, and at the same time he also dared to **illegal**, such as the eleventh grandson of the founding father Liu Bowen, and Liu Shiyan, the sincere uncle, etc., so that the atmosphere of the court could be renewed.
For Wu Shilai, the experience of Hengzhou is unique, where he cultivated his self-cultivation and comprehended the true meaning of life, and also experienced the pain of debasement, the bitterness of being forgotten, and the grief of bereavement.
But at the same time, he also promoted culture and education here and sowed the seeds of integrity. In the sixteenth year of Wanli (1588), Wu Shilai published the poems he wrote during his time in Hengzhou, named "Hengcha Collection", which is his deep nostalgia for the ten years of Hengzhou.
The spiritual wealth he left behind in Hengzhou also had a profound impact on the people of Hengzhou. For example, Lu Sunchen, the author of the first edition of the Hengzhou Chronicles, and famous local Qing officials Li Xishuo and Shi Mao were all deeply influenced by Wu Shilai.
In the eighteenth year of Wanli (1590), Wu Shilai of Beijing died young at the age of sixty-three, and was nicknamed "Zhongke". He spent thirty-seven years of his life, but twenty-six of those years were spent in derogation.
Although he has only been an official for 11 years, his legend of integrity is still praised by people today. In the long river of 500 years, countless ups and downs have been washed away, but Wu Shilai's honest and righteous atmosphere will always be passed on.
In Hengzhou in September, jasmine blooms again, the fragrance of flowers fills the city, the breeze blows, and the fragrance is overflowing.
Hengzhou Breeze: The Fragrance of Honesty is Overflowing