Who are some of the most famous upright officials in Chinese history?

Hai Rui, Bao Zheng, Ximen Bao, Yu Chenglong, Yu Qian, Zhao Guanghan, Huang Ba, Xu Yougong, Di Renjie, Chen Xiliang, Kuang Zhongtangbin

Zhao Guanghan

Zidu, Western Han Dynasty A native of Liwu County, Zhuo County. He once served as the governor of Jing Zhaoyin, the prefect of Yingchuan County, and the governor of Jing Zhaoyin. When Zhao Guanghan served as the prefect of Yingchuan County, it was the best stage of Zhao Guanghan's early governance. He was not afraid of power and was shrewd and capable. In the first few months after taking office, he did two major things: First, he attacked the power of wealthy families and eased the social conflicts; the second is to strengthen local management and change local bad habits. His prestige spread from this, and in the biography of "Hanshu", it is said that he is good at handling government affairs as his nature. When Zhao Guanghan served as Jing Zhaoyin, he showed a high sense of responsibility and often stayed up all night to handle various official duties. And he is good at thinking and pays attention to efficiency. During his governance, the politics of the Jingzhao area was clear and clear, and officials and people alike praised him. However, Jing Zhaoyin's duty is to manage the capital. Because he is under the emperor's feet, daily handling of government affairs can easily offend the emperor's relatives and the dignitaries of the dynasty. Therefore, although Zhao Guanghan can be regarded as one of the best administrators in the capital, he still ends up being The fate of being cut in half. During Zhao Guanghan's tenure as Jing Zhaoyin, he was an upright, honest, and powerful official, and was highly praised by the people. ?

Huang Ba

(? - 51 BC), courtesy name Cigong, was born in Yangxia, Huaiyang (now Taikang, Henan) during the Western Han Dynasty. Historian Ban Gu commented: "Since the establishment of the Han Dynasty, Huang Ba was the first official to govern the people." When Huang Ba was still young, he set his ambition to be a good official. Since there was no imperial examination system in the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty issued an edict in order to alleviate financial difficulties. Anyone who contributed property to the country would be an official. Huang Ba exchanged grain for a soldier. After entering politics, he abides by the law and is based on integrity; he understands the sentiments of the people and focuses on encouraging farmers and mulberry farmers. In particular, Huang Ba advocated benevolent government and opposed torture when deciding cases; he insisted on handling suspicious cases leniently; he advocated leniency on the outside and transparency on the inside, education first, and focusing on prevention before they happened. Therefore, Huang Ba was an official and the people Support, the court is satisfied, and the subordinates are pleased. As a result, Huang Ba rose from a minor official with a salary of two hundred shi a year to the prime minister of the imperial court. Among them, his political achievements as the prefect of Yingchuan County, a large county at that time, were the most outstanding. Previously, Yingchuan County was a place where powerful landowners dominated one area and the people were displaced. After he took office, he took drastic measures, extended kindness, resettled the refugees, paid attention to farming and mulberry trees, and implemented education. After several years of careful management, peace and stability emerged in Yingchuan. In the Qingming Dynasty, officials governed during the Qingming Dynasty, production developed, and there was a peaceful scene of "people giving way to the fields and not picking up relics on the roads". Therefore, the emperor issued an edict praising Huang Ba as the best among good officials. ?

Xu Yougong

(? -702), whose real name is Xu Hongmin, was a native of Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty. He was the most famous official in the Tang Dynasty who specialized in investigating cases. In ancient times, most official positions were mixed with administrative and judicial positions. Only in the imperial court were there dedicated trial officers, but their status in the bureaucracy was extremely low and it was difficult to achieve anything. Although Xu Yougong has served as a full-time trial officer for a long time, he is well-known in history for his courage to strictly abide by the law, speak out directly when guilty, enforce justice and redress hundreds of unjust cases, and save more than 10,000 lives. Xu Yougong successively served as Puzhou Judicial Joining Army, Si Xing Cheng of Si Xing Temple (i.e. Dali Temple), Yuan Wai Lang of Qiuguan (i.e. Ministry of Punishments), and Si Xing Shao Qing, Shi Xing Shaoqing of Langzhongshi Yushi. When Xu Yougong became an official, it was during the Wu Zhou period. Empress Wu was causing chaos at the top and ruthless officials were snaring the officials below. It was not easy to enforce the law and maintain justice. Because Xu Yougong has been responsible for 600 to 700 major cases and saved tens of thousands of lives, he inevitably offended cruel and treacherous officials, and was frequently impeached and put on trial. However, in the end, no evidence was found that he was embezzling money or bending the law for personal gain. He was charged with capital crimes three times, pardoned three times, dismissed from office twice and came back twice. Despite this, he remained determined, never flattered, and was committed to enforcing the law and upholding justice. It is precisely because of this that Xu Youfeng became a rare full-time "judge" in history and was praised by people at the time as "unprecedented in ancient times" as a good official. ?

Di Renjie

(AD 607-700), courtesy name Huaiying, was born in Taiyuan, Bingzhou (now southwest of Taiyuan City, Shanxi) in the Tang Dynasty. One of the subjects) and thus enter the official career.

So the big surname was sentenced to the crime of occupying land, and the cemetery was awarded to the common people. Zhu Xi was very dissatisfied when he settled the case, thinking, "Who else is willing to do this kind of good thing, except me, to hoe the strong and support the weak?" Unexpectedly, the truth was another story: it turned out that the common people knew that Zhu Xi had always been dedicated to attacking the rich and powerful, and they hated him. They bullied the people, so they carved bluestones with characters and secretly buried them in the family graveyard. Then they came to complain, and Zhu Xi fell into the trap. Bao Zheng was also a famous upright official in the Song Dynasty. "Mengxi Bi Tan" recorded an embarrassing incident of his. When Bao Zheng was in charge of Kaifeng Mansion, if someone broke the law, he should be punished with a cane according to law. The man bribed a petty official to help him avoid this physical pain. The clerk took the money and made an agreement with him: During the meeting, he would just shout out the injustice and leave the rest to me. When he was held in court to interrogate the crime, the man really cried out for injustice and couldn't help distinguishing himself. The clerk pretended to be impatient and scolded him: "Isn't it just a cane? Just take it. What are you talking about?" Bao Zheng was furious when he saw that the clerk was so overstepping his authority and being domineering. He punished him with the cane, but gave the offender a lighter sentence. . Although the clerk was beaten, he got money. The offender paid and was spared a beating. Everyone wins, but Bao Zheng loses.

Kuang Zhong

(AD 1383-1442), courtesy name Bolu and nickname Ruyu, was a native of Longgang Prefecture, Jing'an County, Jiangxi Province in the Ming Dynasty. Kuang Zhong made outstanding political achievements throughout his life when he was appointed as the magistrate of Suzhou. He directly reduced the official grain, implemented tax deductions to reduce the burden on the people, and stabilized and developed the economy. At the same time, we should clean up the administration of officials, correct the atmosphere, pay attention to cleaning up the prisons of injustice, and redress the grievances of the people. He arranged a schedule and investigated a case in one county every day, over and over again, without stopping. In the first eight months of taking office, more than 1,500 cases were cleared. In the cases he has tried, no matter how big or small, he can basically ensure that the people do not complain that they are wronged, and the local tyrants do not dare to do evil again. Now, whenever Kuang Zhong is mentioned, people will immediately think of the upright official in the story "Fifteen Guans" who is willing to take risks, dare to uphold justice and redress the grievances of the people. In addition, he also built water conservancy projects, opened schools, recommended talents and other good things to benefit the country. During his thirteen years in office, Kuang Zhong left office three times and stayed in office three times. He did a lot of practical things for the people of Suzhou. In the end, he fell ill from overwork and died of illness in Suzhou. In order to commemorate Kuang Zhong, local people built ancestral halls in Suzhou and seven counties after his death.

Hai Rui

(1514-1587 AD), named Ruxian, was a native of Qiongshan County, Hainan. The era in which he lived was the transitional period from prosperity to decline of the Ming Dynasty. On the surface, everything is peaceful, but at the moment, there are dangers. When Hai Rui was young, he showed great concern for social issues. When he was serving in the Ministry of Household Affairs, Emperor Jiajing, who was worried about the country's financial resources and indulged in large-scale construction of temples and temples in various places in order to dissuade superstitious Taoism and seek immortality, resolutely went to the throne as a sixth-rank official with the determination to die. The memorial he submitted this time is the famous "Speaking Straightly about the First Matters in the World", which was later called "Public Security Essay". After the memorial was delivered, Hai Rui was imprisoned. Fortunately, Jiajing died of illness soon, and the new emperor was pardoned under the persuasion of Prime Minister Xu Jie. His official position was restored, and he was gradually promoted to the position of governor of the ten prefectures of Yingtian. After that, in order to correct current abuses and enforce strict laws and disciplines, he presided over the formulation of severe punishments such as "eighty strings of hanging" for corruption. He was selfless and showed no mercy to the old prime minister Xu Jie, who had always been kind to him. He returned the 400,000 acres of fertile land that the Xu family had occupied to its original owner, and ordered Xu Jie's two sons and more than 20 family members who had oppressed good people to follow the law. condemn. Throughout Hai Rui's official career, he went through the Jiajing, Longqing, and Wanli dynasties, and risked his life many times to give advice. Although it was to safeguard the fundamental interests of feudal rule, he was strict in enforcing the law, eradicating violence, living an honest life, sympathizing with the people, recruiting exiles, and paying attention to Developing production, building water conservancy projects, restricting endless exploitation by big landowners, reforming backward customs and habits, etc., have won widespread support from the people, and their actions have an undeniable role in historical progress. Hai Rui, the great official of the Ming Dynasty, once developed a set of criteria for deciding cases: "Anyone who is suspicious of a lawsuit would rather submit to his brother than his brother; rather than his uncle, he would submit to his nephew; rather than submit to the poor, it would be better to submit to the rich; than to submit to the stupid and upright, it would be better to submit to the rich Qu Diao is stubborn. The matter is to fight for property. Rather than surrender to the small people, it is better to surrender to the local officials to save the disadvantages. The matter is to fight for appearance. Rather than to surrender to the local officials, it is better to surrender to the small people to save the body. "The world is complicated, Mr. Hai is not Sherlock Holmes. When encountering a case that cannot be solved, they simply lean towards the weak, thinking that they feel at ease.

Hai Rui was by no means the only adherent of this set of principles. There were many officials before and after him who had done this, and they all had a unified title - "Integrity Officials."

Tang Bin

(AD 1627-1687), whose courtesy name was Kong Bo, also known as Jingxian and later Qian'an, was born in Suizhou, Baonan (today's Sui County). His main political achievements were in the Kangxi Dynasty, ranging from official positions to cabinet bachelor, governor of Jiangning, and minister of the Ministry of Rites. During Tang Bin's life as an official, in addition to writing books and developing Neo-Confucianism, almost all his energy was focused on the management of river affairs and water transportation. He also paid attention to reducing the burden on the people, providing disaster relief, promoting benefits and eliminating harm, thus always serving him. Practicing the Confucian "people-oriented" thought of "cultivating one's moral character, regulating one's family, governing the country, and bringing peace to the world", he has made certain contributions to changing the situation from "everywhere is barren and the population is sparse" to "the prosperous age breeds people and never adds wealth" , he was an honest and upright official. When he died, he only left his salary of eight taels of silver, not even enough money to buy a coffin. He was truly an upright official of his generation.