438 years ago today, on November 13, 1587 (October 14, 1587 lunar calendar), Ming Dynasty politician Hai Rui passed away. Hai Rui was a Ming Dynasty politician and a famous honest official in history in our country. He was born in Qiongzhou, Guangdong (now Haikou City, Hainan Island) on January 12, 1515, and died of illness on November 13, 1587 at the age of 73. Hai Rui experienced 4 emperors in his life, Zhengde, Jiajing, Longqing and Wanli, which was the era when the Ming Dynasty went from heyday to decline. He was born into a decayed feudal bureaucratic family. His father died when he was 4 years old, and the family only had a dozen acres of land. His mother, Xie Shi, who was only 28 years old at the time, was straight and strong. She did not remarry or ask for help. She sewed poverty subsidies and raised Hai Rui to grow up. Hai Rui was very filial to his mother and often asked her for advice when she encountered problems as an official. His family background made him relatively close to the poor, and he maintained a hard and simple quality throughout his life. Even though he had been an official for many years, his mother only bought two catties of meat to improve her life on her birthday, which was in sharp contrast to the bureaucrats who spent more than 1,000 taels of silver for a meal and even made a potty of silver. Hai Rui never accepted gifts from others, nor did he buy an acre of land. On weekdays, he grew his own vegetables, and his family went up the mountain to collect firewood. Three days before his death, he found that the Ministry of War gave him more than 7 taels of silver for the firewood he deserved, and immediately asked someone to send it back. After his death, when his colleagues counted his relics, they found that all the family wealth was only a little salary due to the month, and even the funeral was funded by his colleagues. The imperial history Chen Hailou, who was severely punished by Hai Rui for corruption, has always held a grudge against Hai Rui. After Hai Rui's death, he personally went to visit Hai Rui's house and found that Hai Rui's life was more difficult than that of ordinary poor scholars, and his hatred suddenly turned into admiration. Hai Rui was just straight in his life and called himself a strong man. As early as when he was a lecturer in Nanping County, Fujian Province, he was known as "Doctor Penholder", because he was the only one who did not kneel in the middle when he and two other lecturers welcomed the imperial history. He said that this is a school, not a yamen, and should not kneel. Hai Rui hated bullies and tyrants, sympathized with the suffering of the people, and had the courage to fight against the local tyrants and bad gentry who deprived the peasants of their land. Even for Xu Jie, the largest landlord in the south of the Yangtze River who had been a prime minister and had been kind to him, he still led him to withdraw from the "more than half" of the farmers' fields. He insisted on implementing the equal taxation law that reduced the burden on the people and opposed exploitation among officials at all levels. He also personally led the people to build the Wusong River water conservancy by using work for food, which benefited the people. Hai Rui is full of righteousness and is not afraid of evil. When he was promoted to the head of the Ministry of Household Affairs, he saw that the border was restless, the Emperor Jiajing did not ask about state affairs, built palaces and temples, cultivated Taoism and refined alchemy, and only wanted to become immortals. Regardless of the lives of the people, he petitioned for orders for the people, and went to the "Public Security" to ask the emperor to rectify the imperial platform. Therefore, he angered the emperor and was almost sentenced to death. Some officials with a sense of justice helped to save him, and were later imprisoned in the imperial prison. Hai Rui was dismissed at the age of 56, and he was able to make a comeback at the age of 72, which is enough to prove that his "voice shook the sky" recorded in the history books is not a false boast. After Hai Rui's death, the people were extremely sad and mourned for many days. During the funeral on the river, the two sides of the river In order to commemorate him, future generations have composed and performed many operas, novels, and other works to express his glorious image, and his achievements will never be lost.