Preface
Xu Wei (1521-1593), a native of Shaoxing, Zhejiang, was a famous writer, calligrapher, painter, and opera in the mid-Ming Dynasty. He was known as the three great talents of the Ming Dynasty, along with Xie Jin and Yang Shen .
However, unlike the first two, Xu Wei not only made great achievements in the field of literature, but also an excellent strategist, helping the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang to eliminate the Japanese pirate forces such as Xu Hai, , Wang Zhi, , etc. that have disrupted the southeast coast for many years.
Xu Wei's life was full of ups and downs, and he experienced the warmth and coldness of the world. Especially after Hu Zongxian was imprisoned, Xu Wei was mentally ill due to worry and fear. Later, he was arrested and imprisoned for a mental illness. In his later years, his mental illness became more serious and he eventually died in poverty.
While we were lamenting and regretful, we couldn't help but have questions. What kind of tortuous experience did a peerless talented man become a mentally ill patient, causing such a miserable ending? Please listen to the editor for details.
From a declining family, with a tragic fate, and a proud talented man with a frustration and unsuccessful life, Xu Wei was born in Shaoxing, Zhejiang. His family is a prominent family in the local area. However, by the time he was born, the family had declined. His father Xu Yang was once a Tongzhi (fifth rank official) in Kuizhou Prefecture, Sichuan (now Chongqing).
Xu Yan took a concubine in his later years and gave birth to Xu Wei. However, Xu Wei was only a hundred days old and Xu Yan became a widow. At that time, the Xu family was in charge of Mrs. Miao.
Xu Wei's mother was a concubine taken by Xu Yan. She had a low status. When Xu Wei was ten years old, she was kicked out of the house and did not even have a name left in the historical materials.
Xiao Xu Wei can only be raised by Mrs. Miao. Unfortunately, Mrs. Miao also died of illness four years later. Xu Wei could only live with her elder brother Xu Huai. The two were half-brothers and had a weak blood relationship.
, and Xu Huai is over thirty years older than Xu Wei, lacks brotherly feelings, and is not very happy to get along, so Xu Wei spent his childhood in the darkness.
However, Xu Wei is extremely smart and has a quick mind than ordinary people. He can study at the age of six and write articles at the age of nine, and has become a well-known child prodigy far and wide.
However, because Xu Wei lacked the care of his parents since childhood, he has been living under others for a long time and has experienced the cold and cold world that he should not have at this age, so he has formed a self-admiring and depressed personality.
But God did not intend to pity this talented young man. When he grew up, Xu Wei continued to decline. Xu Wei, who was famous for his talent since childhood, did not pass the imperial examination until he was twenty years old.
. Among the other two talents before him, Xie Jin was already an Jinshi and 5th html at the age of eighteen, and Yang Shen ranked first at the age of twenty-three.
Because the family was so bad, Xu Wei married into the house at the age of 21 Shaoxing local wealthy family. You should know that in ancient times, marrying into the house was a very shameful thing for a man.
The society in the past was divided into three religions and all the people who were married were not at all. It can be imagined how tormented and helpless Xu Wei was in his heart.
Xu Wei could only indulge in the mountains and rivers, recite poems and essays along the way, and his literary and artistic cultivation was greatly improved, and he was proficient in literature, calligraphy and painting.
Later, Xu Wei devoted himself to the imperial examinations. Until he was 41 years old, he went through eight exams, but never passed the imperial examinations.
While suffering repeated setbacks on the road to imperial examinations, his life was also hit hard. At the age of 25, his property was occupied by tyrants and scoundrels, and the real estate was gone. At the age of 26, his wife Pan died of illness and premature death.
Poor Xu Wei's family, who was in his prime, was destroyed, failed to achieve fame and fortune, and was under great mental pressure. Historical records:
often roared at night to vent his indignation, his poems and essays were unrestrained, and his arrogance was unrestrained, and he had a sense of unrulyness that was beyond the ages.
It can be imagined that if a person vents his emotions through roaring in the middle of the night, it means that there are already mental problems. If he is stimulated again, it will inevitably have catastrophic consequences.
abandoned his pen and joined the army. Hu Zongxian's chief aide. In two years, Xu Wei not only recited poems and studied knowledge, but also cared about the political situation. In 1554, Japanese pirates invaded the coastal areas of Zhejiang and Fujian. Xu Wei often made suggestions for the local defenders, showing outstanding military talents, and attracted the attention of Hu Zongxian, the then governor of Zhejiang.
1558, Hu Zongxian, who was promoted to the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, recruited Xu Wei into the shogunate and acted as an aide.
In order to repay Hu Zongxian's kindness for his kindness, Xu Wei created " Entering the White Deer to Watch " to worship the emperor of Jiajing. His profound calligraphy and article background and talent were finally revealed and appreciated by Jiajing, and Hu Zongxian also relied more on him.
Of course, Xu Wei's talent is not limited to calligraphy and painting articles. Historical records record that he "knows the army and is curious about plans". His greatest contribution during his tenure as Hu Zongxian was to capture the leader of the Japanese pirates Xu Hai and the leader of the pirate Wang Zhi.
Xu Hai was originally the old subordinate of Wang Zhi, and later became an independent pirate force second only to Wang Zhi. He once led large-scale Japanese pirates and armed forces invaded the Yangtze River Delta three times.
Because Xu Hai's power is too strong and the military attack is too expensive, Xu Wei knew Hu Zongxian's thoughts very well, so he suggested to Hu Zongxian to recruit and recommend Xu Hai's fellow villager, Taishen, to recruit Xu Hai's students Luo Longwen .
Xu Wei's strategy is to use Luo Longwen, who is a fellow villager, to approach and bribe Xu Hai to gain his trust, and then slowly invade the Japanese pirate group to alienate the relationship between Xu Hai and his Japanese pirate accomplices, and achieve defeats in one by one.
Xu Hai is a Chinese, and he is also involved in pirates for money and interests. Now Hu Zongxian has made a promise to protect his glory and wealth, so Xu Hai naturally intends to accept the pleading.
However, other Japanese leaders were unwilling to surrender and decided to return to Japan. At Xu Wei's instruction, Luo Longwen instigated Xu Hai to arrest all the Japanese pirate leaders at the practice banquet and sent them to Hu Zongxian's office. After
, with Xu Hai's cooperation, the Ming Navy launched a raid to annihilate the Japanese pirates in one fell swoop, and Xu Hai asked Hu Zongxian to surrender.
Later, as the suspicion between Xu Hai and Hu Zongxian continued to escalate, Hu Zongxian mobilized a large number of Ming troops to surround Xu Hai. After fierce battles to wipe out the Xu Hai group, Xu Hai himself fell into the water and died. The same method was also used on Wang Zhi, who was the largest Japanese pirate force at that time, but he himself was also a Chinese. Not only did he have a huge fleet, but he gathered a large number of Japanese ronin under his command, almost monopolizing the maritime route from Japan to China. He was the veritable maritime overlord at that time.
According to the "Biography of Wang Zhi":
"Wang Zhi occupied Songjinpu in Samoa, and usurped the title of Song, proclaimed himself King Hui, and deployed officials, all of whom had their own names. He controlled the key points, and the barbarians on the thirty-six islands were all instructed."
Wang Zhi's identity was no longer just a pirate, but he had become a prince of Japan.
Xu Wei also used the strategy of recruiting and pacifying to gain Wang Zhi's trust and joined forces with Wang Zhi to eliminate other Japanese pirate forces. After Wang Zhi went ashore to accept the recruiting, he beheaded in Hangzhou, Zhejiang in 1559.
In just a few years, with Xu Wei's careful planning, the Japanese pirates who had been in trouble in the southeast coast for decades were severely weakened. Xu Wei also became the chief military advisor of the Fujian-Zhejiang Governor's Office with this achievement, and Xu Wei also ushered in his highlight moment.
The desolation after glory: From the Governor’s Guard to the Prisoner’s Prison, from the Genius to the Schizophrenia, a generation of talented men died in the misery. Not long after the Japanese pirates were suppressed, a political earthquake occurred in the Ming Dynasty officialdom, and Yan Song, who had served as the chief minister of the cabinet for 20 years, was defeated by the princeling party Xu Jie and others.
Xu Jie replaced Yan Song as the chief assistant of the cabinet. Hu Zongxian, as Yan Song's disciple, was naturally not let go by Xu Jie. In 1565, Hu Zongxian was thrown into prison and died soon in prison. Several of his aides were implicated.
Xu Wei was influenced by the family environment since childhood and had a extreme personality. After adulthood, he failed the imperial examinations many times and became more depressed. He finally had the opportunity to show his talents under Hu Zongxian. However, in just ten years, with Hu Zongxian's fall, Xu Wei fell into trouble again.
At this time, he was saddened by Hu Zongxian's framed death, and on the other hand, he was even more worried that he was persecuted. Therefore, he was completely disappointed in his life and became crazy, suffered from severe schizophrenia, and had serious tendency to self-harm.
First, he pulled out the iron nails from the pilaster and hit the ear orifice, and then bleeded heavily. Then he used a vertebrae to hit the kidney sac. He committed suicide nine times repeatedly. In 1566, Xu Wei was killed by a mental attack because he suspected that his wife Zhang was unfaithful, so he was imprisoned and served seven years in prison.
Later, with the help of friends from the court, he was released on the occasion of his amnesty when Zhu Yijun succeeded to the throne. At this time, Xu Wei was fifty-two years old.
After that, Xu Wei traveled all over the country. In 1577, he went to Liaodong and joined Li Chengliang , and taught his son Li Rusong 's military strategy.
But Xu Wei, who was nearly 60 years old, no longer had the energy or physical strength to plan major events. Under Xu Wei's teaching, Li Rusong finally became a generation of generals and made immortal contributions in the later war against Japanese and aiding Korea.
Xu Wei often relapsed due to his old illness. He returned to his hometown in Shaoxing at the age of 63 and never left again. Xu Wei's temperament in his later years became even more strange and often closed his door to thank guests.
It is said that someone came to visit, but Xu Wei didn't want to see him, so he pushed the wood door and shouted, "Xu Wei is not here!"
Because Xu Wei did not treat the industry in his life, his money was gone, and he had to make a living by selling calligraphy and paintings in his later years. His disciples and younger friends either cheated or robbed him, and got a lot of works from him. Xu Wei was poor and sick, and the thousands of books he saved were sold out, and he was often in a state of no-cooking.
At the same time, his mental state is getting worse and worse. Sometimes he loses his face and loses his head when he is awake. When he is awake, he indulges in drinking. By 1593, Xu Wei finally died in poverty and was seventy-two years old.
It is said that when he passed away, there was only a dog around him, and there was not even a mat on the bed.
Postscript
Although Xu Wei's later years were miserable, his literary and artistic creations had a profound impact on future generations. Xu Wei's works have a strong personality, are not dependent on their predecessors, and their style is heroic and wild, which is of great significance to changing the poetry style of the late Ming Dynasty.
Xu Wei is not only unique in literary poetry creation, but also outstanding in calligraphy. He is best at the majestic cursive , but it is difficult for ordinary people to understand it. He uses a mess of pen to open up and lead the "shangshi" style of calligraphy in the late Ming Dynasty and leads the Ming Dynasty calligraphy to a new peak. In terms of painting, Xu Wei's ink splashing freehand flower and bird painting is unique and unique, creating a unique and pioneering Chinese freehand painting school.
