Chapter 6 Chapter 5 Hai Rui - The Weird Model Bureaucrat
On November 13, 1587 in the Gregorian calendar, Hai Rui, the right capital censor of the Nanjing Metropolitan Procuratorate, passed away in office.He is a legendary figure, and there have been sharp disputes about how to comment on his life and events.This dispute has continued until how many years later it will become the focus of the problem.
Unlike many of his colleagues, Hai Rui cannot believe that the fundamental plan of governing the country is to hang an abstract, perfect moral standard from the top, and order the people below to follow it to the extent possible, and discount it if it doesn't work.And his respect for the law is to enforce it according to the prescribed maximum.If the salary paid by the government to an official is so meager that it is not enough to eat, it should be accepted without complaint.This belief is proved by his own actions: he was a second-rank official, and when he died, he only left 20 taels of silver, which was not enough for burial.
However, where the text of the legal dogma is insufficient, Hai Rui also advocates that the spirit of the law must be faithfully understood, and the lack of ambiguity in the provisions should not be ignored.For example, during his tenure as the governor of Nanzhili, he ordered that the land products that were pawned by usury and pawned to death should be returned to the original owners, thus forming a dispute that attracted national attention.
Hai Rui's life in politics for more than 20 years has been full of various disputes.His creed and personality made him both respected and outcast.That is to say, although he is admired by others, no one acts according to his example. His life embodies the spirit of an educated scholar who sacrifices himself to serve the public, but the actual effect of this spirit is very meager.He could stir most audiences as emotionally as a hero on the stage; but when people commented on his political measures, they were not only divided, but divided to a great extent.A common conclusion that can be easily found in all kinds of disputes is that his actions cannot be accepted as the norms of all civil servants.
Hai Rui fully attaches importance to the role of the law and enforces the law. However, as a civil servant who grew up under the guidance of the Bible, he always attaches importance to the guiding role of ethics.In his works, he stated that human beings' daily behaviors and even every action can be summarized into two moral categories of good and evil based on intuition.He said that he acted as a local magistrate and a magistrate, and that in all lawsuits, six out of ten, the right and wrong could be decided immediately.In only a small number of cases, right and wrong have yet to be considered. The criteria for this consideration are:
Enforcing the law with this spirit is indeed in line with the instructions of the "Four Books".However, he served as a civil servant and judged cases in public courts. It has been two thousand years since the writing of the "Four Books" and nearly two hundred years since the founding of this dynasty.What Hai Rui’s contemporaries could not see clearly is that this paragraph of judicial advice just exposed the long-standing institutional difficulties of our empire: it is impossible for the peasants to be governed by literati who are familiar with poetry and books, and it is impossible for them to improve the judicial system. , let alone the protection of human rights.The interpretation and implementation of laws cannot be separated from traditional ethics, and the organization has no ability to deal with complex factors and multiple relationships.
Hai Rui's life experience is a product of this system.As a result, the strengths of individual morality cannot compensate for the weaknesses of organization and technology.
Hai Rui started his career as a Juren, and was appointed as a professor of Confucianism in a county in Fujian for a term of four years.By the time he was promoted to the magistrate of Chun'an, Zhejiang in 1558, he was already 45 years old.
This Chun'an County is the channel between the three provinces.With the development of transportation, the burden on the people of this county has also increased.The reason is that according to the financial system established when the dynasty was founded, the government budget does not include travel expenses. The 1,040 post stations across the country are nominally in charge of the Ministry of War. , horses and porters of boat sedan chairs are all in charge of this place.The Ministry of War only issued a piece of paper to the travelers: Where the post station is located, it must be supplied in accordance with the regulations.The reputation of Hai Rui, the seventh-rank official, began to be known because he was able to sternly and skillfully reject the abuse of power by officials and increase the local burden.
This story tells that Hu Zongxian, who served as the governor-general as a civil servant, was also responsible for defending against Japanese pirates.Once, his son Taoist Chun'an brought a large number of people and luggage with him, domineering, picky about the hospitality of the post station, and insulted the post office.The county magistrate Hai Rui immediately ordered the yamen servant Zaoli to arrest the young man and escort him to the governor's yamen, and confiscated the large amount of cash he was carrying.In his official document submitted to the Governor, he claimed that Mr. Hu must be a counterfeit, because the Governor-General has high expectations, it is impossible to have such an unworthy son, and it is impossible to own so much gold and silver property.
If this story is mixed with exaggeration and exaggeration, then there is no doubt about Hai Rui's treatment of Yan Maoqing, because there are letters in his anthology to prove it.
In 1560, Yan Maoqing, the censor of the left deputy capital, was appointed to clean up the salt law, and the salt collection monopoly in the northern and southern provinces was under his control, in order to increase government revenue and strengthen financial resources to fight against Japanese pirates.For this imperial envoy, the local officials were naturally respectful and did not dare to neglect him in the slightest.The imperial envoy himself could not avoid the fashion of flaunting frugality in order to gain fame. He issued a circular in advance, saying that the court is "simple in nature and does not like to welcome it. All food and beverages should be simple and simple, not too extravagant and expensive." Rijia".Such bureaucratic articles have long been commonplace, but they are regarded as a piece of paper, even the imperial envoy himself would not have thought that anyone would take them seriously.
Hai Rui, the magistrate of Chun'an County, was unequivocal about this order.Before the envoy of Yandu Court arrived in Chun'an, he had already received an invitation letter.At the beginning of the post, it was neatly written "Hai Jin, the magistrate of Chun'an County, Yanzhou Prefecture", followed by the excerpt of the original text of the order, and then said that the audience was ordered to go south, and all the inquirers on the road before Zhejiang said: , there are banquets everywhere, each banquet costs three to four hundred taels of silver, and there are continuous offerings of gold flowers and gold satin during the banquet, and other offerings are also extremely gorgeous, although the drowning utensils are also made of silver.Finally, he asked the imperial envoy to abandon the extravagant ostentation and plundering, and said that if he could not refuse the flattery and flattery of the local officials, he would definitely not be able to do business and complete the tasks entrusted by the emperor in the future.It is said that after Yan Maoqing received the notice, he did not dare to enter Chun'an, but detoured him.
This spirit of blunt disobedience may have cost Hai Rui a chance to be promoted.He was transferred to Xingguo, Jiangxi Province in 1562, and his official position was still magistrate, neither promoted nor demoted.With his personality and style, his boss certainly holds grudges. If he hadn't been consistent in his words and deeds, honest and upright, ten Hai Rui would have been dismissed from office long ago.His reputation for frugality is well known. It is said that Governor Hu Zongxian once told others that Hai Rui bought two catties of pork for his mother's birthday.The authenticity of this matter cannot be proven, but there is no doubt that the vegetables on Hai Rui's dining table came from the back of the Yamen under the supervision of others.
Driven by moral concepts, it is not uncommon for lower-level officials to rebel against their superiors, but most of them do not attract special attention. Soon after the incident happened, it was immediately forgotten.However, Hai Rui was an exception. He was helped by fate, and history was on his side. In 1562, Yan Song, a senior scholar who had served as the chief assistant for almost 20 years, was dismissed by Emperor Jiajing, and the private individuals he supported inevitably fell one after another, including Hu Zongxian and Yan Maoqing.Since they were determined to be bad people, Hai Rui dared to oppose them when they were in power, so of course he could be regarded as a very wise man.For this reason his popularity increased greatly.Although the 49-year-old Hai Rui did not come from a Jinshi background, and his official rank was only the seventh rank, he had already obtained the possibility of becoming a hero in the hearts of the public. He only needed more chances to consolidate this position.
In 1565, Hai Rui once again showed his outspoken boldness.At that time, he had been promoted to the head of the household department, and his official rank was Zhengliupin, which was a position close to that of a middle-level official.At that time, there was no exciting weather in Beijing.On the contrary, both the North and the South have repeatedly warned, eager to increase revenue to prepare for military supplies.However, the government has no new ways to raise funds, and the only feasible way is to borrow money and increase additional taxes.The former does not increase revenue, nor does it tighten expenditures, but only uses one for the other; the latter makes the tax system more complicated and the actual implementation more difficult.The Ministry of Household Affairs is the country's financial institution, but the officials who are in charge have nothing to do.The major policies come from the official minister, the minister, and the minister, while the technical details are manipulated by the officials.A chief like Hai Rui doesn't have to go to the ministry every day to work, it's just a matter of accumulating official qualifications day by day.
Emperor Jiajing had been in power for 40 years that day.His main interest lies in praying to the gods and finding Taoist secret recipes for immortality.He lived in a villa in the imperial city, but he couldn't be regarded as ordinary idleness, because apart from not appearing in public, he still had arbitrariness in matters of state, and sometimes interfered in the details.The emperor's love of vanity and inability to accept criticism is unparalleled in the world. He only approached a few courtiers and heard all kinds of false situations.When he found out that the big thing had been corrupted, he beheaded a former confidant Zhengfa to shirk responsibility and calm public opinion.This approach made the courtiers care less about the interests of the country than to protect themselves. In 1565, although it had been three years since Yan Song resigned, people's criticisms of Jiajing were still "confusing", "judgemental" and "emotional bias".However, he turned a deaf ear to these opinions. He was obviously deceived by the minister, and he thought that the sages were like Yao and Shun.
After careful consideration, in November of the Gregorian calendar, Hai Rui handed over the famous memorial to Jiajing.The memorial pointed out that he was a vain, cruel, selfish, suspicious, and stupid monarch. The emperor himself should be directly responsible for all the corruption of officials, heavy taxes, endless waste of the court, and the proliferation of bandits everywhere.His Majesty the Emperor hangs out with alchemists every day, but after all, God can't speak, and longevity cannot be sought. These superstitions are all just "following the wind and catching shadows".However, the most irritating sentence in the memorandum is still "the people who rule the world have not been straight to your majesty for a long time", which means that the officials and people all over the world have long believed that you are not correct.
Although the wording of this memorial is extremely sharp, it still abides by the duty of a minister.What Hai Rui asked the emperor to do was to change his behavior, and this change was very easy. It only needed to "repent and repent", and the chaos led to governance, and it was only "a moment of cheering up".The implication is that if the emperor can really cheer up, choose the appropriate path, and go to it with determination, he still has a chance to become the king of Yao and Shun.
Such a memorial is indeed unprecedented.Usually, when a subject makes admonitions to the emperor, he only criticizes one or several policies or measures. This kind of criticism of the emperor's character and denial of everything he has done is tantamount to saying that his career as an emperor in the past few decades has been completely a vegetarian meal, and he is not even a human being. The responsibilities of husband and father have not been fulfilled, and the abruptness is really rare in ancient and modern times.
Emperor Jiajing finished reading the memorabilia, and his fury can be imagined.Legend has it that he threw the memorial to the ground and shouted: "Catch this man and don't let him escape!" In order to appease the emperor's anger, an eunuch next to him knelt down and played calmly: "Long live, don't get angry. This man has always been famous, and I heard that he knew that he would die, so he bought a coffin before handing over the memorial, and called his family to say goodbye. The servants were all scared and ran away. This man will not run away.”After Jiajing listened, he let out a long sigh, picked up the playbook from the ground, and read it again and again.
Jiajing did not give Hai Rui any punishment, but kept the memorial.He couldn't forget this memorial, there were so many unavoidable facts in it, but no one had ever dared to mention even a little bit of it in front of him!The emperor's emotions seemed very contradictory. He sometimes compared Hai Rui to the ancient loyal minister Bigan, and sometimes scolded him as "the beast that cursed me".Sometimes when he beat the maid, the maid would secretly say behind her back: "He scolded Hai Rui himself, and he will take it out on us!"
At this time, Jiajing's health was not good, and he had thought of abdicating as the Supreme Emperor, but there was no precedent for this kind of abandonment of the world's responsibilities.At the end of February in the Gregorian calendar in 1566, he thought about it and was so angry that he finally ordered Jin Yiwei to arrest Hai Rui and imprison him in Dongchang.The Ministry of Punishments decided to hang Hai Rui according to the law of sons cursing their fathers. However, although Emperor Jiajing had approved the death penalty for many people before, at this time he did not give any reply to the proposals of the Ministry of Punishments. Therefore, Hai Rui was in prison. Lived here for 10 months.
One day, food and wine were suddenly served in prison.Hai Rui thought this was his last meal before he died, but his expression remained unchanged and he ate as usual.The prison chief told him quietly that the emperor has been promoted, and the new king will take the throne in a short time. You are a loyal minister and will be reused. After Hai Rui heard this, he immediately burst into tears; after crying, he vomited.
At the beginning of 1567, Emperor Longqing ascended the throne, and Hai Rui was released from prison.The arrangement for him immediately became a difficult problem for the scholar of Wenyuan Pavilion and the official secretary.His reputation has been recognized throughout the empire.Of course he is extremely honest and honest, but from another point of view, he may also be extremely rough and extremely carping.Such a person will not believe that there should be a distinction between yin and yang in dealing with people, and he will definitely demand his subordinates and superiors with his own weird standards.How should he be assigned?It seems that the safer way is to let him be promoted without making him take actual responsibility.Therefore, in a short period of time, he successively served as Shangbao Sicheng, Dali Temple Yousicheng, Zuosicheng, Nanjing Tongzhengsi Youtongzheng, and the official position was the fourth rank.Naturally, Hai Rui couldn't be satisfied with such an idle Cao, because he is a firm believer and practitioner of ethics and morality, and has a high sense of responsibility to the country and the people.
In the Jingcha at the beginning of 1569, according to the usual practice, all officials who belonged to the fourth rank and above and wore red robes should make a self-identification.So Hai Rui said in the memorial: Since Your Majesty pardoned my capital crime and promoted me exceptionally, among all the civil servants, no one would be more eager than me to repay Your Majesty's kindness.Then, he modestly claimed that he was only a little knowledgeable; and then, he said that his current position was only in charge of checking the documents presented to the emperor, and sending them intact after reading, with no financial responsibility, and no need to control the overall situation I am determined, but I am not even qualified for such a position, so it is better to dismiss me altogether.
From this point of view, it is not that Hai Rui is completely ignorant of the subtlety and profoundness of the Way of Yin and Yang.He begged to be removed from the public, and threatened the officials in charge of personnel: If you really dare to dismiss me, a loyal minister who is famous for his advice and advice, you must not be tolerated by public opinion; if you dare not dismiss me, then please You have assigned me offices in which I can actually be responsible.
Wenyuan Pavilion and the Ministry of Officials finally bowed to him.In Futian that year, Hai Rui was appointed governor of Nanzhili and stationed in Suzhou.Not to mention that this is the most affluent area in the country, even in ordinary areas, it is rare to appoint such a person who is not from a Jinshi background as the governor.However, this area has always been known as difficult to govern, and with Hai Rui's personality, he took up the post, and knowledgeable people had long expected that it would inevitably lead to adverse consequences.Unsurprisingly, eight months later, he was forced to retire when he was impeached.
As soon as Hai Rui's new post was announced, many local officials in Nanzhili estimated that they would not be able to see this weird boss, so they resigned automatically or asked him to transfer.The houses of the noble gentry changed the vermilion lacquer gates to black one after another, so as not to dazzle people's eyes and seek to hide their power and bide their time.An eunuch stationed in Suzhou reduced his bearers from eight to four.Citing these trivial matters can prove that the new governor's momentum is fast and powerful enough to shock people.
As soon as Hai Rui got off the bus, he announced the thirty-six articles of his "Governor's Treaty" in all the prefectures and counties under his rule.The treaty stipulates that all adult men in the territory should marry and start a family as soon as possible, widows who do not want to abide by the chastity should remarry immediately, and all infanticide should be stopped.When the governor goes out to inspect various places, the prefect and county magistrates are not allowed to go out of the city to greet them, but the governor can summon the elders to hear their complaints.When the governor stayed in various prefectures and counties, the standard of food provided by the local officials was two to three renminbi of silver per day. Chicken and fish were available, but goose and rice wine were not allowed.In the future, cheap paper will be used for all official documents in the territory; it is customary to leave a blank at the end of the official documents in the past, and they will all be abolished in the future.From the date of publication of the treaty, the manufacture of several luxury goods in the territory will cease, including special textiles, headgear, paper stationery, and sweets.
Some of these regulations are unavoidably trivial and strict, and problems will arise in the first place.His final downfall was due to his interference with the ownership of farmland in the territory.
At the beginning of the founding of this dynasty, Emperor Taizu Hongwu used severe measures to crack down on wealthy gentry and wealthy households, thus temporarily alleviating the fundamental problem of the society for two thousand years, that is, the problem of land and land.Since the middle period, this problem has become more acute.The loan sharks used local bachelors to lend large amounts of money to self-cultivating farmers. The interest rate was extremely high, and most of the forced borrowers could not repay.Once the loan period has expired and there is no repayment, the mortgaged land will be occupied by the lender.Although there was an official regulation that the interest rate should not exceed three cents, and that the total amount of interest should not exceed half of the principal regardless of the length of the loan, this regulation was never seriously enforced.At the same time as the above-mentioned regulations, the government also stipulates that if the land is occupied by the lender because it cannot repay the loan, it can still be redeemed at the original price within 5 years, which adds to the complexity of the matter in writing.
Hai Rui's determination to change this situation is not only out of maintaining the dignity of the law, but also to maintain the sanctity of morality.It can be seen from his collection of essays that he has the desire to limit the excessive possession of land by rich households and narrow the gap between rich and poor.This impulse made him go forward without hesitation.Therefore, he did not hesitate to accept a large number of applications for the withdrawal of fields.
Among the rich gentry and wealthy households in Nanzhili, the most distressed by the small households is Xu Jie's family.This person used to be the chief assistant, but later retired to live in leisure because of Gao Gong's rejection.His family members are said to number as many as several thousand, and the land they occupy ranges from 240,000 mu to 400,000 mu.The above figures are undoubtedly exaggerated, but the Xu family is a large family with no separation for several generations, and the time of usury has been quite long.Hai Rui sent Xu Jie the complaint about Xu's family and asked him to try to solve it, at least half of the land should be returned.It can be seen from the letters they exchanged that Xu Jie was forced to accept Hai Rui's coercive request.
Xu Jie owes Hai Rui a life-saving grace.During his tenure as Chief Assistant, Hai Rui was imprisoned for submitting a letter, and the Ministry of Punishment advocated a sentence of death by hanging, but Xu Jie suppressed the matter.After he retired from his job and lived at home, he allowed his family members to run amok. According to the law at that time, he could be subject to criminal punishment.Hai Rui forced him to quit his farmland and arrested his younger brother Xu Zhi. On the one hand, he showed his strong law enforcement.This approach of taking public and private interests into consideration greatly increased Hai Rui's prestige.
If Hai Rui adopts the method of punishing one person and publicizing the Xu family or several other representative cases widely, so that the rich and the poor will know what to do, instead of pursuing similar cases one by one, then, He may succeed in an atmosphere of relaxation.However, his enthusiasm cannot be restrained.He designated two days a month to receive such cases.According to his own articles, he receives 3,000 to 4,000 submissions every day.With such a wide range of involvement, it is natural to get out of hand.
Most rural areas in the south grow rice.The entire field is divided into countless small plots due to topography and irrigation, in order to adapt to the working conditions of the day.In this way, because the fertility of each small plot is different, and the pawns are often bought and sold, it is rare for a landlord to own continuous arable land.Both Wang Shizhen and He Liangjun recorded that the real situation at that time was that the lands of rich gentry and wealthy households and small households of self-cultivating farmers were mixed with each other, and "it is impossible to distinguish and analyze".Hai Rui's own property on Hainan Island is estimated to be less than 40 mu, but it has been divided into 93 pieces, a few miles apart.These complexities make resolving the issue of farmland ownership more difficult.
In addition, the use of usury to erode the property of others is not limited to rich households and their agents, green bachelors.Because credit lending institutions do not exist, if a self-cultivator has a little savings, he will try to lend the savings to his relatives and neighbors to obtain interest, and the borrower will use part of his land as collateral.At the beginning, the rich and poor of the borrower and the lender are often almost the same. However, when the borrower uses this kind of loan with a very high interest rate to quench his thirst due to urgent needs, in most cases it is difficult to extricate himself, and the mortgaged property is immediately taken over by the lender.This situation had become a social trend at that time.Hai Jui was involved in a large number of such disputes and fought alone, thus putting himself in a situation where he could not control himself.
Fighting against powerful social forces on an individual basis, coupled with being overconfident in dealing with these lawsuits in detail, using the teacher's own mind, neither having made a thorough investigation of the local situation, nor promulgating legal guidelines, let alone establishing a special It goes without saying that Hai Rui's failure to succeed is self-evident if the agency investigates the case and listens to defenses in order to make a fair verdict.In addition, although he admits that the clause expressly stipulates that the redemption cannot be redeemed for more than 5 years, he requires a written contract as a basis, otherwise this clause cannot be applied.This reason seems to be inappropriate on the surface, but in reality, there are usually few written contracts for loans between farmers.According to his own statement, in such cases, he approved only one-twentieth redemption, but as said above, he did not rely on a strong institution but only on his own judgment to decide the numerous and clueless cases. It is undoubtedly a great doubt whether the numerous disputes can be made reasonable one by one.
Before Hai Rui accepted the dispute over the land property, he had already been impeached by the supervisor.The reason for impeachment was that he didn't understand the general situation, and only paid attention to the minutiae such as saving paper, which was out of the governor's dignity.Later, during the incident, Dai Fengxiang impeached Hai Rui in harsher terms, saying that he judged the people's property at will based on his own impulse. Lender repayment.This obvious exaggeration cannot help but make people wonder whether the man in the matter is already in league with the usurer.What is even more shocking is that Dai Fengxiang actually said that Hai Rui's monogamous and concubine died together in one night seven months ago, probably out of murder.Although Hai Rui replied that his concubine hanged himself on August 14th in the Gregorian calendar, and his wife died of illness on August 25th, but the impeachment in the matter has had the expected effect. No matter what the truth is, many people have already suspected Hai Rui Rui is eccentric and impersonal, which is why such a family tragedy happened.
The matter is very clear, Dai Fengxiang represents not only himself.Memorials calling for Hai Rui's dismissal continued to reach the imperial court.The Ministry of Officials put forward opinions based on various impeachment memorials, saying that Hai Rui, the governor of Nanzhili, was really "talented and talented" and should be transferred to Xiancao.This situation is so delicate, a year ago no one dared to criticize this most upright and loyal minister in the court, but a year later he became the target of public criticism; a year ago Wenyuan Pavilion and the Ministry of Officials looked at him differently because of Hai Rui's protest However, a year later they advised the emperor to let him resume his irresponsible official position.The aggrieved Hai Rui was finally forced to resign and return to his hometown in the spring of 1570. In his resignation memorial, he denounced "the people who lead the court are all women."This kind of outrageous attitude caused him to lose general sympathy among the civil servants.
Two years later, Emperor Wanli ascended the throne, and Zhang Juzheng became the chief assistant.Like Hai Rui, the head of Wenyuan Pavilion respected the law and disliked the landlords in the Susong area.Therefore, Hai Rui had contacted Zhang Juzheng, hoping that he would uphold justice.In Zhang Juzheng's reply to him, he said:
This kind of rhetorical method of using euphemistic sentences as sympathy and blame is exactly the skill that our literati are good at.Zhang Juzheng believed that Hai Rui was rash and impetuous, so he refused to help him, leaving Hai Rui unemployed for 15 years. It was not until 1585 that he was reappointed as the censor of Nanjing Youjindu.
For Zhang Juzheng, critics think he is harsh, pretentious and extravagant; for Hai Rui, they call him strange, eccentric and stubborn.Critics miss their up-and-down search for an appropriate way to fit the empire into the political norms they devised.What's more important is that if Zhang Juzheng's measures are more or less smacking of political reform, then Hai Rui's actions are trying to restore the system drawn up by Emperor Hongwu. These seemingly weird decrees have constitutional and theoretical basis.
The Hongwu Emperor founded the dynasty two hundred years ago and established a complete set of political and economic systems. His main focus was to preserve the frugal ethos of an agricultural society.At that time, there were only 8,000 civil servants in the country.All the technicians who deal with paperwork and affairs are called "officials", and they belong to two different classes from civil officials, as clear as a river.Officials can be punished and demoted to officials, but officials are rarely promoted to officials.The salaries of these officials are extremely meager, only enough to support a family.
Even for officials, the legislative restrictions are very strict.For example, one of the most peculiar regulations is that all officials are not allowed to step outside the city gate without certain formalities and approvals.The way they contact the common people is to send Zaoli tickets to summon the parties to come to the government office, and they can only order arrest if they fail to pass three times.Emperor Hongwu also personally wrote a pamphlet called "Da Gao", explaining the reasons for his implementation of severe punishment through specific cases.Every family of the common people must buy a copy. If they are oppressed by the government and their grievances cannot be redressed, they must knock on the gate to express their grievances. This "Dagao" can replace a passport.
The rural organization is based on each village as a unit, forming a nearly autonomous group, and formulating its own township agreement in accordance with the regulations of the central government.There is a "Shenming Pavilion" and a "Jingshan Pavilion" in one village. The former is a place for the elderly in the village to arbitrate disputes such as property, marriage, and fights, while the latter is used to praise the good deeds admired by the villagers.Twice a year, in the first month and October of the lunar calendar, each village will hold a big banquet for all villagers, called "Xiangyin".Before distributing food and beverages, the participants must respectfully listen to the precepts of the elders and the selected court decrees, and the presiding officer must also reprimand the villagers for misbehavior on this occasion.If the person has neither the determination to repent nor avoid it, he will be called a "recalcitrant" by the public, and the government will petition the government to send him to the frontier.
While planning such a blueprint for the country's rural areas, Emperor Hongwu launched large prisons to attack bureaucrats, gentry, local officials and other high-ranking people. From senior officials in the court to wealthy households in the private sector, his ties were extremely wide.According to estimates by some historians, more than 100,000 people died as a result.The confiscation of the criminal's family property and the redistribution of the land, coupled with the large number of immigrants since the founding of the People's Republic of China, have turned the country into an agricultural society based on self-cultivating farmers. In 1397, according to the statistics of the Ministry of Household Affairs, there were 14,341 landlords who could still keep more than 700 mu of land.Their list was filed and submitted to the imperial court, and Emperor Hongwu approved them to maintain their own property, but at the same time imposed a lot of obligations to serve in order to prevent their family property from expanding infinitely.
The rural policy and a set of measures implemented by Emperor Hongwu will have a far-reaching impact on the future history of the dynasty.Its most notable consequence is that the growth and development of the legal system was curbed in the vast rural areas of the country, and the law was replaced by abstract morality.From the bureaucracy down to the villagers, the standard of judging right and wrong is "good" and "evil", not "legal" or "illegal".
In terms of the financial system, the government stipulated that land taxes should be collected according to the area. Except for West Zhejiang (then West Zhejiang included today's South Jiangsu), the tax rates in other regions were relatively low.Expropriation does not distinguish between rich and poor, and its method of restricting wealthy households is the above-mentioned service.There are many types of such service, and they are distributed on the principle of progressive taxation, that is, the richer the family, the heavier the burden.For example, the horses, sedan chairs, and food needed for post stations in various places are all supplied by large households, and there is no limit to the supply in a year. The more officials who travel, the heavier their burden will be.
The most difficult item in local spending to fix is travel to and from officials.This cost is shared by the major households, so most of the local governments' fiscal expenditures are mostly based on fixed figures.At the same time, because the expenditure involved is small, most areas are self-sufficient.If it is unable to support itself under special circumstances, it should be directly subsidized by the nearest surplus region according to regulations.This local self-sufficient financial system was implemented to such an extent that in the last years of Hongwu, the military pay of the 5,000 Jinwu Guard soldiers was not paid by the treasury, but 5,000 taxpayers in Yingtianfu were designated to send their tax rice directly to this place. Home to 5,000 sergeants.This kind of financial system, which uses profit to make up for loss instead of letting the higher authorities take over revenue and expenditure to save transportation, communication, bookkeeping, warehouse management and other logistics expenditures, has been implemented throughout the dynasty.There are countless short-distance transportation lines all over the country, lacking unified organization and management.Later, the tax has been converted into cash by kind.This primitive way cannot be completely changed because of its long-standing and lack of organization in the middle-level institutions.
Obviously, the disadvantage of this fiscal system is that it lacks flexibility and cannot be adjusted to adapt to the environment.The tax rates and tax amounts of various prefectures and counties have been fixed for a long time. Even if the harvest of cultivated land increases, the benefits will be shared by the owners and usurers, but it will not benefit the national treasury.If the taxation situation of agriculture, which is the main component of the traditional economy, is the same, it will naturally be handled in the same way for industry and commerce, which are regarded as the last industry.
The main reason for this financial and economic solidification is to maintain the unity and coordination of the civil service system.Since the various local officials have followed the principles formulated by Emperor Hongwu and focused on the simplicity of the countryside, a few civil officials want to stimulate more active economic sectors such as commerce, or want to reform the supply system so that the total revenue is only distributed, and maintain The reasonable flexibility of income and expenditure will inevitably start a new stove in the entire civil service group and train a group of technical personnel.Their screening, training, management, assessment, and promotion are all different from those of ordinary administrative staff.In this way, it is bound to evolve into two different sets of laws and two different organizations.In fact, the civil official group can only have a traditional character, and since this group is the actual ruler of the dynasty, it will inevitably use its own character as a model and order the whole society to follow it.Frugality is originally a virtue, but advocating frugality under such conditions is at best a means to simplify administrative issues to suit the incompetence of the government itself.
Now I'm going back to Hai Rui.He regarded the principles advocated by Emperor Hongwu as the golden rule, and the private manufacture of luxury goods was not allowed, such as Zhongjing Lingyun Scarf, Wanhong Scattering Gold Paper, Sugar Fighting, Dading Shengbing Table Seats, etc., were all strictly prohibited.He focused on agriculture and tried his best to go back to the ancient times, emphasizing that "the two Han Dynasties have the meaning of filial piety and brotherhood, and love each other with respect, only the intention of the upper hand, and only the people follow it, one returns to the original industry, and the strength returns to purity."It is hoped that with the power of individuals, we can lead the society back to the simplicity of history and ideals.However, neither he nor Emperor Hongwu thought that the government did not rely on technology and economic power to support the people, but relied solely on political pressure and moral propaganda, and the result could only be counterproductive.Most of the government's income comes from farmers, and when Hai Rui was governor, most of the farmers were oppressed and threatened by usury.The government lacks funds, and farmers cannot obtain low-interest loans from government agencies.At that time, the private lending institutions were pawnshops, and it goes without saying that the loan interest rate was high; even if it was a loan from relatives and neighbors, they would never lower the interest rate tenderly.That being the case, the provisions of the government to limit usury can only be a dead letter.
It has been 200 years since Hongwu founded the country and Hai Rui served as governor.A lot of changes have happened in these 200 years.The more than 14,000 wealthy households that were sent to the imperial court for the second viewing have been replaced by new wealthy households.Most of these emerging wealthy households belonged to bureaucrats, gentry, or students and enjoyed "preferential exemptions" and no longer assumed the responsibility of "service".Officials in the government are also getting more and more opportunities to play tricks.Because the country's cash and goods are not collected and distributed, the financial system cannot be inspected with a strict accounting system, and the money and goods that leaked through the gaps fall into the hands of these people.More importantly, the civil service group has matured.The 8,000 officials in the Hongwu era have now expanded to 20,000.The prohibition against going to the countryside has long been abolished, but in fact they rarely have the need to go to the countryside anymore, because many people have long turned a blind eye to the hardships of people's livelihood, and are more concerned about maintaining their jobs to obtain legal and illegal income .
However, the unlimited expansion of family property like the great landlord Xu Jie, and the plundering and plundering, had to conflict with the overall interests of the civil official group.What he has done has aroused popular anger and threatened the entire bureaucracy.无论出于阴还是出于阳，文官集团都不能允许他如是地独占利益，为所欲为。案情一经揭发公开，立即为全部舆论所不容，而使徐阶失去了防御的能力。文官们可以用皇帝和法律的名义加给他以种种罪名，使他无法置辩。他在海瑞罢官之后仍然遭到清算。他家里的全部土地最后据说落实为6万亩，全部被没收。他的一个大儿子远戍边省，两个小儿子降为庶民。如果不是张居正的援手，徐阶本人都会难于幸免。
然而对于农民的剥削，绝非限于这种突出的案件。剥削是一种社会现象，绵延数千载，代代相传，在当日则为文官集团家庭经济的基础。官僚家庭用做官的收入放债买田，为构成农村经济的一个重要环节。“君子之泽，五世而斩”，富家的没落和贫家的兴起，其间的盛衰迭代，消替流转乃是常见的现象。但这种个别成员之间的转变无碍于整个阶级的面貌，社会依然稳定地保持着剥削和被剥削这两个集团。海瑞的干预土地所有权，其伦理上的根据和法律上的是非姑且置之不论，只说他以个人的力量，只凭以不怕死的诤谏得来的声名作为资本，而要使整个社会机器停止转动，也就无怪乎不能避免“志大才疏”的评语了。
使这位好心的巡抚所更加无法理解的，则是农村的信用贷款不能合理解决的症结。我们的帝国缺乏有效的货币制度和商业法律。这两个问题不解决，高利贷就无法避免。
币制的问题肇始于两百年前。开国之初，洪武皇帝下令发行的大明宝钞，既不能兑现，也不能用以交纳田赋。其发行的方式也不是通过商业机构，而是通过发放官俸、赏赐官军和赈济灾民等方式流通于社会。而且，最根本的问题是在这种通行票据发放的时候，政府并没有任何准备金。如果这种发行货币的办法能够成功，那确乎是重新分配财富的最简便的办法了。然而事实上其中的奥妙在一开始就被识破，虽然政府严令禁止以金银物货交易，违者治以重罪，民间却置若罔闻。宝钞在最初就没有能按照面额使用，数十年后即等于废纸。
洪武即位以后，政府曾经铸造过洪武通宝铜钱。由于铜钱使用不便，洪武八年乃发行宝钞作为法币。这一生财之道既经开辟，政府就不再愿意继续铸钱，以免和法币发生竞争。其后由于形格势禁，再度感到铸钱的必要，但许多问题又随之而产生。官方没有充分的现金收入，只能少量鼓铸，而所铸成的铜钱又有欠美观和整饬，其后果就只能为私铸大开方便之门。各种杂有铅锡、形制滥恶的劣质铜钱充斥于人民的经济生活之中，用者怨声载道，有些人就拒绝使用。这种情形造成了通货紧缩，致使商业萧条，失业者不断增加。面对这一严重的社会危机，政府不得不承认失败。于是无需鼓铸的碎银乃不可遏止地成为公私交易中通用的货币。
碎银通货君临于全国人民的经济生活之中，其“政绩”自然也不能完美无缺。首先，碎银没有足够数量的铜币作为辅助，零售业极受限制。其次，这种货币既非政府的财政机构所统一发行，主管当局就无法作必要的调节，以伸缩全国货币的流通量。更为普遍的情况乃是一般富裕的家庭如不放债买田，必将金银埋于地下，或是制成金银器皿首饰（其方便之处，乃是随时可以复原为货币）。可是这种趋势，必更促使通货紧缩，使农民借款更加不易。以上种种因素刺激了高利贷者的活跃，而追本溯源，却依然要归之于政府的无能。好心的巡抚想要用一时的政治力量去解决这些财政和经济政策上的问题，无疑是舍本途末，其结果必然是事与愿违。
如果存在有效的商业法律，在信用贷款中还可以使用商业票据，以补足货币的流通量。但是本朝法律的重点在于对农民的治理，是以很少有涉及商业的条文。合资贸易、违背契约、负债、破产等等，都被看成私人之间的事情而与公众福利无关。立法精神既然如此，法律中对于这一方面的规定自然会出现很大的罅漏，因而不可避免地使商业不能得到应有的发展。
本朝的官僚政治把这种情形视为当然。因为立国以来的财政制度规定了财政收入由低级单位侧面收受为原则，无需乎商业机构来作技术上的辅助。地方官所关心的是他们的考成，而考成的主要标准乃是田赋之能否按时如额缴解、社会秩序之能否清平安定。扶植私人商业的发展，则照例不在他们的职责范围之内。何况商业的发展，如照资本主义的产权法，必须承认私人财产的绝对性。这绝对性超过传统的道德观念。就这一点，即与“四书”所倡导的宗旨相背。海瑞在判决疑案时所持的“与其屈兄，宁屈其弟”等等标准，也显示了他轻视私人财产的绝对性，而坚持维系伦理纲常的前提。
可是我们传统经济也另有它的特点。财产所有权的维护和遵守契约的义务，不能在大量商业中彻底维持，却最有效地体现于农村中的租佃及抵押上。这些契约所涉范围虽小，其不可违背已经成为社会习惯，农村中的士绅耆老就可以保证它们的执行，只有极少数的情况才需要惊动官府。因为如果不是这样，整个帝国的农村经济就无从维持。所以，海瑞无视于这些成约在经济生活中的权威意义，单凭一己的是非标准行事，如果不遭到传统势力的反对，那反倒是不可设想的事了。所以戴凤翔参劾他的奏疏中说，在海瑞的辖区内佃户不敢向业主交租，借方不敢向贷方还款，虽然是站在高利贷一方的片面之辞，然而如果把这种现象说成一种必然的趋势，则也不失为一种合理的推断。而这种现象一旦发生并蔓延于全国，则势所必然地可以危及全帝国的安全。戴凤翔的危言耸听所以能取得预期的效果，原因即在于此。
在被迫退休之后，海瑞编印了他从政期间的记录，其中包括各种公私文件。流传到今天的这部文集，反映了海瑞确实是一个公正而廉洁的官员，具有把事情办好的强烈愿望，同时还能鞠躬尽瘁地去处理各种琐碎的问题。
使读者首先注意到的，是他处理财政问题的篇章。在洪武时代制定的赋役制度，流弊已如上述。其最为百姓所苦的，厥为名目繁多而数额无限的“役”。大户人家可由官僚的身分而蠲免，这些沉重的负担就不可避免地落在中小地主身上，并往往使他们倾家荡产。在推行了近二百年之后，帝国政府已深深感到窒碍难通而不得不加改革。改革的办法是把各种名目的赋役折合成银两，以附加税的形式遍加于全境的土地上，不分贫富，计亩征银。这种新的税制称为“一条鞭法”。地方政府就用这些附加收入以支付各种力役。
一条鞭法有其简明易行的优点，也多少限制了花样百出的舞弊营私。但过去按田亩数量而以累进税方式而分派的各种赋役，此时以平均的方式摊派，本来属于富户的一部分负担从此即转嫁于贫家小户。这也就是放弃了理想上的公允，而迁就事实。出于对农民的同情，海瑞废除了自己应收的常例，并以种种方法限制吏胥的舞弊。但是这些改革，仍然收效甚微。因为本朝的财政制度虽然技术简陋，牵涉面却十分复杂，如果加以彻底改革，必须厘定会计制度，在中上级机构中，实行银行管制的方式，亦即无异于彻底改组文官集团，这当然是无法办到的。再则海瑞的着眼点也过于琐屑，他被政敌攻击为不识大体，也不尽是凿空构陷之辞。比如说，他的节约到了这种程度，除非吏员送上一张缮正的公文，他决不另发一张空白的文书纸。
海瑞文集中有关司法的部分，虽然易于被读者忽略，但它的历史价值却至为重要，因为它所阐述的这一庞大帝国的社会背景，较之任何论文都为简捷明白。从这些文件可以看出，地方官纵使具有好心，他也决没有可能对有关人权和产权的诉讼逐一做出公正的判决。因为在农村里，两兄弟隔年轮流使用一个养鱼池，或者水沟上一块用以过路的石板，都可以成为涉讼的内容。如此等等的细节，法律如果以保护人权和产权作为基础，则一次诉讼所需的详尽审查和参考成例，必致使用众多的人力和消耗大量的费用，这不仅为县令一人所不能胜任，也为收入有限的地方政府所不能负担。而立法和司法必须全国统一，又不能允许各个地方政府各行其是。既然如此，本朝的法律就不外是行政的一种工具，而不是被统治者的保障。作为行政长官而兼司法长官的地方官，其注意力也只是集中在使乡民安分守己，对于他们职责范围外没有多大影响的争端则拒不受理。这一类案件照例由族长村长或耆老士绅调解仲裁。为了鼓励并加强这种仲裁的权力，我们帝国的圣经“四书”就为读书人所必须诵习，而其中亘古不变的观念又通过读书人而渗透于不识字的乡民之中，即幼者必须追随长者，女人必须服从男人，没有知识的人必须听命于有教养的人。帝国的政府以古代的理想社会作基础，而依赖文化的传统而生存。这也是洪武皇帝强调复古的原因。
为耆老士绅所不能解决而必须由官方处置的，绝大多数为刑事案件。判决这类案件，政府的态度常常坚定而明确。如果发生人命损失，则尤其不能有丝毫的玩忽，一定要求水落石出。“杀人者死”这一古老的立法原则在当时仍被沿用，过失杀人和谋杀之间区别极微。这种一方面认为人命关天，一方面又主张以眼还眼的原则自然具有相当大的原始性，但对于本朝的政治经济制度来说，其间的互相配合则极为恰当。这样的立法意在避免技术上的复杂，简化案情中的疑难，而在大众之中造成一种清官万能的印象，即在有识见的司法官之前，无不能决断的案件。换言之，这种设施也仍不离以道德代替法律的途径。其方便之处则是一个地方官虽然缺乏法律上的专门训练，但是在幕僚和吏员的协助下仍然可以应付裕如地兼任司法官。司法从属于行政，则政府的统治得以保持一元化而使文官集团的思想行动趋于一致。
这种制度的原始性和简单性，在大众之中造成了很多不幸的后果。官府衙门除了对刑事案件必须作出断然处置外，很少能注意到对日常生活中的种种纠纷维持公允。乡村中的士绅耆老，虽然被赋予了这方面的仲裁权，然而他们更关心的是自己的社会地位和社交活动，对这些琐碎乏味的纠纷大多缺乏热情和耐心。至于开发民智这一类概念，在他们心目中更不占有任何地位。在我们这个古老的礼义之邦里，绝大多数的农民实际上早被列为顽民愚氓，不在文化教养之内，即使在模范官员海瑞的笔下，这些乡民也似乎只是一群动物，既浑浑噩噩，又狠毒狡诈，易于冲动。日常生活中为小事而发生口角已属司空见惯，打架斗殴以致死伤也时有发生。纠纷的一方有时还愤而自杀以倾陷仇家；即或由于病死，家属也总要千方百计归之于被殴打致死。海瑞在做县令的时候，有一次下乡验尸，发现村民竟以颜料涂在死者的身上来冒充血迹。这些残酷的做法，除了泄愤以外，还因为诉讼一旦获胜，死者的家属就可以取得一部分仇家的产业。
刑事案件需要作出断然处置，不论案情多么复杂，判决必须毫不含糊，否则地方官就将被视为无能。于是他们有时只能依靠情理上的推断来代替证据的不足，草菅人命的情形也不乏其例。下面是海瑞亲身经历的一件案子。
有夫妇二人在家中置酒招待一位因事过境的朋友并留他住宿。正好在这个时候，妻子的哥哥即丈夫的姻兄前来索取欠款白银三两。姻兄弟一言不合，遂由口角而致殴斗。姻兄在扭打之中不慎失手，把丈夫推入水塘淹死。人命关天，误杀也必须偿命，所以妻子和住宿的朋友都不敢声张，丈夫的尸体，则由姻兄加系巨石而沉入水底。
一个人突然失踪，当然会引起邻里的注意，事情就不可避免地被揭露。审案的县官以洞悉一切的姿态断定此案乃是因奸而致谋杀。死者的妻子与这位朋友必有奸情，不然，何以偏偏在这位随带仆从、远道而来的客人到达的那天，丈夫突然丧命？又何以兴高采烈地置酒相庆？理由既已如此充分，女人就被判凌迟处死，朋友作为奸夫理应斩决，姻兄参与密谋应被绞死。这件案子送交杭州府复审，审判官的结论中否定了奸情，认为确系殴斗致死，动手的人应按律处绞。本朝政府在法律技术上虽然远不能誉为精密周到，但在精神上却对这类人命案件颇为重视。按照规定，这一案件要由北京的都察院、大理寺作出复核。审判者细核府、县两级审讯记录，发现了根本上的出入，乃再度发交邻近3个县的县令会审。这3位县令维持初审的判决。当这一批人犯送抵本省巡按使的公堂，被判凌迟罪的女人当堂哭诉喊冤。于是案件又送到海瑞那里作第六次的讯问。
海瑞的结论和杭州府审判官的结论完全相同。他的理由是这位妻子和他的丈夫生有二子一女，决不会如此忍心。而这位朋友家境并非富有，并且早已娶妻，假令女人确系谋死亲夫而企图再嫁，也只能成为此人的一名小妾。所以从情理而论，谋杀的动机是不能成立的。再则，既属伤天害理的谋杀，参与密谋的人自然是越少越好，又何必牵扯上这位朋友所携带的仆从？
淳安县县令海瑞如何解释初审时的供辞？答案是：“皆是畏刑捏招，恍惚成狱，殊非情实。”
被迫退休回到原籍闲居，对海瑞来说，是一种难于忍受的痛苦。这位正直的官员，他毕生精神之所寄，在于按照往圣先贤的训示，以全部的精力为国尽忠和为公众服务。现在，他已经面临着事业的终点，就再也没有任何东西足以填补他心灵上的缺陷。
他的故乡在南海之滨，和大陆上一些人文荟萃的城市是两种截然不同的环境。在那些城市里，退职的官员可以寄情山水，以吟咏自娱，并且有诗人墨客时相过从。有的人可以出任书院的山长，以弘扬圣贤之道，造就下一代的人才来继续他的未竟之业。而在这天涯海角的琼州，没有小桥流水、荇藻游鱼的诗情画意，收入眼底的是单调一色的棕榈树和汹涌的海涛，吞噬人畜的鳄鱼是水中的霸主。海峡中时有海盗出没，五指山中的黎人则和汉人经常仇杀。
退隐在荒凉瘴疠之区，如果有一个美好的家庭生活，也许还多少能排遣这空虚和寂寞。然而海瑞没有能在这方面得到任何安慰。他曾经结过三次婚，又有两个小妾。他的第一位夫人在生了两个女儿以后因为和婆婆不和而被休。第二位夫人刚刚结婚一月，也由于同样的原因而逐出家门。第三位夫人则于1569年在极为可疑的情况下死去。第三位夫人和小妾一人先后生过三个儿子，但都不幸夭折。按照传统观念，不孝有三，无后为大，这是海瑞抱恨终天的憾事之一。
海瑞是忠臣，又是孝子。他3岁丧父，孀居的母亲忍受着极大的困难把他教养成人。她是他的抚养者，也是他的启蒙者。在海瑞没有投师就读以前，她就对他口授经书。所以，历史学家们认为海瑞的刚毅正直，其中就有着他母亲的影子。然而，同样为人所承认的是，海太夫人又是造成这个家庭中种种不幸事故的重要因素。当海瑞离开南直隶的时候，她已经度过了80寿辰。而出人意外的是，海瑞的上司只是呈请皇帝给予她以四品夫人的头衔，而始终没有答应给她以另外一种应得的荣誉，即旌表为节妇，是不是因为她的个性过强，以致使他的儿子两次出妻？又是不是她需要对1569年的家庭悲剧承担责任？尽管今天已经缺乏实证的材料，但却有足够的迹象可以推想，由于海太夫人而引起的家庭纠纷，不仅已经成为政敌所攻讦的口实，也已为时论所不满。海瑞可以极容易地从伦常纲纪中找出为他母亲和他自己辩护的根据，然而这些根据却不会丝毫增加他家庭中的和睦与愉快。
离职的巡抚已经走到了生命中退无可退的最后据点。他必须忘却别人加之于他的侮辱，克服自己的寂寞和悲伤。他失望，然而没有绝望。他从孔子的训示中深深懂得，一个有教养的人必须抱有任重道远的决心。老骥伏枥，志在千里，他虽然闲居在贫瘠的乡村，屋子里挂着的立轴上，却仍然是“忠孝”二字。这是儒家伦理道德的核心，在他从小读书的时候已经深深地印刻在他的灵魂里，至今仍然用它来警惕自己，务使自己晚节保持完美。他的政治生涯，已经充分表示了为人臣者尽忠之不易；而他的家庭经历，也恰恰说明了为人子者尽孝的艰难。但是除此以外，他没有别的道路可走，我们的先儒从来就把人类分成君子和小人，前者具有高尚的道德教养，后者则近似于禽兽。这种单纯的思想，固然可以造成许多个人生活中的悲剧，可是也使我们的传统文化增添了永久的光辉。从海瑞家族的这个姓氏来看，很可能带有北方少数民族的血统。然则这位孔孟的真实信徒，在今天却以身体力行的榜样，把儒家的伟大显扬于这南海的尽头！
安贫乐道是君子的特征。家境的困窘过去既没有损害海瑞的节操，今天也决不再会因之而改变他的人生观。他有祖传的四十亩土地足供糊口，在乡居期间，他也接受过他的崇敬者的馈赠。他把这些馈赠用来周济清寒的族人和刊印书籍，自己的家庭生活则保持一贯的俭朴。
散文作家海瑞的作品表明，他单纯的思想不是得之于天赋，而是来自经常的、艰苦的自我修养。既已受到灵感的启发，他就加重了自我的道德责任；而这种道德责任，又需要更多的灵感才能承担肩负。如果不是这样，他坚持不懈的读书著作就会变得毫无意义。
他的作品中再三地阐明这种道德上的责任。一个君子何以有志于做官，海瑞的回答是无非出于恻隐和义愤。他看到别人的饥寒疾苦而引起同情，同时也看到别人被损害欺压而产生不平。在君子的精神世界里，出仕做官仅仅是取得了为国家尽忠、为百姓办事的机会。一个人如果出于牟利，他可以选择别的职业，或为农，或为工，或为商。如果为士做官，则应当排除一切利己的动机。在这一点上，海瑞和创建本朝的洪武皇帝看法完全一致。
海瑞在1585年被重新起用。他不加思索地接受这一任命，无疑是一个不幸的选择。这一次，他就真的走到了生命的终点和事业的最低点。当时张居正已经死后被清算，朝廷中的人事发生了一次大幅度的调整。海瑞虽然不是当面反对张居正的人，却为张居正所不喜，因而得以在反张的风潮中东山复起。然而，这位模范官僚的政治主张在15年前尚且窒碍难行，在这15年后又如何能畅通无阻？文渊阁大学士申时行以他的明智和通达，自然不难理解这一点。所以他在致海瑞的书信中说到“维公祖久居山林，于圣朝为阙典”，就含蓄地表示了这次起用只是俯顺舆情，需要这位享有声誉的直臣作为朝廷的点缀。这个时候的海瑞已经72岁，虽说锐气并没有消减，但多年的阅历却使他不再像当年那样乐观。当嘉靖年间他犯颜直谏的时候，曾经充满信心地鼓励皇帝，说朝政的革新，不过是“一振作间而已”。而现在，在他离开家乡以前，他给朋友的信上却忧心忡忡地说：“汉魏桓谓宫女千数，其可损乎？厩马万匹，其可减乎？”借古喻今，明显地影射当今的万历皇帝喜欢女色和驰射，而且对皇帝的是否能够改过毫无信心。
在起复之初，他的职务是南京右金都御史，不久升任南京