Translation of "Zheng Xingyi":

Zheng Xingyi lost his father when he was young. His uncle Zheng Zao raised him as a son and gave him the extra property. Zheng Xingyi refused and asked to set up a charity village. To support the poor members of the clan. When Zheng Zao passed away, he resigned from his official position to express his remembrance and repay his gratitude. In the early years of Qiandao, Jiankang Liusi asked to build a palace to prepare for the emperor's visit. Zheng Xingyi submitted a memorial saying that this would waste people and money, and requested to be exempted from this corvee.

Zheng Xingyi moved to the jurisdiction of Fujian Road Soldiers and Horses. He passed the palace and entered to see the emperor. The emperor asked him about the quality of local officials, and Zheng Xingyi analyzed them in detail and answered. The emperor said: "You are well aware of current affairs and familiar with political affairs, so you should be reused." It happened that the imperial court had re-established the military minister to raise punishment, so he was appointed to take up the post.

Prefectures and counties have been neglecting and slacking off for a long time, and supervisory regulations have been abolished. Zheng Xingyi created regulations and distributed them to subordinate counties. Officials were unable to do evil, so these regulations were made into laws. The salt policy in Jian, Jian, Ting, Shao and other places changed many times. Officials in charge of water transportation requested that bulk shipments of goods be converted into cash transactions. Zheng Xingyi tried his best to report that this was not feasible.

The emperor appreciated his repeated letters to discuss political affairs, and issued an edict to appoint him as the training envoy of the Chengzhou regiment. At that time, it was rumored that the Kingdom of Jin wanted to break the treaty, and Zheng Xingyi was appointed as the deputy envoy to Heshengchen (to the Kingdom of Jin) to investigate the matter. When the envoy came back, he said that there was nothing else, and it turned out to be as he expected. Zheng Xingyi was sent to eastern Zhejiang, western Zhejiang, and Jiangdong many times to serve as a prisoner, and he requested to come back and serve as a casual official.

Not long after, an edict was issued to appoint him as a magistrate, concurrently as a cadre of the imperial city, and concurrently as a privy councilor and deputy capital official. Military wife Yang killed her neighbor's son, took away his bracelet, and threw away his body. After the case was finalized, the Ministry of Justice released her because there was no evidence. He also asked Zheng Xingyi to re-examine, and finally found out the truth. The emperor was very happy and gave him a house.

He resigned in mourning for his mother. After the mourning period, he was reinstated and appointed as the defense envoy of Junzhou. He was sent to the Kingdom of Jin for the second time. After returning, he was promoted to the observation envoy of Tanzhou. He asked to be appointed as a casual official, was appointed as the magistrate of Luzhou, and moved to the magistrate of Yangzhou. Yangzhou is adjacent to Luzhou.

In the beginning, Zheng Xingyi refused to give gifts to neighboring places in Luzhou. When he moved here, he checked the county's official records and saw that the gifts he refused before had only records of being given out, and no records of taking them back. So the ban was strictly enforced. There were many troops stationed in Yangzhou and food was scarce. According to the custom, they had to buy it from other areas. Zheng Xingyi searched for financial losses to make up for it, so the food was sufficient.

People used to live in thatched houses, which were easily burned by fire. Zheng Xingyi lent government money to the people and ordered the construction of tile-roofed houses to replace thatched houses. From then on, the fire hazard was eliminated. He also petitioned the court to forgive their debts, and the people were very grateful to him. He also built schools, set up cemeteries, and enacted a law for the promotion of ministerial militiamen. As a result, the county's political system was improved and the situation was stable.

Chuzhou proposed changes to the city. Some people said that Han Shizhong's ruins could not be changed, so Zheng Xingyi was asked to go and see it. After arriving, he dug more than ten feet of ground and built an additional city. The emperor read the memorial and said happily: "Zheng Xingyi did not lie to me."

The original text of "Zheng Xingyi":

Zheng Xingyi's courtesy name is Guangxi. He was orphaned early, and his uncle Zao gave him the title of son, and distributed the rest of his income. If he did not accept his descendants, he asked him to establish a Yizhuang to support the clan. When the algae disappeared, the official was relieved of his duty to seek revenge. At the beginning of the Qian Dao period, Jiankang left his post to ask for permission to rule the palace and prepare for inspections. He asked his descendants to report that they had worked hard and spent money, and begged to stop their service. The soldiers and horses on the Fujian Road were under the jurisdiction of the soldiers and horses. They crossed the que and entered to see Zang.

The emperor said: "You know the current affairs, you are familiar with official affairs, and you should be worthy of your service." The military ministers will be re-established and punished, and they will be ordered to be assigned to them. County officials are not allowed to commit adultery because of the order. Jian, Jian, Ting, and Shao Yance changed their policies many times. Cao ministers asked Yi Gangyun to be the banknote method, but Xingyi said it was impossible. The emperor was good at discussing matters, and ordered him to join the Chengzhou regiment to train envoys.

It was rumored at that time that Jin wanted to defeat the alliance, and summoned Xingyi as a deputy envoy to celebrate his birthday. He returned with no words, and his death was as expected. After being sent to the east of Zhejiang, west of Zhejiang, and east of the Yangtze River to punish me, I asked him to return to the temple. In Xunzhao, he was informed of the affairs of the pavilion and was responsible for the imperial city affairs department. Yang, a military woman, killed her neighbor's son, took his armband and abandoned his body. The prison was imprisoned, and the Ministry of Punishment said he had no certificate and left him.

The emperor was pleased with the success of the rejuvenation and granted him the throne.

Ding Muyou resigned from office, served as a post, resumed his old post, and removed the defense envoy of Junzhou. He sent Jin again and moved to Tanzhou as an observation envoy. After returning to the temple, he first learned about Luzhou and then moved to Yangzhou. Yang and Lu are neighbors.

In the early days, when Xingyi was in Luchang, neighbors sent gifts to each other. When they were registered in the county, they saw that those who had been left out had left and not returned, so they strictly prohibited them. Yang had a heavy settlement and was short of food. In other areas, the people who are willing to search for the leakage will make up for it, and then they will have enough food. The old huts of the people are easy to burn, and the money borrowed by the descendants is easy to be tiled. Naturally, the fire disaster will be extinguished. He also waived his compensation, and the people were very virtuous.

Build a school palace, set up a tomb, set up a ministry to administer the militia promotion law, and the county was governed by great powers. In Chuzhou, there was a proposal to renovate and build a city. It was said that Han Shizhong's legacy could not be changed, so he ordered his descendants to go and see it. When they arrived, more than ten feet of land was left to build more. The emperor read the memorial and said happily: "I will not deceive you if you want to succeed."

The author of "Zheng Xingyi" is Tuotuo, a poet of the Yuan Dynasty.

Extended information:

Zheng Xingyi’s contribution

Zheng Xingyi’s devotion to duty was praised by four generations of emperors. At the beginning of the Qiandao period (1165-1174), when the country was still recovering its vitality, some people started to carry out large-scale construction projects and "organize the palace and prepare for inspections". Zheng Xingyi firmly opposed it. Later, he served as the commander of the Fujian Road Soldiers and Horses, and safely quelled the harassment of pirates in the Jian, Jian, Ting, and Shao areas.

At that time, the imperial court was still worried about the invasion of Jin soldiers day and night, and Zheng Xingyi went to the Jin Kingdom to handle the matter properly without causing social unrest. Zheng Xingyi first served as the magistrate of Luzhou and later as the magistrate of Yangzhou. Yangzhou and Luzhou are two neighboring states.

While in Luzhou, Zheng Xingyi ordered the return of gifts given to the Luzhou government by all neighboring prefectures and counties, including Yangzhou Prefecture. After arriving in Yangzhou, he carefully checked the relevant records and found that the gifts ordered to be returned to Yangzhou were not actually returned in place, and had been embezzled privately by relevant officials in the two places;

So he reported to the court, After detailing the abuses, he requested an order to strictly prohibit the sending of gifts to each other between state and county officials, which was approved by Emperor Xiaozong, thus effectively curbing this unhealthy trend. The emperor once sighed and said: "I will not bully the descendants of the descendants." This shows his trust in him.

During the Qiandao period, the imperial court restored the punishment and prison department (equivalent to today's judicial, supervisory and other administrative agencies), and Zheng Xingyi served as "the punishment officer and the governor of Gaozhou". Before that, just like the current turmoil of the Cultural Revolution, "prefectures and counties were playing tricks, testing laws and abolishing them", and everything was in a state of disorder.

Zheng Xingyi restored the legal system, reformed the old system, and instituted far-reaching judicial inspection systems such as the "Inspection Grid". At the same time, "imitation" was upgraded to one of the supervisory departments at the road level (equivalent to provincial-level institutions), responsible for supervision, finance, public security and other powers. The establishment of the Criminal and Prison Department represented a new stage of legalization in the Song Dynasty and was a successful political system. It promoted local judicial justice, power differentiation, and clear administration of officials in the Song Dynasty.

This system had an important impact on the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties and even today. His books such as "Inspection Geography" are known as authoritative forensic medicine works and are the earliest forensic medicine monographs in the world.

According to historical records, Zheng Xingyi’s verdict was extremely authoritative. At that time, a military woman surnamed Yang murdered a neighbor's child and "took the armband and abandoned the body." After she was arrested and interrogated repeatedly, the Ministry of Punishment finally considered that the evidence was insufficient and had to let her go. Such a result is naturally unsatisfactory. Everyone is talking about it and making everyone in the court feel embarrassed. What should we do?

The emperor thought of Zheng Xingyi and ordered him to review the case. With his many years of experience, Zheng Xingyi solved the case. Zheng Xingyi was regarded as a detective by everyone. The emperor was very happy and "granted him the title of seniority".

Zheng Xingyi cared about the sufferings of the people. Before leaving Yangzhou to defend Yangzhou, most of the local people's houses had thatched roofs, which often caused fires. The people were worried and miserable. After Zheng Xingyi took office, he took the initiative to ask the court for loans to the people, allowing them to use the loans to buy tiles and replace the thatch on the roofs. Since then, many fire hazards have been eliminated in Yangzhou City.

But later Zheng Xingyi discovered that his order to buy tiles for grass had reduced the number of fires in Yangzhou City, but increased the financial burden on the people of Yangzhou, so he tried to exempt the people of Yangzhou from their loans.

Zheng Xingyi focused on compiling local chronicles.

He majored in "Hefei Chronicles" and "Guangling Chronicles" in his post. These two chronicles are still important materials for studying the local history of the Song Dynasty.

He was the first to propose the three major functions of local chronicles: "advising government, educating people, and preserving history", which are still used today. Zheng Xingyi's theory of compilation of local chronicles can be said to have made great contributions to history. He is the author of 30 volumes of "Tui'an Collection" and 2 volumes of "Zheng Zhongsu's Memorials and Posthumous Collection", etc., which are valuable materials for studying the history of that time.

Zheng Xingyi is usually a pure-minded person who does not care about concubines. He is a standard gentleman. After his death, Emperor Ningzong of the Song Dynasty gave him the posthumous title "Zhongsu" and the title of Taiwei as a reward.