Di, whose real name is Tang Zhenguan, was born in the official family of Bingzhou (now Taiyuan) in the fourth year of Tang Dynasty (AD 630). In 656 AD, 26-year-old Di was recommended to join the army in Bianzhou. Soon, Di Renjie was falsely accused by petty officials for some reason, which may be related to his integrity. Fortunately, this Diao sued Yan. Yan is the most famous painter in the Tang Dynasty. At that time, he wrote the heroic portraits of Lingyan Pavilion in Chang 'an, as well as today's national treasures, such as the map of horses and the portraits of emperors in previous dynasties. Because his paintings are so famous, people forget that he was once prime minister. At that time, some people called it "the right phase name is Dan Qing." However, at this time, Yan was an "imperial envoy" on inspection in Bianzhou. After accepting the case, I not only found out the truth, but also found that De Renjie was a rare figure with both ability and political integrity, calling him "the monarch is a legacy of the sea" (see New Tang Book). Therefore, instead of punishing him, he was recommended to join the army as the art of war.
After presiding over local trials for nearly 20 years, Di was finally promoted to be a member of the Central Committee in the second year of last year (AD 675). Cheng Dali is not only in charge of the trial of death penalty cases, but also in charge of reviewing the judgments in all parts of the country. He has a small official and a big responsibility. Within one year, De Renjie cleared all the accumulated cases, involving more than17,000 people, but no one complained afterwards. This incident was passed down as a much-told story at that time and was called "forgiveness".
What is valuable about Di Renjie is that he dares to call a spade a spade. In the first year of Yifeng in Tang Gaozong (AD 676), General Zuo Weiwei, who was good at relieving the military power, and Fan Huaiyi, a corps commander in the right prison, mistakenly cut down a cypress tree in Zhaoling (Emperor Taizong's Mausoleum). Tang Gaozong was furious and ordered them to be put to death. De Renjie, on the other hand, defended them and thought that they should not die in law. Gao Zong said with a solemn expression, "They put me in an unfilial place and must be put to death." Di Renjie complained with a smile: "What a pity if you don't commit crimes or die?" Today, I mistakenly cut down a cypress tree and killed two ministers. Why do you think your majesty is like the Lord? "(see" New Tang Book ". The 40th biography of Di Renjie) After Tang Gaozong calmed down, he felt that Di Renjie was right, and they were saved from death.
A few days later, Di Renjie was selected as a "consultant" by Tang Gaozong. Shi Yu is an official of Yushitai and belongs to the monitoring system. This official, like Cheng Dali, comes from the sixth grade. Although the official rank of Yushi is not high, he is an official who supervises officials, which is of great help to his future career, because his promotion is faster than that of other institutions. This time, it shows that Tang Gaozong attaches great importance to Di Renjie.
In addition to supervising officials, the history of suggestion is also responsible for hearing cases. However, the object of the trial is not the people, but the officials. During his tenure, Di Renjie mercilessly impeached two of Tang Gaozong's minions and powerful ministers. One is Wei Hongji, Minister of Agriculture, who built many particularly spacious and luxurious palaces for Emperor Gaozong. The emperor wrote to impeach him and guide the emperor to pursue luxury, so Wei Hongji was dismissed. The other is Wang, Zuo Si's doctor. Because of his love, he took advantage of his kindness and was impeached by Di Renjie. The emperor didn't buy the emperor's plea at all, and finally pulled the king off the horse. Yu is awe of the imperial court. During this period, Di Renjie gave the world the impression that he was superior in ability, like a god, and impartial, which was probably the important initial reason why Di Renjie was later rendered as a "detective"!
In the later period of his rule, Di successively served as the envoy of Ningzhou, Yuzhou and other places, and there was good governance everywhere. Later, because of offending powerful people, he was demoted to be a Sima in Luozhou.
In the autumn of the following year (69 1 year, that is, Wu Zetian proclaimed himself emperor), Wu Zetian appointed Di and Sima Luozhou as assistant ministers of local magistrate to make peace with Fengge Luantai. "Local officials", "Fengge" and "Luantai" were the renaming of "Hubu", "Zhongshu Province" and "Menxia Province" in the period of Wu Zetian. The so-called "colleague" means that an official was not in the position of prime minister, but the emperor granted him the right to be prime minister. "The assistant minister of the local official made peace with the assistant minister of Fengge Luantai" (that is, the assistant minister of the household department was granted the functions and powers of the prime minister of Zhongshu Province and Menxia Province).
As soon as the emperor went to Beijing to meet the holy monk, Wu Zetian said to him, "Although you are well governed in Runan, some people still speak ill of you. Do you want to know who is talking about you? " Di Renjie calmly replied: "If the emperor thinks I am wrong, I will correct it;" I'll be lucky if the emperor doesn't think I'm wrong. I don't want to know who spoke ill of me. " Wu Zetian greatly appreciated her elder demeanor.
Because of his integrity, Di soon offended Wu Zetian's nephew Wu Sansi and Li Jun, Wu Zetian's favorite official, and was jointly framed by them and imprisoned for treason. At that time, Lai Junchen tried the case, and if he admitted the rebellion, he could not die for the time being. Emperor Renjie therefore admitted: "Wu Zhou rebelled, I am an old minister of the Tang Dynasty, and rebellion is the truth." Lai Junchen got a satisfactory confession and put him in prison for execution. Lai Junchen's subordinates let Di Renjie collude with others to be his companion, and he can avoid death after admitting it. Di Renjie touched the post with his head. His face was covered with blood. He refused to do so. Later, Di Renjie sewed the written secret letter into his clothes while the surveillance was a little lax, and told the warders that it was too hot and asked them to give the clothes home and fold the cotton wool inside. After his son Di Guangyuan found the secret letter from his clothes, he reported it to Wu Zetian. When Wu learned the truth, he summoned Di Renjie and asked, "Why did you admit the rebellion?" A: "If you didn't admit it, you would have died." And handed in the report signed by others. Because Di Renjie has offended so many people, some people will try their best to kill him. Wu Zetian had to demote him as Peng Ren.
In the first year of Long Live Tian Tong (AD 696), Jizhou was captured by Qidan, which shocked Hebei. Wu Zetian ordered the emperor to be the secretariat of Weizhou. When the Khitans heard that Di Renjie was coming, they retreated. People were very happy and built a shrine for them. Suddenly transferred to the secretariat of Youzhou, given a purple robe turtle belt. Wu Zetian personally embroidered twelve gold characters on his robe in recognition of his loyalty.
In the winter of the first year of Shengong (AD 697), Wu Zetian called Di, the governor of Youzhou, as assistant minister of Luantai, and resumed the post of Pingzhang with Fengge Luantai, that is, the deputy prime minister of Menxia Province, exercising the functions and powers of Prime Minister of Zhongshu Province and Menxia Province.
De Renjie's greatest achievement in his life was the restoration of the Li and Tang Dynasties. In the first year of the solar calendar (AD 698), Wu Zetian said to the emperor, "I dreamed that the wings of a big parrot were broken. Why?" Right:' Samurai, your majesty's surname, two wings, two sons. When your majesty has two sons, his wings will tremble. "(see" Zi Tongzhi Jian ". Tang Ji XXII) When Wu (the nephew of Wu Zetian) made people lobby Wu Zetian several times to make him a prince, and Wu hesitated, the emperor persuaded: "When the son becomes emperor, the mother will live forever, and he can have dinner with the ancestral temple and enjoy the sacrifices of later generations. If my nephew becomes emperor, I have never heard that my aunt is attached to a temple. " Wu Zetian said, "This is my family's business, so you don't have to get involved." Di Renjie replied, "within the four seas, what is not the land of the empire? How can I not share it for your majesty? " Wu Zetian finally listened to the emperor's exhortation, and personally welcomed King Luling (Tang Zhongzong) back to the palace and made him his heir. Thanks to the efforts of Emperor and a group of ministers loyal to Li Tang, the Li and Tang Dynasties were finally not interrupted by Wu Shi, so the Tang Dynasty in Li Longji flourished.
The above description basically summarizes the life of Di Renjie. In the early Qing Dynasty, a novel named Four Mysteries of Wu Zetian was popular all over the world, and its protagonist was Di. Although there are some historical events and figures in the book, many stories about Di Renjie's solving crimes are fabricated, so this book has very limited influence on the society at that time. However, despite the limited influence at home at that time, Di Renjie later went abroad. It was a Dutchman named Gao Luopei who made Di Renjie famous all over the world.
19 10 On August 9th, Gao Luopei was born in Zattfen, the Netherlands. During his study in Leiden University, he chose Sinology as his major. After graduating from college, Gao Luopei entered the Dutch diplomatic community. During his career as a diplomat for more than 30 years, he worked as a foreign secretary and counsellor in China. During this period, he was very interested in the traditional culture of China, and he was proficient in piano, chess, calligraphy and painting.
In the forties of last century, when Gao Luopei was in Chongqing, he read Four Mysteries of Wu Zetian and was deeply impressed by Di Renjie, who repeatedly solved puzzles in the novel. In his view, the criminal investigation techniques of the ancient judges in China in the book are better than those of Sherlock Holmes and Sheriff Gray in the west, both in the method of logical reasoning and in the accomplishment of criminal psychology.
Therefore, Gao Luopei began to translate The Four Mysteries of Wu Zetian. He first created a bronze bell case with Di Renjie as the protagonist in English. Because no publisher in China is willing to publish China's books written by foreigners, he must publish them in the west first. Unexpectedly, the bronze bell case was a great success in the west. Urged by the publishing house, Gao Luopei continued to collect Di Renjie's case-solving stories, which spread among the people, based on the four mysterious cases of Wu Zetian, and adapted these stories according to the logic of westerners, and wrote sixteen novellas, novels and eight short stories in one breath, so there were maze cases, gold cases, nail cases and lake cases. Gao Luopei put these stories together, collectively known as "Digong Case", that is, "Digong Case". This book caused a sensation in the west. Di Renjie is a household name in the west and is praised by foreigners as "Sherlock Holmes" in China. As a result, Di Renjie crossed the ocean from a generation of famous officials and became a Sherlock Holmes-like "big detective". In 1980s, The Digong Case was translated into Chinese and returned to China, becoming the most veritable classic product of "export for domestic sales".