(Ming Yingzong Zhu qi town)
The eighth year of Tianshun, 1464 AD.
Zhu Qizhen, the Ming Emperor who had a rough and tumbling life, died.
Zhu Qizhen had many identities in his life.
He was once a young heavenly son, the new master of the Forbidden City, loved by all the people and admired by hundreds of officials.
He was once a young man with great vigor and vigor, leading the mighty master of the Ming Dynasty to march in person, hoping to restore the glory of his father and even his ancestors.
He also fell into the hands of the enemy in the defeat of the war, far away from his homeland, and tasted the wind and sand outside the Cyprus.
He was also placed under house arrest by his brother (i.e., Emperor Ming of Ming) in the deep corners of the Forbidden City during political confrontations, and was completely reduced to a political prisoner.
In the end, he subverted everything and regained his throne.
Homeland, war, love and hate.
Birth and separation, death and hatred.
Zhu Qizhen has experienced too much.
Although the protagonist of our article is not him, it still does not prevent me from leaving him a concise comment:
He is a tragic figure, but all the tragedies are of his own making.
And now, his life has finally come to an end.
On February 23, 1464, Zhu Qizhen dragons rode to the guests, and a new era began.
Daming welcomed his new master, Zhu Qizhen's son, Emperor Mingxianzong Zhu Jianshen.
(Emperor Mingxianzong Zhu Jianshen)
At the beginning of the new emperor's accession to the throne, the first thing he did was to compile an autobiography (i.e., the Records of Emperor Yingzong) for his father.
This is easy to understand, this dynasty wants to repair the history of the previous dynasty, and the emperor of this generation is of course also responsible for recounting the life of the previous generation of emperors.
First, there is a history to pass on, and second, the son repaired the book for Lao Tzu, which is very filial piety.
The emperor said that he would revise the book, but of course the emperor would not stop working hard and burying his head in revision, because the emperor had always only proposed ideas, and the civil and military officials were responsible for implementing them.
Who is in charge of the revision of books?
The first to bear the brunt is the Hanlin Academy.
Those who work in Hanlin, whether they are bachelors, editors, editors, or lecturers, are all talents carefully selected by the imperial examination.
Don't talk about repairing books, just let them write two books out, and it doesn't matter.
But repairing books for the emperor is very different from repairing books for other cultural books.
Culture alone is not enough, you still have to contact the emperor.
Although there are many literati and scholars in the Hanlin Academy, they are basically young people who have been admitted by scientific examinations in the past two years.
These young people may be very talented, but after all, they are too young to understand the deeds of Emperor Yingzong of the former dynasty, so it is really difficult to write.
That is to say, if you want to repair the book for the former emperor, you must find someone who often served the former emperor.
So, the opportunity for Liu Ji, the protagonist of our article, came.
Liu Ji (劉吉), also spelled 稿之, was a member of the Northern Zhili Boye people, who had been a scholar for thirteen years of Emperor Yingzong's orthodoxy, first entered the Hanlin Academy, and then served as a feast official, specifically responsible for giving cultural lessons to the emperor.
(Liu Ji)
Teach the emperor astronomy in the morning, geography to the emperor at noon, and philosophy to the emperor in the evening.
According to the statistics obtained by the author from flipping through the historical materials of the Ming Dynasty, I think that Comrade Liu Ji and the emperor may have spent more time together than the emperor and any concubine.
And this kind of person who has had a lot of experience with the former emperor is obviously the best candidate for editing the autobiography of the former emperor.
So what was Comrade Liu Ji doing at this time?
The situation is not very good, Liu Ji lost his mother, and at this time he is worried at home.
The Ding worry system has a long history, the Tang and Song dynasties are heavy on filial piety, and the dynasty is even heavier, but when the parents of the officials die, it is necessary to resign and return to their hometowns and observe filial piety for three years to show their sincerity and filial piety.
Liu Jiding was worried, and it was only one year after three years, but Emperor Mingxianzong Zhu Jianshen obviously could not wait for three years, so he immediately summoned him back to Beijing and sealed the left attendant of the Rebbe on the spot.
Friends, Zuo Shilang, this is Masamikan, the second in command of the Ceremonial Department.
Many of the scholars of the Ming Dynasty, half of their lives were scientific expeditions, half of their lives were officials, and they put on seniority and pulled relations, and it was not easy to mix a Hanlin attendant, but it was from Wupin, and Liu Ji climbed half the sky step by step, and the promotion speed can be said to be a rocket.
It is said that a minister like Comrade Liu Ji, who has no long things except to fiddle with a subset of the history of the classics, can become a left waiter, which is already a life of opening up, very leaky.
But what people did not expect was that Emperor Xianzong Zhu Jianshen actually attached great importance to Liu Ji and gave Liu Ji a promotion and salary increase when he had nothing to do.
In the eleventh year of Chenghua, in 1475 AD, shangshu of the Shengli Department.
In the fourteenth year of Chenghua, in 1478 AD, he was a scholar of Shengwen Yuange University.
In the eighteenth year of Chenghua, Liu Ji's father died of illness, and according to the rules, Liu Ji should resign from all his posts and return to his hometown to keep filial piety.
It is reasonable to say that the Ding worry system is a fixed rule of the Ming Dynasty, few people can violate the law and trespass, and zaifu, who is in power and opposition like Zhang Juzheng, has to resign honestly and go home when he encounters the death of his father.
(Zhang Juzheng)
But this matter turned into an accident in Liu Ji's body.
As soon as his father died, Liu Ji immediately went to the emperor, saying that his father died of illness, he was too sad, and he was really in no mood to continue working, and pleaded with the emperor to let me take three years off, let me go back to my hometown to adjust my mentality.
This set of statements was reasonable and very in line with the rules and regulations, but it was rejected by Emperor Xianzong.
The emperor said, the state affairs are busy, everything depends on Aiqing, don't take a break, sad I can understand, I can't let you do it in vain, so let's give you a promotion, I have the right to encourage you.
Therefore, our comrade Liu Ji not only did not return to his hometown to worry about Ding, but instead promoted shangshu to the ministry of households, and was also a scholar of the temple, and entered the cabinet, becoming a figure on the tip of the pyramid of Daming's political arena.
This is a very unimaginable thing.
Because no matter how you look at it, Liu Ji is a very ordinary person.
He is indeed very cultured, but his cultural level is slightly better than that of ordinary people, far from reaching the level of Xie Jin, the first talent of Daming.
He was indeed very senior, and he was a courtier whom the former emperor trusted very much, but when it came to seniority, he could not be compared with a figure like the "Three Yangs" of Daming.
And such an unremarkable, mediocre qualification of people, can be mixed to such a high status, in fact, there is only one reason, that is:
The Ming officials during the Chenghua period may have been the most mediocre in the entire Ming Dynasty.
It's not that Liu Ji can't do it, but everyone can't do it.
Six of the six Shangshu, the official Yin Min and the Rebbe Zhou Hongmo, the Bingbu Zhang Peng, the Punishment Department Zhang Ying, the Gongbu Liu Zhao, and the Hubu Yinqian were known as the "Clay Sculpture Six Shangshu", while the three cabinet elders in the cabinet, Liu Ji, Liu Jue, and Wan An, were called "Paper Paste Three Pavilion Elders".
(Ming Dynasty official)
The members of this group of imperial court members, with mediocre political performance, mediocre work ability, and even more mediocre professional level, never felt that in their current position, they had to consider the development of the country, to make achievements, and to do practical things.
Isn't it okay to mix it up?
The dignitaries in the imperial court were mediocre, and the lower-level officials were effective, and as a result, the officials of the entire Ming Dynasty began to think of not making progress.
They do not become officials for the purpose of displaying their ideals and ambitions, still less to support the world and serve the country and the people.
For individuals, the purpose of being an official is to be an official.
Be an official for the sake of being an official, and be promoted for the sake of promotion.
This continued until the twenty-third year of Chenghua, in 1487 AD.
In this year, Emperor Xianzong died.
If Zhu Jianshen was an emperor with very mediocre qualifications, then the newly installed emperor Ming Xiaozong Zhu Youfan was completely opposite to his father, and he was a very energetic emperor.
When the emperor ascended the throne on the front foot, the back foot fired a large number of officials who had no real talent and practical learning, stood in the official position and did not lay eggs, and Wan An and Liu Jue in the cabinet were also dismissed by the emperor, but Liu Ji was very lucky to continue to work for the emperor.
The reason is also very simple, because Liu Ji has his own way of being an official.
What is the way of officialdom?
That is, Liu Ji himself is good at indiscriminate counting.
Since there was only One Liu Ji left in the cabinet, he naturally became the first assistant to the cabinet, but the emperor was worried that he would not be able to work alone, so he added two important members to enter the cabinet to help Liu Ji work.
One of these two is called Xu Pu and the other is called Liu Jian.
(Xu Pu)
Xu liu and liu were not the kind of people who mixed up in the official field, they were very capable, as soon as they entered the cabinet, they immediately began to help the new emperor solve problems and continuously deliver the strategies for governing the country and the country to the emperor's side.
Liu Ji was anxious.
The new colleague can show so much, as the first assistant, he can't get out anything, where to put the old face?
In the long run, the new emperor knows that he has no real talent and practical learning, and he must not let himself step down?
But Liu Ji is a very chicken thief.
The working system in the cabinet is that Xu Liu and Liu are cabinet scholars, and after writing the fold, they must first be sent to the hands of the first assistant Liu Ji, who will review it, and after the review is completed, there will be no problems before it can be sent to the emperor's case.
That is to say, the political views and superiors of Xu and Liu must first be in Liu Ji's hands.
Taking advantage of this opportunity to go over again, Liu Ji often writes his name on each fold to show that although he is not on the fold, I have participated in the fold of Xu Liu's two brothers every time, and I have also contributed.
To be honest, this behavior is a bit faceless.
To speak well is to separate people's piece of the pie, to say it badly, is it not that they have not achieved it themselves, and they have rubbed others?
But the emperor was not a fool, at least not Emperor Xiaozong.
You indiscriminately count the emperor and can tolerate you, but now that you are covering your ears and stealing bells, the emperor really can't stand it.
The emperor listened intently to the faith, and his descendants were quite weak. And Ji finally had no intention of going. - Ming Shi Vol. 168 Liechuan No. 56
Through this historical record, we can see that the emperor could still tolerate Liu Ji at the beginning, but then gradually began to snub Liu Ji, and in the end it was more of a verbal expression, old Liu, you are quite old, I see that you can't move, it is better to take the initiative to abdicate and let Xian, I am also easy to do, you also retain face.
However, Comrade Liu Ji did not pay any attention to it, and insisted on not leaving at his post.
There was no way, Emperor Xiaozong could only take the initiative to open people.
(Emperor Xiaozong of Ming)
Old Liu, old Liu, Daming Officialdom has raised you for half a lifetime, and now it's time for you to leave.
In the fifth year of Hongzhi, in 1492, the emperor personally ordered Liu Ji to return to his hometown, and the first assistant of the Ming Dynasty fell in love with him, but eventually left the Forbidden City.
In the sixth year of Hongzhi, in 1493 AD, Liu Ji died of illness at the age of sixty-seven.
This gag and gossip, a lifelong inaction, finally came to an end.
At this time, Emperor Xiaozong was determined to rule, and a new era was about to begin.