The background of the dispute
The Zhengde Emperor Zhu Houzhao died. He was childless, and his cousin, Zhu Houxi, who was only thirteen years old, inherited the throne, which was Ming Shizong, whose era name was Jiajing.
The reason why Jiajing was able to become Jiajing was due to Yang Tinghe, the first assistant of the cabinet. If it were not for Yang Tinghe and Li Li's strong recommendation, he would not have much chance of becoming an emperor. In fact, after Zhu Houzhao's death, no matter who Yang Tinghe recommended, everyone would be the emperor's best candidate.
It is reasonable to say that the Jiajing Emperor was so favored by Yang Tinghe that after he ascended the throne, he should treat him as a teacher. However, instead of becoming good friends, Yang Tinghe became the Jiajing Emperor's greatest political enemy.
It is said that the first question that Jiajing threw to Yang Tinghe after he ascended the throne was: I am now emperor, but my father has only been a king of the clan all his life, how should I call him?
Before Jiajing ascended the throne, the former emperor Zhu Youfan was his third uncle. However, according to the rules of Zhu Xi's science, Jiajing took over the throne of his cousin Zhu Houzhao, and he wanted to take Zhu Houzhao's parents as his parents.
So according to this so-called Daming etiquette system, the original third uncle of yours is now your father, and the original father is now your fourth uncle. Although your father is gone, you can no longer call your mother when you see your mother in the future, but you must call your fourth aunt.
Yang Tinghe's explanation shocked Jiajing. You invited me to be emperor, but you didn't say that you wanted to pass me on to someone else as a son, which made it unacceptable to the most filial emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, the great ceremony event was officially staged in this scene.
The course of the dispute.
Zhu Houxi had to call his own father daddy, but the ministers led by Yang Tinghe resolutely disagreed.
This is a boring and ridiculous thing to look at from today's point of view. But if you examine it carefully, you will find that Zhu Houxi is not necessarily right, and Yang Tinghe is not necessarily wrong.
This is because the content of the ceremony is not only a matter of title, but also a matter of name and title. After Zhu Houxi won the victory in the dispute over the ceremonies, he posthumously honored his father Zhu Youqiu as Emperor Mingruizong. He was telling the world that my father was Emperor Mingruizong and that I had inherited my father's throne.
We know that the Ming Dynasty did not have the emperor Ming Ruizong at all, if Jiajing recognized Ming Ruizong as the first emperor, then what was Ming Xiaozong Zhu Youfan? What is Emperor Mingwuzong Zhu Houzhao? At least in the name of Science, Zhu Houxi's behavior is no different from plotting against the usurpation of the throne.
If Zhu Houxi is defined as plotting against the usurpation of the throne, Yang Tinghe is the one who is the one who fuels the waves, which is one reason why he resolutely refuses to give in to Jiajing.
What's more, Zhu Di has already done it once with the usurpation of the throne by the king of the clan, and now if Zhu Houxi were to do it again, I am afraid that every generation of clan kings would be eager to try the throne in the future, and at that time, the situation of the entire empire would be irretrievable.
Therefore, Yang Tinghe's reaction was very strong: if you have to do this, then I will resign. Jiajing's reaction was even stronger: resign to resign, without you, tomorrow will be better!
Yang Tinghe ended in such an unclear way. In the designs of these theologians headed by him, Zhu Houxi became the emperor as a brother and a brother, and although he was actually only a cousin, he had to be nominally a brother in order to meet the name. In Zhu Houxi's concept, the son inherits his father's business more in line with the name, and I am now the emperor, so my father must be the first emperor.
During the period when Zhu Houxi wanted to give his father a title, the group of courtiers knelt in front of the palace and refused to disperse, they slapped the bricks and stones under their knees, and cried out the titles of Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Youfan. Jia Jing was completely angry, and he didn't want to play with them anymore. Therefore, he used the method of the old ancestor Zhu Yuanzhang to select those who cried the most vigorously, the court staff, and the Jinyi guard prison.
Then, after three years of deliberative disputes, it was considered to be over. The gun comes out of the barrel of the regime, and this also applies here.
The nature of the dispute.
In the simplest and most brutal way, the Jiajing Emperor removed the last fig leaf of the great ceremony, revealing the truth of this farce: the struggle for power.
Since the ancient court theory, there must be interests involved in it. This is not a academy, not a Buddhist dojo, pure academic speculation, it is impossible to appear in the korean situation.
Yang Tinghe chose to support Jiajing, but because he was young and easy to manipulate, the impact on the interests of the entire civilian class was limited. What he didn't expect was that Jiajing, the child, was far more powerful and fierce than he imagined.
Whether it was the civil service class headed by Yang Tinghe or the Jiajing Emperor, they all met in a narrow way on the matter of the great ceremony. Jiajing understood that once he gave in, he would be constrained by these civilian officials at every turn in the future. The civil servants also understood that once the emperor succeeded, he had achieved a metamorphosis, and would no longer be the young child they wanted to manipulate.
Thus, the narrow road meets, and the brave win.
Seeing this history, I am more interested in how Wang Yangming, who is stripped of his outside of science, views this matter. Unfortunately, Wang Yangming was busy lecturing to students in his hometown of Yuyao, Zhejiang, at this time, and did not have any positive response to this matter. However, I found some clues in one of his poems:
It is not a matter of lust, but to know that all things are my body. Gratuitous liturgy has been discussed, who sweeps the old dust with the blue sky?
This sentence can also be said in layman's terms: Heavenly Reason, not your humble desires, everything is in your own conscience, don't you feel very bored in that ceremony every day? My heart was blinded by dust, and I didn't hurry to clean it up.
This poem undoubtedly beat the faces of these science scholars and Jiajing, who is Zhu Houxi's father, you Yang Tinghe is very clear, who did this emperor's throne inherit from, you Jiajing is also very clear, touch your conscience, engage in these twists and turns, and finally compete for the question of whose family the humble power will eventually spend.
Whoever comes out of conscience can always be the key point in a word. However, it is a pity that Wang Yangming, who neither sided with the Bachelor of Science nor the Jiajing Emperor, was destined to be lonely.