On May 26, the sixth year of Longqing (1572), the emperor saw that he was about to hang. Therefore, gao gong, Zhang Juzheng, and Gao Yi, who had just entered the cabinet, were urgently ordered to enter the palace to see him. After the meeting, the Longqing Emperor took gao arched hand and said to him, "Mr. Tianxia tired." Of course, he intended to entrust him with the historical mission of assisting his 10-year-old son and start a career.
This high arch and the Longqing Emperor have a deep affection, the emperor is leaving, and he trusts himself so much, plus the prince is only 10 years old, and he feels that the burden on his shoulders is very heavy, so he can't help but talk about the new leader in front of Zhang Juzheng worriedly: "Ten-year-old prince, how to rule the world!" This is not a bad thing to say, at best, it shows that Gao Gong feels that he is really powerless to assist such an inexperienced child to govern such a broken society. However, this was heard by his colleague Zhang Juzheng, who was coveting his first assistant position, and it became a bullet fired at the high arch.
Zhang Juzheng relayed these words unchanged to Feng Bao, the eunuch of The High Arch's political enemy, Si Lijian. Feng Baoru, who had obtained the treasure, ran to the little emperor and Li Guifei on June 15 to complain about the black form of Gao Gong, saying that Gao Gong was disloyal to his subjects and plotted against him, and the evidence was the sentence relayed by Zhang Juzheng - however, he also did a little processing, processing into "Ten-year-old child, how to be a son of heaven?" This literally seems to have changed much, but the meaning is absurd: the original meaning of Gao Gong is only worried that it is not easy for the prince to govern the world, but Feng Bao's change has become: How can a 10-year-old child be a son of heaven? I might as well do it. Isn't this a conspiracy? In order to impress the little emperor even more, Feng Gonggong added: "Of course, maybe he is not so ignorant of the sky and the earth, but it is said that he wants to make the older king of Zhou the emperor, who is more ironclad with him, which is indeed possible." ”
The next day, the news came from the palace: "There is a will, summon the cabinet, the five governments, and the six ministries from all over!" Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng, and the Wenwu Hundred Officials came to the Huiji Gate, and the eunuch Wang Hao came out holding the Holy Will, and the Wenwu Hundred Officials knelt down to receive the will. There was silence, and everyone was waiting nervously for the emperor's ruling. After a while, after eating and drinking "Mr. Zhang received the will", I heard Wang Hao read out the holy will in a loud voice: "The Empress Yi Will, the Imperial Concubine's Decree, the Emperor's Holy Will and the Cabinet, the Five Houses, the Six Ministries and other officials of the Imperial Household: One day before the funeral of The Emperor Daxing, the three ministers of the Cabinet were summoned to the imperial bed, and the three of them with my mother and son personally accepted the will." He said, 'The Eastern Palace is young, and I want your assistance.' 'Now there are scholars and scholars, who have monopoly power and authority, and who have forcibly seized the imperial court and the power of the government, and have not allowed the emperor to be in charge. I wonder what he wants to do? The three of us were terrified. High arched back home idle, not allowed to stay. Whenever my minister receives the favor of the state, when he thinks of loyalty to the Lord, how can he only attach himself to the powerful minister and despise the young lord! Leave it alone. In the future, we must wash our hearts and minds and do things with our hearts. If there is any more such thing, it shall be punished by canonization. Thanks. ”
When Gao Gong heard "Mr. Zhang received the will", he felt that the big thing was not good, he was the first assistant, why didn't he ask himself to receive the will? After listening to the holy will, "his face was like dead ash, his sweat was steep like rain, and he could not get up from the ground", and Zhang Juzheng, who was on the side, "tucked up" and "made the two officials help out". Of course, gao gong, an old fritter in the political arena, knew that the problem lay in his discussion of the leadership in front of Zhang Juzheng, a colleague, so in his memoir "Last Words on the Sickbed", he clearly wrote out the ins and outs of Zhang Juzheng's involvement in the conspiracy, and the title was "Poisoning deep plots"! Although Zhang Juzheng did not do this in an authentic way, perhaps if he did not do so, his reform ideals would not be realized for the rest of his life!