Powerful ministers refer to powerful ministers, mostly powerful and arbitrary ministers. It usually refers to the ministers who hold the military and political power of the country and threaten the rulers, and can also refer to the eunuchs who have power to the opposition and threaten the rule of the emperor. In the Ninety-ninth Chronicle of the Song Dynasty, there is: "He who seeks righteousness is profitable to those who carry it; he who is directed to the King's Father, and who is betrayed is a powerful subject." The first scene of the Peking Opera "OolongYuan" said: "The powerful ministers are in charge, sucking up the people's anointing, hating greed and violence, and gathering heroes." ”
There were not only those who were at ease with the high-ranking officials HouJue and Did not suo Jiuxi, who were at ease as "uncrowned kings", such as the Great Han General Huo Guang, the Wei Taifu Sima Yi, the Ming Shoufu Zhang Juzheng, and so on, as well as the enterprising tyrants who coveted the artifacts and were infected with the Great Treasure, such as Huan Xuan was awarded the Nine Tins by the Jin Emperor, destroyed the Eastern Jin Dynasty and called him the Chu Emperor, and was later restored, and his soul was broken; Yang Xuan's conspiracy to rebel against the Sui Dynasty and establish himself also ended in failure; the Great Ming General Shi Heng threatened the merits of the "Beijing Defense War", framed the national hero Yu Qian first, plotted to overthrow Emperor Yingzong later, and was not spared from death ...... And all that.
Today, I want to talk about a Yuan Dynasty ruler, he is - Boyan.
If the Yuan Dynasty had introduced the titles and official positions of each minister attending the meeting during a political conference, I am afraid that the process of introducing the participants alone would have lasted half an hour. Take the Yuan Dynasty minister Boyan as an example, as soon as this high-ranking official appears, there are as many as two hundred and forty words about his official position, title, and all the modifiers, and if you read a long list of "red tops" of Boyan, and add some depression and frustration, I am afraid that it will not be completed in two minutes.
"Yuande Shangfu Guangzhong Xuanyi Zhengjie Zhenshi Zuoyun Meritorious Servant, Taishi, Kaifu Yi Tongsansi, Qin Wang, Dalahan, Zhongshu Right Chancellor, Shangzhu Guolu Military, Supervising the Revision of National History, Concurrently Hui Zheng zheng, Zhao Gong WanhuFu Du Envoy..." These are only half of Comrade Boyan's "right titles", if, coupled with the temporary posts appointed by the imperial court, including the person in charge of a certain project and the leader of a certain inspection team, I am afraid that I will have to add two hundred words.
After reading the "positive title", Boyan still has many unsightly names, and his name on the "underworld" is even louder than his "positive title". What prodigal son, the leader of the jianghu, the leader of the goblins, etc., so Bo Yan's status in the jianghu is no less than his status in the imperial court. Bo Yan is well versed in the way of being an official, and he is also familiar with the doorways on the rivers and lakes, so Bo Yan can eat in both black and white.
When Bo Yan entered the career path, it was natural to first "worship the docks" and clearly understand the various forces of the imperial court and the people. When Boyan first arrived, government affairs were secondary, first of all, he had to "Jia Bujia, white jade for tangjin as a horse", first use money to clear the way, find a patron in the imperial court, and then make an alliance with the local gentry and bandit leaders under his rule, calling him brother and brother.
During the Yuan Dynasty, social order was chaotic, and non-governmental organizations emerged in an endless stream, and in order to please the newly appointed parent official, all parties were naturally "inherited with taste to pursue gifts". Some squires heard that Boyan liked beautiful people, so they searched for beautiful women and sent them to Boyan's bedroom; some hooligans heard that Boyan was keen on antiques, so they bought antique artifacts to give to Boyan as gifts; some bandits simply transported boxes of yellow and white things directly to Boyan's house. The joy of the officials and the people is based on "day by day, the friendship is deep, do not ask their merits or not, and the preamble teeth are brothers", black and white are in harmony.
When Bo Yan led the Yuan army to conquer the Hangzhou capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, in addition to the warring sides, there were also "third-party forces", that is, civil organizations led by Zhu Qing and Zhang Yu.
Zhu Qing and Zhang Yu were well-known river thieves along the Yangtze River, and later, they gradually carried out "business" in the inland and did some "business" to kill the rich and help the poor, and after their discovery, the two opened painting houses and casinos in various places, becoming the local rich men who dominated the party. After Bo Yan heard about the "folk forces" of Zhu Qing and Zhang Yu in the Hangzhou area, he immediately sent a prayer post, and the three of them hooked up and called them brothers and brothers. When Boyan and the Song army were opposed, these two guys secretly helped Boyan and joined forces with Boyan to annihilate the Song army. The brothers Boyan and Zhu Zhang repaid each other with peaches and each took what they needed, and Boyan gained "folk support" from the two brothers, and Zhu Zhang's forces covered Boyan's "protective umbrella".
Zhu Qing and Zhang Yu were deeply appreciated by Boyan, and after Boyan was promoted back to Beijing because of his military achievements, he did not forget to clear the financial road for the two brothers, and let them make a lot of money under the official banner of "giant galleons in the middle of the Battle of Fanyi, and the public opinion rode in the pass gate alley", earning a lot of money. Most of the land in Yuandu is expensive, but Zhu Qing and Zhang Yu have earned "start-up funds" through Boyan and started "diversified operations" in Yuandu. Under the protection of Boyan, the two people's industries blossomed everywhere in the Yuan Capital, opening one gambling house after another, painting boats, and turning the Yuan Capital into a city that never sleeps. When Marco Polo traveled to the Central Plains, he had the privilege of seeing the fragrance of Yuan Dadu, and said in his travelogue: "There are more prostitutes in Yuan Dadu than women in the Liang family. ”
Zhu Qing and Zhang Yu naturally knew how to exchange courtesies and exchanges, and their careers naturally had a share of Bo Yan. Bo Yan didn't have to worry about the industry at all, just sitting at home, there were large amounts of yellow and white things rolling in. Every day, Zhu Zhang and the two sent countless beautiful women to Boyan Mansion, and Boyan enjoyed it and was leisurely. Bo Yan is in a high position of power, and the more corrupt his life is, the more miserable the people will be. There is a way that "the wealth of the world, if it is not in the government, it is in the people, and if it is not in the people, it is in the government." "The wealth of the country is constant, boyan is rich and oily, and the people are naturally poor. The wealth of the people continues to flow into the official family, and the women of the good family are forced to become prostitutes, so where do the people have a way to live? The Boyan Mansion sang day and night, covering up the cries of the common people.
It can be said that in that era when the sky was blind, a dog official like Boyan not only did not receive retribution, but instead rose steadily in the official arena and rose step by step. How high is Boyan's power? Even the issue of the emperor's succession had to be passed by him, as long as Bo Yan shook his head, the inheritance principle of "no concubine standing long" was a piece of paper, and even the emperor had to look at Bo Yan's face. In 1328, emperor Taiding died, and those imperial brothers and brothers who had the right to inherit the unification were secretly active, and they all wanted to sit on the dragon chair and live the emperor's addiction. However, Boyan was only optimistic about Tu Timu'er, later Emperor Wenzong of Yuan. At the order of Boyan, the black and white lines of the Yuan Capital sided with Tu Ti Mu'er, and Tu Ti Mu'er naturally inherited the unification.
The new monarch ascended to the throne, and Boyan supported the meritorious service, and naturally he was also a knight. From Emperor Wenzong of Yuan to the later Emperor Ningzong and Emperor Shun, their ascension to the throne was approved by Boyan, although some people tried to rebel against Boyan during this period, but Boyan's power in the black and white provinces was intertwined and could not be shaken at all. The brother of Empress Dowager Boya Wu of the Yuan Shun Emperor was named Tang Qishi, and Tang Qishi claimed to be a relative of the emperor and opposed Boyan at every turn. Tang Qishi said to his cronies, "Even the whole world belongs to my family, how can he be a boy?" How dare I be above my head? Later, this sentence reached Bo Yan's ears, and Bo Yan immediately arranged an ambush in the palace to kill Tang Qishi in the early morning of the next day.
At this time, Tang Qishi and his brother Ta Lahai were consulting in the main hall, and suddenly a group of killers were surrounded by tiger-eyed killers, and the two saw that the situation was not good, and immediately squeezed out the crowd to take the road and fled. Tang Qishi was hesitant to enjoy himself, and even if he could run through a well-trained killer, he only ran for a while and then lay on the pillar panting. Several killers came over and stabbed Tang Qishi. Tarahai was a wise man, he saw the emperor sitting on the dragon chair without saying a word, knowing that he was fierce in the main hall, he ran directly to the harem to intercede with the empress's sister.
Ta Lahai believed that he was the queen's brother, and the killers dared not chase after the harem no matter how bold they were. Who knew that Tarahai had just run to his sister, and the killer followed and stabbed Ta lahai to death with a knife, and his blood sprayed the queen's head and face. The empress screamed in fright and rushed to Emperor Shun to complain. Who knew that Emperor Shun said coldly, "Your brothers are rebellious, why should I save them?" Bo Yan sensed the emperor's intention in time, so he arrested the empress and detained her in a pig pen.
How golden and jade did the empress have, and how could she bear such suffering? Within a few days, he committed suicide in the pig pen.
Seeing the fate of the Empress's family, who would dare to oppose Boyan? By this time, Boyan's power in the dynasty had "stood alone in the country, exercised arbitrary power and self-indulgence, changed the ancestors into a constitution, and abused the world." Whenever Boyan traveled, the front was opened by officers and soldiers, and behind it was a group of hooligans in the fish and meat township, and Boyan was called back by black and white to embrace "the grandeur of the guide, filling the streets." As far as pomp and circumstance are concerned, Emperor Shun is not as good as Boyan, and Emperor Shun's honor guard "falls like a morning star", which forms a strong contrast with Boyan's "black and white guards".
A few upright ministers in the imperial court have never stopped impeaching Boyan, and today some ministers have advised Emperor Shun that Boyan should be punished for committing crimes, but Emperor Shun said that he should reward Boyan heavily and give him five thousand acres of land; tomorrow another minister told Emperor Shun that Boyan was not doing a good job, but Emperor Shun said that he should promote Boyan and immediately promote him to a higher level. On the surface, Emperor Shun was a fool and a soft egg, but his later actions subverted the "three views" of others. Emperor Shun's routine was to "want to capture the old man", and he did not want to overthrow Boyan all the time.
However, suffering from Boyan's great power, he could only let it expand and let Boyan destroy himself. Emperor Shun's IQ was very high, and he knew that Boyan had been operating for many years in office, and that Boyan's henchmen were all over the country and the public, and only by further promoting Boyan and letting him get rid of the "territory" he had previously operated and cutting off his own foundation could he attack him. In fact, Emperor Shun had already taken action against Boyan, but from the surface he always had a green eye for Boyan, constantly adding Boyan to the rank of knight, and writing his title full of edicts. The emperor's ass made Boyan flutter, and since then Boyan has become even more unscrupulous.
Every day, he was immersed in the sound and color of dogs and horses, and fell into the trap of Emperor Shun step by step. In 1340, Boyan went out of the city to hunt with his own soldiers, and the group played until the west mountain was thin and returned to the city. Who knew that after Boyan led people back to Dadu, he found that the city gate was locked, the defenders were all hiding on the city wall, and no one would open the door for Boyan. Bo Yan broke his mouth and scolded, scolding the defenders for eating the bear's heart and leopard's guts, and how dare they refuse to go to the pillar country outside the door? At this time, Under the order of Emperor Shun, a group of officers and soldiers was killed from the darkness and surrounded Boyan.
Immediately, the officers and soldiers divided three by five, tied up the arrogant Boyan Wuhua and threw them in front of Emperor Shun. Only then did the people of the world understand that Emperor Shun did not hesitate to use his own empress as a chip, gambled with imperial power, and played a big game of chess in order to eliminate Boyan. It can be seen from this that if the great traitors and evildoers and the great greedy and greedy people in history always march in the clouds of their careers, it is not a good thing for them, and the Qing Dynasty's He yan is like this, and so is Boyan. In early 1340, Emperor Shun listed hundreds of counts against Boyan, but remembering that Boyan had "worked hard and worked hard" in his life to avoid his death, he was sent to Yangchun County, Enzhou.
In order to appease Boyan's henchmen, the clever Shun Emperor did not immediately execute Boyan, but chose "leniency". On the way to distribution, Boyan was seriously ill due to the disobedience of water and soil, and only halfway through the road was killed, and he died at the Longxing Road (in present-day Nanchang, Jiangxi). It can be said that Boyan is only a microcosm of the ancient "powerful ministers", he is not the most powerful, nor the most tragic death, but he is the most typical of the powerful ministers. Just as the so-called things must be reversed, Boyan has come to the end of power, and his life naturally has reached the end.
Resources:
["Yuan Shi Boyan Biography", "Yuan Shi Defa Biography", "New Yuan History, Volume 159 Liechuan No. 56"]