I don't know what the reason is, but now some people have actually begun to "overturn the case" for Wei Zhongxian, touting him as the "savior" of the Ming Dynasty, and even saying absurd things such as "Wei Zhongxian does not die, the Ming Dynasty does not die". This reminds me of a ridiculous history in the last years of the Ming Dynasty, when there was a wave of praise for Wei Zhongxian throughout the country, and local officials built ancestral shrines for him, even juxtaposing them with Confucius.
After the overthrow of the Donglin Party, no one in the DPRK dared to make enemies of Wei Zhongxian. In order to curry favor with Wei Zhongxian, Pan Ruzhen, the inspector of Zhejiang, was the first to jump out, and he wrote to the emperor in the sixth year of the Apocalypse, "Wei Zhongxian of the East Factory, who is diligent in his heart and body in the country, reads and loves the people, and in view of the disasters and injuries suffered in these two Zhejiang years, the tea and fruit of the Tang Dynasty are laid out for all the expenses, and once the evils accumulated along the bad habits of a hundred years are reformed, not only will the machine households be reborn, but all the people who belong to the earth will not stop singing and dancing, rejoicing in each other, Dai De infinite, the public request to build a shrine, and use the blessings."
Pan Ruzhen was worthy of being a horse ass spirit, and he raised Wei Zhongxian to a very high position, and then said that the people of Zhejiang were grateful to Wei Zhongxian and petitioned for the establishment of a shrine. Emperor Mingxi agreed, "It is advisable to follow the invitation of the people, use the Jiansheng Ancestral Hall, and build it in the local area to immortalize", and also personally gave the plaque of "Pude". According to historical records, Wei Zhongxian's first ancestral temple was "built at the foot of the West Lake", which was actually located in the ancestral temples of Guan Yu and Yue Fei, which was "extremely magnificent".
Officials from all over the country heard the news and flocked to build ancestral shrines for Wei Zhongxian in various places. According to historical records, "Suzhou Li puhui ancestral hall, Songjiang Lide Xin ancestral hall", "Huai'an LiZhan De Ancestral Hall, Yangzhou Li Zhan En Ancestral Hall", "Jining Li Zhaode Ancestral Hall, Hedong Li Baoxun Ancestral Hall", "Henan Li Dai De Ancestral Hall, Cheng De Ancestral Hall" and so on. What's more, he actually repaired Wei Zhongxian's ancestral hall next to the Ming Tomb in Nanjing and the Ming Emperor's Mausoleum in Fengyang, and if Zhu Yuanzhang knew about it, he didn't know how he would feel.
According to incomplete statistics, in just one year, the whole country built forty ancestral shrines for Wei Zhongxian, spending a lot of silver. When recording this period of history, the Ming Dynasty people sighed: "Those who steal a punishment and are still alive, and the world's tributes are flattering, and the people who are ignorant of people's hearts suddenly echo and revere it, calling it a merit like Zhou Zhao, praising its virtue like Yu Tang, so that shrines are erected everywhere, and statues are set up and blessed." Whoops, when the people are baptized at this age, the cost of a shrine is like tens of thousands of gold! ”
In this situation, there are also many villains, who have sung praises and praises for Wei Zhongxian, which can be said to be shameless to the extreme. A Guozi supervisor named Lu Wanling actually proposed to the emperor that "Wei Zhongxian Ancestral Hall be built next to Guoxue", and then wei Zhongxian was used to worship Confucius, and Wei Zhongxian's father was used to worship Confucius's father, and wei Zhongxian was also said to be "not under Mencius". In fact, Wei Zhongxian was illiterate, and he couldn't read a basket of big characters.
After the completion of the ancestral hall in Jizhou, a solemn ceremony was held, and Inspector Liu Zhao brought officials of all sizes to pay their respects. After seeing the statue of Wei Zhongxian, Liu Zhao, as an inspector, "led the Wen and Wu generals to worship five and three officials, and called out nine thousand years old." Zunhua Dao Geng Ruqi did not kneel down to the statue and "half-swept out". As a result, the matter reached Wei Zhongxian's ears, and he was furious and immediately instructed his subordinates to impeach Geng Ruqi and "falsely accuse him of riding more stagecoaches and stealing warehouses."
Wei Zhongxian then sent someone to arrest Geng Ruqi and imprison him, "sitting on the stolen seven thousand, on death." Geng Ruqi did not kneel down to Wei Zhongxian's statue, and he caused the disaster of killing himself, but fortunately it was the autumn queen who asked for a beheading. When it was about to be executed, Emperor Mingxi died, the Chongzhen Emperor took the throne, and Wei Zhongxian also collapsed. The Chongzhen Emperor released Geng Ruqi. "Standing like the right imperial history of the right you, patrolling Shanxi". Reading the historical materials carefully, how to see Wei Zhongxian is not a savior, but a jumping beam clown.
References: 1. Ming Shilu, 2. Ming History, 3. Ming History Chronicle