Gao Gong didn't like Zhang Juzheng very much in his later years, although they used to be friends who talked about everything and shared political ideals, but the struggle for power has always been cruel, and no matter how close the relationship is, it will lose its nature in the face of power, and the same is true for Zhang Juzheng.
The same is the cabinet minister, but as the emperor's high arch always presses his head, in addition to the age difference between the two is only twelve years old, when can he sit in the position of the first assistant of the cabinet, and to the year of the monkey to realize his political ideals, time waits for no one, only by driving away the high arch, he can sit in the position of the first assistant.
Zhang Juzheng is destined to be lonely in this life
What's more, Gao Gong killed his mentor Xu Jie, and he finally let Gao Gong's subordinates show mercy under the mediation of many parties, Gao Gong also joked that he had received money from the Xu family, isn't this pouring dirty water on himself, so he must bring down Gao Gong in public and private.
But Gao Gong is not Yan Song, when Emperor Longqing was still King Yu, Gao Gong accompanied him, and has been careful to protect King Yu in many ways, so that King Yu, who has tasted the warmth and cold, feels a little comforted, and King Yu is also very grateful to Gao Gong for his blessing over the years, and the two sides have long established a deep teacher-student relationship.
In the Longqing Dynasty, Gao Gong held a high position of high power, not only became the first assistant of the cabinet, but also a protégé and former officials all over the world, so that before Longqing died, he held Gao Gong's hand and said: "Mr. Tired of the world." ”
It can be said that Emperor Longqing trusted Gao Gong very much until his death, and it is not surprising that in the next Wanli Dynasty, Gao Gong was still the first and auxiliary minister of the cabinet.
Zhang Juzheng and Gao Gong
But Gao Gong has a problem, that is, his eyes are above the top, and his temperament is irritable, except for Zhang Juzheng, no one pays attention to it, which naturally offends many people, including Feng Bao, the companion of the little emperor of Wanli.
To be honest, Feng Bao was happy to befriend Gao Gong at first, but Gao Gong didn't like Feng Bao very much, especially in the position of the eunuch Bingbi who Feng Bao wanted to get, and completely offended him.
As early as the first year of Longqing, Feng Bao was the commander of Dongchang and the head of the imperial horse eunuch, becoming the second in command of the inner palace after the eunuch Si Li Bingbi.
But Gao Gong first recommended Chen Hong as the eunuch of Bingbi, and after Chen Hong, Gao Gong recommended Meng Chong, the eunuch of Shangshan far behind him.
Since he didn't deal with Gao Gong, he looked for other allies, and he found Zhang Juzheng, in the Ming Dynasty system, the cabinet's vote was intended to need the Zhu approval of the eunuch Bingbi to count, and this system was destined to bring the cabinet and the eunuch together, one to be the first assistant of the cabinet, and the other to be the eunuch of Bingbi, and the two sides coincided.
Feng Bao
After Emperor Longqing became seriously ill, Zhang Juzheng secretly dealt with some things from Gao Gong, sealed them and sent them to Feng Bao, who was noticed by Gao Gong and wanted to recover them, but unfortunately he had been sent to the palace, so he could only ask Zhang Juzheng in person why he would plot with Nei Erect, Zhang Juzheng was at a loss, and had to make amends with a red face.
After the death of Emperor Longqing, in addition to Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng, and Gao Yi, the name of the inner supervisor also appeared, but the inner supervisor did not indicate who it was, Gao Gong thought it was Meng Chong, but only two hours after the death of Emperor Longqing, the palace immediately sent out a holy decree, and the position of the eunuch Meng Chong Sili Bingbi was replaced by Feng Bao.
This incident caused Gao Gong and others to be dissatisfied, and Li Ke made it clear to Lu Shude that if Emperor Longqing really wanted to change the eunuch Bingbi, why didn't he say it a few days before he died, but he had to say it before he died, knowing that there were a lot of testaments before his death, how could he still take into account the appointment of the inner palace? Even if he took care of it, why did he suddenly change it to Feng Bao?
It can be seen from this incident that Feng Bao can become the eunuch of the boss Li Bingbi, Zhang Juzheng has made a lot of efforts behind his back, and even put a lot of pressure on him, but this pressure is worth it, and soon Feng Bao gave Zhang Juzheng a big gift.
The meaning of Feng Bao is that there are people in the palace who are easy to do
On May 25, the sixth year of Longqing, Emperor Longqing had just died, Gao Gong was extremely sad, and in addition to grief, he inadvertently shouted in the cabinet room: "Ten-year-old prince, how to rule the world?"
Gao Gong means that the ten-year-old prince, how can he have the ability to rule the world?
But when Feng Bao took this sentence and reported it to the Empress Dowager of the Two Palaces and the Little Emperor of Wanli, it became "Denounce the prince as a ten-year-old child, how to be the master." ”
Although the words are almost the same, but the meaning is very different, in their ears, the meaning of this sentence has become how the ten-year-old prince is qualified to govern the world, the Queen Mother and Wanli can not lose their color when they hear this sentence? After all, Wanli is not qualified, he is qualified to do so? Gao Gong's casual words completely offended the Queen Mother and Wanli.
Wanli Emperor
Of course, Gao Gong didn't know that his words had already been tampered with by Feng Bao, and he was bent on taking back the power of the emperor to approve the red and take back the power back to the cabinet, and he was confident that he could pass, after all, he was the first assistant of the cabinet, and he had the opinion of the vote, Wanli was only ten years old, how to know right and wrong, and finally had the final say.
In order to increase the chances of winning, he also pulled Zhang Juzheng and Gao Yi two cabinet ministers to sign together, Zhang Juzheng looked at the fold, and carefully he immediately found a loophole in the high arch, but he didn't say it, not only the joint name, but also sent someone to tell Feng Bao the content of the fold.
So what is this loophole? It is to completely offend the eunuchs in the palace, Gao Gong's move is to expel Feng Bao, but at the same time, it also deprives Meng Chong and others of the opportunity to take power, and suddenly cuts off the promotion path of the eunuchs in the inner palace, and also completely offends the eunuchs in the inner palace.
You must know that the eunuch is accompanied by the emperor, and the emperor's affairs outside the palace are spread by the eunuchs, Gao Gong's move is to personally cut off his potential alliance in the palace, and in the future, someone will sue Gao Gong for his black state, but no one will help him speak, and he doesn't even know that Feng Bao has sued him for his black state, and the fold means that the cabinet is completely in power, which further confirms what Feng Bao said, Gao Gong thinks that he is the only one who is qualified to govern the world.
High-end power struggles are often so simple, Zhang Juzheng only relied on a small action, so that Gao Gong inadvertently stepped into the big pit he dug, and played beautifully with four or two pounds in one hand.
On June 16, the minister of court, the celebrant announced the holy decree, dismissed the first assistant of the cabinet of Gao Gong, and ordered him to return to his hometown to live idlely.
But Gao Gong didn't appreciate it, and shrewdly knew at once who was behind him, but now that he had been dismissed, he couldn't do anything.
From the death of Longqing to the dismissal of Gao Gong, it was only about 20 days before and after, thinking that Xu Jie's original order to bring down Yan Song took a full 20 years, Zhang Juzheng and Feng Bao brought down Gao Gong with a combination of punches, Zhang Ju became the first assistant of the cabinet as he wished, but he did not stop there.
I think that Xu Jie's original attempt to bring down Yan Song took a full twenty years
On the morning of the nineteenth day of the first month of the first year of Wanli, Wanli found that there was a waiter beside him who looked panicked, looked suspicious, and did not stand in line in the normal order, and ordered to be arrested and handed over to Dongchang for interrogation, this person said at first that his name was Minister Wang, and he was a deserter in Qi Jiguang's military camp, but in the prison of Dongchang, he told his true situation.
It turned out that his real name was Zhang Long, a family member of Zhangbaihu in eastern Zhejiang, who fled to the capital for stealing twenty taels of silver from the master's family, and planned to go to Qi Jiguang's military camp to be a southern soldier, but because he was too short to be hired, he could only try his luck in the palace.
To be honest, this case is very simple, but after Zhang Juzheng heard about it, he told Feng Bao that he could use this matter to kill Gao Gong, and under Feng Bao's operation, this case became Zhang Long was instructed by Gao Gong to enter the palace to assassinate the emperor, and in order to bite Gao Gong to death, Feng Bao also promised that as long as Zhang Long admitted this matter, he would not only be spared death, but also reward him with an official and a half-position, in order to make the case more real, Feng Bao also sent someone to teach him how to frame Gao Gong.
In addition to framing Gao Gong in prison, Feng Bao also sent people from Dongchang to Gao Gong's hometown to arrest Gao Gong's family members, and Zhang Juzheng asked to track down the culprit in this case.
The case is already known to the court here, but the government and the opposition think that Gao Gong is wronged, and they are upset for Gao Gong, and even Zhang Long in prison does not want to frame Gao Gong, so the case ended in a hurry by killing Zhang Long.
At the beginning, Zhang Juzheng and Feng Bao joined forces and brought down Gao Gong in only 20 days, but now it has only been half a year, and a nonsensical unjust case has been made, not only failed to execute Gao Gong, but instead lost his reputation and increased Gao Gong's resentment towards them, and the gains outweighed the losses.
In fact, it is impossible for Zhang Juzheng and Feng Bao to think that a false accusation can kill Zhang Juzheng, and the reason why they did so is to completely cut off Gao Gong's political future through this incident.
Although Gao Gong was dismissed, he was only sixty years old, and Zhai Luan, Xia Yan, Yan Song, etc., who had been dismissed before, had served more than one first assistant, plus there were many former officials of Gao Gongmen, and there was a chance to recover, once he was reinstated, it was the day of liquidation of Zhang Juzheng and Feng Bao, obviously Zhang Juzheng and Feng Bao did not want to see it.
So by this incident is to interrupt Gao Gong's road to recovery, in fact, this case is not to kill Gao Gong, such a big fanfare is to do it for the Queen Mother and Wanli to see, in the Queen Mother and Wanli buried Gao Gong "possibly" assassinate the emperor The idea of assassinating the emperor is buried in the hearts of the Queen Mother and Wanli, so that even if the protégé is all over the world, no matter how high the political prestige, Gao Gong will never be reinstated.
This is a textbook-level power struggle, Zhang Juzheng and Feng Baoxian teamed up to bring down Gao Gong, and then cut off his future with the "Minister Wang case", cutting his eyebrows without hurting his flesh and skin, which can be said to be precise and ruthless.
"Last Words on the Sickbed"
This incident hurt Gao Gong greatly, Gao Gong was haunted by death until death, before dying, Gao Gong left four volumes of "Last Words on the Sickbed", and wrote his dissatisfaction into it, as for his former friends, Gao Gong commented as "being a master and a ghost again, playing the flute and pinching his eyes and playing the drum and playing the pipa".
Politically, there is never an eternal alliance, only eternal interests, and the Ming Dynasty only has eternal power, and the political alliance that was once in iron will eventually break.