(Ceremony)
Emperor Wanli didn't like the court, and the whole Ming knew about it.
Not only did the emperor not usually go to court, but he even refused to attend some important festivals and occasions.
For example, on the first day of the first month of 1616 AD, this is the first day of the new year, according to the previous etiquette system, the imperial court will hold an unprecedented ceremony on this day, and the heads and faces in the capital will participate, and many foreign envoys will also enter the court to pay tribute on this day, plus the brocade guards, the imperial guards, the Han generals, and the palace maids and eunuchs, etc., there are always three to five thousand people.
Three to five thousand people, which was a large gathering at the time.
Of course, the hero of this ceremony should be the Wanli Emperor, who should have worn a grand costume, sacrificed to his ancestors, prayed to heaven, and prayed for the next year for the subjects of the world to have good weather and peace for the country.
But Emperor Wanli was not interested in this kind of thing at all, and for the emperor, this kind of lengthy and complicated activity that wasted time and energy was not as fun as fighting with Zheng Guifei in the inner garden of the deep palace.
Therefore, the celebration that should usually be held in the core of the Forbidden City, because of the lack of the protagonist, there is also a lot less process, so it can only be hastily held outside the noon gate.
It's said that it was done hastily, but if you come to it in person, it should be unprecedented.
The morning sun is slightly dewed, the sky is glowing with a faint golden red, and the majestic and magnificent ancient palace is bathed in sunlight, exuding a majestic and solemn demeanor.
The drums sounded, and the civil and military officials wore court clothes, held wat boards, and performed three kneels and nine bows.
Their movements were uniform, and even their expressions were the same solemn and solemn, and then the fireworks salute was set off, and the crowd congratulated the emperor long live, and the Ming dynasty was eternal.
The whole ceremony, even without the participation of the emperor, was not finished until noon, and after the ceremony, the ministers packed up their appearances and left from the established passage one by one.
(Forbidden City Photography)
And among these officials who have left one after another, a person named Ling Hanchong is worth mentioning.
Ling Hanchong, a native of Changzhou, Jiangsu, was born in Jinshi, and his position at that time was a royal historian of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.
Imperial history, that is, the supervision officials in the imperial court, are responsible for picketing hundreds of officials, assessing the deeds of officials, although the imperial history is basically six or seven grades, the official rank is not high, but they have a lot of power, no matter whether you are a feudal official or the first assistant of the cabinet, as long as you don't deal with it, a letter will be sent to the emperor, and you will be impeached directly.
This Ling Hanchong, in order to prepare to participate in the celebration, got up at more than three o'clock in the second half of the night, and didn't even bother to eat, and knelt and worshiped and shouted slogans outside the noon gate, tossing until noon, his legs were already spinning, drowsy, at this time he was walking out of the end gate of the Forbidden City, and wanted to hurry home to eat, who thought, the accident happened.
Duanmen, between the noon gate and the Chengtian gate, Ling Hanchong usually walks through this gate from top to bottom.
This road, Ling Hanchong walked not a thousand times but also five hundred times, so he was familiar with the road, but he stepped out of the gate with his front foot, and rushed out of several people from all sides of the end door with his back feet.
Friends, this person is very fragile, and he can't help fighting, the people who carried out the surprise attack are all Lian Jiazi, and they are extremely heavy, and a group of people beat Ling Hanchong, and they can beat him to death in three or five minutes.
But fortunately, after all, the Forbidden City is under your feet, where the Son of Heaven is, and it is heavily guarded, and when a few passing guards saw that there was a fight at the door, they immediately drew their sabers and protected Ling Hanchong not to speak, and also took down these violent people on the spot.
Ling Hanchong had been beaten unconscious, his life was hanging by a thread, and he was immediately pulled for treatment, and these murderers who participated in the beating had no intention of resisting, and they put down their weapons one after another to be captured.
(City Gate)
In the deep palace, at the feet of the Son of Heaven, the dignified court officials were beaten up like this for no reason - fighting and making trouble under the emperor's eyelids, which is really a bit unbelievable.
There must be demons when things go wrong, and all of this has to start from the year when Ling Hanchong was admitted to the Jinshi.
In a certain year of Wanli, Ling Hanchong was proud of the spring breeze, and he saw all the Chang'an flowers in one day, he successfully obtained the Jinshi fame, and soon obtained the position of the imperial court, and appointed him to Fuqing County, Fuzhou Prefecture to be the magistrate.
Although the county is small, but after all, there are officials to do, and Ling Hanchong is more pragmatic, very capable, and smart, and his tenure in Fuqing County is only two years, so he was favored by the imperial court again, and he was transferred back to Beijing to do the imperial history.
This kind of job transfer, I feel that the change in official rank does not seem to be much, but for Ling Hanchong, it is a kind of promotion.
Because, it is easy to be buried as a magistrate, this day is far away from the emperor, the emperor can't see you, sometimes it is useless for you to make more efforts, but it is different when you arrive in Beijing, not to mention that you are just a small imperial history, you are a sweeping eunuch, and it is possible to soar overnight.
Of course, there are pros and cons to everything, this Ling Hanchong went to Beijing to do the imperial history, naturally the stage has become bigger, and the opportunities have become more, but the Ming political arena is not easy to break through, Ling Hanchong is not a famous family, one is not famous, two has no connections, and three has no background, it is very difficult to use the position of imperial history as a springboard to go up.
If you want to be promoted, you must have a way, and after coming and going, Ling Hanchong met a person who could help him in his career in Jingshi.
(Ling Yingdeng's image)
This person is the military attache Ling Yingdeng, and he is a first-class military attaché, with a high and powerful position, and he is a figure with a head and a face in the court.
It is said that it is impossible for Ling Hanchong to have a relationship with an official of this level, but coincidentally, this Ling Yingdeng, he is also from Changzhou, Jiangsu, and both of them are surnamed Ling, and they are still of the same clan when they check the genealogy, although they are not close relatives, but after all, they are related to each other, so the movement of the two of them quickly became frequent.
What Ling Hanchong lacks is political resources, because he has a small imperial history, and no one wants to see him when he goes to make friends with whom to visit, but with Ling Yingdeng's endorsement and introduction to him, he can meet many friends in the officialdom.
And although Ling Yingdeng is a member of the imperial court, the power that Ling Hanchong, a small imperial history, has is exactly what he values.
Because, Ling Hanchong can supervise hundreds of officials and talk to the emperor directly, so Ling Yingchong can use Ling Hanchong as a gunman, Ling Yingchong can't get used to whom, who he wants to get, who he wants to impeach, he can directly instruct Ling Hanchong to do it.
Moreover, since the imperial history can talk to the emperor, then Ling Hanchong accidentally said a few good words for himself in front of the emperor, which is also beneficial to his career.
The two of them thought very well, but in fact, as soon as they came into contact, Ling Hanchong found that Ling Yingdeng was really unreliable.
First of all, although Ling Yingdeng is a first-class martial artist, with a high position and great power, he is not very good in the officialdom, because he is not capable enough, and secondly, his human nature is not good, not to mention that he does not do his job well, and he often bullies men and women, violates laws and disciplines, and has a very bad reputation.
Ling Hanchong caught up with Ling Yingdeng, originally thought that he had met a nobleman and could know the powerful people in the court through Ling Yingdeng, but who would have thought that the powerful people did not make friends, but he even got embarrassed because he had interacted with a person with a low character like Ling Yingdeng, and his colleagues thought that he did not know anyone, and he actually called a person like Ling Yingdeng a brother and sister, and slowly even Ling Hanchong was alienated and ostracized by the courtiers.
(Asado)
The more Ling Hanchong thought about it, the more angry he became, the more uncomfortable he became, he stayed at home and sulked, thinking about it, and even made him think of a good way to break the situation.
I am the imperial history, the imperial history wants to rise, want to make achievements, then you need to constantly impeach and report those corrupt and illegal officials, this can reflect your work level and business ability, usually this kind of official is not easy to find, maybe people hide well, but now he and Ling Yingdeng have made friends, Ling Yingdeng did in private such as bullying the people, favoritism and greed for ink and other dirty things he can be clear, as long as he reports Ling Yingdeng, it is equivalent to having performance in the work, with performance, his reputation has gone up, and his reputation has gone up, and he is still worried about not being able to open the network circle, and he is still worried about not being promoted？
So, Ling Hanchong didn't say a word, and used his close relationship with Ling Yingdeng to wantonly collect evidence of Ling Yingdeng's crime, and directly impeached Ling Yingdeng.
Ling Hanchong stabbed Ling Yingchong in the back, but this Ling Yingdeng was not a vegetarian, he saw that Ling Hanchong had sold himself, so he also wrote a letter and reported it to the emperor, saying that the emperor, you can't listen to Ling Hanchong's nonsense, this iron needs its own hardness, Ling Hanchong reported me for being corrupt and perverted the law, and I also want to report that Ling Hanchong was a fish and meat common people when he was a magistrate in Fuqing, Fujian, and he made a windfall, Ling Yingdeng even said that Ling Hanchong could get the position of imperial history, which was bought with money.
Whether Ling Yingdeng's report is true or false remains to be discussed, but he splashed water like this and confused the public, and the authenticity of Ling Hanchong's report became suspicious in the emperor's eyes.
After Ling Hanchong's recital was sent, the emperor did not reply, and after Ling Yingdeng's recital was sent, the emperor did not give instructions, and the two recitals were like sinking into the sea, and the news was completely lost.
This person is most afraid of internal friction, and he has nothing to do, but if he has to think crankily, it is easy to cause greater changes.
(Ling Hanchong image)
Ling Hanchong's recital could not be replied to, he was not in a hurry, because he was confident and confident, he knew that the evidence he listed against Ling Yingdeng was true, and the reason why the emperor had not given instructions for so long could only be that the court also needed a certain amount of time to verify the authenticity, as long as the court had verified it and convicted Ling Yingdeng, it would be a great achievement.
On the other hand, Ling Yingdeng's recital could not be replied to, he was quite anxious, because he was a thief, he knew that Ling Hanchong's impeachment of him was true, he was afraid that the emperor would be furious after reading it, and he would directly deal with himself.
This is going to die, just die a happy death, but there is no result in a day or two, and there is no result in two months and three months, in Ling Yingdeng's opinion, this is not a problem, but the imperial court has taken this matter seriously, and the emperor and the ministers of the cabinet must be studying how to convict themselves and how to kill themselves day and night.
It can be seen that in the calm before this storm, Ling Yingdeng is like a sword of Damocles hanging above his head—death is not uncomfortable, but the taste of death is uncomfortable.
Under this emotion, Ling Yingdeng's psychology slowly collapsed, he decided that he was bound to die, and his emotions gradually got out of control, and he began to have the psychology of revenge against society.
Of course, it is said to be revenge on society, but in fact, there is only one object of his revenge, and that is Ling Hanchong.
This Ling Hanchong is a relative of himself, and he has the heart to promote him to make friends with him, who knows that Ling Hanchong not only does not know how to learn about Entubao, but stabs himself in the back for his own fame and career, and wants to treat himself as a sacrifice, and he has fallen to this point today, which is completely caused by Ling Hanchong.
Okay! You want me to die! I'll let you die first!
After having this idea, Ling Yingdeng immediately made a plan, that is, after the ceremony on the first day of the first lunar month, he personally led people to ambush Ling Hanchong at Duanmen, and tried to kill Ling Hanchong on the spot.
You see, this Ling Yingdeng is out of the way.
(Forbidden City Photography)
However, Ling Yingdeng didn't expect that he would personally go down and take a dozen people to attack Ling Hanchong on Ling Hanchong's way home, a group of people fought for more than ten minutes, Ling Hanchong was covered in injuries, his ribs were broken, his head was broken, and he fell to the ground motionless, and finally let the imperial doctor save him.
In the forbidden land, officials beat each other, or military attachés beat the imperial history, and almost didn't beat the imperial history to death, this matter was quickly reported to the cabinet, and it reached the heavens, which means that Wanli also knew.
About three days later, the imperial court gave the final opinion:
Ling Yingdeng beat Yushi, or beat Yushi at the door of the emperor's house, his behavior was bad, it was simply lawless, fatherless and monarchless, it should have been a capital crime, but fortunately, Ling Hanchong was rescued, then Ling Yingdeng was exempted from the death penalty, but the death penalty can be avoided, and the living crime is inescapable, so he simply pushed Ling Yingdeng to the end, cut his post from a first-class official to the people, and then exiled him for three thousand miles.
Exile for 3,000 miles, to put it bluntly, is almost the same as death, because very few people can persist in completing these 3,000 miles, and most of them die on the road.
And Ling Hanchong, who was beaten severely, was also severely punished by the imperial court, the reason is: Ling Hanchong and Ling Yingdeng are of the same clan, and they are related to each other, Ling Hanchong actually copied Ling Yingdeng's old background to report others, and as a result, the relationship between the two was not harmonious, and later they impeached each other, and then it evolved into this violent and wounding case, which shows that this incident was originally caused by Ling Hanchong, if you don't stir trouble, can you be beaten?
Therefore, Ling Hanchong was also stripped of his official position and demoted to a commoner, but fortunately, he did not have to be exiled and could spend the rest of his life in peace.
It stands to reason that such a judgment really shouldn't be.
If Ling Hanchong's impeachment of Ling Yingdeng is true, Ling Yingdeng has been corrupt and perverted the law for many years, and he has become an official to the point where he has already made his reputation stink, plus he committed such a serious violent incident in the palace this time, and dying 10,000 times is not enough for him to suffer, how can he still avoid death now?
The answer was about to come out, because Emperor Wanli was not interested in seeing the music sent by Ling Hanchong at all, and the emperor did not understand the actual situation at all.
(Mingshenzong Zhu Yijun portrait)
And if Ling Yingdeng's report against Ling Hanchong is credible and true, then Ling Hanchong also has problems as an official, and it is natural that he will be punished, but how can Ling Yingdeng's accusation against Ling Hanchong be untrue, then although Ling Hanchong is suspected of being opportunistic and exploiting his official position, to put it bluntly, he is a victim, so how can he be cut down and demoted?
The answer is also about to come out, because Emperor Wanli is also not interested in Ling Yingdeng's accusation against Ling Hanchong, and Ling Yingdeng's performance has long been left in the cabinet, accumulating a thick layer of dust.
Ling Hanchong and Ling Yingdeng both thought that if their performance was sent to the imperial case, Emperor Wanli would definitely pay attention to it, and even if he didn't pay attention to it, the emperor would definitely look at it.
But they didn't expect that the Son of Heaven of the Ming Dynasty was no longer interested in the changes in the outside world to such a point.
Whether it is someone who hurts heaven and reason, deceives the sky and abuses the people, or someone who is corrupt and corrupt, or even if Ling Yingdeng beats Ling Hanchong to death outside the end gate, in essence, he can no longer let Emperor Wanli be moved in the slightest.
After learning about the case of Ling Hanchong and Ling Yingdeng, the emperor actually characterized the nature of the case as a fight with each other, which of course aroused the opposition of many officials, and the call for a retrial was very high, but Wanli turned a deaf ear and did not allow anyone to criticize again.
The emperor can not go to court, but the emperor cannot abstain from power.
After Zhang Juzheng's death, no one could control Wanli's life anymore, and after Wanli's son Zhu Changxun's plan to ascend to the throne was destroyed by the ministers, Wanli suddenly found that one Zhang Juzheng died, but thousands of Zhang Juzheng in the court stood up.
So, Wanli, who was the sole ruler, finally gave up, he just wanted to live in his own spiritual world, as for right and wrong and the fate of the empire, what is it?
In Wanli's view, the loneliness and emptiness of the spiritual world cannot be changed, just like the fate of the emperor he carries, and there is no room for maneuver.