Since zheng yan's story is to be told, his mother Wu Shi is an unavoidable topic, because Zheng Yan's accusation is "mother of the staff". Is he the mother's own son, and what is the mother-child relationship? Is Wu a woman of the type of virtuous wife and mother, or a jealous woman who opposes her husband's concubine? These are all concerns. Of course, some have clear answers, and some are unclear. The author tries to look at the big picture as much as possible, and to explain the problems that can be clearly explained, and some can only be doubtful. For the previous popular misconceptions, we should point out and avoid further misinformation.
Zheng Yan's mother's surname is Wu, and her name is unknown. She was born in a family of eunuchs, her grandfather Wu Sex Official to Shang Baocheng, and her father Wu Kexing was reviewed by the Hanlin Academy. Because her husband Zheng Zhenxian was the chief of Liupin, she was awarded the title of "An Ren". Among Zheng Zhenxian's four sons, Zheng Yu, Zheng Yu, and Zheng Yu were born to Wu, and Zheng Yu was born to concubines. However, when Wu divided her two hundred acres of dowry land equally among her sons, she treated Zheng Hao's share the same as her own son, which can be seen in her personality. The most reliable basis for this is Zheng Zhenxian's autograph, which comes from the nanjing museum's collection of the orphan "Zheng Taichu Manuscript (Handwriting)".
Zheng Zhenxian's handwritten cover of Zheng Taichu's Manuscript
Writing this, it is necessary to point out the error in the entry of the Ming Dynasty Northern Sketch of "Zheng Zheng" (磔郑鄤). The book reads: "Stepmother, the younger brother of Wu Zongda, a university scholar. There are two errors in this sentence: First, Zheng Yan is the biological son of wu, how can he say that his stepmother is coming? Second, Wu is not Wu Zongda's "female brother", but a cousin. The age basis can be found in the "Beiqu Wu Clan Genealogy" and "Zheng Clan Genealogy (Zhiyitang)", and the "Wu An Ren Xingzhi Of the Deceased Concubine" written by Zheng Yu and the "Feng'an Wu Clan Epitaph" written by Qian Qianyi can also be referred to.
In 2010, the author wrote a blog post titled "A Brief Discussion on the Account of Zheng Yan in the Ming Dynasty", which for the first time pointed out these two errors and other problems on the Internet. If an author can't even figure out Wu's identity, how credible will it be that he writes about Wu and Zheng?
Later, in the 5th issue of shanhai jing magazine in 2016, I saw Yuwen Sili's article "The Case of Ming Ji Zheng", which contained a small section entitled "Examination of The Mother of Yan", which also pointed out these two errors. At that time, the author had a "cool" feeling: someone in academia finally noticed these two mistakes!
Cover of the magazine Shan Hai Jing
Wu's life was not easily influenced by the political struggles of the Ming Dynasty, and she was a woman of a politically minded official eunuch family.
When Wu was young, his uncle Wu Zhongxing was punished by the court staff for opposing the first assistant Zhang Juzheng's love affair. Wu Zhongxing opposed Zhang Juzheng's fiercest love, so he was the most seriously injured, and if he was not prepared for rescue in advance, he would have died! Wu Shi personally saw Wu Zhongxing dragging his disabled leg back to his home, and also heard his father talk about the reason, and his young soul was strongly shaken.
After the death of the parents of Ming dynasty officials, they were required to resign and return home to observe filial piety for twenty-seven months. The so-called "seizure of affection" means that the state needs him to continue to perform his duties, and with the approval of the emperor, he will not go home and continue to be an official, which is considered to be filial piety and loyalty. Of course, there are also a small number of officials who, in the name of "seizing affection," are greedy for power.
When Zheng Zhenxian was the head of the ceremonial department, he impeached zhu geng, the first assistant, in the chapter "Straight Hair Ancient and Modern First Power Adultery". As he drafted, he closed the study door, lit incense and candles, and wrote a book. But it was seen by Wu Shi through the crack in the door outside the study. When Zhenxian walked out of the study, she greeted him and said, "Master, you can do whatever you want, so why hide it from me?" When I was a child, I saw the tragic injury of The Duke of Fu'an (Wu Zhongxing)." In case of misfortune for the master, the parents in the church, the children under the knees, the responsibility for the elderly and the care I will bear. How bold Wu shi should have been when he said this! Fortunately, Zheng Zhenxian was not given a court staff, but was sent to Xuyong, Sichuan, thousands of miles away, to work as an idle miscellaneous minor official. Wu asked Zheng To accompany his father to Sichuan. Zheng Huan's company really played a big role, and when Zheng Zhenxian wanted to stay in Mount Emei to become a monk, he was dissuaded by Zheng Huan and went down the mountain. Looking at the map now, it is found that Xuyong is near the Lugu Lake Scenic Area.
In the seventh year of the Apocalypse (1627), Zheng Yu's situation was very dangerous, their family was monitored by agents of the East Factory, and there were rumors that Zheng Huan was about to be arrested and sent to Beijing. If Zheng Yan is arrested, what awaits him will be the fate of Yang Lian and Zuo Guangdou - tragic death and imprisonment. Wu Shi asked Zheng Huan to go out to avoid the front for a while, and said: "Son, if you have to be Fan Huan one day, I can also be Fan Huan's mother." Fan Huan was a Qingliu man in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, who was killed by eunuchs in the scourge of the party. After the fall of the castration party, Wu Shi said to Zheng Huan again: "Although the pit viper is dead, the stinger is still there, son, don't think that you can sit back and relax from now on." Wu's admonition to Zheng Shows Her Political Vision. Zheng Huan escaped Wei Zhongxian's abuse, but he was not able to escape the poison of the insidious Wen Tiren.
Wen Tiren impeached Zheng Yu for the crime of "mother of the staff", making a fuss about Zheng Yan's parents. His methods are very despicable, obviously bullying Zheng Yan's parents have long since died, and no one can stand up to prove Zheng E's innocence. There will never be a "mother of staff", and after a long period of argument in the historical circles, the charges imposed on Zheng Yu have been completely overturned. As for whether there was a conflict of opinion between Zheng Yan's parents because of concubines, In the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, Wen Wenbing described the "mother of the staff" in the "Little Knowledge of the Emperor Lie", but at the end he said that thirty years had passed, and it was impossible to say what was clear. Therefore, there is not much practical point in discussing this issue.
Let me now return to the question raised at the beginning. What is the relationship between Zheng Yan and his mother? Zheng Yan said that his parents loved him the most among their children, and since he was a child, his mother taught him to read and learn etiquette, and he went to Beijing four times to participate in the examination, and his mother would weep and wipe her towel when she said goodbye. It can be seen that the mother-child relationship is intimate. There is also a question, how big will the contradiction or dispute between Zheng Yu's parents because of the concubine issue? Wen Bing's account is of course a reference, and let's talk about how zodiac zhou sees this matter. In his sonata to the Chongzhen Emperor, he wrote about Zheng Yan's family, saying, "The gentleman's family is little Boxi." "Little BoXi", that is, the meaning of small contradictions. Zheng Zhenxian's father, Zheng Zhenxian, did not shy away from taking concubines, and recorded in the poem the "acceptance of concubines and children" in his later years. And some wild history notes wantonly exaggerate the contradictions between Zheng's parents, either by hearsay or with ulterior motives.
Wu Liang gave a poem to his cousin Wu Shi (Zheng Yan's mother).
It is appropriate to end this article with two sentences from a poem. The author of the poem is Wu Liang, a cousin of the Wu clan, who is the son of Wu Zhongxing. Many people in Changzhou today know Wu Liang because he built the famous private garden garden, Zhiyuan Garden. In the political arena of the late Ming Dynasty, Wu Liang was an upright official and a staunch Donglin Party member. He compiled the "Wanli Loose Banknote", included Zheng Zhenxian's "Straight Hair Ancient and Modern First Power Treachery", and also gave Zheng Zhenxian two poems to commend his shangshu behavior. He wrote two poems at the same time to his cousin, Zheng Zhenxian's wife Wu Shi. There are two sentences in the poem: "There are 㜫 (pronounced měi, ancient with "beauty") Zheng Taijun, Jie Lie Ben Su Zhi. ”