Eunuch dictatorship
Liu Jin (1451~ 1510), a native of Xingping, Shaanxi. During the reign of Hongzhi, he served the crown prince Zhu Houzhao (Zhengde Emperor) in the Eastern Palace. After the Zhengde Emperor ascended the throne, he became the eunuch of the Ceremony Supervisor and became the chief eunuch.
On March 28, 1507, Liu Jin summoned his courtiers to the Jinshui Bridge in fengtianmen (Taihemen) square, ordered them all to kneel, and listened to him declare the so-called "traitorous party", including the university scholars Liu Jian and Xie Qian, Shangshu Hanwen and five others, as well as Shilang, Yushi, and Wang Shouren (Yang Ming), etc. The Biography of Liu Jin of Ming Shi records that he listed a list of 53 people (one said 56 people), and the imperial officials asked all of them to investigate Zhishi (retired). In this way, the opposition among the courtiers was swept away. The names of some of the ministers who had impeached Liu Jin were written on the screen next to the throne, and Liu Jin was ready to seek revenge. For some people who refused to cling to and were slightly dissatisfied, he also indiscriminately threatened to crack down on framing. Because yang Yiqing, the right capital, did not attach to Liu Jin, he was charged with "abusing military expenses" by Liu Jin, arrested and imprisoned in Jinyi Wei Prison, and later rescued by the university scholar Li Dongyang, and was successively fined 600 stones and lost to the side. Yang Yuan, the Overseer of Qin Heaven, was killed on the way to Death on the way to Death by Liu Jin because of the disaster of the Heavenly Change, which means Liu Jin's dictatorship.
Yushi Lu Kun, a native of Gui'an (present-day Huzhou, Zhejiang Province), led thirteen imperial historians to criticize the Zhengde Emperor's favored eunuchs, feasting on daily affairs, and said: Living in a wide palace, how do you know that the people live in huts and do not shelter from the wind and rain; how do you know that the people are in the hardships of winter cold and summer heat and hunger when they wear Ayara and eat food; how do you know that the people are in the hardships of winter, cold, summer, and hunger; how do you know the pain of the people who are trapped and miserable and have no way to seek justice. Neglect, anger, decree: All go to prison, each with thirty rods, and remove the names of the people. Lu Kun and others were arrested and imprisoned, each with thirty rods, and dismissed from official posts. Among them, Huang Zhaodao, Wang Hong, and Xiao Qianyuan were three imperial historians in Nanjing, and their fate was to lay down their staffs in Nanjing ("The Biography of Ming Shi Lu Kun").
There was also a royal historian named Jiang Qin, a Jiangsu Changshu person, a jinshi, who was killed by the court staff three times in succession: the first time was to "arrest the zhao prison together with Lu Kun and others, and the court staff was for the people". The second time, three days later, he went up alone and denounced the traitors. Neglected, the result is another thirty rods, and goes to prison. The third time was three days later, and then he went up to the court and rebuked the adulterous minister -- "The minister was neglected again yesterday, and the flesh and blood were dripping, and he was lying in prison." He hoped that the Zhengde Emperor would cut off the head of the grand eunuch Liu Jin and hang it at the noon gate! He also said: If I am killed, then let me play underground with the ancient loyal people, Páng and Bigan! The history books record that when Jiang Qin was drafting the third letter at night, he heard a ghost sound under the lamp. Jiang Qin said: After I am neglected, I will suffer a great disaster, is this the ancestor apparition asking me not to write this song! So he straightened up his clothes, stood up, and said, "If it were my ancestor, tell me out loud!" Just after saying that, the voice came out of the wall, and Yi Jia was miserable. Jiang Qin sighed: Since I have done the imperial history, I will be righteous and forget my selfishness, and if I am silent and fail the country, I will also be ashamed of my ancestors! So he wrote a book, saying: "Death is death, this draft is not easy!" The ghost stopped. Dawn, dredge, and staff thirty more. Three days after the staff, he died in prison at the age of forty-nine (Ming Shi Jiang Qin Biography).
Loyal courtiers
On June 25, the third year of Zhengde (1508), the Zhengde Emperor's imperial Fengtian Gate (Taihe Gate) was under the government of the early dynasty. At the end of the early dynasty, the group of courtiers prostrated their heads and bowed, and when they were about to retreat from the dynasty, they suddenly found an anonymous document on the imperial road, that is, an anonymous letter. The content of the letter was to expose the crimes of liu jin, the eunuch of the ceremonial supervisor. Yushi presented the anonymous document to the Zhengde Emperor for reading. Liu Jin vented his obscenity on the spot, and he announced that the civil and military officials were not allowed to retreat from the dynasty, and they were all going to kneel in front of the Fengtian Gate. Standing on the platform of the Fengtian Gate, Liu Jin was arrogant and had a bad attitude, reprimanding his ministers, insulting them, and threatening them to report the person who wrote the anonymous letter. It was a hot day, the sun was shining, the ground was baking, the heat was blowing, there was no shade, and there was no water to drink. Officials knelt on the courtyard brick floor for a long time, their mouths dry, sweating, hungry, and miserable. From the lower dynasty to the afternoon, more than ten people passed out, and three people died of heat stroke (Records of Emperor Mingwu, vol. 39). Liu Jin was indifferent and ordered the internal supervisor to drag the fainting person out.
After nearly a day of kneeling, the hundred officials did not confess to the person who wrote the anonymous document. Liu Jin was furious and ordered Jin Yiwei to arrest and imprison all the more than 300 civil and military officials kneeling at the Fengtian Gate, causing a great injustice since the Zhengde Emperor took the throne.
At dusk, more than three hundred imperial court officials were arrested and imprisoned, and the news came out, shaking the capital and arousing the anger of the officials and the people. At this time, Li Dongyang, a university scholar, stepped forward and spoke bluntly.
Statue of Li Dongyang
Li Dongyang (1447-1516), a native of Chaling, Hunan. Dongyang Precocious, at the age of four, can write a foot square of large characters. When Emperor Ming Jingtai heard about it, he liked him very much, and once held him on his knee and gave him candy to eat. At the age of eighteen, Li Dongyang entered the Hanlin Academy and was later taught editing. He served as a lecturer and was the teacher of the Crown Prince of Tokuni, and the official had always been a scholar of Rebbe Shoshu and Bunkyō University. He was in the fifty years of the dynasty, fifteen years into the cabinet, and went through the five dynasties of Jingtai, Tianshun, Chenghua, Hongzhi, and Zhengde, and died at the age of seventy. According to legend, the old Hutong of Li Ge on The Right Street of Beijing is named after Li Dongyang who lived here. Li Dongyang was a famous writer and calligrapher of the Ming Dynasty. When the government went home, the guests filled the door, and many people came to ask for writing and articles. Tangtang Zaifu did not accumulate any property at that time, and he also relied on the text remuneration to subsidize the family. One day, madame came in with paper and ink, Li Dongyang Li Dongyang xiangyang said that he was tired and did not want to write, the lady said: "Today's guests, can you make the case without fish and vegetables?" ("Ming Shi Li Dongyang Biography") that is to say, today's hospitality, so that there are no vegetables and fish on the table? Exchange words for money, go buy fish and meat! Dongyang was helpless and wrote with a pen. There is also a story that the university scholar Li Dongyang celebrated his birthday, and his two protégés, Lu Duo and Zhao Yong, both successively supervised the sacrifice of wine by the official Guozi, and the two of them met to take "two pas as a life", and turned over the cabinet, which was not inside. What to do? Remembering that there are dried fish brought by the villagers in the kitchen, take the dried fish to see the teacher! But when I went to the kitchen, I saw that "half of the food was over", and only half of the dried fish was left, so I carried half a dried fish to the teacher to wish him a happy birthday. Li Dongyang was overjoyed after seeing it, leaving the two behind, letting his wife cook fish and serve food, eat and drink, and leave with great joy ("The Biography of Ming Shi Lu Duo"). Dongyang's clean and honest style can be seen from above.
Then again. Li Dongyang, a university scholar, was imprisoned for more than three hundred officials, and was urgently evacuated by Emperor Zhengde. He said: How can anonymous writing be known when the anonymous text is written by one person, and the officials worship and rise up in a hurry? Everyone but one becomes a sinner. They wear shackles, they are suspicious of each other, and the weather is hot, the prison gas is fumigated, and if they are detained again, after a few days, people will not protect themselves! Specially hope for the emperor, lower the lun yin, first release, and then secretly visit, find out the anonymous, and then put it to punishment. Dongyang was on the throne, and Liu Jin also heard that the anonymous letter was written by his kind of eunuch, so the Zhengde Emperor ordered that more than three hundred officials be released from prison, and the anonymous letter incident would no longer be pursued.
Ling Chi was executed
Liu Jin "has the power to dominate the world, Wei Fu is in love", and it has been many times since he performed such a farce. The History of Ming says that Liu Jin "repeatedly went to jail and unjustly accused himself of being on the road."
In August of the fourth year of Zhengde (1509), Liu Jin sent Yushi An Weixue and others to the border to clean up tuntian, and Zhou Dong, the shaoqing of Dali Temple, in order to please Liu Jin, ordered hundreds of hectares of tun tian in Ningxia to pay rent, causing the people's resentment to boil. Zhu Huan, the king of Anhua, launched a rebellion in the name of Liu Jin, and the town of Bianbian was rumored to be destroyed, and the great earthquake in Guanzhong was launched. When the news reached Beijing, the Zhengde Emperor panicked and hurriedly issued an edict to reduce punishments, pardon sinners, collect errand officials, exempt them from rent and grain, and provide relief to displaced people. He also appointed the former right-hand capital Yushi Yang Yiqing as the viceroy, and the eunuch Zhang Yong (張永) the viceroy of the military affairs, led an army against Zhu Liao and others and was captured by the Ningxia guerrilla general Qiu Yu. The eunuch Zhang Yong exposed Liu Jin's sins in front of Emperor Zhengde, so Emperor Zhengde degraded Liu Jin to Fengyang. Later, when raiding the house, a large amount of gold and silver treasures were found, and even more searched for gun robes, pseudo-seals, armor, crossbows, palace tooth plates and other items, and the Zhengde Emperor was shocked and angrily said: "Jinguo is anti!" ”
On August 25, the fifth year of Zhengde (1510), Liu Jin, the year of Hua Jia, was delayed by Yi Luling for three days— according to the "Old Stories of the History of the State": "For example, three thousand three hundred and fifty-seven knives, the first ten knives should be drunk, and on the first day, three hundred and fifty-seven knives should be cut first, such as large nail pieces." "The enemy family has a raw eater who buys him a luán (luán) meat for one dollar. This great eunuch, who was invincible at that time, finally got the end of "the city and the head of the city".
In the past, these historical events often blamed the eunuch Liu Jin. Yes, Liu Jin has an important responsibility, but the main person responsible should be the Zhengde Emperor. "The upper liang is not right and the lower liang is crooked" - there is the absurdity of the Zhengde Emperor, and only then there is the nonsense of the eunuch Liu Jin. Liu Jin was just a vicious dog, and in front of the Fengtian Gate of the Hall, he insulted high-ranking officials such as university scholars and Shangshu, and punished more than three hundred officials of the imperial court for kneeling. How can Liu Jin "correct the edict"?
Grand Eunuch Liu Jin did all the bad things, and he himself had a ruined fate. Li Dongyang and Liu Jin explained from both the positive and negative sides: To be an official, the emphasis is on the four righteousnesses -- cultivating a righteous heart, studying diligently, pro-righteous people, and practicing the right path.
【Excerpt from: "Six Hundred Years of the Forbidden City" Yan Chongnian / Chinese Publishing House]
