Zhang Siwei
Wanli Ten years, Wanli pro-government, Wanli Emperor pro-government at the beginning of the master Zhang Juzheng can be described as extreme praise, giving him unlimited honor, but a year later, Zhang's honor was all deprived, another year, the Zhang family was raided, in just two years the Zhang family experienced earth-shaking changes. In this process, it is generally believed that Zhang Siwei, the first assistant at the time and Zhang Juzheng's political enemy, played an important role, and Zhang Siwei only left his post after serving as the first assistant for one year, but in fact he had a huge impact on the political development of the Wanli Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty.
Zhang Juzheng
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="4" > the rise of Zhang Siwei</h1>
Zhang Siwei, born in 1526 in a salt merchant family in Shanxi, received a good education from an early age, and entered the court in 1553, but his sense of existence was not strong. The name Zhang Siwei first resounded in the imperial hall during the Longqing period during the "Li Da Feng Gong" incident.
Zhang Siwei was a native of Yuncheng, Shanxi, close to Mongolia, and he had a deep study of Mongolian issues, while Wang Chonggu, the governor of Xuanda who defended Mongolia, was Zhang Siwei's uncle, and the two had a very good private relationship and often exchanged letters. In 1571, Wang Chonggu's "Eight Discussions on Fenggong" was evolved from Zhang Siwei's "Six Discussions on Fenggong".
Mongol cavalry
However, seventeen high-ranking officials in the capital, including the British Gong Zhang Rong and hubu Shangshu Zhang Shouzhi, opposed the tribute. At this time, Zhang Siwei, who was only a servant of the bureaucracy, actively mediated in Beijing, and he successfully fooled the first auxiliary high arch, and finally promoted the tribute of Li Da, and after Zhao An Li Answer, the border was indeed peaceful, and Zhang Siwei, who was the most enthusiastic about Li Da Feng Gong, became famous in a battle, and Zhang Siwei was deeply favored by Gao Gong.
Gao Gong is very fond of Zhang Siwei, and the two are also teachers and friends, and the relationship is very good, "Gong Yicai is four dimensions, four dimensions are also not self-motivated, and the pilgrims are quite sick." Gao especially wanted to put Zhang Siwei into the cabinet, but Yin Shidan entered the cabinet first, actually squeezing Out Zhang Siwei, so Gao Gong and Yin Shidan also had a fight, completely without the courtesy of the literati. The fight between the prime ministers ended with Yin Shidan's resignation, and Zhang Siwei, the root cause of the fight between the two, was also deposed.
High arch
After that, Zhang Siwei returned to his hometown in Yuncheng, but Zhang Gao and his two men wrote privately, giving advice to Gao Gong, and actually became Gao Gong's secretary outside. By the beginning of 1572, the Longqing Emperor ordered the formation of the Eastern Palace team of the crown prince Zhu Yijun (later wanli emperor), and Gao Gong brought Zhang Siwei back through connections, and Zhang Siwei served as the attendant of the crown prince's palace.
Through the above behavior, we can see that Zhang Siwei is actually deeply favored by the high arch, and Zhang is also the firm force of the high arch sect.
a bureaucrat in the Morning
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="14" > two and two grievances</h1>
Gao Gong was very favored in the Longqing Dynasty, and his power was great, but the good times were not long, and in May 1572, the Longqing Emperor died and Wanli succeeded to the throne. The second assistant, Zhang Juzheng, co-opted the eunuch Feng Bao to carry out anti-high activities. In August 1572, Gao Gong was deposed, and the Gao Gong faction was suppressed, and Zhang Siwei, who saw the bad situation, announced that he had returned to Shanxi with a sick leave, and Zhang Ju was busy fighting for power, so he temporarily spared this "patient".
Little Wanli
By the beginning of 1574, Zhang Juzheng, who had fully mastered the court, summoned Zhang Siwei, a "patient" in Shanxi, to show selflessness and generosity. Zhang Siwei was overwhelmed after receiving the edict, on the one hand, he did not want to offend the powerful minister Zhang Juzheng, on the other hand, he quickly wrote a letter to Gao Gong showing his heart, "Send Gao Xianggong Jiu", hoping that Gao Gong would always know that he would always be Gao Gong's loyal little brother. Then Zhang Siwei came back.
The comeback Zhang Siwei was awarded the position of chief of the Zhan ShiFu, the so-called Zhan ShiFu was mainly responsible for the affairs of the prince, the emperor at that time was still a child, where the prince came from, so it was actually an empty title. At this time, it was the second year of Wanli (1574), Wanli did not understand anything, and the empress dowager of the two palaces fully believed in Zhang Juzheng, Zhang Juzheng was actually the highest decision-maker of the empire. Zhang Siwei in zhan shifu did not do practical things, did nothing, was obscure, resigned himself to Zhang Juzheng's indulgent behavior, did not oppose it, did not write impeachment, Zhang Siwei's sleek behavior soon made Zhang Juzheng relax his vigilance against this backbone of the high arch faction, and the history books evaluated Zhang Siwei at this time that "although zhang Juzheng's appearance is not entirely by Zhang Juzheng, it is not his evil", although Zhang Juzheng does not want to see him, but he is not disgusted.
In 1575, in order to prevent the people of the world from saying that the cabinet was Zhang Juzheng's hall of speech, the first assistant Zhang Juzheng requested to expand the cabinet and increase the number of cabinet members, and Wanli and the empress dowager of the two palaces let Zhang Juzheng choose his own people, and finally Zhang Juzheng promoted Zhang Siwei, who did not say anything. But in fact, after Zhang Siwei entered the cabinet, the cabinet was still Zhang Juzheng's hall of words, "Lü Tianyang did not dare to disagree." Zhang Siwei entered, and if He was an official, he did not dare to treat himself as a staff member", the second assistant Lü Tiaoyang did not dare to oppose any of Zhang Juzheng's opinions, and the third assistant Zhang Siwei was even like Zhang Juzheng's secretary, and did not dare to think of himself as Zhang Juzheng's colleague. "The fourth dimension is from Ju Zhengjin, be careful, do not dare to disagree, follow it, and only worship the official", as if zhang Juzheng's follower.
In 1578 (the sixth year of the Wanli calendar), there was an affair. At that time, Zhang Juzheng's father died, according to the custom, the minister had to leave his post and go home to guard filial piety for three years, and if he could not do anything in these three years, he had to be honest, but Zhang Juzheng actually wanted to "win affection"! The so-called seizure of affection is that Zhang Juzheng only needs to go home for three months, and he also wants to wear filial piety to work, and the cabinet "has a major matter that does not have to be decided, and he rides to Jiangling and listens to Mr. Zhang's punishment." Around whether they can win affection, the courtiers are divided into two, and the Qing school upholds the Confucian orthodoxy and resolutely opposes this filial piety, but Zhang Juzheng's backstage is the emperor. Zou Yuanbiao, Zhao Yongxian, Wu Zhongxing, and other Qingliu charged and scolded Zhang Juzheng for "greed for his position and forgetting his relatives", and as a result, he was deposed. Through the love affair, Zhang Juzheng saw his weight in the hearts of the emperor and the empress, so he became more unscrupulous, after which Zhang Juzheng used the examination method as a weapon, followed Zhang Juzheng to advance, and reversed Zhang Juzheng's retreat. Most of them are deposed by love and hatred. The people who use things right and left have more to bribe", which is like a generation of power traitors, which aggravates the confrontation between Zhang Juzheng and the world's corporals.
Zhang Juzheng and the Emperor
Zhang Siwei played a behind-the-scenes role in the love affair, not taking sides, but his heart had already moved to completely liquidate Zhang Juzheng's mind.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="25" > Prime Minister in March and October</h1>
In 1582, Zhang Juzheng died of illness in June of the tenth year of the Wanli Dynasty, and the Wanli Emperor was heartbroken at that time, giving him a lot of honors. But by 1583, Wanli had stripped Zhang Juzheng of all his honors, and in 1584, Zhang Juzheng was raided. In just two years, Zhang Juzheng's family has undergone earth-shaking changes, and this change is largely promoted by Zhang Siwei.
After Zhang Juzheng's death, the second assistant Zhang Siwei was promoted to the first assistant, and after Zhang Siwei completely got rid of the shackles of the mountain, he finally began to practice his ambitions, but in 1583, Zhang Siwei, who had only been the first assistant for ten months, left the court because he returned home to keep filial piety, and the ten-month reign had an extremely far-reaching impact on the political situation of the Ming Dynasty.
In September 1582, the first assistant Zhang Siwei had already taken Zhang Juzheng's ally Feng Bao, and at zhang Siwei's behest, Zhang Siwei's student Yushi Li Zhi impeached Feng Bao for twelve crimes, which catered to the psychology of Wanli, who was trying to revitalize imperial power and show the emperor's prestige, and Feng Bao was sent to Nanjing for retirement. This incident also gave Zhang Siwei and other anti-Zhang Juzheng factions a signal that Wanli was also estranged from Zhang Juzheng. Beginning with Feng Bao's removal, the anti-Zhang Juzheng faction quickly gathered under Zhang Siwei.
Feng Bao
Zhang Siwei recalled all the officials who were dismissed during Zhang Juzheng's period, while many high-ranking officials such as Shangshu Yin Zhengmao, the backbone of Zhang Juzheng's household department, and Chen Province, the governor of Hunan Province, were also deposed, and those who were not Zhang Juzheng but had close relations with Zhang Juzheng and were promoted by Zhang Juzheng were also deposed, such as Qi Jiguang. Eliminating Zhang Juzheng's faction was a key move for Zhang Siwei to liquidate Zhang Juzheng, and it was also an important reason why the liquidation of Zhang Juzheng was so smooth in the future. After Zhang Siwei left his post, Shen Shixing acted as the first assistant, shen Shixing did not have any deep hatred for Zhang Juzheng, but in the face of fierce public opinion, he could only be neutral, during the Period of Shen Shixing, the courtiers' liquidation of Zhang Juzheng had become fierce, and even wanted to open a coffin for Zhang Juzheng to kill the corpse, the root of which was that Zhang Siwei had retired from Zhang Juzheng and hated Zhang Juzheng.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="32" > Wen Shijun said</h1>
Although Zhang Siwei only served as an assistant minister for ten months, he played a huge role in liquidating Zhang Juzheng's political influence. Today's evaluation of Zhang Siwei all says that he is a reactionary to Zhang Juzheng's reforms, but in fact it is better to say that he is an innovation of Zhang Juzheng's reforms. In the implementation of the New Deal, Zhang Juzheng "had harsh laws and regulations, such as wet wages, and the sea was fierce", so the "Records of the Divine Sect" commented that Zhang Juzheng was "meritorious in the society and lived in wealth". Zhang Juzheng's high-pressure measures of reform made people panic, and Zhang Siwei adopted a relaxed policy for this.
Zhang Siwei stills
Although the Kao Cheng Law has the effect of supervising officials to do things, in view of Zhang Juzheng's use of it as a weapon to crack down on political enemies, Zhang Siwei abandoned the Kao Cheng Fa during his reign, which cannot be said to be the abandonment of Zhang Juzheng's reform. Zhang Juzheng's whipping method and measuring the land in the field were still in progress during Zhang Siwei's period, which was also Zhang Siwei's efforts. During Zhang Juzheng's period, Zhang Juzheng grasped major and minor matters as if he were a powerful minister; and in Zhang Siwei's period, Zhang Siwei took the initiative to give up the authority of the cabinet and returned the authority deprived by the cabinet during Zhang Juzheng's period to the six ministries. In this way, Zhang Siwei was rated as the prime minister of the rescue time.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="36" > reference</h1>
History of the Ming Dynasty, Zhonghua Bookstore, 1974
Shen Defu: Wan Liye Won,Zhonghua Bookstore, 1959.
(Author: Haoran Wenshi Purple Orange)
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