In August of the twelfth year of Chongzhen (1639), the execution ground in the east archway of Ganshiqiao in The City of Beijing had been arranged, and the surrounding spectators gathered and the crowds were noisy. Downstairs in the South Archway, a fat man dressed in prison clothes trembled and told the boy what had happened. Suddenly, the voice reading the Holy Will rang out loudly: "According to the law, cut 3600 swords!" On this day, the person who was sentenced to capital punishment was Zheng Yan, a famous scholar of the Ming Dynasty.
Zheng Yan (màn) was a native of Changzhou (present-day Changzhou, Jiangsu) and was born in a family of scholars. His father was a jinshi during the Wanli Dynasty, and the head of the official to the ceremonial department. His uncle was a scholar of the Chongzhen Dynasty. Under the infiltration of the family, Zheng Yankeju's road was quite smooth, at the age of 18, he was promoted to a jinshi at the age of 28, and then he was selected as a Shujishi - in the Ming Dynasty, a person became a Shujishi, which meant that his future was bright, and even "when the Shoujishi first entered, he was already a chuxiang". At the same time as Zheng Huan's career is smooth, the love scene is also enviable, and his wife is the daughter of the rebbe waiter. However, with his family in-laws and personal talents, he did not spend a happy life.
Zheng Huan's stepmother was harsh by nature and extremely jealous, and because she suspected that her husband was having an affair with her maid, she often abused the underage little girl, which left a deep imprint on Zheng Huan's young soul. As he grew older, he became more and more disgusted with what his stepmother had done. In order to see the purity of the heart, Zheng Yan ran away from home and ran to the mountains for three years, but this non-violent non-cooperation movement could not change the personality of the stepmother.
How can the cruel and tyrannical stepmother become generous and benevolent? After long-term observation, Zheng Yan believes that her stepmother believes in Taoism and may be effective if she relies on the theory of retribution by gods and ghosts. Therefore, Zheng Yan specially invited a witch to pray for the blessing of her stepmother. The witch entered Zheng Yan's house to ascend to the altar, pretending to be a ghost for a while, suddenly raised her eyebrows in anger, clapped her hands together, and said: "Zheng Men Wu Clan is not kneeling yet!" ”
In order to reassure her stepmother, Zheng Huan was very cooperative and preemptively knelt down. The stepmother knew that Zheng Yu was well-read and had never believed in the theory of ghosts and gods, and today she was actually intimidated by the witch's divine power, which showed that this person really had magical powers, so her knees were soft, and she also knelt down with a thud, and the intention of repentance in her heart suddenly appeared. The witch struck the iron while it was hot, and counted the things that Mother Zheng abused her subordinates one by one, saying that the servants who had died unjustly had already filed a complaint in the Yin Division, frightening Mother Zheng to sweat like rain and begging for forgiveness one after another. Zheng Huan rushed to say that he had been convicted of the crime, and only asked for a solution to the crime.
The witch asked if she wanted to repay the reward or the result, and Zheng Huan took advantage of the situation and said, "What is the result of the Yin Division doing now?" "The witch said that she would punish Mother Zheng for more than ten lifetimes as a bitter maid, and the dozen or so maids who were wrongfully killed would take turns to be Mother Zheng's mistress. Mother Zheng completely collapsed after hearing this, and she prostrated her head like mashing garlic, howling and crying, and even said forgiveness. Zheng Yan saw the opportunity to propose to use the present world to report to the afterlife, and negotiated with the witch in a serious manner, and finally reached an agreement: the witch agreed to use the staff to pay off the debt, the maid could be overborn, and Zheng Mother could still be a lady in the next life. Mother Zheng was overjoyed, and immediately lay on the ground ready to receive the staff, indicating that it would be no problem to take a hundred blows. When the witch saw that it was good, she accepted it, saying that she was sincerely repentant, and that zi gui was pro-rong, and sentenced Zheng Yan to scold her stepmother 20 times. This year, Zheng Was only 18 years old. His actions carried the childishness and recklessness of a young man. Perhaps he did not think that this shocking practice of the mother of the staff had laid hidden dangers for his life for the rest of his life.
After Zheng Huan entered the career path, he befriended Wen Zhenmeng and other upright gentlemen. Wen Zhenmeng once gave the Carpenter Emperor Tianqi a "Sacred Learning Shu", full of great truths to advise the king. This apocalypse remained in the middle and was ignored.
Unexpectedly, Zheng Huan made a big fuss about Tianqi's attitude of not being humble and accepting criticism, and then gave Tianqi a "Commentary on Leaving The Middle Shu", which said: "If you stay in China without going through the Imperial Review, there will be a traitor who will help Ao." This time he not only criticized the Apocalypse, but also took Wei Zhongxian with him. As a result, Zheng Yan, who had just entered the official field, was demoted and returned to his hometown. After that, the castration party created donglin points and recorded, and Xitu swept away the political enemy Donglin party. Zheng Yan was honorably included in this list. Although he was hated by the castrated party, Zheng Huan also earned himself impression points in the Shilin through his brief performance in the official arena.
After Chongzhen ascended the throne, Wei Zhongxian was overthrown, and the previously oppressed Donglin Party members were able to turn over. Zheng Huan's good friend Wen Zhenmeng rose all the way, and although Zheng Huan still lived a secluded life in Changzhou, he was already famous for his knowledge. Qian Shisheng, who was then a cabinet scholar, went out with Zheng Yushi, and he thought of Zheng Yu's talent and recommended him to the first assistant Wen Tiren (it is said that The Rebbe Shangshu Sun Shenxing was recommended to enter the cabinet and invited Zheng Yu to enter Beijing with him). Zheng Huan asked Wen Zhenmeng for advice on this matter, but Unexpectedly, Wen Zhenmeng poured a basin of cold water on him and advised him not to go out of the mountain.
Wen Zhenmeng's exhortations were not unreasonable. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the party struggle was fierce, and after Chongzhen took Wei Zhongxian, the dispute among the officials and the party did not end, but intensified. The remnants of the castration party, which always want to overthrow the reverse case, collude with their friends, forming a powerful undercurrent that surges from time to time, waiting for an opportunity to counterattack.
The first assistant, Wen Tiren, is a master of power and magic who co-opts the remnants of the castrated party and repeatedly provokes party strife. This person was sinister and vicious, and Qian Qianyi, a famous scholar in Donglin, was prevented from entering the cabinet because of his gift. Its notoriety was widely spread, so that there was a joke in the folk songs of the people that "the Chongzhen Emperor was wend", which took the meaning of wen and plague. Wen Zhenmeng, who was tall and upright, was jealous of Wen Tiren and was repeatedly ostracized; he knew that at the moment, Wen Tiren was in power and the situation in the DPRK and China was complicated, so he was unwilling to let Zheng Zhen out of the mountain.
Confucianism pays attention to learning and excellence, and Zheng Yu has been idle for more than ten years since he offended Wei Zhongxian and was degraded, and being able to go out of the mountains again to show his ambition is exactly what he desires. So Zheng Yan resolutely went to Beijing, and after entering Beijing, he paid homage to Wen Tiren, but who thought that this conversation actually made him step towards the door of death.
Wen Tiren first asked Zheng Yan, "What about the Southern Qing Discussion?" Zheng Yan replied bluntly: "The people and clouds of the country need talents, but the temple does not see the use of talents." Wen Tiren was not happy to hear it, and threw a sentence: "Unless you don't use talent, there is no talent in the world." ”
Zheng Huan immediately replied to a big truth, saying that "only when people are used, they are only out, and only when they are not used are ambushed." At present, the country is worried about internal and external troubles, if we can identify talents like Xiao He zhi Han Xin and Zong Ze Zhi Yue Fei, why can't the world succeed?
These ten words are Zheng Yan's sincere words, but when Wen Tiren hears the words, it is clear that he is accusing him of not knowing how to read and use people. Zheng Huan's fierce momentum and aggressive words made Wen Tiren very unhappy, and he thought of the close relationship between Zheng Huan and Wen Zhenmeng, and if Zheng Zhenmeng developed one day, he would definitely join forces with his political enemy Wen Zhenmeng to overthrow himself. Wen Tiren decided to kill Zheng Huan and further attack Wen Zhenmeng and the Donglin forces.
Zheng Huan did indeed betray his luck, he was not at odds with his uncle who was an assistant minister at the time, and his uncle actually ran to Wen Tiren to slander him, turning over the case of his "mother of the staff" many years ago, and adding oil and vinegar to say that Zheng Yan had an affair with his father's concubine.
In November of the eighth year of Chongzhen, Wen Tiren, like a wolf who suddenly attacked, presented the exposé materials to the Chongzhen Emperor.
As the saying goes, filial piety comes first, and Zheng Zheng's mother, no matter what the starting point is, at that time, it was ultimately a trip of immorality and contempt. Chongzhen's birth mother died early, and her benevolent adoptive mother died depressed when Wei Zhongxian and others were in power, because of these regrets, Chongzhen attached great importance to filial piety and hated those who rebelled against filial piety. In Chongzhen's eyes, the act of the mother of the staff was like that of a beast, so he ordered Zheng Huan to be arrested and imprisoned. Although Zheng Huan was well-liked in Shilin, and one after another people interceded for him, but it did not help. Shangshu of the Punishment Department, who defended Zheng Yan, was also taken advantage of by Wen Tiren, and the case was thrown to the Jinyi WeiZhen Fusi, and Zheng Yan squatted in prison for three years.
Because Zheng Yu was famous, The Governor of Jinyi Wei, Tongzhi Wu Mengming, asked Zheng Yu to tutor his son in prison. Zheng Yan really had two sons, and under his point, Wu Mengming's son actually became the first in the class after that, which made Wu Mengming grateful to Zheng Xun. Ten years after Chongzhen, Wen Tiren, who was full of evil, was deposed. In the summer of the eleventh year of Chongzhen, there was another drought, and according to the routine, the emperor asked the various yamen to "Chen Maladminist" and "declare grievances", so that they could go up to Heaven's will and comfort their subjects. Wu Mengming took the opportunity to report Zheng Huan's case as an injustice, saying that Zheng Yan had been locked up for three years, no one cared about it, no one asked, and should be released to summon Tianhe.
Chongzhen has not had a peaceful life since he ascended the throne, and in the past few years, he has been disturbed by the peasant rebel army, the Houjin, the famine, and the party struggle, and Zheng Huan's affairs have also been thrown out of the cloud of nine clouds. As a result, Wu Mengming mentioned it, but instead made Chongzhen remember that there was a female beast with a staff, Zheng Yan, who was still in prison. So Chongzhen issued a "very strict will" and said: "The mother of the staff is rebellious, and the constitution is not light, if it is innocent, why does no one make a claim for it?" The people of Changzhou Capital (Zheng Yu's hometown) are in Beijing and speak back from the public! ”
At that time, there was a depressed student in Changzhou, bored to Beijing, doing nothing every day, which met the conditions of the witness chongzhen was looking for. At the instigation of others, he ran the train with his mouth full of mouths, not only accusing Zheng Zheng of his mother, but also installing two crimes, "adultery of daughter-in-law" (adultery with daughter-in-law) and "adultery of sister". Zheng's charges grew. Although the Jinyi Wei ZhenfuSi held after the retrial that "the matter is influenced, and it is taboo to speak out", it is recommended to find a compromise between dismissal and dismissal. But the angry Chongzhen did not wait for the investigation, and finally sentenced Zheng Ton.
Looking back at Zheng Huan's ill-fated life, with his origin and knowledge, instead of being an official, he ended up with a thousand knives. What really pushed Zheng Huan off the cliff was not the whistleblower's uncle and fellow countrymen, not the credulous and irritable Chongzhen, but the cunning Wen Tiren. Zheng Huan's bold and stubborn personality is only one of the objective factors that lead to tragedy, and the farce of the mother of the staff in his youth is only the introduction to the tragedy, and what really destroyed him was the fierce party strife and the sinister officialdom during the Chongzhen years.
Ten miles in the spring breeze, it is better to read history. Pay attention to the WeChat public account Taohistory, and read history with T Jun. The author of this article | Dai Chun The source of the article | the magazine "Hundred Tribunes"