We read all the lead to present a different history.
As we all know, before the Ming and Qing dynasties, in addition to the emperor, he was the most powerful minister, responsible for assisting the emperor in handling the affairs of the whole country, so he had a pivotal position in the court. In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang felt that the lessons of the past were all in his sights, and in order to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, he took advantage of the "Hu Weiyong case" to announce the abolition of the post of minister of state. In order to consolidate the power of the monarchy, Zhu Yuanzhang even established an ancestral precept to strictly prohibit future generations from restoring the status of chancellor. However, this also brought a series of problems - although Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang was ambitious and diligent in government affairs, personally managing the affairs of the six ministries, but because the affairs were too complicated, it was difficult for one person to deal with them. In order to reduce the burden and to handle government affairs more efficiently, Zhu Yuanzhang decided to appoint a subordinate adviser and select some low-level officials to hold this position, giving him the title of Imperial Scholar.
▲ Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang called the emperor scene
After Ming Chengzu Zhu Di moved the capital to Beijing, in order to further reduce his own administrative burden and to facilitate his own inquiries and investigations, he issued an edict to let many well-educated people wait day and night at the Wenyuan Pavilion at noon, thus forming the famous "cabinet" system of the Ming Dynasty. Initially, cabinet ministers, as the emperor's private secretaries, were often involved in government affairs, usually three to seven. With the continuous improvement of the relevant systems, coupled with the fact that they often accompanied the emperor, their status was naturally different from the past. At this time, the cabinet was almost directly in charge of the six ministries, and its first assistant also held heavy powers, managing the affairs of the court, and his status was equivalent to that of the previous chancellor, and the ordinary cabinet minister was also known as the auxiliary minister. Today Ziyuan wants to introduce you to Liu Jue, one of the three cabinet members during the Ming Xianzong period.
▲Meisei Bunkyo Image
Liu Jue, born in Shouguang, Shandong In the first year of Xuande (1426 AD), was intelligent and diligent from an early age, according to historical records, Liu Jue was "born and enlightened" when he was young, and he was able to reach the realm of "passing through the eyes and becoming a recitation" very early, which was actually a genius. In the thirteenth year of orthodoxy (1448 AD), Liu Jue was a high school scholar, because of his talent and diligence in government affairs, he was highly valued by Emperor Yingzong Zhu Qizhen, and his career was smooth, and he finally entered the Imperial Palace University and ranked as the elder of the cabinet. The "Epitaph of Liu Jue" written by Yin Min of the Ming Dynasty once recorded that Liu Jue's face when he was born was "tattooed with the word '丞'", and his face was very peculiar. After a Xiangshi looked at Liu Jue's face, he sighed, "It is the face of the child that has a pattern of '丞' characters, and it will be a phase after that." The Ming Dynasty Cabinet Scholar was equivalent to the previous Chancellor, and Yin Min was in the same era as Liu Jue, and his writing content was highly credible.
▲ Ming Xianzong Zhu Jianshen in the painting
Originally, Liu Jue was very knowledgeable and had outstanding character, and when he served as an editor in the Hanlin Academy, Emperor Mingying admired him very much and appointed him to teach the crown prince Zhu Jianshen. When Zhu Jianshen ascended the throne as empress, he naturally reused his mentor, and Liu Jue's career was thus prosperous. In the eleventh year of Chenghua (1475 AD), Liu Jue was ordered to compile the "Wenhua Great Training", and after he rose to the cabinet with this merit, his position could be described as an extremely popular subject. According to historical records, Liu Jue himself was "sexually loose" to the point that he "thought of himself as an old courtier of the palace and had no way to protect him in case of trouble." During the reign of Emperor Xianzong of Ming, the eunuch Liang Fang was good at flattery and often offered some rare treasures to Emperor Xianzong and his favorite concubine Wan Guifei, so he was favored by him. However, he found these rare treasures through large-scale looting and clever plundering in the people, and Lin Jun, a member of the foreign lang, was deeply disgusted by this matter and wrote to impeach Liang Fang, but unexpectedly angered Ming Xianzong, so he caused disasters and was sent to prison.
▲Ming Dynasty minister stills
When the courtiers saw this situation, they knew that Liang Fang had seduced the emperor's heart and did not dare to say much, only Liu Jue stepped forward and risked angering the emperor, and told the emperor in the court to retry Lin Jun's case, and Lin Jun was able to escape the disaster. During liu jue's tenure as a university scholar in the cabinet, he vigorously protected Jiangshan Sheji and supported the crown prince Zhu Youfan, when the eunuch Liang Fang, the traitorous minister Li Zisheng, and others, in order to curry favor with Wan Guifei, repeatedly rebelled against the government of Zuo Dao, slandered the crown prince Zhu Youfan in front of the emperor, "wanting to shake the Eastern Palace". Because the crown prince was upright, cautious in his work, and did not do anything wrong in normal times, Liu Jue resolutely opposed Emperor Xianzong's abolition of the crown prince on this ground, and repeatedly used his status as an imperial master to come to him and advise him, exposing the conspiracies and tricks of Liang Fang, Li Zi province, and others, so as to preserve the status of Prince Zhu Youfan. Under the protection of Liu Jue, Zhu Yufan eventually ascended the throne as emperor and became a generation of sages, that is, Emperor Xiaozong of Ming.
▲The tomb of Liu Jue in Gaoliu Town
At that time, in addition to Liu Jue, there were also Two People, Wan An and Liu Ji, and Zhang Tingyu, a Qing dynasty scholar, once made an evaluation of the character of the three people in the book "History of Ming": "An is greedy and cunning, Ji Yin is carved, Jue is slightly superior, Gu Xi Tan is theory, and people are manic." Compared with the two, Liu Jue's character is much better, but he speaks straight and has no scruples, so he is regarded as "manic". In fact, Liu Jue only behaved with integrity and did not want to be in the same veins as others, so he would act in this way. Because of this, Liu Jue got along very unhappily with the people in the cabinet, suffered exclusion and framing from others, and finally retreated to his hometown safely. In the third year of Hongzhi (1490 AD), Liu Jue died of illness at the age of 65. Emperor Xiaozong of Ming personally wrote a tribute to him: "Loyal to the country, allowed to be called a generation of famous courtiers; filial piety in the township, can be the elder of the three dynasties" to express his respect and mourning for Liu Jue.
Resources:
"Ming Shi Liechuan No. 56 Liu Jue Biography" "Liu Jue Epitaph"
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