Author: Ren Yan, our special guest author
In the fifth year of the Wanli Dynasty (1577 AD), an incident occurred in the family of a minister, which quickly escalated into a super public event of the Ming Dynasty, setting off a bloody storm inside and outside the court. This minister was no one else, it was the first assistant who was in power at that time- Zhang Juzheng, and this incident affected the fate of a young man, a young man named Zou Yuanbiao, where history drew a starting point for the two of them.
One: Zou Yuanbiao his people
Zou Yuanbiao, ZiErzhan, Nangao, Jiangxi Jishuiren. According to historical records, he was a child prodigy who passed through the Five Classics at the age of nine. In addition to being smart and studious, Zou Yuanbiao also has a characteristic, that is, Fang Zheng Gengzhi, and his friend once recorded such a small matter. In the early years, Zou Yuanbiao had been in school, and once in class, when the teacher explained an ancient text, there was an objection, Zou Yuanbiao immediately barded with the teacher, and the teacher used the ring ruler, and the palms were swollen, or resolutely did not admit his mistake, and finally the teacher could not bear it and expelled him from the division. Zou Yuanbiao's twist is also no one, just as Gu Xiancheng commented on him: "Sexual integrity."
What is valuable is that Zou Yuanbiao also has great ambitions and takes it as his duty to benefit Cangsheng. After he was raised to the rank of seventeen, Zou Yuanbiao accompanied Jiajing Jinshi Hu Zhi on a study tour, traveled all over the famous mountains and rivers, visited many academies, observed the world' changes, wrote a number of articles on the people's livelihood and suffering, and strongly expressed his ideal of saving the world and saving the people.
After returning from his study tour, Zou Yuanbiao continued his scientific expedition and passed the examination in the fifth year of the Wanli Calendar, this year, he was only twenty-two years old, and in the era of "fifty young soldiers", he could be described as an outstanding leader. The young Zou Yuanbiao was appointed as the "Ministry of Political Supervision and Punishment", an intern of the state organs, and the future is infinitely bright! Just when Zou Yuanbiao was having a smooth ride in the official arena, an emergency changed Zou Yuanbiao's life.
Two: The "Love Affair" incident
In the autumn of the same year that Zou Yuanbiao was admitted as a jinshi, the father of Zhang Juzheng, the first assistant of the dynasty, died in his hometown. According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, whenever a parent dies, all officials must return home to observe filial piety for 27 months, that is, "Ding Worry". According to the custom, Lord Zhang also had to return to his hometown to worry about Ding, and this became the "heart disease" of the emperor and Zhang Juzheng.
▲Masashi Tsugei Image
At that time, the Wanli Emperor had been on the throne for 5 years, just as the young man was trying to govern and fully supported Zhang Juzheng in carrying out reforms; and Zhang Juzheng had just undergone a subtle personnel change, and was promoted to the first assistant of the cabinet and assisted the young emperor, it was the power that was in his hands and the reform measures were implemented nationwide. At this time, if Zhang Juzheng left his post, he was worried about the sentence - "people go tea and cool", not only is it difficult to keep the official position, but even the wave of reform in full swing is bound to be affected, and even the flag is stopped. Under such a dilemma, Zhang Juzheng submitted a recital and reported Ding Worry.
Wanli's reply was simple and clear: "not allowed" and instructed it to "seize the affection". "Seizing affection" is the opposite of "Ding Worry", which means that officials cannot leave their posts due to their important status, and can be ordered by the emperor to "seize affection" without having to return to their hometown. After Receiving the Emperor's approval, Zhang Juzheng still made a report to apply for Ding You, which was rejected by the Emperor, and finally obeyed the Emperor's will and "helplessly" won the favor.
The ministers next to them could not see it: obviously Zhang Juzheng could not let go of his official position and did not want to worry about it. If a person cannot even observe the Great Festival of Loyalty and Filial Piety, how can he be upright and abide by the law? Not to mention the emperor's teacher? The imperial court cannot set an example, how can the people of the world be satisfied and convinced? The officials of the Hanlin Academy immediately protested, and at that moment, four people submitted a song to impeach Zhang Juzheng.
In the song chapter, zhang Juzheng was accused of coveting the Lu throne and refusing to worry about it, which was contrary to ethics and morality, and pleaded with the emperor to order him to return to the house and think about it behind closed doors, only in this way could he calm his morale. The recital immediately caused an uproar in the government and the public, the players were four small people who used no name, the impeachment was the first assistant of the dynasty, and the four were once Zhang Juzheng's cronies, and the relationship was complicated; coupled with Zhang Juzheng's reform for many years, invisibly offended many people, for a while, the sound of insults and the face of the head swarming flocked to the scene, the first assistant was embattled, and the situation was precarious.
But Zhang Juzheng was by no means a vegetarian, with authority in his hands, and the emperor obeyed him, and everything was easy to deal with. A report of his resignation was typed on, and the emperor's Zhu Bi imperial approval came down, and the four officials involved in the impeachment were pulled to the noon gate to receive the court staff, and they were "stripped of their official positions and demoted to commoners), and after the fight, they were refilled with the army, and they were not pardoned for life. Such a punishment can not be described as cruel, and what is even more fatal is that the charge of the army depends on whether the officials can survive this board that makes people's butts blossom and blood fly.
The emperor then issued another directive, pointing out that the people who participated in Zhang Juzheng were all bullying and young people, and wanted to drive away shoufu to isolate himself to achieve the ulterior motive, this time it was just a few big boards, if anyone protested again, don't blame me for not being polite, all felonies! A court staff plus a command, the effect of the heavy punch was immediate, and no one dared to say anything, but at this time, Zou Yuanbiao, the official "small fresh meat", had already seen that Zhang Juzheng, who was monopolizing power, was not pleasing to the eye, and at this time he dared to stand up.
When the four officials were crackling the board, Zou Yuanbiao prepared his own recital, and his words became more intense, directly making Wan Li and Zhang Juzheng angry to the point of vomiting blood. Others just scolded Zhang Juzheng, but Zou Yuanbiao did not even let go of the emperor. He ridiculed Zhang Juzheng for being talented and immoral, and many policy measures were unreasonable; he even accused the emperor: You let Zhang Juzheng win the favor, saying that you wanted to teach you to learn knowledge, in case Zhang Juzheng died suddenly, didn't the emperor learn in your life? The final summary is that Zhang Juzheng's father did not take care of him when he was there, and when he died, he did not go home to mourn, and the act of seizing affection was like a beast, and allowing Zhang Juzheng to seize affection was "to be with the beast".
Wan Li was mad, and on the day he received the recital, he tied up Zou Yuanbiao, did not care about the image of the emperor, and directly scolded in the edict: "Manic and hateful, heavy canons are not spared." The emperor's anger, the executioners naturally understood the spirit, when the board was particularly careful, 80 large boards beat Zou Yuanbiao skin open flesh, one leg was directly broken, dying almost died, and then was exiled to the remote Guizhou. In this way, Zou Yuanbiao, who had just been a soldier for 5 months, not only had Zhang Juzheng's career come to an abrupt end, but also left him with a lifelong disability. This hatred is not shared by heaven!
Three: The eunuch sea rises and falls
Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river. In the political arena, there are already storms and storms, and things are already wrong. Five years later, in the ten years of Wanli, the powerful minister Zhang Juzheng died, but the pro-government Wanli began to liquidate Zhang Juzheng, who he once trusted incomparably, whether the anti-Zhang faction or the anti-Zhang faction at that time fell into the well, racking their brains to expose Zhang Juzheng's crimes, Zhang Juzheng's family property was confiscated, his family was exiled or died, and even his title was stripped away, and Zou Yuanbiao returned to people's vision at this time.
▲Portrait of Wanli
Zou Yuanbiao, who was exiled to a remote area for 6 years, was used by the emperor as an official, and when people hoped that this "anti-Zhang hero" who returned to Beijing and who had a feud with Zhang Juzheng could add some material to the vigorous liquidation movement, he did not expect that Zou Yuanbiao's dumb mouth on Zhang Juzheng's "evil deeds" would be extinguished and he would not say a word. Someone asked him why, and Zou Yuanbiao replied frankly: "When I impeached Zhang Juzheng, it was public indignation rather than private grievances. ”
However, the 6 years of exile did not change Zou Yuanbiao's Fangzheng true colors at all, and he entered the career again, and he was bent on advising the emperor to worry about the country and the people and pay attention to political affairs. However, wan li was no longer able to listen to the good words of the ear, and was very dissatisfied with Zou Yuanbiao's words, and soon demoted him to Nanjing. After several changes to promotion and demotion, Zou Yuanbiao simply resigned from illness and returned home, settling in the township to teach for a career.
During this lecture, which is exactly thirty years, Zou Yuanbiao got to know many like-minded people, ran schools and classes together, and educated the people's livelihood to talk about political affairs. The joint school is the famous Donglin Academy, and Zou Yuanbiao, together with Gu Xiancheng and Zhao Nanxing, has become the "Three Gentlemen of Donglin".
Nearly forty years of years, zou Yuanbiao's black hair was dyed white, and the ups and downs of the eunuch sea also made him see the fortunes of Daming. Above the court, the party struggle is continuous, the emperor has been lazy to go to the dynasty for decades, the people's livelihood is withering, and Zou Yuanbiao, who is in the folk, feels the same way, as he said: "The decline of the national dynasty, thirty years in the countryside, the pain is like skin." Single-mindedly serving the country but feeling deeply powerless, he gradually had more understanding of Zhang Juzheng, who was belittled at that time.
Didn't Zhang Juzheng carry out reforms with an iron fist precisely foresaw the country's decline? He is extremely powerful, does not hesitate to exclude dissidents, and is a dictatorship, but now from another point of view, he is using his own strength to suppress the opposition to promote reform, and to turn the tide, and the results of reform have been clearly revealed. Daming, who was originally like a building in danger, gradually became stable after his reform of the New Deal, and the situation of internal and external troubles was also alleviated by measures such as light taxes on the inside with external use. In today's words, in the decade of Zhang Juzheng's reform, GDP explained everything, which has a rare "Wanli ZTE". However, Zhang Juzheng's painstaking heart won a round of insults from corrupt officials, and even Qingliu ru Zou Yuanbiao failed to understand one or two. And now, the reformer has passed away, there is no longer Zhang Juzheng in the world, watching the Ming Dynasty turn from prosperity to decline, but no one can turn the tide anymore.
In the first year of the Apocalypse (1621), Zou Yuanbiao, who was already a rare year, was used again. Seeing the partisan disputes within the DPRK, while recommending good talents to the state, he also advised the emperor on the "peace" of the proposal, that is, for the sake of the government, it is necessary to accommodate the existence of dissenting political views, and to make concerted efforts to abandon disputes for the country's grand plan, only in this way can the country be stable and peaceful.
Zou Yuanbiao strives for a harmonious atmosphere, completely without the sharpness of his youth, not even as bold as he was then, for people's incomprehension, he said indifferently: "Those who are subjects to others, first of all for the sake of the state, can not be informal", this is what Zhang Juzheng once said, and now Zou Yuanbiao has thoroughly understood. This belated understanding, spanning 40 years of time and space, finally shook hands and made peace, just as Zou Yuanbiao sighed: "Half a life of ups and downs, Fang knows the hardships of Jiangling (that is, Zhang Juzheng). ”
▲Portrait of Zou Yuanbiao
Zou Yuanbiao, who had returned to the court, soon appealed to the emperor, requesting that Zhang Juzheng's reputation be restored and that he be posthumously awarded the title of emperor. In the second year of the Apocalypse, the Emperor of the Apocalypse finally issued an edict to restore the official Yin for Zhang Juzheng. This generation of famous courtiers who had been wronged forty years behind him finally won the belated justice under the efforts of the "enemy", but it was only the end of the ming dynasty, and such an ending only added to the sigh of the people!