During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, the most hated traitor was Yan Shifan, the son of the first assistant Yan Song. This person was born on March 23, the eighth year of Zhengde (1513), in The capital of Yuanzhou, Jiangxi, Jiajing Ten Years (1531) with his father's "arrangement", into the Guozijian study, in fact, is the so-called gilded, after graduation everyone can figure out, as the second generation of officials, he did not have to take the imperial examination directly to take office, and successively served as Shangbaosi Shaoqing, TaichangSiqing and other positions.
In the eyes of the common people, Yan Shifan is a typical image of a traitor, and "better than his father", his treacherous insidiousness is based on agility, he is familiar with the national classics, knowledge of current affairs, but also good at speculating on people's hearts, so he can win the emperor's reuse and praise, can be described as the first ghost talent of the Jiajing Dynasty, it can be seen that he is a typical person who did not use his wisdom in the right place.
And to what extent is his arrogance? Just a few examples will get you covered. Yan Song had accepted Zhao Wenhua as a righteous son, and when he returned from a trip in Jiangnan, he chose a local gold silk tent as a special gift for Yan Shifan, and considering that Yan Shifan had twenty-seven wives and concubines, he brought a jewelry bun to each of them. Of course, these gifts were given for the sake of building a relationship, but Yan Shifan felt that Zhao Wenhua only sent such a little thing, and his heart was very dissatisfied.
When Yan Shifan and his father Yan Song were still in power, all departments in the DPRK and China basically observed their eyes and acted. Yan Shifan knew that the Jiajing Emperor was not too close to the third son, Zhu Zaikun, the Prince of Yu, so he intended to withhold the gift of the Yu Dynasty. Zhu Zaiquan did not receive the annual gift for three consecutive years, and considering that the people in the government were counting on this money to support themselves, they could only cobble together fifteen hundred taels of silver to please Yan Shifan, and Yan Shifan accepted the money before letting the household department issue the annual gift. In order to get the gift he deserved, the crown prince also had to paste the silver to the officials upside down, which Yan Shifan did have a lot of "official authority", and it was no wonder that he often hung up on this matter, and even became a reason for him to ask for bribes from others.
In addition to currying favor with the Jiajing Emperor, Yan Shifan only needed to think about how to scavenge more people's fat and people's cream, and how to be a time manager between his twenty-seven wives and concubines and countless lovers. Since he can do it, of course, he also has his special skills.
One of the stunts: good at guessing people's hearts. When Yan Song was the first assistant again, he was nearly seventy years old, and he not only had to accompany the emperor day and night, but also had to devote his energy to helping the emperor deal with government affairs, old and weak, it was really difficult to stand, so he would often entrust the political affairs that he did not have time to take care of to Yan Shifan to deal with, and even directly let him complete the draft of the ticket with a pen in private. Originally, this vote was not supposed to pass through Yan Shifan's hand, but each time the ticket was submitted, it happened to be in line with the jiajing emperor's wishes, so the jiajing emperor turned a blind eye to this matter.
Some historical sources once said that one night, the Holy Will of the Jiajing Emperor was transmitted to the Cabinet, hoping to ask the cabinet members for advice. At that time, yan song, Xu Jie, And Li Ben were left in the cabinet, and they saw that the holy will was difficult, and for a while none of them could make up their minds to reply to the Jiajing Emperor. When Yan Song saw that things were not progressing, he summoned the attendants around him and asked him to remember the contents of the holy will, and then went to Yan Shifan to ask for help. In the process of waiting for the reply, the Jiajing Emperor was a little impatient, so the three people had to give opinions according to their own understanding of the matter, but none of them were the answers that the Jiajing Emperor wanted. Finally, Yan Shifan's reply was sent over, and after the Jiajing Emperor read it, there was a sense of relaxation in his tight frown, which made Yan Song and others breathe a sigh of relief.
Stunt two: unforgettable memory. Although Yan Shifan was a traitor, it was undeniable that he was a rare and intelligent person. The Jiajing Emperor believed in Taoism, so he often held a toast to the heavens, and in this activity, burning green words was an indispensable part. The green words are written in red pen on the green vine paper and dedicated to the gods. When Yan Shifan was a student, he was well aware of the characteristics of the Jiajing Emperor who liked officials who could write qingzi well, so he made a lot of efforts in learning to write qingzi.
When the Jiajing Emperor wrote Qingzi, he always liked to bring hints containing personal political opinions or doubts, and then handed the Qingzi to his ministers and asked them to reply to him according to their understanding. Who wouldn't want to give the emperor a satisfactory answer? Yan Song also thought, but he had exhausted Jiang Lang early, and it was really difficult to cope with the political tasks thrown by the Jiajing Emperor with the intention of making things difficult, so he noticed his son Yan Shifan, a boy who was familiar with the history of the scriptures, and had a good memory, so he threw the writing of Qingzi to him after that.
Another time, the Jiajing Emperor was studying one day, and when he encountered something incomprehensible, he asked the minister the meaning of the paragraph. None of the ministers on duty in the cabinet knew where the emperor's words came from, and naturally could not answer the emperor. And Yan Song remembered Yan Shifan and sent someone to ask for the answer. Sure enough, in Yan Shifan's reply, he made it clear which book the passage came from, even on the first few pages of the first few volumes. Yan Song sent people to find the book, which gave Emperor Jiajing a satisfactory answer, of course, it was inevitable to praise Yan Shifan twice, thus deepening the importance that Emperor Jiajing attached to Yan Shifan.
Stunt three: exceptionally energetic. Yan Shifan's energy is exuberant, it is obvious, otherwise he is busy with business, where can he still take care of drinking and entertainment, eating both men and women, and singing at night? Indulging in sex, it is natural to be put down by alcohol, but in order not to delay the handling of government affairs problems thrown by his father, Yan Shifan has his own set of methods. This method is to ask the waiter to take a basin of piping hot water, soak the towel in the water, wrap it around the head when it is hot, have a little coolness, immediately put it in hot water to soak in heat, repeat this action two or three times, and the wine can wake up, so that it will no longer show a drunken state in the political arena.
Yan Shifan is a genius, it is undeniable, but he wasted this talent, all his skills are used to maintain his luxurious and promiscuous life, of course, with his own talent to beg for food is good behavior, but Yan Shifan's mistake is that he built his happiness on the heads of ordinary people, which is also the most important reason why he became a notorious traitor in history.