On the 20th day and night of June of the tenth year of the Wanli Calendar, Zhang Juzheng, the first assistant of the cabinet, Taifu and the official Shangshu, died of illness, and emperor Mingshenzong bestowed Zhang Juzheng with a lofty honor, saying "Wen Zhong", giving him the title of Pillar State, and ordering the Shangguan of the Jinyi Weitang and the Si Li Supervisor to supervise the funeral and bury Him in Jiangling!
When Zhang Juzheng died, there were only three cabinet assistants, Zhang Siwei and Shen Shixing and Yu Youding, whether it was ranked or prestige and seniority, Shen and Yu could not be compared with Zhang Siwei, so Zhang Siwei naturally succeeded as the first assistant of the cabinet, and the Ming Dynasty entered the era of Zhang Siwei's reign.
Zhang Siwei
Zhang Siwei was dashing and quite intelligent, learned about current affairs, and had great contacts with Yang Bo, the shangshu of the bingbu, and his uncle Wang Chonggu took the title of shangshu of the bingbu, and the governor of Xuanfu, Datong, and the three towns of Shanxi, Zhang Siwei was influenced by them, and was also familiar with border affairs, preferring to talk about military affairs. Zhang Siwei (張四威), also spelled Ziwei, was a native of Shanxi, born into a family of salt merchants, and his father was Haojia of Puzhou. In the thirty-second year of Jiajing, because of his articles and calligraphy, he was selected as a Shujishi of the Hanlin Academy.
Jiajing taught the Hanlin Academy for thirty-four years, and during his tenure at the Hanlin Academy, "because of the lack of affairs in the Word Forest, Zhang Siwei and like-minded people read books in closed doors, autobiographies, sons, and hundreds of families, all of which are inexhaustible and extensive, and especially good deep thinking, cover the hope of restoring the public auxiliary." With his outstanding talent, Zhang Siwei was also valued by Xu Jie, the second assistant of the cabinet and a university scholar, and was praised as a wizard of the world, and also praised him as "a great cause in another day". At that time, Yan Song's monopoly of power made the government and the public collude, but Zhang Siwei was clean and self-righteous, and the mud was not stained
Although the Ming Dynasty Hanlin Academy belonged to a Qingshui Yamen, but the Ming Dynasty Cabinet University scholars mostly came from the Hanlin Academy, so the Ming people called the Ming Dynasty Central Officialdom, "non-jinshi do not enter the Hanlin, non-Hanlin does not enter the cabinet", in view of this, the position of the Head of the Hanlin Academy is not easily accepted. After Zhang Siwei took charge of the Hanlin Yuan, the ministers all said, "The Son of Heaven and Zhang Gongyi." Because Zhang Siwei was shrewd and capable of judging big things, Gao Gong wanted to invoke Siwei into the cabinet, but was unexpectedly taken by Yin Shidan. Due to the disputes in the cabinet, Zhang Siwei was impeached by the officials and asked to resign and return to his hometown.
In the spring of the sixth year of Longqing, the crown prince was out of the cabinet, and the emperor summoned Siwei to serve as an attendant of the Eastern Palace and assist in the affairs of the Zhan Shifu. During the incident, Cao Dawei threatened Zhang Siwei to bribe the first assistant Gao Gong to obtain promotions many times, and Zhang Siwei wrote to resign, but the emperor ordered him to enter the dynasty immediately and serve as the crown prince's attendant. Emperor Jiajing reigned for a long time, and the archives of various divisions were very scarce, but Zhang Siwei tried his best to collect and sort out the military government affairs, treasury taxes, and personnel transfers since Jiajing ten years later, all of which should be available and orderly. The four dimensions of effective work are naturally deeply appreciated by Zhang Juzheng. In March of the third year of the Wanli Calendar, Zhang Juzheng requested the addition of cabinet ministers, so he recommended Zhang Siwei, so Zhang Siwei joined the cabinet as a rebbe Shangshu and a scholar of Dongge University to participate in the aircraft maintenance.
Zhang Juzheng
Zhang Juzheng, the national treasury is vacant, the peasant uprisings are one after another, and there are many dangers. Siwei resolutely supported Zhang Juzheng's various decrees and reforms, implemented assessment methods, cleared fields and grain, levied silver taxes, popularized the "one whip law", reduced personnel, reduced expenditures, defended the frontier, and harnessed the Yellow and Huai rivers. Both have achieved remarkable results. Simply put, Zhang Juzheng rules the country. In order to pursue administrative efficiency and govern the country with the ideas of the Dharma, Zhang Siwei is different from Lu Tiaoyang, a university scholar who has his own ideas for governing the country and has his own political opinions. When Zhang Juzheng's power was at its peak, Zhang Siwei reminded him to be careful and cautious and guard against microaggressions. Regrettably, Zhang Juzheng at that time, his power was as strong as the sun in the sky, where to listen to advice.
Now that Zhang Siwei has become the first assistant to the cabinet, he is determined to implement his own governing philosophy. Zhang Siwei once consulted with the cabinet sub-assistant Shen Shixing on future methods of governing the country. Soon after, coinciding with the birth of the imperial heir, Zhang Siwei took the opportunity to write a letter: "The birth of the crown prince, the whole world celebrates, it is advisable to use Daqing to implement the benefit of the government in the world, in order to nourish the vitality of the country." The emperor saw the dragon's heart and was pleased, so he immediately promulgated the world's implementation. Since then, the government has undergone great changes, the people's hearts have been greatly pleased, and the road of speech has also been opened. In the atmosphere of "a great change in the affairs of the dynasty", Zhang Siwei instructed Yushi Sun To request the reinstatement of ministers who had been convicted of suggestions, such as Hanlin editing Wu Zhongxing, Hanlin reviewing Zhao Yongxian, and the punishment department member Wailang Aimu, and others. These upright officials who had previously opposed Zhang Juzheng re-entered the official arena, and the official arena was once again full of positive energy.
Zhang Siwei, his body has the typical thickness and shrewdness of Shanxi people, as the first assistant, Ju Heng Jian is heavy, facing major events, deciding big doubts, all of them are facing the blade and breaking, his intention is to help the crisis, and his heart is in the Amway country. Although it is not like Zhang Juzheng's vigorous behavior, it is extremely popular and the political situation is correspondingly stable. Unfortunately, Zhang Siwei's reign was too short to make the political situation of the Wanli Dynasty appear again.
In the eleventh year of the Wanli Calendar, Zhang Siwei's father, Songchuan Gong, died of illness, and in early April, Zhang Siwei received the news and was in pain. After the emperor found out, he sent the eunuch to offer condolences and hoped that Zhang Siwei could "regain his affection" and still handle government affairs in the cabinet. However, Zhang Siwei was anxious to return to his hometown for funerals, and with Zhang Juzheng's previous experience, Zhang Siwei politely refused the emperor. Before leaving, Zhang Siwei went to the Wenhua Hall to bid farewell to the emperor, "advising the Divine Sect to honor the ancestors with the law, filial piety to relatives, diligence in government affairs, integrity and purity of heart, less selfishness, benevolence and love of things, and to be consistent." This was also Zhang Siwei's last instruction to the emperor as the first assistant.
To be fair, Zhang Juzheng and Zhang Siwei were both heroes of the Wanli Dynasty, and both of them were worried about state affairs, hoping to revive Daming and revitalize the Dynasty through changes or reforms. However, the administrative programs of the two were different, Zhang Juzheng was more fond of the art of Shen Han's law family, and the government was harsh, and in addition to the dependence and trust of Empress Dowager Cisheng, to a certain extent, he acted on behalf of the emperor's sovereignty, although politically outstanding, but also laid hidden dangers for the future downfall. Zhang Siwei was more in line with the Confucian governance of the country, coupled with the dismissal of a number of treacherous and evil eunuchs in power, the use of a large number of upright ministers, and even more dedicated to the emperor's assistance, did not dare to monopolize power and make a fortune, so it won unanimous praise from both the government and the public.
Helplessly, Zhang Siwei's time as the first assistant of the cabinet was too short, although it was only a mere three years, but these three years were enough to make the imperial court change its appearance, so Zhang Siwei was called "The Elder of the Cabinet of Time" and deserved it!