May 25th, 2006 in Qin Long, if it is July 4th according to the solar calendar, 1572, Beijing will have the hottest day of the year. However, the palace atmosphere in the Forbidden City seems to be rather cold. After years of careful waiting, Zhu Zaikun, the emperor of Qin Long who ascended the throne for only five and a half years, is not yet thirty-six, but he has reached the end of his life.
The picture comes from the internet.
When Gao Gong, Zhang and Gao Yi, the cabinet university students, entered the Qing Palace under the guidance of eunuchs, the emperor was half leaning on the imperial couch, with Empress Chen, Li Guifei and Prince at the side.
When I saw the senior three, I hurriedly knelt in front of the imperial couch and cried and kowtowed. At this time, the emperor didn't speak, just nodded to them, and motioned for the eunuch around him to think about his life:
I inherited my ancestors, and I have been here for six years. I have this disease occasionally, and suddenly I can't get up. I was originally entrusted by the emperor. East Palace is young, and I have been three ministers, such as today's educated youth. I will help with my heart, abide by the ancestral system and protect the imperial map. When you are in the country, you will never die.
Before the emcee eunuch read out his life story, the high arch was sobbing.
This scene is what people see in novels and plays as the so-called emperor's "entrust an orphan". The official word is "take care of his life", and Gao Gong and others are "take care of his life". Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, this way of "taking care of life" and "being taken care of life" has only happened once before, that is, hongzhi emperor, the uncle of Emperor Jiajing, called three college students to his deathbed before his death, and handed over his son Zhu Houzhao, the later emperor Zheng Detuo, saying that the prince was clever and hoped that the teacher would train him well and be a good emperor in the future.
Qin Long this time inherited the practice of ancestors, high arch three people grateful, foreign civil servants applaud. Many researchers and lovers of Ming history like to compare hongzhi emperor with Emperor Qin Long. There are indeed similarities between the two in many places.
Of course, a good beginning does not necessarily have a good ending. Zheng De not only didn't get the guidance and training from three ministers who cared about their lives, but also expelled two of them from Beijing one year after he ascended the throne. So, what will happen to the three ministers who care about life and entrust orphans this time?
The day after the orphan died, Emperor Qin Long also died. All the aftermath was carried out in an orderly manner.
On the one hand, in order to settle down the dead emperor, he should go to Shan Ying's temple number and Lingying Mountain Mausoleum. On the other hand, it is to arrange the accession of the new emperor. First, the cabinet made a note to the prince to "persuade him to enter the DPRK", and then representatives of the Manchu military and civilians joined forces three times to ask the prince to accede to the throne. At the age of ten, Crown Prince Zhu Yijun refused twice according to the established procedure, and then surrendered for the third time. He ascended the throne in Qin Long on June 10th, six years. From the second year, namely 1573, the title of the country was changed to "Wanli". This emperor is the youngest emperor in the Ming Dynasty, sejong Wanli.
Of course, in the process of the emperor's succession, the busiest is actually not Zhu Yijun, the Wanli emperor who walks at the front desk. Ten-year-old little sejong is just a prop at this time, at the mercy of others. The busiest things are the general director and commander in chief of these things, the cabinet records of the 3354 th and the high arch. The emperor's trust made Gong work harder and more actively. He not only helped the little emperor to be justified and have a decent scenery on the stage, but also trained and assisted him to become a wise monarch. Gao Xian led the people to draft the testamentary edict and the imperial edict of Wanli, so as to promote the advantages and eliminate the disadvantages and grant amnesty to the world. Then, like the cabinet records, he put forward five suggestions to Emperor Wanli, that is, five policy agendas. These were all approved by Emperor Wanli.
As the Manchu emperor who just died and expected, a new one was born.
Qin Long six years on June 16th, that is, the seventh day of emperor wanli's accession to the throne, the minister of civil and military affairs, under the guidance of etiquette officials, followed the cabinet records and high arch to the gate of the meeting. We mentioned this meeting door many times in the past of Daming Jiajing. Give or Ask was written by Zhang Cong, written by Yang Shen and impeached by Yang Jisheng. It all happened at the gate of the meeting, but it was also called Zuo Shunmen. This is a place where major political events often occur in the Ming Dynasty, and it is a place where the will of emperors, eunuchs and civil servants play games. As Emperor Wanli just acceded to the throne, he has not officially "arranged the funeral" and has not started to discuss state affairs with ministers. Therefore, all the imperial edicts were read here by the eunuchs in charge of the ceremony.
When Gao Gong came to Huijimen, headed by Feng Bao, a handprint eunuch, the eunuchs of Silijian were already waiting here. Look at the people here, only heard Feng Bao's "purport", ministers hurriedly knelt down to listen to the purport. A ceremonial eunuch began to read aloud the imperial edict:
Queen's decree, imperial concubine's decree, emperor's decree.
Ladies and gentlemen, please note that this is a joint order issued by the queen, the imperial concubine and the emperor. You may wonder, the emperor is Wanli, so who is this queen and imperial concubine? The emperor is naturally Wanli, but the queen and the imperial concubine belong to his father Qin Long. Empress Chen was the first mother of Emperor Wanli. Li Guifei, the biological mother of Emperor Wanli. Because it won't be canonized until next month, it can't be called "Queen Mother" before canonization, so it's still called "Queen" and "Imperial concubine" in the past at this time.
Ritual eunuch continue to read aloud a way:
On the first day of the Emperor's visit to Tian Bin, our bank, together with the Cabinet Office and other government officials, called three cabinet ministers to the imperial couch, and together with my mother and son, made a will in person. He said that the East Palace is young and he needs his help every time. Nowadays, college students with high arches are authoritarian and good at politics. They took all the great men out of the court and banned the emperor from taking power. I wonder what he wants. There are three people in my family, mother and son. I'm scared and uneasy. Go back to your hometown and be idle. Don't stay. Every minister in your is very grateful to this country. When you are loyal to your country, how can you only rely on the powerful ministers and despise your country? Let's stop here. Turn over a new leaf in the future and do things with your heart. If this happens again, it will be punished by the code. Out of town on the same day.
This is a half-written imperial edict, and its meaning is clear: the court's kindness to you three cabinet ministers is higher than the sky and deeper than the sea, while Gao Gong's record does not know how to pay his debts and usurp power exclusively, which makes us orphans and widows very frightened. Therefore, we must take drastic measures to let him leave here at once and return to his hometown to live an idle life. Your cabinet, five ministers and six ministers, all owe the country. How can you just go along with him and dare not stand up and fight with him? I hope you can reflect on yourself and do good things for the court, otherwise the high arch is your example.
The eunuch of the ritual prison read the imperial edict with a straight face, and when he heard it, he almost fainted. Other ministers were confused by this imperial edict. But the emperor's grace is mighty.
The cabinet records, headed by Zhu Guo, Shaofu, Taifu Prince, and Zhongjidian University, the foreman in charge of the official department, and the teacher of the emperor who had just died for 20 days, were thus deprived of all political identity by an imperial edict.
So we have to ask, what did this high arch do? He's not very good at this. Why are you so timid this time? Can you leave Beijing and go home? The imperial edict says that you dare to seize the power of the emperor. Are you like this? If not, you can complain and ask them to produce evidence. However, there is no evidence. What is absolute monarchy? This is the so-called monarchy. This imperial edict may not be the emperor's original intention at all, but as long as it is issued in the name of the emperor, it cannot be disobeyed. Besides, you can't find anyone to complain, and there is nowhere to complain. The imperial edict was read by the eunuch who presided over the ceremony. Did you argue with him? He said it was just an "imperial decree". Do you talk to the queen, the imperial concubine or the emperor? No one can see you at all. I'm sorry if you can't tell the emperor that he won't leave. The censors are preparing to list more crimes against you. Besides, the Royal Guards' sticks are still waiting there. So I had to kowtow to the eunuch who read the imperial edict and shout "Thank you" and "Long live".
This is the first great event that happened in the imperial court after Emperor Wanli ascended the throne. Gao Gong may have broken the record this time. He may be the first lifelong minister in the history of China to be dismissed by the new emperor.
Third, character determines fate.
Speaking of this, we can't help but give Gao Gong an explanation, otherwise, we will be as confused as the officials who listened to this imperial edict at that time.
The picture comes from the internet.
This high arch, as we said in The Past of Daming Jiajing, was given to Yan Song for his birthday. At that time, he gave the historian in imperial academy a strange and discordant smile. He read a poem by Han Yu, Han Changli, and said, "The big chicken is proud to come, the chicken is waiting." Yan Song couldn't stand up with laughter. Not only that, Gao Gong proudly recorded the incident and spread it widely, which became an interesting story for the Cabinet and the Hanlin Academy during Jiajing period.
Gao Gong, a native of Xinzheng, Henan Province, was a second-rate scholar in Jiajing for twenty years. He chose Jishi Shu and left the Hanlin Academy for editing after the museum was dissolved. We have said many times in the past that Jishi Shu and the editor are likely to be future college students. At this point, the high arch has been in his early thirties. Although not a teenager, it is also very promising. Later, it turned out that Gao Gong was very lucky, because he met the right person, the third son of Emperor Jiajing, and later became the king of Qin Long, Zhu Zai _. This time, of course, the right person was not chosen by Gao Gong, but arranged by Emperor Jiajing. More likely, it was arranged by Yan Song, the record of the cabinet at that time. He was appointed as a lecturer in Yu Wang, that is, a teacher in Yu Wang. This arrangement, whether intentional or unintentional, is doomed to make a fortune in the future. Because the prince was dead at this time, Yu Wang became the eldest son of Emperor Jiajing's two living sons, and was likely to inherit the throne. Later, Yu Wang not only survived his younger brother King Jing, but also became the only son of Emperor Jiajing. After the death of his father Emperor Jiajing, he became the emperor of Qin Long. In this way, Gao Gong changed from the teacher of Yu Wang to the teacher of the emperor.
During Gao Gong's tenure as a teacher Yu Wang and a teacher emperor, the cabinet records were Yan Song and Xu Jie, both of whom were veteran officialdom. Although Emperor Jiajing is still in power, they have already planned the funeral of Emperor Jiajing. After the death of the Prince, although Emperor Jiajing has never made Yu Wang the Prince, the identity of the heir is inescapable, and the high arch also shows his ability to handle affairs. Therefore, both Yan Song and Xu Jie decided that the high arch would be reused in the future, so they constantly recommended it to Emperor Jiajing. Therefore, the high arch stands too often clearly as imperial academy's drink offering. TaiChangQing is an orthodox official, presiding over the dialogue with heaven. This is actually an opportunity that Yan Song gave him to get in touch with Emperor Jiajing. Offering wine is the chief official of imperial academy, and Gao Gong can make friends and become the leader of scholars in this capacity. In the forty-first year of Jiajing, Yan Song was dismissed from office. As a record, Xu Jie continued to give his feelings to Gao Gong, and recommended him to be an assistant minister of does, which qualified him to be a college student. In the forty-fourth year of Jiajing, Gao Gong became the minister of rites, and the next year he joined the cabinet as a college student of Wenyuan.
Although Gao Gong has entered the cabinet and there are other university students in the cabinet, Xu Jie is the oldest and most prestigious university student, and his deputies are all his students, so Xu Jie doesn't take them seriously. And Xu Jie also gradually discovered that although this high arch is capable, it has a bad temper and doesn't want to live under others. Although he has been recommending and helping him, he doesn't buy it. Especially after the death of Emperor Jiajing, Qin Long succeeded to the throne. Gao Gong is the emperor's teacher and often quarrels with himself.
Yes, another teacher, Zhang, respects himself very much. Maybe he is a good helper. Therefore, Xu Jie put aside college students such as Gao Gong and discussed with Zhang, who was not a college student at that time. For example, when drafting the imperial edict of Emperor Jiajing and the imperial edict of the Emperor, Xu Jie consulted Zhang, and soon recruited Zhang into the cabinet to counter the high arch.
Gao Gong is a straightforward person. He can't stand this anger and can't go anywhere in Xu Jie. In this way, the old and new forces in the cabinet are getting stronger and stronger. At this time, if Zhang stepped forward to mediate, the contradiction between Xu Jie and China might be solved or eased. But he didn't do it, either because he was afraid of getting burned or because he had other considerations. He sat quietly and didn't offend either side. Just then, a speaker's consideration of personal gains and losses led to the further deterioration of the relationship between Xu Jie and Gao Gong, which almost led to a big storm in officialdom. This man is called Hu Yingjia.
This Hu Yingjia, a native of Huai 'an, South Zhili, was a scholar in Jiajing thirty-five years. He used to be the magistrate of Yichun County, Jiangxi Province. Because of his remarkable achievements, he was transferred to Beijing to be an official, and later he became an official. Like many officials in the Ming Dynasty, Hu Yingjia was an outspoken remonstrator. On one occasion, an assistant minister of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, an assistant minister of the Ministry of Industry and two ambassadors were dismissed because of his impeachment. The assistant minister of the Ministry of Industry is precisely Gao Gong's in-laws. Hu Yingjia is a little worried about Gao Gong becoming a college student. She was worried that Gao Gong would wear shoes for herself and get back at her in-laws. Of course, this may be the belly of a gentleman and the heart of a villain. In order to protect themselves and realize the subtle relationship between Xu Jie and Gao Gong, Hu Yingjia impeached Gao Gong by withdrawing troops.
What did Hu Jia impeach Gao Gong for? Two things: The first thing is that after Gao Gong became a college student, he should have been on duty in Xiyuan Lu Zhi and always obeyed the emperor's mission. But Gao Gong thought the Lu Zhi in Xiyuan was too narrow, so he bought a house outside Xi 'an and often sneaked home at night. Hu Yingjia said that the second thing was that the emperor's body violated his safety. Ministers and workers, large and small, prayed to heaven and asked God to bless the emperor, but Gao Gong was not only dishonest, but also secretly took the prayer equipment out of the West Garden. I don't know what the intention is.
No wonder Hu Ying Jia can serve two assistant ministers and two envoys. It turns out that the faults he picked out are irrelevant to us today, but they are important in the eyes of Emperor Jiajing. What is more important than praying for the emperor? What is more important than serving the emperor? Gao Gong realized the seriousness of the matter and explained it at once. First, my straight room in Xiyuan is spacious and bright, and its specifications even exceed those of Yan Song and Xu Jie. I am flattered. What am I afraid of? How can I feel small? As for moving my family outside Xi 'an, it's because my family is poor, has no children and has no healthy servants. I live near here, and it is convenient to eat and wear, so I can better serve the emperor. Secondly, in recent years, it has become a common practice for scholars to go to the Purple Emperor Hall to pray for the emperor. They all use straight utensils and bring them back after praying. These cultural relics are now in Lu Zhi Xiyuan, ready for inspection. After self-defense, Gao Gong couldn't help but fight back against Hu Yingjia.
This is the character of Gao Gong, and we can't be wronged. But this argument, in the eyes of officials, censors and ministers, is not "ministerial style". What should I do as a college student?
Should be quiet, should accept the investigation of the court, should believe that the court will give you a fair account, is it worth your chatter? Fortunately, this time, Emperor Jiajing was terminally ill and neither argued with Gao Gong nor Hu Yingjia.
However, despite the fact that Emperor Jiajing and later Emperor Qin Long ignored it, the stubborn high arch could not swallow this tone. He seized the opportunity to help Hu Ying's family, and therefore publicly quarreled with Xu Jie in the Cabinet. Because Gao Gong thinks that Hu Yingjia seems to have a hard time with himself, but Xu Jie is actually behind the scenes. Xu Jie was behind Hu Yingjia, just as he was behind the fall of Yan Song. This kind of public quarrel was rare in the cabinet at that time. Everyone who enters the cabinet is a modest gentleman. Even if there are contradictions, they work behind their backs and secretly set traps. Few people fight openly. The high arch also poked the hornet's nest. Xu Jie's prestige is still there, and offending officials is even worse. Therefore, censors and officials in Beijing and Nanjing have been asking for opinions. The impeachment of Gao Gong is for personal revenge, and there is no official system. Cabinet is the administrative center of the country and an important yamen of the Qing Dynasty. Such people should not be allowed to continue working in the cabinet. What's more, science schools in Nanjing even "take over" senior engineers.
"Picking up the remains" is a great event in the Ming Dynasty.
According to the system of the Ming Dynasty, officials in the capital accepted the imperial examination every six years, which was called "Beijing Inspection". Officials below grade five are assessed by the official department, and ministers above grade four "confess" to the emperor. This self-report is similar to our "debriefing report" today. In this report, you can talk about your work achievements, but more importantly, you must explain your mistakes or negligence in your work, and you must also tell the emperor and the court what you have done. Although this report is written for the emperor, it needs to be made public, made public in broad daylight and accepted by censors and critics. So you must tell the truth and stand up to other people's gossip. If you are hiding something, I'm sorry, the official will help you remember it and make it up. It's called "picking up what's missing". Not "receiving the inheritance", but waiting for "receiving the inheritance". Once taken away, and this matter is a matter of principle, then you have committed the crime of deceiving the monarch. You should report it and ask for abdication.
Summarize the power of officials to collect relics like this:
At the age of Beijing, the minister told himself. This is called picking up the leak. Stay in the established place, but when you get to the official position, you will have a walker. You give things, you give suggestions for correction. People who pick up what they have attacked will not be spared. During the period of Hong, Zheng, Jia and Long, the scholar-officials were ashamed of their self-respect, and kept the code as their lifelong glory.
During the Wanli period, "the courtiers were selfish and left one or two scratches." Note that there can only be "one or two gaps".
This system is actually a very important system and measure for the normal operation of the state machine in the Ming Dynasty, and it is also a system to purge the officialdom. Although there are inevitably countless "going through the motions" in this process.
At this point, Gao Gong felt that he could not stay in the imperial court any longer and had to resign. Emperor Qin Long certainly didn't want his teacher to see such an ending. He made a peacemaker and allowed Gao Gong to leave, but instead of "looking for a job", he kept his treatment and returned to his hometown to "recuperate" for Shaofu, Prince Taifu, Shangshu and college students.
A few years later, the chroniclers of the selected chronicles of the Ming Dynasty still remember this incident. They analyzed that Gao Gong's challenge to Xu Jie was essentially a power struggle between the cabinet records of the old emperor Jiajing and the first minister of the East Palace of the new emperor Qin Long. However, when the competition between the representatives of the two forces has not been completely torn and irreparable, what I hate most is that there are villains like Hu Yingjia making trouble in it. They used this sentence: "Little people make friends." In it, the villain tries to figure out the dynamics, peep at the direction and gossip, thus causing the intensification of contradictions. Fortunately, at the beginning of this struggle, Emperor Jiajing failed to
Compared with the aggressiveness of Gao Gong, Xu Jie once again showed his statesmanship. After Gao returned to his hometown for a year and two months, in July of two years, Xu Jie felt the emperor's estrangement from himself. Before others issued an expulsion order, he asked himself to retire and return to his hometown in Huating County, Songjiang Prefecture to spend his old age. Another year and a half passed, and in December of the third year of Qin Long, Gao Gong was recalled to Beijing by Qin Long after two and a half years' rest in his hometown, which became a new record for the cabinet. Once it became a record, Gao Gong also inherited the style of Yan Song and Xu Jie, making his own decisions and showing his authority everywhere. Not only the cabinet, but also the foreign and domestic affairs, especially the eunuch yamen. This left a hidden danger for him to step down again.
Since the reign of Emperor Yingzong, Jane became the chief yamen of eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty, manipulating the cabinet on behalf of the emperor. All cabinet "draft" documents need to be "approved" by Reese on behalf of the emperor.
Therefore, The Records of Emperor Shizong of Ming Dynasty said: "The draft of the Cabinet must be approved by the Minister of the Interior." Generally, there are only three college students in the cabinet, but the eunuchs in charge of etiquette are a group of people, including the prefect eunuchs, the handprint eunuchs, the prefect eunuchs in the East Factory, the eunuchs who follow pens in the class, and the supervisors at lower levels. And their promotion, like civil servants outside the court, has a set of procedures.
Among these eunuchs who presided over the ceremony, Feng Bao was an important figure. According to his qualifications, he should have been promoted to the position of handprint eunuch. However, Gao Gong felt that Feng Bao was not quite right with himself and was not very harmonious when discussing his own works, so he recommended others to Qin Long. This is equivalent to preventing Feng Bao's promotion and depriving Feng Bao of the benefits he should have gained. It was blocked not only once, but also two or three times. As a result, Feng Bao is naturally very dissatisfied with the high arch.
Although the high arch despises Feng Bao, Feng Bao has the advantages of Feng Bao. He is not only well-read, knowledgeable and talented, but also plays chess, calligraphy and painting. He is proficient in everything, sings elegantly and is versatile. Therefore, the queen and imperial concubine of Qin Long regarded Feng Bao as a figure. Not only that, but also a good friend Zhang is in the cabinet. Gao Gong felt that something was wrong and not harmonious, and Zhang and he were right and harmonious. This problem is very serious.
All these backgrounds, these inside stories, and the high arches have been forgotten. What's more, Qin Long was the patron of the high arch, and Qin Long died only five and a half years later. He died here, and the queen and the imperial concubine took over there. Bao Feng became the handprint eunuch of Li Si Prison, and made a will to let the cabinet university students and Feng Bao assist the emperor together. Gao Gong realized the seriousness of the problem, but he felt absolutely good about himself and felt that he was fully capable of turning things around. Let two of his own officials impeach Feng Bao and prepare to get rid of Feng Bao when the script is submitted to the cabinet. For the sake of safety, he quietly told Zhang about the plan, hoping to get his support.
But what Gao Gong didn't expect was that although Zhang He was a colleague of Yu He Cabinet, they didn't agree with his flamboyant personality. Moreover, at this time, Zhang has climbed to a new emperor, queen and imperial concubine through relations, and tried to break away from the old dynasty and become the representative of the new dynasty. As a result, such a game, which was originally a game between cabinet records and prison handprints, objectively became a contest between Zhang and Gao Gong, with only one in the open and only one in the dark. Naturally, the high arch is in the light, while Zhang is in the dark.
As a result, the development of things completely deviated from Gao Gong's expectation. The queen, the imperial concubine and the emperor never submitted a motion to impeach Feng Bao to the Cabinet. Instead, they asked Feng Bao's friend, another eunuch in charge of the ceremony, to read out the condemnation and treatment of Gao Gong.
What's going on here? Gao Gong didn't understand what was wrong with his chess game. He thinks there is nothing wrong with his program. In fact, his mistake was that he stayed in the rest of the nest for too long, but he didn't really work in a government department. He doesn't understand the real relationship between the cabinet and the supervisor, and he doesn't understand the potential law of this struggle. In the imperial era of China, important things were not played by the rules. Don't you die if you obey the rules? Besides, what are your rules? Aren't the two men who impeached Feng Bao your "personal"? If you collude, can't others collude? I can only blame myself for not playing with others.
The result of this incident may be unfair to Gao Gong, because Gao Gong's contribution in the Qin Long period is obvious to all. However, the result of Gao Gong's stepping down was the tacit cooperation between the new cabinet and the new supervisor, and the harmonious coexistence of the new cabinet, the new supervisor, the new emperor and the new queen mother, thus creating the glory of Wanli ten years. History is so interesting, even so elusive.
"Ming history? I can't help but admire the compilers of official records. They put Gao Gong and his two sworn enemies, Xu Jie and Zhang. Because they saw that although these three men were political enemies, they carried out a relay, a relay that pushed the Ming Dynasty to its peak through their intelligence and hard work.