Zhang Juzheng was the most famous reformer of the Ming Dynasty, carried out reforms during his tenure, implemented a whip law, tested the law, and created the "Wanli Zhongxing", so that the Ming Dynasty continued to live for 70 years.
It's a pity that Zhang Juzheng was liquidated by his student Emperor Wanli after his death, and he was accused of greedy ink and dictatorship.
Zhang Juzheng himself is talented and has completed the reform in the history of the Ming Dynasty, but his personal morality is damaged, he likes to live a luxurious life and is greedy for ink.
Hai Rui, a tough guy in the Ming Dynasty, is a relatively fair person, and he commented on Zhang Juzheng's "work to seek the country, clumsy in a certain body".
So is he a good guy or a bad guy?
Fledgling Zhang prodigy
Zhang Juzheng was born in Jiangling, Hubei Province in the fourth year of Jiajing (1525). His family has been in the military for generations, and his grandfather Zhang Zhen does not like to study, and there is no property in the family, so he went to the Liao Wangfu to work as a guard.
Zhang Juzheng's father, Zhang Wenming, studied hard and won the lift, but he couldn't pass the township test, his son was admitted to the Jinshi, and he was still taking the exam, even the genius son felt that his father was not this material, and there were too many distractions, so Zhang Wenming finally gave up.
The third generation of the Zhang family produced Zhang Juzheng, a genius child, who knew how to read and write at the age of 2, enrolled in school at the age of 5, and learned the Six Classics of Justice at the age of 10.
In the fifteenth year of Jiajing, Zhang Juzheng was twelve years old and won the show.
Huguang genius child, Zhang Juzheng was proud in his heart at this time, and his eyes were empty, but he met the Bole of life, Huguang Governor Gu Luan.
The Gu family is a famous family in the south of the Yangtze River, and he himself is also a genius, he saw Zhang Juzheng for the first time, and thought that this kid had the ambition of governing the country and saving the people in his heart, and he was a talent who needed to be tempered.
Gu Lan thinks that a thirteen-year-old child will be too complacent in the future, so Zhang Juzheng will take the exam again in three years to sharpen his mind. In the years that followed, Zhang Juzheng was always grateful for the teachings of this senior, and took care of his son in the officialdom.
Gu Luan's vision was very accurate, and then the young Zhang Juzheng tried to land twice, ** he was too proud.
After that, Zhang Juzheng traveled abroad and made friends, and his name was well-known in the Huguang generation.
Soon an incident occurred that changed Zhang's mind.
In the Jiangling realm, Zhu Xian, who was the same age as him, became the seventh generation of Liao Wang, and his mother concubine had been unsuccessful, so she kept praising Zhang Juzheng's fame, which made the giant baby vassal king unhappy, so he took Zhang Juzheng's grandfather to operate.
Zhang Zhen was the guard of the Liao Palace, and the prince did not dare not drink the wine, but he was dried to death, and the palace was so careless about human life, which planted hatred in Zhang Juzheng's heart and made him see the importance of power.
This genius understands the horror and power of privilege, he hates this power, but he also yearns for it, and he wants to become a human being.
Metamorphosis in pain
In the twenty-sixth year of Jiajing, Zhang Juzheng rushed to take the exam again, and he was a genius, and he won the second-class rite and science and science and chose to be a scholar. This department is full of talents, Yang Jisheng, Wang Shizhen, Li Chunfang, Yin Zhengmao, etc., these people are well-known figures in the late Jiajing period, and the teacher of this department is Xu Jie, who returned to Beijing not long ago.
Ji Ji Shi is a kind of Xi **, but it must be the top of the second class. They are preparatory Hanlin officials, observing political studies and Xi, and as national reserve talents, they will have the opportunity to enter the cabinet in the future.
Zhang Juzheng Xi Hanlin Academy Middle School, and among the teaching Xi was Xu Jie, an important cabinet minister, Zhang Juzheng followed Xu Jie's Xi to govern the country, as well as Mr. Yangming's mental studies.
But he thought about the ideal of helping the world and saving the people, and in the twenty-eighth year of Jiajing, he wrote a letter "On the Politics of the Times", pointing out the shortcomings of the country and expounding his ideas for reform, but this was just a temptation thrown by Zhang Juzheng, but the emperor and the first assistant did not take it seriously.
At this time, the cabinet struggled, the first assistant Xia Yan was killed, and Yan Song took the throne. Yan Song's father and son are in power, day after day, Xu Jie has been tolerating, Zhang Juzheng really can't stand this atmosphere.
In the thirty-third year of Jiajing (1554), Zhang Juzheng took sick leave and returned to his hometown, and he visited many places of interest along the way, which did not make him feel better, because he found another problem.
The people of the Ming Dynasty lived a poor life, those powerful people lived a life of drunkenness and gold, enjoying privileges, and the Liao King also invited Zhang Juzheng to go to the palace to sing poetry and wine, and by the way, Zhang Juzheng saw the dirt and dirtiness of the palace. The common people are just tools in the eyes of the powerful.
This is the truth of the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Juzheng's life ambition was ignited again, like a raging flame, "taking the world as his own responsibility".
It was an extremely difficult road, with no lights, only darkness, and no companions on the way, so you could only walk alone.
Enter the Cabinet
In the thirty-sixth year of Jiajing (1557), Zhang Juzheng returned to Beijing, and he became scheming, moody and invisible, like a city government.
He finally understood why Xu Jie had to endure it, he endured it with Xu Jie, waited for the opportunity, and was not ashamed of these characters.
Zhang Juzheng quietly watched Yan Song's high-rise building, banquet guests, and the building collapse.
In the forty-first year of Jiajing, Yan Ge Lao finally fell, and Xu Ge Lao became the first assistant.
In the forty-third year of Jiajing, Zhang Juzheng was recommended by Xu Jie, as the attendant of King Yu, and Zhang Juzheng will become one of the team members of the next generation of emperors.
Forty-five years of Jiajing, Emperor Jiajing finally became an immortal, Xu Jie took ** Zhang Juzheng to draft an edict to abolish all those malpractices in Jiajing, Xu Jie was complacent at this time, but he ignored one person, Emperor Longqing's teacher, Gao Gong.
The contradiction between Gao Gong and Xu Jie, which became a party struggle in the Longqing Dynasty, Zhang Juzheng entered the cabinet at this time as the old minister of King Yu.
In the second year of Longqing, Xu Jie returned to his hometown to retire, and the high arch became a stumbling block for Zhang Juzheng as the first assistant. Zhang Juzheng united with the eunuch Feng Bao, and with the support of Empress Dowager Li, drove Gao Gong out of the cabinet, and he finally became the first assistant of the Ming Dynasty.
After ascending to the throne, Zhang Juzheng did not lie on it, he finally wanted to do a big thing, reform. His original intention was to let himself live and let others live.
Reforms
Zhang Juzheng's 30-year officialdom career has maintained his original ideals, which is not easy.
His reforms are simply two things:
First: a whip law, changed the way of paying taxes, all changed to pay money
Whether it is land endowment, forced labor or poll tax, there is a unified standard, and it is no longer a casual statement. The people have standards, and the state has simplified the process of collecting taxes, turning a complex matter into a simple one.
Second: the test method, simply put, set KPIs for **, and the work efficiency has been greatly improved
The reform increased the financial revenue of the Ming Dynasty, the treasury was abundant, and the treasury silver amounted to seven or eight million taels.
Zhang Juzheng's reforms offended the elite class, and he felt resistance to the ** of the Manchu Dynasty.
In the eyes of **, Zhang Juzheng blatantly broke the original rules;What Zhang Juzheng saw was the opposition forces in the DPRK and China, and if they were not suppressed in time, all reform measures would be destroyed. He uses thunderous tactics to deal with opponents and leave notoriety.
Zhang Juzheng is not a perfect person, and he has an evil side.
He is a person who will take revenge, and he still remembers the family feud 30 years ago, and Zhu Xian, the king of Liao, did have a promiscuous side, and there was illegal trespassing, but he did not rebel.
Zhang Juzheng operated behind his back, Zhu Xian was deposed as a concubine, imprisoned the high wall, and the title of King of Liao was abolished.
If there are opponents of Zhang Juzheng's theory, it must be eliminated. Shao Daxia, Xu Jie's opponent, once helped Gao Gong return to the dynasty, such a person is a potential enemy, kill it.
His student Liu Tai and his ally He Xinyin were all eliminated by him for various reasons.
No one in the world can shake his position, in fact, the crisis has just begun.
Zhang Juzheng has a monopoly on power, he has no choice, if he fails, he can neither retire nor go home, and the only outcome is to be ruined, or even die without a place to bury.
Sure enough, after his death, the minister wrote to Zhang Juzheng, and Emperor Wanli, who had been suppressed by Zhang Juzheng for many years, wanted to be angry in his heart, deprived Zhang Juzheng of his nickname, and removed the position of Taishi, and then because of lack of money, he sent someone to copy Zhang Juzheng's home.
Postscript
Zhang Juzheng is not described as good or bad, he is very complex and multifaceted, on the one hand, he is friendly to the public, but he does not cultivate his personal morality.
But in order to reduce the burden on the people of the world and make the court have money, he stood on the opposite side of the entire vested interests, and made the ** gentry group hate him to the bone, he is great.
Mingyue commented on Zhang Juzheng in "Those Things in the Ming Dynasty": He is not a good person, nor a bad person, but a complex person.
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