Editor's Choice
One phase through the ages, the first auxiliary of Wanli; It can be described as square.
Liang Qichao, Huang Renyu, and Li Dongfang are highly respected.
Whether it's a temporary reputation or eternal right or wrong, I don't care! ”
Wanli vs Zhang Juzheng - the emperor and the emperor's division, the slack politician and the doer, the most contradictory combination, but it created the most glorious scene of the Ming Dynasty.
Introduction
As Zhang Juzheng, who was once evaluated by Mr. Liang Qichao as "the only politician in the Ming Dynasty", his life can be described as magnificent, with low periods and highlight moments; He contributed to the Ming Dynasty the important reform of "Wanli Zhongxing", which went down in history; Dragged the declining Ming dynasty from along, and at the same time his political career with mixed reputations accompanied him for the rest of his life, even after his death. This book strives to show Zhang Juzheng's life completely, throughout his youthful arrogance, his first entry into the court, his return to the countryside, his re-entry into the rivers and lakes, his determination to reform, his new and change-oriented, and finally standing on the commanding heights of power, and reversing the national fortunes of the Ming Dynasty with his own insight. This book portrays a three-dimensional development of politicians in the Ming Dynasty, presenting a complete image of the Ming Dynasty ** and a great politician who mediated in the imperial power, had a sense of mission to establish a life for the people, and also had a loss of personal morality and a mixed reputation.
About the Author
Zhou Qiyun, a literary writer, is good at creation, prose, poetry, historical essays and literary criticism, and his works are scattered on Guangming.com, Chinese Writers Network, "Selected Chinese Literature", "Selected Chinese Poetry", "Contemporary Writers", etc. He has won the Outstanding Works Award for the Third National Agricultural Census Publicity Works Collection, the Special Award of the Month and the Second Prize of the Year in the 2nd "Poetry China" Competition in January, and the "Gold Award of the 8th Youth Bingxin Literature".
Wonderful book review
There was only one politician in the Ming Dynasty! - Liang Qichao.
Zhang Juzheng's absence from the world caused the huge empire of the Ming Dynasty to lose its center of gravity, and its pace was unsteady, and it finally stumbled and fell into the abyss. - Huang Renyu.
Ju Zheng is working for the country, and he is clumsy for his life. - Hai Jui.
In terms of his achievements, he was not only the only great statesman of the Ming Dynasty, but also a rare one since the Han Dynasty. - Li Dongfang.
This book is also too goodTable of ContentsChapter 1 Cabinet Initiation.
Chapter 2 Tracing the Roots.
Chapter 3: The Legend of the Prodigy.
Chapter 4: Tricks of Fate.
Chapter V: Personnel Selection Mechanism.
Chapter 6 Talent Emerges.
Chapter VII: Cabinet Contest.
Chapter VIII Special Relationships.
Chapter 9 The Dawn of the Edge.
Chapter 10 The Deer Dies.
Chapter 11: The Resurgence of Strife.
Chapter 12 Political Friendship.
Chapter 13: The Cabinet Farce.
Chapter 14 Border Crisis.
Chapter 15: The Dragon Fights.
Chapter 16: The Emperor's Division.
Chapter XVII. Mutual benefit.
Chapter 18 Turning Danger into Relief.
Chapter 19: The Eve of the Reform.
Chapter 20 Statecraft.
Chapter 21: A Whipping Law.
Chapter 22 Downsizing.
Chapter 23 Rectification of the Station.
Chapter Twenty-Four: The College's Bad Luck.
Chapter 25 Employing Wisdom.
Chapter Twenty-Six: The Undercurrent Surges.
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Danger Lurks.
Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Fall of the Giants.
Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Fatal Blow.
Chapter 30: Mixed Reputations.
Chapter 31: Echoes of History.
Appendix: Compendium of Zhang Juzheng's chronology.
References. Wonderful book excerpts
Chapter I. Cabinet starts.
The origin of the Ming Dynasty cabinet.
In the twenty-fourth year of Yuan Zhizheng (the tenth year of Song Longfeng of the Red Turban Army, 1364), Zhu Yuanzhang was the throne of Wu, imitating the Yuan system, placing Zhongshu Province and Xingzhongshu Province, and setting up left and right prime ministers.
Zhu Yuanzhang went from a beggar begging on the street to an emperor above 10,000 people, going through hardships and hardships, which is not only full of legends, but also formed a stubborn and self-serving character, which is obviously characterized by his regard to power as his life, once he holds power, he cannot fall into the hands of others. So, in the following years, in order to strengthen the centralization of power and completely take power into his own hands, he weakened the phase step by step.
In the first year of Hongwu (1368), the left and right prime ministers were changed to the left and right prime ministers;
In the ninth year of Hongwu (1376), the province was changed to three divisions, changing the situation of the province's political direct subordinate to the province of Zhongshu, and in the same year, the province was eliminated **, and only the post of prime minister was retained.
In the eleventh year of Hongwu (1378), the edict was issued to six ministries, and the political affairs of Zhongshu Province were "not white", and the six government affairs were seized in Zhongshu Province.
In the twelfth year of Hongwu (1379), he beheaded Wang Guangyang, the right prime minister.
In the early days of Zhu Yuanzhang's reign as emperor, he set up left and right prime ministers. The Ming Dynasty respected the left, so the left prime minister was the head of the hundred officials, that is, the prime minister in the actual sense. During the period of Zhu Yuanzhang, a total of two left prime ministers were appointed, the first was the founding hero Li Shanchang, and the second was Hu Weiyong.
Zhu Yuanzhang weakened the prime minister's power.
So why did Zhu Yuanzhang later decide to weaken Xiangquan? In addition to his excessive thirst for power, it is also related to the social context of the time.
After Zhu Yuanzhang solved the Northern Yuan Dynasty, he formulated a series of policies aimed at restoring production and life, which achieved good results, but at this time, the contradictions within the imperial court became fierce again, and the ministers were divided into two factions, Huaixi and Zhedong, according to the region.
These so-called factions are actually hometown associations, and everyone speaks the same dialect. Zhu Yuanzhang's largest hometown association is the Huaixi Group, and the president should have been Zhu Yuanzhang, but considering that he was the emperor, it was President Li Shanchang at that time. There are many people in this group, and the main members are Li Shanchang, Guo Xing, Guo Ying, Tang He, Zhou Dexing, and Chang Yuchun and others. These people can be said to be the team of Zhu Yuanzhang, with a strong lineup, enough to dominate one side, and even people at that time were proud to speak Huaixi dialect when they met.
Who is Li Shanchang, and why is he the first hero?
Li Shanchang is a native of Dingyuan, and Zhu Yuanzhang is from Anhui Province, which is considered a fellow villager, and he defected to Zhu Yuanzhang very early, and is very talented. On the surface, it seems that he rarely comes forward to do anything big, but in fact, this is determined by the characteristics of his work. He is mainly responsible for logistics and government affairs. Li Shanchang knows people well, and can use people according to their talents, so that they can get their own place; and is adept at rhetoric, learning stories, handling government affairs, adjudicating like a stream, obeying officials, and blocking residents; There is no shortage of troops to transfer salaries, restore the money system, make salt, establish a tea law, open iron smelting, set a fish tax, and benefit the state, and the people are not poor. As the "chief manager", Li Shanchang was called "Xiao He in the world" by Zhu Yuanzhang. He defected when Zhu Yuanzhang was weak, and he has been in charge of the army's food and salary, and has become the "engine" of the front-line soldiers. He was the "chief director" of Zhu Yuanzhang's enthronement ceremony, the "chief minister" when Zhu Yuanzhang was a meritorious hero, and Zhu Yuanzhang's in-laws.
Li Shanchang has been following Zhu Yuanzhang to fight the world, and he has been tired before and after the saddle. The logistics work is not easy to do, and the hard work is not pleased. Zhu Yuanzhang is an understanding person, so after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, he took Li Shanchang as the first hero and appointed him as the prime minister; He also gave him an iron voucher with a promise to exempt him from the death penalty twice and his son once.
The representative of the eastern Zhejiang faction is Liu Ji. At that time, Liu Ji was also a well-known figure, but he eventually became a victim of factional disputes.
While Li Shan's strengths are obvious, his shortcomings are also extremely prominent. He is generous on the outside and mean on the inside, rich and noble, arrogant and authoritarian, relying on his own power, commanding, above the hundred officials, Zhu Yuanzhang is increasingly dissatisfied. Because of Li Shanchang's past contributions, Zhu Yuanzhang has always held back. One day, Zhu Yuanzhang used Tao Kai to discuss fasting and sincerity as an excuse to suggest that Li Shanchang should retire as soon as possible. Li Shanchang immediately understood and thanked him for his resignation.
Then, Hu Weiyong became the prime minister. Hu Weiyong is also a native of Dingyuan. In the first year of Longfeng (1355), when Zhu Yuanzhang conquered Hezhou, Hu Weiyong was attached to the Red Turban Army and was quite favored. Because of Li Shanchang's recommendation, he was promoted to Shaoqing of Taichang Temple. In this regard, some people attribute it to the relationship of fellow villagers; Some people also analyzed that Hu Weiyong's niece married Li Shanchang's nephew as his wife and had an in-law relationship; There is also a theory that Li Shanchang accepted bribes from Hu Weiyong. In any case, under the operation of Li Shanchang, Hu Weiyong had a smooth career all the way, successively serving as the chief secretary of Ningguo, Huguang Shishi, Taichang Shaoqing, Hongwu three years (1370) official to Zhongshu Province to participate in the governor's affairs, Hongwu six years (1373) promoted to the right prime minister, and then promoted to the left prime minister. Zhu Yuanzhang, Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, successively appointed four prime ministers (Li Shanchang, Xu Da, Wang Guangyang, Hu Weiyong), among which Hu Weiyong was in power for the longest time and had the heaviest power - he served as prime minister for seven years, with prominent power and arbitrariness.
As the No. 2 person in the Huaixi faction, Hu Weiyong originally had Zhu Yuanzhang in mind to replace Li Shanchang's position as prime minister, but in order to show fairness, Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to ask Liu Ji's opinion. Although Liu Ji was excluded by Li Shanchang, he still persuaded Zhu Yuanzhang not to remove Li Shanchang out of public intentions: "The good man is old and can reconcile the generals." But Zhu Yuanzhang still decided to remove Li Shanchang, so he proposed to let Liu Ji take Li Shanchang's position, and Liu Ji immediately politely refused because he was incompetent.
Zhu Yuanzhang asked again: "How is Yang Xian?" Liu Ji had a personal relationship with Yang Xian, but he still said fairly: "(Yang) Xian has a talent, but no phase." The prime minister holds his heart like water, and he weighs righteousness and reason, and he has no equal, but (Yang) Xian is not. bluntly pointed out that Yang Xian is capable of being the prime minister, but he is not open-minded.
Zhu Yuanzhang asked again: "How is Wang Guangyang?" Liu Ji said: "This is more shallow than (Yang) Xian." It means that Wang Guangyang is not as good as Yang Xian.
Zhu Yuanzhang asked again: "How is Hu Weiyong?" Liu Ji has an upright temperament and has always been not optimistic about Hu Weiyong, so he said bluntly: "For example, I am afraid of his disobedience." He also said: "Once the little calf is reused, it will break the plow, and the disaster will not be shallow." In Liu Ji's view, Hu Weiyong is the worst, like a bad horse, and if he is asked to drive, it will inevitably overturn and cause bad things.
Liu Ji's answer is not completely out of selfishness to exclude dissidents, but also from the perspective of national interests. Hu Weiyong was attached to the Red Turban Army in his early years, and was quite favored, and under the recommendation of Li Shanchang, he was promoted to Taichang Temple Shaoqing (the Northern Wei Dynasty was originally placed Taichang Shaoqing, and the Northern Qi Dynasty was called Taichang Temple Shaoqing, and was the deputy chief of Taichang Temple, and he was placed in successive dynasties. Tang system, Taichang Temple Shaoqing two, is the fourth product, when sacrificing to the temple, it is the rate of Taizhu, Zhailang to arrange incense and candles, tidy up and rub the shrine and the tent, welcome the god. When the ceremony was held, he poured wine together with the order of Liang Xian), and later he was engaged in the business of excluding non-Huaixi people. In short, Hu Weiyong's career has been smooth all the way, and it is all the art of climbing the dragon and attaching the phoenix.
Zhu Yuanzhang saw that the above candidates were not suitable, and invited Liu Ji to serve as prime minister again: "My prime minister, Mr. Cheng is not more than Mr." Liu Ji excused himself again: "The minister's illness is too bad, and he is not tolerant of complicated dramas, so he is worthy of it." There is no talent in the world, and the Lord carefully asks for it. At present, everyone, I can't see it. "It means that I am as evil as an enemy, and I can't do trivial things, and if I become the prime minister, I will fail the emperor. The emperor doesn't have to worry that there is no one in the world who is qualified to be the prime minister, as long as he has the heart to carefully screen it, he will find something. At present, none of the people you mentioned are suitable to be prime ministers.
However, Zhu Yuanzhang not only made Hu Weiyong the prime minister, but also told Hu Weiyong about their conversation, which caused the narrow-minded Hu Weiyong to be angry with Liu Ji, and even if Liu Ji retired and went home, he still refused to let Liu Ji go.
According to historical records, Liu Genji was disheartened by Zhu Yuanzhang's arrangement of Hu Weiyong as the prime minister, knowing that he would be in trouble, so he returned to his hometown in the fourth year of Hongwu (1371), and because he was afraid of political disasters, he simply lived in seclusion in the mountains, no longer heard politics, and drank and played chess every day for fun, and did not say anything. He wanted to escape from reality, but the whirlpool of political struggle still swept him in. Hu Weiyong learned that Liu Ji had said in front of the emperor that he was incompetent and held a grudge. At that time, Hu Weiyong used Zuo Cheng's book in the palm of his hand to save trouble, instructed his cronies to attack Liu Ji, and slandered Liu Ji for building his own tomb with "royal spirit" land out of nothing, plotting against him, and stimulating Zhu Yuanzhang's suspicion. The result was expected, Liu Ji was deprived of his official ranks. Liu Ji was afraid of a greater disaster, so he rushed to Nanjing to ask the emperor for his guilt in person, and stayed in Beijing and did not return, so as to show his heart. Soon Hu Weiyong became the prime minister of Zuo, and Liu Ji was greatly saddened: "Make my words untrue, and the common people will be blessed." From then on, Liu Ji became ill with grief and died not long after. Regarding the cause of Liu Ji's death, when Hu Weiyong's case came out later, someone reported that Liu Ji was poisoned by Hu Weiyong. Judging from the contradiction between Hu Weiyong and Liu Ji, if the Huaixi faction is Zhu Yuanzhang's "main room", the eastern Zhejiang faction is the "partial room", and the "partial room" cannot fight the "main room", so it naturally presents a one-sided formation.
The Huaixi faction fell.
Hu Weiyong's political achievements in the position of prime minister are not outstanding, but his behavior is very serious, and at the same time he constantly excludes anyone who disobeys him, and even dares to challenge Zhu Yuanzhang's power. As the "History of the Ming Dynasty" said: "The emperor takes (Hu) Weiyong as his talent, favors him, and only Yong is also self-motivated. Alone for a few years, life and death, or do not act. The internal and external divisions must first read it, and those who harm themselves will hide it and keep it from hearing about it. The zealous people from all over the world and the heroes of the martial arts who are derelict in their duties, fight for their doors, give them gold silks, famous horses, and play well, which are innumerable. Although Zhu Yuanzhang intends to protect the interests of the Huaixi faction, and many times turns a blind eye, when he really endangers his own interests, he will also make up his mind and kill.
In the first month of the thirteenth year of Hongwu (1380), Prime Minister Hu Weiyong said that Liquan gushed out of the well of his old house, which was auspicious, and invited Zhu Yuanzhang to come and watch. Zhu Yuanzhang happily went, and when he walked to Xihua Gate, the eunuch Yun Qi grabbed the reins tightly, and because of his excitement, he was speechless for a while, and desperately pointed to the Hu family. Zhu Yuanzhang felt that the situation was serious, and immediately returned, and when he boarded the palace, he found that the sky above Hu Weiyong's house was dusty, and there were soldiers hidden in the walls and roads. Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and punished Hu Weiyong's nine clans for the crime of "plotting misdeeds", and at the same time killed Chen Ning, Zhongcheng Tujie and several others.
Surprisingly, Lee Sun-chang is still alive. He and Hu Weiyong are in-laws, and his younger brother Li Cunyi is a definite comrade. Zhu Yuanzhang, considering his huge influence in the imperial court, not only did not kill him, but even his younger brother Li Cunyi was spared death and exiled to Chongming Island (now Chongming Island, Shanghai).
But it doesn't end there. In the twenty-third year of Hongwu (1390), Li Shanchang's family repaired the house. At this time, he was no longer the prime minister of the year, and he could no longer call for wind and rain, but he came up with the idea of borrowing 300 soldiers from Tang He, who led the troops, as laborers. Tang He was his fellow countryman and his friend, so it seemed to him to be a normal thing. However, after lending Li Shanchang 300 soldiers, Tang He immediately reported to Zhu Yuanzhang, and Zhu Yuanzhang once again killed Li Shanchang.
However, Li Shanchang made an even worse mistake: his confidant Ding Bin should be exiled for breaking the law, but he wrote to intercede for Ding Bin. Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and ordered that Ding Bin should no longer be exiled, but that he be imprisoned and tortured day and night.
Ding Bin couldn't bear it, and under Zhu Yuanzhang's "step-by-step, patient enlightenment", he finally opened his mind and confessed the details of Li Cunyi and Hu Weiyong's joint rebellion. Zhu Yuanzhang made a quick decision and arrested Li Cunyi, which was also tortured. Li Cunyi then confessed that he persuaded Li Shanchang, and Li Shanchang's sentence "You do it yourself" has also become one of the most frequent words in Zhu Yuanzhang's mouth.
After careful analysis, Li Shanchang's house slaves also began to fall into the well and beat the water dogs. They conspired to represent to Zhu Yuanzhang as victims, saying that they had been oppressed by Li Shanchang for a long time, and accused Li Shanchang of actively participating in Hu Weiyong's rebellion, and also made the time and place quite clear.
At this time, the number of people joining in the excitement has also increased, and the imperial historians have written ** Li Shanchang, from not paying attention to etiquette in the last dynasty to *** crimes. What's even more unexpected is that Qin Tianjian was afraid of falling behind, and was considered to have low consciousness, and also combined with the actual situation of the department, he gave Zhu Yuanzhang a very absurd report, saying that "the recent star change is an unlucky omen", and then proposed a solution - "When the minister is moved".
Zhu Yuanzhang promulgated the "Record of Showing the Traitorous Party", and executed the founding heroes of the Republic of Korea such as Li Shanchang and Liehou Lu Zhongheng for the crime of conspiring with Hu Weiyong. The reason for the execution of Li Shanchang was that Li and Hu had close contacts, and Li Shanchang, as a relative of the founding father, knew that he was not acting against him, and he was suspicious and wait-and-see, and he was disobedient and provoked the disaster of extermination. More than 70 members of Li Shanchang's family were beheaded, and Zhu Yuanzhang only spared the death of his daughter and son-in-law (that is, the princess and the concubine Li Qi). Later, Zhu Yuanzhang used Hu Weiyong to pass through the widow and Tongyuan (Northern Yuan), and investigated his henchmen, and killed more than 30,000 people before and after, which was called "Hu Prison" at the time.
It can be seen from a series of events that Zhu Yuanzhang has always been suspicious, so the heroes were almost killed. Now that he is getting old, the crown prince Zhu Biao is cowardly by nature, so he is even more insecure. may have been paying close attention to Hu Weiyong and other ** trends, an important reason why he was able to endure it for seven years is that he feels that the situation is not big enough, and the situation he wants is that Hu Weiyong will make things big enough to carry out a big purge and political integration.
Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the prime minister system.
In addition to the destruction of many people, another consequence of this bloody storm was the abolition of the prime minister system by Zhu Yuanzhang. After getting rid of Hu Weiyong, Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the prime minister system in the thirteenth year of Hongwu (1380), and began to monopolize power, integrating imperial power and prime minister's power, ending the situation that the emperor and the six Shangshu were sandwiched between the prime minister since ancient times, and the six Shangshu were directly responsible to the emperor from then on. In June of the twenty-eighth year of Hongwu (1395), Zhu Yuanzhang enshrined the Heavenly Palace, and sent an edict to the civil and military ministers: "Since ancient times, the three princes have discussed the Tao, and the six secretaries have divided their duties. Since the beginning of Qin, he has been the prime minister, and he has died without heels. Because of the Han, Tang and Song dynasties, although there were virtuous ministers, there were many villains who were used during the period, and they were dictatorial and chaotic. I dismissed the prime minister, set up five mansions, six ministries, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the General Political Division, Dali Temple and other yamen, divided the affairs of the world, each other, did not dare to press each other, everything is the court in short, so it is stable. In the future, the heir is not allowed to set up a prime minister, and if his subordinates dare to ask for the establishment, the civil and military ministers will immediately impeach him and impose heavy punishments. This is Zhu Yuanzhang's decision to remove the prime minister, abolish the province of Zhongshu, and the reasons for the six parts of the matter are truly clear, marking the complete disappearance of the position of "prime minister" in China's feudal dynasty.
However, in the highest decision-making level of the feudal dynasty, the emperor is equivalent to the highest level of the enterprise group, and the function of the prime minister is equivalent to that of the CEO. Regarding the responsibilities of the prime minister, Chen Ping, the prime minister of the Western Han Dynasty, once summarized: "The prime minister, the son of heaven, the yin and yang, the four times, the four times, the lower all things are appropriate, the outer suppression of the four princes, the inner relatives are attached to the people, so that the secretary and the doctor can each take their own position." It can be seen that the important position of the prime minister is extraordinary. A capable emperor may barely be able to serve as CEO for a short time, but it is impossible to maintain the normal operation of a great power for a long time. From September 14 to 21, 1384, in just eight days, Zhu Yuanzhang received 1,666 official documents, totaling 3,391 things, with an average of 200 documents to read and 400 things to deal with every day.
What's even worse is that Zhu Yuanzhang is from a standard grassroots background, has been a monk, a beggar, and is also very talented in leading soldiers to fight, but he is not knowledgeable enough, so he is confused by the articles of a group of subordinates who are full of words, and he gives people a lot of boards. At that time, Ru Taisu, the head of the household department, once wrote a recital to Zhu Yuanzhang, and Zhu Yuanzhang asked him to read it to himself, but it took nearly three hours to read it halfway, all of which were three emperors and five emperors, benevolence, righteousness and morality. Zhu Yuanzhang immediately made a decision, ordered not to read any more, and counted the number of words, there were already more than 10,000 words. Zhu Yuanzhang was extremely angry, and ordered Ma Chuan to pass on Ru Taisu to see him, let the guards beat him hard, and began to think about finding some staff officers.