Daimei Shousuke lived the life of a tailor
Meng Sen, an expert in Ming history, said"The decline of the Ming Dynasty decreased in the Zhengde and Jiajing dynasties and increased in the Wanli dynasty. Signs of the Ming Dynasty's demise at the hands of the Wanli Dynasty"。
After more than 200 years of sailing, this ship from the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty is riddled with holes and dilapidation. Zhang Juzheng, the first assistant of the Ming Dynasty, failed to do this in his life.
Ye Xianggao's evaluation of Zhang Juzheng's tragedy is:"Steal the royal power from the top, and seize the six Cao from the bottom"。Ye Xianggao refused to accept the method used by Zhang Juzheng, and he did not have the authority to let Zhang Juzheng accomplish such a feat.
Ye Xianggao can't be the helmsman, he is more like a tailor, repairing this old Ming suit, but even this is not easy.
Portrait of Ye Xianggao.
Soon after Ye Xianggao entered the cabinet, only Ye Xianggao was left in the cabinet, representing the entire cabinet. But at that time, there was a crisis in the Ming Dynasty. Ye Xianggao said to Wanli:
Xiang Gao said that today will be a chaotic and dangerous day, full of a series of clues, accidents, injuries, thieves, demons and monsters, all have nothing to do with him. The temple was empty. Up and down, all in one. Scholars love to fight, and so do the trio. The more hidden, the more dense the accumulation will be reversed, and the four are also. Rushing, irreversible, five also.
And Wan Li and Xiao Ming, when those who are interested hear it, it is nothing more than a crisis, and the biggest problem is the lack of money.
After the financial deterioration during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, after the reform of Zhang Juzheng in the fifth year of Wanli (1577), the treasury surplus was 86520,000 taels, the treasury (Taicang silver) co-deposited 9 million taels of silver, while the Nanjing treasury co-existed 2.5 million taels of silver, and the treasury co-deposited 11 million taels of silver. Since there is still so much money in the treasury, where did the financial crisis come from? Because there is more money to spend.
First of all, Wanli made three large-scale expeditions at a cost of 13 million taels.
Wanli spends money faster than running water. He spent 8 million taels on repairing the tomb in Dingling, 9.3 million taels on building the palace, and 12 million taels on timber for the emperor's eldest son and the emperor's other two sons on the throne. There are now as many as 100,000 people in the clan, and these people are all relatives of the emperor who the state wants to support, and the annual grain in the capital is not enough for these people.
In order to increase Wanli's income, he sent people everywhere to complain about the people's suffering, collect taxes and open mines.
In the face of the financial crisis, Ye Xianggao had his own way to Wanli and ignored Wanli. Ye Xianggao also asked for the abolition of the mining tax, but Wanli still did not listen.
Xiang Gao entered the cabinet. A few years later, Chen was forced to fill the vacancy to take charge of monetary policy and impose a mining tax. Even the emperor does not seem to be able to shake off Chen's apostasy.
List of cabinet ministers from Zhang Juzheng to Ye Xianggao.
Ye Xianggao wanted to be an official, but he also had to face the great difficulty of giving up his duties as Emperor Wanli.
Emperor Wanli did not enter the palace, stayed in the palace and did not go out. Zhu Geng served as the first assistant for more than two years, and he never saw the emperor once. Shen Guan became the first assistant, appointed **, and handled state affairs, countless times, but there was no response. Late at night, Shen Guan suddenly entered the palace by order, it turned out that Emperor Wanli suddenly asked him to be sick, Shen Guan hurriedly pulled out some important ** from the staff regulations, and asked Wanli to approve it, and Wanli agreed.
Ye Xianggao is also facing such a situation, there is only one person in the cabinet, only one minister in the six ministries, and the only remaining minister Sun Piyang has asked for the addition of officials to the knighthood countless times, but there is no follow-up, and several resignations have not been approved, and finally decided to leave on his own and replace Zhao Huan in the same way.
As the first auxiliary minister, Ye Xianggao had no other responsibilities except for admonishing the emperor countless times;
Xiang Gao said the following paragraph again:'Due to the vacancy of the nine secretaries of the cabinet of Cao Si in Taiwan, the nine secretaries of the southern capital also left the southern capital, vacating two people. Since last autumn, there have been no important ministers in the DPRK and China. Your Majesty, no matter what, the minister thinks that the world cannot be protected for a long time, and I am afraid that the beginning of the catastrophe will be'。The emperor can't be saved.
Ye Xianggao, who was inactive, finally had to submit his resignation, but Wanli still did not allow Ye Xianggao to form a cabinet for the first time, and there were as many as 62 resignation applications, but not all of them were approved.
Ye Xianggao can only take sick leave at home, and the documents of relevant departments continue to flow into Ye's mansion to deal with state affairs at home, of course, it is easy to be criticized, and Ye Xianggao can only go out. And the cabinet is just that the emperor himself does not go to court, and there are too many documents, so in the exam presided over by Ye Xianggao, the documents flowed into the examination room.
Bean District Garden (Ye Xianggao Garden and Bookstore).
One of the main reasons why Wanli is unpopular is"The battle for the country"The question of authority. Wanli's eldest son, Zhu Changluo, was born to a prostitute, and Wanli didn't like it; Wanli's favorite is Zheng Guifei, who was born to the third son of the emperor, Zhu Changxun.
Since the queen did not give birth to a son, it stands to reason that Zhu Changluo should become the crown prince, but Wanli insisted that Zhu Changxun become the crown prince, so there was a long-term dispute between the monarch and the ministers. This battle consumed a lot of energy in the Ming Dynasty and lasted for 15 years, four important ministers (Shen Shixing, Wang Jiaping, Zhao Zhigao and Wang Xijue) fell out of favor one after another, more than a dozen ** resigned, countless people blamed the middle and lower **, and the biggest court blood feud in the Ming Dynasty - the dispute over Dingjiashan went down in history.
After Ye Xianggao entered the cabinet, after years of hard work by a group of ministers, Zhu Changluo became the crown prince, but the blessed king Zhu Changxun did not ascend the throne for a long time, and the crisis continued.
Ye Xianggao knew that it was powerful, but as the prince's teacher, of course he couldn't stay out of it, he could only participate in it. He asked King Fu to be his courtier countless times, and Concubine Zheng also sent him a message:'I love the crown prince, but please give some to King Fu.
Finally, in 1614, King Fu succeeded to the throne. A big stone in Ye Xianggao's heart fell to the ground, Ye Xianggao knew that the responsibility was heavy, and asked Wanli to resign again, and it was finally approved.
* They celebrated that Gyeongbok had become the highlight of Ye Xianggao's duties, but it did not bring much benefit to the country, on the contrary, more important things such as the financial crisis and the Liaodong crisis were postponed.
Commemorating the Yellow Pavilion Chonglun Pavilion of Ye Xianggao.
Zhu Changluo sat on the throne, of course he wanted to reuse Ye Xianggao, but before Ye Xianggao came, Zhu Changluo died, and his successor Ming Xizong continued to reuse Ye Xianggao, Ye Xianggao of course wanted to revive the dynasty, but the emperor had an appointment in advance:
Apocalypse returned to the palace in October and took over as the first minister. He said:"After serving the emperor for eight years, the ministry will send the ministers to the ministers. That is, it is a messenger. There is nothing to do, the minister is already entangled, unwilling to be in the order, and even less willing to listen to the emperor's words. The emperor is not honest, his self-esteem is not strong, and his ministers rely on the deputy envoy, but there is a suspicion of propaganda. It is advisable to take care of the voice and the ministers to offer themselves. "
Ye Xianggao asked the emperor for Liaodong military expenses, and Ming Xizong took out 2 million taels from the internal banknote (the emperor's private money), and everything was developing in a good direction.
However, Ming Xizong was the closest to his wet nurse Bai Bai and the eunuch Wei Zhongxian, forcing many scholars, scholars of the Criminal Department, Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites, and ** to resign. As the prime minister, Ye Xianggao is facing a new crisis.
Ye Xianggao couldn't defeat Wei Zhongxian, so he had to continue to rescue the officers who were attacked by Wei Zhongxian.
When the imperial court punished Zhang Yunru's advisors, Ye Xianggao saved him;
Yu Shi Shuaizhong was exiled and later rescued by Ye Xianggao;
The strategist Fu Kuiying was dismissed and rescued by Ye Xianggao;
When Chen Liangxun's adviser was imprisoned, Ye Xianggao resigned from his position to save him.
The list goes on. The good prime minister of the empire turned into a fire chief.
And Ye Xianggao didn't save anyone. When Wan Huojing, the secretary of the Ministry of Works, deposed Wei Zhongxian, Ye Xianggao wanted to save him, but failed, and Wan Huojing was killed on the spot.
Ye Xianggao tomb Shinto monument.
In June of the fourth year of the Apocalypse (1624), Yang Lian accused Wei Zhongxian of the twenty-four major sins, which was a general attack on Wei Zhongxian by the Donglin Party.
Ye Xianggao did not support this approach, because the current supporters of the eunuch party were the emperor, and there was no benefit to a direct and tough approach.
The contradictions between the small clique and the Donglin Party were in fact insurmountable. The Donglin Party wanted Ye Xianggao to take the lead in fighting the small clique, but Ye Xianggao did not intend to do so.
Ye Xianggao still wants to avoid the important in the middle of the eunuch party. He praised Wei Zhongxian for his diligence and love for the people, and his reputation was inevitably criticized by others, and he should get rid of power and go home.
Such a suggestion, of course, will not be answered.
Shaye Xianggao is very high, he is an invincible dynasty, but at this time, the dynasty is like fire and water, and Shaye Xianggao has reached a dead end. He could not put pressure on the eunuchs;It was impossible to put pressure on the Donglin Party, because they had to carry the banner of rebellion against Wei Zhongxian;Nor can it resolve the impasse in eastern Liaodong for the country.
Leaving became his only option.
The helpless Ye Xianggao asked Ming Xizong for leave more than 20 times, and Ming Xizong finally allowed him to return to his hometown in his later years.
Landscape of the Bean District Garden (Ye Xianggao Garden and Bookstore).
During the two terms of the first assistant, Ye Xianggao faced various difficulties: financial crisis, Liaodong War, Wanli power outage, national capital dispute, party dispute, eunuch dictatorship, etc., the empire fell into chaos and turmoil, and the Ming Dynasty went to the abyss step by step.
And Prime Minister Ye Xianggao can't turn the tide like Zhang Juzheng, he is not ready to take power with Zhu Geng, and it is impossible for him to have a clear conscience like Zhou Yunyu later.
She is like a tailor, sewing left and right for Xiao Ming, but in the end, she can only watch the sea and do nothing.
Soon after Ye Xianggao left, that is, in the fifth year of the Apocalypse (1625), Wei Zhongxian** imitated the ranking of Liangshan heroes and compiled the famous "List of Famous Generals of Donglin", Ye Xianggao ranked first, and Song Jiang also received the old nicknames of Tiankuixing and Shiyu.
Ye Xianggao calligraphy.
Bibliography. Zhang Tingyu Ming History.
Fan Shuzhi: History of the Late Ming Dynasty.
Chen Ding: "The Biography of Donglin" Volume 17 "Ye Xianggao Biography.
Meng Sen's lecture on the history of the Ming and Qing dynasties.