Yan Song was the longest-serving first assistant during Jiajing's reign, for 20 years, and was known as the best evergreen. However, he is not an upright person. He *** suppressed dissidents, **his** ended tragically, most of them were dispatched, arrested, or killed.
Among them, Shen Lian's death was the most shocking.
Yan Song's backstage is Lu Bing, who was the largest political party leader in the Jiajing dynasty. Yan Dang's influence was so great that Yan Song's son, Yan Shifan, was able to squander it in the capital without any scruples, although he was a prisoner.
You must know that the capital is at the feet of the Son of Heaven, and Yan Shifan's arrogance and arrogance are rare in the entire Ming Dynasty. However, Shen Lian, the seventh-grade Jinyi Wei experience, dared to challenge his authority.
Yan Shifan has a bad habit of forcing others to drink. If someone doesn't drink it, he will say that others don't give him face. If someone else drinks, he will keep pouring wine for the other person to drink, so that the other person has to drink.
Because of Yan Shifan's power, people usually give in, but Shen Lian is different. If he was there, he would drink it for others. For Shen Lian's blatant provocation, Yan Shifan will certainly not let it go, and Shen Lian will not let him succeed easily.
They clashed several times. According to the "Biography of the History of the Ming Dynasty", it is recorded: "Shifan abused customers with wine, refined his heart and was uneven, and he did the opposite. ”
Some people may wonder, what is Shen Lian's background that dares to challenge Yan Shifan? Shen Lian's background is not prominent, he is just a Jinshi background, but his backstage is extremely powerful, that is, Lu Bing, the commander of the Jinyi Guard.
Although the Ming Dynasty had two major spy agencies, Jinyiwei and Dongchang, they were theoretically equal, but in practice they were not the same. The eunuch of the commander of Dongchang was closer to the emperor because he was a eunuch.
But in the Jiajing period, the situation reversed, and Jinyiwei overwhelmed Dongchang, why is this? Because of Lu Bing's existence.
Jiajing was able to become emperor because his father, Ming Wuzong, had no children. At that time, Jiajing was only a vassal king of Anlu, and his father was Jiajing's father's close guard, and his mother was Jiajing's nurse.
Jiajing's father and mother both worked in the palace, and Jiajing naturally grew up there, and one of his friends was Jiajing. Later, Jiajing was selected to enter Beijing, and Lu Bing also followed him into the capital.
In the eighteenth year of Jiajing, Jiajing went on a parade, and it happened that at that time, there had never been a fire in the palace before, but when Jiajing was present, a fire broke out in the palace. Because it was a palace, everyone was not familiar with the route, and the fire was getting bigger and bigger, but no one could find Jiajing.
Just when everyone thought that Jiajing was going to die, Lu Bing risked his life to save Jiajing from the fire. Jiajing was very grateful to Lu Bing for this, and since then he has been very fond of Lu Bing.
Eighteen years from Di Nan Xing, the second Wei Hui. On the fourth watch of the night, the palace was on fire, and the emperor suddenly did not know where the emperor was. Bing Pai Min negative emperor out, the emperor is love Xingbing. —The Biography of Lu Bing in the History of the Ming Dynasty
As a friend who grew up with Jiajing since he was a child and has the grace to save his life, Lu Bing has undoubtedly won Jiajing's unparalleled trust. This trust also made Jiajing not hesitate to hand over this crucial position of Jinyiwei commander to Lu Bing.
It was precisely because Lu Bing used Jinyiwei to provide Jiajing with the information he needed that Jiajing was still able to grasp the dynamics of his ministers for nearly thirty years. For a character like Lu Bing, Yan Song and Yan Shifan naturally don't dare to provoke easily, if they act rashly, maybe one day Lu Bing will throw out some prohibited items in Yan's house, and Yan Song's fate can be imagined.
Shen Lian was able to be appreciated by Lu Bing because of his impartiality and aggressiveness. Although Shen Lian was only a seventh-grade brocade guard, he cared more about the government than the ministers who were qualified to go to the court, and he was happy to make suggestions.
This spirit of his is precious at all times and in all places. Fortunately, he met Lu Bing, a man with the most basic conscience of a human being. He knew the value of Shen Lian and took him with him as a personal guard.
Without Lu Bing's protection, Shen Lian's safety could not be guaranteed.
In the twenty-ninth year of Jiajing, the Ming Dynasty suffered the Gengxu Change, and the Tatar leader Alta led tens of thousands of cavalry to invade the capital, forcing Jiajing to sign the "Alliance under the City" and cede land for compensation.
Although Jiajing disagreed, he was unwilling to lose face, and the Ming Dynasty had already sent hundreds of thousands of Qinwang's army to support. However, Yan Song was reluctant to fight, because he knew that once a fight started, there would be many uncertainties.
First of all, the capital is the capital and is strategically located. Second, although these hundreds of thousands of troops seem to be powerful, they are actually composed of border soldiers, Beijing camp soldiers, and temporarily recruited soldiers, who are not familiar with each other and do not interact much in peacetime, so they may not be able to be mobilized at the same time.
After all, civilian officials and military generals despise each other. Therefore, Yan Song knew that in order to avoid the occurrence of war, other solutions must be found.
Defeated in battles on the border, some generals chose to conceal their defeats, and even tried to confuse the crowd with a false impression and shift the blame to others. However, in the vicinity of the capital, even Yan Song, who was the best at concealment, could hardly escape responsibility for defeat, because it was the seat of the emperor.
His strategy was to avoid fighting. But this time, Alta has approached the capital, and if fighting is avoided, the people outside the capital will face unprecedented difficulties. As a civil and military official of the country, he should speak up for the people at this critical moment, but unexpectedly, all the ** remained silent, and only Siye Zhao Zhenji bravely stood up against it.
At this time, Shen Lian was also present, and in the face of the indifference of other **, he took the initiative to stand up and support Zhao Zhenji.
I am a seven-grade brocade guard who has experienced Shen Lian, even if the ministers don't say it, a small official like me has to speak out. This sentence made the ministers present feel ashamed. Although the influence of Zhao Zhenji and Shen Lian was limited, in the end, Ding Rukui, the secretary of the military department, was beheaded because of Yan Song's policy of avoiding war, because Jiajing also advocated war.
Ding Rukui originally thought that Yan Song would protect him, but Yan Song pushed him out. He hardened himself on the execution ground and scolded Yan Song for being a traitor, but it was too late.
When the Gengxu Revolution broke out, although Zhang Juzheng was also present, he did not have the courage to oppose Yan Song, but instead blamed his teacher Xu Jie, the second assistant, for being incompetent. However, Lu Bing paid more attention to Shen Lian because of his performance in the Gengxu Change.
Shen Lian knew that his fate was bumpy, but he still decided to fight for his country. However, his courage did not allow him to escape the doom of the Gengxu Change. Emperor Jiajing was very upset by this, because he knew that this history would be deeply engraved in his heart, and he could not escape the blame.
At this moment, Shen Lian played a recital, in which Yan Song fiercely attacked his life directly. The three deadliest of these are: "The greed is terminally ill, and the foolish heart is stubborn to the stone; Today Zhu Song will thank the world, tomorrow he will kill the ministers to thank Xie Song, although the ministers have no hatred left; To control the enemy, the temple must be counted first, and the temple must be counted as the world to eliminate treachery and evil, and then the outside can be peaceful. ”
In this eventful autumn, Jiajing's thoughts also flowed.
Facing Shen Lian's twists and turns, Yan Song felt the pressure. He realized that if he didn't give an explanation, he could be in danger. So, he bit Shen Lian back. Shen Lian's brother Shen Shu was because of **Yan Song**, Yan Song said that Shen Lian's twists and turns were revenge on him, and Jiajing believed it.
Yan Song's operation caused Shen Lian to be assigned to the security guards. Although Lu Bing wanted to protect Shen Lian, he had no choice but to protect it. It's like two *** bosses have been getting along well, and suddenly a younger brother wants the other boss to die, but he fails.
If the eldest protects the younger brother, he will have a bad relationship with the other boss, and neither side wants to see this result, so Shen Lian can only bear it alone.
Shen Lian's courage and persistence won the support and respect of the merchants, and his life as a security guard was not peaceful, but he fought against the powerful by scolding Yan Song and shooting Yan Song's portrait.
Although his actions caught Yan Song's attention, which eventually led to his death and the tragic death of his son, he still saw the moment of Yan Song's downfall, and his students carried his rank to the scene of Yan Shifan's execution.
Shen Lian's story tells us that those who dare to speak up for the people will be respected by people, and even in the face of strong pressure and danger, they must stick to their beliefs.
Yan Song's downfall is precisely because of the eternal existence of warriors like Shen Lian. If everyone chooses to remain silent in the face of power, then the Jiajing Dynasty will always be shrouded in darkness, and there will be no rare light in the last few years.