The imperial city in early summer is always shrouded in a veil of damp mystery. The rain, like filaments, with a bit of gloom and a bit of sorrow, kept knocking on the window lattices of the imperial city, as if telling an unknown secret.
In the imperial city, in the depths of a palace, Taoist priest Lan Daoxing was closing his eyes and concentrating, carrying out the ceremony of supporting the puppet.
Emperor Jiajing sat on the sidelines, his eyes solemn, as if he wanted to find out the secrets of the future from this ceremony. The flickering lights in the palace contrast sharply with the rain curtain outside the window, adding a bit of mystery and solemnity.
The Landao Taoist priest recited words in his mouth, and his fingers gently held the pen on the basket, and the tip of the pen moved slowly on the sand table, drawing traces of different shades. Every stroke and stroke seems to depict the fate and direction of the future.
As the handwriting on the sand table gradually became clearer, Emperor Jiajing's expression also changed. Those handwritings, as if a prophecy in the storm, heralded the coming political storm. The rain seems to have become more violent at this moment, as if echoing the ...... of those upcoming changes
Lan Daoist invited the immortals, and the emperor asked, "Why is the world not governed?" ”
The pan rustled, leaving nine big words: virtuous and useless, not obedient and unreceiving!
The emperor was shocked: "Who are the virtuous and unscrupulous?" ”
The fairy judged: "Virtuous as Xu Jie, Yang Bo, not as good as Song." ”
Why don't you get rid of it? ”
Leave it and wait for the emperor to decide on his own. ”
Emperor Jiajing pondered for a long time and didn't know how to answer.
In order to hide from the rain, Zou Yinglong came to the inner prison's house.
What's going on these days? Zou Yinglong asked.
Don't dare to say, don't dare to say. "The inner supervisor said.
Zou Yinglong gave some benefits, and the internal supervisor told the story.
What happened in the palace? Zou Yinglong didn't care much, and went back in the wind and rain.
Providence is so, it seems that it is time to be strict. But those who were sparse and strict in the past did not have good results. In fact, it's okay if he dies, but Yan Song's father and son are still in the court, which is hateful!
At night, Zou Yinglong had a dream, he dreamed that a small mountain had fallen, and the mountain next to it also collapsed.
Yes! **Yan Shifan! As long as Yan Shifan falls, is Yan Song still far away?
I woke up from the dream, and handed over a splendid recital.
On May 19, the 41st year of Jiajing, Zou Yinglong went to Yan Shifan, and he put forward Yan Shifan's three major crimes:
1.Yan Shifan, the waiter of the Ministry of Works, relied on his father's power to have an insatiable patent. Private individuals give knightly rewards without authorization and accept bribes extensively. As a result, the law of elections was corrupted, and officials were betrayed.
2.Yan Song's father and son were originally from Yuanzhou, and there were no less than dozens of beautiful houses in Nanjing and Yangzhou, and let the servant Yan Dong preside over this matter. They suppressed the plunder, and the people resented them to the core.
3.When Yan Shifan's mother died, His Majesty left Yan Song to support him because of his advanced age, and ordered Yan Hu to carry the coffin back to the south. Yan Shifan then gathered guests, embraced Yan Ji, danced and sang, and the people were extinct. At present, floods and droughts are still frequent in the world, and wars between the north and the south have begun from time to time. But Yan Shifan's father and son still restrained themselves from daily affairs, and they did not exhaust the people's fat and people's ointment inside and outside the country, filling their desires.
In the end, Zou Yinglong said: "The ministers please behead the world and hang it in the city, thinking that the people and ministers are fierce and disloyal." Gou Chen's words were untruthful, and he was willing to kill. Song dotes on the wicked and bribes the city power, and it is also advisable to return to the field urgently and use the clean political book. ”
Of course, Ming Shizong knew about Yan Shifan's indulgent and unbridled behavior during his funeral, and he had long been disgusted with him in his heart. In addition, Lan Daoxing said that the auxiliary ministers were not virtuous, so Ming Shizong ordered Yan Song to resign and sent Yan Shifan and others to prison.
The invincible Yan father and son fell like this. But is it really what it seems?
In the whole thing, the figure of the second assistant Xu Jie. But upon closer inspection, it was found that Xu Jie was the only one who could connect the whole thing.
In Yan Song's later years, Xu Jie gradually gained the trust of Emperor Jiajing. Under the "chance", he recommended Lan Daoxing to Emperor Jiajing. But the words of the Taoist priest alone are not enough to bring down Yan Song. A sharp knife was still missing.
Who will make this knife? Xu Jie remembered his protégé - Zou Yinglong.
Some people will think that Zou Yinglong's Shangshu was instructed by Xu Jie. Not really. Xu Jie's cleverness is precisely that he has not directly looked for Zou Yinglong. He knew that this protégé was outspoken and dared to admonish, and he didn't like friends. If you always look for him privately, not only may you leave a handle, but the effect may not be good.
So, coincidentally, Zou Yinglong heard the "heavenly machine" leaked by the internal supervisor. When he got the news, he really keenly smelled that this was a good opportunity, so Yan Shifan's recital reached the heavens.
Seeing this, everyone was surprised by Xu Jie's city government, but the matter was far from over.
Soon after Yan Song fell, Emperor Jiajing died. He was replaced by Zhu Zaikun, the introverted and unspeakable Yuwang. Gao Gong is also going to enter the cabinet because he is a lecturer of Zhu Zaikun. But Xu Jie's enduring it for so long, how can he share the power of the first assistant with others?
So Xu Jie instructed his subordinates to speak the official ** high arch. The new emperor's foundation was unstable, and he didn't dare to say much, so he had to reluctantly let Gao Gong leave. However, soon, Zhu Zaikun found another reason to recruit Gao Gong back.
Xu Jie knew that his spring was over.
Gao Gong was also facing backwards, and was awarded the title of Cabinet Bachelor and Head of the Ministry of Officials. Taking advantage of the opportunity to take charge of the ministry, Gao Gong can finally justifiably eliminate dissidents. Its goal is also very clear, that is, to fight Xu Jie's henchmen. The interesting Xu Jie had no choice but to return to his hometown.
However, Gao Gong is not a generous person, and he is still crazy to take revenge on the old party. Back then, the people who were too high arched were in danger. Hu Yingjia and Ouyang Yijing (the right-hand man of the first high arch back then) died of fear and died of depression, which was shocking.
The turmoil has not stopped, and at this moment, Hai Rui, the sharpest sword of the Ming Dynasty, was transferred to the governor of Yingtian. The area under the jurisdiction of the Governor of Yingtian happened to include Xu Jie's hometown: Songjiang Mansion.
After Hai Jui took office, he enforced the law impartially and investigated the hidden fields and inferior gentry. Of course, Xu Jie's family is naturally in this category. In the end, Hai Rui reported to the court that Xu Jie's family had encroached on more than 200,000 mu of private land, and that his children and domestic slaves had committed crimes. After getting Gao Gong's approval, Hai Rui not only confiscated Xu Jie's family property, but also sent Xu Jie's two sons to the army.
In the same way as Xu Jie's technique when he was strict, Gao Gong never instructed Hai Rui to target Xu Jie. In a sense, Hai Rui is just a tool used by Gao Gong to take revenge on Xu Jie.
It is said that the Ming Party is fierce, and it is fierce enough to see this. However, whether it is Yan Yan or Xu, there is always a figure shuttling through it. This is the later Wanli Shoufu - Zhang Juzheng.
Zhang Ju is Xu Jie's protégé and his pride**. Zhang Ju, who had just entered the officialdom, only knew that he wanted to defeat Yan Song, but he couldn't find a good way. He once regarded Xu Jie's forbearance as cowardice, but as the years passed, he gradually understood that all this was in Xu Jie's careful calculation. From this experience, Zhang Juzheng learned to be calm and well-versed in the mysteries of politics.
As Gao Gong's best friend, Zhang Juzheng has always remained silent in the dispute between Xu Jie and Gao Gong. Whether it was Xu Jie's drive away Gao Gong, or Gao Gong's fierce pursuit of Xu Jie, Zhang Juzheng never said a word. His silence is not a matter of standing idly by, but of waiting for the best moment for him.
After Gao Gong took power, he vigorously suppressed dissidents and monopolized power. In the face of all this, Zhang Juzheng once again chose to forbear and delegate power. However, the seeds of revenge in his heart had already taken root. He knew that the time had not yet come and that he had to be patient.
In the sixth year of Longqing, Zhu Zaikun was seriously ill and summoned Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng and Gao Yi as ministers. Mu Zong clenched his arched hand and said earnestly: "Mr. Tired of the world." Gao Gong thought that the power of the Wanli Dynasty was in full control, but he did not anticipate the predicament he was about to face.
Soon after, Gao Gong had a serious conflict with the eunuch Feng Bao over the issue of the edict. Zhang Juzheng keenly seized this opportunity and instructed Feng Bao to tamper with Gao Gong's words in front of the imperial concubine Li and Empress Chen, and put it with the original meaning of "Ten-year-old prince, how to rule the world!" "Distorted as" a ten-year-old child, how to be the master of the people. And declared that Gao Gong was trying to support the vassal king, and the imperial concubine and Empress Chen were shocked when they heard the news. On the morning of June 16, Zhang Juzheng and the others made a severe accusation against Gao Gong, saying that he had no power and no king.
When the eunuch Wang Zhen read out the punishment for Gao Gong, Gao Gong's face was as pale as ashes, sweating profusely, and he couldn't get up. Zhang Juzheng rushed forward to help him up, maybe at that moment, Gao Gong finally understood the ** behind all this.
In the fifth year of Wanli, Zhang Juzheng returned to his hometown of Jiangling, Hubei Province to bury his father, and specially visited Gao Gong on the way. When the two met, they hid their faces and wept, full of emotion. However, on his deathbed, Gao Gong severely criticized Zhang Juzheng in "The Last Words of the Sickbed", describing him as a sinister and vicious character.
The cruelty of the power struggle makes people crazy, and I can't help but think of the phrase: "Power is the most violent".