01
On a certain day in May of the first year of the Great Ming Shun (1457), the Imperial Kyoshi.
It was night, lightning and thunder, fierce winds and rains, and hail the size of pigeon's egg fell from the sky, ruthlessly devaluing all parts of Beijing.
The towering old trees in the palace of the eunuch Cao Jixiang were all blown off by the strong wind, and the mansion of Shiheng, the prince of Zhongguo, was flooded, and the water was several feet deep. In Beijing, both dignitaries and ordinary people in Beijing survived this long night in fear.
God was furious, and Zhu Qizhen, the self-proclaimed Son of Heaven, had to face up to this situation, and early the next morning, he summoned Qin Tianjian **, ready to implement God's instructions.
Qin Tianjian friendly reminder: Your Majesty, think about it carefully, have you done anything to anger the heavens in the past few days?
Zhu Qizhen thought about it, and suddenly realized that it was not because of this incident that he ......
Just this month, the superintendent Yang Xuan** Cao Jixiang and Shi Heng used their power for personal gain, encroached on the land of people in Hejian and other places, and asked the imperial court to return the illegal above-mentioned fields to the people. The bullet seal was quickly handed to Zhu Qizhen's desk, but the matter involved Cao and Shi, who had just made great achievements in winning the door, and Zhu Qizhen was very cautious, so he asked the cabinet ministers to also put forward their views and suggestions.
As the saying goes, it is easy to share hardships and hardships, but it is difficult to share wealth and prosperity. In the face of authority, a loose restoration alliance of civilians, warriors, and eunuchs inevitably cracked after the successful seizure of the gate.
At this time, Xu Youzhen, the first assistant of the cabinet, who was also a hero of the victory, took the lead in speaking: "Yang Xuan's words are fair and selfless, and he does not shy away from the powerful, so he should follow his proposal." ”
Another minister, Li Xian, seconded the proposal.
With the support of the cabinet, Zhu Qizhen recognized Yang Xuan's behavior and praised him as a true imperial history. The emperor's every move naturally could not escape the eyes of the civil official group, and Zhang Peng and others of the Thirteen Imperial Historians keenly smelled this change, and began to smell the wind, and they also wanted to be familiar with each other, and prepared to co-name Cao and Shi.
However, as the upstarts of the imperial court, Cao Jixiang and Shi Heng could not sit idly by, so the two immediately preemptively met Zhu Qizhen first. The two first wrote a lot about their achievements in seizing the door, and then began to accuse the imperial historians of forming a party and framing them, and directly denounced the cabinet as the one behind the scenes, and they were even more tearful when they talked about their emotions.
Faced with the cry of the chief hero who won the door, Zhu Qizhen's ears softened, and he still decided to stand on the side of Cao and Shi. As a result, Xu Youzhen, Li Xian, Yang Xuan, Zhang Peng and other imperial historians were all imprisoned.
And it happened that on the night of Xu Youzhen and others, the curse came.
In the end, under the warning of providence, the first person in this ** incident was able to be dealt with lightly. Xu Youzhen was demoted to a concubine, while Yang Xuan, Zhang Peng and other imperial histories were degraded.
In this way, the political turmoil in the first year of Tianshun ended with the fall of Xu Youzhen's cabinet and the defeat of the civilian clique.
Cao and Shi won a complete victory, but only one of them retreated. Under the protection of Wang Ao, the secretary of the ministry, Li Xian was able to get rid of his crime and became a fish that slipped through the net.
Li Xian. In December of the first year of Tianshun (1457), under the repeated proposals of Cao and Shi, the imperial court once again rewarded those who had made meritorious contributions to the door.
This time, Cao Jixiang and Shi Heng were unceremonious, and directly wrote all the cats and dogs who were related to each other into the merit book, accumulating more than 4,000 people, and the two of them went back and forth to the palace every day, sparing no effort to recover rewards for everyone.
Although Zhu Qizhen was grateful for the restoration of the two, he was also annoyed, and gradually disgusted with their greedy face. In addition to being distressed, Zhu Qizhen began to pour bitter water on Li Xian: "Some people interfere in the government affairs, and people from all over the world must visit them first, what should I do?" ”
After hearing this, Li Xian immediately understood Zhu Qizhen's thoughts, and immediately replied: "Your Majesty should be arbitrary. ”
Zhu Qizhen sighed helplessly: "Now, if I obey them, they will be happy, and if they don't obey, they will show angry words and looks. ”
Then gradually control their power. Li Xian said frankly.
After all, Zhu Qizhen has experienced a year of studying abroad and seven years of closed-door study, and his cognition of power is much more thorough than that of ordinary emperors. Shortly thereafter, he sent an order to Zuo Shunmen: "Without being summoned, the chief military officer shall not be allowed to enter the palace." ”
Another day, Zhu Qizhen climbed the Fengxiang Tower, and saw that Shi Heng's new mansion was grand and magnificent, and it was obviously overstepped, so he deliberately asked the Gongshun Hou Wu Jin beside him: "Whose mansion is that?" Wu Jin knew at a glance that it was Shi Heng's mansion, but he deliberately replied wrongly: "This must be a royal mansion." Zhu Qizhen smiled: "Definitely." ”
Although he had a smile on his face, he was already angry in his heart. Zhu Qizhen couldn't help but sigh to his cronies and eunuchs: "Shi Heng's arrogance has reached such an extent that no one dares to expose his behavior!" ”
Because of this, Zhu Qizhen became increasingly dissatisfied with Cao and Shi, who were arrogant and controlled the government, and made up his mind to eradicate them. But at this time, Zhu Qizhen is no longer the ignorant young man who is easily bewitched, he has his plan.
In addition to uniting with the cabinet headed by Li Xian, Zhu Qizhen also reused Jinyiwei, ordered Lu Gao and others to install eyeliner and secretly collect evidence of the crimes of Cao, Shi and others.
At the same time, Zhu Qizhen did not forget to paralyze Shi Heng and others. When Shi Hengxi became his father, Zhu Qizhen was even happier than Shi Heng, and even proposed to marry him as an in-law to show his goodwill. After Shi Heng's resignation, he rewarded the longevity lock and canonized his son as the lock marquis.
Zhu Qizhen first planned to get rid of Shi Heng, who held the military power, and he was waiting for an opportunity, an opportunity to kill Shi Heng with one blow.
Soon, the opportunity came.
In August of the third year of Tianshun (1459), Yang Bin and others of thousands of households in Datong Town jointly signed a petition to promote Shi Biao, a general of Datong, as the general of Datong.
Zhu Qizhen remained silent and summoned Shi Biao back to Beijing in the name of being a marquis, but Shi Biao refused to obey the order. Zhu Qizhen immediately realized that this was a good opportunity to take advantage of Shi Heng.
So, Zhu Qizhen quickly ordered the Jinyi guard, who was waiting for the opportunity, to capture Shi Biao.
To say that Shi Heng's uncle and nephew have rebelled, judging from Shi Heng's subsequent performance, the possibility is very small. Shi Heng was shocked when he learned of Shi Biao**, and the first thing he thought of was to plead guilty and beg the emperor to pardon Shi Biao.
Zhu Qizhen didn't let Shi Biao go, and this matter didn't affect Shi Heng, he just comforted Shi Heng, showing that your nephew is your nephew, you are you, you serve the court wholeheartedly, don't worry.
With Jin Yiwei's thorough investigation, it was found that Shi Biao had a large number of over-the-top items such as Xiu Python Dragon Clothes, and after that, Jin Yiwei found out the facts of Shi Biao's crime of insulting the vassal king.
Once it rises to the level of treason, the situation changes dramatically. The bullets of various imperial historians flew into the Forbidden City like snowflakes, and Zhu Qizhen took advantage of the situation to depose Shi Heng and let him recuperate at home.
Shi Heng has already been arrested, and after that, there are only fabricated charges left.
After months of fermentation, the court's verbal and written criticism of the dead tiger Shi Heng has reached its peak, and at this time, the Jinyi Guard, who has been lurking in the shadows for a long time, made up for the last sword.
In the first month of the fourth year of Tianshun (1460), Jin Yiwei commanded Tongzhi Lu Gao to play a secret performance: "Shi Heng has been holding grudges for a long time, and his nephew Shi Hou and others have bewitched the public every day, for example, when Guanglu Temple caught fire, Shi Heng once said: 'This is the will of heaven. And Shi Heng raised more than 12 scoundrels, so that they specially watched the movements of the imperial court and plotted against them. ”
In this regard, the court was shocked, and the courtiers were unprecedentedly unanimous: Shi Heng, a traitor, must not be easily let go.
Seeing that the time was ripe, Zhu Qizhen immediately sent Shi Heng to prison, and a month later, Shi Heng died violently in prison.
Shi Heng. On the second day of the seventh month of the fifth year of Tianshun (1461), the capital of Chang'anmen.
At the time of the four drums, the deafening shouts of killing tore through the silence of the Beijing division in the middle of the night, and a rebel army of more than 500 people poured into Chang'an Gate, starting a bloody killing. And this sudden rebel army is the private soldier raised by the eunuch Cao Jixiang, who is in charge of the celebrant seal.
The cunning rabbit died, the lackeys cooked, as early as the defeat of Shi Heng, Cao Jixiang knew that he would be the next target of Zhu Qizhen's liquidation.
Gonggong Cao has served as a eunuch in the prison army for a long time, so he is naturally not a good stubble, not to mention that he is now in charge of the forbidden army, rather than being killed like Shi Heng, it is better to strike first.
So, Cao Jixiang and his adopted son Cao Qin conspired, and the two of them acted inside and outside the imperial city respectively, and then deposed Yingzong and set up a new monarch.
The rebels first came to the house of Lu Gao, the commander of Jinyiwei, and dismantled the number one minion of Zhu Qizhen to vent their anger. Later, he rushed to the court room and slashed the cabinet minister Li Xian, Guangning Marquis Liu An and others. However, when the rebels arrived at the imperial city in a big way, they found that the palace doors were locked, and they were closed.
It turned out that Cao Qin's subordinates commanded Ma Liang to retreat from the battle, and secretly broke away from the team and ran to the court room to expose the Cao family's rebellion.
Zhu Qizhen has seen a lot of winds and waves in his life, and immediately ordered someone to capture Cao Jixiang, and ordered the closure of the imperial city and the nine gates of the capital, and at the same time transferred troops to quell the rebellion.
At this time, Sun Bo and Gongshun Hou Wu Jin had already led part of the Western Expeditionary Army to meet the rebels. Many of the rebels were Mongol dead soldiers, and the soldiers also knew that there was no possibility of surrender in this battle, so they were extremely fierce, and even Gongshun Hou Wu Jin was killed in the melee.
Just as the battle was stalemate, the Beijing battalion soldiers and horses galloped to help, and the Ming army formed an overwhelming advantage over the rebels, and the rebels were defeated, and all of them were killed on the spot. The rebel leader Cao Qin was defeated and fled home to commit suicide by throwing himself into a well.
The night of fighting in Jingshi finally subsided.
In the end, Cao Jixiang was executed by Ling Chi, and the court wiped out his clan.
So far, in just five years, the heroes have either been killed or demoted, and there are very few survivors.
Another day, Zhu Qizhen and Li Xian discussed, when it came to the merit of seizing the door, Li Xian said angrily: "You can use the greeting to drive, how can the words "seizing the door" be passed on to future generations? What's more, Jingtai is not in the right position, His Majesty should be reinstated, whether it is the mandate of heaven or the hearts of the people, it is a natural thing, who is not willing to invite the civil and military ministers, why bother to seize the door? ......Fortunately, thanks to His Majesty's blessing, the matter of seizing the door can be successfully achieved. If Jingtai's subordinates had known in advance that it would not be a pity for Shi Heng and the others to die, they would not know where His Majesty would be placed! ”
Zhu Qizhen suddenly realized that he said yes again and again.
After that, Zhu Qizhen issued a strict order: "From today onwards, the word "seizing the door" shall not be used in the recital!" ”
Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen.