Those Things in the Ming Dynasty Part 3 The Evil Palace
Another day
Zhu Qizhen, the prisoner at that time, finally returned to his palace. He set out from here eight years ago and became a hostage and prisoner. Eight years later, he returned here and continued to be his emperor.
Chinese history books are amazing. No matter how embarrassing things are, they can be described in a high-sounding way. Mr. Zhu Qizhen has been a prisoner, a hostage, and a prisoner successively. He has suffered all kinds of hardships and exhaustion, but the history books say that he is a "Northern hunter".
", "Retreat", to describe it in today's terms, can also be said to mean going out to observe the people's sentiments, decentralizing to the frontier, experiencing life, having fun with the people, and coordinating ethnic relations.
Of course, he knew the disadvantage he suffered, and Mr. Zhu Qizhen could only knock out his front teeth and swallow it. But no matter what, this time he can be regarded as "I, Hu Hansan, am back."
But Hu Hansan's most important job at the moment is not the country's major policies, but to appease his "returning group."
Zhu Qizhen is indeed a very interesting person. On the second day after he ascended the throne, he gave generous rewards to the members of the "Returning Home Corps":
Xu Youzhen, the No. 1 member of the "Returning Home Regiment": Joined the Cabinet and became Minister of the Ministry of War.
Shi Heng, the second member of the "Returning Regiment", was awarded the title of Duke Zhongguo.
Zhang Fu, the third member of the "Returning Home Regiment", was awarded the title of Marquis of Taiping.
Cao Jixiang, the fourth member of the "Returning Regiment": Eunuch in charge of ceremony, Governor of the Third Battalion.
With perfect merit and virtue, there is no greater good.
According to our common sense in the past, since it is a "returning group", it will definitely do some murderous and arsonous things that are harmful to nature. This is inevitable. After all, they are not a tourist group or a family visiting group, and Xu Youzhen and others also keep in mind the "returning group"
In order to achieve his goal, he did several bad things vigorously and resolutely.
On the same day, Xu Youzhen ordered the arrest of Yu Qian, Wang Wen and others, and put them in prison. For Xu Youzhen, he has endured it for too long. If he doesn't retaliate now, how will he wait?
Then came the cabinet reshuffle. Chen Xun, Jiang Yuan, Shang Ren, Xiao Fan and others were all fired and kicked out. Xu Youzhen was also very interesting. He was afraid that his opponents Chen Xun and Jiang Yuan would not be able to find jobs after they lost their jobs, especially
Find someone to take care of them and arrange a job for them so that they can continue to serve the country (exiled the army in Liaodong).
Of course, some people who were punished also deserved their crimes, such as Lu Zhong in the golden knife case. This man didn't get much benefit after betraying his friends, but now he got his retribution - beheading.
And Gao Ping, who suggested that Zhu Qiyu cut down trees so that Zhu Qizhen could bask in the sun, had his head cut off when he took advantage of Zhu Qizhen on a whim. In fact, he didn't do much else besides cutting down trees.
things.
It seems that those who destroy the environment really do not have a happy ending.
After the cabinet was wiped out by the returning regiments, only Gao Zu was left, so Xu Youzhen arranged for his cronies Xu Bin and Xue Xuan to join the cabinet. At this point, he completely controlled the cabinet and the power of the government.
At this time, there were four people in the cabinet including Xu Youzhen. Maybe Xu Youzhen thought there were too few people, so in February, he summoned another "one of his own", Li Xian, the right minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, to join the cabinet.
However, Xu Youzhen never expected that this person named Li Xian was not actually his confidant. When Xu Youzhen, Shi Heng, and Cao Jixiang were domineering and arrogant, he remained silent and silently observed these changes.
Every move of the township group is looking for their weaknesses and contradictions, waiting for the opportunity to come.
No matter what happened later, at least at that time, Xu Youzhen and others were indeed extremely majestic, especially Xu Youzhen. He spared no effort to attack and frame all those who framed him as his enemies, and the biggest unjust case he directed was the famous Yu Qian case.
Xu Youzhen once thought that as long as he was in power, it would be easy to kill Yu Qian, but now he discovered that getting rid of Yu Qian was not an easy task.
The reason is that he has no reason to kill Yu Qian.
Yu Qian is an honest man, has high prestige, and has no bad deeds. There is really no excuse. He has neither financial problems nor life style problems (this was not a problem back then). It is not easy to bring him down!
But in the end, his deep hatred for Qian made him think of a way.
Yu Qian was the main minister who recommended Zhu Qiyu and was also a close confidant of Zhu Qiyu. The person Zhu Qizhen hated the most was his younger brother Zhu Qiyu. Xu Youzhen decided to use this to deepen Zhu Qizhen's dislike of Qian. At the same time, Xu Youzhen also fabricated a lie,
It was said that Yu Qian intended to invite a foreign vassal king to the capital to take over the throne, and firmly opposed Zhu Jianshen's succession.
After making these preparations, he went to see Zhu Qizhen. In his opinion, Zhu Qizhen would definitely agree to kill Yu Qian.
But the development of things was far beyond his expectation.
Xu Youzhen made an impassioned speech in front of Zhu Qizhen, saying that Yu Qian was unwilling to negotiate peace and supported the new emperor because he wanted to kill the Supreme Emperor. Such a person should be killed quickly, etc.
But Zhu Qizhen just smiled and shook his head, and said to Xu Youzhen: "Yu Qian is meritorious (humility meritorious)."
Xu Youzhen was dumbfounded.
He took Zhu Qizhen too simply. This emperor had gone through many trials and tribulations and had a deep understanding of people's hearts. He knew Xu Youzhen's motives clearly. He knew that Xu Youzhen wanted to take personal revenge by doing this, but he wanted to use a borrowed knife to kill people, so that he would be blamed for the murder.
With such a bad reputation, how could he be willing to do this kind of loss-making business?
Xu Youzhen was anxious. If Yu Qian was kept alive, his life would be at risk if Yu Qian resurrected in the future. In desperation, he came up with another reason to kill Yu Qian.
He believed that as long as he told this reason, Yu Qian would definitely die!
Yu Qian must die!
Xu Youzhen raised her head and said loudly: "If you don't kill Yu Qian, this move will be nameless!"
Zhu Qizhen was awakened. He suddenly
Realized that Xu Youzhen was right.
The so-called coup to seize the gate was a coup with no legitimate name. According to Xu Youzhen, Yu Qian and other ministers were preparing to establish foreign vassals as emperors and were against themselves. In this case, if they did not kill
Yu Qian set up a model of a conspiracy group and showed the whole country that his actions were coercive and just. The legitimacy of the rebellion no longer existed.
I have no choice but to bear this bad reputation.
Yu Qian, you must die!
Xu Youzhen smiled, he knew that the emperor had already made murderous intentions, but what the emperor never expected was that he actually fell into his own trap, because the so-called Yu Qian must die was just a complex logical trap, and the reason why this trap was
The fact that it worked was completely based on the lie that Yu Qian was preparing to establish the vassal king as the emperor.
This was indeed a complex logical trap, and it was not until two years later that another smart man, Li Xian, finally revealed the secret for Zhu Qizhen.
Soon after, both Wang Wen and Yu Qian in prison learned of their charges - to welcome the establishment of a foreign vassal. This was an extremely serious crime, which not only required beheading but also annihilation of the clan. Wang Wen became anxious when he heard that. He jumped up and prepared to
Defend yourself.
Wang Wen was very confident, and he had sufficient excuses, because to welcome the vassal king, one must first use the gold medal to summon the vassal king to the capital, and neither he nor Yu Qian had touched the gold medal, so in his opinion, this crime was very easy.
Refuted.
But Yu Qian didn't move at all. He just smiled and said to Wang Wen: "This is what Shi Heng and the others instigated. What's the use of defending!"
The facts were indeed as Yu Qian expected. In the end, the presiding officer of the case found no solid evidence and had no choice but to ask Xu Youzhen for instructions on how to solve this problem.
Xu Youzhen is an old political hooligan after all. He said a sentence without thinking and solved this problem. He probably did not expect that this sentence would become a famous saying through the ages and be despised by future generations.
His words are: "Although there is no obvious sign, there is intention."
The officials condensed his meaning and refined it into two more expressive words - "intention", and finally convicted him based on this.
In Chinese history, the only sentence that is as notorious as this sentence is "Unnecessary".
Yue Fei was killed "out of necessity", and Yu Qian was killed "intentionally".
What a wonderful farce!
And Xu Youzhen also relied on this sentence to be selected into the list of the most shameless people in history. He can be ranked together with Qin Hui and will be infamy for thousands of years.
a great person
On the 23rd of the first lunar month, Yu Qian was escorted outside Chongwen Gate. In front of the city he had defended with all his life, he received his final outcome - beheading.
Historical records: The world is wronged.
After Yu Qian was killed, as a rule, his house should be searched. However, when the officials who searched the house came to Yu Qian's house, they found that this was a very easy task to complete, because Yu Qian's house had nothing, and except for daily necessities, there was no extra money at all.
(The family has no money left).
The officials who searched the house never expected that a high-ranking official's family would be so poor. They were unwilling to accept it and rummaged through boxes and cabinets everywhere, hoping to find evidence of Yu Qian's corruption.
Soon after, they finally discovered that there was a house in Yu Qian's house that was tightly locked and no one was entering or exiting. They were very excited, thinking that this was where the treasure was hidden, and opened the door.
There were no gold or silver treasures in the house, and there were only two items on display - a python robe and a sword. These were specially awarded to Yu Qian by Zhu Qiyu in recognition of his achievements. Yu Qian was ordered to accept them, but locked them up and never showed them to others.
To show glory.
The people who raided the house finally restrained their usual arrogant attitude and left Yu Qian's home quietly, because everything they saw clearly told them: the person whose house they raided was a person of noble character.
Amazing people.
Zhu Qizhen also regretted it shortly afterwards. Especially after Xu Youzhen's conspiracy was exposed, he repeatedly asked the other two parties, Shi Heng and Cao Jixiang, why they fabricated lies to frame Yu Qian. Shi Heng had no choice but to pass the responsibility to Xu Youzhen.
He replied: "I don't know either. Xu Youzhen asked me to say this."
When Zhu Qizhen heard this, he was stunned and just shook his head and sighed.
But the emperor could not admit his mistakes, so Zhu Qizhen handed over this task to his son. Eight years later, as soon as Prince Zhu Jianshen succeeded to the throne, he issued an edict to rehabilitate Yu Qian and recall Yu Qian's son Yu Mian.
During the Wanli period, Ming Shenzong, who was surprisingly lazy, also respected Qian and awarded him the posthumous title "Zhongsu" to recognize his lifetime achievements.
In fact, Yu Qian did not need the so-called praise from the emperor, because these so-called emperors did not seem to have the qualifications to evaluate Yu Qian. There were countless emperors before Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty, and there would be many after him, but Yu Qian was unique.
People will never forget that it was this man who stepped forward in times of crisis, turned the tide, defended the capital and half of the Ming Dynasty, and saved the lives of countless civilians.
He has been full of ambitions to serve the country since he was a child. After decades of hardships and tests, he has grown from a student studying hard under a lonely lamp to a pillar of the country.
Although he held a high position, he was honest and upright. During his decades of official career, he had never been involved in corruption or bribery. Although his life was not well-off, he never abused the power in his hands and always adhered to his integrity despite poverty.
He was not afraid of difficulties and risks, stepped forward when the country was in greatest danger, and shouldered the responsibility for the rise and fall of the world.
He lived his life upright and aboveboard.
In this dirty world, people who can live their lives cleanly are worthy of admiration.
And if he can still make one
If these achievements are achieved, then we can say that this is a great person.
Yu Qian is such a person.
His greatness does not need anyone to affirm it, nor does it need any proof, because his life is just like his poem, open and forthright, worthy of the sun and the moon.
Lime Groan
Thousands of hammers have been made into the deep mountains,
The fire burns as if it were idle.
Not afraid of being shattered into pieces,
Keep your innocence in this world!
This is exactly the portrait of his life.
I once visited Hangzhou and made a special trip to pay homage to this hero. But when I arrived at Yu Qian Temple, what I saw really shocked me. It was the Golden Week at that time, and there were countless tourists in Hangzhou, but there were only tourists in Yu Qian Temple.
The place was sparse and extremely deserted. However, I encountered a few foreign students who were bowing to the statue of Yu Qian. They were surprised and came up to chat. Only then did I learn that they had seen this period of history when they were studying in university and admired this hero very much. They came here specially to
Come and pay homage.
After listening to what they said, I was speechless.
On the altar, Mr. Yu Qian still maintained his calm demeanor. Presumably he was also like this before his execution.
More than five hundred years have passed, and Yu Qian seems to have never left. He always stands here, overlooking the land that he has watered with his life and blood, and overlooking the countless living beings that he has defended to the death.
I was relieved. No matter whether this place was deserted and no one cared about it, or whether there were admirers here to worship, it had nothing to do with the owner of this ancestral hall, Yu Qian.
When the sea is flowing, a hero shows his true colors! Even if five hundred years pass and all the glitz and glamor has dissipated, Yu Qian will still be standing here and will still be praised from generation to generation for his integrity, selflessness, bravery and fearlessness.
Because he is a hero who will always live in our hearts, a true hero. And a true hero will never be forgotten.
I firmly believe this.
There were many powerful figures in the Ming Dynasty. I once made a ranking list for these figures. In my opinion, Yu Qian should be ranked second. Although there were some figures in the Ming Dynasty whose achievements were no less than or even surpassed Yu Qian's, their rankings
Also after Yu Qian, this is because there are two evaluation criteria: character and talent. Although some people's talents are indeed better than Yu Qian, their character is flawed. For example, Comrade Zhu Yuanzhang's political issues and Comrade Zhang Juzheng's economic issues
question.
And Yu Qian is not only extraordinary in talent, but also has almost impeccable moral character. How many people have had both ability and political integrity throughout the ages!
If there were no exceptions, Yu Qian should have been ranked first. Unfortunately, after him, another master emerged. This man was not only talented in both civil and military affairs, but also wise and brave.
Xiao, who started well and finished well, can be called an unparalleled genius. For this dear friend, the title of hero seems to be no longer applicable, because in the eyes of many people, there is a more suitable title for him - sage.
This dear friend will also be the protagonist in our subsequent articles, so I won’t go into details here.
One last thing to mention, after Yu Qian's death, his son Yu Mian was fined and exiled to the army, and the location of the exile was called Longmen. The later series of movies, Dragon Gate Inn, used this as the story template, and the life prototype of the big villain eunuch was Si Li.
Supervisor Comrade Cao Jixiang.
Although we have reason to believe that this is a myth, it is still fun to poke fun at Cao Jixiang and others when we have nothing to do.
Burning bridges across rivers
After killing a group of people, replacing a group of people, making new dragon robes, repairing the palace, and changing the year name (Jingtai was changed to Tianshun), it took more than a month. Zhu Qizhen finally stopped. It's no wonder that ordinary people moved
Every family is exhausted, let alone changing the emperor.
It is said that the matter was completed smoothly, but Zhu Qizhen never thought that although he had thought carefully and took care of everything, he still made a huge mistake, and this mistake would create a unique phenomenon in Chinese history, which made Zhu Qizhen
Qizhen became the laughing stock of history.
What mistake did Zhu Qizhen make? As we mentioned before, Zhu Qizhen succeeded in seizing the throne on the 17th of the first lunar month and immediately ascended the throne as emperor. He considered everything, but forgot about the person he ousted from the throne -
—Zhu Qiyu!
At that time, Zhu Qiyu was already dying, so Zhu Qizhen ignored him and took the throne directly. However, he did not expect that his younger brother was still very strong and died after more than a month. It didn't matter, it was fatal.
Unfortunately, he forgot an extremely important thing - deposing Zhu Qiyu as emperor!
The old man worked furiously for more than ten days before he suddenly remembered that his half-lived brother was still the emperor. Zhu Qizhen, who was dumbfounded, immediately announced the deposed Zhu Qiyu in the name of the empress dowager, but it was already too late.
It is already the first day of February, which means that in the past ten days, the Ming Dynasty has had two emperors at the same time, and these two emperors are both current emperors. One is sitting outside and the other is lying inside. This is true.
It can be said to be a rare spectacle in the ages.
Although Zhu Qizhen made a joke, he still secured the throne and began his second-generation rule - Tianshun.
After the members of the Returning Corps unjustly killed Yu Qian, their prospects seemed bright. If it ended in the language of a fairy tale, it could be expressed as "the four of them held hands and started living a happy life from then on."
But it is a pity that in our country, which has a long and excellent historical and cultural tradition (such as power struggle and thick black learning), there is no market for fairy tales. For cabal groups like them, the ending cannot escape two sentences.
One line is called "To fight against foreign forces, we must first make peace at home", and the other line is called "Crossing the river and tearing down the bridge". Judging from the subsequent development of the situation, the second sentence is generally applicable to the Home Returning Group.