typeface
large
in
Small
Turn off the lights
Previous bookshelf directory Bookmark Next

Chapter 61 Instigating Juzheng (Part 2)

Xu Jie's situation cannot be described in a pleasant way. He can be said to be in great trouble now.

Zhang Juzheng's face was as gloomy as water, and he carefully reviewed the political situation of the past two months in his mind. Then he discovered that Gao Gong seemed to really want to rebel against Xu Jie's old politics recently.

What's even more frightening is that Zhang Juzheng knew that Gao Gong really wanted to oppose Xu Jie's old regime from the bottom of his heart.

This matter must start from the specific circumstances of that year: On December 14, the forty-fifth year of Jiajing's reign, Emperor Jiajing passed away. That night, Xu Jie summoned his favorite disciple Zhang Juzheng and urgently produced a "Posthumous Edict" written in Jiajing's autobiography.

.In the morning of the next day, it was presented to King Yu as the new emperor, who promulgated it to the world. However, this matter was not discussed with other colleagues in the cabinet. It was only instructed by Xu Jie, and Zhang Juzheng took the initiative, completely excluding other ministers.

This led to yet another intensification of cabinet conflicts.

Cabinet colleagues who have been completely exposed to transparency must not be able to calm down!

Although Li Chunfang, who only followed Xu Jie's lead, did not dare to express any opinions, the two elders Gao Gong and Guo Pu were furious. Guo Pu said excitedly on the spot: "Xu Gong is slandering the late emperor under the guise of a posthumous edict. His intention is terrible.

punish!"

Gao Gong immediately agreed and said: "The late emperor is the British master. Could it be that everything he did in the past forty-five years was wrong? Now I am the late emperor's biological son. He ascended the throne at the age of thirty. He is not a young master. How can I force this general to do so?"

If the late emperor's sins are exposed to the world, where will the emperor's dignity be put? Furthermore, the late emperor originally wanted to stop the business of serving as emperor. Who suggested that he rebuild the Purple Emperor's Palace? Those civil engineering projects are all covered every foot.

The father and son of the Xu family planned it themselves, can they now be blamed entirely on the late emperor? Before the late emperor was alive, he was always flattering, and as soon as the late emperor came to visit, he would wantonly slander and insult him, which is really disgusting." As he said this, he looked at each other in tears with Guo Pu.

In fact, it may not be true to say that all of Gao Gong's remarks came from his true heart. Logically speaking, he did not have such deep feelings for Emperor Jiajing, and he would not be really sad about his reputation being ruined after his death. In fact, he mainly

They were worried that King Yu, the new emperor, might be kidnapped by Xu Jie and be wronged. After all, his relationship with Emperor Longqing was far beyond comparison with others.

However, from a fundamental starting point, these remarks are actually mainly directed at Xu Jie. Because Xu Jie actually took advantage of the opportunity of the change of generations to cleverly blame all the bad policies of the previous dynasty on the dead, thereby blaming his own previous disgraceful actions.

Not only that, he also greatly bought people's hearts. And when he did this, he deliberately excluded his cabinet colleagues, including Gao Gong himself. This kind of unabashed contempt and

Suppression is what really makes Gao Gong angry.

Because Gao Gong positioned himself as Emperor Longqing's first loyal minister, he believed that Xu Jie's actions were not only selfish, but also deliberately suppressed and despised the majesty of the new emperor - my father has done all the wrong things in his life, and I

Where can this new gentleman go to face him?

Of course, the conflict between Xu and Gao is not limited to this. Just give two examples: at the army reward ceremony after the new emperor ascended the throne, Gao Gong once again had political differences with Xu Jie. Originally, the new emperor rewarded him when he ascended the throne.

The military is not an ancestral system, but a practice that started in the first year of Zhengtong. When Emperor Jiajing came to the throne, because the treasury was rich, he doubled the original reward.

When Longqing ascended the throne, Xu Jie planned to follow the standards when Jiajing ascended the throne. Gao Gong immediately objected, saying: "The current treasury is empty and cannot afford this consumption. It is better to act according to the standards of the orthodox period, then you can save half of it."

As long as the money is spent, two million is enough."

Xu Jie directly rejected Gao Gong's suggestion. Because Xu Jie knew that for the people below, the more rewards, the better. Reducing rewards for whatever reason would offend people. With Xu Jie's shrewdness, of course he would not do this.

This was a stupid thing that was harmful to oneself. After all, Xu Gelao did not have to pay for the rewards. As a result, Gao Gong tried hard but to no avail. In the end, the rewards were issued according to the standards of Jiajing's accession to the throne, and the Ministry of Household Affairs was in dire straits.

Another example is that there was a court meeting, and the officials were arguing over whether a minister should be appointed. The two sides argued so hard that it was almost full force. Xu Jie saw that the situation was difficult to control, and was unwilling to offend any of the officials.

On the one hand, they planned to push the issue to the emperor and let the emperor decide whether the minister would stay or go.

Gao Gong questioned Xu Jie's irresponsible behavior on the spot and objected: "We cannot set this precedent of 'respectfully asking for the Holy See'. In the previous dynasty, we did not ask for the Holy See to make a decision, because the previous emperor had been in power for a long time and had a good understanding of the state system; now that I have ascended the throne,

It has only been a few days, how is it possible to know which of the ministers are virtuous and who is unworthy? Let the emperor make his own decision, how should the emperor judge? I am afraid that I can only ask the people around me. If things continue like this, major events in the world may be hijacked by Xiaoxiao."

Xu Jie immediately darkened his face, thinking that Gao Gong was simply being unreasonable and that he would only be happy if he had to go against him in everything. With the support of the officials, Xu Jie won again and finally invited the "superior judge". But Gao Gong and Xu

The contradiction between Xu Jie and Gao Gong became more public and everyone in the court knew about it. Due to Xu Jie's prestige and influence, as well as his unwillingness to offend others, while Gao Gong was devoted to protecting his emperor's students, public opinion tended to accuse him.

Gao Gong arrogated power and undermined the order of the cabinet.

Conflicts like this were almost continuous between Xu and Gao during the nearly one year when Gao Gong first entered the cabinet. However, due to the initial instability of the new dynasty, the atmosphere affected by these things

It is becoming more and more subtle. Huang Jingfang, a contemporary, commented: "Gao Gong is responsible for resentment, while Xu Jie is devoted to kindness. This is where the conflict between the two begins." This evaluation can be said to be pertinent.

Xu Jie's smoothness and Gao Gong's straightforwardness formed a sharp contrast, and they were both irreconcilable contradictions. The two people's attention to state affairs was not at the same level. Xu Jie took into account the interests of all parties and was particularly cautious.

, the primary purpose is to protect oneself wisely, and always make oneself invincible on the basis of handling the incident tactfully; while Gao Gong tends to discuss matters as they are, without any distractions, and does not even care about making grudges with anyone for this reason.

In the final analysis, Xu Jie cares about his official position, fame and fortune, while Gao Gong cares about the great cause of the world.

Later, because of the Beijing investigation, the Hu Yingjia case broke out. After a fierce struggle, the "Manchu Dynasty was overthrown", Gao Gong resigned in embarrassment, and Xu Jie finally lost his sacred heart and returned to his hometown.

When Gao Gong came back this time, he first overthrew "all the ministers who had made suggestions to the previous dynasty". In the "Jiajing Edict" drafted by Xu Jie, he stated that during the forty-five years of Jiajing's reign, he was dismissed from his post and exiled from the army because he dared to speak out.

Rehabilitating a minister who was imprisoned or on death row involves a large number of people. It is hard to say whether it will be unpopular with the people, but it is definitely a good thing that will win the support of officials.

But as soon as Gao Gong returned to Beijing, he immediately overturned this. Gao Gong's reason was that the "crimes" of these ministers were all decided by the late Emperor Jiajing. Can the case decided by the late Emperor be overturned? No, because if these people are all rehabilitated, Zhaoxue

, then doesn’t it mean that the late emperor was wrong? That’s okay!

In a word, Xu Jie's behavior is "harmful to the saintly virtue". At the same time, he commented that Xu Jie "does not serve the emperor with loyalty and filial piety, but acts selfishly" and "returns to the late emperor." This move is of course very cruel. In Zhang Juzheng's opinion,

He came here because he wanted to put Xu Jie to death. Fortunately, Long Qing was very assertive this time. He only agreed that the guilty ministers should not be "unscreened and recorded with caution" and did not directly touch Xu Jie.

But even though the decree said so, it actually overturned the "Edict", and the efforts to rehabilitate the ministers who had been convicted of admonishment came to an end. Hundreds of families who were expected to see the light of day again fell into misery. There are also involved in this.

A person, this person is the father of the great writer Wang Shizhen. As a result... Historically, Wang Shizhen wrote "The Biography of the First Assistant Since Jiajing", which wantonly slandered and vilified Gao Gong. Whenever Gao Gong had merit, he either brushed it off or "Wu Zudao"

"Ye", and as long as there were rumors that were unfavorable to Gao Gong, they were clearly recorded and elaborated one by one.

Because of Wang Shizhen's historical status in the literary world, this "Shou Fu Zhuan" has become an important material for later generations to study this period of history! The reason why Gao Gong's reputation has been bad for so many years in later generations was that it was not slowly overturned by some scholars until about the time of the reform and opening up.

, the reason lies here.

Feng Bao saw Zhang Ju's face sinking like water, and his eyes even showed a trace of murderous intent unconsciously. He was secretly proud in his heart and struck again: "Mr. Taiyue, Gao Huoting made a fuss a few days ago, saying that he and Huating Gong were just the same.

A little private holiday, you are the person involved, you won’t believe it, right? And according to my informants, a few days ago, he had a night meeting with students in Beijing at home, including four science and education officials

...What do you think his tall beard wants to do?”


This chapter has been completed!
Previous Bookshelf directory Bookmark Next