Hai Rui saw the "implication" of Wang Xijue's words, which was nothing more than a warning to himself. Jiangnan's wealthy gentry all prospered and suffered losses, and most of these families had clan members in the officialdom. If you messed with one of them, you would mess with a whole group of people. You should think carefully about it.
as a result of.
Of course what he said is true, but... so what?
"Throughout three lives, I will not change my temperament, but even after death, I will always remain in the country." In my bright life, I, Hai Rui, have only virtues that I dare not violate, and I have never dared to offend anyone!
After putting away Wang Xijue's letter, Hai Rui straightened his back, which was slightly stooped due to old age, and looked as proud as when he wrote "Public Security Notes" twenty-one years ago.
Although life and death are heavy, they are like a feather to me; although chastity is light, they are like Mount Tai.
You, the emperor, are hiding the emperor's wisdom, you are depriving the people of their food, you are deceiving the heaven and the earth, and you are ignorant of the principles. Whenever there are one or two good officials and good people in the court who want to clearly observe and correct the situation, you will attack them in groups.
The world belongs to the people of the world, how can it be that only one generation specializes in it!
When the emperor was angry, millions of corpses were laid to rest; when Hai Rui was angry, the whole country was covered with chaos. Wang Xijue's letter successfully aroused Hai Rui's anger, and the incident in Nancha was in danger of spreading to the whole world.
However, what Hai Rui did not consider was that who in the world knew what his temper was like?
At least Gao Pragmatic and Wang Xijue must know it well.
Because of this, although Gao Pragmatic's letter does not mention virtue, virtue is everywhere mentioned; for this reason, although Wang Xijue's letter does not mention potential, it always talks about potential.
In fact, although the two letters from Gao Pragmatic and Wang Xijue seemed to be completely different, they actually ended up with the same goal, both of which were to get Hai Rui to "make havoc in heaven".
But the high pragmatic purpose is here, and it is understandable to do so. Wang Xijue's interests are at stake, why should he be so angered?
In fact, what Wang Xijue did this time was "the opposite of what he did at the beginning of the fourth year of Longqing's reign".
That time in the fourth year of Longqing's reign, Hai Rui's main target was Xu Jie. He, Wang Xijue, was just a junior official who had just emerged. Naturally, he was happy to let Xu Jie take down the sharp blade of Haigang Peak, while he himself stayed behind and watched the show.
If the sky falls, there will be tall people holding it up. I, Wang, have thin arms and legs, so I won’t join in the fun.
But this time it was different. The two main pillars of the Xin School with Nanbang officials as the core were Shen Shixing and him. However, although Shen Shixing was the first assistant, his family fortune was only average-at least for Wang Xijue, it was definitely only
Can be considered average.
If commercial taxes were to be levied in Jiangnan, Wang Xijue would be the first person to be tolerated. Behind him, there were countless families of "officials and merchants" and "business officials".
During the Beijing inspection this time, although Wang Xijue had no evidence, he concluded that it must have been the result of Gao Pragmatic's secret instigation.
This time, the emperor appointed Gao Jingshi as the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs. It seemed that it was because Gao Jingshi could not be rewarded for his merits, so he had to give it to a high-ranking official. In fact, how could it be that simple?
Wang Xijue had already figured it out on the way back to Beijing. No matter how many tricks the emperor played this time, it was ultimately just because the court was short of money, and Gao Pragmatic was the person in his eyes who was the best at managing money.
In this case, if Gao Pragmatic does something in the near future, it will have to do with commercial tax, and the emperor will definitely try his best to cooperate.
As a result, the capital police started.
Wang Xijue knew very well that since the reason for this Beijing inspection was business tax, and Hai Rui was a stubborn guy with a high pragmatism, insidiousness, and full of vicious schemes, he must have the ability to persuade Hai Rui to treat this aspect as a
The core idea of presiding over this southern investigation.
Who is Hai Rui? Can he be stopped? Of course he can't be stopped. Xu Jie couldn't stop him in the past, and Wang Xijue can't stop him today.
Since you can't stop it, why not change your mind?
Now, I, Wang Xijue, am the biggest leader. Among Jiangnan officials, my status and net worth are like those of Xu Jie in the past.
There were three main reasons why Xu Jie was disgraced at first: first, he had already become an official; second, Gao Gong was the only one to inherit the holy family; third, he failed to "widely mobilize the masses."
Nowadays, Shen Shi is the chief minister, and I, Wang Xijue, am also one of the assistant ministers. In the court, especially in the cabinet, I am on equal footing with the Shi School. In this regard, Xu Jie at that time was not as good as I am today.
Today, when it comes to the Holy Family, Gao Pragmatic may still be regarded as the best person in the world, but Gao Pragmatic and Gao Gong are actually not the same. Gao Pragmatic is the emperor's companion and classmate, and the relationship between them is roughly equivalent to friendship. And Gao Pragmatic is a classmate of the emperor.
Gong was Mu Zong's imperial teacher. What Mu Zong felt in Gao Gong was not only the majesty of his teacher, but also the father's love that he had been missing all his life - which was equivalent to family love.
Friendship and family love are all feelings, and there is no distinction between superiority and inferiority. But friendship can be chosen, but family love has no choice.
You can choose who you make friends with, but you obviously can't choose who is your father. The most ruthless thing about Gao Gong's power in the Long Qing Dynasty is that Emperor Long Qing showed signs of treating him as his father in his heart.
Therefore, although the two high-ranking officials are both descendants of the Holy Family, their natures are relatively different. What is the realistic gap between the two? It is that when the high-ranking official is in the cabinet, he is the first of the "sirs" and the emperor.
It is reasonable to consider his opinion first - "the king of heaven and earth is the master". Even if others are not convinced, they can't find many reasons to object.
Although Gao Jingshi has also been an official, he obviously will not be regarded as the emperor's teacher. The current "emperor" are several pavilion elders. This means that whenever something happens in the world, even if the emperor only wants to listen to Gao Jingshi's words,
The answer is that he must also follow the convention and consult the cabinet ministers for their opinions first, and must show them sufficient respect.
So on this second point, Wang Xijue can also say, "Xu Jie was not as good as I am today."
As for the third one, Xu Jie was very passive when dealing with Hai Rui's marriage. In addition to the above two reasons, there was another troublesome incident that had a great impact on Xu Jie. That was his own brother Xu Zhi impeached him.
This is one of the reasons why he resigned and returned to his hometown. (Note: This is historical fact, but there is no perfect explanation for why Xu Zhi did such a thing.)
At the time, this incident had only a moderate impact on Xu Jie's political status, but it had a great impact on Xu Jie's reputation, so much so that after returning to his hometown, he hoped to calm down a bit and stop being "embarrassed" - after all, he valued reputation.
This was a consistent characteristic of civil servants in the Ming Dynasty, except for the late Ming Dynasty.
In this way, when Xu Jie was "pressed down and beaten" by Hai Rui, he did not resist too obviously. He just pretended to be pitiful while contacting his disciples and former officials for help.
Although Xu Jie did have many disciples and former officials, at that time, just having disciples and former officials was actually not enough - when he himself was engaged in the "Man Dynasty Reversal of Gong", Gao Gong could not carry it out just by relying on his disciples and former officials.
Live?
Wang Xijue himself is the most direct example. When Hai Rui punished Xu Jie, wouldn't Wang Xijue have "hidden"? But if it were the other way around, if Xu Jie had suppressed all officials from Yingtian, including Wang Xijue,
What if we unite together to fight against each other and fight with each other every day? Even if Hai Rui himself is not afraid, isn't the emperor afraid of causing big trouble?
Therefore, Wang Xijue learned from Xu Jie's lesson this time and decided to adopt the "united front" approach.
But the united front is not so easy to organize. At this moment, the other Jiangnan officials, especially the smart people inside, may not follow the same example as Mr. Wang did in the past, waiting for the "superior" gods to fight. They are short anyway, and
It can't play a decisive role, as long as it doesn't stand out.
When the gods are finished fighting, it is good to win because your own interests are preserved; but there is nothing you can do if you lose. You can only comfort yourself with "I am not the one who suffered the most."
But we can still wait for the opportunity. Anyway, the policies of the Ming Dynasty have always changed a lot. Maybe after a crop of immortals, there will be another way? If the green hills are left, there will be no need to worry about running out of firewood.
However, although Wang Xijue himself did this kind of thing back then, times have changed and now that he has become "Xu Jie", he cannot let them continue to do this.
The idea is good, but how to achieve this goal has to be paid attention to. Of course it is necessary to call on everyone to unite, but calling alone will definitely not work. We are all civil servants. Who hasn’t been careful about the little tricks? Naturally, we must adhere to the principle of "Charge You"
Go, hold on to the battle and I will do it." This kind of purpose accomplishes more things.
Therefore, Wang Xijue needs external assistance - for example, Hai Rui does not launch a focused attack, but directly launches a comprehensive attack with indiscriminate strikes. At this time, no matter who Hai Rui touches, the person involved will certainly feel uncomfortable, but others do not know whether he will
If you meet, you will be the next unlucky guy, and you will have the same hatred and resentment.
So Wang Xijue wrote this letter, telling Hai Rui "implicitly and euphemistically": Jiangnan is a piece of iron, you and Hai can't kick it!
What would Hai do if he understood this?
It’s easy, do it together!
Hasn't Hai Rui's style always been like this? It's not enough to describe him without hitting the wall and not looking back. He has hit the wall...then forget about it. Looking back? I, Hai Gangfeng, never look back!
Hai Rui wanted to do it together, so he fell into Wang Xijue's trap, because the officials under investigation also had tricks they could use against the officials in charge, and here are two "customs" of the Ming Dynasty officialdom.
What is the custom? One is to unveil the post.
During the expiration of the Beijing inspection, officials with ulterior motives often submit anonymous disclosure posts and slander them wantonly. Therefore, Tang Zhaojing once said: "Private disclosures should be forbidden to the many yangs and used yinly."
The helplessness of exposing false accusations.
Although "the imperial court uses its ears and eyes to speak to officials, and they are allowed to hear about it", many officials took advantage of the Beijing inspection to use the name of rumors to attack and slander their colleagues in an attempt to avoid being deposed.
Because during the inspection in Beijing, "Every yamen must have people. If the yamen already has people, it will not move again, saying: It is difficult for other yamen. If there is no one in that yamen, it must be filled with people, saying: How can this yamen be empty?"
"So once the goal of slandering colleagues is achieved, some unscrupulous officials can get away with it.
The meaning of "every yamen must have someone" means that someone in every yamen will definitely be deposed. If someone has been deposed before, the remaining people will be safe - at least much safer.
Although the Ming court did not blame those who had heard the news, once the false accusations were known, even if they were falsely based on rumors, it would not be a good thing. Therefore, anonymous postings became rampant. This was also one of the main issues repeatedly discussed by many officials before the Beijing inspection.
one.
However, this was not the method Wang Xijue planned to use against Hai Rui. The method he planned to use was the second method.
The second article is that officials who are afraid of the investigation can still impeach the person in charge of the investigation at this time in order to avoid investigation and punishment.
Because the capital inspection is a major event related to the political future of officials, "once they are deposed, they will leave office immediately", and for a long period of time until the late Wanli period, once they leave office because of the capital inspection, they will "never be used again", so
Some officials who are not in office impeach those in charge in advance to avoid being deposed.
The origin of false accusations against the chief inspector among the imperial police can be traced back to the early Jiajing period. The then cabinet minister Zhang Gui actively supported Shizong in the great ceremony and "resisted the imperial court for four or five years", so he was at odds with many courtiers in the court.
.So in the sixth year of Jiajing's reign, when the Beijing inspection was due, he sparsely reported himself, falsely accusing the officials in charge of the inspection and begging for the emperor's protection.
However, the false accusations made by assistant ministers against the chief inspectors were, after all, a temporary exception. However, in the original history, until the late Wanli period, lower-ranking officials often made false accusations against the chief inspectors.
For example, in the 27th year of Wanli, Xu Wenzao, the censor of Guizhou Province, was criticized by scholars because he "attached himself to Lu Kun's gate wall, regardless of his reputation." He was worried that he would be deposed in the capital inspection, so he "taunted Zhang Yangmeng, the minister of the household department, and others, and hijacked the official department to
Ji Dian, Da Ji and other words, in the Ming Dynasty, they all specifically referred to Jingcha.
Another example is that in the second year of Tianqi's reign, "Zhu Tongmeng, Guo Yunhou, and Guo Xingzhi considered that the next year's Beijing inspection would be unfavorable to themselves and secretly planned to expel Zou Yuanbiao, the then Zuodu censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Although there was a spirit of party struggle, it was the same as the previous one.
, all of whom were falsely accused by the officials.
Similar to this, there are also those who falsely accuse the officials who annotated themselves. For example, in the thirty-ninth year of Wanli, Tang Binyin of the Nanjing Imperial Academy (Jinshi in the twenty-third year of Wanli) was worried that Wang Tu, who was in charge of the Hanlin Academy (the tenth year of Wanli), would
A Jinshi (Jinshi) in the first year of the imperial examination noted that he had passed the exam, so he ordered the imperial censor Jin Mingshi to impeach the son of Wang Tu, the senior official in the court, for corruption, and wanted to accuse Wang Tu of committing murder by his son, so as to avoid being investigated himself.
At this time of great crisis, since there was already a "custom" in place, Wang Xijue naturally did not hesitate to give it a try. As long as Hai Rui showed his intention to "catch them all" in Nanjing, Wang Xijue would be able to take action immediately.
For this reason, when Wang Xijue's letter to Hai Rui was sent to Nanjing, a large number of private letters had already been sent to various places in Jiangnan. Not only Wang Xijue, but also many letters from Shen Shixing. The two cabinet ministers worked tirelessly to
Not only did he write a large number of private letters in his own hand, but there were also countless letters ghostwritten by his staff, all with the same purpose.
This time, the southern inspection team received even more attention than the northern inspection team. Naturally, Gao Pragmatic would not just write a letter to Hai Rui. He also made many corresponding arrangements.
Although the leaders of the two factions are both in Yanjing, the forces all over the world are like tentacles, which have been "activated" first and are beginning to move.
Due to time constraints, especially the delivery of official documents, the Northern Chassis was always earlier than the Southern Chassis, so when Hai Rui summoned relevant personnel to start arranging work arrangements, the Northern Chassis had already entered the first round of the competition in full swing.
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