The main reason why Gao Pragmatic, who came to the Hanlin Academy for the first time, was deeply impressed by Zhao Zhigao, in addition to his image as a doormat in historical records, is that he was one of the stars on the Wuchen Branch Gold List in the second year of Longqing. .
The word "stars" used here naturally does not mean the "stars" of later generations, but refers to the numerous talents and bright stars in this field.
The Golden List of Wuchen Section in the Second Year of Longqing is one of the most valuable subjects among the many Gold Lists of the Third Dynasty of Jialong. This subject has produced many powerful figures. Gao Pragmatic can immediately think of four chief ministers of the cabinet. They are Wang Jiaping, Zhao Zhigao, Shen Yiguan, and Zhu Geng. The gold list rankings are Wang Jiaping second in the second class, Zhao Zhigao third in the first class (Third Flower), Shen Yiguan ranked 56th in the third class, and Zhu Geng was seventh in the second class. Fifteen.
The most amazing thing here is Shen Yiguan. As a rule, the Ming Dynasty Jinshi is ranked 36th among the top three, and there are few precedents for entering the cabinet. However, Shen Yiguan's ranking has reached the 56th among the top three, and he can still do it. Entering the cabinet shows how clever your methods are.
In addition to the four future chief ministers, there are also three other pavilion elders, namely Zhang Wei, Chen Yubi, and Yu Shenxing. As for Luo Wanhua, the number one scholar in the undergraduate program, who has reached the rank of minister, there are even more .
Among them, Zhang Wei and Chen Yubi have become the lecturers for this time when the prince leaves the cabinet to study. To a certain extent, they can be regarded as the prime minister from now on.
But the strange thing is that Zhao Zhigao and Wang Jiaping ranked higher than Chen Yubi and Zhang Wei on the gold list, but they did not become official officials.
Of course, there are sometimes many reasons here, but Gao Pragmatic guessed that in addition to the personal ability of the officials, there must be shadows of important officials in the court behind the selection of the prince. Therefore, Zhao Zhigao, who is the most popular person, and As a result, Wang Jiaping, who was ranked second in the second division, lost this great opportunity.
Zhang Wei's ability to stand out must be due to Li Chunfang, his teacher and mentor; Chen Yubi's situation is a bit more complicated. Given Chen Yiqin's personality, it is unlikely that he would come forward to recommend his son. Most likely, Gao Gong and other ministers felt that Chen Yu Your Majesty's qualifications meet the standards in all aspects, and his father Chen Yiqin is a neutral faction in the cabinet, so they all want to fight for it, so they are happy to give him a favor. Whether Chen Yiqin appreciates it or not, there is no need to offend him anyway.
The situation of Zhao Zhigao and Wang Jiaping is not as good as that of them. It stands to reason that their tutor is also Li Chunfang - he is the examiner. But their papers may not be marked by Li Chunfang personally, so the tutor Fang has another Most of these people are noble officials who are in the Hanlin Academy or the Imperial College. They do not have enough real power to compete with the cabinet bosses for the right to recommend.
So, there are people in the court who are good at becoming officials!
As for Yu Shenxing, this person is also very interesting. He was a student that Zhang Juzheng valued very much. Historically, Zhang Juzheng had taken great care of him. However, when the Liu Tai case broke out and the love-stealing case entered the climax, Yu Shenxing urged Zhang Juzheng not to He insisted on having his own way. What's even more cruel is that after Liu Tai was arrested, no one in the whole court dared to visit, but Yu Shenxing went to visit decisively. As a result, Zhang Juzheng was severely punished, and he even signed a petition to Emperor Wanli to take back his life. So much so that Zhang Juzheng called Yu Shenxing to him and asked, "I'm not kind to you, why do you repay me like this?"
As a result, Yu Shenxing replied: "It is precisely because you are not kind to me that students have to do this. Taking love is against the ancestral system and against the rules. You are the head of officials and should be a model for the world." But it is obvious that he has a taste of power.
Zhang Juzheng couldn't listen.
Later, Zhang Juzheng was liquidated after his death, and Wanli ordered his house to be searched. Under such circumstances, Yu Shenxing did not avoid resentment and wrote to Qiu Shun, who was in charge of the matter, asking him to take care of Zhang Juzheng's eighty-year-old mother and Bu Cheng.
Qiu Shun, the youngest son who was 18 years old, thought about it over and over, and finally listened to this advice and reserved a residence for Zhang's mother and enough land to support her in her old age. Yu Shenxing was praised by the court for this.
When Gao Pragmatic was thinking about the dispute between Xu Jie and Gao Gong, many of the historical materials he relied on came from Shen Xing's "Gu Shan Bi Chen" for no other reason: Gao Pragmatic believed that Yu Shenxing's moral integrity was far better than that of Wang Shizhen
.
Of course, the reason why Yu Shenxing's ethics gained Gao Pragmatic's trust is not just because of these two things. After all, both of these things may have been done deliberately in order to gain a good reputation - what Gao Pragmatic himself did.
Raising hope is actually very similar to these things.
His true appreciation and even admiration for Shenxing's integrity was due to Yu Shenxing's performance during the Guoben dispute: At this time, Wanli's eldest son Zhu Changluo was already nine years old and was born from a concubine - but this concubine was originally just a palace maid.
At that time, Wanli was only interested in the throne temporarily, but unexpectedly, it turned out to be a dark knot. In fact, Wanli did not like this concubine and her son, and he wanted to establish the second son of the emperor born to Concubine Zheng.
But in the Ming Dynasty, title was extremely important. "If there is a direct descendant, there will be no direct descendants." has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Wanli himself was also a beneficiary of this idea. If the queen has no children, there will be no direct descendants, but it is not the turn of the established elders.
Wanli, the second son of the emperor born to Concubine Zheng, could not express his thoughts clearly, so he delayed establishing the crown prince.
The civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty were very anxious when they saw that the emperor's eldest son was growing up and could not study in his rightful place. So starting from the 17th year of Wanli, people kept raising the issue of establishing a heir, and asked Wanli to build the East Palace as soon as possible.
Yu Shenxing, as the Minister of Rites, was of course obligated to deal with this matter. He repeatedly remonstrated, and his words were quite fierce. Wanli was very angry, and repeatedly issued strict edicts. Yu Shenxing was prepared to "use the East Palace to threaten the emperor."
Yu Shenxing replied: "The matter of registration is the responsibility of the ministers. If I don't say it, I will be derelict in my duty. Please make a decision quickly. I would rather abandon my official position and return home." His attitude was extremely tough and he was not willing to compromise at all, because Yu Shen
From a practical point of view, principles are principles, and issues of principle are non-negotiable.
Of course Wanli was even more unhappy. He scolded Yu Shenxing for being "suspicious" and "confusing the foundation of the country", and dismissed all the officials from the Ministry of Rites. It happened that at this time, the incident of leaking questions in the Shandong rural examination occurred, and Yu Shenxing was killed.
As the Minister of Rites, although he was the main leader of the scientific examination, he only had certain leadership responsibilities, but Yu Shenxing still took the blame and resigned without hesitation.
In September of the 19th year of Wanli, Yu Shenxing's resignation was approved by Wanli, and Yu Shenxing returned to his hometown. He stayed at home for more than ten years. The government and the public recommended him to leave the mountain many times, but Wanli did not agree. Until the 35th year of Wanli, the East Palace
The country has been established and the foundation of the country has been decided. When the court recommended cabinet ministers, Yu Shenxing was ranked first among the seven candidates. Wanli saw that the situation was irreversible, so he ordered him to serve in the cabinet as his original official, Crown Prince Shaobao and Dongge University Scholar.
.But at this time, Yu Shenxing was already seriously ill and could only reluctantly go to Beijing for an audience. A few days later, he died at the official residence in Beijing at the age of sixty-three. After Yu Shenxing's death, he gave the prince a posthumous title as Taibao.
