Chapter 281 The Two-Year Danger Period of Returning to Japan (Yuanjiu)
Liu Ping's worries were not unfounded. The Wanli Dynasty had had several disputes over the country. Previously, they had used various means to delay the situation, pretending to be dead and never opening their eyes. At the same time, it happened that there had always been trouble over the years.
There is something big to be done, but it has not been made clear yet.
Now, the Empress has finally given birth to a dragon son. According to the tradition of the Ming Dynasty, this should be the decisive event that finally determines the crown prince's position. From then on, all kinds of disputes should naturally disappear.
However, will things really go so smoothly? I'm afraid not sure.
There is a word in later generations called sunk costs, and politics also has sunk costs. When people decide whether to do something, they not only look at whether it is good for themselves, but also look at whether they have already done this in the past.
People have invested in something. People call these irrecoverable expenditures, such as time, money, energy, etc., "sunk costs".
In the interpretation of this word, there is a clear identification, that is, "irrecoverable expenditures have been incurred." However, in reality, people often refuse to believe that the costs previously invested are irrecoverable, so they will try their best to continue investing in the hope of recovering it.
"Irrecoverable" such a tragic situation.
Gao pragmatically regards this kind of mood as a gambler's mentality, that is, no matter how ugly the situation is, he always believes in the mentality of "I can get back money", "I can counterattack" and so on.
So now, if some people and forces who have invested huge amounts in the intermittent struggle over the country, will they really give up just because the queen's legitimate son is born? It's difficult, it's difficult, it's very difficult.
But there is an unavoidable obstacle here, which is the ancestral system and political inertia of the Ming Dynasty.
Everyone can understand ancestral system, but political inertia needs a little explanation. Political inertia may be related to ancestral system, but it may not be directly related. To give the simplest example, the governor system is political inertia rather than ancestral system——
Of course, the thing to be emphasized here is that the ancestral system refers to the "Taizu System" established by Zhu Yuanzhang.
As we all know, the succession issue of the Ming Dynasty was the most "standardized" compared to all previous Chinese dynasties. There were almost no major disputes, and there were not many weird things like "seizing the direct descendants."
So what is the ancestral system and political inertia regarding the status of the prince in the Ming Dynasty?
The acquisition of human social status can basically be divided into two types: self-induced status and pre-assigned status. Among them, self-induced status can be obtained through personal efforts; while pre-assigned status is based on birth, is assigned, and usually cannot be changed.
social status.
The throne is obviously a pre-endowed position. Only when there is a change of dynasty or usurpation of power can someone else ascend to the throne of emperor through their own business plans.
Under normal circumstances, the succession to the throne is limited to the highest ruler of each dynasty, and is determined based on blood relationship, seniority, and talent and virtue.
The congenital nature of the throne makes the prince's parentage extremely important. The identity of the prince's biological mother and his age are of decisive significance in the qualifications of the heir to the throne. As for his physical fitness, intellectual ability, moral character and other factors, they usually have to be determined.
Consider it on the back burner.
Therefore, generally speaking, as long as he has the status of the eldest son, even if he has low qualifications and is mediocre and incompetent, as long as there are no special accidents, he can successfully inherit the throne.
In traditional Chinese society, the selection of the successor to the throne is a major event related to the stability of the country's political situation, which is also the so-called "national" issue. So, should we adopt the "eldest son system" or the "selection of worthy and capable" standards to establish the heir?
, has always been the biggest problem plaguing the supreme ruler.
In the Ming Dynasty, under Zhu Yuanzhang's persistence and personal guidance, the succession to the throne of the Ming generation strictly followed the succession system of the eldest son, which is the well-known sixteen-character principle: there is a direct line, and there is no direct line.
, the father dies and the son succeeds, the elder brother succeeds the younger brother.
However, the imperial line of the Ming Dynasty also had some accidents. According to the history of Gao Pragmatic's previous life, among the sixteen emperors of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial line had changed three times.
The first change was after the Battle of Jingnan, when the imperial line was transferred from the line of Zhu Yuanzhang’s eldest son Zhu Biao and his eldest grandson Zhu Yunwen to the line of the fourth son Zhu Di, starting the Yongle era after the Battle of Jingnan;
The second change in the imperial line was because Xiaozong's son Wu Zong had no descendants to inherit the throne. The imperial line was transferred from Xiaozong's line to his brother Xingxian Wang's line. The son of Xingxian Wang took the throne, namely Emperor Shizong Jiajing;
The third change was that the sons of Xizong died in infancy and there were no heirs to succeed the throne. The imperial line was transferred from the lineage of Xizong to the lineage of his half-brother Xinwang, that is, Emperor Chongzhen.
In addition, there were two twists and turns between Yingzong and Emperor Jing. In the "Tumu Incident", Zhongyingzong was captured. The Ming Dynasty was leaderless and the situation was extremely critical. King Ye, who was ordered to supervise the country, was proclaimed emperor by the ministers and respected Yingzong as the Supreme Emperor.
, changed the title of his son to prince, and the imperial line was transferred from the Yingzong line to the Jingdi line.
However, God's will played a trick. Emperor Jing's son died young, and the Yingzong returned to the country. Taking advantage of Emperor Jing's illness, he successfully restored the throne and regained the throne. He established his eldest son Zhu Jianshen as the prince, and the imperial line returned to the Yingzong lineage again.
Despite these accidents, in these three changes in the imperial line, the succession of Sejong and Sizong followed the principle of "brothers succeed younger brothers", and there were emperor's edicts or empress dowager's decrees, so their successions had procedures or rituals.
The legitimacy of his rule was sufficient from the moment he ascended the throne.
Zhu Di, the founder of the throne, seized the throne by usurping power, but he finally won legitimacy through his extraordinary perseverance, iron-blooded means and real achievements.
Emperor Jing ascended the throne under a special background, but the legitimacy of his power was actually based on Yingzong's agreement to abdicate the throne. However, the problem was that he overstepped his duty by appointing a prince, and the premature death of his son Zhu Jianji
It is also understood as God's punishment for his transgression.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Therefore, when the Yingzong was restored, the ministers showed a high degree of consistency towards the restoration, that is, there was almost no objection. It can be seen from this that
, in the minds of the ministers, even though Yingzong had carried out civil engineering changes, he still had real legitimacy. His restoration was to return the imperial line to orthodoxy, which was natural and beyond doubt.
Although on the surface, the identity of the succeeding emperor in the Ming Dynasty was sometimes complicated, in fact, the succession of each emperor actually followed the regulations of Taizu.
Emperor Hui of the Ming Dynasty, Renzong, Xuanzong, Yingzong, and Wuzong succeeded to the throne as the eldest son, Xianzong, Guangzong, and Xizong succeeded as the eldest son without direct eldest son, and Xiaozong, Mu Zong, and Shenzong inherited the throne as the de facto eldest son.
, as for Daizong, Shizong, and Sizong, they succeeded to the throne in accordance with the principle of "brother lasts until younger brother succeeds".
It can be seen that the concept of succession to the throne by the eldest son was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people during the Yuming Dynasty. From the emperor's officials to the common people, everyone recognized this concept and actively and resolutely maintained this concept.
Because of this, the selection of the successor to the throne of the Ming Dynasty had a high degree of certainty, and people knew very well who the successor to the throne should be in the future. Even if the emperor did not formally issue an edict to confer the title of prince, people could still predict the candidate for the prince.
When the emperor, who has the power of life and death, has a favorite heir among the princes and refuses to appoint the emperor's legitimate son, and the emperor's eldest son is the prince, and wants to break the tradition and replace him with his beloved son, the ministers will often come forward.
The principle of eldest son inheritance and traditional customization, the core of the patriarchal system, are two powerful supports to compete with the emperor.
Even though the emperor "spoke of the constitution of heaven and followed the law in his words," he could not defeat the administrative execution power actually controlled by civil and military officials and the huge power of public opinion of the people all over the world. In the end, he had to act in accordance with the ancestral law.
Why did the Ming Dynasty form such a strong constraint on national issues? This is probably a kind of "reversing the past, and learning from the future". In the Yuan Dynasty, because there was no fixed national law to clarify the successor to the throne, all parties supported it one after another.
Different heirs to the throne caused fierce internal struggles, which greatly accelerated the decline of the Yuan Dynasty.
Under such lessons, both officials and common people in the Ming Dynasty believed that there must be a standard system for the succession of the throne, and this system must be clearly and firmly implemented.
The vast territory, the brave and warlike Mongolian Yuan Dynasty ruled the Central Plains for less than a century, and it collapsed. The struggle for imperial power within the ruling class was undoubtedly an important reason. Therefore, the bloody lessons of the Yuan Dynasty's demise naturally made Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang deeply aware of the realization of imperial power.
It is important to ensure a smooth transition, avoid fratricide, and maintain basic political order.
Therefore, Emperor Taizu clearly stipulated at the beginning of the founding of the country that "if there is no prince in the court, he must be followed by the younger brother. If there is a prince, he must be the one who has the legitimate mother, and the concubine cannot be established even if she is long."
Although many of the ancestral rules and regulations formulated by Taizu were reduced to a piece of paper in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. In this time and space, due to the high pragmatism, there are even fewer ancestral rules that have been ignored in practice. However, this rule of succession to the throne has become a golden rule.
, is always strictly enforced.
Since this ancestral system cannot be avoided or bypassed at all, why are even people like Liu Ping so cautious and careful when mentioning this matter? Naturally, it is related to the special situation of the Wanli Dynasty today.
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The queen’s legitimate son was born too late!
It is now the end of the twenty-sixth year of Wanli, and the Chinese New Year is about to enter the twenty-seventh year of Wanli. It has been nearly thirty years since the Wanli Emperor Zhu Yijun came to the throne. His wedding was in the fifth year of Wanli, and about twenty-two years have passed.
as long as.
Twenty-two years! Queen Wang was only fourteen years old when she got married, and is now thirty-six years old. In this era of the Ming Dynasty, she was completely an advanced maternal age. As a matter of national importance, the issue of the crown prince has been postponed until now.
It's bizarre enough in itself.
Of course, having said that, in original history, when the eldest son of the emperor Zhu Changluo was officially appointed as the crown prince, it was already the 29th year of Wanli, which was two years later than now.
Although Zhu Yijun was able to delay this in the original history, because the courtiers did not know the "original history", most people today believe that the most critical factor in why this matter took so long, besides the emperor's own wishes, was
Highly pragmatic attitude.
Yes, it is precisely because Gao Pragmatic insisted from beginning to end that he must wait for the Queen to give birth to a legitimate son before heirs could be established. How could things be delayed until now?
The theory that Gao Pragmatic has always insisted on is: "If the prince is established first and then the queen has a direct descendant, should the prince be abolished? If he is abolished, the prince has no fault, how can the emperor tolerate it? And the ministers are trapping the emperor's father and son in human relations.
What a tragedy, shouldn’t his crime be punished!
If it is not abolished, Taizu's law of determining heirs will become empty words. From now on, there will no longer be a fixed lineage of the imperial line, and everyone in the world will be able to compete for the throne. This is the way to create chaos!"
If Gao Pragmatic's words are unreasonable, they certainly do. However, the opponents of course wanted to refute their opinions, so they asked: "The delay in determining the foundation of the country has caused turmoil in the world, but what about the Queen?"
Who can predict when the baby will be born?"
It is said that who knows when the Queen will give birth to a baby, but the real meaning is of course "Who knows whether the Queen will be able to give birth to a son in the end?" If after waiting and waiting, the Queen did not give birth to a son in the end, then this
Will the crown prince never be established?
It is true that the "de facto eldest son of the emperor" can also inherit the throne, but there is another tradition in the Ming Dynasty, that is, the education system for princes "going out to study" is not the same as the education system for other princes.
Well, this can be understood as "the prince leaving the court to study" is like the elite education for the children of the elite class of the later generations of the Mi Empire, and the education system of the princes is the "happy education" for the children of the ordinary families of the Mi Empire.
The former really requires serious and hard work, not only the book knowledge is rich and deep, but also all kinds of skills require specialized learning; the latter simply means that the teacher teaches casually and the students learn casually. Anyway, the exam is so easy that Dayang
Chinese students on the other side think it is an insult to their IQ, and they can sum it up in one sentence: Just get around and be done with it.
Of course, the courtiers follow the Confucian tradition and believe that the future emperor should receive a good education so that he can govern the country well. But the other princes... they will all be "raising pigs" in the future anyway. It doesn't matter whether they study or not, and even if they don't study, they will
Simple and easy to manage. Therefore, the fight for the country's capital is largely due to the fact that the emperor's eldest son is getting older. If he waits for the queen to give birth to his legitimate son, it will delay the emperor's eldest son's study time.
There is another problem that cannot be discussed here, that is, there is something wrong with the longevity of the emperors of the Ming Dynasty. There are not many who live long. God knows when your Majesty will be like a dragon, and you will leave behind a person who cannot read a few characters.
If the emperor's eldest son succeeds to the throne, won't the world be in chaos?
Of course, no matter what, this matter has been delayed until now. The problem is that Gao Pragmatic, the "procrastinator", has not invested much money for such a long time, but other people from other factions... they have invested too much
, many people have even made it clear that they have taken sides several times.
This is very critical, because on the issue of the prince's succession, since you took sides today, it is impossible for you to say tomorrow that I drank too much yesterday and that taking sides was not my intention.
This kind of thing is often done without looking back. Today, the eldest son of the emperor stands in this circle. Basically, he can only stand in this circle for the rest of his life. It is almost impossible to regret and jump into another circle.
However, now that the Queen's legitimate son has really been born, the Emperor's eldest son seems to have no hope of succeeding to the throne. If we don't want the early investment to turn into a sunk cost, what is the feasible way? It is obviously not to continue the debate and forcefully argue that the Emperor's eldest son should succeed to the throne.
Because there is no way it will succeed.
There is only one situation that can change the current passive situation at this time: the queen's legitimate son dies in infancy. As for how the child died in infancy... the process is not important, the result is important.
This is a very extreme possibility, and generally speaking, civil servants from the outer court cannot extend their hands into the palace. Even if they are highly pragmatic, they can only have a certain influence on the palace.
This kind of influence usually seems to be quite large, but it may not affect the security situation in the palace.
Since Gao Pragmatic's close relationship with the inner court, especially when Chen Ju and other great ministers are his connections for many years, is not enough to accomplish "certain big things" in the palace. So in theory, the civil servants of the outer court
How could we, especially the civil servants of the Xinxue school who had clearly sided with the emperor's eldest son in the past, do such a thing as "let the queen's legitimate son die young"?
But things are indeed not that simple, because those who also have to face the threat of "the queen's legitimate son" are not just the court officials of the Xin School, but at least... Concubine Zheng and his son Zhu Changxun.
Zhu Changxun actually had an older brother, Zhu Changxu, and a younger brother, Zhu Changzhi, but the former died soon after birth, and the latter also died young, less than one year old when he died. Therefore, Zhu Changxun, as Zhu Yijun's third son,
Concubine Zheng’s biological second son is actually Concubine Zheng’s only son.
The eldest son of the emperor, Zhu Changluo, was born in the tenth year of Wanli, and Zhu Changxun was born in the fourteenth year of Wanli. The former is now eighteen years old, and the latter is fourteen years old. According to regulations, men in the Ming Dynasty became adults at the age of sixteen, so Zhu Changluo is actually considered an adult now.
Prince, and Zhu Changxun is still a little bit behind.
In fact, in the original history, Zhu Yijun appointed Zhu Changluo as the crown prince in the 29th year of Wanli. One of the big reasons was that Zhu Changxun came of age in this year - Zhu Changluo had no problem in becoming a vassal when he came of age, because he was the eldest son of the emperor.
However, when Zhu Changxun came of age and refused to be crowned king, the outer court refused to agree.
Although Liu Ping's questions were confusing, how could Gao Pingshi not know a few of the key points? The primary issue at the moment is to ensure that the queen's legitimate son survives safely, and the second is that the emperor's eldest son must be crowned king and sent away as soon as possible.
The capital, let him rule his country.
But even if these two things are accomplished, it is not over yet, because according to previous precedents, the crown prince is usually not appointed too early - mainly because of the fear of premature death. The Ming Dynasty has now gone through thirteen emperors, and from the time when he became a prince
In terms of age, the earliest one was Emperor Wuzong Zhengde, who was only two years old at the time.
However, the incident of Emperor Zhengde was actually a bit special, because his father, Emperor Xiaozong, only loved Empress Zhang throughout his life, and never even took in a concubine. Empress Zhang only gave birth to two sons, the second of which died young, so the emperor
I feel that there is no other candidate for the crown prince anyway, so it is better to settle down early and settle down early.
Zhu Yijun's situation was of course different from that of Emperor Xiaozong. Although he favored Concubine Zheng the most, he never wavered in the status of the empress. This meant that since the empress' legitimate son was born, the position of the crown prince was actually determined.
.
The only, no, the only two problems are to ensure that the prince passes through the dangerous period when he is most likely to die prematurely, and to ensure that the third son Zhu Changxun, who was previously the most favored, is allowed to return to the country.
From the current point of view, these two things are just right in terms of time: Zhu Yijun can follow the time when Wu Zong was established as a precedent and consider appointing the crown prince after the emperor's legitimate son is two years old, and two years later, Zhu Changxun will come of age and can be granted the title.
the throne and his kingdom.
Therefore, Gao Pingshi knew that the most critical time period now is the two years from now. I am afraid that what Liu Ping wants to ask is exactly: "What should we do in these two years?"
The people of the Xin School must not be able to make the emperor's legitimate son die young, but Concubine Zheng may not be able to do it.
"This matter is serious. You will find a way to contact Chen Zhangyin soon and ask him to find a time to meet you at my house."
Gao Pragmatic's face was more serious than Liu Ping's, and he warned: "Remember, when you are not in the palace, you must arrange the people around the empress and the emperor's son in a safe manner. You must ensure that everyone
They are all absolutely trustworthy people, and there can be no omissions."
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