The New Year of the second year of Zhengde in the Ming Dynasty arrived amid confusion and anxiety among people in the imperial court and the unpredictability of the future.
In the past year, the situation in the imperial court has undergone drastic changes.
Originally, the momentum was fierce, the power was expanding, and the situation was great. The civil servant group of the outer court, which once thought they could check and balance the imperial power, encountered a disaster.
Facts have proved that some pavilions built on sand dunes have unstable foundations. No matter how gorgeous and tall they are, they will collapse and turn into rubble when encountering a storm. The fate of the civil servant group is that on the one hand, the foundation of the power building they built is not stable.
On the other hand, these people are too idealistic and too impetuous. When the iron fist comes, what is needed is an iron fist to respond, otherwise the skin will be torn, the muscles will be broken, and the bones will be broken.
Today's outer court can only be described as dying. If Li Dongyang didn't know how to adapt and win over and unite the Xungui Group with interests in a timely manner. If it weren't for the understanding people like Zhang Yanling in the Xungui Group, who played an important role in it.
, if personal hatred is abandoned, the outer court will completely collapse. In that case, the situation in the imperial court will show one-sided centralization, and the outer court will completely fall.
At the critical moment, Li Dongyang still showed his political wisdom to prevent the situation from overturning.
Although the change of ownership of the inner court is something that will happen with a high probability, it is also inseparable from the stupidity and hand-off of the civil servants of the outer court. Compared with Wang Yue, Fan Heng and others, the inner court controlled by Liu Jingu Dayong and others is obviously more
They are vicious and unruly. Their methods of acting are more radical and crazy. In the imperial court,
Under the protection of Quan, Liu Jin and others have basically controlled the administrative power of the country. On major national affairs, even the cabinet and the foreign court still have strong restraint. But that is just restraint. As long as Liu Jin wants, he can
Make any decision, even if it is an action that offends the public.
For the Xungui Group, the situation has also changed. The Xungui Group has always regarded itself as a fellow traveler of the imperial power, tightly tying its own interests to those of the royal family.
Xungui Group is no longer the decision-maker of the government, at best it is just a participant. This is a fact that they do not want to see but have to accept. Xungui's decline is an indisputable fact and they cannot reverse it. So, choose
Sticking to one's own interests and getting as much benefit as possible has become a realistic choice.
For a long time, the Xungui Group maintained a neutral attitude and stayed out of the court battles. They would only launch a counterattack unless someone put their hands in their pockets and touched their cheese.
Since the Tumubao Incident, this pragmatic strategy of the Xungui Group has indeed helped them stabilize their interests. However, this shrinking approach has kept them away from the center of power and made them lose their political
Take the initiative.
But in the past year, in the battle between the inner and outer courts, the nobles have gained so far. The civil servants of the outer court have stretched their hands to the Beijing camp, trying to divide and seize the last pride of the nobles. Beijing
When the battalion took over the leadership of the army, the battles that broke out in the inner and outer courts made the nobles heave a sigh of relief.
Originally, before this, the nobles had been divided into two opinions: compromise with the outer court and confrontation.
The overthrow of the outer court changed all of this. At least, the aggressive pressure of the outer court was relieved, and the hands they stretched out were cut off. Liu Jian, Xie Qian and others completely distanced themselves from power. This is the honor of the nobles.
The results we want to see.
The nobles saw the hope of rising. This hope came from a series of transactions and changes in this year. Not only did the nobles not suffer from the changes in the pattern, but they strengthened their relationship with the emperor and stabilized their own internal affairs.
, which they had never thought of before.
Of course, the hope for this rise also comes from one person. That is Zhang Yanling, the Marquis of Jianchang.
No matter what the previous impression of this person was or what the reputation was like. No matter how the real veteran nobles looked down on this guy who was born in a foreign family. However, the ability of this person exceeded the nobles by a large margin. It was him
Only with careful planning can the Xungui Group profit from the turmoil of this year.
Now, he has become one of the leading princes. Whether he likes it or not, he must accept the fact that he has become the backbone of the noble group.
Of course, the honorable nobles are also worried. The pragmatic neutral position they followed before has actually been broken. Under the trend of interests and situation, they have to stand on the opposite side of the now prosperous inner court. This
That's the price. There never seems to be the best of both worlds. Liu Jin's momentum is too fierce and unruly. His rise is an even more uncontrollable threat to the nobles, so some things seem unavoidable.
The consequences of this seem to have begun to appear. The imperial edict announced by Liu Jin a few years ago has been vaguely aimed at the interests of the nobles. This has also become a hidden worry in the hearts of the nobles.
The changes in the imperial court structure naturally caused great changes in the lives of many people this year. The imperial court is a battlefield, and the struggle for power will make many people rise to the sky overnight, and some people fall into the abyss overnight.
Liu Jin became the biggest winner at a rocket speed. The Eight Tigers around him also quickly seized great power. Even Liu Jin themselves probably did not expect that they would turn around from adversity and become invincible.
A person with great power.
Recalling the huge impeachment in the outer court, and recalling that night, when everyone knelt in front of the hesitant emperor, mourning and crying, and being in panic all day long. It was almost like a dream.
Liu Jian and Xie Qian undoubtedly became the biggest laughing stock of the year. They never expected that the massive impeachment of the Eight Tigers and Zhang Yanling launched by them would actually lead to the collapse of the outer court. They underestimated their opponents and Gao
I overestimated myself and became a complete joke.
In fact, Liu Jian and the others had already noticed something was wrong when the impeachment was in progress. Unfortunately, he had no way out at that time. Liu Jian could not stop, he could only use resignation as a threat. His
In his heart, he thought that the emperor still had some respect for him, the minister appointed by the late emperor's will. Perhaps the matter would end with a compromise between the two parties. However, in the end, he realized that the emperor was not the kind of person he thought at all.
On the night before leaving the capital, when two frustrated men, Liu Jian and Xie Qian, were having a drink with each other, Liu Jian expressed his feelings.
"I originally thought that the current emperor is a person who can be restrained by emotions, morality, filial piety, benevolence and justice, but I was wrong. The current emperor can be described as unfaithful, unfilial, unkind, unrestrained, and free-spirited. We use conventional means to force him, that is
Wrong. In fact, right
People like the emperor need to use Dongyang's methods. We lost, but Dongyang will not lose, they will definitely succeed. I believe that Dongyang is here, and my outer court will take control of the situation sooner or later. In the future, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty will never
There will be a second person like the current emperor."
Although Liu Jian, Xie Qian and others became the laughing stock, the integrity shown by some officials in the outer court is still touching. For example, Dai Mian, a group of people who were scolded by the cane, and those who did not compromise until the end.
Liu Jin's revenge was cruel. In this cruel revenge, some people showed their integrity, while others gave up their perseverance. A large number of foreign court officials joined Liu Jin's sect, and in just a few months, they destroyed all their life-long savings.
Qingyu. This is extremely sad.
In this year, the betrayal and honor and disgrace, the collapse of faith, the breakthrough of the bottom line, the despicability and nobility of human nature, all make people sigh.
This year, Chen Shiyi completed his nineteen-year revenge. The all-powerful commander of the Imperial Guards made Mou Bin pay the price for his actions. There is always a mysterious force controlling something in this world. Sometimes,
This kind of thing makes people despair, and sometimes it gives people hope in the midst of endless despair.
This year, Queen Mother Zhang's mood slowly recovered, and she was coming out of the loss of her husband. One day before the New Year, she saw a man and was very happy to talk to him. That whole day
, she was very happy. She felt that a strange feeling was sprouting in her heart.
This year, the little Tatar prince Batu Meng who was far away in the northern desert suffered a huge defeat. In the battle of Dushi City, his operation to capture the emperor was severely frustrated and suffered huge losses. Not only that, the betrayal of the Duoyan tribe in the eastern desert
It also made him extremely angry. His intimidation in the desert was questioned. Although the people around him were not
He said, but he can feel it. He must spend a lot of effort and energy to make up for the loss in strength and reputation caused after the Battle of Monolith City. Of course, for him who will never admit defeat, these things cannot stop him.
His determination to unify the desert, his ambition to rebuild the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty, and his eye on the south.
This year, the stories of thousands of ordinary people are happening. Perhaps no one knows it, or it may not be worth mentioning. But it is the story of each of them, their unique life ups and downs, joys and sorrows.
Just like the waves in the vast river, they rush, agitate, boil, and are annihilated. That is the torrent of history.
On New Year's Eve, after having the New Year's Eve dinner, Zhang Yanling quietly left the bustling back courtyard and came to the unfinished small building in the back garden.
Standing on the terrace of the small building, surrounded by thousands of lights, firecrackers and fireworks. Not far away, in the back house of my house, the colorful lights are flashing and there is laughter. The wives, concubines and maids are playing and laughing, and the servants in the front yard are drinking and fisting. Everything is
So ordinary and beautiful.
Zhang Yanling stood in the cold night wind for a long time. Naturally, he also wanted to summarize his year. However, Zhang Yanling has never been a person who misses the past. The summary is just to start. In the new year, there will be more
Countless difficulties are waiting for him, and of course, there will also be countless surprises.
Thousands of miles away, in a remote place in the southwest of the Ming Dynasty, there is a place called Longchang Station. A man stands alone on the back mountain ridge, looking up at Cangxiong.
In the dark world, he seemed to be the only one existing. The surrounding mountain wind was howling, the forest waves were like tides, and the roars of wild beasts and night owls came and went, which was horrifying. But that man seemed to be in a trance, standing under the cold starlight,
Waiting alone for the time when the stars change and the old and the new change.
The past year was also the most important year in Wang Shouren's life.