Wanli Xinming

Chapter 186 Purge

At the end of September in the fifth year of Wanli, Tan Lun, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, died of illness at the age of 58.Tan Lun has read poetry and books since he was a child. He has a keen mind, extraordinary intelligence and a calm personality.A Jinshi in the 23rd year of Jiajing, he trained troops to fight against Japanese pirates during his tenure in the prefect of Taizhou.

Later, he led Liu Xian, Qi Jiguang, Yu Dayou and other famous generals to defeat Japanese pirates repeatedly.He successively served as the admiral of military affairs in Guangdong and Guangxi, governor of Shaanxi, governor of Ji Liao, and served as minister of military affairs.

Tan Lun was the most knowledgeable civil servant in the court after Hu Zongxian.In the fifth year of Wanli, Zhang Han resigned for obstructing the reform, and Tan Lun was appointed as Minister of Officials by Zhu Yijun, and the title of Prince Shaobao was added.

However, after taking office for less than half a year, he unexpectedly died of an illness, and Zhu Yijun was embarrassed.After discussing with Lu Tiaoyang and others, he posthumously presented his prince Taibao with the posthumous title "Xiangmin".Tan Lun's death was like breaking Zhang Juzheng's arm. Zhang Juzheng in Jiangling heard the news of Tan Zili's death and deplored it.

At the beginning of October of the fifth year of Wanli, Li Youzi, who succeeded Tan Lun as the minister of personnel, and Guo Chaobin, the new minister of the Du branch, made a presentation, asking the emperor to seduce Zhang Juzheng.

After two years of the emperor's examination questions to point out "true filial piety", and after more than a year of propaganda in the newspapers, everyone in the court understood that the emperor's determination to change the "Dingyou" system had been made early. The original time and space caused great waves.

To be honest, for the emperor to change the "Ding worry" system, the officials at all levels in the imperial court were a little bit secretly delighted. Who would want to delay three years because of the funeral of their parents?How many three years are there in the official career?
In the fifth month of Wanli's tenth month, Wuzi, a comet was seen in the southwest, as bright as a lamp, pale white and several zhang long, and the tail was more than a bullfight.The "star change" that caused an uproar in the original time and space came as scheduled. This time, the star change and Zhang Juzheng's "capture of love" were mixed together, causing the first large-scale party struggle in the Wanli Dynasty, and also laid one of the foreshadowings for the demise of Daming. .

The comet, later named C/1577V1, has finally reached a place where people on Earth can observe it after a journey of millions of years.At this time in Europe, Danish scientist Tycho Brahe discovered that a comet is a celestial body and is outside the atmosphere.This discovery provided another small piece of material for Galileo Galilei's discovery of "heliocentric theory", which inspired the young and talented brain, prompting him to turn more attention to astronomy.

In the Ming Dynasty at this time and space, the invention and popularization of telescopes have just begun.Because of the high pressure of politics and the atmosphere of white terror, the officials and the censors almost lost their voices at this time. The sparse manuscripts about the "star change" are just false stories. They told the emperor that the error correction mechanism of the Ming Dynasty was not down at this time. is functioning.

As for the size of this effect, the officials said that it depends on the emperor's mood.

In these memorials, no one asked the emperor to revise the province, and no one used the mysterious image to show differences. On the contrary, there was a word, asking the emperor to issue a decree, "Be alert to the big ministers and work hard on their professions, in order to eliminate them." Said, the emperor is right, it is us who is wrong, we have not understood the spiritual essence of the emperor wanting to reform the law, and we are procrastinating in our work, which makes God unhappy and sent Comet to come.

Zhu Yijun, who was raising his legs in the deep palace, once instructed the servant room to sort out all the records of comets in history from the beginning, trying to logically prove the fallacy of the "comet disaster theory", thereby shaking the thought that "the destiny cannot be violated" and eliminating ideological doubts for the reform. obstacle.However, unfortunately, this "false proof" eventually turned to the opposite of his wish. The attendants proved with a large number of irrefutable facts in historical materials that most of the appearance of comets was indeed related to disasters.

The servants on the emperor's side tried to prove the opposite: disasters are a normal state, comets are a variable, and the combination of the two does not mean that disasters and comets are related. Comets as echoes.

This is a good way of publicity, but it is also very easy to refute this argument: who stipulated that "the sky" only uses comets as a warning?Earthquakes, floods, alien animals and plants are all means of warning!

In its essence, Dong Zhongshu's "Theory of Induction between Heaven and Man" is nothing but a means of restraint under the helplessness of imperial power.Because it is logically self-consistent, to overthrow this theory must be scientifically accomplished and deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

Zhu Yijun wanted to use the records made by the historians who were influenced by the thoughts of heaven and man in the past dynasties to prove that comets were not related to disasters.

Even in the 21st century when science is flourishing, there are still many people who believe in the theory of interaction between heaven and man.The most typical example is the major disasters in [-]. Zhu Yijun, who has traveled back to the Ming Dynasty, still murmurs in his heart when he thinks of this year.

Therefore, Zhu Yijun, who had a long way to go, could only make an appointment with Zhu Zaiyu, put forward some ideas about comets to him, and asked him to organize astronomical experts from the Royal Academy of Physiques to verify.

In addition, in the newspapers of the two capitals, there were also some articles discussing the relationship between comets and disasters. The pros and cons were very enjoyable. For Zhu Yijun, it was better than nothing.

Comet and Zhang Juzheng's love affair did not cause political turmoil, but it was because the emperor used a knife to open Wushuang - no one dared to make a sound.

But this does not mean that the implementation of the emperor's reform edict was smooth sailing.On the contrary, because the assassination of the emperor and Zhang Wenming triggered a major nationwide case and the ensuing mass arrests, many of the grassroots ruling class represented by the landlords and gentry became brainless and black, and they did not even understand the content of the reform. Begin to resist the implementation of the reform policy.

There are too many means of resistance. The implementation of any county government is inseparable from the publicity and leadership of the village gentry to their own clan. As long as they collectively avoid the county officials—they can make a Most of the county's government was suspended.

Not to mention, many squires still control the county school through their own children, and if the county magistrate wants to complete the "cultural governance" assessment, it is unbearable for the county school student to give a poor evaluation in the Shilin.

In the fifth year of Wanli's arrest, by the end of October, the number of people had exceeded [-], and nearly a thousand gentry broke their homes.And their in-laws are old, almost able to contact more than half of the gentry in the country.Out of resistance to Jin Yiwei's chaos in creating a prison, the resistance to reform at the grassroots level of the empire was enormous—many local officials were squeezed from the top, and they had the heart to die.

During the fifth year of Wanli's reign, the Ming Empire was brewing a torrent of turmoil, and people were panicking and not knowing where to go.

These intense pressures, on the one hand, have prompted some insightful thinkers and scholars to consider the rise and fall of the country; on the other hand, they have also stimulated a national discussion - the assassination of the emperor and the death of Zhang Wenming are not secrets, accompanied by two events All kinds of gossip and rumors, and the content of the reform has also spread to all corners of the empire.

Of course, the one who bears the most pressure is Jin Yiwei headed by Wang Tong.Wang Tong had already obtained the consent of the emperor, and moved the family members of the middle and high-level guards in Jinyi to move out of their homeland in accordance with the principle of voluntariness.He himself moved into the commander-in-chief of the pro-military army, and directed the first major case since the Taizu day and night.

Jin Yiwei, who was stationed in Nanjing, knew Yang Junqing, but his home could not be moved.The overwhelming pressure came one after another, and Yang Junqing, who had repeatedly tortured Dong Jianxiong to no avail, finally understood that it was time for the Yang family to stand in line.

Is it adhering to the position of standing with the majority of the country gentry to rehabilitate wrongful prisoners?Or stand in the emperor's position, take the opposition to the reform as the criterion, and eliminate the voice of opposition?This is a matter of life and death for the family.

And Yang Junqing finally saw clearly why the emperor didn't have the same heart as Zhang Juzheng about the real murderer behind the murder of Zhang Wenming.Zhang Juzheng wanted to avenge the murder of his father. Of course, the more accurate the target of revenge, the better; the emperor had to pass two major cases, one south and one north, to eliminate the opponents of the reform from the ruling class and set an example to the rest. Therefore, the real culprit behind the Zhang Wenming case , might as well be vague.

Therefore, under the command of Yang Junqing, Jinyiwei in the southern part of the empire kept following the vines to find out the truth of Zhang Wenming’s case; Wang Tong, the commander of Jinyiwei stationed in the capital, ordered Jinyiwei at all levels to collect the list of those who opposed the reforms—the great purge was near. In front of you, where will the Yang family go?

　Dear readers and friends, happy new year and auspicious year of the ox!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)