Chapter 57 Aftermath
Ma Wensheng moved to Shaanzhou because of the aftermath of a minor case.
During the Tumu Fort Incident, Yingzong Zhu Qizhen was captured, but was later released and served as the Supreme Emperor for several years - the kind of Supreme Emperor who was always on tenterhooks, fearing that he would be killed for no apparent reason.
This thing is very bloody to say, full of the excellent genes of the old Zhu family to fight each other. When Wala invaded, the Ying clan went to fight in person and brought many people with them, but they forgot to bring food! When we arrived at the front line, we found there was nothing to eat, so we ran back. You have to run faster. Eunuch Wang Zhen is too soft-hearted. He is afraid that the hungry army will destroy his hometown by the way, so he leads everyone around Yuzhou... and then he is caught up by Wala! Wang Zhen was beaten to death by an angry sergeant on the spot, and Yingzong was captured.
Before Yingzong left, he made his two-year-old son Zhu Jianshen the prince, and called his half-brother Zhu Qiyu, the king of Tao (pronounced "Cheng"), to Beijing to supervise the country (to be the regent). After Yingzong was captured, minister Yu Qian and others simply supported Zhu Qiyu to ascend the throne and succeed him. Don’t put too much faith in those selfless claims. You must know that the merit of support in that era was the best in the world! We have long been accustomed to the evaluation of historical figures who are either loyal or treacherous in black and white faces. Yu Qian commanded the defense battle of Beijing. It may be true that he was an honest official, but it is really hard to say for sure that the ready-made prince supported the regent and proclaimed himself emperor. Mr. Yu is completely out of public interest. There are many examples in history of assisting a little baby to become the boss, such as the saying "The Duke of Zhou spits out food, and the world returns to its heart." This is what it means. This Zhu Qiyu who snatched the throne from his nephew is Emperor Jingtai (Jingtai Lan knows it).
The Wala people looked at the former emperor in their hands and tried several times to trick him into opening the city gate. But when it comes to being playful, how can our Mongolian compatriots be the rivals of our Han officialdom veterans? Every time, he was criticized and ridiculed by the officials on the city wall until he was ashamed and speechless.
We cannot look at that era from today’s perspective. The ancient people had an unparalleled sense of respect for the "Emperor" in their hearts: the emperor is the chosen son, and even prisoners of the enemy must be treated with considerable courtesy - even if they are killed, they must salute on the execution ground! Moreover, the method of death also has many particularities: no blood should be seen, the body must be intact, everyone must wear white clothes, etc. These things are difficult for us to understand today, but this was generally true at that time, with few exceptions.
The leader of Wala, Ming Yexian, once paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty and was named "King Jingshun". In its psychology, there is the rebellious side of the nomads, and there is also a heartfelt respect for the emperor of the previous dynasty. In the final analysis, the cause of this war was the arrogant Ming Dynasty's refusal to trade, and the Mongols who had no salt to eat and no iron to use. My compatriots were bullied. Every time the Mongolian compatriots are bullied and anxious, they break the border. If the border is broken, they will suffer heavy losses. They will be honest for a while when they leave, and they will cause trouble soon after they have calmed down... The cycle starts over and over again.
He also held Zhu Qizhen in his hands first and drank with him every day. Zhu Qizhen had a good capacity for drinking and drank all day long, so he also drank and became buddies, calling him "big brother" every day. Zhu Qizhen got drunk one day and said: "How can any younger brother really take his elder brother as a hostage?" He also thought about it first and thought that since he couldn't deceive the city gate, there was really no use in keeping it. With one stroke, the big brother was really released!
Hearing the news, Zhu Qiyu, who was sitting on the dragon throne, was unhappy: If you could just kill him, that would be the end of it! You are a barbarian. If you don’t take the blame, who will take the blame? What can I do if I put it back? Or, poison him?
Guo Degang said, oh, that's wrong. Yu Qian said, "What are you afraid of? You have already become the emperor, who can change it? Isn't that the end of the world if you lock her up until you die?"
Zhu Qiyu thought it made sense, so he imprisoned his brother in Nangong for seven years. Yu Qian also killed himself and Zhu Qiyu because of these words.
The throne is a good thing, and of course it should be passed on to one's own children. Zhu Qiyu then made a lot of troubles: some kind of heavenly feeling, that unlucky child is mentally retarded, naturally a lot of people below followed him and agreed, unanimously passed the vote, and finally deposed his eldest brother's son, his nephew Zhu Jianshen, and established his own son as the prince. However, his son who had just been crowned prince might really be too good. God liked him and took him away. He died.
The death of his son was a big blow to Emperor Jingtai, so he fell ill. Yingzong took the opportunity to counterattack, known in history as the "Securing the Gate", and regained the throne.
It sounds scary, but it's actually very simple, even more bloody than the Tumu Fort Incident. Several eunuchs took advantage of Jingtai's illness and stayed in bed in the morning. They dragged Zhu Qizhen from the Nangong Palace and ran to the Jinluan Hall, where they pressed him on the dragon chair. When the ministers went to court in the morning, they looked up and saw that the person sitting on the chair was not the butt from yesterday, and they were all dumbfounded. The eunuch shouted: "Do you want to behead the emperor if he refuses to worship you?" The ministers all read poems and books, and they were full of integrity on weekdays. Loyalty to the emperor and serving the country is no joke! What? Long Live Our Emperor, whom we have been kneeling for seven years, suddenly changed? ! If this is not defended to the death, is it worthy of reading those sage books about monarchs and ministers who are all righteous? Then they all knelt down and yelled: "Long live my emperor! Long live my emperor! Long live whoever sits on the dragon throne!"
It's done.
It can be seen that people cannot stay in bed.
Then, Zhu Qizhen demoted Zhu Qiyu back to be King of Yin. Oh, Wang Jue can go back, but people can't go back, so Beijing will be closed. More than half a month later, King Tan died as no one expected.
How did you die? Haha, guess what.
The great emperor ruled the world with benevolence, and benevolence meant forgiveness. The people who support Jingtai made a mistake. Just acknowledge your mistake and I forgive you. So what, just kill everyone who should be killed and everyone who shouldn’t be killed! Forgive after killing.
Of course there is Yu Qian inside.
He had to be compensated for being imprisoned for seven years, so Zhu Qizhen became emperor for another seven years. In addition to being benevolent and virtuous, being an emperor must also be honest. When the time comes, count the days and hey, when the time is up, he kicks off his legs and he is dead.
This is the process of the "Tumu Fort Change" and "Seizing the Gate Change" (also called the "Nangong Restoration") in the history of the Ming Dynasty. The two people who worked hardest to help Zhu Qizhen were Shi Heng, a general, and Cao Jixiang, the eunuch mentioned earlier.
In addition to helping Zhu Qizhen's restoration, these two men also jointly promoted a person named Lu Gao (pronounced "Lu Gao"). Because he was cruel and ruthless, he refused to recognize his relatives, so he was highly valued by Zhu Qizhen, and he gradually became the commander of Jin Yiwei.
In fact, the person most dissatisfied with this matter was Li Xian, the first assistant - not dissatisfied with the restoration of Yingzong (this word is derogatory today, but not back then), but dissatisfied with not having made the first contribution to support him. As the de facto prime minister, I listened to a bunch of guys talking about the merits of support all day long, and I got jealous, so I did something bad. Asked Yingzong to whisper: "Don't let those grandsons talk about seizing the door anymore. Who are you? The Emperor! God favors whoever can sit in the Longting, right? Jingtai was about to die, he kicked his legs, you still Emperor, right? So, the throne is yours! Besides, if things don't work out... Can you think about it, is this serious? I bet, Jingtai's grandson is definitely not as kind as you - shut it up It took more than half a month to poison you to death. If I were you, I would have killed you on the spot, right? If you talk about this all the time, it will be a shame for them to fall behind..."
From then on, the matter of "seizing the family and usurping the throne" became a worry in Yingzong's heart. The more I saw those "heroes" showing off their achievements, the more uncomfortable I felt, so I wanted to deal with them.
Who will execute it?
Lu Gao.
What? Lu Gao was promoted by Shi Heng and Eunuch Cao? Haha, you are thinking too much.
Lu Gao's slogan in life is: Father and mother are not as close as dog food.
Lu Gao started his career by spying on court officials for Yingzong's gossip about the emperor. Understanding the leader's intentions was naturally his strong point, so he began to secretly collect various evidences. By chance, something happened at Hongnongwei in Shaanzhou, thousands of miles away, and he caught the opportunity. Hongnong's commander Li Bin had a quarrel with a Qianhu named Chen An, so he killed him. Chen An's family filed a complaint, and Yingzong asked the censor Xing You to review it. Shi Heng, who was already unemployed, went to Xing You to intercede with Li Bin... Of course, Lu Gao snooped on this matter!
Even if I am completely unrelated to you, I can drag you in if I want to mess with you, not to mention you yourself getting involved?
Soon, Lu Gao got "reliable news": Li Bin had a "demon book" hidden in his home. The book said that his younger brother Li Jian was destined to be emperor. At the same time, they also colluded with foreign vassals to "make Shi Heng" Justice"!
Ironclad evidence: If it has nothing to do with you, why do you intercede for Li & Bin? Li Bin's rebellion has been confirmed for sure. You have a close relationship with him, so you must be an accomplice! This logic is as strict as one plus one equals two.
The Iron Law of the Ming Dynasty: If I want to kill you, even if there are only two straws in your house, one must be called treason, and the other must be called treason! Therefore, Shi Heng is dead.
Conspiracy, is this okay?
Li & Bin, kill!
Li Jian, kill!
"Henchmen" should also be killed!
Twenty-eight were killed in one go.
Shi Heng was imprisoned to "assist in the investigation" - and soon "died of illness". Well, everyone on earth knows that he will die of illness soon.
Cutting the grass requires eradicating the roots, and keeping the family members is also a disaster. Therefore, all the Shi family members who are old enough are killed, and those who are not old enough are exiled or made into slaves, and the family property is confiscated.
The same goes for Eunuch Cao Jixiang. Under Lu Gao's in-depth digging, one "conspiracy" after another was revealed! Eunuch Cao and his nephew Cao Qin were forced to do nothing. Seeing that they were about to be stabbed, they had no choice but to rebel. They did not plan carefully, and their efforts were wiped out in one night. However, before they died, they finally got their revenge: they chopped off Lu Gao that night and kicked his head away, and he couldn't find it anymore.
It would be unlucky to be buried without a head - it would be unlucky to be buried without a mouth to eat in the underworld. According to unofficial history, Yingzong was so worthy of Lu Gao that he ordered him to have a gold head! When the coffin was transported back to his hometown from Beijing, a big boss came to pay his respects: Oh, this gold head is such a waste, I will exchange it for you with a silver one. When we arrived at the provincial capital, the provincial leaders felt that the silver was a waste, so they exchanged it for copper. The county leaders thought that copper could be melted down to make money... Finally, we returned home. The family opened it and took a look: Come on, what is this wooden bump on the neck?
It's not like Yingzong didn't do good things.
He abolished the system of human martyrdom!
Yes, until Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty, human sacrifice was custom-made! Zhu Yuanzhang died, and forty-six concubines died alive; Zhu Di died, and more than thirty people died alive...
For this alone, I think it's okay to put the word "英" in the posthumous title.
After the Li Bin case, thirty people in Hongnongwei and Shaanzhou were moved, and many others were dismissed or demoted. Ma Wensheng, who spends his days investigating "rebels" and is absolutely reliable, was transferred over because of this major personnel adjustment.
Finally, Ma Zhizhou, who caught someone every day and said someone had "rebellious intentions", bumped into the blade of the real rebel Guan Shengyun.
