The sky flies by, and years pass by.
On the second day of the seventh month in the sixth year of Wanli, a tragic event occurred in Ming Dynasty.
Zhang Juzheng, the former Wenhua Palace scholar, died in depression in his hometown in Jiangling in early June this year. His eldest son Zhang Jingxiu went to the hospital to beg for a posthumous title.
When he arrived at the cabinet, the chief minister Gao Gong saw the article and burst into tears until he fell into coma. The cabinet officials were frightened and reported that the imperial doctor had arrived, but Yuan Fu had passed away.
The emperor and Guanzheng Gao pragmatically were giving lectures in the Wenhua Hall. After hearing the news, they rushed to the cabinet and saw that Yuan Fu's case was full of documents, which were several feet high.
The emperor was in great mourning and couldn't hold back his tears. He said pragmatically: "In the past, when the emperor passed away, he asked Yuan Fu to help him and said, 'The world is tired of you.' Extremely! I don’t know what I will do next?”
Not long after, the emperor wanted to issue an order to suspend court for three days. Guan Zheng Gao Shi immediately advised him, saying: The funeral of civil officials in this dynasty only lasts for one day, but Rongguo Gong (Yao Guangxiao) enjoys the two-day suspension of court ceremony. The ceremony is inappropriate. Waste. Please stop.
The emperor replied: "In this case, I will stay out of court for two days and I will not be able to give you any more advice."
So the court stayed away from court for two days because of Gao Gong's death.
On the third day, the emperor issued an edict: "...the great scholar has a high profile and a sharp ambition, and the great talent praises the principles. When he returns to Jiting, he should shoulder the great responsibility without giving up. The plan is to be humble, but the loyalty to the country is profound; the customs are left behind. It seems to be roundabout, and Ya holds the strategy of the palace state. The curtain painting captures the key points of Qiang and Hu, and the chopsticks are used to prepare holes and frontier fortresses. The vertebra knot is transformed into a crown and garment, and the soft dogs and sheep are in compliance. It is beneficial to Wei Jiang and eliminates the deep worries of Huaxia; Compared with Zhongyan, he has the chance to win against the Rong army...
He is broad and precise, profound and profound, has great economic achievements, and is a famous official in the country. ...generous and promising, and serve the public loyally. The strategy of losing inner peace is beneficial to the achievements of foreign imperialism. In the south of Yunnan outside the mountains, the atmosphere is clear and there are long snakes sealing the hogs; in the east there are barbarians in the west, and the smoke disappears and the herons and the crows are in the courtyard. Xun is called Weiwu Sutra, and he is worthy of being an emperor's minister and king's assistant.
If you have an extraordinary strategy, you can achieve extraordinary achievements; however, if you have extraordinary people, you can accomplish extraordinary things.
... As a gift to Shangzhu Kingdom, he was given the posthumous title Wenzheng. The announcement was made at home and abroad, and the envoys heard about it. Admire this. "
As soon as the imperial edict came out, the whole court was filled with envy, and Gao's disciples praised him one after another.
Wen Zheng!
Since Sima Guang proposed that "Wen Zheng's posthumous title is extremely beautiful and cannot be more beautiful", civil servants in all dynasties have dreamed of posthumous honors and posthumous titles that are extremely beautiful!
How important is the word Wenzheng? There is only one example to prove this in the Ming Dynasty.
At the time of Wuzong, the great scholar Li Dongyang was dying. The great scholar Yang Yiqing came to see him. Seeing that Li Dongyang was worried about his posthumous title, Yang Yiqing told him that the imperial court would give him the posthumous title of Wenzheng. After hearing this, the dying Li Dongyang kowtowed to Yang Yiqing on the bed. This shows the status of the posthumous title "Wenzheng" in the hearts of scholars.
Zhang Juzheng died, and it is said that he died in depression, but this is understandable.
Gao Gong also died, but I don't know whether it was due to exhaustion or an accident caused by the excitement of thinking about the grievances with Zhang Juzheng for many years.
Many people were saddened by Gao Gong's death, but perhaps the most saddened one was Gao Pragmatic.
He felt that Gao Gong would most likely die from overwork. This old man, who was over sixty years old, worked day and night with the late emperor's mission in mind. Even when Gao Pragmatic advised him to take more rest countless times, he always replied: " It’s just the young and the old who sleep.”
Li Shizhen, who was "poached" by Gao Jingshi last year and came to the capital, and who just compiled the "Compendium of Materia Medica" this year, also mentioned to Gao Jingshi several times that Yuan Fu was overworked and might not last long.
Unfortunately, no one could persuade him.
Historically, Gao Gong died in the sixth year of Wanli. Now he still died in this year, Shi Ye? Fate?
But apart from this, Gao Pragmatic had more emotions, because Zhang Juzheng also died, even before Gao Gong.
The original history has undergone the biggest change due to his highly pragmatic arrival.
Is it a good change? Gao pragmatically thinks so. To a certain extent, he always believed that Zhang Juzheng was not a real reformer, only Gao Gong was.
Gao pragmatically believed that Zhang Juzheng should be a rectifier.
Historically, Zhang Juzheng's policies were basically based on rectification. His starting point is not reform, but to rectify discipline and restore the vitality of the ancestral system.
Reform is the innovation of the system, and rectification is the restoration of the ancestral system.
Wang Anshi's reform in the Song Dynasty was a real reform that broke through the ancestral system and created new laws; while many of the contents of the Wanli New Deal implemented by Zhang Juzheng were the restoration and rectification of the ancestral system and should not be included in the scope of reform.
The only two new ideas are the examination method and the whip method. The Kao Cheng Law expanded and strengthened the power of the cabinet and improved the efficiency of administrative management, but it eliminated the supervisory function of the ministerial officials on the government and destroyed the principle of checks and balances in the ancestral system.
However, Gao Gong also introduced the "teaching method". Even in this life, due to the influence of Gao Gong's pragmatic "quantification of political performance" thinking, Gao Gong's teaching method went further and had a deeper purpose. [Wu Feng’s note: This is described in the first volume of this book. ]
The "one whip method" was not Zhang Juzheng's invention. When Zhang Juzheng was still a five-year-old child, it was founded by Gui E and promoted by Fu Hanchen and others. During the Longqing and Wanli periods, some local officials such as Pang Shangpeng, Wang Zongmu, Liu Guangji, Hai Rui and others implemented it in their areas and even the entire province, and the one-whip method gradually became popular.
It can be seen from this that Zhang Juzheng only contributed to promotion and had no initiating contribution, so he cannot be called a reformer.
In fact, some scholars in later generations believe that "Gao Gong's character integrity, courage, talent, and reform consciousness are all inferior to Zhang Juzheng's." During his two and a half years in power, he initiated the implementation of civil administration, justice, military system, border defense, water conservancy, All-round reform of water transportation and maritime transportation.
Not only did he have the policy program of "Abolition of Eight Abuses", but he also broke the no-sea policy, built ships, launched shipping, and "implemented foreign trade." Gao Gong also "paid special attention to the development of industry and commerce": "personally went to the market to investigate and study" and "understand the actual situation." He also strongly supported and promoted the reform of the tax and servitude system of equalizing grain between husband and wife and the one-whip method.
During Zhang Juzheng’s ten years in power, he “did not fully inherit Gao Gong’s reform direction.” In particular, he "secretly resisted Gao Gong's proposition of opening up shipping and opening up foreign trade", reinstated the maritime ban, and implemented the basic national policy of isolation.
Therefore, the evaluation of these scholars is: "Gao Gong is a politician, thinker and reformer, Zhang Juzheng is a bureaucrat, politician, and a practical conservative", "Gao Gong is a true reformist, and Zhang Juzheng basically belongs to the rectification group." .
As for the effect of reform, take economic reform as an example. Historically, in the fifth year of Longqing before Gao Gong was dismissed from office (in 1571, only the fifth year of Longqing is counted because he resigned in the sixth year of Longqing), the annual income of Taicang Bank was 3.1 million taels. , the annual income was 3.2 million taels, and the annual loss was only 100,000 taels. Compared with the average annual loss of 2.066 million taels from the first to the fourth year of Longqing (1567-1570), it was a decrease of 1.966 million taels (Wufeng Note: See Fan Shuzhi's "Wanli Biography" ). This laid a good foundation for the treasury surplus during Zhang Juzheng's administration.
After Zhang Juzheng came to power, he inherited Gao Gong's peacekeeping situation with Anda, which has his merits and contributions. "However, the peace 'dividends' he enjoyed exceeded his contributions." What Zhang Juzheng inherited was not a "mess", but "sitting on the peace dividend left by Gao Gong."
And without Zhang Juzheng taking over in this life, what did Gao Gong do that made Wanli so sad about his death and gave him the posthumous title "Wenzheng"?
