"Concubine Zheng?"
Shen Shixing was only 70% surprised and 30% confused, but Wang Xijue couldn't help asking a question, and then laughed and said: "I don't know that Mr. Zhang has such a sharp tongue, he can persuade Concubine Zheng to support the emperor." The eldest son is enthroned in the East Palace? This is a big deal, disrespectful, disrespectful."
There is no doubt that Wang Xijue is not really "disrespectful", because his tone is still sarcastic, and these words are obviously ironic.
As expected, Zhang Cheng's smile froze and his face darkened slightly: "Mr. Wangge, we are sincere in saying this. With all due respect, can the imperial concubine send the third son of the emperor to the East Palace? Does the glory and wealth in this life have any influence? Even if the third prince himself cannot be the prince in the future, he will at least be the king of a country, not much worse."
"But, what can the two cabinet elders do to suppress Gao Situ and even the practical school? Although our family doesn't study much, we also know that this officialdom is like a battlefield. Either you die or I die. Since mental learning cannot suppress practical learning, then Inevitably, only practical learning will prevail over mental learning... When the time comes, many mental learning officials in the world will look back and wonder why my mental learning has fallen into such a predicament, and who will be held responsible in the end?"
Zhang Cheng's words were really graceful. After all, no matter how he settled the account, it was impossible to blame him. In the end, Xinxue officials would only scold Shen Shixing for being so smart and Wang Xijue for being incompetent, and they would definitely not have any responsibility for Zhang Bingbi.
As expected, Shen Shixing frowned a little when he heard this, but Wang Xijue's expression remained as usual and he said calmly: "I have good intentions, and even though I died nine times, I still have no regrets."
Zhang Cheng really didn't expect Wang Xijue's reaction, and he was a little stunned at the moment.
Speaking of which, Zhang Cheng's understanding of politics is still too superficial, and he does not understand that different cabinet ministers actually have different considerations when facing these matters. Zhang Cheng has not thought about these issues, but Gao Pragmatic has thought carefully about it a long time ago, and those thoughts are also the basis for his current official style.
Gao Pragmatic once thought that since the mid-Ming Dynasty, serious political differences between ministers and the emperor had occurred many times, such as Wuzong's southern tour, the Great Rites Conference, and the dispute over the country's foundation. Cabinet ministers Liu Jian, Yang Tinghe, and Wang Jiaping led the ministers to admonish Yan Zhijian. Their integrity was praised by many scholars at the time, and later generations of commentators also praised it.
While paying attention to those cabinet ministers who fought fiercely with the monarch, he also noticed Li Dongyang, a contemporary of Liu Jian, Fei Hong and Yang Yiqing, a contemporary of Yang Tinghe, and Shen Shixing, Wang Xijue and others who were contemporary of Wang Jiaping. Generally speaking, although these people have some remonstrances, their attitudes are relatively gentle and they focus on care.
At that time, Gao Pragmatic carefully considered, in what sense did the behavioral orientation of Li Dongyang and others differ from Liu Jian, or from the more intense resistance behavior of the scholar-bureaucrats in the Ming Dynasty? Is there any principle in this? How do people in the Ming Dynasty evaluate the behavioral orientation of cabinet ministers, and how do cabinet ministers explain the rationality of their actions to themselves and others? Even if this behavioral orientation is examined in the context of the political experience of the Ming Dynasty, does it have any special meaning at the level of political role?
As early as when he was the prince's companion, he felt the need to clarify these issues, because this would not only help to re-understand the connotation of Li Dongyang's behavioral orientation, but also provide a more profound understanding of the complexity of the political ecology of the Ming Dynasty. understand. And this is also the basis for his "future" survival in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty.
In the conflicts between emperors and ministers during the Ming Dynasty, such as the Great Rites Dispute and the dispute over the foundation of the country, the scholar-bureaucrats often went to court repeatedly, asking the emperor to adopt suggestions, and put pressure on the emperor in various ways such as "begging for leave" and "fuque". . In contrast, the emperor often suppressed the resistance of his ministers by using methods such as the imperial staff and demotion, and the conflict between the emperor and his ministers became intense.
In August of the first year of Zhengde, cabinet ministers Liu Jian, Xie Qian, and Li Dongyang admonished Wuzong to kill his servant Ma Yong and others, and persuaded Wuzong to manage politics, but Wuzong refused to listen. Han Wen, Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, led the ministers to "Fu Que" to cry and remonstrate, and Emperor Wuzong borrowed his old imperial staff to "Fu Que" to the ministers. Liu Jian and Xie Qian begged for leave, but Wu Zong refused to stay. He also "removed the Han civil service because of the incident, and ordered Liu Jian and Xie Qian to stay and move to Shizhong Lu Chong, Liu Fan and Nanjing to Shizhong Dai Xian and other six people. The censor Bo Yanhui and fifteen others."
Under this situation, although Li Dongyang also begged for leave, Wu Zong refused, so he remained as the chief assistant. After Wu Zong's death, Sejong was succeeded by a foreign vassal. Sejong wanted to honor his biological father, King Xingxian, as Huang Kao, and renamed Xiaozong Huang Bo Kao. Most officials in the court, including cabinet ministers Yang Tinghe, Mao Ji, Jiang Mian and others, believed that this The coup disrupted the imperial system and was inconsistent with etiquette. He repeatedly opposed it, but Shizong refused to listen.
On July 15, the third year of Jiajing's reign, all the ministers "led the troops to the left and knelt down at the gate, shouting 'Emperor Taizu Gao' or 'Emperor Xiaozong', the sound echoing throughout the room... At noon, he ordered to record all Names of the ministers: the leader, the scholar Fengxi, Zhang Chong, the censor Yu Ao, the doctor Yu Kuan, Huang Shixian, Tao Zi, Xiang Shifang, the temple is Zhengwu Dechun, eight people were sent to prison.
So Yang Shen, who compiled and reviewed Wang Yuanzheng, shook the door and burst into tears. For a while, all the officials cried, and the sound shook the court. The superior was furious and ordered the arrest of 134 people including Wai Lang Ma Li, a member of the fifth rank and below, and ordered them to be imprisoned and tortured. The officials and aunts of the fourth rank and above were ordered to be punished."
The situation at the "Dali Conference" was tense. Yang Tinghe, Mao Ji, and Jiang Mian successively resigned due to disputes over Dali, and Fei Hong succeeded him as the chief assistant.
In the middle period of Wanli in original history, ministers from both the government and the public asked Shenzong to determine the "national foundation" early and appoint the emperor's eldest son Zhu Changluo as the crown prince. At that time, "there were many people who applied for it, and people from all over the world were attracted to it." Zhu Yijun strongly suppressed the officials and "spoke to the officials to persuade him to teach in Yu, and he was reduced and fined, which saved him a lot of time and space."
Wang Xijue also admonished Zhu Yijun as early as the 19th year of Wanli, requesting that the emperor's eldest son be established as the prince. Zhu Yijun also refused to listen, so Wang Xijue left Beijing in the name of visiting relatives.
In the 20th year of Wanli's reign, Li Xianke, the Minister of Rites, spoke sparingly about the "national foundation" matters, and Zhu Yijun demoted Xianke to serve as a foreign minister. Wang Jiaping, then the chief minister of the cabinet, was also very tough, and he was granted the title of imperial critic to save the official. And he left his position to express his ambition, but Zhu Yijun did not stay. Then Wang Xijue was recalled and succeeded as the chief assistant.
From this moment, we can see the fierce conflict between emperors and ministers in the Ming Dynasty. At that time, many officials took the end of their official careers as the price for persisting in their political opinions.
Liu Jian and Xie Qian said they "begged for leave" and were immediately allowed to retire. In just a few months of the third year of Jiajing, the three chief ministers Yang Tinghe, Mao Ji, and Jiang Mian resigned one after another due to competition with Shizong for the "big gift". Qiao Yu, Yang Dan, the Minister of Personnel, and Wang Jun, the Minister of Rites, also returned to their hometowns.
Several cabinet ministers in the Wanli Dynasty, such as Wang Jiaping, etc., all disobeyed the emperor because of the "national foundation" issue and asked to leave, but Zhu Yijun did not stay. Gao Pragmatic can see from this that the active resistance of the scholar-bureaucrats group indeed exerted tremendous political pressure on the emperor, but in the process, the relationship between the emperor and his ministers also tended to deteriorate.
Yang Tinghe once said back then: "When discussing a great gift, it is better to throw fish into water than to be separated by water and charcoal."
When the conflict between the emperor and his ministers first broke out, the cabinet ministers were in the center, close to the leaders of the officials. It was difficult for them to stay out of the matter. In fact, Liu Jian, Yang Tinghe and others led the ministers at that time to resist the emperor.
When the relationship between monarch and ministers becomes tense due to conflicts, it is difficult for cabinet ministers to stay out of the matter. They are bound to make political choices. Should they continue to directly resist the monarch? Or do you have to submit to the emperor?
If a cabinet minister takes the straight path and gives strong advice, or even makes his ambition clear after leaving, this kind of behavior is obvious and upright, and it also makes the emperor feel that he adheres to political principles. But such determination also means that scholar-bureaucrats deny their self-worth to a certain extent. This is not only a matter of personal fame and fortune, but also means that the parties involved have lost the conventional way to exert sustained political influence in an already anxious situation. .
If a cabinet minister remains silent until he submits to the emperor, this will help the person involved gain the emperor's trust, and then take possible measures to ease the tense atmosphere. However, in such a political atmosphere where people with strong aspirations are forced to remonstrate, they will inevitably have to bear the public accusation that their reputation is lacking, and the psychological anxiety that comes with it.
In general, large-scale conflicts between monarchs and ministers are not only political events, but also constitute a political situation in which the relationship between monarchs and ministers is tense. Cabinet ministers have important positions, and they cannot avoid expressing their opinions. After the large-scale protest activities, whether to continue to resist the emperor directly or to submit to the emperor with humiliation, both behavioral orientations have their rational presuppositions, and both have limitations. This constitutes a dilemma for the political situation of the cabinet ministers.
In this political situation, cabinet ministers like Liu Jian followed "straight", while others like Li Dongyang followed "qu".
Gao Pragmatic doesn't think it's good to be completely straight, especially since he is someone who knows the political direction of the Ming Dynasty. If "in the future" he also takes "straight" and is dismissed from office, then the Ming Dynasty will almost be declared "ineffective". "Yes. Therefore, although Gao Pragmatic personally created the "Southern Xinjiang retreat", he psychologically did not want the day when this retreat would be activated.
So, what are the characteristics of the political practice of the cabinet ministers who established the dynasty in a humiliating way? Adjectives such as "moderate" are just a simplified description of a style of conduct. Combining the political practices of Li Dongyang, Fei Hong and Wang Xijue during their tenure as chief assistants, Gao Pragmatic summed up three behavioral characteristics that year.
One is to obey the emperor's opinions. In the first year of Zhengde, Li Dongyang, together with Liu Jian and Xie Qian, asked the emperor to kill the eunuchs who were serving him. From August of the first year of Zhengde to the seventh year of Zhengde, Li Dongyang served as the chief assistant of the cabinet. During his tenure, he had social interactions with Liu Jin. A check of the "Records of Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty" shows that before Liu Jin was convicted, there was no memorial written by Li Dongyang to impeach the eunuch.
In the early years of Jiajing, Fei Hong, along with Yang Tinghe and other cabinet ministers, competed with Shizong for "big gifts" and "signed the official letter, but it was not a special admonishment." Fei Hong served as the chief assistant of the cabinet from the fifth year to the sixth year of Jiajing, and served as the chief executive officer of "Records to the Emperor". According to the "Records of Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty", the cabinet minister Shi Yun continued to discuss etiquette after the "Fu Que" incident of the Zuoshunmen ministers crying and admonishing. From May of the third year of Jiajing to February of the sixth year of Jiajing, Fei Hong again He did not publicly criticize King Sejong's move to respect his biological parents.
Wang Xijue was recalled as the chief assistant in the 21st year of Wanli. After that, he once supported Zhu Yijun's proposal of "three kings being granted the same title". Zhu Yijun consulted Wang Xijue in a letter whether the proposal of "simultaneous enfeoffment of three kings" was feasible. Wang Xijue said to him: "It seems that everything is feasible based on emotion and reason." Later, Wang Xijue said in the memorial: "If it is established, it will be a family matter of His Majesty's. .”
All three of these three people once publicly agreed with the protesting opinions of the scholar-bureaucrats. However, when the remonstrance methods such as "Fu Que" and "Refutation" failed to move the emperor's heart, Li Dongyang and Fei Hong remained in office, and Wang Xijue returned to office. Everything happened, and all of them obeyed the emperor on the focus of the conflict between the emperor and his ministers.
The second is to oppose the strong advice of colleagues. During the anxious period of the Jiajing Dynasty's "Great Ceremony", many ministers resigned due to disagreements between the monarch and his ministers, and the Zuoshunmen incident caused tragic disasters to the scholar-bureaucrats. All these factors made Fei Hong doubt the effectiveness of the fierce resistance measures taken by the ministers.
Fei Hong said: "If it does not benefit the world, but only wants to be honest, it will be difficult for oneself, and it will cause poison to spread among the Jin gentry, such as Chen Fan, Dou Wu, Li Xun, Zheng Zhu, and Bingyin's hasty actions. You can't, and you don't dare." In fact, this point of view is very understandable and pragmatic, and even his own point of view is very similar to it.
After Wang Xijue became the chief minister of the cabinet for the second time, he paid great attention to the strategic nature of his words and deeds. He said in a letter to his colleagues: "I am afraid that if the pleasure is aroused, the way forward will be blocked. In this way, we must first express our sincerity and then appeal." I secretly advise you not to wait for the external court to seal and refute you, and then take care of it. Come and teach me what it means to be moved by loyalty and use your good offices to seek advice. You have to win my heart first."
Li Dongyang, Fei Hong, and Wang Xijue turned to be cautious in saying that the emperor was wrong, but this did not mean that their political values had undergone fundamental changes due to the strong monarchy. For example, Wang Xijue's original intention to strive for Zhu Yijun to determine the "national foundation" early was always the same, and it is self-evident His thoughts clouded: "After Buxiao was sent to Guazhou, he entered the capital on the fourteenth day of the first lunar month. The most urgent thing was to save things."
Li Dongyang said: "As long as a minister serves the king, he must exert all his strength in life and death, and he should especially be careful about the rules of advance and retreat."
Although Fei Hong presided over it, he also said: "Advocating moral integrity can boost morale a little, and it cannot be left unattended in prosperous times."
The above remarks actually show that Li Dongyang and others have indeed changed their political attitude from personally participating in remonstrance to opposing the forced remonstrance of their colleagues, but this change is only a strategic adjustment.
As for the third one, it is to actively rescue officials who have been convicted for admonition. Under the emperor's strong suppression, Li Dongyang and others adjusted their tactics in admonishment. However, when they were reluctant to obey the emperor, they also actively rescued officials who were offended by the conflict between the emperor and his ministers. "Liu Jian, Xie Qian, Liu Daxia, Yang Yiqing and Pingjiang Bo Chen Xiong all encountered dangers and disasters, but they all relied on Dongyang to solve them."
Wang Xijue took it as his own duty to recommend officials who had previously resigned due to their suggestions. "First, on the day after returning to the court, he secretly worked with the emperor to recommend a plan to restore all the gentlemen."
Although Fei Hong was forced by the king's power to adopt a more prudent political attitude towards "big gifts", this idea could not be completely transferred to the management of relations with Zhang Cong and others. "Cong (Zhang Cong) and Calyx (Gui Calyx) entered the Hanlin from Lang's office, suddenly came to Zhan Shi, and made the court hate him. Every time Hong showed restraint, Cong and Calyx were also furious."
When Wang Bangqi criticized Yang Tinghe and implicated Fei Hong, Fei Hong found it difficult to explain himself and refused to accuse others to secure his position, so he left to clarify his ambition.
Through the analysis of the words and deeds of these cabinet ministers, Gao Pragmatic came to the conclusion that the behavioral characteristics of Li Dongyang's people were the way to serve the emperor as Fei Hong said, "Being willing to accept the humiliation and obey is the best way to defeat the emperor."
The so-called "compromise and submission" means that although Li Dongyang and others agreed with the opinions of the scholar-bureaucrats, they made many helpless and expedient measures in the conflict situation between the emperor and his ministers, which were specifically manifested in obeying the emperor's opinions and softening the attitude of remonstrance;
The so-called "naike has help" is actually the purpose of "bearing the humiliation and adversity". What is the benefit? In current affairs and caring about the world, it is difficult to make a definite conclusion, but it is certainly not a simple path to flatter the emperor. Li Dongyang and others have their own bottom line in their actions, which can be clearly seen from their unwillingness to obey the emperor's will and pursue the crime of admonishing ministers.
In the conflict situation between the monarch and his ministers, Li Dongyang and others served the emperor with the principle of "bearing humiliation and obeying", and adjusted the current situation in specific political practice. They retreated from the conflict between the emperor and his ministers, and could calmly rescue the officials who had disputes with the emperor.
However, this kind of behavior by scholar-bureaucrats was ultimately based on compromise, and it involved personal honor and favor, and was related to the concepts of integrity, fame and wealth in traditional political culture, which aroused mixed public opinion.
In the conflict situation between the emperor and his ministers, both Li Dongyang and Fei Hong failed to do so because of the emperor's efforts to persuade them to stay. Wang Xijue was summoned to the cabinet. Compared with his predecessor Wang Jiaping, Wang Xijue's remonstrative attitude was much gentler. He once supported Zhu Yijun's proposal of "three kings to be granted the same title". Criticized by public opinion.
In fact, public opinion has mixed reviews of Li Dongyang and others. The derogatory comments blamed him for not being able to leave his post to show the integrity of the ministers. Li Dongyang and others were also worried about integrity; the praise focused on his ability to stay in office to protect the current situation. The interpretation of the rationality of his actions by Li Dongyang and others also pointed to the matter of reconciliation.
In fact, when evaluating this kind of behavioral orientation, according to the pragmatic and consistent dichotomy, we still need to fully consider the complex texture of traditional political culture and avoid being extreme on one side.
If the praise is too high, it will be overly focused on merit, and it will not avoid being shameless, but close to utilitarianism; if the praise is too high, it will simply focus on temperance, and it will not avoid excitement and become arrogant.
It is traditional political culture that provides a variety of rational pathways for judging practical behaviors. They integrate and restrict each other, and are ultimately mapped into the behavioral orientation of scholar-bureaucrats like Li Dongyang in the complex political ecology.
After all, because of the existence of this behavioral orientation, scholar-bureaucrat politics within the imperial framework gained necessary flexibility. In this sense, what Li Dongyang and others did was reasonable to a certain extent.
Of course, it is also necessary to note that Li Dongyang and others are willing to sacrifice for the emperor, and they will inevitably give up some principles after all. If a cabinet minister does this, he will lose the confidence to restrain his fellow officials. For example, if Jiao Fang's movement was very popular, Li Dongyang could not escape the blame.
This is also the reason why Gao Qingshi has always cared about reputation and cherished feathers. Originally, the cabinet ministers in the Ming Dynasty were not "real prime ministers". If they blindly used the emperor's favor and trust to dominate their colleagues, but did not lead by example so that others had nothing to say, it was inevitable that some people would defy the rule, and even opponents would continue to emerge.
Wasn't that what Yan Song was like in the past? When Shizong was most favored and trusted, he was always a member of the anti-strict sect. It’s just that Xu Jie is secretly an anti-strict party, and Gao Gong is an overt anti-strict party (Note: Remember Gao Gong’s words about Han Yu’s “The big chicken comes proudly, the little chicken waits in terror” to mock the strict party gathering? I remember before I wrote about it in the article.) Anyway, the Daoyan sect has never been discontinued.
Of course, if Gao Pragmatic has to make a choice, his consistent view is that "whether it's tough or soft, it all depends on whether the goal is achieved."
However, at present, Wang Xijue has not experienced the setbacks of the officials who have tried hard to remonstrate, so he has an obviously tough personality and does not attach much importance to Zhang Cheng's "sincerity". That's why he reacted like this and directly used "Yu Xin's good intentions". "Hey, even though he died nine times, he still has no regrets" to respond.
Seeing that Zhang Cheng and Wang Xijue were about to break up, it was Shen Shixing, the chief minister who was known for his all-around skills, who knew better how to "close the gap" and intervened at the right time.
Shen Yuanfu seemed not to notice any smell of gunpowder, and said with a smile: "If Mr. Zhang comes here with the sincerity of Concubine Zheng, Shi Xing, as a minister, should always listen to it." Then Shi Shiran. He stretched out his hand to make a "please" gesture: "Please invite Zhang Gongdao to come."
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