one
The Jianghan Plain in winter, if it is a rainy day, will have a vast gray color, and the woods, livestock, fields and villages will all be like smoke. If it is true and illusory, this is a melancholy scene, but it is not deserted. Silence does not decay. For some reason, I've always loved traveling in cool tones like this.
Now, the van we are riding in is traveling through the cold rain in the Jianghan Plain. In addition to me, there were three famous scholars in the car. They were Wang Chunyu, Wang Xianpei and He Zhenbang. The reason for this trip was that one of Wang Xianpei's students was a leader in Zigui County. He invited us to visit the new Three Gorges, which has been filled with water. At my initiative, another item was temporarily added, which was to stop by Jingzhou City to pay a visit to Zhang Juzheng’s tomb.
two
Zhang Juzheng's tomb is located in a place called Zhangjiataizi on the outskirts of Shashi. After the merger of Jingzhou and Shashi, the tomb was located in Jingzhou City.
I became interested in Zhang Juzheng in 1993 and began to study him for several years. Before visiting his cemetery this time, I had come alone to pay my respects twice. The first time was the Qingming Festival in 1998. At that time, my research on Zhang Juzheng and the search for historical materials had been roughly completed, and I was preparing to choose an auspicious day to write the four-volume historical novel "Zhang Juzheng". On the morning of Qingming Festival, I drove alone from Wuhan and drove about 200 kilometers along the Yihuang Expressway and got off at Shashi Station. My friend Liu Xinyujun was waiting for me at the exit and took me to the cemetery. About half an hour later, our car stopped in the mud. Xinyu led me into a vegetable field that smelled of excrement. He pointed to a mound in the vegetable field and said, this is Zhang Juzheng's tomb.
Although I was mentally prepared for the destruction of the tomb before leaving, I was still deeply surprised when I visited it in person.
This mound of earth was thrown up on the flat ground, and it was stuck in the mud that made it difficult to stand. The terrain behind the tomb is slightly higher, which is what the locals call "Taizi" (I don't know if the place name Zhangjiataizi was derived from Zhang Juzheng's tomb here), and it is covered with two-story farmhouses. On both sides of the tomb, there are residential houses on the left and a small temple called Bodhi Temple built by the villagers with funds on the right. It is said that the temple foundation was also used to occupy the cemetery's land.
I walked up to the tombstone, my pants legs were splashed with mud, and the villagers on the platform all looked at me strangely. It can be inferred from this that there are probably very few people who come to visit the cemetery. The tombstone in front of the mound is an extremely ordinary bluestone, obviously erected by modern people. There are no carvings, only six official script characters "Tomb of Zhang Wenzhonggong" painted red with paint. Perhaps after another period of time, the paint on the monument peeled off and the writing began to become blurred. The tomb wall of the round mound is built with blue bricks about two feet high. It has been in disrepair for a long time, and several places have collapsed. The wormwood on the mound is turning green and turning yellow. Under the bright sunshine, it evokes a sense of vicissitudes of life.
Xinyujun told me that this tomb is the original site of the tomb selected by Qin Tianjian for Zhang Juzheng in the tenth year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1582 AD), but the tomb is not the original one. Since the Cultural Revolution began in 1966, the young Red Guards believed in Mao Zedong's teachings and believed that no emperor, general or minister was a good person. As Zhang Juxiazheng, who had been the chief assistant of Wanli, how could he let it go? The young generals came in groups to dig the grave. The tomb was very solid and could not be dug open with tools such as shovels, so someone came in with a bulldozer and eventually destroyed the tomb. The coffin that had been sealed for nearly 380 years was revealed. The Red Guards swarmed up and opened the coffin lid. Except for Zhang Juzheng's well-preserved bones, his robes were in ruins. There was only a jade belt and an inkstone in the coffin, and there were no other burial objects. This result deeply disappointed the Red Guards and they dispersed in droves. At night, an old farmer named Zhang (who is said to be a descendant of Zhang Juzheng) quietly came to the cemetery, collected the scattered bones of Zhang Juzheng that had been abandoned by the Red Guards, put them in a temporary pottery jar, and dug a pit on the spot to bury them. Another twenty years passed, and by the mid-1980s, our nation, which had once suffered from paranoia, had partially recovered its memory, and the civil, political, and martial arts of our ancestors were no longer completely wiped out. Mr. Hou and Mr. Chen, then directors of the Shashi Museum, finally plucked up the courage to rebuild Zhang Juzheng’s cemetery. First, they found the old farmer and dug out Zhang Juzheng's bones from the pottery jar. The pottery jar was too crude, so they asked Liu Xinyu, who was working in the museum at the time, to find an exquisite blue and white jar to bury Zhang Juzheng's bones again. Then, he dug a new pit at the base of the tomb that had been bulldozed by bulldozers and buried the celadon altar in it. He also picked up the broken bricks scattered around the place to make a protective wall for the tomb, and built a tombstone tree. , this is the tomb we saw today. Hou and Chen were originally ambitious to build a Zhang Juzheng Mausoleum and a Zhang Juzheng Memorial Hall where the Bodhi Temple is now built. They submitted the report to the relevant leaders, but unfortunately there was no follow-up. The two old gentlemen are now retired and no longer have the ability to take action on this matter.
Therefore, when I visited the tomb for the first time and listened to Liu Xinyu’s story in the deserted cemetery, you can imagine the desolation in my mood. In this desolation, I feel sad for the unfair treatment that Zhang Juzheng suffered hundreds of years after his death; I also feel pain for the insensitivity of the descendants of the nation where I live towards their ancestors.
three
It was only when I was 39 years old that I consciously studied Zhang Juzheng. At that time, because of Mr. Tang Haoming's novel "Zeng Guofan", there was indeed a wave of Zeng Guofan fever among the Chinese people. After reading "Zeng Guofan" which I bought from Fangxiang, I started to pay attention to Zeng's works. Later, in the writings of Wang Kaiyun, a famous scholar in central Hunan, I learned that Zeng highly praised Zhang Juzheng from Jiangling, saying that he controlled the country "to the extreme of salt, and his achievements were particularly great." I began to search for Zhang Juzheng's works. Soon, I bought the four-volume "Collected Works of Zhang Juzheng" edited by the famous historian Zhang Shunmi, and borrowed from a friend the "Biography of Zhang Juzheng" written by Mr. Zhu Dongrun during the Anti-Japanese War. This is the beginning of my research on Zhang Juzheng.
In another article "Resurrecting History", I talked about studying Chinese politics. We must first study two series of figures, one is the series of emperors, and the other is the series of prime ministers. A competent state activist is more of a prime minister than an emperor. Among the many prime ministers in China who are remarkable for their civil, political and military skills, Zhang Juzheng undoubtedly belongs to the best category. The famous historian Li Dongfang believes that Zhang Juzheng was not only the only great politician in the Ming Dynasty, but also only Zhuge Liang and Wang Anshi could compare with him since the Han Dynasty. This is because Zhuge Liang was only the prime minister of Shu. The cramped stage is not enough for him to strategize and shake things up. Wang Anshi is very talented and has a good character, but he lacks the political wisdom to turn his ideals into reality. Compared with Zhang Juzheng, he is more like a scholar. His origin is Qu Yuan, while the origin of Zhang Juzheng is Shen Buhai and Huo Guang. But his achievements in history far surpassed those of Shen and Huo.
The most accomplished emperors in the Ming Dynasty were the founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang and the usurper emperor Zhu Di, known as Taizu and Chengzu in history. The following dozen emperors were Renzong, Xuanzong, Yingzong (among them there was Emperor Jing who served for seven years), Xianzong, Xiaozong, Wuzong, Shizong, Mu Zong, Shenzong, Guangzong, Xizong and Yizong. Except for Renzong, Xiaozong and Mu Zong who were relatively loyal, most of these emperors were mediocre. Especially the two dynasties of Wuzong and Sejong, which lasted for sixty-one years, had turned the country into a mess. Mu Zong was Sejong's third son. He was thirty years old when he succeeded to the throne and lived for six years. If he were a talented and strategic monarch, he would be able to accomplish a few things in six years. However, Mu Zong had no great ambitions. Although he was frugal and simple in his duties, he indulged in wine and sex. Therefore, there is still no improvement in the national affairs in his hands. By the time Emperor Wanli ascended the throne and Zhang Juzheng became the chief minister, except for the stable border defense (Zhang Juzheng also contributed to this), the country's internal affairs were almost lackluster. Officials are corrupted and the people are corrupted, and government is achieved through bribery. The imperial power at this time, although in name, was still the supreme power of the Ninth Five-Year Plan, wielding power all over the world. But its actual control is already quite weak. Hundreds of miles away from the capital, there are swarms of thieves - this is a striking feature of the people's desperation.
As far back as the middle period of King Sejong's reign, Zhang Juzheng was just an editor of the Hanlin Academy. He felt painfully that the country's fortunes were collapsing, and that there were many mediocre officials in the court and few talented people. So he wrote in a letter to a friend: "There must be people who are upright and magnificent. Breaking the rules and clearing things up will not be enough to eliminate the world's troubles." Zhang Juzheng's ambition to become a prime minister and assistant minister did not come only after he became an official. When he was still a Qingjin student, he wanted to become the Yilu of the world. It’s not an unrealistic dream, but a solid preparation.
In March of the 45th year of Jiajing's reign, Zhang Juzheng was appointed as the bachelor of Dongge University and became the counselor of the cabinet due to the appreciation of Xu Jie, the chief minister. His status was similar to today's Vice Premier of the State Council. This year, Zhang Juzheng was forty-two years old. The door to luck always opens for those who are prepared. The cabinets of the past dynasties have always been the places where the most intense power struggles occurred. One was the friction with the imperial power, and the other was the struggle between cabinet ministers. Very few people could stay in that cardinal's place for a long time. Even if you can stay in it, it is extremely difficult to make a difference. But Zhang Juzheng is a special case. From the time he entered the cabinet to his death, he stayed in the cabinet for a total of sixteen years, six years as second assistant and ten years as first assistant. During this period, no matter what changes in political power and changes in personnel occurred, he remained firmly in his position and remained unmoved. Not talking about governance, from the perspective of being an official alone, Zhang Juzheng is undoubtedly the best.
Zhang Juzheng's political ideal was to "enough food to strengthen the army, and to enrich the country and the people." In the middle and late Ming Dynasty when the imperial officials were "fed and warmed and lustful," and the ordinary people were "hungry and cold, they wanted to steal", this ideal was simply out of reach. But Zhang Juzheng did it knowing that he couldn't do anything, and never gave up on his desires and dreams. In the first year of Longqing, when he first entered the cabinet, he wrote a "Chen Liu Shi Shu" to the newly ascended emperor Mu Zong, which included six aspects: discussion of the province, revitalizing the discipline, re-enforcement of edicts, verification of names and facts, consolidating the foundation of the country, and ordering military preparations. Several aspects have put forward their own reform proposals. This is a quite complete reform document carefully written by Zhang Juzheng after long-term thinking. Since Shang Yang, there have been several far-reaching reforms in the long feudal era, but no reform measures proposed by any reformer are as pertinent and practical as "Chen Liu Shi Shu". Not before and not since. Unfortunately, Mu Zong lacked the courage to fundamentally change the situation and reverse the decline. He just said a few words of praise for "Chen Liu Shi Shu" and held a military parade in Xiyuan, that's all. After this trial, Zhang Juzheng knew that the time was not yet ripe. He still stayed in the cabinet patiently, doing some good governance that was beneficial to the people of the country while preserving his power.
Emperor Mu Zong passed away. As the prince's teacher, he quickly gained importance as the prince Zhu Yijun ascended the throne, replacing Gao Gong as the chief minister. The reform curtain of Wanli New Deal was just beginning to open at this time.
According to what people usually say, a person who has worked in a deputy position for too long and is suddenly given a big responsibility will find it difficult to get rid of the "little daughter-in-law" mentality and lack the ability to take charge of the overall situation and the courage to make decisions. It is obviously inappropriate to use this point of view to measure Zhang Juzheng. He started as an editor in the Hanlin Academy, then as a secretary of the Imperial Academy (equivalent to the provost of a national university), then to Zuo Chunfang (the prince's teacher), and then to the cabinet as a secondary assistant. The officials he held were not related to the national economy and people's livelihood. A clerk is a deputy who is no different from a chief clerk. He has never been a powerful official in the border areas for a day. With this kind of background, it is easy to get angry in book business. But Zhang Juzheng is different. He is what he calls an "upright and great man." As soon as he took office, he used thunderous means to eliminate mediocre officials. Among the less than 30,000 officials in the two capitals, he laid off 7,000 people. This move alone attracted the attention of scholars all over the world. Because of this, he was accused of being "enemies to the scholars in the world". Faced with the incoming moral criticism, Zhang Juzheng remained unmoved. For the sake of reform, he said, "No matter how many arrows are gathered in the body, there is nothing to be afraid of." Without this kind of courage to take responsibility, the reforms he led would not be able to achieve a historical leap.
Four
Later generations' evaluations of Wanli's New Deal were mostly positive. But strangely, there are many criticisms of Zhang Juzheng, the advocate of Wanli New Deal. A closer look at the reason is that Zhang Juzheng's reforms offended two people who should not be offended the most: one is the powerful and powerful people represented by the imperial power, and the other is Qingliu who has the right to speak.
Mencius once said: "It is not difficult to govern, as long as you don't offend a wealthy family." In fact, from Shang Yang to Kang Youwei, every reform in the feudal era always targeted powerful households. After Jufan Jiangshan changed hands, it developed to a certain stage. All will cause chronic diseases. The so-called peaceful age means that the interests of various social groups have reached a certain balance. Scholars, farmers, industry and commerce each have their own world, and the politics are clear and the people are honest and simple. In this peaceful environment, more and more people are addicted to pleasure, so the greed for wealth becomes more and more intense. Under this situation, those who hold power are always able to plunder and possess wealth that does not belong to them through abnormal means. The responsibility of politicians is to use their leadership skills to rationally distribute social resources. However, in the case of feudal autocracy, such politicians were rare.
Zhang Juzheng, with the heart of bringing peace and prosperity to the world, wholeheartedly wanted to redeem the suffering people of Li. Before he became the first assistant, he once said, "The chess game in Chang'an has changed frequently, and the corruption in Jiangnan has continued, and the people's resentment has deepened. If a traitor takes advantage of a day's provocation, he will be invincible." "He is well aware of the principle that the government forces the people to rebel. If the greedy powerful groups are not restrained, the timid people will become Chen Sheng and Wu Guang who rise up. All reforms in history have occurred when there was sharp opposition between powerful groups and disadvantaged groups. The Wanli New Deal implemented by Zhang Juzheng, a series of measures such as eliminating mediocre officials, rectifying post offices, reducing the number of students, clearing the land, and whipping laws, etc., all relieved the hardships of the people to a great extent. Of course, they also used the powerful The big family can be offended.
Regarding the second point, Zhang Juzheng offended Qingliu. To this day, some people still think that this is Zhang Juzheng's unforgivable sin. In ancient times, "everything is of inferior quality, only reading is high." If Chinese scholars wanted to honor their ancestors, there was only one way out, that is, to gain fame and become an official after being named on the gold medal list. Zhang Juzheng also relied on this path to gradually reach the pinnacle of power. But he has always been deeply abhorred by the bad habits of people in the officialdom who are careless about matters and talk about things in vain. When he first took office, some fellow villagers were very happy. I think the opportunity for promotion has arrived. But half a year later, they were deeply disappointed. Zhang Juzheng does not accept relatives. There are two most typical examples. One was Wang Daokun, his fellow Jinshi scholar and then governor of Hubei. Indeed, relying on Zhang Juzheng's relationship, he was promoted from the local Futai to the left minister of the Ministry of War. Zhang Juzheng asked him to go to Jizhen to inspect the border defense. Everywhere he went, the first thing Wang Shilang did was to visit the local literati, recite poems and compose poems, doing his best to be elegant. After returning to the capital, the patrol memorial he submitted to the emperor was a beautiful essay with careful consideration of every word and sentence. The beauty is beautiful, but the situation of border defense in Jizhen is unclear. Zhang Juzheng was very angry when he saw it, and wrote eight words on the memorial: "Zhilan is in power and must be removed!" The meaning is obvious. Even if you are a beautiful Zhicao orchid, you have to get rid of it because it grows in the wrong place—— Roads are for carriages and horses, not for gardens. Therefore, Wang Daokun was ordered by the emperor to become an official, returned to his hometown in Shexian County, and became a real poet who sang about the wind and the moon. Another example is Wang Shizhen, who was still a Jinshi in the same department as Zhang Juzheng. He originally wanted to rely on Zhang Juzheng's relationship to seek promotion, but Zhang Juzheng felt that although this man was a world-famous poetry leader in the same year, he did not have the ability to "serve as an official for one term and benefit one party." ” talent, so he refused to hold important positions. Wang Shizhen held a grudge for this. In his later years, he wrote "The First Assistant Biography since Jiajing", which praised Zhang Juzheng more than he praised. He said, "Juzheng has a mean nature. He likes to apply Korean laws and defeat them with wisdom." Among Zhang Juzheng's contemporaries, in addition to this book, there was also "Last Words on the Sickbed" written by his predecessor Gao Gong, which also slandered him a lot.
It is Zhang Juzheng's consistent position to emphasize Xun officials and alienate Qingliu, and it is also a way of employing people that deserves recognition. But precisely on this point, he offended scholars. Even after his death, some Qingliu people even cooperated with powerful groups to criticize and vilify Zhang Juzheng. This is not the tragedy of Zhang Juzheng, but the tragedy of the nation. A passage from Mr. Li Dongfang explains the secret: "Chinese society, especially in the Ming Dynasty, is a society that only cares about personal relationships and not about national laws. Whoever wants to enforce the law strictly will inevitably offend others. Official positions The higher it is, the more opportunities there are to offend others. Those who want to be promoted cannot be promoted, those who are afraid of losing their official positions will lose their official posts, those who talk about favors cannot express favors, and those who borrow money cannot borrow money - how can you not hate? Hate Zhang Juzheng There are just too many people.”
five
Zhang Juzheng died on June 20, the tenth year of Wanli (AD 1582), at the age of fifty-eight. None of the five chief ministers who preceded him died in office. Zhang Juzheng can truly be said to have "dedicated himself to death." His death was an immeasurable loss to the Zhu Ming Dynasty. However, Wanli Emperor Zhu Yijun, who directly benefited from the reforms implemented by Zhang Juzheng, did not think so. When Zhang Juzheng became the first assistant, Zhu Yijun was only ten years old. All major national affairs are decided by Zhang Juzheng. Zhang Juzheng's role is similar to that of a regent. As Zhu Yijun grew up, especially after his wedding at the age of sixteen, his desire to govern himself became stronger and stronger. In addition, he loved money by nature, and he often had conflicts with Zhang Juzheng over spending money. Over time, he changed from being obedient to Zhang Juzheng to hating him in his heart. Less than a year after Zhang Juzheng's death, Zhu Yijun began to liquidate him. Family property was confiscated, noble rank was taken away, family members died, and people were relegated. Zhu Yijun originally wanted to open the coffin and poke the corpse, but he gave up this idea after the advice of many ministers. From then on, people died and government ceased.
In just two years, the signs of revitalization brought about by Wanli's New Deal disappeared. Zhu Yijun, a good man, inherited the inheritance from his grandfather Shizong and began to impose exorbitant taxes, and the state affairs became increasingly corrupt. In the last ten years of his administration, internal and external troubles continued. The Zhu Ming Dynasty finally collapsed completely twenty-four years after his death.
Hundreds of years after Zhang Juzheng's death, the controversy surrounding him has never stopped. Whenever there is a national crisis, there are always wise people who lament that "there is no Zhang Juzheng in the world"; when there is peace and prosperity, someone will stand up and speak for the imperial power, criticizing Zhang Juzheng as a powerful official who is "powerful and self-absorbed". To be fair, Zhang Juzheng loves power and has a hobby of wielding power alone. But it should be noted that he is by no means the kind of person who uses power for personal gain. He has indeed done many good things for the country and the people by using the power in his hands.
Zhang Juzheng died in the capital, and his body was transported back to his hometown in Jiangling for burial. His funeral was very grand that year, and he was given the honor of offering sacrifices to nine altars, which can be said to be the highest level of human ministers. But just a year later, the tomb was completely destroyed and has not been restored since. In 1966, the Red Guards finally opened the coffin of Zhang Juzheng's tomb, which had long been reduced to a barren tomb, and threw away the bones. What Emperor Wanli wanted to do but failed to do four hundred years ago was finally accomplished in the hands of the Red Guards supported by Mao Zedong. In the same year of 1966, the remains of Emperor Wanli were also burned by the Red Guards. Zhu Yijun and Zhang Juzheng were once close monarchs, ministers, teachers and students, and then became the polar opposites of the faint emperor and the bright minister in the Ming Dynasty. They died in the world in different ways in the same year. Perhaps, this is another historical joke.
six
The first time I visited the tomb, I left with a melancholy mood. By the end of the second year, the first volume of my "Zhang Juzheng", "Mulan Song", had been published. The reading section of Wuhan TV Station decided to make a special feature on this book. At my suggestion, the film crew went with me to Jingzhou for the second time to visit the tomb of Zhang Juzheng. At dusk, in the biting cold wind, we still walked through the mud to the tomb. The ruins of the stele and the weeds were still there. The editors and photographers who were traveling with him could not believe that buried in this dilapidated tomb was an outstanding politician from the feudal era. They believe that it is understandable that Zhang Juzheng's loneliness cannot be correctly evaluated in the political and historical circles. But to experience such indifference in one's own hometown is puzzling. I tell them a little story. Previously, I had met with a leader in Jingzhou under the arrangement of a friend. I told him about Zhang Juzheng, with the intention of attracting his attention and repairing this barren tomb. However, after listening to my introduction, he immediately replied: "I am planning to build the tallest bronze statue of Guan Yu in China in Jingzhou City." I was very strange after hearing this. I left my local sages alone, but wanted to What was the motive behind spending a lot of money to create a statue of Guan Yu, who was originally from Shanxi? I wanted to ask him, but I stopped talking. The truth is different and difficult to explain. Facing such parents and officials, what else can I say? Three more years later, all four volumes of "Zhang Juzheng" were published, and I had a third chance to visit Jingzhou's tomb. In the car, in the increasingly snowy scenery, I told the three scholars about my first two visits to the tomb. Mr. Wang Chunyu, a well-known expert on Ming history, said: "Your book "Zhang Juzheng" was published and had such a great impact. Presumably Zhang Juzheng's tomb will not be so desolate." I also expect the same, but this time I visited the tomb. We remain deeply disappointed.
Three years have not passed yet, and the construction of Jingzhou urban area is changing with each passing day. Many new wide roads and tall buildings have been built. After the merger of the two cities of Shashi and Jingzhou, the junction in the middle became a beautiful new district. The van we took drove into the city and could no longer find the road to Zhang Juzheng's cemetery. The driver stopped several times and asked pedestrians on the roadside: "How can I get to Zhang Juzheng's cemetery?" The people asked were all confused: "Zhang Juzheng? Who is Zhang Juzheng? I don't know." The car was driving around the city. At this time, I remembered I met Liu Xinyu who settled in Beijing and called him to ask. He replied: "Don't ask about Zhang Juzheng's tomb, ask about Bodhi Temple." Sure enough, when you ask about Bodhi Temple, passers-by will know. Finally, after much trouble, we came to Zhang Juzheng’s tomb again.
Compared with three years ago, this cemetery has no changes except for the addition of a huge garbage dump opposite. The same mud, the same weeds, the same broken monuments, the same broken bricks... The three gray-haired old scholars walked around the tomb and bowed to the broken tomb. They could only feel sighs.
After visiting the tomb, drive to the Three Gorges. Crossing the Zhijiang River, there are more and more hills, and the vast Jianghan Plain has disappeared behind you. But the feeling of visiting the tomb three times can never be erased from my heart. That night, in the hotel in Zigui, I wrote a poem with seven rhymes called "Visiting the Tomb of Zhang Juzheng Again":
I reluctantly went to Jingzhou to look for the old tomb, and paid homage to me for three years before I came back.
The ruined monument is even more fascinating to the wild grass, and the Buddhist chime is leisurely and desolate.
The country is becoming increasingly prosperous. Who will be the hero on the Phoenix stage?
Yi Zhou's career will last for a long time, how can he let his loyalty turn to ashes?
After I finished writing it, I thought that when I had the opportunity to return to Jingzhou, I would burn this poem in front of Zhang Juzheng’s tomb.
