Chapter 7 Indecision on the establishment of the reserve—the cause of the three cases
The origin of the three cases at the end of the Ming Dynasty can be traced back to the fact that Emperor Shenzong Wanli of the Ming Dynasty was hesitant to establish a crown prince, which caused many problems inside and outside the court, resulting in the three cases, which disturbed and entangled for three dynasties. Long.
Wanli's big wedding was held in the sixth year of Wanli (1578), when he was sixteen years old.His queen's surname is Wang, and his native place is Yuyao, Zhejiang, but he grew up in Beijing.This empress knows books and practices etiquette, is quiet and dignified, and is very popular with Wanli's biological mother, Empress Dowager Li. In fact, Zhonggong was very neglected. The reason why she was not abandoned was all due to the protection of Empress Dowager Li.Concubine Liu Zhao was conferred on the same day as the empress, who was not liked by Wanli, and like the empress, she had never had any children.The first to give birth to Wanli's eldest son was Wang Gongfei, who was born as a court lady.This concubine Wang Gong was originally a maid who served Empress Dowager Li in the Palace of Compassion and Peace. When Wanli went to the Palace of Compassion and Peace to pay her respects to his biological mother, she accidentally got lucky and became pregnant with a child.After Wanli had a relationship with Concubine Wang Gong, she had long forgotten about it, but Empress Dowager Li paid close attention to it secretly. When the maid who had not yet had any name showed that she was pregnant, she called Wanli and asked him to Acknowledge this, and give a worthy title to the pregnant lady.At first, Wanli denied any relationship with this court lady. Finally, the queen mother ordered someone to take the living note from the respect room, and when she showed him the above records, Wanli answered speechlessly, admitting that he and this court lady had indeed had a relationship. Had a relationship.It turns out that the court pays great attention to the emperor's visit to someone, whether he has given any tokens, etc., but whenever there is such an incident, no matter who the other party belongs to, from the queen, concubine or even the maid, they must take time The location, etc. are recorded in detail in the daily life note, so that they can be checked when the lucky person becomes pregnant in the future.Wanli had a relationship with this court lady in the Compassionate Ning Palace. Although he thought it was an extremely accidental incident and thought no one would know about it, it had actually been recorded in the daily notes, making him unable to refuse even if he wanted to.Empress Dowager Li already felt that Wanli didn't pay much attention to the court lady who was pregnant with his child from Wanli's denial of this point, so she specially enlightened him: "It's a great thing that she is pregnant with a child. She has been looking forward to having a grandson for a long time. If she can really give birth to a prince, she will also have the heir to the throne. Don't think that she is a court lady, not decent enough, in fact, 'mother is more valuable than a son', you can add her title. "Wanli was told by Empress Dowager Li, so he had to do everything. First, he named the maid as a talented person. Later, she really gave birth to the eldest son of the emperor, so she was promoted again, and the talented person was named Concubine Gong.
In terms of feudal etiquette, the heir to the throne should first be the legitimate son.The so-called legitimate son is the prince born by the empress.If the queen has no birth and fails to give birth to a child, there will be a rule of "no heir to establish a head".Wanli's eldest son of the emperor happened to be in a situation where there was no queen, so his birth, from the queen mother to all the officials, had already determined that he should be the legal heir to the throne, and they valued him very much.
In the first few years after the birth of the eldest son of the emperor, Zhu Changluo, his position was extremely stable. Although he had a second son soon, it had no influence on him.The second son of the emperor died when he was only one year old, so naturally there was no threat to him.However, his stable position was shaken after the birth of Zhu Changxun, the third son of the emperor, in the fourteenth year of Wanli.
The biological mother of Zhu Changxun, the third son of the emperor, is Zheng Guifei, who is most loved by Wanli. Because of "love the house and the black", Wanli also attaches great importance to the third son of the emperor. What the son did, and concubine Zheng was promoted to be the imperial concubine.It turned out that this Concubine Zheng was the best-looking among all the concubines in Wanli, and she was the most able to cater to his wishes, so after entering the palace, she came from behind and was named a noble concubine, above Wang Gongfei who had given birth to the eldest son of the emperor.From Wang Gongfei's point of view, there was nothing unfair about this situation. She came from a humble background and had been suppressed for a long time. Even if it was more humiliating, she dared not express anything.However, many courtiers who are accustomed to orthodox etiquette are extremely different from this. They believe that the orderliness of society is maintained by the etiquette passed down from generation to generation. In particular, it should be specially obeyed.According to the law of etiquette, mothers are more expensive than their sons. Concubine Wang Gong, who gave birth to the eldest son of the emperor, can only be slightly inferior to the empress. None of the other concubines can be above her.Concubine Zheng entering the palace to be favored is not something that should be done in a prosperous age. In fact, it should be corrected as soon as possible. At least Concubine Wang Gong should also be promoted as a noble concubine, so that it is in line with etiquette.They not only discussed in private, but they also went to the public forum one after another to talk about the matter, which annoyed Wanli a lot.But at that time, he had already learned the trick of ignoring and listening to the evil, so although he was very annoyed by these sparse books, he kept them all and ignored them, and gradually calmed down, and few people mentioned them again. These unpleasant things.
However, after Concubine Zheng gave birth to the third prince Zhu Changxun, and Concubine Zheng was promoted to the title of Imperial Concubine, people who were arguing in Shangshu came again.This is because Concubine Zheng Guifei was promoted to the title of Imperial Concubine, and she was already two ranks higher than Concubine Wang Gong in terms of position, and she was only one rank lower than Empress.In addition, there is a sudden legend that there was a secret golden agreement between Wanli and Concubine Zheng, and she had promised her that the third son of the emperor born to her would be made the crown prince, and the golden alliance given to her was the secret agreement. keepsake.This legend became very popular for a while, so the courtiers speculated one after another, and most of them believed that the special promotion of Concubine Zheng to the title of Imperial Concubine was the harbinger of the abolition of Chang Liai.Because "mother is more expensive than the son", it can also be "son is more expensive than the mother", the son born to the queen is called "the first son", and of course he should be established as the prince. Much higher, her son, "a son is more valuable than a mother", will have a basis for being established as a prince in the future.This kind of speculation quickly formed an idea among the courtiers that Wanli wanted to confer the title of Concubine Zheng as the imperial concubine, which was actually a step of probing for the third son of the emperor to be the crown prince, and he had to stand up to it. No.
First of all, Jiang Yinglin, who was involved in the affairs of Hu Ke, was the one who discussed the matter carefully.In Shuzhong, he first talked about the inappropriate conferment of Concubine Zheng Gui. Yuan Si, under Fan Ling's residence: Kui's ethics are not smooth, quality people's people's hearts are uneasy, and the world's eternity is not correct. It is not because of the emphasis on the storage of the two and the determination of the will of the people. Please look down on the public opinion and return it to life. It may be the situation Please make concubine Gong the imperial concubine first, and then concubine Zheng, then the etiquette will not be violated, and the sentiment will not be abandoned. However, what I have discussed is not as good as it is. Your Majesty sincerely wants to rectify the name and determine the points. If you don't think it's clear, why don't you obey the cabinet ministers' request and set up the heir of the Yuan Dynasty as the East Palace, so as to establish the foundation of the world, the hope of the subjects will be comforted, and the celebration of the clan will be long." This statement caused a great shock, and the struggle Jiang Yinglin kicked off the more than ten-year battle to establish a reserve.
This long-term dispute over the establishment of the reserve divided the ruling class in the late Ming Dynasty into three factions.Among them, those with the largest number of people and the greatest momentum are those officials who are accustomed to the traditional rule of courtesy and stand on the side of fighting for the legitimate interests of the eldest son of the emperor.These people can also be called orthodox.The other faction is the opposite of the first faction. Some of them are relatives and friends of Concubine Zheng's family, and some are opportunists who are looking for cracks and wanting to please the emperor for benefits.There are not many of them, and because of their guilty conscience, they seldom dare to express anything publicly, but since there is an incumbent emperor on their side, they are very good at doing some tricks.The third faction has a very small number of people, but it has a great influence. Most of them are important ministers with real power. For example, Shen Shixing, who has been the chief assistant for nearly ten years, is the most prominent one.This type of people, in order to conform to public opinion, often appear to be no different from the first type of people on the surface, but they are vacillating at critical moments, sometimes falling to one side, and sometimes standing on the other.
On the surface, Jiang Yinglin's first battle was defeated, because after Wanli read the booklet, he immediately became furious, and after losing his temper for a while, he immediately issued an order in person: "The imperial concubine respects and works hard. Special seals are added. Li Chu has his own elders and children, and Jiang Yinglin suspects that the emperor will betray him, so he can be relegated to a miscellaneous position." As soon as this imperial decree came out, Jiang Yinglin was demoted to the territory of Datong, and became a canon history with an extremely low position. , the punishment he received was not light.However, according to the facts, although Jiang Yinglin was relegated to the foreign side, he actually won this round; Wanli punished Jiang Yinglin with belittling, and he lost all this first round.Because although Jiang Yinglin first defended Concubine Wang Gong's injustice in his essays, it was actually just a foil, and the main point was to confirm that the eldest son of the emperor could be registered as the East Palace.Wanli failed to distinguish between the primary and secondary points in his essay, and focused on explaining the promotion of the title of Concubine Zheng, but instead said the words "Li Chu has his own elders and young", blaming Jiang Yinglin for being suspicious of the monarch and selling straight, but in fact it was On the point of Lichu, he has made an affirmative answer.So with his decree, not only the upright courtiers were happy, but Jiang Yinglin, who was demoted, was also very satisfied, thinking that with his low-level official, he could get such a clear sentence as "a senior official has his own elders" , it is so worth it!At the beginning of Wanli, he didn't feel this loss. It wasn't until the sparse books of the ministers who kept Zhengzheng came one after another, emphatically mentioning his words of "establishing a reserve with his own elders" and asking for it to be implemented quickly, that he felt that he had lost his mind. It was a big mistake, it was too passive.For this reason, he hated Jiang Yinglin even more for making him lose it. Until many years later, when the Ministry of Officials recommended the ministers who made suggestions, every time Jiang Yinglin was mentioned, he would be severely reprimanded.Jiang Yinglin was deposed for more than 20 years.
Jiang Yinglin's essay quickly set off a frenzy of asking the eldest son of the emperor to be the crown prince of the East Palace. The officials all spoke up one after another, all talking about this matter, and what Wanli said was also mentioned in the essay. "Li Chu has his own age", he is required to realize it as soon as possible.Wanli first tried his best to suppress this, and Shen Jing, Sun Rufa and others who were the first to go to Shu were all punished by strict orders and convicted.Wanli originally thought that if he imposed such a severe punishment, he would be able to stop this wave.But the reality is not the case. Despite repeated severe punishments, the discourses are still flying like snowflakes, one after another.At that time, a kind of atmosphere formed in the court, that is, whether to advocate the establishment of a reserve, as the distinction between loyalty and evil, so that the cabinet ministers, Jiuqing and others, in order to show that they are also in line with public opinion, inevitably have to make comments. and this matter.The only ones who didn't talk about the establishment of the crown prince were those who had good relations with Zheng Huang's family and those who were always flattering.But there are very few such people, and they only dare to act in secret, and none of them dare to stand up and confront those upright courtiers.To deal with those annoying sparse books, he had to bear the brunt of it himself.
Wanli really made it hard for these annoying chapters.It turns out that he still has a way of not reading it, that is, "staying in China", so that he can get freedom.But it is inconvenient for him to apply this chapter.Because this matter related to Concubine Zheng and her family, he was very worried that they would be attacked because of this, so he had to watch it.In desperation, he had no choice but to use his usual method of procrastination to deal with it.Therefore, he reasoned that the eldest son of the emperor was still young, so it was not appropriate to talk about establishing a reserve at this time, and it would be appropriate to wait a few years before discussing this matter.He originally thought that the eldest son of the emperor is indeed still young, and the time limit to be delayed is not too long. In this way, he can always have a breathing time, and then try his best.However, this method of procrastination is ineffective, and the sparse books requesting a reserve are still coming in continuously.Some sparse books even dare to refute his statement, saying that the establishment of a crown prince is related to the foundation of the country, the sooner the better, and according to the reality, the age of the eldest son of the emperor can no longer be considered young.Some books even use him as an example to refute him.They said that he himself was established as the crown prince at the age of six, and now the eldest son of the emperor is already over six years old, how can it be said that it is too early.These words made Wanli speechless, but he still endured himself and dragged on.This dragged on for two or three years, requiring him to fulfill his promise, and the rumors of trust in the world continued to disturb him.In the end, Wanli had no choice but to set a deadline by himself, and asked the chief assistant Shen Shixing to tell the ministers that the matter of establishing a reserve should not be discussed until the 20th year of Wanli, and asked the ministers to wait with peace of mind and stop talking about it.But because he had repeatedly broken his promise, it was useless to set a time limit this time, and what he was most worried about finally happened.At that time, not only had Concubine Zheng been mentioned many times in the dissertations of the ministers, but also Concubine Zheng's father, Zheng Chengxian, and her elder brother Zheng Guotai had been impeached, saying that they were "preserving misfortune and hiding traitors, peeking at the second child".At this point, Wanli felt that soft procrastination was no longer enough, so he had to use another hand, and he did it by force.So he called the chief assistant, Shen Shixing, and asked him to go out and pass on his imperial edict, saying, "I don't like to be noisy, and the ministers near me will stay here, and I hate them to separate my father and son. If the courtiers in the next year don't The revival should be registered in the next year, otherwise it will be held when the eldest son of the emperor is fifteen years old."The so-called "Later Year" in the edict is the 20th year of Wanli (1592), when the emperor's eldest son was 11 years old, if he waited until he was 15 years old, it would be the 24th year of Wanli (1596).Shen Shixing was afraid that there would be another delay, so he warned the ministers not to provoke any more, so as not to cause further troubles.However, due to Wanli's repeated breach of trust, the courtiers were worried, and they were afraid that he would forget or pretend to forget. Therefore, when the scheduled time limit was approaching, Zhang Youde, the head of the Ministry of Industry, was worried, so he went to the Shu and asked for the ceremonial registration of the crown prince. Set it out in advance as a test.Without such a probe, Wanli might have pretended to have forgotten and procrastinated; but this probe gave him an excuse, and he immediately became angry, saying that he had already said something before, and if he harassed him, It's about to be postponed, and now it's harassing again. It can only be postponed for one year to show great faith.If you continue to harass, you will have to postpone it.
During this extended period of establishment, the struggle between the two opposing parties became more intense.The focus of the struggle between the two sides was on the identity of the eldest son of the emperor.The ministers who uphold the integrity must do everything possible to make the status of the eldest son of the emperor stand out in all aspects, so that it is a matter of course that he should be established as the prince.They always separate the eldest son of the emperor from the other princes in their melodies. They call the eldest son of the emperor Yuanzi, or even directly "Yuan Si", while the other princes are called all the sons.During this period, the eldest son of the emperor was already over ten years old, so all the officials asked for advance education one after another, so as to show the special status of the eldest son of the emperor.It turns out that if the prince has been established as the prince, he will live in a separate palace called the East Palace, and he will be equipped with a set of officials in the East Palace, taught him to read, and will teach him all the ways of being a king at any time. .Although the eldest son of the emperor was not established as the prince, in order to show his uniqueness in various things, the ministers who uphold the righteousness asked for pre-education, hoping that the ceremony of pre-education could be done like the prince's "coming out of the cabinet". "The same, resulting in the momentum that he is the future prince.The prince lives in another palace, and he is accompanied by the officials of the East Palace, which is called "Chuge".
The prince should be taught that this hat is too big, and those who opposed the eldest son of the emperor could not stop it, so they racked their brains and came up with a theory of "waiting for the first son" and asked Wanli to announce it.They emphasize the theory of establishing a direct relationship in this way, which is actually used to fight against those who exaggerate the eldest son of the emperor.Because the sons of the eldest sons are brought out, all the princes will become the same, they are not the sons of the first sons, and they don't have any special privileges.However, this theory of waiting for a descendant was quickly refuted by public opinion, because although the descendant should be the first in establishing an heir, it is not necessary to grant the son of the descendant, but "there is a descendant who establishes a descendant, and no descendant establishes an elder." The reason why the eldest son of the emperor Different from other scholars, he is in line with the article of "establishing an elder without a heir".At this time, some people were already discussing in private, saying that the theory of treating the concubine was really unreasonable, even the current Emperor Wanli, he was not the concubine.As soon as this kind of discussion spread in private, people who advocated the theory of treating one's wife did not dare to insist on it, because they were very afraid that this kind of saying would be used in Shuwen, which would be unsightly.However, these people's long skill is to play tricks in the dark. If one plan fails, another plan will be made, and soon they come up with the trick of "three kings conferring together", asking Concubine Zheng to ask Wanli to implement it.
The so-called "Three Kings Conferring Together" means that the eldest son Zhu Changluo, the third son Zhu Changxun, and the other prince Zhu Changhao should all be crowned kings first before the crown prince can be appointed.The three of them became kings on the same day, so they are all the same, and the next step is to do something else.At that time, the chief assistant, Shen Shixing, had retired and returned home, and Wang Xijue was replaced by Wang Xijue, so Wanli summoned Wang Xijue and ordered him to draw up an edict as soon as possible, expressing the intention of the three kings to be conferred together.This Wang Xijue and Shen Shixing were originally from the same year, and they were both Jinshi of the Renxu Division in the 41st year of Jiajing (1562).Shen Shixing was the No. 1 scholar in that subject, while Wang Xijue was the second place in the first and second places.Although Wang Xijue was second only to Shen Shixing in the imperial examination, he was the Huiyuan at the time of the examination, and his ranking was still ahead of Shen Shixing. Although he was comparable to Shen Shixing in his essay writing, he was actually far inferior to Shen Shixing in his ability and shrewdness. , is just a promise, and everything can only be done as ordered.After he was called to take the order, he had already drawn up the decree of the three kings conferring together when he came back, but he didn't realize that there was any other reason in it.However, just as he was drafting the decree, the matter had already spread outside.So other members of the cabinet and many leading figures who insisted on establishing the crown prince came to see him, and explained to him that this was a trap to suppress the eldest son of the emperor, and this decree was absolutely unthinkable.Wang Xijue himself was also a man of righteousness, and only then did he realize his enlightenment, so he not only stopped drafting the decree, but also explained to Wanli the reason why "three kings conferring together" should not be implemented.So, this other trick was stillborn again.
Although the ultimate intention of "waiting for the throne" and "conferring the three kings together" is to fight for the establishment of the crown prince, the immediate effect is to disrupt the implementation of the pre-education of the eldest son of the emperor.Both of these have failed, and the matter of pre-education could no longer be postponed. Finally, when the eldest son of the emperor was thirteen years old, he had to do as agreed, and all the notes were the same as those of the East Palace.In this way, the upright ministers who defended the interests of the eldest son of the emperor won the second round.
Wanli adopted the procrastination method, which bought him a lot of time, but in turn, time put more and more pressure on him.Because of procrastination and procrastination, the eldest son of the emperor didn't realize that he had reached the age of crown marriage, so he should be allowed to crown an adult and hold a wedding.In this matter, the two opposing parties are gearing up for another fight.Those who stand on the side of Concubine Zheng, in order not to make the eldest son of the emperor different from other sons, all advocate not waiting for registration, but to marry first, so that in the wedding ceremony, there will be no difference from other sons.However, the ministers standing on the side of the eldest son of the emperor felt that the crown marriage was a major event and could not be sloppy, so they insisted that it must be registered first, so that the eldest son of the emperor could hold the wedding ceremony as the prince.According to the court practice of the Ming Dynasty, no matter whether the prince or the kings, when they were fifteen or sixteen years old, they had already reached the year of crown marriage, and there could be no further delay.But the wedding of the eldest son of the emperor was postponed for a long time because of the stalemate between the two parties.At this time, the pressure of time became even more apparent.Because since the eldest son of the emperor was not allowed to be married, the younger brothers under him naturally did not rush ahead of him to get married first.In this way, Zhu Changxun, the third son of the emperor, was the first to suffer. This matter dragged on until the 29th year of Wanli (1601). The eldest son of the emperor was 20 years old, and Zhu Changxun was 16 years old. It is a miracle that the whole country has felt.Up to this moment, Wanli himself felt that he couldn't go on any longer, so he had no choice but to reluctantly follow the public opinion. In that year, Zhu Changluo, the eldest son of the emperor, was registered as the crown prince, and a wedding was held for him in February of the following year.In this way, the Wanli side can be regarded as a crushing defeat, and the ministers who kept the integrity finally won a complete victory.
Although the eldest son of the emperor has been canonized, the struggle is not over yet.In terms of supporting the ministers, although the goal has been achieved and there seems to be nothing to do, they still feel that although the crown prince is established, his foundation is not stable, and he is most afraid of any changes, so he is always paying attention.On the other side, the active force has also changed.When the reserve position is not yet determined, Wanli also really wants to establish love, so he often plays the main role.However, due to repeated failures and the fact that there was no longer any change in the situation of becoming a leader, his lazy nature appeared again, and he became resigned and content with the status quo.Conversely, Concubine Zheng, her father Zheng Chengxian, uncle Zheng Chengen, and brother Zheng Guotai used to only instigate and agitate secretly, but now they are more energetic, trying to find ways to organize manpower to promote, and planning to abolish the crown prince who has been registered.It is imperative for them to do their best all of a sudden, because they know that they have deeply offended the prince.Once the crown prince ascends the throne, what awaits them is beyond question.Only by abolishing the prince can they be saved.In order to cheer up Wanli, who had cooled down, they went out to make people desperately advocate the abolition of Li, and at the same time they re-incited the "demon book" case to expand their influence.The so-called "Demon Book" case was a case that happened before the crown prince was registered.It turned out that Lu Kun, who was the left servant of the Ministry of Punishment at that time, wrote a small book called "Pictures of Boudoirs" when he was still serving as an inspector to patrol Shanxi. The book contained pictures of some virtuous women in the past.At that time, Chen Ju, the internal supervisor, happened to be collecting books from outside under the order, so he also took in this small book.Seeing that it was a book about women's morality, Wanli gave it to Concubine Zheng.After Concubine Zheng read the book, she added pictures and descriptions of twelve more people, and wrote a preface for it, and handed it over to her uncle Zheng Chengen to engrave it into a book, and then printed some and distributed it.This incident was very common, but at that time, it had become a habit for officials to use publicity for personal gain and to attack recklessly. Because Dai Shiheng had an enmity with Lu Kun during the incident, he used this incident to impeach Lu Kun and pretended to be Zheng Cheng'en to write a letter to Zheng Guifei. , to accept the palace, to harbor evil intentions.At this time, someone suddenly made a postscript titled "Worry and Dangerous Discussion" to "Guidan Tushuo", saying that Lu Kun wrote the book "Guidan", headed by Empress Ma of Han Mingde, because Empress Nama It was gradually promoted from the maid of honor to the queen.His intention was clearly to flatter Concubine Zheng.The reason why Concubine Zheng wanted to engrave this book was because she knew its meaning very well, in order to set a precedent for making her son Chang Xun the crown prince.The postscript also explains the meaning of the article’s name at the end. It mentions that Lu Kun once went to a book called "Worry and Danger", saying that he talked about everything in that book except the establishment of a reserve. His intentions can also be seen here.Although this postscript mainly attacks Lu Kun, it also secretly attacks Zheng Guifei everywhere.Therefore, Concubine Zheng and her family believed that the postscript must have been written by Dai Shiheng, who impeached Lu Kun, or Fan Yuheng, the magistrate of Quanjiao County, who had impeached Concubine Zheng.So through Wanli, the two people were immediately demoted and punished, and it was considered a stop.This matter was considered to be closed, but now the old matter is brought up again because of the publication of another article called "Continued Worry and Dangerous Discussion".Although this "Continuation" is old-fashioned, its meaning is completely different. Its gist is that although the prince has been established, he will inevitably be abolished soon.Because he was forced to do so, the emperor was forced to do so.This article is written on the basis of a person named "Zheng Fucheng" answering questions with visitors.At that time, Zhu Changxun had been conferred the title of King of Fortune. From this name, it can be seen at a glance that it means that Concubine Zheng's King of Fortune will surely succeed.The article also said that Wanli suddenly ordered Zhu Geng to join the cabinet, which also has deep meaning.Geng who, more also.This also reveals the intention to replace the prince.Zhu Geng, a bachelor, mentioned him by name in the article, so he found the article and dedicated it to Wanli to read, so as to prove that there was no other.After reading this article, Wanli was furious, and immediately ordered Jin Yiwei to strictly search and arrest the main culprit.
This search and arrest operation caused great confusion. Not only were many people arrested indiscriminately, but some people also used this as an excuse to frame their enemies.For example, the governor of Jinyiwei at that time was at odds with his colleague Zhou Jiaqing, so he claimed that it was Zhou Jiaqing's fault and arrested him in prison.Dongchangyuan was also engaged in arrests, so they couldn't let it go. They also arrested many people. Among them was a man named Lu Shengguang, who was said to be a demon and was the most suspected.The Xuncheng Yushi also followed up with a large number of arrests. Among the people they arrested was a Daguan monk and a doctor named Shen Lingyu. They said that these two were the most suspicious.In addition to the indiscriminate arrest, there were many informers at one time, which made the whole capital really restless and everyone was in danger.The most interesting thing is that Shen Yiguan, who was the first assistant at the time, actually got a hand in this matter in order to attack the second assistant Shen Li and the East Palace lecturer Guo Zhengyu.It turns out that this second assistant, Shen Li, was the lecturer in the East Palace who taught Wanli when he was still the crown prince.He is upright and very clear in his lectures, and he is actually the most respected lecturer in Wanli.His entry into the cabinet was only realized after Wanli's repeated hints.Shen Yiguan has always been afraid of Shen Li from the beginning, and he was even more disturbed when he learned that he had been ordered to join the cabinet.At that time, he wrote to Li Sancai and said: "Guide Gong (Shen Li is from Guide, Henan Province) will take my throne when he comes. How will he prepare for it?" Shen Yiguanzhi's hatred of Guo Zhengyu also involved Shen Li.It turned out that when Guo Zhengyu was first selected as a good scholar, it was Shen Yiguan who was in charge of teaching the good scholar.According to the rules, they are considered to have a teacher-student friendship, and they should be very close.But Guo Zhengyu is an upright person, and he looks down on Shen Yiguan's behavior. Not only does he not adhere to the disciple's etiquette, but he always keeps a distance from him.What's more coincident is that Guo Zhengyu is also Shen Li's disciple, and the master and apprentice get along very closely because of their similar aura.Shen Yiguan was jealous and hated, so he continued to secretly punish Guo Zhengyu.At that time, he had already taken advantage of the fact that the family members of the Prince of Chu's mansion were criticizing each other to force Guo Zhengyu to resign from office, and was about to return to his hometown. However, he suddenly discovered that the doctor Shen Lingyu, who was arrested by the censor of the patrol city for the case of the demon book, was still there. He used to be Guo Zhengyu's disciple, so he made another plan, trying to bring Guo Zhengyu into this case, not only getting him trapped in this case, but even his teacher Shen Li couldn't escape.He immediately acted, while sending people to chase after Guo Zhengyu who had already sailed south by boat, and at the same time, he asked people to hand over a suspect named Mao Shangwen recently arrested by the factory guard for interrogation.It turned out that this Mao Shangwen also worked for Guo Zhengyu, and he also knew Shen Lingyu.Jinyiwei Chen Ruzhong, who was appointed by Shen Yiguan, took a piece of Jinyiwei's confession after Mao Shangwen arrived, and showed him: "Did you see it? If you can name the prisoner, this is for you." Then he went further. Teach him, ask him to bite the doctor Shen Lingyu, and also ask him to involve Gong's daughter who was a nurse in Guo's mansion, saying that the ten-year-old girl knows about it.Those who pursued Guo Zhengyu caught up with him at Yangcun.Immediately surrounded the boat they were on, captured all the servants around Guo Zhengyu, and brought them together for interrogation.
The joint trial of the case was presided over by Chen Ju, the eunuch of Dongchang.Chen Ju asked the nurse Gong's daughter, "Did you see, how many boards are there in the demon book?" The girl replied, "There is a whole room full!" Chen Ju laughed unconsciously, and said: "The demon book has only two or three pages in total. Is there a room for the board?" He asked Mao Shangwen again: "When was the book Shen Lingyu said printed?" Mao Shangwen interjected and said, "It's November 16 It was printed on that day." Wang Shiyang, the juror of Xuzheng Shangshu, said: "The demon book was found on the 10th day of the lunar new year, and it was printed again on the 16th. Are there two demon books?" These confessions simply did not match up, so we had to Get rid of them and let it go.
Later, he brought Lu Shengguang and his monogamous concubine up for interrogation, trying to get them involved with Guo Zhengyu.But they were all strangers to Guo Zhengyu, and they couldn't get a clue after asking around.
When the case was in the middle of weaving, Tang Wenwen, another lecturer of the prince, tried his best to explain it to Guo Zhengyu. He found Shen Yiguan, fought with him, and said that the prince had sent messages to his servants many times, asking them to find out: why A good lecturer who wants to kill him.At this time, Shen Yiguan felt that he would be afraid of falling for Guo Zhengyu, so he said that he would not delve into this aspect any more.However, this matter was strictly ordered to "obtain the culprit", so there must be a solution, so the presiding judge's plan fell on Lu Shengguang.It is said that this Lu Shengguang was originally a rascal. He forged a poem, which he said was written by the wealthy businessman Bao Jizhi. people blackmail.Since this poem has something to do with the demon book, it would be very appropriate to use him to prevaricate.The presiding judge, Chen Ju, felt that even though this Lu Shengguang was wronged, he forged inverse poems and used them for extortion, which was worthy of a capital offense, so it would be fine to use him as the culprit.The plan was decided, and the real one reported Lu Shengguang as the culprit, executed him Ling Chi, and settled the case.
Besides, when Guo Zhengyu was besieged on the way, the people around the boat guarded him very tightly. There were soldiers constantly patrolling day and night, as if they were afraid that he would run away.At that time, people kept coming to persuade him to commit suicide, saying that his arrest was just a matter of Gu Jian.A gentleman's righteousness is not humiliated, and it is a good thing to commit suicide first.Many of these people were sent by Shen Yitong.Because if he dies, many things can be blamed on him.At that time, there was no proof of death, so it was easier to overthrow Shen Li.However, Guo Zhengyu is a fearless tough guy.He said: "I am a minister. If I am guilty, I should be punished. How can I hide in a remote place and commit suicide quietly?" A lot of trouble.
People who are looking forward to the abolition of the crown prince also have another whimsical plan, that is, they hope that the king and queen who live in the main palace will die early.If heaven obeys people's wishes, the king and empress are really dead, and the seat in the main palace is naturally Zheng Guifei. At that time, "the son is more expensive than the mother", and the mother is in the middle palace, and the son becomes the first son. It just won't work.This Queen Wang is not in good health, and because she is not liked by Wanli, all the supplies are also very poor. It is not entirely without reason to hope that she will die early.However, she is dignified, quiet and inactive, and she is cared and sheltered by the Empress Dowager, so even though the supply is poor and the number of people serving in the middle palace is small, she cannot be trapped.Although they couldn't stop wishing for her early death, they never got their wish.In fact, Queen Wang and Wanli died in the same year. They both lived until the forty-eighth year of Wanli (1620) before they died. Only a few months after Queen Wang died, Wanli also died.
Queen Wang always refused to die, Concubine Zheng and the others had long lost patience, and had been contemplating taking extraordinary measures for a long time.However, the presence of Empress Dowager Li made them timid, and they never dared to move lightly.In February of the forty-second year of Wanli (1614), Empress Dowager Li finally died, and the last obstacle was gone, so the case of ramming occurred in the following year.
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