Chapter 67 spanking the minister's ass

On March 14th in the 16th year of Zhengde (1521), Ming Wuzong, who had played around all his life, died in the "Leopard Room" he carefully built.The courtiers, who were stunned by his absurd behavior, had to express their grief, and I am afraid that they were also greatly relieved.However, they immediately had another thorny problem before them.The emperor Wu Zong had no sons, and he had no brothers, so who would succeed him became a huge problem.Later, under the auspices of Chief Assistant Yang Tinghe and the support of Empress Dowager Zhang, the officials welcomed Zhu Houcong, the son of King Xingxian, as the next emperor.

King Xingxian is the younger brother of Ming Xiaozong.Zhu Houcong is his only son and cousin of Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty. He is the oldest among the grandsons of Emperor Xianzong, so he is the most qualified according to the order of succession.However, when Zhu Houcong arrived outside Beijing on April 22, the etiquette of entering the city became a problem. This question is simple to say, that is, should Zhu Houcong enter the city according to the etiquette of the crown prince, or should he enter the city according to the etiquette of the emperor.This may not be a big deal in the eyes of people nowadays, no matter what the etiquette is, he will always be the emperor.However, in the Ming Dynasty, when Confucianism was the dominant ideology, this issue of etiquette became a big deal.The courtiers wanted to welcome Zhu Houcong into the city according to the etiquette of the crown prince, but Zhu Houcong refused. He believed that Wuzong's edict made him emperor, not a prince, so he insisted on entering the city according to the emperor's etiquette.After several rounds of negotiations, the courtiers finally couldn't bear the pressure of "no king", and after a procedure of "persuading him to come in", they accepted Zhu Houcong in with the emperor's etiquette, and he succeeded the emperor as Ming Shizong.In this small confrontation, the emperor won all. However, this was just a prelude, and the real drama had not yet begun.

Sejong had just ascended the throne. In May, Yang Tinghe, the first assistant, gave a performance, thinking that Sejong "should be called Xiaozong Huangkao, King Xingxian should be called King Xingxian, Emperor's Uncle, and Princess Xingxian should be called Princess Xingxian, Emperor's Aunt". , Shizong wants to adopt Emperor Xiaozong as his son, and he wants to call Emperor Xiaozong his father, and he wants to call his own father, King Xingxian, uncle.However, since Sejong was the only son of King Xingxian, Yang Tinghe suggested that King Yi's second son be adopted to King Xingxian.

Maybe everyone is already dizzy, and switching their sons back and forth like this is really taking off their pants and farting, it's superfluous.Sejong was very dissatisfied when he received this memorial, thinking how could his parents be so upside down.He brought his mother Jiang from Anlu, Hubei to the capital. When Jiang heard about the decision of the courtiers, she was very angry, saying that her son suddenly became someone else's, so she stayed in Tongzhou and refused to enter Beijing. The emperor's attitude was so tough, but the courtiers did not give in.Perhaps they had suffered enough from Wu Zong who treated etiquette as bullshit, so for this new emperor, he must establish the authority of etiquette.So the courtiers unified the caliber and presented an article "Ceremony of Worship and Dedication", and the emperor must call his own father uncle.But there was a young minister, Zhang Cong, who was very good at trying to figure out the emperor's mind, so he wrote an article, citing scriptures, to find out the theoretical basis for the emperor to call his father father. The emperor was very happy, but the courtiers agreed that this guy was a big The treacherous evil drove him out of the capital.At this time, there happened to be a fire in the palace, so Yang Tinghe, the chief assistant, went online, saying that this was God's punishment for those who violated the etiquette, and only Sejong called his father uncle to get God's forgiveness.Although the emperor is supreme, he is only the "son of heaven" after all.God, this father has spoken, and he dare not not listen, so he can only compromise with the courtiers first.

However, the emperor's compromise was only temporary. Once the fire was over, he brought up the old matter again and insisted on calling his own father Daddy.Because of that little minister Zhang Cong, the united front of the courtiers could no longer be maintained. According to whether Sejong should call his own father Daddy, two factions emerged, one opposed, represented by the chief assistant Yang Tinghe; the other supported, led by Zhang Cong to represent.This Zhang Cong has been promoted to Hanlin Bachelor because he agrees with Sejong's wishes.The two factions are fighting in full swing, all citing classics and having sufficient theories.The emperor was dizzy when he heard this, but according to his mind, he still wanted to call his own father his father, so he dismissed Yang Tinghe, the chief assistant who was the most opposed.For a while, many courtiers resigned one after another, but the emperor was determined to call his father a father, so he let it go.The dispute between the monarch and his ministers continued to escalate, and finally led to a major event that caused a sensation in the government and the public.

In July of the third year of Jiajing (1524), the courtiers who insisted that the emperor should call his father uncle gathered together outside Zuoshun Gate, knelt down, and kept shouting "Emperor Taizu, Emperor Xiaozong" and let out a loud voice. Crying loudly, the momentum was so loud that even the tiles on the Golden Luan Hall shook.They declared that if the emperor didn't care whether his father was called uncle, he would just kneel down and cry. All the officials were crying so loudly, which naturally alarmed the emperor in the Forbidden City. He was very upset when he saw such a disturbance, so he called an eunuch out and persuaded the ministers to disperse.But these ministers vowed not to give up until they achieved their goals, and the emperor must call his father uncle.After going back and forth, the emperor was finally annoyed, and he ordered Jin Yiwei to arrest all 134 officials who cried the loudest and throw them into prison.The next day, the remaining 90 or so people were also arrested.And make a decision to treat all these people with court scepters.

The court rod is actually to press the ministers on the court to spank their buttocks publicly.This method of touching the soul through flesh and blood can be traced back to the Sui Dynasty, but it was only used occasionally, and it became popular in the Jin and Yuan Dynasties.Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty under the banner of "expelling the Tartars and restoring China". For some reason, he had a special liking for the spanking in the hall, which was only carried forward since the "Tarbarks", and made it a Ming dynasty. characteristics of a generation.Perhaps, he has a bit of egalitarian thinking, and thinks that since the little people can be spanked above the court, the minister An De cannot be spanked above the court.However, according to the traditional concept of "Punishment is not a doctor", it is an extremely insulting thing to be knocked down and spanked in full view.However, in the early Ming Dynasty, ministers who were spanked were somewhat respectable, allowing them to wear trousers and wrap them in a piece of felt before beating them.Later, when Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty was in power, the eunuch Liu Jin was in power. He hated the courtiers so much that he began to take off their pants when they were spanking, and let them "touch the soul through the flesh" with their buttocks naked in full view.Before Sejong, Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty had the most severe spanking in court. He once spanked more than a hundred courtiers because they discouraged him from making a southern tour.However, with Wu Zongzhi playing around, after the spanking, he actually restrained himself for a while, and stopped talking about the southern tour.Now, although his cousin is not as playful as his cousin, he is a gloomy and cautious person. No one can change the things he has decided.

In the third year of Jiajing (1524), on July 20th, at the Meridian Gate, the court staff of 134 ministers crying and admonishing Zuoshunmen began.Looking around, I can only see a white buttock under the sun, which is also a spectacular sight.The executioner gave an order, and the spanking began, and there was a crackling sound immediately.The ministers who were beaten had to persevere at first, but then they couldn't bear the pain and groaned loudly.For a while, the sound of groaning one after another, combined with the crackling sound of spanking, made it seem like hell on earth.The emperor still couldn't let go of his hatred, and ordered the seven leading men who cried the most to be beaten again the next day.A total of 17 people were killed with two court rods, breaking the record of 15 ministers killed by a rod held by Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty.The emperor who paid the most attention to etiquette in the Ming Dynasty ended up on the same path as his naughty cousin who treated etiquette as bullshit.

However, Ming Shizong is different from Ming Wuzong after all, he wants to make etiquette work for me.In September of the same year, Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty issued an edict to change the name of Xiaozong of Ming Dynasty to Huangbo Kao, and King Xingxian to be Huang Kao. Father was still called Daddy, and Uncle was still called Uncle.In June of the seventh year of Jiajing (1528), he compiled the "Minglun Grand Canon", which made an authoritative summary of the "Great Rites", punished those ministers who opposed him calling his father "father", and supported his chief assistant Yang Tinghe. Was dismissed as a citizen.In the seventeenth year of Jiajing (1538), the temple name of King Xingxian was recognized as "Ruizong", and he was enshrined in the Taimiao Temple. His status was below Ming Xiaozong and above Ming Wuzong.So far, Ming Shizong's biological father is completely equivalent to the official emperor of the previous generation, and this thrilling "big ceremony" ended with his overall victory.