Chapter 68 The "Taoist" Emperor Advocating Immortal Magic

Ming Shizong slapped the courtiers' butts in the "Great Ritual Discussion", established his personal authority, and planned to work hard to rule.In the early days of his succession to the throne, he abolished Wu Zong's bad governance, dismissed the eunuchs guarding various places, and checked the estates of his relatives.It's a pity that the good times didn't last long, and it didn't take long for him to be immersed in the miasma of Taoist priests burning alchemy and refining mercury. It is said that the emperor should have nothing to be dissatisfied with, but people's desires are endless.At that time, there was a popular ditty called "Ten Deficiencies", which satirized people's insatiable heart. There was a saying in it, "One day sitting in the south of the world, I wanted the gods to come to play chess. Dong Bin played chess with him, and asked where is it?" Go up the ladder to the sky. Before you can go down the ladder to the sky, the king of hell came to remind you. If you hadn’t reached the limit, you would still think it’s too low to go up the ladder.” It was exactly the state of mind of Emperor Sejong.The emperors in history wanted to enjoy the glory, wealth and incomparable authority for a long time. Naturally, they hoped to live forever, and the "death" would never come.Therefore, British lords like Qin Shihuang and Han Wudi could not help but believe in the mischief of alchemists and did many stupid things.Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty claimed to be observant, but he couldn't get out of this rut, which made the Taoist priests dizzy with the "immortal magic".

He first favored Shao Yuanjie, a Taoist priest from the Qing Palace on Longhu Mountain, who was called to Beijing in the third year of Jiajing (1524).The emperor respectfully invited him into the palace, and humbly asked him about the art of longevity.The old Taoist was about to talk about "purity of heart and as few desires", but suddenly remembered the emperor's lustful eyes on the court ladies, so he hurriedly changed his words, saying that he should "mainly be quiet", and further enlightened the emperor, the most "quiet" The place, of course, is the harem.As soon as this remark came out, the Emperor Long was overjoyed, and felt that what the old Taoist said was really good, so he favored him, and let him live in the Palace of Appearance, where he was dedicated to praying and offering sacrifices.In the fourth year of Jiajing (1525), the weather was dry. The emperor asked for rain, and invited an old Taoist priest.In the second year, he was named "Sincerity Zhiyi Zhenren", and he ruled the three palaces of Chaotian, Manifestation, and Lingji.He was also made the chief administrator of Taoism, and he was bestowed with purple clothes and jade belts, and a gold, jade, silver, and ivory seal, and he has been extremely favored ever since.

Of course, for a living god to be favored by the emperor, he has a wide range of natural spells, not limited to begging for rain or something, he has other unique skills.At that time, although the emperor had many concubines and poured rain and dew in the harem every day, he had no heirs.Although he was still young, with the example of his cousin Emperor Wuzong in front of him, the emperor couldn't help feeling a little anxious.At this time, the living god said that he could pray for the emperor to have a son through "making a funeral ceremony". Of course, the emperor agreed, so he asked him to set up an altar in the palace and began to perform rituals.Sure enough, after the fifteenth year of Jiajing (1536), the emperor gave birth to several sons in succession.In his eyes, the old Taoist priest was even more miraculous, so he immediately made him a first-rank official and received the Minister of Rites.It is a miracle in the Ming Dynasty that a Taoist priest actually became a first-rank official.

From then on, the emperor firmly believed in the immortal spells of Taoist priests.Although he has a son, he has no worries about heirs, but he prefers to live forever.So he continued to eat the "golden pill" refined by the Taoist priests.This kind of "golden elixir" is generally made of cinnabar, realgar, sulfur, mercury, etc., and refined in a cauldron furnace.After a series of cumbersome procedures, these raw materials undergo a chemical reaction during the heating process, and the "gold elixir" is refined, which is actually just a lead-mercury compound.Both lead and mercury are poisonous heavy metals. If you eat this kind of thing for many years, there will be no good results. Therefore, many people who eat "Golden Elixir" end up poisoned and died.However, according to the Taoist priests, this is called "dissolving the corpse into an immortal", and those who were poisoned to death all ascended to become immortals in the daytime.Emperor Sejong wanted to live forever, and he was obsessed with it.He also heard nonsense from a Taoist priest: "If you live in a deep place and have no connection with outsiders, you can get gold and the medicine of immortality." So he actually ordered the four-year-old prince to supervise the country and hide himself to "cultivate mysteries".Of course, the ministers objected one after another, and he sentenced Yang Zui, the imperial servant who opposed the most, to the court rod and beat him to death.After this trouble, although he did not abdicate, his enthusiasm for the cause of cultivation remained undiminished, and he also gave himself a lot of Taoist titles, the longest of which was "Tai Shang Da Luo Tian Xian Zi Ji Chang Sheng Sheng Zhi Zhao Ling Tong Yuan" Zhengying Yuxu, who is in charge of the Five Thunders, Dazheng Xuandu Realm, Longevity Emperor", people who are a little short of breath probably can't read it all at once.

In the 18th year of Jiajing (1539), Shao Yuanjie, the "sincerity to a real person", died, and the gods would die too. It can be seen that those spells that pretend to be gods and ghosts may not be effective.However, the devout Emperor Sejong was still obsessed with his obsession. Perhaps in his opinion, this immortal was "dissected", so he favored Tao Zhongwen, a Taoist recommended by Shao Yuanjie.Tao Zhongwen first had experience in catching monsters in the palace, and he was named "Shenxiao Baoguo Propaganda Master" by him.In the eleventh year of Jiajing (1532), the emperor, who had been ill for a long time, had a turn for the better and thought it was due to Tao Zhongwen's prayers, so he was granted the title of Shaobao and then Shaofu. In the 23rd year of Jiajing ( 1545), and made him a young teacher.Shaobao, Shaofu, and Shaoshi are called "Three Gus". Although they are all honorary titles, they are also first-rank high positions. of this title.Now, Tao Zhongwen, as a mere Taoist priest, has become the "three orphans" all by himself.In the twenty-ninth year of Jiajing (1550), he was named Gong Chengbo again.At this point, the Taoist priest has reached the pinnacle of civil and martial arts, and began to rely on his favor to interfere in the government.He said to the emperor, "The two dragons will not meet each other", so the emperor did not appoint a prince for more than 20 years after the death of the prince, and never refused to see his two sons, King Yu and King Jing.Even when King Yu gave birth to a son, he refused to see his grandson and never named him.Tao Zhongwen also colluded with Yan Song, a cabinet scholar.When someone impeached Yan Song, he slandered the emperor and said that the person was taking private revenge. As a result, the person who submitted the letter was imprisoned and dismissed by the emperor.In the thirty-ninth year of Jiajing (1560), this immortal also died.The emperor was very sad and asked the ministers to discuss the posthumous title for him. The ministers gave him the posthumous title of "Rongkang".

The emperor pursued Taoism wantonly, and quite a number of officials fell in love with him and used it as a promotion rank.Taoist priests have to write "Qing Ci" when doing Buddhist rituals, and burn them to God when they "make offerings".This kind of "Qing Ci" has no real content, but only requires neat form and gorgeous and auspicious words.The more famous examples are "Luoshui Xuangui first offered auspiciousness, the number of yin is nine, the number of yang is nine, and the number of ninety-nine and eighty-one is the same as the number. , six males, six females, six six thirty-six, the sound is heard in the sky, the emperor of Jiajing was born, and his life is boundless." It can be seen that although this kind of thing is empty, it is purely flattering, but it also requires strong writing skills, Taoist priests They are not well written, so they are generally written by "ci officials".Many cabinet ministers in Ming Shizong's period entered here, known as the "Prime Minister of Qing Ci", the most famous of which was Yan Song.

Yan Song is a well-known treacherous official, but he is also very talented.Even the leader of the literary world at that time, Wang Shizhen, who had revenge on him for killing his father, had to praise his poems and essays.His handwriting is also good, and the famous "Liubiju" signboard in Beijing comes from his handwriting.Such a character is naturally the best candidate to write Qingci, and Yan Song won the favor of Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty, and he also catered to the emperor's observance of Taoism.Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty once made Taoist-style fragrant leaf crowns, rewarded the cabinet ministers, and asked them to wear them to court.Chief Assistant Xia Yan felt that this was not a formal court dress and was not suitable for courtiers to wear, so he refused to wear it; Yan Song not only put it on immediately, but also put a light gauze on the outside to show piety.Emperor Sejong often watched Taoist priests make alchemy. After a long time, he didn't feel itchy, so he started to practice himself, and often gave the "results" to his ministers to take.The ministers didn't want to take their lives as a joke, so naturally they didn't dare to eat it.Yan Song ate it every time, and reported his experience to the emperor.In this way, the emperor would naturally be satisfied with such a confidant courtier, and later let him replace Xia Yan as the chief assistant.Moreover, Yan Song is also very good at trying to figure out the emperor's psychology, flattering never feels nasty, and it is always just right.However, he was over sixty years old when he became the chief assistant, and his energy was a bit low after all, but he had a son Yan Shifan. The emperor took firm control.So he formed a party to exercise power, embezzled and accepted bribes, and became arrogant.The officials "were more afraid of Song than Your Majesty", "the world knows that there is Song, but they don't know that there is Your Majesty".The prosperity of power is like the sky.

However, Yan Song didn't expect that he started out by following Taoism, but it was also a Taoist's dictum that overthrew him in the end.