Chapter 70 Dedicated to cultivating the Tao and finally "dissolving the corpse into a fairy"

Since experiencing the "Renyin Palace Change", the emperor who survived the catastrophe believed more and more that it was the result of the blessing of the gods.He left Da Nei again, moved to Xiyuan, and became more indulging in Taoist activities, and the important affairs of the court were controlled by Yan Song.However, Sejong was very observant. Although he didn't go to the court, he liked to spy on the every move of the ministers in the court, and he was quite suspicious of them.Although Yan Song is his favorite minister, he would beat him up from time to time.Once, Yan Song, the first assistant, and Xiong Jia, the official secretary, were called to Xiyuan.The emperor said to the two: "I got an upper couplet: 'Ge Lao's heart is as high as a pavilion', you come to the second couplet." Yan Song's "heart is high" here clearly means that he has a heart of disobedience.The two were so frightened to death that they fell on the ground and dared not speak.The emperor said: "If you can't do it right, I will do it for you: 'Heavenly officials are as bold as the sky'." The Minister of the Ministry of Officials was also called "Tianguan", so the two were even more frightened and fell on the ground I can't even get up.

In fact, Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty was not ignorant of Yan Song's behavior of exercising power and corruption outside, but he was very confident and felt that Yan Song's actions would never escape his control.But the emperor thought he was smart, and Yan Song just used it to eliminate dissidents.If he wanted to help a person, he would first slander and then explain in a tactful way, in order to impress the emperor's unbearable heart.If he wants to frame a person, he first praises his benefits, and then hides it in a small way, so as to offend the emperor's taboo, which will definitely make the emperor furious and personally issue an order to deal with it.Therefore, he did not leave traces of harming others, and many people were crushed to death by him.Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty often wrote notes and letters to his ministers in a very obscure language, which most people could not understand. Only Yan Shifan, the son of Yan Song, could always understand at a glance. Every time he replied, every sentence mentioned the emperor. heart.He held power together with his father, known as the "big prime minister" and "little prime minister".

However, after Yan Song had monopolized power for twenty years, the emperor gradually began to get tired of him.At this time, Yan Song was already an old man in his seventies or eighties, and the Qingci he gave to the emperor was gradually not as literary as before, which made the emperor very dissatisfied.Coupled with the death of Yan Song's wife, his son Yan Shifan had to keep his filial piety at home.This Yan Shifan was originally a lustful person with countless concubines. Even if he spit, he would need thirty or forty beautiful concubines to lie naked in front of the bed, with his white jade-like neck raised, and his bright red cherry blossoms stretched out. The mouth is used as a spittoon, known as the "meat spit pot".Now that Ding You is at home, he is even more busy with prostitution with beautiful women day and night, and he is so busy that he doesn't even bother to reply to the emperor's imperial letter.Yan Song had no choice but to write the play and answer by himself, but he often spoke too much, and the preface did not match the latter, and the emperor was even more dissatisfied with this.

At this time, Xu Jie, a scholar who had been planning to overthrow Yan Song, saw the opportunity and secretly instructed Lan Daoxing, a Taoist priest most trusted by the emperor, to do things for the emperor when he was supporting the spirit, showing "Fen Yi (Fen Yi) Yan Song is Jiangxi Fenyiren) father and son, treacherous and powerful".The emperor always believed in these "immortals" the most, so he asked: "Why didn't God kill him?" The old Taoist falsely said: "Let the emperor rectify the law." idea.Censor Censor Zou Yinglong moved upon hearing the news, and Shangshu impeached Yan Song.The emperor also showed his "sage" in a smooth manner, beheading Yan Shifan, Yan Song cut his job for the people, copied all his family property, and later died of poverty and illness.The powerful Yan family and his son finally fell from power.

The properties copied from Yan Song’s family were later compiled into a book called “Tian Shui Bing Shan Lu”, which is said to be not all of the property, but only one-third of it.But there are a lot of beautiful things in it, from the gold and silver mountains in the underground warehouse to the thousands of hairpins of the concubine, not to mention the residential farms, silk and satin, calligraphy and paintings of famous artists... It is already extremely spectacular and amazing.The ministers trusted by the emperor were so greedy, which shows how corrupt the government at that time was. Although Yan Song, a corrupt official, was eliminated, the government did not improve much.The Ming Dynasty during Sejong's time was already in danger, with corrupt officials and poor people's livelihood. Even on the border, there were Mongolian Alta in the north and Japanese pirates in the south. It was very uneasy.But how could the emperor, who was hiding in the deep palace and making alchemy wantonly, take these things to heart. He still felt so good about himself, thinking that he was blessed by gods and that he was an immortal lord.The ministers also knew that he was a taboo, and if they offended him, they would be killed, so no one dared to write a letter to criticize him, which further contributed to the emperor's pride.Therefore, the monarch and ministers just mixed together like this, which is quite peaceful.

However, one day, someone wrote a letter to scold the emperor. This person was the famous "Hai Qingtian" Hai Rui. In February of the forty-fifth year of Jiajing (1566), Hai Rui, who was then the head of the Yunnan Department of the Ministry of Household Affairs, wrote a letter to the emperor "Speaking out the first thing in the world", sharply criticizing the emperor's behavior, accusing the emperor of "Cultivate fast and build sacrifices", "Lead incense to each other", "build palaces and roads", "purchase incense market rooms", and "single-mindedly cultivate the truth", resulting in "corrupt officials, people's livelihood, floods and droughts, and thieves flourishing".The emperor considered himself a sage, boasted himself as Yao and Shun, and called himself Yaozhai, but Hai Rui said that he was "far less than Emperor Wen of Han", far worse than Emperor Wen of Han.He also said that he never sees his two sons, which is weaker than father and son; that he slanders and kills his officials with suspicion, which is weaker than monarch and ministers; that he lives in Xiyuan and never returns to the palace, which is weaker than couples. "The emperor is not qualified at all, "people in the world have not been straight to your majesty for a long time", which has long caused dissatisfaction among the people in the world.What's more, Hai Rui also said that the common people were dissatisfied with the emperor, and mocked his reign name as "Jiajing, and his family is clean and has no money to use".

The emperor was superstitious, and he was very sensitive to auspicious prophecies. Now that Hai Rui actually used his year name to carry out "vicious attacks", he also said that he is not king, father is not father, and husband is not husband. It was so messed up that it wasn't a thing, and immediately lost its temper, threw Hai Rui's memorabilia on the ground, and shouted to the left and right: "Hurry up and catch this guy, don't tell him to run away." At this time, an eunuch beside him said: "This man has always been a fool. I heard that he knew that he would inevitably die when he wrote the memorial. He has already bought a coffin, bid farewell to his wife and children, and is waiting to be sentenced at the court. All the servants in his family have run away. No, this man won't run away."

The emperor was taken aback when he heard this, he had never seen such a courtier before, so he picked up Hai Rui's memorial again, and read it carefully, while reading, he sighed: "This man wants to be Bigan, hum, I am not yet King Zhou of Shang." In fact, Ming Shizong was also very conflicted.Hai Rui's memorial was "retained", and the emperor was sulking all by himself, angrily calling Hai Rui an animal, and often beating the maids around him for trivial matters.The court ladies complained secretly: "He was scolded by Hai Rui, so he took it out on us." But in his heart he had to admit that Hai Rui was right.Hai Rui was quickly arrested, but how to convict him made the trial officials very troubled. After searching the entire "Da Ming Law", they couldn't find a rule about "subjects scolding the emperor". Perhaps Zhu Yuanzhang was formulating At the time of the law, they never thought that there would be ministers so bold, so they had to scold their parents like their sons, convict them of "disrespect", sentence them to death, and report the trial results to the emperor.The emperor has always been tyrannical to his ministers, and countless ministers were killed by him for writing letters, but now he is having difficulty making a decision, and he has not given an approval for a long time.Hai Rui also survived the catastrophe, and was finally released from prison after the emperor's death.

Although scolded mercilessly, Hai Rui still had hope for the emperor.At the end of the memorial to the emperor, he once said that it is not very difficult to bring order to the world, "it's just a matter of your majesty's cheering up", and it can be done as long as you "repent and repent".However, for the emperor, it was too late even if he could repent. Taking the "Golden Elixir" for many years had already caused irreversible damage to his body. The emperor who devoted himself to cultivating the Tao finally "turned his corpse into a fairy", and his merits and virtues were consummated.His son Zhu Zaihou, king of Yu, came to the throne as Ming Muzong.