Chapter 37 Postscript: A sentimental wind blows thousands of miles away, and the tide returns ruthlessly
What kind of time and space a person will be born in, he has no right to choose at all; after birth, no matter whether he is satisfied or not, he can only accept it.
For ordinary people, most of the time in the process of growing up is spent on understanding the environment in which they live, learning to adapt to the environment, and then spending their whole life in the existing environment, with nothing to do and mediocrity.
But not so for a special few.
Dissatisfied with the existing environment, disappointed with the era in which you live, so you have the idea of transforming the era, and then pursue this ideal throughout your life, and make unremitting efforts to this ideal—this is the immortality in history. people.
They also grew up in the dark age and difficult environment, and they also have the ambition to transform the era and create the future, but the methods used by Nurhachi and Zhang Juzheng are quite different.
Nurhachi started from scratch, built a world and a country with his bare hands; everything started from scratch, and he gathered sand into a tower.
The development of his life career is to establish a new dynasty to replace the old and decayed dynasty; no matter in terms of personal positioning or historical evaluation, he is an out-and-out pioneer.
But Zhang Juzheng is not.
Born in the family of intellectuals in the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Juzheng was destined to develop in his life without the possibility of "Nurhachi style" and without the possibility of becoming a pioneer.
That's because he is a citizen of the Ming Dynasty—the Ming Dynasty, which has a history of two hundred years since its founding, has a set of "conventions", "norms" and "systems" that have been in place for many years, controlling the thoughts and ideas of every citizen. Behavior; as one of the 100 million people of the Ming Dynasty, of course, he had a fixed track waiting for him to walk step by step since he was born, and he was not allowed to get off the track.
So, he walked the same path as every intellectual in the country: study, and then take the imperial examination.
In the twenty-sixth year of Jiajing Emperor Shizong of Ming Dynasty (AD 1547), he passed the Jinshi examination. At the age of twenty-three this year, his grade was the second best. He was selected as a scholar of the Imperial Academy and served as a political trainee. As a student, during the three-year period of leaving the library, I learned to apply the theories in books to actual political affairs.
Before he became a Jinshi, there was an episode that had a great impact on his life:
Because of his clever nature, he entered school at the age of five and won the reputation of a "child prodigy" with an unforgettable memory.At the age of 12, he went to Jingzhou Prefecture to "examine for talents". Li Shiao, the prefect of Jingzhou, and Tian Xu, the Xuezheng of Huguang, posed questions to test him face to face. scholar.
In the second year, he went to the township examination to "juren" and his grades were very good. He was highly praised by Huguang inspector Chen Shu. However, Gu Lin, governor of Huguang, has a higher level of views and practices.
Gu Lin is a far-sighted and well-educated person. He believes that it takes a long time for gifted children to develop from their own unique ingenuity to great wisdom, and then they can grow into the pillars of the country; Zhang Juzheng If he is a great talent, after proper consideration, his future development is limitless; however, if he is allowed to win the exam at the young age of thirteen, he will be easily proud and complacent, which will affect his growth instead; Moreover, no matter how well a thirteen-year-old child reads books and scores higher than others in exams, he is still a child after all. His experience and maturity of mind cannot be compared with adults; Work hard and wait until he is a little older in the next subject before admitting him.
As a result, Zhang Juzheng "failed to Sun Shan" in this subject; however, Gu Lin often encouraged him to work hard in private, and promised him with "national equipment"; I gave him my rhinoceros belt, and I hoped that intellectuals should have lofty aspirations and ideals, to be a pillar of the country like the ancient sage Yi Yin, and not just want to "become famous all over the world". To win the first prize in the examination room, to show off the limelight.
These words of expectation penetrated deeply into the depths of his heart and became the goal of his life.
However, ideals and aspirations exist in the heart, and it is not easy to realize and accomplish them. Even if he was selected as a Jinshi, he did not get any chance to display them. He was a good scholar in the Imperial Academy, and what he saw every day was that he was full of diseases. The government of the country wants to improve, but it is powerless.
Ming Shizong Zhu Houcong was an incompetent emperor. As early as the beginning of his accession to the throne, because of the issue of posthumously bestowing on his biological father's honorary title, there was a "big ceremony discussion" incident, and more than a hundred ministers died as a court staff; He began to favor Zhang Cong, who catered to his wishes in the "Great Rites", and appointed him as a cabinet scholar; Zhang, the two factions are fighting each other, and of course the government is in chaos.
However, Zhu Houcong didn't care about these things. He was fascinated by Taoism. Since the eighteenth year of Jiajing, he has ignored things and played Taoist ceremonies in the palace all day long. A lot of money made an imperial palace look like a Taoist temple; the ministers who had the courage to go up and persuade were all imprisoned by the imperial staff, and the decent people who were wise and safe resigned and returned to their hometowns. As a result, there were fewer and fewer good people in the court, surrounding the emperor There are only a group of treacherous villains left.
In the 21st year of Jiajing, the "Renyin Palace Incident" occurred in the palace - this was a major murder case. Several court ladies headed by Yang Jinying tried to strangle Zhu Houcong to death while he was sleeping in the Qianqing Palace. Knowing the news, he rushed to rescue him; afterwards, all the court ladies involved in the case were executed, and Zhu Houcong did not dare to live in the Qianqing Palace anymore, so he simply moved out of the Forbidden City and moved into Xiyuan.
He declared that he was no longer a man of the world, so he didn't care about world affairs, but only practiced alchemy in Xiyuan, hoping to live forever-in this way, all the government was in the hands of his favorite courtiers.
And he has a ridiculous standard for "selecting" courtiers: because he believes in Taoism, he has to submit a table to the Jade Emperor in the sky from time to time. His favor and reuse.
Zhang Cong, an ordinary person, controlled the cabinet for seven or eight years by first discussing the incident with "great rites" and then by being good at writing Qingci; in the fifteenth year of Jiajing, Xia Yan entered the cabinet and replaced Zhang after a fierce political struggle. Cong Group; then, Yan Song joined the cabinet, and the court was replaced by Yan and Xia's secret fight.
In terms of national defense, Alda in the north has brought a serious threat, and Japanese pirates are rampant along the southeast coast; the private economy has been depressed because of these political and national defense problems. Sixteen years—the year when Zhang Juzheng passed the Jinshi examination—the Ming Dynasty was heading for a dark period.
In the second year, Yan Song fought against Xia Yan and designed to kill him. Since then, Yan Song has monopolized the power, and the government has become even darker; two years later, I Da entered the bandits on a large scale and besieged the capital, causing the "Gengxu Change"... …
In such a dark age, Zhang Juzheng, full of ambitions, eagerly planned the blueprint of "reform and national salvation", but he could only bury it deep in his heart; swallowed him up.
After three years of disbanding, he was promoted to the editor of the Imperial Academy; but, facing the collapsed emperor and the power traitors in charge of the government, what power can a small editor of the Imperial Academy exert to reform the government?
Even his teacher Xu Jie, who joined the cabinet in the 31st year of Jiajing and became a university scholar, could only adopt the attitude of "being wise and protecting one's life" and Yan Songxu and slavish, doing nothing—a small editor who can what to do
Yang Jisheng, who was admitted to Jinshi in the same year as him, because of his upright and upright personality, Shangshu impeached Yan Song, but he was poisoned by Yan Song and lost his life. Although it is shocking"?
A strong sense of powerlessness filled his heart, and he simply claimed to be ill and resigned to return home.
Half an acre of bamboo, a room full of books, leisurely reading poems and writing articles, if this kind of life is lived by "Mr. Wuliu", it would be a happy life; but Zhang Juzheng is not a hermit like "Mr. Wuliu". He does not have a reclusive mind, a temperament of being out of the world, and the books he reads and the poems he writes are not works of reciting the wind and the moon. Developed the mind of a "political man", read books about the gains and losses of governance, the success and failure of the rise and fall of the past dynasties, what he thought about was the ups and downs and disadvantages, and what he paid attention to was the suffering of the people and border issues; Life is in the world, and he cannot abandon his established outlook on life.
Therefore, after some consideration, he chose the official career again: in the thirty-sixth year of Jiajing, he returned to the capital to serve as an official; After walking such a long distance on the road and making such a big circle, he is no longer a young man with no experience in the world; at the age of thirty-three, his mind began to mature, and he gradually realized Xu Jie's "" Waiting for the opportunity", I also began to adopt this principle to serve as an official.
After the thirty-seventh year of Jiajing, the "opportunity" that Xu Jie was waiting for gradually approached; Yan Song's power began to decline, Xu Jie's status gradually improved, and the weight of the two in the court was reached after a period of time. In the 41st year of Jiajing four years later, Yan Song collapsed.
The development of this situation is of course beneficial to Zhang Juzheng, who is a disciple of Xu Jie. His political life has begun to dawn, and his future is full of hope.
In the 43rd year of Jiajing period, in addition to being promoted to Youchunfang Yude, Zhang Juzheng was also elected as a lecturer at Yudi Ri; His entry into the cabinet laid the foundation for him to join the cabinet in the future - the Shidu bachelor of the Imperial Academy and the lecturer of the East Palace are themselves candidates for the succession of the "big scholar", and the Yu mansion of Shishang laid a solid foundation for his relationship with King Yu. Base.
In the forty-fifth year of Jiajing, Zhu Houcong became an immortal because of taking too much elixir. Yu Wang Zhu Zaihou took over the throne, with the reign name Longqing and the temple name Muzong.
Zhang Juzheng's opportunity came, Xu Jie became the first assistant, and he was promoted all the way; in February of the second year of Longqing, he was promoted to the left servant of the official department and the Dongge University scholar, and was elected to the cabinet to participate in secret affairs. The highest center of power in the country; however, when he first entered the cabinet, the time to truly display his ambitions has not yet matured, and the power struggle among several other senior academicians in the cabinet is also in the ascendant. As a new cabinet member, he still only Able to adopt a "waiting" attitude to serve as an official.
Soon, the situation in the cabinet changed. Gao Gongdou left Xu Jie and took over the power alone; however, the long-standing ills of the court remained the same, and the dilemma of Zhang Juzheng, who was full of political ideals, could not realize his ambitions remained the same; he was in the cabinet , he saw the country's problems more profoundly and thoroughly than others, and than himself before. When he was so worried, he finally couldn't help but wrote a "Chen Liushi Shu" to the emperor, pointing out that since Jiajing All kinds of disadvantages and various ways of reform; it is a pity that these opinions were shelved because he did not have the real power to govern.
Fortunately, the emperor Zhu Zaihou had only been in office for six years before he died, and the crown prince Zhu Yijun succeeded to the throne; Zhang Juzheng, who was already 48 years old, already possessed a mature, capable mind and political skills. By chance, he joined forces with the great eunuch Feng Bao, gained the support of the empress dowager, expelled Gao Gong, the chief assistant, and served as the chief assistant of the cabinet himself, assisting the newly crowned emperor.
After Zhu Yijun came to the throne, he was named Wanli, and he was only ten years old at the time; of course, a ten-year-old child could not handle affairs and govern the country, so all the power was concentrated in the hands of Zhang Juzheng.
The first year of Wanli was 1573 AD, and it has been 26 years since 1547, when Zhang Juzheng passed the Jinshi examination. After 26 years of waiting, studying, and tempering, Zhang Juzheng finally realized his ambition. when.
Of course, since his role in his own life has long been established as a reformer rather than a revolutionist, during his ten years in power, he carried out drastic and vigorous reforms, including the administration of officials, tax laws, national defense, and governance. He rectified one by one, trying to leave a record of the "Wanli Reign" in the history of the Ming Dynasty.
It is very difficult to accomplish this attempt—reformers are different from revolutionaries who completely "introduce the old and bring forth the new", and must carry a lot of burdens and be subject to many constraints while working—as he himself said: "It seems difficult to create things. But it's really easy, the way to vibrate Gu seems easy but it's really difficult..."
The example he gave is a house. The house has collapsed, and building a new one requires materials and manpower. The work is hard work, but the person in charge of planning can do it with all his strength without being restrained.However, when the house was about to fall, there was no problem with the exterior, but the interior was already decayed. At this time, if the house is to be repaired, it must be constructed within the scope of the existing exterior, and it must be supported. It is very difficult to lift and stabilize the crumbling beams and columns, and then renovate the interior. What is even more frightening is that craftsmen who have a deep understanding of this house have already realized the urgency of the repair. Those who saw the "still intact" appearance not only did not agree, but also vigorously opposed the repair...
Fortunately, even though such complaints were made, they did not affect his ambition to engage in political reform in the slightest; from the day he served as chief assistant to the day he died of illness, it took ten years before and after, and he paid all the money. The spirit is used to realize ideals and aspirations, and has achieved success in many aspects; during his ten years in power, the history of the Ming Dynasty revealed a period of light in the dark. It was done well, and the common people had a good time rarely seen in the history of the Ming Dynasty.
As an intellectual who grew up in the dark age and took the world as his own responsibility, as a person who took political reform as his lifelong aspiration and pursued it relentlessly, Zhang Juzheng's lifelong journey of struggle has shown his life value which is different from ordinary people, When his name is written into history, he is a page of light.
Bad luck began to befall Zhang Juzheng half a year after his death.
In 1582 AD, he died of illness. Soon after, the emperor's attitude changed, and officials attacked him one after another. Officials who had been suppressed by him in the past launched revenge one after another. The person who was used was dismissed, and then his home was ransacked, and his family was exiled and exiled into the army; the eldest son Zhang Jingxiu committed suicide because he could not stand the torture of "recovering stolen goods", and the third son Maoxiu committed suicide three times. Facts: His great authority, great accomplishments, and misfortune after his death are rare in the entire history of the Ming Dynasty.
Of course, there must be a reason for things to happen. The misfortune behind him is definitely not without reason, and some of them are even the evil causes he planted himself.
As an outstanding politician, Zhang Juzheng's personal political ideals have reached a perfect state. In addition, in a dark age, reforms are already an urgent matter. Therefore, once he seized power, he resorted to many "thunderbolt methods." ", he laid down a lot of strong medicines against the long-standing disadvantages, and implemented his reform measures with a strong attitude; in this way, although he received immediate administrative efficiency, it also left a lot of sequelae; for example, the "rectification of officials" he promoted , he strictly required officials to be honest, diligent, efficient, and law-abiding, so he established a set of assessment methods to supervise; in this way, although political affairs have been greatly improved, administrative efficiency has been greatly improved, and the people have benefited a lot, but As a result, the phenomenon of "officials are not living well", middle and lower-level officials either complained, or "took chicken feathers as arrows" to intensify their demands to improve efficiency; therefore, most officials selfishly opposed his proposal. Reforms, which he dared not express during his lifetime, came out one after another after his death, turning into speeches attacking him, and his set of reform plans, which were originally good laws and good intentions, were discarded.
However, with lofty political ideals, he has gradually become a perfectionist in disguise after gaining power, and his requirements for others and the standards of review are higher than average; his own ability is strong, and his subordinates who follow him must be a person A person who is capable enough to cooperate with him, and who only obeys his orders—where in the world can he find such an ideal subordinate?Zhang Siwei, who succeeded him as chief assistant after his death, was often criticized for not doing things according to his wishes, and he endured it until his death before launching revenge.
In order to realize his lofty political ideals and aspirations, it is of course understandable for him to use some political means to make the work go smoothly. However, the resulting sequelae cannot be regarded as serious.
"Playing with power" is rejected and even shameless in the traditional Chinese scholars' outlook on life with "nobleness"; This caused him to lose the recognition of some intellectuals; not to mention the later authoritarian style of concentrating power on himself and excluding dissidents.
When his father passed away, he might as well go back to his hometown to live in mourning, but stayed in the court to serve as an official in the name of "taking love", which aroused opposition from a group of people who advocated the maintenance of ethics and morality; This incident made most people who regard filial piety as a part of their outlook on life have a great dislike for him; and this "uncriticizable authoritarian politics", coupled with the young genes of Emperor Wanli, It made him fall into the "no king, no father" saying.
He is subjective, conceited, and eager to seek good things—all kinds of starting points for "serving the country and the people" have changed into unbearable pressure for others, and he has a strong nature. A vicious circle unfolded.
And the most serious blow was the emperor Zhu Yijun's attitude and psychological change towards him...
Zhu Yijun was established as the crown prince at the age of six, and Zhang Juzheng was in charge of all matters related to his enlightenment and education; all elementary school students were in awe of their teachers, and the crown prince was no exception; four years later, Zhu Yijun became emperor, He is still a primary school student of Zhang Juzheng, and he is still in awe of his teacher. Not only is the state affairs and political power handed over to the teacher, but also the homework taught by the teacher is done every day with trepidation.
For Zhang Juzheng, who was once a "child prodigy" and a highly idealist, the immature Zhu Yijun was his only hope - after waiting for twenty-six years for the chance to govern, he How can you not go all out?The achievement of creating the "Wanli Rule" is his biggest dream in his life!Therefore, he placed high hopes on himself, a primary school student of the emperor, and tried his best to give the most complete and strict education. He learned eighty-one good deeds and thirty-six evil deeds of the emperors from Yao and Shun to Tang and Song Dynasties, and personally taught and explained them—all these painstaking efforts are nothing more than the hope that a primary school student who has been trained by himself will grow up to do good deeds. A good emperor.
However, he never seems to have asked himself whether an outstanding politician is also an outstanding educator?
Facts later proved that his efforts in children's education failed completely; the reason is that the educational methods he used were fundamentally wrong, and he ignored children's psychology and human nature.
Under the education, supervision, control, and expectations of a strict teacher like him, and the education, supervision, control, and expectations of his strict mother, Zhu Yijun, Zhu Yijun was strictly controlled; besides reading books, he still read books every day, and the content he read was boring classics and history; At a young age, he accepted the emperor's education like a robot, and his words, deeds, hobbies, and hobbies should imitate Yao, Shun, Yu Tang and other ancient sages and emperors. The power to rebound.
The little emperor will eventually grow up one day, and on this day, of course, he will not be reconciled to being educated and controlled so harshly and inhumanly; moreover, there is an immediate contradiction in the ownership of the political power.
Teenagers who are not too young always think that they are adults, and they are mature enough to be independent, let alone a person who is an emperor?Who doesn't want to be in charge of the regime in charge of the whole country?
The emperor, who thinks he is an adult, of course wants to "rule in person", so how complicated is he in his heart about Zhang Juzheng, who is actually the "regent"?
The main line of historical development is nothing more than two. The first line is politics, and the first line is human nature. Zhang Juzheng failed to reconcile the two.
However, history is holistic, and it is not developed only for Zhang Juzheng's personal experience; Zhang Juzheng's efforts during his lifetime were certainly to turn the tide in a dark age, so that an empire that had been rapidly declining had been recuperated and accumulated. He used some strength to prolong his life; however, the various sequelae after his death indirectly led to the demise of the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Yijun suffered from mental illness due to his improper education, and soon became a faint king, hiding in the palace all day long, enjoying wine, beauty and life insurance, and was not a member of the court for thirty years; One is not as good as the other, all the reform measures he implemented were put on the shelf, and the political style was corrupted again - sixty-two years after his death, in 1644 AD, the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Youjian, was trapped in Beijing due to exile And hanged himself in Meishan, and the Ming Dynasty changed hands.
Like many controversial historical figures, Zhang Juzheng's life is difficult to determine even if the coffin is covered; Hundreds of years later, this is still the case.
And no matter what the scholars are arguing about, whether it is opinions or emotions, academic research or personal hero worship, for Zhang Juzheng, whose tomb has already been arched, all these praises and criticisms are irrelevant; The greatest effort is in pursuit of the goals and ideals he has established himself. From the perspective of "struggling outlook on life", he is already a finisher.
I often think that the first class of people in the world grow up in a dilapidated and corrupt era but can not be overthrown by his era, but instead create a new era; The pace slows down, and regardless of the success rate, regardless of personal efforts, never discouraged, never desperate, uphold the spirit and attitude of "knowing what can't be done" and "doing what is up to me", and never slacking off in a rebellious environment No matter whether he succeeds or fails in the end, such a person is an admirable hero.
Zhang Juzheng is the second-class person. He chose to turn the tide as his mission, and he fought for this mission all his life. He is an admirable hero.
And history is magnificent and turbulent; history not only records individuals, but also records the times; the history of the Ming Dynasty is a record of failures, but in that era of failures, there have been many people who have worked hard all their lives The heroes who tried to turn the tide radiated the light of the value of life and illuminated the dark age in which they lived, so that the glory of life would not be interrupted by the darkness of the times, making the history of the sixteenth century undeniable. All humanity has lost faith.
But what about the twentieth century, which has entered the countdown?
Compared with the sixteenth century, the history of the twentieth century is more magnificent and more turbulent; and we are writing history—I believe that in our era, there will also be heroes who try to turn the tide.
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