In April of the sixteenth year of Zhengde (1521), Zhu Houcong came to the capital. Before that, he lived in Anlu in Huguang (Zhongxiang, Hubei). The reason why this royal family member lived in that small place was not because of modesty and prudence. In fact, there was no way to do it, because his father, King Xingxian, lived in that small place. It was sealed there.As the son of a vassal king, he has no target to stay in Beijing. The situation is different now. He has learned that his cousin Zhu Houzhao has died, and he will have the honor to become the new ruler of the world. Fifteen-year-old Zhu Houcong looked up at the majestic capital city wall in the distance, thinking that he was about to become the master of this place, and his blood rushed into his brain with excitement.

But before he was so excited that tears filled his eyes, a group of officials greeted him. To his surprise, these people were not just here to greet him. "His Royal Highness (not enthroned at this time) please enter the palace from Dong'an Gate and stay in Wenhua Hall temporarily." For ordinary people, it seems that they will not be too sensitive to this request. As long as they can reach the great capital, do they still care which way?As for the residence, anyway, the house is yours when you become the emperor, and you can live anywhere. But Zhu Houcong was unwilling, he was not only unwilling, but even showed extreme anger.

Because a royal child like him knows very well what this behavior means-the Crown Prince ascends the throne. According to the regulations of the Ming Dynasty, this route was specially designed for the crown prince, and the emperor should not take this route. "I want to go through Daming Gate and enter Fengtian Palace!" This is the real emperor's route to Beijing. However, the officials disagreed, and they didn't say much, they just stuck there and didn't leave.From their point of view, this fifteen-year-old boy would obediently submit and listen to them. It's a pity that Zhu Houcong is not a person who is easy to fool.

This fifteen-year-old boy has a kind of talent. Yang Tinghe decided to support him to become a new generation of emperor and make him stand out because of his talent. His talent is called youthful maturity. Although he is only fifteen years old, he is scheming and has a deep city. Teenagers are just the time for children to grow their bodies, but this man obviously only has eyes. He took out Zhu Houzhao's will and told them that he inherited the emperor's throne according to legal documents, not to be someone's son. After completing the legal education, Zhu Houcong carried out the butcher knife education again: If you dare to block the way again, you will be the first to clean up after you become the throne in the future.

However, the stubbornness of the ministers was beyond his imagination. They put on an air of a dead pig not afraid of boiling water. Seeing that, if you, Zhu Houcong, want to enter the Daming Gate, you have to step over my corpse. "Okay, I won't go to Daming Gate." Zhu Houcong sighed.It looked like he was ready to give in. But before the ministers had time to celebrate the victory, they heard a sentence that shocked them: "I'm not going to Dong'anmen, I'm going back to Anlu." The following is the time of collective silence. Under Zhu Houcong's provocative eyes, the ministers were subdued. They looked at the slightly immature boy in front of them and fell into an unprecedented panic.

It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, since I'm not allowed to enter the Daming Gate, I won't even be the emperor, you can figure it out yourself. There is an old saying that it is better to have broken pieces of jade than complete tiles, but the man in front of me is neither jade nor tiles, but a brick.The officials blocking the way discussed for a while, then changed their respectful attitude, and honestly welcomed Zhu Houcong in. You must show your fangs to effectively control everyone, even the emperor.This was the first lesson the young Zhu Houcong learned. The news that the emperor entered the palace from the Daming Gate soon spread to Yang Tinghe, but he didn't pay attention to it. In his opinion, it was just a child playing with his temper, and it was no big deal.

Having said that, he didn't relax his vigilance. He had to teach this kid a lesson before he could fully understand who was in charge of this place. Soon, he hatched a plan. Zhu Houcong entered the palace, but he didn't feel uncomfortable at all. He looked at the resplendent palace and sat down on his cousin's seat very firmly. This place should belong to me, I am the master here. From this day on, Emperor Jiajing, the wisest and most thoughtful emperor in the history of the Ming Dynasty, began his 40-year-long rule. What awaits him ahead will be countless trials and tortures.

On the sixth day after he ascended the throne, the first attack began. On this day, Mao Cheng, Minister of the Ministry of Rites, suddenly wrote a letter, citing scriptures and allusions in the memoir, making a long speech, listing the deeds of many people, and reading it for a long time.Generally speaking, this kind of thing would make the emperor doze off, but this time an exception happened. Zhu Houcong had been listening carefully from the first word, and the more he listened to it, the more ugly his face became. Finally, he stood up with veins popping out of his neck.Staring at Mao Cheng angrily, wishing to tear him apart.

why?It really can't be blamed on Mr. Zhu Houcong's lack of demeanor. If it were you, after hearing what Mao Cheng said, you probably would have used the bricks to pat Mr. Mao long ago. It all happened in Mao Cheng's memorial. His document is complex, but its meaning is simple: Your Majesty, we think you can no longer call your father (King Xingxian) your father. According to ancient regulations, you should call him uncle (Huangshu Kao), and your mother can no longer be called mother. Called Aunt (Emperor Aunt).From now on, your father will be Emperor Xiaozong, just call him Daddy.

Finally, by the way, in order to ensure that you can change your title smoothly and avoid your worries, several of us agreed that if anyone among the ministers objects to this proposal, he can be classified as a treacherous person and should be decapitated (when beheaded) ). Although Zhu Houcong was young, he studied very early. He understood the meaning of this article very well, but he was also very puzzled: what happened?To become an emperor without even having a father?I can't recognize my father, who is my father, you have to designate me one?Can this kind of thing be apportioned forcibly?

He roared: "Can parents change things like this?" The emperor was angry, and the consequences were not serious.Because Mr. Yang Tinghe's answer is yes. Zhu Houcong is not a stupid person. When he saw that the ministers in the court and China supported Yang Tinghe in unison, he already knew the horror of this behind-the-scenes figure. So the fifteen-year-old boy lost the dignity of the emperor, called the eunuchs around him, and asked him to invite Yang Tinghe into the palace. Zhu Houcong asked Yang Tinghe to enter the palace, but instead of giving orders in the main hall, he arranged for him to enter the side hall and respectfully invited him to drink tea.To put it bluntly, he came to negotiate with Yang Tinghe. So the young emperor put down his emperor airs, flattered Yang Tinghe in a flattering tone to his superiors, praised his great achievements, and finally expressed embarrassingly that his parents really needed a title, and hoped that Mr. Yang could fulfill it. But this sixty-three-year-old old man who has gone through four dynasties doesn't give him any face.He listened carefully to His Majesty's opinion and expressed that he would seriously consider it, but afterwards he was like a meat bun beating a dog - he never returned. In desperation, Zhu Houcong had no choice but to play a game of official documents with Yang Tinghe. He issued the documents expressing his ideas and asked the cabinet to implement them. However, this so-called imperial decree was actually returned by Mr. Yang Tinghe, because according to the regulations of the Ming Dynasty, if the chief minister of the cabinet thought that the emperor's opinion was wrong, he could return the imperial edict. The historical name of this power is "refutation". Ordinary people can go to petition if they have a grievance and have nowhere to file a complaint. However, Mr. Zhu Houcong has no way out even this last resort, because his petition letter can only be handed over to himself. Is it true that you can't even have your father?The helpless Zhu Houcong finally realized that although he was the emperor, he was truly alone.In this palace, the title of emperor is not worth much even if it is sold by catty. If you want to be recognized and respected by everyone, you can only rely on strength. However, he has no strength, not only can't get support, he doesn't even have a theory to fight for his parents' status, and he is still far behind when it comes to looking through books to find legal articles. Seeing that his parental identity was about to be lost, the painful Zhu Houcong was helpless and helpless, but there was no other way, and when he was most desperate, a right person appeared at the right time and at the right place. Four years ago (the 12th year of Zhengde, 1499) in the capital. A person left the list place with his head downcast. The test results for this subject had just been posted here. After reading it over and over a dozen times, he finally confirmed that he failed the test again. Why do you say again? Because this is the seventh time he has failed the rankings. This man is named Zhang Cong. He has been a successful candidate for almost 20 years. Since then, he has entered Beijing every three years, but he has always failed to get a consolation prize. This time The failure also completely broke his patience and confidence. He didn't plan to continue the exam. Judging from the situation, maybe when his grandson got married, he would have to go to Beijing to take the exam with a walking stick. Then go to the Ministry of Officials to report. According to the government's regulations, juren can also be an official, even if the official is small, after all, it is good to have a reputation. However, just when he was about to step into the gate of the official department and become an alternate official, he met a person who changed his destiny. This person's surname is Xiao, and he was the supervisory censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate at that time. Apart from filing complaints, his censor also had a side job - fortune-telling, which is said to be very accurate, so Mr. Zhang Cong embraced a dead horse as a live horse doctor Enlightenment, ask him to make a fortune for himself. Xiao Yushi took out the posture of Mr. Jianghu, measured his characters and looked at his outfit, but fell silent. Zhang Cong was not in the mood to play hide-and-seek with him, and eagerly asked him the result. "Let's take the test again." This is not the answer Zhang Cong wanted. In the big iron pot of the imperial examination, he has already been confused. "As long as you take the exam again, you will definitely pass the exam!" Xiao Banxian guaranteed, but the more exciting thing is still below: "After you pass the exam, within a few years, you will definitely become rich and powerful, and you will become a prime minister in the cabinet!" Zhang Cong's eyes widened, and he looked at the miraculous Xiao Banxian: "Brother, your cowhide is too big!" Zhang Cong stared at Xiao Yushi dissatisfiedly, thinking that the other party was obviously making fun of him. He was going to end this ridiculous conversation and go to the Ministry of Officials to report again. However, Xiao Yushi pulled him back and said to him seriously: "Take it again, trust me, it's true." Zhang Cong hesitated. Although it would be embarrassing to fail again, he had already taken the exam for twenty years, and he didn't have to worry about having too much debt. At most, it would be another layer of skin on his face. After thinking about it, he decided to take the exam again. In the sixteenth year of Zhengde (1521), Zhang Cong, who participated in the eighth general examination, finally got his wish. He passed the exam. Although his ranking was not high (more than 70th in the second class), he finally won the Jinshi. However, the result of this test is really bad. He was not selected as a good scholar, so he was doomed to be unable to become Hanlin, and the practice at that time, if it was not Hanlin, it would be foolish to join the cabinet, not to mention Zhang Cong Xiandi was already forty-seven or eighty-eight At this age, he can only play cards, drink tea, and wait until he retires honorably. From this point of view, Xiao Banxian is still a big fool. Mr. Zhang Cong didn't have any hope. He was assigned to the Ministry of Rites, but he didn't get any job. It is estimated that the officials of the Ministry of Rites had no interest in this half-old man and only gave him the status of an intern. As long as people have nothing to do, they will start to think about it. Zhang Cong is a typical example. When he was extremely bored, he saw the "Research Report on the Name of Parents" written by Mr. Mao Cheng, and suddenly he was enlightened and woke up! He finally realized that Xiao Banxian might be right, that Shujishi and Hanlin could no longer be promoted, but it is still possible to become a prime minister! This is an excellent opportunity, and prosperity is just around the corner! But the risk is also great. Zhang Cong knows very well that his opponent is not only his immediate boss Mao Cheng, but the real enemy is Yang Tinghe, who has power over the world and is more powerful than the emperor.Offending him will definitely not end well. Therefore, in the imperial court at that time, the ministers would rather offend the emperor than Lord Yang.So many people know about this, but no one dares to talk too much. But Mr. Zhang Cong was an exception. His fame was just a chance, and it was almost the same as picking it up. Besides, after being awarded a Jinshi, his future was bleak, and he didn't even have a serious job.It's so bullying. Those who are barefoot are not afraid of those who wear shoes, whoever is afraid of whom, at worst, just pretend that I haven't passed the exam! Although Mr. Zhang Cong is not a good candidate, he also has a specialty - etiquette.He has a lot of experience with this set of ancient formalism, and at this moment, he is in the middle of his heart, burning the lights to fight at night, searching for information everywhere, and after a whole night of hard writing, a shocking masterpiece was born. Looking at this work of painstaking effort, his excitement was beyond words, and he hurriedly ran towards the palace with his bloodshot red eyes open.He knew that his fate was about to change. One of the most famous political events in the history of the Ming Dynasty, the "Great Etiquette" event kicked off. I won’t introduce the content of this document. This is a relatively boring article, and I guess everyone is not interested in reading it. In the article, Zhang Cong quoted classics and references, and only explained one point to Zhu Houcong—who do you want to recognize as your father? all will do. Zhu Houcong was so happy. He took Zhang Cong's memorial and shouted excitedly to the sky: "Finally I can recognize my father!" (My father and son are all married) Zhu Houcong was as excited as if he had been on steroids. He immediately summoned Yang Tinghe and showed him this article. In the eyes of the young emperor, Mr. Yang would succumb to this article. Yang Tinghe finished reading, but didn't speak, just started to sneer. Zhu Houcong asked, "What are you laughing at?" Yang Tinghe replied: "What kind of a person is this person? How can he speak for state affairs?!" After speaking, he put down the memorial, saluted and walked away.Only Zhu Houcong was left trembling with anger. Well, if this is the case, don't blame me for being rude! Zhu Houcong had a fit. He didn't care about the three seven twenty-one, and immediately wrote a hand letter, ordering the cabinet to write a document immediately, and made his parents emperor and queen. I am the emperor, can't this matter be done? The facts vividly told Zhu Houcong that the emperor could not do things if Mr. Yang Tinghe disagreed. The efficiency of the cabinet is very high, the response is very fast, and the affairs are very clean and neat. Yang Tinghe didn't even have a formal reply, so he sealed the letter and returned it to Zhu Houcong. What about the emperor?I am not afraid of you! Zhu Houcong was so angry that he never thought that the emperor would be so useless, and he was determined to fight Mr. Yang Tinghe to the end. The two sides fought very happily, you come and go, it is really lively, but God seems to think that it is not noisy enough, so he sent another fierce man to play, and he will never let it go until the world is turned upside down! The new player became the one who finally solved the problem, but this person was not an important official of the court, nor was he a general with military power, but just a middle-aged woman in her thirties.Of course, she is not an outsider, this heroine is Zhu Houcong's mother. The old adage that women are crueler than men couldn't have been more appropriate for this lady. The first mother originally planned to go to the capital to become the queen mother, but when she arrived in Tongzhou, she learned that not only could she not be the queen mother, but she would lose her son.The servants around him didn't know what to do and asked her for advice. "The car is suspended here, everyone don't go." So when do you leave? The attendants raised such questions, after all, the servants also have wives and children, so they can't always drag it. "Don't even think about it!" The first mother suddenly roared, "Go and tell the surname Yang (Mr. Yang Tinghe) that I will never enter Beijing until my name is determined!" This is the so-called shrew in the legend. Mr. Xingxian Wang (Zhu Houcong's father's title) married such a wife. Presumably, he should be quite familiar with the lion's roar, and the past few years have not been easy. Now that everyone is here, let's make a fuss! When Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houcong heard that his mother had arrived, he was immediately excited. He struck while the iron was hot and sent someone to tell Yang Tinghe directly that if you don't give my parents a title, my mother won't come, and I won't do it anymore. I would rather go back to Anlu Be a local rich man, not an emperor! Zhang Cong also saw the opportunity, and wrote another article on etiquette, asking Yang Tinghe to give him a name. All of a sudden, the three parties echoed each other from a distance, and there was a great storm coming, and they vowed not to give up. But they were not able to win in the end because their opponent was Yang Tinghe. You have experienced all the bloody storms, powerful officials and treacherous eunuchs have nothing to do, are you still afraid of your orphans and widows?Since I'm coming, let's play with you and let you see what a high level is! First of all, he suddenly took the initiative to visit Zhu Houcong and told him that the cabinet had decided to name his father and mother Emperor Xingxian and Xingxian respectively, which was considered an explanation. When Zhu Houcong was overjoyed, he quietly assigned Zhang Cong a job-the head of the Nanjing Criminal Department. The Nanjing Ministry of Criminal Justice is a place for the elderly. The meaning of this arrangement is very simple - you can go as far as you can, and if you dare to find trouble for nothing, you will be abolished. Finally, there is the shrew, who is not as easy to deal with as his son, and is not satisfied with the current title, so he insists on adding the word "Huang" to the title. Studying this kind of repeated word tricks really makes people feel like making a fuss over a trivial matter, but Yang Tinghe doesn't think it's a trivial matter, and he expresses his objection in a very simple way. If you want to add that word, then I, Yang Tinghe, will resign and go home. This trick has a long history and is often used by Western politicians today. Of course, Mr. Yang Tinghe doesn’t really want to resign. The court is full of his people. If he leaves, how will this mess be cleaned up?Who bought your emperor's account? Sure enough, as soon as this move was made, Zhu Houcong panicked. He had only been here for a few days, and the chief minister of the cabinet quit. Who will deal with the internal and external affairs? So Zhu Houcong decided to compromise. He gave up his idea and planned to surrender to Mr. Yang Tinghe. Of course, it was a fake surrender. This concludes the first round.Mr. Yang Tinghe won. Many people in modern times may think that this group of people is very boring. There is no need to fight for a few words. People who hold this point of view don't really understand politics. A great thick black school politician once used this sentence to reveal all the secrets hidden behind it: Opinion struggles are fake, direction struggles are fake, and only power struggles are real. They fought back and forth for one purpose - power. For thousands of years, countless people worked hard, tossing and tossing, and to put it bluntly, that's all. Zhang Cong went to Nanjing dejectedly. He understood that this was Yang Tinghe's punishment for him, but since it was his own choice, he had nothing to say. However, it was in Nanjing that he met another like-minded person. With the help of this person, he will realize his grand dream-to join the cabinet. This person's name is Gui E. Gui E is also a person who has no ambitions. He won the Jinshi very early. Unfortunately, this person's grades are poor, and he only got the top three in the exam. Knowing how to be a man, he offended his boss, was sent to the criminal department, and became a sixth-rank chief. When Zhang Cong talked with Gui E for the first time and talked about his personal tragic experience and unfortunate experience, Gui E had already decided that this colleague from the Ministry of Punishment would be his close comrade-in-arms for life. In Nanjing where no one pays attention and has nothing to do, Gui E and Zhang Cong spend their time in boredom, constantly complaining about their miserable life and complaining about their unfair fate, until one day, they clenched their fists and decided to ask The towering, majestic man attacks. But the problems before them were very practical. Zhang Cong was a second-class Jinshi, Gui E was a third-class Jinshi, and their opponent, Mr. Yang Tinghe, was a genius who was a 13-year-old Zhongjuren and a 20-year-old Hanlin.Zhang Cong and Gui E are the heads of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, the sixth-rank sesame officials, and Yang Tinghe is the number one person in the court and the chief assistant of the cabinet. Poor students against top students, petty officials against important ministers, they have no hope of winning. But God seemed destined to fulfill Xiao Banxian's prophecy, and he extended a helping hand to these two people who were fighting alone. Not long after, a man named Fang Xianfu appeared, and he stood by Zhang Congguie's side, looking for theoretical ammunition for them to fight Yang Tinghe. Afterwards, Huang Zongming, Huo Tao and others also joined Zhang Cong's attack group. There is no need to remember the names of these people. The reason why they are listed separately is because they have a common teacher——Wang Shouren. At this time, Mr. Wang Shouren was no longer in the court. After he was rectified by Yang Tinghe, he changed his career and became a teacher, teaching students.What needs to be explained is that although his students' participation in this political struggle was not inspired by him, the root cause did come from him. Since Mr. Wang Shouren's major is the study of mind, he has always advocated the liberation of human nature. People who study this course will usually meddle in the injustices, so they are liberated, liberated, and finally liberated to the emperor. Although Mr. Jiajing was the son of heaven, he was bullied by Mr. Yang Tinghe, an old fritter, and even his parents didn't recognize him. This thing was done very unethically. At that time, many people couldn't see it.They have money to contribute money, and they are powerful to contribute, providing a theoretical basis for overthrowing the domineering Yang Tinghe. From this we come to the first curse of the officialdom in the Ming Dynasty: no matter what, don't mess with Wang Shouren. But the magical power of Mr. Wang Shouren does not stop there. When he was alive, those who offended him would not end well. After his death, his spiritual power is still dazzling, and it has become the nightmare of countless treacherous villains. So, one day not long after, Zhang Cong found Gui E and hoped that he would do one thing - send a memorial to Yang Tinghe. Gui calyx is not dry. Although he can be regarded as an angry middle-aged man, he didn't dare to do such a burning thing, so he pointed the finger at Zhang Cong again: "It's too risky to do it yourself." Zhang Cong looked at him with confidence: "This is your chance to make a name for yourself. Don't worry, if you win this chance, we will definitely win!" Gui E waited with great interest for his reason for being so confident.Zhang Cong just smiled and didn't answer. Zhang Cong's self-confidence is indeed justified. He has the support of a heavyweight. This man is also our old friend. He is Mr. Yang Yiqing. Speaking of which, he can be regarded as a lingering ghost. He has been around for decades and brought down countless fierce people. Although he and Yang Tinghe were comrades in the beginning, and had a common revolutionary fighting friendship (against Liu Jin), but when things got to this point, he I also feel that Yang Tinghe has gone too far. Mr. Yang has always been a supporter of his relatives, so he turned his gun and became a behind-the-scenes supporter of Zhang Cong Group. Zhang Cong has never been so confident, and he never dreamed that this insignificant person like himself would receive such great support. Well, everything is in place, and the time to attack has come.