Chapter 6 Chapter 6 The Most Insidious Enemy

Jiajing seemed to have stopped, but the game of struggle among the ministers had just reached its climax. Xia Yan eliminated his biggest opponent, seized all the power, and everyone was under his control. This year was the 21st year of Jiajing (1542), and everything seemed perfect, but he never thought that the collapse would come at the most glorious moment. The person who destroyed his bright future is called Yan Song. Yan Song, with Weizhong characters, was born in the 16th year of Chenghua (1480) in Yuanzhou Prefecture, Jiangxi Province. Speaking of this person, he is really very famous. Since the Ming Dynasty, he has been constantly scolded and scolded repeatedly in various forms (written in books, compiled into plays), and finally won an honor Title - the first treacherous official in the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, before embarking on that road of no return, he was a brave, upright, principled person, and at that time, he was Xia Yan's friend. Like all tragedies, Yan Song's story also has a comic beginning. It should be said that Yan Song's luck is good. When he was born, although his family was not very rich, they were considered middle class.His father, Yan Huai, participated in the imperial examinations many times, and was defeated repeatedly. In the end, he couldn't fight anymore, so he changed his career to become a teacher. Lao Tzu's unfinished business is naturally to be completed by his son, and Yan Song, who was just born, began his study career.

Yan Song’s childhood education can be written as an enlightenment textbook. It is said that he learned to write at the age of three, and could recite the Four Books and Five Classics by the age of six. But these are just trivial things, and what happened two years later caused a real sensation. In this year, eight-year-old Yan Song was admitted to the county school as an outstanding student because of his good grades. It doesn't seem like a big deal, so let's list two other brothers for analogy, and you will know the mystery: Hai Rui, identity: Tong Sheng, was 28 years old at the time.

Fan Jin, identity: Tong Sheng, was in his fifties at the time. In fact, these two brothers are still young and promising. There are many children in their sixties and seventies who can't pass the county school. In comparison, Yan Song is really a child prodigy among child prodigies. In this way, Yan Song has been a child prodigy for eight years. In the eighth year of Hongzhi (1495), the sixteen-year-old Yan Song was about to take part in the provincial examination. He had packed his bags and was about to leave when his father died. This is really a sad thing. Generally, at such times, there will be a fixed script: a large group of relatives and friends will jump out and say something about not being sad, about performing at a normal level, comforting the ancestors, etc., and then the protagonist wipes away tears , looking up at the sky, clenching his fists as if he was bitter and bitter, and resolutely embarked on the way forward.

Yan Song's situation is roughly the same, but there is one difference - he didn't take the exam.It wasn't that he was too sad and didn't want to take the exam, but that he couldn't take the exam—according to the regulations of the Ming Dynasty, those whose father died had to stay at home for three years. The national policy cannot be violated, so Yan Song had to stay at home for three years. Three years later, he went to Nanchang with his father's last wish and full of ambition, and won the first place in one fell swoop, and was named on the gold list. Yan Song's results in the provincial examination are very good, so he is very confident in the second year's examination, but the facts have proved that local experience is often not effective when placed in the central government.After the test results came out, Yan Song, who had lost his name in Sun Shan, sighed and walked back.

It doesn't matter, I will definitely pass the exam next time! Three years later, he went to Beijing to take the second exam, and a few days later, he returned home with gifts from fellow villagers in the capital. Whether it's a child prodigy or a genius, if you don't pass the exam, you won't pass the exam. It's useless to say anything. Disappointed Yan Song did not give up, he was sure that he would succeed. So he took the exam for the third time, this time he no longer had any illusions, just passed the exam, as long as he passed the exam. But God made a joke with him, a kind joke.

God may think that Mr. Yan Song is talented and knowledgeable, so he has to entertain him, so after failing twice, Yan Song unexpectedly learned of his exam results - the second place in the second class. There are only three people in the first class (No. 1, No. 2, Tanhua), so the second in the second class is the fifth in the country. This result is really good, Yan Song was surprised and overjoyed, he thought that his fate would be completely changed. In the first year of Zhengde (1506), Yan Song was elected to the Imperial Academy and became a concubine. This year, he was 27 years old, young and talented, with a bright future and a bright future - a total of three years of bright time.

In the fourth year of Zhengde (1509), Yan Song received a bad news that his mother died. Yan Song is a very filial person. After his father died, his mother took pains to raise him and provided for him to study and take exams. The so-called son wants to support but his relatives are not around, it is really a tragedy in life. Any individual would be sad when encountering such a thing, but Yan Song seemed to be a bit too much. He was in pain day and night, and he was so sad that he almost died and survived after emergency rescue. This is not over yet, Yan Song, who was extremely sad, made another even more surprising decision, he wanted to resign and go home to live in seclusion.

This is an admirable choice. A young man with a bright future gave up his glory and wealth, and avoided the world of mortals, just to commemorate his mother who failed to repay his kindness.Twenty-seven-year-old Yan Song is a remarkable man. Yan Song returned to his hometown to live in seclusion, but the country did not forget him. The imperial court issued decrees many times, hoping that he would return to the court to serve the country. But Yan Song refused. He had already passed the guard period, but he still refused to enter the court, just because of another reason: "A traitor is in power, and I can't bear to be with him!"

The villains in his mouth are Qian Ning and Jiang Bin who were so popular back then. Yan Song has his own backbone: he would rather not be an official than join forces with villains! At that time, Yan Song was an upright person. But after ten years of seclusion, he finally agreed to someone's invitation and came out to be an official again.It's not that he backtracked, it's just that he couldn't refuse this person. This person is our old friend, Yang Tinghe, the chief assistant of the cabinet at that time. In Yan Song's view, Yang Tinghe is the pillar of the imperial court. In Yang Tinghe's view, Yan Song is a rare talent, and more importantly, in the examination ten years ago (1505 in the eighteenth year of Hongzhi), Yan Song's paper was selected. It was Mr. Yang Tinghe who praised him and became his teacher.

Mr. Yang can be regarded as a discerning person, because in the imperial examination seventeen years later (1523 in the second year of Jiajing), he also praised another new scholar, and concluded that this person must be a great talent, and then promoted him vigorously. It seems that this world is really small, because the lucky man's name is Xu Jie. In the eleventh year of Zhengde (1516), Yan Song came out again. Seniority ranking is a fine tradition in official circles. Under this guiding ideology, Yan Song's situation is not very good. The so-called "If you are a great talent, you have to reinvent the wheel." He advanced into the Imperial Academy, but only worked as an editor ( A low-level official of the Hanlin Academy), and nothing came out of it for more than a year. But life is always full of variables. In the third year of Zhengde (1518), Yan Song got an errand—delivering decrees. This is the legendary imperial envoy. Although it is a physical effort, it is not bad to be able to go to the place to show off, eat and drink, so Yan Song happily set out on the road. However, it turned out that this so-called imperial mission was actually a hard job. Yan Song fulfilled the mission very responsibly, and then rushed all the way back, but God didn't seem to have had enough, he sent Yan Song to the wrong place again at the wrong time. Specifically, the environment Mr. Yan Song was in was as follows: Time: June of the 14th year of Zhengde (1519) Specific location: Linjiang Prefecture, Jiangxi Province If it looks familiar, it means that your memory is not bad. At this time and here, besides Yan Song, there is another brother who is making a big fuss, and this is the great Mr. Wang Shouren. Yan Song's luck was really bad. He didn't go to so many places in the country, but he happened to catch up with King Ning's rebellion. If he was lucky, he might be able to meet Governor Wang who had just landed on a boat. But he didn't have the courage of governor Wang, nor did he have a flag to command arrows, so he had to hide. However, there is a time limit for avoiding the chaos of war. After the battle, you can do whatever you want. However, Yan Song may have been stimulated by something during the chaos of war. He hid relatively thoroughly and did not go to the capital. I took a vacation and went straight back to my hometown. Yan Song's behavior today, at a small level, is fear of trouble, and at a high level, it is dereliction of duty. This matter should be placed in Zhu Yuanzhang's hands, and Yan Song's skin is probably dried up. But at that time, Mr. Zhu Houzhao had no time to care about it. He was busy playing. Who is Yan Song?How can I bother the old man. In this way, Yan Song began to rest and live again, but God was destined to let him play. Two years later, another opportunity came. Mr. Zhu Houzhao passed away, and Yang Tinghe began to act as an agent of the government.In Yan Song's view, the time has finally come to serve the country. In April of the 16th year of Zhengde (1521), Yan Song officially entered Beijing, and his life was completely changed from then on. But as soon as he entered Beijing, Yan Song realized that something was wrong. He went to visit his teacher Yang Tinghe. Yang Tinghe knew him and greeted him, but he didn't pay much attention to him, which made him very embarrassed. How can this person change?Yan Song was puzzled. In fact, Yang Tinghe is quite interesting. The reason why he doesn't care about Yan Song is because he is busy with a big event - fighting the emperor. Yan Song was unlucky, he didn't make a good comeback, he encountered the rebellion of King Ning when he passed the decree, he finally returned to the capital, and ran into a big etiquette incident. This year Yan Song was forty-one years old, his seniors and superiors retired, his peers were all promoted, and his juniors didn't agree with him, so he became a burden that no one cares about or cares about. The officials of the Ministry of Officials thought about it for a long time, and felt that this person was really useless, and they couldn't make money, so they arranged for him to go to the Nanjing Imperial Academy. Back then, the Nanjing Imperial Academy had a nickname called "Ghosts Don't Care". They had neither power nor money, and were extremely poor. However, Yan Song had no choice but to go to Nanjing honestly. But he did not expect that it was this wicked work arrangement that saved his life and brought him a brilliant future. Because not long after he set off for Nanjing, the two hurried from Nanjing in the opposite direction, setting off an extremely fierce storm in the capital. These two people are Zhang Cong and Gui E, and the vigorous etiquette has reached its peak. The results of the struggle are well known. In this tragic political struggle, countless officials were defeated, the cabinet was completely purged, and a new generation of dignitaries stepped onto the stage. Yan Song was really lucky. When the accident happened, he was in Nanjing with no affiliation, no connections, no attachments, drinking tea every day, and talking about the gossip news of the capital, his life was very nourishing. Having said that, this matter doesn't seem to have much impact on his future, after all, his teacher Yang Tinghe is the loser in the struggle, and he can't get any benefit from it. But Yan Song himself knows very well that it is time for him to make a fortune, because things are not as simple as they seem. Apart from his teacher Yang Tinghe, he also has a very good fellow villager and friend——Gui E. Sure enough, not long after, news came from the capital that Yan Song was transferred back to Beijing from Nanjing, and was promoted to the highest official of the Imperial Academy (jiujiu) by three consecutive ranks. The bumpy life and cunning officialdom have changed Yan Song, and he has learned the secret of success from repeated failures - to have both ways. After that, Yan Song's career entered a golden period. In April of the seventh year of Jiajing (1528), he was promoted to the right minister (deputy minister) of the Ministry of Rites. Shangshu. Yan Song compromised with reality, he changed himself, and began to flatter the emperor, but this seemed normal. Because in the imperial court, flattering is not for promotion, but for survival. So at least so far, Yan Song is still a relatively decent person. Although his method of demanding progress is not glorious, he also knows what to do and what not to do, and he is still outspoken and unscrupulous in the court. In other words, he is a man of principle. In the seventeenth year of Jiajing (1538), this principle was broken. In July of this year, the most troublesome thing came. At this time, more than ten years have passed since the Great Etiquette Incident, and what should be recognized has been recognized, and what should be given has also been given. It should be said that Mr. Jiajing should also be satisfied. But this man is a master who pushes forward. He had a whim and put forward a new request. And this request will never be supported by the minister. Not only did Jiajing want to ratify his father as emperor, but he also planned to move his father into the Taimiao, where he would become the object of pilgrimage for future emperors. Finally, he planned to give his father a title-Mingruizong. This requirement has a specific title in history - called Zonglu Temple. This is an extremely unreasonable request. How can someone who has never been an emperor enter the Taimiao and be called Ruizong?It was more or less human nature to fight for a father for myself before, but now it is insatiable to do this kind of outrageous thing. All the court ministers heard about this, but kept silent because they had to wait for one person's reaction. This person is the Minister of Rites who is in charge of etiquette. Unfortunately, the minister at the time was Yan Song, and he couldn't hide no matter what.If you agree, you will be scolded by everyone, and if you disagree, you will be punished by the emperor. But the old rivers and lakes are the old rivers and lakes, Yan Song used his brains and wrote a memorial to the emperor. This is a very high-quality memorial, with a total of more than a thousand words, it seems to have said everything, but when you look carefully, you can see that nothing has been said. Yan Song played double-faced again. If it were someone else, this article might be able to get away with it, but this time he met Mr. Jiajing. Just after reading the memorabilia, Jiajing summoned Yan Song and summed up his impression of him in a few words-sitting on the wall, slipping, and pleasing both sides. Yan Song, who was covered in cold sweat, ran away from that terrible person in embarrassment. He finally realized that in front of this person, there are only two kinds of people in the world—those who support him, or those who oppose him. Other than that, there is no third way. So two options appeared in front of him at the same time—principle or interest? Yan Song chose the latter without hesitation. He didn't want to toss any more, he was already fifty-eight years old, he had suffered too much, suffered too much tiredness, profit was all he pursued. in principle?How much is a catty? On the night when he made the decision, he wrote "Ode to Qingyun" and "Ode to the Great Ceremony" to commemorate Mr. Jiajing's wise decision. Thirty years of literary knowledge finally turned into flattering words and sentences. Jiajing was finally satisfied, he had already made sure that this man named Yan Song would obey him and obey all his orders. Soon, Yan Song's move caused an uproar in the court, accusations and curses flooded the sky, and the lingering lingering voices lasted for 30 days. But Yan Song doesn't care, he has already determined his own life direction: as long as he can make a fortune and become a minister, he can do whatever it takes!You can betray everyone and all morality in the world! Yan Song, who was "enlightened and fully enlightened", established his own brand-new outlook on life, but soon he discovered that if he wanted to achieve his goal, he had to remove an obstacle——Xia Yan. Relatively speaking, Xia Yan is not a very obedient subordinate. He will often refute the opinions of his superiors, and even return the emperor's imperial edict, embarrassing the emperor, because he is still a person with conscience and principles. The shameless Yan Song is going to get rid of the shameless Xia Yan. It seems that it is not difficult, but in actual operation, Yan Song finds that this is almost an impossible task. Because Xia Yan still has a trump card that he doesn't have. If you want to select the most difficult articles to write in the Ming Dynasty, the answer is definitely not stereotypes, but Qingci. It must be explained that not everyone can write Qingci, nor can everyone use it. The copyright of this thing belongs to Jiajing completely, and no one else can infringe it. The style of this style is full of Fu style, gorgeous words and sentences, and it is extremely difficult to write. .Because special ivy paper is used for writing, it is called Qingci. Qing Ci is used when cultivating Taoism and offering sacrifices to heaven. The specific method is to burn it after writing. The main content is not only to state personal wishes, but also to discuss narrative. The gods read it, burn it after writing it, and don't keep it in the file, and Mr. Jiajing seems to have confidence in the gods' ability to understand. By the way, this trick is not Jiajing's patent. Today, burning paper petitions is still popular, but the content is changed to simplified characters.You must know that gods are very good, and it is normal to know seven or eight foreign languages. I believe they can still understand. In the imperial court at that time, there were many people who could write such articles, but there were only two who could satisfy Jiajing, one was Xia Yan, and the other was not Yan Song. Xia Yan is really a genius. He is not only eloquent but also good at writing. He is also very good at writing such propositional compositions. Jiajing cannot do without such a person.The other Gu Dingchen (Yan Song, the number one scholar in the imperial examination in the same year) who can write Qingci is also very good at writing, but he is a person who does not understand politics. Although he is in the cabinet, he is completely unable to fight against Xia Yan. So turning around, Yan Song still had no chance. But there is no unparalleled way, and after hard thinking, Yan Song finally found another way to win. Smart people have smart ideas, and stupid people have stupid methods. Yan Song is not stupid, but to deal with Xia Yan, he can only use the most stupid method - working hard. It doesn't matter if the writing is not good, just write more. Since then, Yan Song has been working from dawn to dusk, and at the age of 60, he still writes every day. Even if the quality of the article is not good enough and the manuscript is rejected, he is never discouraged. He impressed Mr. Jiajing with his extremely enthusiastic service attitude. Whether or not to do a good job is a matter of ability, and whether or not to do it is a matter of attitude. Relatively speaking, Xia Yan is a person with a very bad attitude, and it is these two things that made Jiajing determined to punish Xia Yan. Once, Jiajing got up a little late and postponed going to court. After counting the number of people, he found that Xia Yan was not there, so he asked the ministers below: Where did Xia Shoufu go? Unexpectedly, no one answered below. Later, an eunuch told him in private that Xia Yan had been here before, and when he heard that he hadn't gone to court, he went home to sleep without even saying hello. Jiajing is freaking out, if I'm late, you'll leave early, and it's against you! What broke them completely was the famous "Fragrant Leaf Crown" incident. Jiajing believes in Taoism, but Xia Yan is an atheist. Every time Jiajing discusses Taoism with him, Xia Yan falls asleep.Over time, Jiajing also felt boring and didn't want to talk to him anymore. But the problem is that although this person doesn't believe in it, he can write Qing Ci. In Jiajing's view, if the quality of the manuscript is not high, he will offend the gods, and once the gods are angry, his report on immortality will not be approved. This is really a matter of life and death, so every time Jiajing always patiently urges Xia Yan to write, but Xia Yan always ignores it, either not writing, or dealing with errands, which makes Jiajing very unhappy. It is brave enough to delay the emperor's draft, but this is not enough to prove Xia Yan's courage, he has done even more daring things. In order to show his piety, Jiajing did not wear the emperor's golden crown every time he went to work, but instead wore the Taoist fragrant leaf crown. In addition, he specially made five fragrant leaf crowns with his own hands and gave them to his closest ministers. Xia Yan got one of them, but never wore it. Jiajing didn't care at first, but he waited and waited until he saw Xia Yan changing his hat, so he couldn't help asking: "Where's the hat I gave you last time?" "Still at home." "Why not wear it?" "I'm a court minister, how can I wear that kind of thing?!" Jiajing's face turned pale, and he stared at Xia Yan in embarrassment. But Mr. Xia seems unwilling to let it go: "From what I see, I hope that your Majesty will not wear such things in the future. Those who rule the world should have the majesty of the emperor, so that they can see and hear." Injured self-esteem, really hurt self-esteem. You know, although this thing is not fancy, it was made by Mr. Jiajing himself, and it is the fruit of his labor and sweat.Xia Yan not only refused, but also gave him a scolding, which was really unacceptable. So he lost his temper: "I don't need you here, get out of the palace immediately!" Xia Yan replied: "If you want me to leave the palace, you must personally make an order (only an order will work)!" Then he sneered and strode away, leaving only His Majesty the Emperor trembling with anger. At this point, it is impossible not to turn your face, but at the critical moment of the conflict between the monarch and his ministers, Yan Song appeared. Among the five fragrant leaf crowns, there is another one for Yan Song, but his performance is completely different from Xia Yan's.Since Mr. Yan has no principles, he naturally doesn't want to be old-fashioned. Not only did he wear a crown of fragrant leaves, but he also specially covered it with a layer of green gauze to show that he will never forget the favor of the leader. Jiajing was very happy, and he especially praised Yan Song. Yan Song is Xia Yan's fellow villager, and the relationship between the two has always been good. After Xia Yan developed, he took good care of Yan Song out of fellowship. However, he gradually discovered that Yan Song is a person who prefers speculation and has no moral values. As long as he can achieve his goal, this person will do whatever he wants. The strong and upright Xia Yan is very disgusted with this kind of behavior. Although Yan Song respects him very much, saluting early and bowing late, he looks down on this person more and more. A servile person, no matter how obsequious and shameless he is, in the end, even if he is trusted, he will never be respected. Xia Yan has seen through Yan Song, and hates his tricks, and only hopes that this person will get away as far as possible. However, Yan Song didn't seem to care. He knew very well that he was Xia Yan's subordinate. In any case, he couldn't turn his back on him now. In order to ease the relationship between the two, he decided to invite Xia Yan to dinner. Xia Yan received the invitation, he thought about it, and agreed. The appointed time came, and the food was served, but no one touched their chopsticks—because Xia Yan hadn't arrived yet. Seeing that it was time for overnight dinner, Yan Song said, I will invite him in person. He came to Xia Yan's mansion, and the guard told him that Xia Yan was not there. This was clearly a joke, and Yan Song's entourage began to yell loudly, venting their dissatisfaction, but Yan Song was very calm, he waved his hand and returned to his home. Facing the cold banquet and the mocking eyes of all the guests, Yan Song picked up the invitation card for the banquet. He knelt down, read Xia Yan's name out of his mouth, read the original text of the invitation from beginning to end, and finally shouted: "I am ashamed of myself for failing to fulfill the wishes of the host and guest!" After the performance was over, he stood up, ignored everyone's surprised gazes, walked to the banquet, and began to eat. The humiliation I received today will definitely be repaid by you double in the future! In Xia Yan's view, Yan Song is an unprincipled clown, an insignificant villain. The fact is indeed so, after that dinner, Yan Song was still the same, blindly flattering and flattering, and Xia Yan also looked down on him as always. But Xia Yan's opinion is only half right, because villains are never insignificant, they can do many things, such as - sue. One day in June of the 21st year of Jiajing (1542), after Xia Yan retired from the court, Yan Song had an audience with Jiajing. In front of the emperor, he changed his usual benevolent face, and at the age of sixty-three, he quickly completed a series of required items such as tidying up his clothes-kneeling-kowtow. Compact and highly accomplished. Then he burst into tears and wailed loudly: "The old minister has been bullied by Xia Yan, I hope His Majesty will make the decision!" Although he seemed to be crying bitterly and unable to control himself, what is commendable is that Yan Song's thinking is still very clear and has strict logic. He complained point by point of the old Youtiao Xia Yan's various heinous behaviors, and burst into tears. But he talked endlessly for a long time, but His Majesty the emperor above did not share the same hatred, just smiled and watched his performance, and did not get angry. Jiajing is a very smart person, he has always regarded the conflicts between ministers as a joke, and it is not easy to use him as a gunman. But Yan Song was not flustered, he was already prepared.Although the person sitting on top is very smart and extremely difficult to deal with, he also has his own weaknesses. As long as you tell me about that, he will definitely submit obediently! "Xia Yan despises His Majesty, despises what is bestowed by the emperor, the crime is heinous!" This is the end of Yan Song's black shape, although it is short, it is extremely powerful.Because the so-called imperial gift is the crown of fragrant leaves. So Jiajing became angry, bullying Yan Song didn't matter, it was a serious political problem not to listen to his own words.He immediately wrote an imperial edict to reprimand Xia Yan. Of course, the basis for the denunciation is not the refusal to wear the fragrant leaf crown, but "Military affairs are important, and privates are punished. Wang Yan wants to keep it secret, and it is treated as a joke!" The whole thing is you, in fact, there is no need for any reason. Jiajing was manipulated by his own puppets. This was the first time since he came to power, but unfortunately it was not the last. A super character is about to play, and the development of the matter is completely out of control. Xia Yan, who was reprimanded by the emperor, was frightened. He quickly wrote a letter to plead guilty, but to no avail. Half a month later, he was dismissed as a civilian and Yan Song entered the cabinet. Objectively speaking, Yan Song does not have much political talent. Compared with Xia Yan, he lacks the ability to deal with political affairs, but he is not useless. He has two skills that are far superior to ordinary people-flattery and pranking people. Since he entered the cabinet in August of the 21st year of Jiajing (1542), he spent every day in the minister's duty room (Xiyuan). I haven't seen him doing good things such as removing the old and bringing in the new, and reforming the bad government. Then why do you stay there all day long, old man? The answer is simple, it doesn’t matter if the subordinates don’t see it, as long as the leader sees it (Jiajing lives in Xiyuan), it doesn’t matter whether you are doing foreign work, drinking tea or playing cards, as long as you sit in the office every day and let the emperor see that you are familiar, you don’t have to worry about your future. This trick worked very well. The emperor was moved by Comrade Yan Song's perseverance to drink up the tea and sit on the bench. He specially sent a seal with the words "loyalty, diligence and wisdom", and awarded the crown prince Taifu (Cong Yipin) as a commendation . In addition to respecting the leadership, Comrade Yan Song also spared no effort in suppressing his colleagues and carrying out the work of manipulating people. There were four people in the cabinet at that time. Xu Zan, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, and Zhang Bi, Minister of the Ministry of Rites.Yan Song alone doesn't count. But Comrade Yan Song has a solution. He first ordered the officials to scold Zhai Luan away, and then took over the power cleanly. up. For Yan Song, this is like a fish in water, but he still wants to build a memorial archway. He has written to the emperor several times, saying that the cabinet is currently small, and he hopes to find more people to join the cabinet. The minister must not act arbitrarily. Jiajing was very moved. He immediately issued an imperial edict to praise Yan Song, appointed him Minister of the Ministry of Officials, Bachelor of Jinshen Palace, and Shao Fu, and made it clear: You can do it alone, and you can be trusted! That's probably the case. It should be said that the main purpose of Xia Yan's manipulation of power and control of the court is to govern the country and rectify the government, while Yan Song's purpose is much simpler. He plays so many tricks just for his own hobby-corruption and bribery. Yan Song never believes that he is good or I am good, and he doesn't care how other people live, as long as he is comfortable. With this lofty ideal, he has made outstanding achievements in the front of corruption. At that time, the discipline inspection officials (Censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate) had a fixed task every year - to select the annual list of corrupt figures, and all those on the list were supported by specific data and made public. Since Comrade Yan Song entered the cabinet, he must be on the list every year, and he must be at the top of the list. What's even more rare is that even the Metropolitan Procuratorate in Nanjing named him the number one person for corruption and reported it to the court every year. Although he won this honor, Yan Song did not panic, because he knew very well that Jiajing never cared whether he was greedy or how much he was greedy, but only cared about whether he was obedient. This is indeed the case. Although impeachment memorials have continued one after another, Yan Song has always been as stable as Mount Tai. But the situation gradually changed. Yan Song finally made the mistake his predecessor had made - arbitrariness. When all the power is concentrated in his hands, the incomparable power and respect will rush to his face. This 60-year-old man can't get used to it. Whenever he sees the smoky room in Xiyuan, he thinks of the man who ignores state affairs. , the emperor who is dedicated to cultivating Taoism, a feeling will arise spontaneously: The one who controls this empire is me. When this feeling was reflected in his behavior, he began to become domineering, arrogant, and no longer reported to the leaders when he encountered problems. In the eyes of the ministers, this old man had replaced the Taoist priest and became the real leader of the country. . But he underestimated the Taoist priest's strength too much. Amidst the sound of chanting scriptures in his ears and the heavy smoke of the alchemy furnace, those eyes were still firmly fixed on Yan Song's back, all the time. In December of the twenty-fourth year of Jiajing (1535), Jiajing suddenly summoned Yan Song in Xiyuan. When Yan Shoufu swaggered into the hall, His Majesty the Emperor smiled and introduced another person to him, and told Yan Song that this person I will take your place and become the chief assistant. I hope you will continue to do a good job, because from now on you will be the second assistant of the cabinet and his assistant. You must pay attention to the unity of the team. Jiajing smiled brightly as usual, but Yan Song didn't smile, and the lucky guy who should have been cheering didn't either, because he was Xia Yan. Ten years is not too late for a gentleman to take revenge. It seems that Xia Yan is relatively lucky, he only spent three years and five months. If Xia Yan before was only contemptuous of Yan Song, then he has finally found his real enemy now. From then on, Yan Song, the second assistant to the cabinet, could no longer see any documents, because Xia Yan, the first assistant, took away all his powers, and he had no right to intervene in any bill drafting and signing. In just one month, he became a Agency idle personnel. But this is just the beginning, and a bigger storm is about to unfold. Not long after, the officials of various ministries of the central government were notified that in order to rationally match the personnel structure, a large-scale change would be made according to the usual performance, and people were panicked for a while. When the adjustment is completed, those who should be withdrawn will be withdrawn, and those who should be promoted will be promoted, and everyone will understand-the higher-ups will be replaced. Xia Yan was relieved and relieved, he replaced Yan Song's minions with his own subordinates, unscrupulous. Before clearing the enemy's leaders, all peripherals and helpers must be wiped out first. This is the traditional wisdom of the Chinese nation. Xia Yan believed that what he did was right, and in fact it was, but he made a fatal mistake in execution. He did a great job. He punished all the people related to Yan Song, not letting anyone off. This kind of abuse of power made him gradually isolated, and what's worse, he also offended a group of people who must not be offended—the eunuchs. Jiajing treats eunuchs as slaves, which is a matter of course, but Xia Yan also treats eunuchs as slaves, which is really a mistake. Every time a eunuch comes to the house to do business, let alone handing cigarettes and wine, they don’t even drool. Give people a drink, and sometimes teach them a few words to make them correct their words and deeds.Never treat yourself as an outsider. You know, although eunuchs were not popular in the Jiajing Dynasty, they were still people close to the emperor after all. As time passed, Xia Yan's reputation among eunuchs became worse and worse. Relatively speaking, Yan Song was much smarter. He knew very well that the leader should not be offended, let alone the secretary next to the leader, so every time the eunuch came to the house, this high-ranking cadre in his sixties would take the initiative to give up his seat and walk away. Red envelopes must be given before, and those who see it will have a share. Under the guidance of the eunuchs who talked about it, the number of people who scolded Xia Yan and praised Yansong continued to increase, and the tendency in Jiajing's heart gradually shifted.Xia Yan, who was at the peak of power, did not know about all this. On the whole, Xia Yan is a mature politician, but he also has a fatal flaw - arrogance. The closer you get to the center of power, the fewer friends you have and the more enemies you have. Generally speaking, the only way to get rid of this rule is to pretend to be a grandson. Unfortunately, Xia Yan is a resolute and upright person, and he really can't pretend to be a grandson. Since he entered the cabinet in the fifteenth year of Jiajing (1536), his shortcomings have become more and more obvious , the temper is getting bigger and bigger, making more and more mistakes, more and more serious, until the fatal mistake three years later. But thankfully, there was one small thing he did right during the intervening years. He said it was a trivial matter because it was so small that it was difficult to attract attention, but it was this insignificant trivial matter that not only turned defeat into victory in the end, but also changed the fate of the Ming Dynasty. In the eighteenth year of Jiajing (1539), the crown prince came out of the cabinet to stand on his own, preparing to develop his own small group and prepare for his succession in the future. The selection of personnel for the East Palace was normally the responsibility of the cabinet, specifically Xia Yan. This is a very promising job, no matter how tall, short, fat or thin, as long as you can catch the bus of the prince, your future prospects are limitless.Therefore, there are many people scrambling to express favor to Xia Yan and bribe him only to ask him to show mercy. However, Brother Xia Yan is notorious for being soft and hard, and the above methods are completely ineffective for him. He only chooses those who are really talented. But when he glanced at the candidate list, he stopped for a long time before a name, which was a name he was familiar with nine years ago. Just a few months ago, his family in Jiangxi wrote him a special letter.中大骂此人，说这人在任时，明知是夏学士的亲戚，却从不帮忙办事，实在是不识抬举。 对于这个不给面子的官员，夏言也十分恼火，所以当不久前礼部缺员，有人向他推荐此人的时候，正在气头上的他当时就拒绝了。 要想公报私仇，这实在是天赐良机，但在这关键时刻，他犹豫了，经过长时间慎重的考虑，他做出了自己最终的决定。 因为他始终相信，秉持正直、不偏不倚是正确的。 夏言郑重地提起笔，在正选名录上写下了这个人的名字： 徐阶。