Chapter 41: Keep it in the middle
Chapter 41: Keep it in the middle
Emperor Jiajing's concern for Zhu Zaigui was somewhat different from the love that ordinary parents have.
Emperor Jiajing was deeply influenced by Taoism, and his mission in life was to become an immortal, so he was much less concerned about family affection than ordinary people.
But since he was still a mortal living in the world, he could not help but be swayed by worldly emotions sometimes, and showed some rare concern and love for Zhu Zaigui and others.
But that’s all, there’s nothing more.
So his current mentality is a vague and distant one. As long as Zhu Zaigui does not encounter any accidents and does not embarrass him, he will let him be.
Of course, Zhu Zaigui didn’t know that Emperor Jiajing had such thoughts yet. If Zhu Zaigui knew that Emperor Jiajing had such thoughts, he would probably wake up laughing in his dreams in Prince Yu’s Mansion.
It is rare to find such a trouble-free father in this world.
Time passed quietly, and the former crown prince Zhu Zaigang was now buried with great ceremony in Jinshan, the royal mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty. This mausoleum is located near Yuquan Mountain, and is a cemetery specially used to bury some "important" imperial concubines and early deceased crown princes, princes, and princesses of the Ming royal family who were not qualified to be buried in the imperial mausoleum.
Of course, there are exceptions. For example, Emperor Jingtai, who was killed by his overseas student brother for unknown reasons, was also buried in this mausoleum. Therefore, among this royal mausoleum, Emperor Jingtai can be considered "unique".
Moreover, because Emperor Jiajing was also a prince who succeeded to the throne, in the 15th year of Jiajing's reign, in order to strengthen his own legitimacy and further win over the hearts of scholars, Emperor Jiajing personally went to the Jingtai Mausoleum in Jinshan to pay homage to Emperor Jingtai.
During the visit, Emperor Jiajing thought that the Jingtai Mausoleum did not conform to the system of imperial mausoleums, so he ordered the yellow tiles to be replaced. He also built a mausoleum stele pavilion in the middle of the main gate and outside the mausoleum gate, and moved the mausoleum stele into the pavilion, so that it would have a little bit of the system of an imperial mausoleum.
This can be regarded as a belated recognition given by Emperor Jiajing sixty years later to his great-uncle who once worked with Yu Qian to turn the tide and save the Ming Dynasty from collapse.
Because before that, although Emperor Xianzong Zhu Jianshen also issued an edict to restore the imperial title of his uncle Emperor Jingtai in the 11th year of Chenghua, he never actually changed the mausoleum system for Emperor Jingtai. He only slightly decorated the mausoleum, and the mausoleum palace buildings were still covered with green tiles according to the level of royal mausoleums. The mausoleum stele was also erected outside the mausoleum palace gate in a position slightly to the east according to the system of royal mausoleums. It was only an imperial mausoleum in name only, but in fact it was still a royal mausoleum.
Therefore, Emperor Jiajing still had some tricks and tricks. He gained huge political benefits just by changing the tiles of Emperor Jingtai's tomb and building a stele pavilion. His reputation also reached an unprecedented peak, making scholars all over the world praise Emperor Jiajing as a wise ruler who "revived" the Ming Dynasty.
It is a pity that the reputation of Emperor Jiajing as a wise and "rejuvenating emperor" only lasted until about the 20th year of Jiajing's reign. After that, Emperor Jiajing seemed to have suddenly become a different person. He became extremely concerned about his reputation and became a devout believer in Taoism. He no longer liked to attend court and did not wear the dragon robe every day. He just dressed like a Taoist priest. As a result, important political activities of the Ming Dynasty in these years were determined and conducted with absurd Taoist rituals.
After Zhu Zaigang's funeral, the political struggle that had been hidden underwater suddenly surfaced.
Xu Jie, who had made the plan together with his good disciple, could no longer wait and immediately submitted a memorial to the Emperor Jiajing suggesting that he rebuild the crown prince in order to calm the people's hearts. But how could the Emperor Jiajing, who felt that he had made great progress in his cultivation, like such words?
The funeral of the former crown prince just ended two days ago, and his body hasn't even cooled down yet. Now we are in a hurry to establish a crown prince. Isn't this like rubbing salt into someone's wounds?
I wonder if Emperor Jiajing is still wary of the prophecy that "two dragons never meet". If he really wants to enthrone a crown prince, wouldn't that mean he would meet his own son again?
If this fatal prophecy comes true again and causes Emperor Jiajing to lose another son, or if he himself is sent away by the crown prince, who the hell will be responsible for such a huge blame?
So when Emperor Jiajing saw Xu Jie's petition for the appointment of a crown prince, his face turned black. Holding the petition in his hand, Emperor Jiajing said angrily, "Xu Jie still doesn't understand my painstaking efforts. I really shouldn't have been soft-hearted and appointed him! I didn't appoint a crown prince for the sake of the Ming Dynasty. Doesn't he know that there is a conflict between me and the crown prince? If he hurts my son's life again, can he afford the compensation?"
Huang Jin heard the Emperor Jiajing's angry words and quickly tried to comfort him, "Your Majesty, please do not lose your temper for a mortal like Xu Jie. How could he understand your good intentions? Xu Jie asked for the appointment of a crown prince not to contradict you, but to stand before justice and for the sake of Ming. Your Majesty, calm down."
Huang Jin's comfort eased Emperor Jiajing's anger a little, but he was still angry in his heart.
Jiajing said: "Back then, I used Zhang Fujing (Zhang Cong) and wanted to change the sacrificial rites of the Confucian Temple to set a law for eternity. But it was Xu Jie who ruined my plan and had to jump out to oppose Zhang Cong. He was not targeting Zhang Cong, he was slapping me in the face!"
Zhang Fujing is Zhang Cong. In the tenth year of Emperor Jiajing's reign, Zhang Cong took the initiative to ask for a name change to avoid the emperor's taboo. Emperor Jiajing gave Zhang Cong the name "Fujing" and the character "Maogong" in four characters. It can be said that before Yan Song, Zhang Cong was the favorite of Emperor Jiajing.
Moreover, Zhang Cong was a very capable person. He helped Emperor Jiajing win the Great Etiquette Dispute and assisted Jiajing in launching the "Jiajing New Deal", reforming and rectifying the previous dynasty's bad policies, investigating the estates occupied by nobles and returning the land to the people. He also changed the system of hereditary titles for relatives of the emperor, making it impossible to inherit them and making it a permanent system.
What Emperor Jiajing is talking about now is a major event that happened in the ninth year of Jiajing, which determines whether the Jiajing New Deal could go further.
At that time, Zhang Cong, under the instruction of Emperor Jiajing, wrote a memorial: "Since the Tang and Song dynasties, the worship of Confucius has not been corrected. Now it is better to call him the sage and teacher instead of the king, to call him a temple instead of a palace, to use a wooden statue instead of an earthen statue, to use the ten kinds of music and six dancers for the bamboo jars and the dishes."
This would restore the title of Confucius, which had been "usurped" as king since the Tang Dynasty, to normal. However, this move was met with fierce resistance from a number of conservatives, who believed that Zhang Cong was betraying his teacher and ancestors.
Xu Jie, who was still gaining experience in the Imperial College at the time, immediately submitted a memorial to the emperor, arguing that there were three reasons why the title of Confucius did not need to be removed, and five reasons why it should not be removed. He opposed Zhang Cong's view and advocated the use of the old system.
Zhang Cong was extremely angry and summoned Xu Jie to the court room to reprimand him. Xu Jie then argued with a serious face, which offended the then aggressive Emperor Jiajing to death.
The Jiajing Emperor finally made a dictatorial decision and supported Zhang Cong's opinion. He forcibly downgraded Confucius, stripped him of the title of "Great Sage, Great Sage, King of Culture and Literature" which was posthumously conferred on him by the former Yuan Emperor, and called Confucius "the Great Sage and Teacher", and worshipped him with a wooden statue.
At the same time, Emperor Jiajing kicked Xu Jie away and demoted him to be a magistrate in Yanping Prefecture, Fujian. He also wrote the eight characters "Xu Jie is a villain and will never be employed" on a pillar of the Imperial College.
Now Xu Jie is again forgetting about food and forgetting about punishment, and has submitted a memorial to the emperor talking nonsense about establishing a crown prince. How could Emperor Jiajing not be angry?
Emperor Jiajing said: "Keep this memorial in the palace and don't send it out. Let him learn his lesson."
After hearing what Emperor Jiajing said, Huang Jin secretly breathed a sigh of relief. However, he was not happy for Xu Jie, but for Emperor Jiajing.
Now, anyone with a discerning eye can see that the current political situation is dominated by Yan Song's party, which is not necessarily a good thing for the Jiajing Emperor as the Son of Heaven. Therefore, in the established strategy, the Jiajing Emperor is to intentionally support a force that can compete with Yan Song. This will not only better balance the power in the court, but also make Yan Song's already sharp knife more useful.
Therefore, even if Xu Jie touched the emperor's reverse scale this time, he could be safe. This is because he still has value to the emperor. Otherwise, with the emperor's mean and ungrateful character, he might even kill him. After all, the blood of the former prime minister Xia Yan has not dried yet in the West Market.
(End of this chapter)