Rise From the Humble

It turns out that the historical allusion "Xu Jie, a villain, will never be used" really existed, and it was engraved on this Wuyishan pillar.

Xu Jie would see these eight characters on the pillar every day when he came to work in Wuyishan.

By the way, Xu Jie's experience is so great.

According to Zhu Ping'an's history in modern times, these eight characters were carved by Emperor Jiajing in the ninth year of Jiajing. In this year, Emperor Jiajing was 23 years old and nine years after he ascended the throne. In this year, Xu Jie was 28 years old and it had been seven years since he passed the Jinshi examination. .

Speaking of these eight words, we have to explain a famous event in the history of the DPRK - the "Great Etiquette Dispute".

The "Great Etiquette Dispute" happened when Emperor Jiajing first ascended the throne.

In fact, Emperor Jiajing had no chance to become emperor. Before Emperor Jiajing ascended the throne, his cousin, the famous Zhengde Emperor Ming Wuzong Zhu Houzhao, became emperor.

Emperor Zhengde is a strange flower in the history of Ming Dynasty.

On the one hand, Emperor Zhengde was wise and powerful, handling national affairs resolutely and resolutely, and reviewing memorials with wisdom and decisiveness. In a blink of an eye, he overturned the rebellion of the great eunuch Liu Jin, the rebellion of King Anhua and King Ning, and often provided disaster relief and exempted taxes. He also personally led the army to defeat the Mongolian prince, and achieved a great victory in Yingzhou and defeated the Tatar army. The key was Yes, during the Battle of Yingzhou, Emperor Zhengde, as the emperor, ate and lived with the soldiers in a down-to-earth manner, and even rode his horse into battle himself, cutting melons and vegetables, rushing into the enemy's formation and killing an enemy. Boosted morale and defeated the enemy.

But on the other hand, Emperor Zhengde was debauched, grotesque and shameless, and played excessively. He was a famous fatuous emperor. Building a leopard house, hiding countless girls, having fun day and night; playing war, he likes to give himself official titles, and makes himself a mighty general. I wonder if Emperor Jiajing likes to give himself Taoist titles, he learned it from his cousin. Moreover, it is said that Emperor Zhengde often ignored the affairs of the country and took his royal guards out of the palace to look for flowers. Regardless of whether the person had a husband or not, as long as he liked her, he would have people snatch her to the palace, which caused complaints among the people around the capital.

Such a weird emperor finally played himself to death.

However, Emperor Zhengde closed his eyes and left, but he left a mess for the civil and military affairs of the court. The key thing is that he has no heirs.

what to do?

A country cannot live without a king for a day. Who will inherit the throne?

Then, Emperor Jiajing's opportunity came.

At that time, Yang Tinghe, the Minister of Gu Ming, and others checked the emperor's family tree and discussed letting Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houcong, the grandson of Xianzong, nephew of Xiaozong, cousin of Wu Zong, and the second son of Xingxian King Zhu Youqi, to inherit the throne. The reason why The second son, because the eldest son died long ago.

Originally, things were very simple, but once they landed in the royal family, it became more complicated.

This is a feudal society ruled by the Confucianism of Confucius and Mencius, especially the royal family. According to Confucius' theory, Confucius respected Zhou Rites. The core of Zhou Rites is the eldest son inheritance system, which means that the inheritance of the royal family depends on blood. Since you, Emperor Jiajing, want to be emperor, you must have a direct blood relationship with the previous emperor. Moreover, Confucianism stipulates that when a small sect succeeds a large sect, the large sect should be the main one.

Therefore, Yang Tinghe and others believed that Emperor Jiajing Zhu Houcong had to be adopted as a son by Emperor Zhengde's biological father and cousin of Emperor Jiajing. In this way, there would be a direct blood relationship, and Emperor Jiajing would inherit the throne.

Therefore, when Yang Ting and others welcomed Emperor Jiajing to the capital to inherit the throne, they held an adoption and crown prince ceremony outside the capital, allowing Emperor Jiajing to enter the capital as Xiaozong's son and the current prince, and inherit the throne.

but

Emperor Jiajing won't do it.

Although Emperor Jiajing was only fifteen years old, he was a genius, and a proud genius.

You want me to be adopted by my uncle?

You don't want me to recognize my biological parents, but you want me to tolerate my uncle as my father? !

What the hell, even my biological father and mother cannot be recognized. Am I the kind of unfilial person? ! Isn’t it going to be poked in the spine from now on?

It is unbearable!

"The edict asks me to be the emperor, not the prince. I'm sorry for not obeying the order." The fifteen-year-old Emperor Jiajing firmly disagreed at the city gate.

Emperor Jiajing refused to obey, but the country cannot live without a king for a day. Therefore, Yang Tinghe and others gave in and allowed Emperor Jiajing to ascend the throne and inherit the throne first.

After ascending the throne, Emperor Jiajing wanted to worship his deceased biological father, King Xingxian Zhu Youhang. As a result, Yang Tinghe and others used Confucius and Mencius to oppose and firmly opposed it. Emperor Jiajing said that if you don't let me call him my biological father, I will go home with my mother. This emperor will not do it anymore.

As a result, Yang Tinghe and others backed down. However, Yang Tinghe still did one thing. You can recognize your biological parents and call them emperors and empresses, but you cannot call them "emperors". Your uncle Xiaozong must be the emperor.

Because Emperor Jiajing had just ascended the throne and his throne was unstable, he reluctantly agreed to call his father "Emperor Xingxian" and his mother "Queen Mother Xingguo".

In the third year of Jiajing's reign, Emperor Jiajing's throne was stabilized, and the title of "emperor" was given to his biological parents. Yang Tinghe was finally dismissed from office. Officials from various ministries and departments petitioned against Emperor Jiajing, and more than 200 ministers went to Zuoshunmen of the palace to petition. The reason for their opposition was the teachings of Confucius and Mencius.

Of course, Emperor Jiajing's throne was secure, so he would not be polite. More than a hundred people were arrested and imprisoned by Emperor Jiajing's order. Officials above the fourth rank were given their salaries, and those below the fifth rank were beaten with imperial sticks. This time, eighteen people were beaten to death.

Therefore, due to the Dali Conference incident, Emperor Jiajing had great opinions on Confucianism, such as the eldest son inheritance system and whether small sects should succeed the larger sects. Therefore, Emperor Jiajing had great opinions on Confucius, the founder of Confucianism. very.

In the ninth year of Jiajing, the young and vigorous 23-year-old Emperor Jiajing, at the suggestion of Zhang Cong, the chief minister of the cabinet, wanted to remove Confucius's king title, lower the standards of Confucius' sacrifice, destroy statues, use wooden memorial tablets, etc.

This is Confucius, the sage Confucius. In the minds of scholars, Confucius is a god-like existence. In order to show their respect for Confucius, emperors of all dynasties have been constantly granting titles and posthumous titles to Confucius. You actually want to undermine the king and sacrifice standards!

Although the officials were opposed in their hearts, they were afraid of being beaten by Emperor Jiajing. Eighteen officials from Zuo Shunmen who opposed Emperor Jiajing were beaten to death. They were also afraid of Zhang Cong, the chief minister of the cabinet, and dared not speak out in anger.

However, the 28-year-old Xu Jie, who was also young and energetic, stood up and went to Emperor Jiajing. He firmly opposed it and said NO to Emperor Jiajing.

Emperor Jiajing asked Zhang Cong to deal with it. Zhang Cong angrily lectured Xu Jie, and Xu Jie argued hard. Zhang Cong angrily scolded Xu Jie and said, "Are you going to betray me?" Xu Jie sneered. Betrayal is based on attachment. When did I, Xu Jie, depend on you? ! Then, Xu Jie wrote another letter firmly opposing it.

After taking a liking to Xu Jie's Shang Shu, the young and energetic Emperor Jiajing was furious. Are you still in high spirits?

Okay, you think I can't be a foolish king, I can't be notorious for not being able to accept advice from my subordinates, and I can't put you in jail, right?

Don't think there's nothing I can do.

If I can't put you in jail, then let's try another way. I'll demote you to a place where nothing matters, and become a small official in charge of the prison, so you can keep company with the prison.

Therefore, Xu Jie was demoted to Yanping Prefecture in Fujian Province to work as an official in charge of the prison.

In this way, Emperor Jiajing was still angry. After abandoning the edict of relegation, he angrily ran to Wuyi Hall and carved the words "Xu Jie villain, never use it" on the pillar with his own hands. Remind yourself that Xu Jie is a villain and I can never reuse him.

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