In the fourteenth year of orthodoxy, when Ming Yingzong was in the imperial expedition to Wara, the whole army was wiped out in Tumubao, and Ming Yingzong, as the king of a country, fell into the hands of the Warat people and became the only emperor of the Ming Dynasty to be captured. For the sake of the Ming Dynasty, Empress Dowager Sun (Yingzong's biological mother) and the ministers had to let Yingzong's only younger brother Zhu Qiyu ascend the throne, even if Zhu Qiyu was reluctant, he had to sit on the throne.
However, after being on the throne for a long time, Emperor Jingtai also realized the benefits of being the king of a country, so even if his brother returned to the capital in September of the first year of Jingtai, Emperor Jingtai did not have the slightest intention of Zen. On the contrary, he was worried that his brother would threaten his throne, and imprisoned his brother in Nangong and was not free.
even abolished Empress Dowager Sun herself as the crown prince Zhu Jianshen (the eldest son of Yingzong), and made his own son Zhu Jianji the new crown prince.
However, Zhu Jianji died after only a little more than a year on the crown prince's throne, and no more princes were born after Emperor Jingtai.
In the eighth year of Jingtai, Emperor Jingtai was already bedridden, and the ministers asked to restore Zhu Jianshen as the crown prince, but Emperor Jingtai just refused.
The general Shi Heng and the eunuch Cao Jixiang and others launched a rebellion to seize the door, welcomed Yingzong, who was imprisoned in Nangong, and re-ascended the throne, changing the era name "orthodoxy" to "Tianshun". In this way, Ming Yingzong sat on the throne for another 8 years, and after dying of illness at the age of 38, he passed the throne to his son Ming Xianzong Zhu Jianshen.
It is precisely because Ming Yingzong experienced the change of Tumubao, the 7-year imprisonment of Nangong, and the change of seizing the door, after re-ascending the throne, in order to consolidate his imperial power and avoid the phenomenon of ministers forming parties for personal gain, he used the Jinyiwei founded and left by Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang as his eyes and ears to understand the situation outside the Forbidden City.
There are two of them in the Jinyi Guard, which Yingzong trusts and relies on very much. It is precisely because of Yingzong's reuse and trust in Jinyiwei that Tianshun was in the first dynasty, and the courtiers did not dare to say much even if they were dissatisfied with Jinyiwei, even Li Xian, a scholar who was highly used by Yingzong, only dared to mention one or two sentences of Jinyiwei's actions in Yingzong.
In this article, let's take a look: In the 8th year of the Tianshun Dynasty, to what extent was Jinyiwei excessive?
01
There are two leaders of the Jinyi Guards that Yingzong mainly relies on: one is Menda and the other is Lugao.
Jingtai's eight-year change of seizing the door, Menda also participated, and was one of the heroes of Yingzong's reinstatement, so when Yingzong was rewarding meritorious deeds, Menda was promoted to the commander of the third grade, and soon after that, he was promoted to the commander of the third product, and was specifically responsible for managing the prison of the Zhenfu Division
At the beginning, under the influence of Xie Tong, Menda did a lot of meaningful things, pacified many unjust, false and wrongful cases, and allowed many people to return to freedom. Therefore, for a time, the ministers praised Menda for his virtue.
However, after Yingzong was reinstated, what he needed was not a simple virtuous person, but a right-hand man to help him sit firmly on the throne and strengthen the imperial power.
And Lu Gao is very good at catering to Yingzong's wishes, helping Yingzong suppress those officials who don't like it, and Yingzong is becoming more and more dependent on Lu Gao.
Especially in the fourth year of Tianshun, Lu Gao, who had been promoted to the commander of the Jinyi Guard, played Yingzong, Shi Heng (one of the heroes of the change of seizing the door, was named a duke by Yingzong, but he did many illegal things, and the eunuch Cao Jixiang was very excessive in the court) was unscrupulous, waiting for an opportunity to spy on the movements of the court, intending to plot wrong. Yingzong ordered Shi Heng to be imprisoned, and soon Shi Heng was in prison.
It was precisely because Lu Gao helped Yingzong get rid of Shi Heng that Yingzong relied on him even more.
At this time, Menda, seeing that Yingzong favored Lu Gao so much, slowly became the same as Lu Gao in order to be favored.
Lu Gao often investigates cases on his own, and if he finds a clue, he will inform Menda. But all the court officials who were found by Lu Gao and Menda would lose their lives. So much so that the courtiers were very afraid of the Jinyi Guard, and even took the initiative to befriend the Jinyi Guard in order to avoid trouble.
And Yingzong is very indulgent to Jinyiwei, and the school captains who live in various parts of the capital do many illegal things, and even some people see that Jinyiwei is so arrogant, so they pretend to be school captains and defraud a lot of property. For example, there was a student surnamed Ma, who pretended to be Jinyiwei Zhenfu, claiming that he was ordered by Yingzong to return to his hometown to bury his father.
The magistrate knew that he was a fake, and only knew that the student surnamed Ma was Jinyiwei Zhenfu, so he was very afraid and came to mourn his father.
Later, the incident of the student surnamed Ma pretending to be Jinyiwei was revealed, and those officials hurriedly pleaded guilty. Yingzong's approach was indeed somewhat unexpected: Yingzong felt that these officials were afraid of the imperial court, so he forgave them; And the student surnamed Ma, it was precisely because of the fake Jinyi Wei that the officials were so afraid, and Yingzong not only did not punish him, but felt that he was very honorable.
It is precisely because Yingzong relies on Jinyiwei's favor to such a degree that many unjust, false and wrongful cases have occurred.
02
In the fourth year of Tianshun, an arrest school captain reported that the relationship between the king of Linchuan and the four nuns was ambiguous.
The king of Linchuan is Zhu Panxi, the third son of Zhu Quan, the king of Ningxian, and Zhu Quan is the seventeenth son of Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of Taizu, with a fief in Daning, and is a vassal king with heavy troops. During the Battle of Jingjing, Zhu Di, the king of Yan, coerced Zhu Quan, the king of Ning, to appease the martyrdom together, and promised to divide the world equally after the matter was completed. However, Zhu Di's accession to the throne not only did not share the world equally with Zhu Quan, but changed his fief to Nanchang, and Zhu Quan hated Zhu Di very much. Before he died, he left his last words: he wanted future generations to find a chance to take revenge.
Therefore, the reigning emperor has always been very uneasy about Zhu Quan's lineage, and it is naturally the focus of Jinyiwei's surveillance.
Zhu Panyi, as the third son of Zhu Quan, was naturally not qualified to inherit the title of King Ning, but was named the king of Linchuan.
Yingzong sent Menda to investigate the matter of King Linchuan, and King Linchuan was worried that the matter would be exposed, so he spent a lot of effort to confront Menda and others, so Menda replied to Yingzong: King Linchuan is indeed innocent.
Once Yingzong mentioned this matter to the scholar Li Xian, Li Xian said: In fact, the school captain will wronged people many times, take the matter of King Linchuan as an example, Menda said that King Linchuan is innocent, so must King Linchuan be innocent? I've heard that it's the captain who has the final say, and the priests can only sigh and not make the decision, and only Menda himself knows it.
Those who take revenge for personal gain and take some illusory things should be punished as serious crimes.
However, Yingzong listened to Li Xian's words and didn't take it seriously: If you really deal with it like this, how can Jinyiwei do things for me with his heart in the future; Let's let the calmer defend them!
It was clear that Yingzong was well aware of Jinyiwei's actions, but he did not intend to restrain Jinyiwei. When Li Xian heard Yingzong's answer, he didn't know what to do.
Soon another thing happened:
In December of the fourth year of Tianshun, the captain of the investigation school played Yingzong: Zhu Dianyan, the king of Yiyang, actually had an abusive relationship with his mother. Lu Gao played Yingzong, and Yingzong believed that this matter must be severely punished, and it was a matter of royal face. A month later, the two elder brothers of King Yiyang interceded for their younger brother, saying that there was no such thing. Yingzong didn't believe their report, thinking that they were protecting his younger brother, so he replied directly:
If it is revealed in the future, you will not be able to escape the blame.
And the Yingzong sent the right deputy envoy Li Guang, the horse commander Xue Huan and Lu Gao to investigate the matter, but nothing was found, and the three had to return to the Yingzong truthfully. Only then did Yingzong realize that these lieutenants were harmful, so he said to the scholar Li Xian: How could I see such a thing happen in the sect. Lu Gao's statements are inconsistent, which shows that he has indeed wronged many people before.
Li Xian took the opportunity to say: Indeed, as the emperor said, the law secretary knew that they were wronged, but he did not dare to defend these wronged people because he was afraid of these people. If the emperor can give an order to the lawyers: let them not avoid suspicion because of fear, and let them tell the truth of the case, then it will be more appropriate.
Yingzong listened to Li Xian's words and issued an edict to the legal department: the case must be tried carefully, right and wrong must be distinguished, and it is not allowed to avoid suspicion because of fear, and not to tell the matter, and wronged a good person.
As soon as the will was given, the subjects were naturally happy, and Yingzong proudly told Li Xian about the reaction of his subjects. Li Xian took the opportunity to praise Yingzong: The emperor can be like this, which is a blessing for the people of the Ming Dynasty!
But in fact, Yingzong still trusts Jinyiwei and does not trust the Fa Si, and he is very annoyed by the inconsistency of Lu Gao's caliber.
In order to protect himself, Lu Gao once again insisted that Zhu Dianyan, the king of Yiyang, was indeed in abusive love with his mother. Yingzong ordered the death of the mother and son of the king of Yiyang, and planned to burn the bodies of the two directly, so as not to let them be buried in the ground. However, as soon as the bodies of the two men were carried outside, thunder began to fall in the sky, followed by heavy rain. Therefore, the people all think that King Yiyang was wronged.
However, at this point, Yingzong did not care whether King Yiyang was wronged or not.
The eunuch Cao Jixiang (one of the heroes of the change of seizing the door) admired Lu Gao very much, and the more Lu Gao went too far, he thought that Lu Gao was more loyal to him. However, Lu Gao crossed the river and demolished the bridge, and did not always have a close relationship with Cao Jixiang, but directly played the matter of Cao Jixiang and his nephew Cao Qin wanting to rebel to Yingzong. In the fifth year of Tianshun, Cao Qin killed Lu Gao. And Cao Qin and Cao Jixiang were exposed, and they were both executed by Yingzong.
Yingzong Wei Lu Gao was very sorry for his death, so he ordered him to be added as a commander.
03
When Lu Gao used to work under Menda, he often relied on Yingzong's favor for him and was unscrupulous. Menda was very dissatisfied with Lu Gao because of this, but because Yingzong re-Lu Gao, Menda could only be angry. Now that Lu Gao has been killed by Cao Qin, Menda wants to replace Lu Gao as Yingzong's henchman, so he follows Lu Gao in everything and arranges flag schools in various places.
As long as there is a clue, it will need to be reported, so the number of whistleblowers is increasing, and the subjects have to be cautious for fear that they will accidentally become a sinner in the mouth of Menda and lose their lives. However, Yingzong thought that Menda's ability was becoming more and more outstanding, so Menda became the most trusted and relied on person by Yingzong's side after Lu Gao.
And Menda relied on the favor of Yingzong and became the second Lu Gao. Even if the people around him persuaded Menda: remember Lu Gao's lesson, but Menda was unmoved, even if it was Menda, a relative of the emperor, he was not afraid at all, and in the end he did not die well.
Sun Jizong was Yingzong's uncle and the elder brother of Empress Dowager Sun, who made meritorious contributions to the change of seizing the door and was named the Marquis of Huichang. However, 67 people under Sun Jizong's command pretended to be the heroes of the change to seize the door and received the reward, and after Menda found out about it, he played Yingzong. Although Sun Jizong was Yingzong's uncle, Yingzong did not give his uncle face, and directly reprimanded his uncle fiercely, and sent all his uncle's subordinates to prison.
According to the practice of the Ming Dynasty: if it is a fasting day, the case can not be accepted. On the day of fasting, the wife of a sergeant beat a drum and cried out a grievance, but the matter was not accepted. In fact, it is also customary to do this in the matter, but Menda played the matter to Yingzong, and Yingzong directly sent him to prison.
Immediately afterwards, the imperial history Xu Mao impeached, Langzhong Zhao Chang and others were all degraded because of Menda.
......
Because Yingzong is very fond of Jinyiwei and trusts him very much, even the courtiers dare not express their grievances. Even Li Xian, a scholar reused by Yingzong, only dared to say a few words when Yingzong was happy.
One day, Li Xian saw that Yingzong was in a good mood, so he mentioned Jinyiwei: Now the people live and work in peace and contentment, but there is one thing that bothers them.
Yingzong was puzzled: What?
Li Xian replied: It's Jinyiwei, Jinyiwei is doing things outside, there is really no law and discipline at all, and he acts recklessly.
Yingzong was not surprised by the words with Li Xian, but thought that Jin Yiwei should be like this: they represented the imperial court, and it was a matter of course for people to be feared, and perhaps something harmful to people. Well, if there is nothing important in the future, I will not send them down.
Because of Li Xian's words, Yingzong was a little suspicious of Li Xian.
After Jin Yiwei learned that Li Xian said bad things about himself in front of Yingzong, he framed Li Xian in front of Yingzong, and Yingzong naturally believed some of them after many times, so he slowly alienated Li Xian. Moreover, Yingzong thought that what Li Xian said was a bit exaggerated, so he sent someone to investigate the truth and falsehood, and it turned out that he did investigate that a detective lieutenant then collected three or four thousand taels of silver.
Only then did Yingzong believe Li Xian's words, and he restored his trust in Li Xian.
Then he summoned Menda and warned Menda: Since Jinyiwei did accept bribes, then you must find a way to avoid it, and if there is any more, I will be severely punished. Menda quickly confessed that he was not strict in his discipline, and Yingzong said no more.
Menda relied on Yingzong's favor and trust in him, and even Yuan Bin, who had shared hardships with Yingzong, did not let go. After Yingzong was captured by Wara, Yuan Bin has been by his side to take care of and come up with ideas, it can be said that Yuan Bin has really lived with Yingzong through hardships, and the feelings of the two are naturally different. It is precisely because of this that Menda is very jealous of Yuan Bin.
Moreover, many courtiers in the court were imprisoned because of Menda, but Yuan Bin refused to give in to Menda, which made Menda very dissatisfied, so he tried every means to get rid of Yuan Bin. Finally let Menda seize the opportunity to frame Yuan Bin and arrest Yuan Bin in prison, Yingzong said to Menda: Whatever you want, but give me the life of Yuan Bin!
Yuan Bin told Menda's lawlessness one by one, but the Fa Si was afraid of Menda and did not dare to play Yingzong truthfully. In the end, Yuan Bin was hanged, and Yingzong was aware of this, so he ignored Menda's arguments and transferred Yuan Bin to Nanjing, saving Yuan Bin.
After Yingzong died of illness in the eighth year of Tianshun, Menda was convicted and sent to Guangxi by the new emperor Xianzong, and Houmenda died in Guangxi.
epilogue
Because Yingzong was captured by the Warat people and imprisoned by his younger brother in Nangong for seven years and was not allowed to be free, his temperament changed greatly, and he became more and more insecure, and realized the importance of imperial power. In order to strengthen the imperial power, it is indeed understandable to rely on the brocade guards very much.
However, as the king of a country, Yingzong only considered strengthening the imperial power, and ignored the courtiers and the people, so he had the taste of "being bitten by a snake for ten years and afraid of the well rope". So much so that everywhere Jin Yiwei went, he was afraid, which not only caused a lot of unjust, false and wrongful cases in the Tianshun years, but also made the ministers dare not say much. In this way, how can we do our best to do things for the court?
During the Hongwu Dynasty, Emperor Taizu launched the Lanyu case and the Hu Weiyong case, implicating more than 40,000 people and killing them. Therefore, it takes good luck to be an official in the Hongwu Dynasty, and he may go out to the court in the morning, and he will already stay in prison in the afternoon. Although it was not as difficult as being an official in Tianshun as it was in Hongwu Dynasty, because of Jinyiwei's reckless behavior, the courtiers also had a hard time.
Resources:
"Talking about the Ming Dynasty"
"Ming History" "Ming Tong Bowl"