In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, under the impetus of Zhang Juzheng, the first assistant of the cabinet, a comprehensive change occurred in the military, political, economic and other fields, which consolidated the Ming Dynasty regime to a certain extent, and once appeared in the situation of "Zhongxing". Emperor Mingshenzong, who was also the Wanli Emperor, said to Zhang Juzheng: "Mr. Zhang Juzheng has done great deeds, and he has no reward for his life, so it is enough to take care of his descendants." So after Zhang Juzheng's death, how did the Wanli Emperor treat Zhang Juzheng's descendants?
First, raid the house
After Feng Bao's downfall, he copied a lot of gold and silver treasures from his home, and the Wanli Emperor was very happy, and he felt that the savings in Zhang Juzheng's family must not be less. At this time, the ministers of the DPRK and China continued to impeach and attack Zhang Juzheng, so the Wanli Emperor ordered "to seize the Pillar State, the Taishi, and then the Emperor." Not long after, the deposed Princess Liao wrote to her, saying, "The people of Shu are full of treasures and treasures, and they are all in the right place." The Wanli Emperor sent "Si Li Zhang Cheng and The Attendant Qiu Qiao To command jinyi and give the Zhongshu Juzheng family".
Before the arrival of the imperial emissaries, local officials in Jingzhou had already sealed Off Zhang Juzheng's home and "recorded the population and imprisoned his door." When the emissary arrived, he opened the gate to find that the Zhang family had starved to death more than a dozen people. Then it was to confiscate all the family property, "to hide all his sons and brothers, and to get gold and more than 100,000 taels of platinum." Compared with Liu Jin and Yan Song, Zhang Juzheng's family property was not much, but the Wanli Emperor and the officials who raided the family were not satisfied, because they felt that the Zhang family was hiding their property.
2. Plundering
Decades later, Li Zicheng, the king of the Chuang Dynasty, occupied Beijing and adopted the method of "torture" in order to force Ming officials to take out their family property. In fact, this trick was not Li Zicheng's "patent", and the Wanli Emperor used this trick against Zhang Juzheng's descendants. The emissaries of the imperial court tortured Zhang Juzheng's sons and forced them to confess the two million taels of silver they had deposited outside the palace. In the end, Zhang Juzheng's eldest son, Zhang Jingxiu, could not bear the punishment and committed suicide; the third son, Zhang Maoxiu, committed suicide twice, but was unsuccessful.
Before committing suicide, Zhang Jingxiu wrote a bloody letter detailing the persecution of his family. At the end of this blood letter, Zhang Jingxiu angrily rebuked the emissaries sent by the imperial court, "Qiu Shilang, Ren Fu press, live Yama King!" You also have the thoughts of your parents and wives, and come by the destiny of heaven, if you have their affection, then mourn and do not rejoice, how can you bear to trap people so fiercely! Finally, Zhang Jingxiu said, "Now I have no choice but to die to make my heart clear", indicating that he committed suicide for the sake of innocence.
3. Exile
Zhang Jingxiu's death caused a shock in the government and the public, and Shen Shixing and the officials of the six ministries wrote letters one after another, "Please be less lenient", and the song of the Punishment Department Shangshu Pan Jitao was the most intense. Pan Jitao "is too anxious to cure Juzheng prison, and dozens of people have been killed by Juzheng's family members." As a result, the Wanli Emperor was very unhappy, and it was not long before Pan Jitao was accused of being Zhang Juzheng's henchman, so he lost his official position. After that, the Wanli Emperor carried out a thorough "verdict" on Zhang Juzheng's entire family.
Zhang Juzheng's younger brother Zhang Juyi, the second son Zhang Sixue, the third son Zhang Maoxiu, the fourth son Zhang Jianxiu, and the fifth son Zhang Yunxiu were all exiled. Their place of exile was Xuwen in Guangdong, which in ancient China was a land of smoke and miasma, and the environment was very harsh. Only one person was pardoned, and she was Zhang Juzheng's old mother, and the Wanli Emperor decreed, "Leave an empty house and ten acres of land to support his mother." It was not until more than thirty years later that the imperial court restored Zhang Juzheng to his official position and pardoned his descendants.
References: 1. Ming Shilu, 2. Ming History, 3. Ming History Chronicle