It turns out that the historical allusion "Xu Jie is a villain and will never be employed" actually existed, and it was engraved on this Wuyi pillar.
Every day when Xu Jie came to Wuyi to work, he would see these eight words on the pillar.
By the way, how profound is Xu Jie's experience
According to the history that Zhu Ping'an read in modern times, these eight characters were carved by Emperor Jiajing in the ninth year of Jiajing. In that year, Emperor Jiajing was 23 years old and had been on the throne for nine years. In that year, Xu Jie was 28 years old and had passed the imperial examination for seven years.
When talking about these eight words, we have to mention a famous event in the history of the Ming Dynasty - the "Great Ceremony Controversy".
The "Great Ceremony Controversy" happened when Emperor Jiajing had just ascended the throne.
Actually, Emperor Jiajing originally had no chance to become emperor. Before he ascended the throne, the emperor was his cousin, the famous Emperor Zhengde, Zhu Houzhao, the Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty.
Emperor Zhengde was a rare figure in the history of the Ming Dynasty.
On the one hand, Emperor Zhengde was wise and brave, and he handled state affairs with fortitude and decisiveness, and reviewed memorials with wisdom and determination. In a blink of an eye, he put down the rebellion of the great eunuch Liu Jin, the rebellion of Prince Anhua, and Prince Ning, and he often provided disaster relief and exempted taxes, and personally led the army to defeat the Mongolian prince, won a great victory in Yingzhou and defeated the Tatar army. The key point is that in the battle of Yingzhou, Emperor Zhengde, as an emperor, also lived and ate with the soldiers, and personally rode his horse into the enemy camp and killed an enemy like cutting melons and vegetables, which immediately boosted morale and defeated the enemy army.
On the other hand, the Zhengde Emperor was licentious, eccentric, shameless, and had excessive pleasures. He was a well-known tyrant. He built a leopard room, hid countless girls, and had fun day and night. He played war games and liked to give himself official titles. He gave himself the title of mighty general. I wonder if the Jiajing Emperor liked to give himself Taoist titles. Did he learn this from his cousin? It is also said that the Zhengde Emperor often ignored state affairs and took the Jinyiwei out of the palace to look for prostitutes. No matter whether the other party had a husband or not, as long as he liked them, he would have them taken to the palace, causing complaints from the people around the capital.
Such a weird emperor ended up killing himself.
However, you, Emperor Zhengde, closed your eyes and passed away, but you left behind a mess for the entire court, and the key thing is that he had no offspring.
what to do
The country cannot be without a king for a day. Who will inherit the throne
So, Emperor Jiajing's opportunity came.
Yang Tinghe and other regents at the time checked the emperor's family tree and decided to let Emperor Jiajing Zhu Houzhao, the second son of Prince Xingxian Zhu Youlu, the grandson of Emperor Xianzong, nephew of Emperor Xiaozong, and cousin of Emperor Wuzong, inherit the throne. The reason why he was the second son was because the eldest son had died long ago.
Originally, things were simple, but once they fell into the hands of the royal family, they became no longer simple.
This is a feudal society, a feudal society ruled by Confucianism, especially the royal family. According to Confucius' theory, Confucius advocated Zhouli, the core of which is the eldest son inheritance system, which means that the royal family's inheritance is based on bloodline. Since you, Emperor Jiajing, want to be the emperor, you must have a direct blood relationship with the previous emperor. Moreover, Confucianism stipulates that when a minor clan inherits a major clan, the major clan should be the primary.
Therefore, Yang Tinghe and others believed that Emperor Jiajing Zhu Houzhao should first be adopted by Emperor Zhengde's biological father, Emperor Jiajing's cousin, as a son, so that there would be a direct blood relationship, and then Emperor Jiajing could inherit the throne.
Therefore, when Yang Tinghe and his colleagues welcomed Emperor Jiajing to Beijing to inherit the throne, they held a ceremony of adoption and crowning the crown prince outside the capital, allowing Emperor Jiajing to enter the capital as the son of Emperor Xiaozong and the current crown prince to inherit the throne.
but
Emperor Jiajing refused to do it.
Although Emperor Jiajing was only fifteen years old at the time, he was a genius, and a proud one at that.
You want me to be adopted by your uncle
You don't allow me to recognize my biological parents, and you want me to accept my uncle as my father?!
What the hell, I can't even recognize my own parents. Am I an unfilial person?! Will I be criticized in the future
This is intolerable!
"The imperial edict orders me to be the emperor, not the crown prince. I will not obey your command." The fifteen-year-old Emperor Jiajing was at the city gate, firmly disagreeing.
Emperor Jiajing refused, but the country could not be without a ruler for a day. So Yang Tinghe and others gave in and let Emperor Jiajing ascend the throne first.
After ascending the throne, Emperor Jiajing wanted to worship his deceased father, Prince Xingxian Zhu Youhang. As a result, Yang Tinghe and others used the teachings of Confucius and Mencius to oppose it firmly. Emperor Jiajing said, "If you don't let me enthronize my father, I will go home with my mother and I will not be the emperor anymore."
Therefore, Yang Tinghe and others gave in again. However, Yang Tinghe still did one thing: you can recognize your biological parents and can title them as emperors and empresses, but you cannot call them "emperors". Your emperor father must still be your uncle, Emperor Xiaozong.
As the Jiajing Emperor had just ascended the throne and his position was unstable, he reluctantly agreed to call his father "Emperor Xingxian" and his mother "Empress Dowager Xingguo".
In the third year of Jiajing's reign, Emperor Jiajing's throne was stable, and he conferred the title of "Emperor" on his biological parents. Yang Tinghe was eventually dismissed from office, and officials from all departments and departments submitted memorials to oppose Emperor Jiajing. More than 200 ministers went to the Zuoshun Gate of the imperial palace to petition. The reason for their opposition was the teachings of Confucius and Mencius.
Of course, since Emperor Jiajing's throne was secure, he would not be polite. He ordered more than one hundred people to be arrested and imprisoned. Officials above the fourth rank had their salaries taken away, and officials below the fifth rank were all beaten with sticks in the court. Eighteen people were beaten to death this time.
Therefore, due to the Great Ceremony Debate, Emperor Jiajing had strong opinions about Confucianism, such as the system of primogeniture, the younger clan inheriting the older clan, and the older clan being the primary authority. Therefore, Emperor Jiajing had strong opinions about the founder of Confucianism - Confucius.
In the ninth year of the Jiajing reign, the young and energetic 23-year-old Emperor Jiajing, at the suggestion of Zhang Cong, the chief minister of the cabinet, proposed to remove Confucius' title of king and lower the standards for worshiping Confucius, destroy statues, use wooden tablets, etc.
This is Confucius, the ancient sage. In the hearts of scholars, Confucius is a god-like existence. To show their respect for Confucius, emperors of all dynasties have been continuously conferring titles and posthumous titles on Confucius. You actually want to reduce the royal title and sacrificial standards!
Although the officials opposed in their hearts, they were frightened by the beatings of Emperor Jiajing. Eighteen officials who opposed Emperor Jiajing at Zuo Shunmen were beaten to death. They were also afraid of Zhang Cong, the chief minister of the cabinet, and dared not speak out.
However, Xu Jie, who was also young and energetic at the age of 28, stood up, wrote a memorial to Emperor Jiajing, firmly opposed it, and said NO to Emperor Jiajing.
Emperor Jiajing asked Zhang Cong to deal with it. Zhang Cong angrily taught Xu Jie a lesson, but Xu Jie argued with him. Zhang Cong angrily scolded Xu Jie, saying, "You kid are going to betray me?" Xu Jie sneered, "Betrayal is based on dependence. When have I ever been dependent on you?" Then, Xu Jie wrote another letter to express his firm opposition.
After reading Xu Jie's memorial, the young and hot-tempered Emperor Jiajing was furious. You're still getting excited, aren't you
Well, you think I can’t be a tyrant, can’t have the bad reputation of not being able to accept advice from my subordinates, and can’t put you in jail, right
Don't think I can't do anything.
Since I can't put you in jail, I'll try another way. I'll demote you to a remote place and make you a minor official in charge of the prison. You'll be a prison resident.
Therefore, Xu Jie was demoted to Yanping Prefecture in Fujian Province to serve as a prison prosecutor.
Even so, Emperor Jiajing was still furious. After throwing down the imperial edict of exile, he ran to Wuyi Hall angrily and carved the eight words "Xu Jie is a villain and will never be employed" on the pillar with his own hands to remind himself that Xu Jie was a villain and I could never use him.
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