"Sheng, I wrote an eight-part essay a few days ago. If Zihou has time, you might as well help me correct it."
Halfway through breakfast, when Zhu Ping'an was still thinking about how to start his memorial, Yang Jisheng took out a folded piece of rice paper from his arms, saying that it was an eight-part essay he had written, and asked Zhu Ping'an to help him correct it.
Eight-legged essay
Zhu Ping'an was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then his heart skipped a beat. This so-called "eight-part essay" should be the memorial from Senior Brother Yang.
really.
When Zhu Ping'an took the "Eight-part Essay" handed to him by Yang Jisheng and opened it, he found that it was exactly as he had expected.
"Please execute the traitorous minister"
The five large, iron-painted and silver-hooked characters at the beginning of the cover seem like a spine of steel, rushing towards you.
After reading it, Zhu Pingan looked up at Yang Jisheng. Yang Jisheng smiled slightly and motioned Zhu Pingan to continue reading.
So Zhu Ping'an flipped through the text and continued reading:
"Yang Jisheng, the official in charge of the Ministry of War's Military Selection and Clean Personnel Department, respectfully reports: In order to express gratitude to the Heaven and repay the favor, I beg the Holy Judge to punish the treacherous, cunning, and power-hungry officials as soon as possible to clean up the government and eliminate border troubles. I was previously the official in the Ministry of War's Chariot Department. I advised against the horse market, but my words were not timely, and a word was missed in the manuscript. I should be imprisoned for my crime. The rebel Luanwei interrogated the officials, who broke my fingers and clamped my tibia, and wanted to put me to death. I am grateful to the Emperor for his grace, and I was demoted to a light punishment. Within two years, I was promoted to my current position. Because I am a lonely and upright criminal, I am very lucky to not die at the hands of Ni Luan, and I have been transferred so quickly. From now on, all the years I have lived are the rebirth of the emperor. From now on, all the positions I have held are the positions granted by the emperor. I have received this great grace. If I can do anything that is beneficial to the country and can repay the emperor, I will not care about death. I am afraid day and night that I will think about how to sacrifice my life to repay the emperor. I have not been anxious to ask for the execution of the traitor. Moreover, I am a military official, and my duty is to fight against the traitors. However, the traitors are not limited to foreign invasions. Anyone who harms the country and the people is called a traitor..."
This was the first time that Zhu Ping'an saw Yang Jisheng's original version of "Petition to Execute the Traitorous Ministers". Zhu Ping'an had not seen the original text of Yang Jisheng's memorial in modern times, but only knew the general idea of the memorial and some key points.
Zhu Ping'an read it very carefully, weighing every word and sentence, and studying whether there were any other taboos in the memorial except "or ask the two kings".
This first paragraph explains the background and there is nothing wrong with it.
Zhu Pingan continued to read the second paragraph: "I have seen that Grand Secretary Yan Song has stolen power and authority, and has brought disaster to the country and the people. Is he the greatest thief in the world? At present, the most urgent thieves outside are those on the border, and the worst thieves inside are those in Yan Song. Bandits are thieves on the border, and they are like scabies; thief Song is a thief at the gate, and he is a harm to the heart and soul. There are internal and external thieves, and the attacks should be made in sequence. There is no way to eliminate external thieves without getting rid of the internal thieves. Therefore, I request to execute the thief Song, and we should do so before we eliminate all the thieves. Moreover, Song's crimes are so numerous that gods and men are indignant. Xu Xueshi, Shen Lian, Wang Zongmao and others have often impeached him, but they only said that Song's corruption was minor and never exposed Song's crime of usurpation."
In this second paragraph, Yang Jisheng got straight to the point and severely criticized Yan Song's crimes, saying that Xu Xueshi, Shen Lian, Wang Zongmao and others only impeached Yan Song for minor crimes such as corruption, but did not impeach Yan Song for the serious crime of usurpation.
Although this paragraph contains Senior Brother Yang's personal emotions, overall, there is nothing wrong with it.
Zhu Ping'an continued reading and then got to the point.
Yang Jisheng worked hard and wrote more than 3,000 words to expose the ten major crimes and five major treasons of Yan Song's dictatorship and treason.
Zhu Ping'an read and summarized that Yang Jisheng revealed the following ten crimes of Yan Song in his memorial:
One major crime: When Emperor Taizu of our dynasty saw the harm of the prime minister's monopoly of power, he dismissed the prime minister and set up cabinet ministers to prepare advisors. However, the traitor Yan Song used the emperor's power to interfere in the affairs of hundreds of departments and always regarded himself as the prime minister. Although he did not hold the title of prime minister, he was actually the prime minister. He was so powerful that officials would always thank the traitor Yan Song before thanking the emperor for his grace when they were promoted, because they knew that the power came from the traitor Yan Song and they only knew to fear and flatter him. This was a violation of the established laws of our ancestors.
The second major crime: The emperor's traitor Yan Song recommended the emperor. Every time the emperor employed someone, the traitor Yan Song would brag about it everywhere, saying that this person was recommended by me on the recommendation list; every time the emperor dismissed someone, the traitor Yan Song would say that this person was not loyal to me, so I dismissed him on the recommendation list; every time the emperor was lenient to someone, the traitor Yan Song would say that he was saved by his recommendation list; every time the emperor punished someone, the traitor Yan Song would tell people everywhere that this person offended him, so he took revenge on him on the recommendation list. The traitor Yan Song always took advantage of the emperor's mood and anger to arbitrarily abuse his power, so the ministers felt more grateful to Yan Song than to the emperor, and feared Yan Song's power more than to the emperor's punishment. Since the power of employing, dismissing, rewarding and punishing belonged to Yan Song, and all the ministers, big and small, were attached to Yan Song, wouldn't Yan Song's heart and courage grow and become more arrogant day by day? He stole the emperor's great power.
Three major crimes: Whenever Your Majesty has a good policy, the thief Song always says that it is due to his suggestion. He is trying to rob and erase the credit of Your Majesty.
Four major crimes: The thief Song allowed his son to usurp the imperial power and entrusted great power to his son Yan Shifan, so there was a rumor of "big prime minister and small prime minister" in the capital.
The five major crimes: The thief Song used public resources for personal gain, promoted his relatives and cronies to higher positions and titles, and claimed military merits from the imperial court.
The sixth major crime: The thief Song accepted bribes on a large scale and appointed treacherous officials such as Zhao Daying and Gao Botai, causing harm to the world.
Seven major sins: foreign invasion, the traitor Song was afraid of fighting, and disrupted the country's military affairs.
Eight major crimes: The thief Song held the power of the government and followed the principle that those who obey me will prosper and those who disobey me will perish.
The Ninth Major Sin: The promotion of civil and military officials was based on the amount of bribes offered, which led to rampant corruption and exploitation, and greatly lost the support of the people.
The ten major crimes: Since the thief Song took office, bribery has become rampant in the court and the country, the official style is corrupt, officials take advantage of opportunities and loopholes to do things, and the customs are corrupted, and the atmosphere is full of chaos.
After Zhu Ping'an read the ten major crimes word by word, he discovered that the sixth major crime among the ten major crimes mentioned Zhao Daying, Gao Botai and others whom he had impeached before, and used them as examples of Yan Song accepting bribes.
This is probably one of the effects of the fluttering of my own butterfly wings.
Although these ten crimes were a little exaggerated, they were all facts. Yang Jisheng tore off all the fig leaves and pointed directly at Yan Song's serious sins, especially the first three crimes, which were simply digging up the tree... No wonder in history, Yan Song broke out in a cold sweat after reading Yang Jisheng's memorial.
However, after reading the ten major crimes, Zhu Ping'an had a vague feeling that the ten major crimes that Senior Brother Yang impeached Yan Song for had implicated the Emperor as well...
In Senior Brother Yang's memorial, Yan Song seemed to have become a powerful traitor, a bit like Cao Cao who held the emperor hostage to control the princes.
Since ancient times, there have been treacherous ministers among incompetent rulers.
The corrupt officials are even worse.
Only a cowardly and incompetent ruler can produce a corrupt official.
If he was a wise ruler, how could he be deceived by his subjects to such an extent? If he was a strong ruler, how could he be overstepped by his subjects
However, it is also possible that I am overthinking, or it is my own illusion, because I know that in history Yang Jisheng angered the emperor because of this memorial, so if I read this memorial with this preconceived cognition, I may have this illusion.