The literary giants of the late Ming Dynasty began by copying books

Chapter 169 Morning in Wanli

In the capital, it is the beginning of winter again. At dawn, the first heavy snowfall of this winter falls.

Emperor Wanli stood in front of the steps with a smile on his face: "Auspicious snow heralds a good harvest."

The twenty-eighth year of Wanli was not a good year. The emperor still expected that this year would pass early and everything would be renewed next year.

So he was extra energetic when he got up early this morning. Of course, it was impossible to go to court, but he took the rare initiative to arrange things.

In the Ming Dynasty, although the Beginning of Winter was not as big a festival as the Winter Solstice requiring sacrifices, it still had many rituals.

September is about to pass, and the cold winter is coming. At this time, the emperor needs to reward "those who have died in royal affairs to stabilize the borders of the country", summon civil and military officials to give them clothes, hats and bands for the beginning of winter, and even the more diligent emperor will also give him a reward. Need to go out to the countryside to welcome winter.

Of course, all this will be exempted in the Wanli Dynasty. According to statistics from later generations, in the Ming Dynasty, the emperor personally went to the Temple of Heaven to hold more than a hundred national sacrifices, and the number of them held during Wanli's more than [-] years of reign was - four times... This guy really doesn't want to go out. .

Emperor Wanli had a very homely character and always claimed to be sick. At this time, people thought he was lying. It was not until his bones were unearthed in later generations that his grievances were partially cleared.

There are photos of Emperor Wanli’s skull, and it’s so horrible to look at at a glance. When Wanli died, all the teeth on half of his face had fallen out.

Perhaps due to poor eating habits since childhood or genetic reasons, Wanli had very serious periodontal disease. Later medical archaeological findings include: dental caries, twisted teeth, dental calculus, and dental fluorosis.

In addition, Wanli often said that it was true that he had leg pain. After his bones were recovered, his right leg was obviously shorter than his left leg. It should be caused by some kind of chronic disease. This is very consistent with his often claimed "pain in the sole of the foot and difficulty in walking" and difficulty in observing politics. consistent. Wanli even planted cherry millet in the palace to be used for labor pains, which shows that he often suffered pain.

Today's cold weather obviously stimulated Wanli's body a little. Under the stress reaction, his originally uncomfortable body rarely relaxed today.

So he looked at the snow for a while, then turned around and asked the eunuch behind him:

"Has the imperial incense from Lingji Palace been delivered?"

The eunuch replied: "Sent it to me early in the morning. I have already received the signature and come back."

Lingji Palace was the royal palace selected by Zhu Di personally after the Ming Dynasty moved the capital. Every beginning of spring and winter, the royal family would send incense and sacrifices.

Wanli nodded, "Put the signature on the case. I'll look at it later." Wanli didn't want to leave it to others to interpret the signature. He did have this ability. Emperor Wanli was trained as a prince at a very young age and boasted about himself throughout his life. The most important thing is that "I can read at the age of five", and my cultural literacy is quite good.

After asking about the incense offering, Wanli thought about it and said, "Ask Tian Daban to bring today's memorial."

The eunuch was quite surprised, with a happy face, nodded and went to do it quickly.

Wanli's working hours are completely up to his mood. Unless it is a ceremonial matter, there are no specific measures for courtiers' working time requirements. However, the cabinet and the ceremonial supervisor still have working hours, which is usually at the turn of the Yin and Mao periods, that is, in the early morning. At five or six o'clock, the official's report will start from the General Affairs Department or Huiji Gate entering the palace and going through the process.

According to the system of the Ming Dynasty, these memorials would be handed over to the emperor first. After reading them, the emperor would give an oral edict and then send them to the cabinet for drafts. If you need to refer to the situation of foreign dynasties, you need to consult with the yamen of the foreign dynasty. After the drafts and ministry are released, the emperor Then, approval will be made based on the proposed vote, and finally the memorial will be issued to the six departments for approval to complete the decision.

However, the emperor had every opportunity to be lazy during the process. For example, what Wanli often did was to receive memorials and throw them to the cabinet. After the cabinet vote was drafted, he would not read it, but would directly throw it to the Chief Ceremony Supervisor for approval. He would be in a hang-up state throughout the process. .

After a while Tian Yi came with a lot of letters.

Tian Yi is sixty-six years old this year and entered the palace at the age of nine. He looks like an old woman and does not look too uncomfortable.

He was the eunuch in charge of the ceremony and eunuch after Feng Bao, and he was an upright man. Last year, Wanli arrested Wu Baoxiu, the magistrate of Nankang, in order to open his eyes for the eunuchs. Wu Baoxiu's wife committed suicide, and the people of Nankang were angry. They also wanted to throw Wu Baoxiu into prison. At that time, all the ministers wrote letters one after another, but Wanli ignored them and sent all the memorials. Throw it to the ground.

At that time, Tian Yi silently picked up the memorial, then knelt on the ground and said, "The cabinet ministers kneel facing the door and dare not retreat unless punished." Wanli, who was forced by stubborn resistance, could only write and approve the reply.

The reason why he dared to do this was because he had taken care of Wanli since he was a child, and Wanli had a deeper affection for him than for Feng Bao.

Tian Yi has been in charge of the Supervisor of Ceremonies for many years and is very capable in his work. He is trusted by the emperor and foreign ministers. He is also Wanli's right-hand man in work. Wanli really cannot lack him.

The emperor smiled and asked Tian Yidao: "What's going on today?"

Tian Yi knelt down and held several memorials high above his head:

"Your Majesty, please read the memorial!"

Emperor Wanli was originally in a good mood, but when he saw Tian Yi's appearance, his expression slowly darkened.

"Bring me the memorial!" Wan Li said dissatisfiedly. When he opened the first memorial, he was stunned for a moment.

Liaodong's official impeached Gao Huai, the tax eunuch of Liaodong, for causing chaos in Liao!

When Zhang Juzheng was in power, the entire northern border of the Ming Dynasty was quite stable. Qi Jiguang was in the direction of Jizhen, and Li Chengliang was in the Liaodong direction. However, Li Chengliang has been out of office for ten years, and Liaodong's military preparations have been weakened.

At this time, Liaodong was originally a frontier economy, and its economic foundation was quite fragile. It would be good if it could provide adequate supplies to feed the defenders. As a result, Wanli's genius sent eunuch Gao Huai to Liaodong to mine and collect taxes three years ago. In three years, Liaodong's people had been completely destroyed. The economy is on the verge of collapse.

The economic collapse of the inland provinces was at most a civil uprising. The economic problems in Liaodong directly caused the military households in Liaodong to be unable to survive. A large number of deserters have fled to Jianzhou to seek life, which has added a lot of strength to the Jurchens.

Wanli looked at this memorial and said nothing. He already understood what Tian Yi was here for today, and naturally he was unwilling to withdraw Gao Huai.

He threw the memorial aside with a cough and opened the second memorial.

Zhao Yiping, a native of Zhejiang newspaper, and Meng Huajing, a party member, rebelled!

——Zhao Yiping, who was used by Wei Tianjue to frame Wang Wenlong a few months ago, finally came out. He claimed to be a descendant of Zhao Song, called on the people to "reopen the Song Dynasty", launched an uprising, and was preparing to "fight back to Lin'an to ascend the throne." , Zhejiang officials quickly mobilized troops to suppress the attack.

When Wanli saw the Zhejiang officials, the content of the memorial later turned to the matter of persuading him to take back the eunuchs. He said that Zhao Yiping was able to revolt because the eunuchs were exploiting too much and the people could not survive, so they missed the rule of the Song Dynasty.

Wanli's face turned even darker. He dropped the memorial and opened the third copy. This time, Emperor Wanli already had a headache after just seeing the beginning.

The Pilin Miao people in Guizhou rebelled. Wu Guozuo, the leader of the bandits, said that the emperor was unjust and that things were about to change. He called himself the "Emperor General" and led a group of "Taibao generals" to attack the city and plunder more than [-] forts. And they burned Wukainan City and captured Yongcong County as their base...

Why did Yang Yinglong rebel again just after he defeated the Guizhou Miao people? He also cooked and shared the food with the generals of the garrison. His arrogance was too arrogant!

After reading the three memorials, Wan Li already knew what Tian Yi was going to say. His good mood was completely gone, and he dropped the letter and waited for Tian Yi's follow-up actions.

Sure enough, I heard Tian Yi say: "Many ministers in Japan have submitted petitions regarding tax supervision matters, and students from all prefectures and counties have also jointly submitted petitions, including those from the northern and southern capitals, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Fuzhou, and Changzhou..."

"Okay, stop talking!" Wanli said with a black face.

(End of this chapter)