This is what Ming Shizong called "the rule of Jiajing" when he ascended the throne. ”

And Xia Mu looked at the Jiajing Dynasty, and there is another point worth mentioning, that is, Emperor Jiajing has been in the forty-five years of the Dynasty, and the eunuchs have never interfered in politics! The notorious eunuch government of the Ming Dynasty did not happen in the Jiajing Dynasty, which was the only thing that made Xia Mu admire the Jiajing Emperor.

Because Emperor Jiajing was affected by the power of the eunuchs of the Zhengde Dynasty, he saw with his own eyes that the disabled guys had made the court a miasma, so after he ascended the throne, he carried out high-pressure strikes on the active eunuchs, or exiled, or confiscated the army, so that the eunuchs no longer had the opportunity to enter the political power center.

But!

Don't think that such an Emperor Jiajing is an emperor who has made a difference.

When Emperor Jiajing ascended the throne, the Ming Empire had already accumulated a lot of shortcomings, and the eunuch government and the severed head government had tossed the empire into a bad shape, and it was exhausted from the inside out. The eunuch government is the so-called eunuch who interferes in the government, and the severed head government is the emperor who has lived in the palace for many years and has not seen the courtiers, and the courtiers only know that there is a monarch but have never seen the monarch.

The so-called accumulation of habits is deep, and it is difficult to return, even if Emperor Jiajing is a wise monarch, I am afraid that he is unable to return to heaven, not to mention that Jiajing is not a Tao!

In Xia Mu's opinion, most of Zhu Yuanzhang's descendants, except for Zhu Di, the Yongle Emperor, do not have the style of ancestors, they all grew up in the inner garden of the deep palace, grew up under the care of women and eunuchs, have no fighting spirit, no ideals, and are dandy.

Therefore, if Emperor Jiajing promulgated the "Edict of Enthronement", it did let him see a glimmer of light in governing the world, but the next "Great Ceremony" incident completely changed the world's perception of Emperor Jiajing.

Yang Tinghe, the first assistant who had tried his best to assist him, and other loyal ministers were all severely beaten and exiled to distant places because of the great ceremonial incident.

In fact, the core of the Great Ritual Incident is nothing more than to deal with the issue of how to deal with the title of the biological parents of the emperor who was born in the small sect in the process of inheriting the Great Sect. This issue may seem insignificant to modern people, but in the case of the extremely strict patriarchal system in ancient China, it is a major matter related to the name of etiquette and law.

Under the patriarchal system, the eldest son of the emperor is the eldest son, the emperor, and the successor to the emperor's throne. The other princes are small sects, side branches, only crowned kings, and have no right to inherit the throne. However, both large and small sects are facing the problem of the possibility of extinction. If the heir of the small sect is okay, after all, he did not inherit the throne and continue the heavy responsibility of the emperor, but the heir of the great sect is extraordinary.

Therefore, when there is no successor and no brother in the big sect, when the small sect needs to succeed to the throne, the small sect needs to be succeeded to the big sect, and then it can inherit the great unification. Justifiably.

This was the case with Emperor Jiajing, but he didn't want to pass on to Dazong. On the third day of his accession to the throne, he posthumously crowned his dead father as emperor and honored his surviving mother as the empress dowager. He wanted to show the world that he did not need to receive the favor of others to inherit the throne. The object he targeted was Empress Dowager Zhang and Yang Tinghe, the empress of Emperor Zhengde at that time. If he didn't do this, he would never be able to get rid of the shadow of Empress Dowager Zhang and Yang Tinghe supporting himself as emperor.

However, Jiajing's move was strongly opposed by the ministers headed by Yang Tinghe. Yang Tinghe threatened to resign, but this trick did not work, and Emperor Jiajing did not retain Yang Tinghe and immediately approved his resignation. After Yang Tinghe left the capital, Emperor Jiajing immediately recalled Zhang Xi, who had been degraded for opposing Yang Tinghe's claims, from other places and appointed him as his first assistant to fight to the death against those who opposed the emperor.

In the end, the "Great Ceremony" incident ended with the complete victory of Emperor Jiajing, the exile of Yang Ting and his father and son, and the death of death, and the "Great Ceremony" also shattered the people's nonsense illusions about the "rule of Jiajing". From then on, the courtiers no longer dared to argue with Emperor Jiajing, and it can also be seen that Emperor Jiajing did not have the confidence and heart to lead a country to prosperity and strength.

But sometimes that's fate! Whoever calls someone born well, Xia Mu has no tricks, and if he has such a top boss, he will accept his fate!

After a while, he saw that only a few little eunuchs came to pick him up, Xia Mu didn't see Huang Jin, the governor of the East Factory in Zhu Xizhong's mouth, so he took his thoughts and followed the little eunuch towards Zichen Palace.

Zichen Hall is the third hall in the Daming Palace, it is the hall of the inner dynasty, the ministers meet the emperor here, called "entering the pavilion", the status is second to the outer dynasty of the south of the palace and the Xuanzheng Hall of the Chang Dynasty, and its north is the Penglai Hall of the emperor cultivating immortals.

And the place where he is going is the West Garden behind the Zichen Palace, the West Garden was originally the Royal Forest Garden, but since the fire in the palace not long ago, the emperor wants to move to the Yuxi Palace to live, but the Yuxi Palace is dilapidated, no one lives in it for more than ten years, so it is natural to repair, and the repair has not been repaired, because the household has no money, so the repair stops, and it has been delayed until today.

At this time, it was already bright in the sky, Xia Mu also arrived at the West Garden, only to see that the surrounding was full of red walls and yellow tiles, painted carved beams, jade towers, high and low under the slight, it looked golden and magnificent, but then looked at it, but it was all the Taoist Zhai Jiao Lei Altar, so that the whole palace seemed to be a Taoist temple, the green smoke curled, the talisman was flying, but it was not like the palace, and it was also a lot more depressing.

Xia Mu followed the little eunuch through a patchwork of buildings, entered the palace gate called 'Yannian Gate', bypassed a glazed jade belt bridge, and arrived at an extremely wide courtyard.

This courtyard is surrounded by exotic flowers and plants, as well as a large area of flower beds and medicine gardens, which are delicate like the medicine gardens of large families, not like the palace inside.

Xia Mu was amazed, and followed the little eunuch to the door of the main hall due north. I saw that the little eunuch stepped forward to explain his intentions, and the guards at the door let him go, and Xia Mu went up the white jade steps on the 6636th floor and walked into the main hall.

It's just that the eunuch in the palace asked him to wait in the front hall first, and he turned around and went in.

Xia Mu stood in the hall of incense and looked at it secretly. I saw the huge hall, the east side actually hung the portrait of Taishang Laojun, and there was an altar below. And in the middle of the hall is a statue of one person, more than three feet, covered with bronze incense burner.

The curling smoke was wafting out of the bronze furnace, and the entire hall did not have the dragon chair that Xia Mu imagined, but only a white jade round couch, which was inlaid with gossip purple gold patterns.

Sejong revered the Tao and really lived up to his name.

At this time, a eunuch walked out of the inner hall, pulled the duck's throat, swept away the dust at Xia Mu, and said, "Come with the Sprinkle family." ”

"There is Father-in-law Lao." Xia Mu arched his hand and followed the eunuch through the corridor from the outer hall. Walked into the nave.

There is nothing in this nave, but there is a simple and elegant nave hanging in the center, on which are written a few lines of elegant calligraphy to record a sentence: "Tao can be Tao, very Tao." The name is famous, and the name is not very famous. None, the beginning of heaven and earth, there is, the mother of all things. Therefore, there is always nothing, and I want to see its wonders; Often, I want to see it. These two have the same name and different names, and they are the same as the mysteries, the mysteries and the mysteries, and the doors of all the wonders. ”。

Xia Mu knew that this was a very famous sentence in Lao Tzu's "Tao Te Ching", but he didn't know who wrote it, and then looked at the lower left of the inscription was 'Jiajing 27 years of holy teaching', and under the inscription was a big red seal, on the "royal pen" two seals.

But for some reason, looking at these excerpts from the Tao Te Ching, Xia Mu's heart was dull. Everyone knows that Lao Tzu advocates the art of Huang Lao, and pays attention to cultivating life and rest, and governing by inaction, but now the Ming Dynasty is in the south and the north, the country and the people are in mourning, the dead are thousands of miles, and the ground is full of hunger. The emperor ruled by inaction, that is, he saw that the people of the Ming Dynasty were slaughtered and the land was trampled by foreign captives!

If this pair of words, replace it with "Su Su Qing Temple, towering Tang Ming." With the heavens and the pole, tired and holy and light. Music and pipe chime, etiquette to taste. Forever only come to the grid, blessings are boundless. "Maybe it's better, but it's a pity, Emperor Jiajing is such a person, he doesn't ask the common people to ask ghosts and gods, he likes to pursue immortality, and hides in the deep palace all day long to cultivate immortals and seek Taoism.

An emperor who counts on the prosperity of the country is Taishang Laojun, can you expect him to be sympathetic to the country? No way! The answer is yes!

At this time, a eunuch walked out of the room, and the eunuch was wearing the big red official uniform of the eunuch with the seal of the celebrant and the eunuch, which made Xia Mu is surprised, knowing that this person should be Huang Jin in Zhu Xizhong's mouth, and hurriedly surrendered his hand: "Huang Gonggong." ”

Huang Jin glanced at Xia Mu and smiled: "You are Xia Mu, Xia Shoufu's descendant?" ”

"It's the junior." Xia Mu hurriedly saluted again.

Huang Jin was very satisfied, this kid was thoughtful, he didn't look down on their eunuchs, and he also called himself a junior, and immediately the smile on his face was a little more, and he said, "I will see the Holy Lord Spirit." ”

"Thank you father-in-law for reminding me."

Xia Mu followed Huang Jin into the inner hall, only to see a thick veil in the hall drooping, and there seemed to be an old man wearing a Taoist robe sitting inside.

When Huang Jin saw it, he hurriedly knelt down, Xia Mu took a look, and knew that it was Emperor Jiajing inside, so he hurriedly knelt down.

I only heard Huang Jin whisper softly: "Your Majesty, Xia Shoufu's descendant is here." After speaking, Emperor Jiajing didn't speak, Huang Jin hurriedly got up and stood aside with his head bowed.

Xia Mu knelt on the ground, not getting up, not getting up, not thinking, whether the old emperor was meditating and falling asleep, just raised his head to take a look, and heard a crisp and pleasant jade sound coming from inside, which made Xia Mu stunned, thinking that the emperor was suddenly dumb, and saw that he was also ringing the wind chime.

Just when he was still stunned, Huang Jin hurriedly reminded in a whisper: "Your Majesty has promised to see you, why don't you ask for peace?" ”

Xia Mu was stunned for a moment, and this was the emperor's code, but he didn't have time to think, so he hurriedly kowtowed, and the mountain shouted: "Villain Xia Mu, knock to see my emperor, long live, long live, long live......"

After shouting, Xia Mu knelt there and looked dignified and solemn, waiting for the emperor to speak.

In fact, Xia Mu knew very well in his heart that the biggest reason why Emperor Jiajing summoned him, the Jinyi Guard, alone was because of the account book in his hand, not because he was a descendant of Xia Yan. According to Xia Mu's understanding of Emperor Jiajing, this person is extremely reluctant to see ministers, and he will not be summoned unless he has to see him; But since he summoned himself, and he still summoned him alone, it shows that he actually cares about that account book in his heart, and it seems that he is not an emperor who is bent on alchemy and seeking immortals, and he still cares about his country to some extent!

The faint voice of Emperor Jiajing came out behind the curtain of "Xia Yan": "In the light of words, Xinghua nationality, Jiajing was born in 20 years, and he started to be a hundred households in brocade clothes at a young age. ”

Emperor Jiajing's tone sounded domineering, and the momentum above 10,000 people in his words was vividly embodied, making people dare not slack off.

After all, this was the first time Xia Mu had seen the emperor, and he was a little flustered in his heart, and he replied as calmly as he could: "The little minister is from Xinghua, and he is just twenty years old this year. ”

"It seems that I said it well" Emperor Jiajing's voice came from behind the curtain: "Xia Yan has an upright and outspoken temperament, it seems that you, Xia Yan, inherited his tradition in his later life, and you are really a newborn calf who is not afraid of tigers!" You are a small brocade guard hundred, you dare to write a book to impeach a senior member of the hall, you are bold enough! Then Zhu Xizhong said that you have an account book about the Yan Party in your hand, but is it true? ”