Zhang Cong

Zhang Cong

Zhang Cong (December 27, 1475 to February 24, 1539) was named Luofeng. Later, in order to avoid taboo, Emperor Shizong of Ming Dynasty gave the name "Fujing" and the word "MaoGong". Yongjia County, Wenzhou Prefecture, Zhejiang Province (now Longwan District, Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province) is a native of Putian, Fujian Province. In the middle of Ming Dynasty, the important officials were the important figures in the event of "Dali Yi".

Zhang Cong was a Jinshi in the 16th year of Zhengde (1521). He ranked first and second three times in the early years of emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty. He was known in the history as "at the end of the Jiajing period, there was no such thing as Fu and Jing Yun.". At least the official teacher and the prince, the Minister of the Ministry of officials, huagaidian bachelor. After he died of illness, he was given the title of grand master and posthumous title of Wenzhong.

(picture in overview source:)

Life of the characters

Early experience

Zhang Cong was born in Sandu, Huagai Township, Yongjia County, Wenzhou Prefecture, Zhejiang Province, on November 30, 1475, the 11th year of Chenghua, Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty. He was a little studious, erudite and versatile. At the age of 13, he wrote the poem "instant noodles for brother tizu", which says: "there was a Wolong man who was noble in his life. Holding a white feather fan, the light is like snow. When the wind is moving, when the moon is still. The clear wind and bright moon are only between the moving and the static. They are willing to make the world bitter and hot. " He also had profound attainments in the three rites (Zhouli, Yili and Liji). But seven times in Beijing, all of them failed, and later gathered together to give lectures in Wenzhou Luofeng college.

Stepping into politics

In February 1520, the 15th year of Zhengde reign of emperor Wuzong of Ming Dynasty, Zhang Cong took part in the ceremony. On March 14 of the next year, Zhu houzhao, Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty, died in the leopard house. In the last imperial edict, Wu Zong inherited the throne from his younger brother Zhu Houfu. On April 22, at the age of 14, Zhu Houfu became emperor in Fengtian hall and issued an imperial edict to Amnesty the whole world. On May 15, Zhang Cong took the imperial examination in Fengtian hall. He was a second grade Jinshi in the middle school and entered the official career. He was 47 years old.

The debate on the great rites

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In the early years of Jiajing, after emperor Shizong ascended the throne, Yang Tinghe, the first assistant minister of the cabinet, and other ministers of the central government asked emperor Shizong to change his name to his uncle (the father of emperor Wuzong of Ming Dynasty), Ming Xiaozong as his father and his aunt (the mother of emperor Wuzong of Ming Dynasty, Empress Dowager cishou) as his mother, and his biological father, King Xingxian, as his uncle and his biological mother as his aunt. Shizong thought that it was against the common sense to split the kinship. He rejected it and abdicated to express his determination. This triggered a debate on the ceremony.

On July 1, 1521, Zhengde 16th year (1521), Zhang congshang Shu, a scholar of politics, expressed his objection: "according to the court, the emperor of Xiaozong should be called huangkao, and the king of Xingxian should be called emperor's uncle, and the princess of Xingxian should be called emperor's aunt. However, the emperor of Tao and song Pu in the Han Dynasty should be regarded as human beings, and the latter as their son. Is there a country without parents! Chen toilet established the Qing Dynasty. He was so angry and sad that he had to make a clear distinction for the emperor. "

Zhang Cong pointed out: Emperor AI of the Han Dynasty and Emperor Yingzong of the Song Dynasty were the sons of King Ding Tao and King Pu, because emperor Cheng and Emperor Renzong had no sons. They were all set up as emperor's heirs, raised in the palace, and tasted like posterity. Today, Emperor Wu has succeeded emperor Xiaozong for 17 years (actually 16 years), "the minister read Zuxun and said: where there is no prince in the imperial court, there must be elder brother and younger brother." Today, Wuzong has no heirs. If it is subordinate to the emperor, then the emperor has the world, which is really as high as the emperor's relatives. Therefore, the imperial edict said: "the order of offering Prince Lun should be established." In the early days, it was not clear that the emperor was the emperor of filial piety, but the public and private affairs of the emperor were different from those in the palace where he was supposed to be the heir. " Shizong got Zhang Congshu and said, "with this theory, the relationship between father and son can be preserved."

On November 25, Zhang Cong's discussion on Dali was not settled, so he added Dali or Wen again. Yang Yiqing, a scholar of Zhishi University, said: "Zhang Cong's view is just like that of a saint and will not change." Zhang Cong showed his political ideal of people-oriented, which was convinced and valued by Emperor Shizong of Ming Dynasty.

Be brave in reform

In the Jiajing period of Ming Dynasty, one of the most prominent social conflicts was the aggravation of the inequality between the rich and the poor. The Imperial Palace, royal residence and Xunqi occupied a large amount of land, which was called Zhuangtian. The powerful and local villains mistakenly referred to mintian as official land, and used it to serve the royal residence and Xunqi, making friends with the powerful and seeking personal interests. The serious annexation of land caused a large number of peasants who lost their land to leave their hometown and become refugees. During the reign of emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty, the number of refugees in the whole country reached more than 6 million, accounting for one tenth of the total population. Based on this, Zhang Cong carried out a series of political and institutional reforms. The primary task of social reform is to restrain the further deterioration of land annexation and stabilize farmers on the land.

At that time, the land annexation was the most intense and the largest in number, which was the Zhuangtian occupied by the Imperial Palace, royal palace and Xunqi. By the time of emperor Wuzong, there were more than 200 imperial manors in mingrenzong. In the ninth year of Zhengde (1514), only the imperial manor in jinnei occupied 37594 hectares. By 1489, there were 332 Zhuangtian, covering an area of 33000 hectares. "No one is as strict for the people as Huangzhuang and other kings, Xunqi and zhongguanzhuang fields." the severity of this situation has been reduced to half of the total fields in the world: "from Hongwu to Hongzhi, the total fields in the world have been reduced by half, especially in Huguang, Henan and Guangdong. If it is not allocated to the king's house, it will be cheated by the cunning people. ". That is to say, 4.27 million hectares of farmland has been reduced. After emperor Shizong ascended the throne, he twice cleaned up the capital Zhuangtian in order to change the bad government and stabilize the social order. However, he hesitated and had little effect. After Zhang Cong entered the cabinet, he resolutely cleaned up Zhuangtian, and expanded it from the capital to all provinces, from Zhuangtian to monk Temple industry. By the ninth year of Jiajing (1530), 528 sites of Xunqi Zhuangtian in the capital were surveyed, totaling more than 57400 hectares, of which more than 26000 hectares were returned to the owners. The Military Academy of Guanzhuang was withdrawn, and the cases of banning reform were strictly determined. No one was allowed to encroach on or sacrifice civilian land again. Violators were charged with confiscating troops. Minister Xun Qi also participated in the investigation and conviction. This relatively eased and eliminated the conflict of land annexation and the long-standing disadvantages, made the social order tend to be stable, and played an important role in the continuation of the rule of the Ming Dynasty.

The imperial examination system was the main way for the Ming government to select officials, but in the specific operation process, it exposed many disadvantages and produced obvious negative effects. For example, in a memorial to the emperor Zhengde, Lu Shen thought that the imperial examinations were often flashy and impractical.

Zhang Cong reformed the imperial examination system, re regulated the examination style, and improved the quality of candidates. Due to the limited number of candidates in the imperial examination, it was impossible to collect all the talents in the world, which made it difficult for many scholars to pass the imperial examination and become Jinshi. Therefore, Zhang Cong carried out the method of combining three ways to reform the employment system. At the beginning of the reform, there was a lot of resistance, such as Jiao Hong's criticism that Zhang Cong was "headstrong, so he acted harshly. What's the meaning of his actions, such as the survival of the sand?" It is not surprising that there is such a theory, which reflects the shortsightedness of some people. Zhang Cong made remarkable achievements in reforming the imperial examination system, changing the style of study, strengthening the educational function of the school, and rectifying the promoted officials.

In 1575, Zhang Juzheng, a famous official of the Ming Dynasty, highly appraised the achievements of rectifying the academic and political affairs in the early period of Jiajing with his own experience in his youth. He said: "when I was young, I could see that there were many scholars and celebrities in China. They could respect themselves with their own way, and they were not partial to others. No one dared to be selfish. It is still ancient for scholars to study Confucianism. " It can be said that the early period of Jiajing was the most significant period in the history of Ming Dynasty to rectify the style of study.

Fight against corruption and build a clean government

The corruption of officials is one of the causes of political corruption and social unrest, and it is also a great disaster of autocratic monarchy. Zhang Cong played the role of emperor and punished corrupt officials according to law.

In August 1527, when Zhang Cong was in charge of the duchayuan, he played to Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty the outline of the Constitution (a total of 95 articles), and chose seven of the most urgent ones. In accordance with the constitution, we can take discipline seriously, rectify officials' style of work, and improve work efficiency.

In appointing officials, Zhang Cong advocated that "those who are honest and able to love the people" should not be limited by seniority.

In the ninth year of Jiajing (1530), he said in his book on the use of people: "in the near future, the governor of Zhili in the North wanted to make up for the officials of Fangzhou County by selecting Jinshi and Ju Ren, but his thoughts were not at ease." Zhang Cong thinks: no matter where you are, no matter what official position or educational background, as long as you are honest and love the people, you can be elected and appointed.

In February of the 10th year of Jiajing (1531), Zhang Cong asked to change his name because his name violated Shizong's taboo. Shizong gave him the name of Fujing, the word MaoGong, and Yushu. At that time, Xu Jin, the Minister of the Ministry of official, asked for bribes in private. He was interrogated by the censor of the capital. Xu asked for relief and offered a letter to Zhang Cong to bribe Zhang in private. The court and the public were shocked by the fact that Xu Jin bribed Fu Jing and dethroned him for the people.

Zhang Cong's reform and anti-corruption damaged the vested interests of the imperial relatives, eunuchs, officials and the powerful class, which could not but arouse their hatred. But because of his impartiality, he could not. Zhang Cong left Beijing several times as a scholar. He repeatedly warned the people in his hometown not to rely on the force to do illegal things just because he was a senior official in the court. He has lived in the imperial court for ten years. He does not want to be a minister in charge, not to be a private visitor, not to be a nephew.

Long illness and death

In the spring of 1535, Zhang Cong was ill and asked to be an official for many times. Shizong refused to make baits for him. Zhang Cong fainted when he was on duty in the imperial court. He was unconscious for more than a day. Because of the sharp aggravation of his illness, Shizong had no choice but to take care of Xu Zhishi at home.

Shizong sent people to Wenzhou Yaoxi Zhenyi academy to see Zhang Cong many times, and several times he ordered Zhang Cong to return to Beijing, but he failed to come to Beijing due to physical reasons.

On February 6, 1539, Zhang Cong died of illness in Wenzhou at the age of 65. At this time, Shizong, who was still living in chengtianfu (now Zhongxiang, Hubei Province), was deeply grieved. He was given more sacrifices and funerals

Chinese PinYin : Zhang Cong