Shen Shixing

Shen Shixing

Shen Shixing (1535-1614), a native of Changzhou county (now Suzhou), was named Rumo, Yaoquan and XiuXiu. Minister of Ming Dynasty. In the 41st year of Jiajing, he won the first place in the palace examination and won the first prize. He has successively served as the editor of the Imperial Academy, the right servant of the Ministry of rites, the right servant of the Ministry of officials and the Bachelor of Dongge, the first assistant, the prince and the grand master, and the Bachelor of Zhongji hall.

Life of the characters

Early experience

Shen Shixing is a native of Changzhou. Born in 1535 in the 14th year of Jiajing reign of emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty, Shen was the son of a wealthy businessman. His mother was said to be a nun and later adopted by Suzhou magistrate Xu Shangzhen. Shen Shixing's grandfather adopted his uncle's surname Xu when he was a child, so his surname was Xu when he was a child, and his surname was Shen when he was the number one scholar. The culture of Changzhou is prosperous, and there are many famous people; the commerce is prosperous, and merchants gather. Shen Shixing was intelligent and studious when he was young. He had the talent of literati and the agility of businessman. Under the strict education of his adoptive father, he successfully passed the local examination and obtained the qualification to enter Beijing.

Hanlin editing

In March 15 of 1562, 299 people took part in the palace examination. On the second day, he was the "reading minister" who was responsible for marking papers. On the third day, Shen Shixing was at the top of the list.

The number one scholar was granted the Imperial Academy to compile and master the history of the country. Shen Shixing is no exception. After several years in the Imperial Academy, he was the son of Zuo Shu. Zuo Shuzi is the chief officer of Zuo Chunfang in the East Palace of the crown prince. He is the emperor's servant. However, Shen Shixing's specific duty was not to serve the East Palace, but to manage the Imperial Academy as Zuo Shuzi. After that, he moved to be the right servant of the Ministry of rites and became the second deputy officer of the Ministry of rites.

During this period, Emperor Shizong and Emperor muzong died one after another. On the tenth day of June in the sixth year of Longqing (1572), Zhu Yijun, the crown prince of Mu Zong, was the emperor, and his year number was Wanli, which was Shenzong.

In the fifth year of Wanli (1577), Shen Shixing became the right servant of the Ministry of official affairs. The Ministry of official affairs is in charge of the election of officials, with heavy authority, ranking first among the six ministries.

At that time, Zhang Juzheng, the cabinet's top assistant, was vigorously carrying out reform. Zhang Juzheng was Shen Shixing's "seat master" (that is, the examiner during the palace examination), and he attached great importance to Shen Shixing. Shen Shixing became the right servant of the Ministry of officials, which was also his meaning. After Shen Shixing arrived at the Ministry of official affairs, he took Zhang Juzheng's mind in everything. Zhang Juzheng was very happy and thought that he was successful.

In this year, Zhang Juzheng's father died of illness. According to feudal etiquette, Zhang Juzheng had to resign and return home to mourn for three years. Zhang Juzheng was carrying out the reform, and the emperor Shenzong was more important than him. Li Youzi, the Minister of the Ministry of household affairs, suggested "seizing affection". "Seizing affection" refers to the death of a general who had his parents. Because of military affairs, he could not go home to mourn. The emperor ordered him to change filial piety to loyalty and wear filial piety in the army. As soon as the proposal was put forward, Zhang Juzheng's political opponents opposed it one after another. In March of the next year, under the pressure of strong public opinion, Zhang Juzheng returned to his hometown of Jiangling (now Hubei) to mourn.

Entering the cabinet

Before leaving, Zhang Juzheng recommended two people to join the cabinet and participate in the maintenance. One is Ma Ziqiang, the Minister of rites, and the other is Shen Shixing, the right servant of the Ministry of officials. Shenzong ordered Ma Ziqiang to serve as Minister of rites and Bachelor of wenyuange, and Shen Shixing to serve as right servant of the Ministry of officials and Bachelor of Dongge. Soon after, Shenshi marched to become the Minister of rites and the Bachelor of wenyuange.

At that time, after Zhang Juzheng left, there were still two cabinet ministers, LV tiaoyang and Zhang Siwei. Ma Ziqiang and Shen Shixing joined the cabinet, and the number of cabinet officials increased to four. Lu tiaoyang was old and ill, and seldom worked in the cabinet. Only Zhang Siwei, Ma Ziqiang and Shen Shixing worked in the cabinet. Emperor Shenzong ordered Zhang Juzheng to adjudicate the state affairs, and Zhang Siwei was in charge of the minor matters. Shen Shixing ranks last among the cabinet ministers, only filling a full position.

The official of struggle

In June of the 10th year of Wanli, Zhang Juzheng died. Shortly after his death, he was framed by the opposition. Zhang Siwei was appointed as the first assistant to the cabinet. The next year, Zhang Siwei's father died, and he went home to watch the funeral. At this time, Lu tiaoyang and Ma Ziqiang also died. In the cabinet, Shen Shixing is old. Therefore, he succeeded Zhang Siwei as the cabinet chief assistant.

There are four new members in the cabinet, Ding, Xu Guo, Wang xijue and Wang Jiaping. Among them, Xu Guo was born in Shexian county (now Anhui Province) and was the 108th Jinshi in Jiajing 44th year. Wang xijue is a native of Taicang (now Jiangsu Province). In the 41st year of Jiajing, he joined Shen Shixing in the list, ranking first and second, which is the so-called "eye of the list". Wang Jiaping was born in Shanyin of Datong (now Shanyin County of Shuozhou, Shanxi Province), and was the second Jinshi in the second year of Longqing (1568). Shen Shixing, Xu Guo and Wang xijue all belong to nanzhili, and they are fellow townsmen with very close relationship. Wang xijue was recommended to the cabinet by the censor Li Zhi. He once opposed Zhang Juzheng's "seizing affection" and had some fame. Li Zhi and others disagreed with Shen Shixing and recommended Wang xijue to the cabinet in order to weaken and restrain Shen Shixing's power and action. Who knows, after Wang xijue joined the cabinet, he soon became one of Shen Shixing's closest allies. Yu Youding and Wang's family were isolated and could only depend on Shen Shixing, Xu Guo and Wang xijue. Shen Shixing effectively controlled the cabinet.

In this situation, the first assistant Shen Shixing perked up and wanted to make a difference.

As early as when Zhang Siwei was in power, Zhang Juzheng was framed by the opposition. In March of the 11th year of Wanli, Shenzong ordered to change Zhang Juzheng's official title and abolish his reform measures. Zhang Siwei, as the chief assistant of the cabinet, once bent on flattering Zhang Juzheng. He also advocated and slandered Zhang Juzheng. He changed Zhang Juzheng's way of doing things, opened up his way of speaking, and used officials who were belittled by Zhang Juzheng. Zhang Juzheng's remaining party was afraid and tried to curry favor with Shen Shixing. Shen Shixing doesn't quite agree with Zhang Siwei's approach. However, when Shen Shixing came to power, he had to follow the path of Zhang Siwei. He was generous and used stable and conservative officials to speak widely. His practice has won the praise of most officials.

However, this situation did not last long. When Shen Shixing spoke widely, the censors and officials in charge of affairs became active. They accused Zhang Juzheng of curbing his speech and counting his crimes. Shen Shixing is one of Zhang Juzheng's confidants. When the officials denounced Zhang Juzheng, they involuntarily or intentionally involved him. On the surface, Shen Shixing is broad to wait for it, showing a huge amount, but he hates it deeply in his heart. Later, he couldn't bear it, so he fought openly with the officials and tried to dethrone those who attacked Zhang Juzheng and involved him.

Since the 13th year of Wanli, Shen Shixing has openly confronted Yan Guan. In this year, Zhang Wenxi, the imperial censor, went to Shanghai to list the four manifestations of the former cabinet officials' arbitrariness: each ministry and academy set up a "kaocheng book" to record the merits and demerits of officials and send them to the cabinet for inspection; the selection of officials by the Ministry of officials and the Ministry of war had to be approved by the cabinet; the governor paid close attention to the cabinet ministers for advice; the cabinet chief assistant acted alone in accordance with the imperial edict. Shen Shixing spared the debate. He thought that the first three items were permitted by the terms of reference of the cabinet, and that those who engaged in malpractice for personal gain in the cabinet could be dismissed. However, if one or two cabinet officials engaged in malpractice for personal gain, they would weaken the cabinet's functions and powers, which would be a waste of food for choking. As for the last one, he said that the first minister of the cabinet had no arbitrary act in drafting the imperial edict, and they all consulted with other ministers of the cabinet. Shenzong felt that Shen Shixing was right, so he ignored Zhang Wenxi's argument.

Since then, the conflict between Yan Guan and Shen Shixing has become more intense, and other cabinet ministers have also been involved. The case of Gao Qiyu is one of the typical cases of the struggle between Yan Guan and Ge Chen.

Lu Shangshu, the imperial censor, revealed that when Gao Qiyu, the Minister of rites, presided over the nanzhili rural examination, he wrote "Shun also ordered Yu" to persuade Zhang Juzheng to become emperor. Shenzong instructed shenshixing to deal with his memorials. Shen Shixing said: "Ding Zilu is guilty of death because of this kind of ambiguous problem, and his ministers are afraid that slander will come one after another, which is not what the Qing and Ming Dynasties should have. "Yang Wei, the Minister of the Ministry of officials, took Shen Shixing's mind and suggested that Ding be demoted from the capital, which was adopted by Shenzong. This infuriated the public officials, and gave the officials, the Royal censor, Wang Shixing, Li Zhi, etc. a lot of advice when they impeached Yang Wei and ashen. Shenzong also felt that they were right. He ordered Gao Qiyu to be removed and Ding Zilu to stay in office. Seeing this, Shen Shixing and Yang Wei resigned. Cabinet ministers Yu Youding and Xu guoshangshu opposed to staying in dingzilu. Xu Guo, a good friend of Shen Shixing, took concerted action and resigned to exert pressure on Shenzong. Therefore, Shenzong upheld the original judgment and demoted Ding Beilu out of Beijing. The officials attacked Xu state in groups. Please punish them according to the seriousness of the plot. The officials are more antagonistic to the courtiers, just like fire and water.

The crown prince problem

Shenzong's eldest son is Zhu Changluo, and his mother, Wang Shi, is the maid of Empress Dowager Cisheng. Once, Shenzong went to court with her mother and met Wang Shi. On impulse, he was lucky to meet her, so he had Zhu Changluo. But Shenzong didn't like Wang and Zhu Changluo. When Zhu Changluo was 4 years old, Zheng Guifei, who was favored by Shenzong, gave birth to Zhu Changxun. His son was precious to his mother. Zhu Changxun was greatly favored by Shenzong. Shenzong intended to make him crown prince. It's not in line with feudal etiquette to abolish the elder and establish the younger. For fear that Shenzong would really take such a move, the ministers promoted the first minister of the cabinet, the second minister of Shenzong, and the first minister of Shenzong's behavior. They jointly appointed Zhu Changluo as the crown prince. Shenzong ignored it.

Through this Shangshu, Shen Shixing fully understood Shenzong's intention, that is to make Zhu Changxun crown prince. Shen Shixing wanted to please the emperor Shenzong and agreed with him to abolish the elder and establish the younger, but he was afraid of offending the ministers. After thinking about it, he decided to adopt the strategy of "head and tail". In front of Shenzong, he agreed to abolish the elder and establish the younger; in front of the ministers, he pretended to abide by the etiquette and law and opposed abolishing the elder and establishing the younger.

When some ministers saw that Shenzong did not listen to the advice, they pointed the contradiction of the attack to imperial concubine Zheng. Shenzong was furious when he saw that Aifei was denounced. When Shen Shixing saw this, he offered a piece of advice: officials sparsely talk about things, and the scope is limited to their own duties; if they are not within the scope of their functions and powers, they should not be allowed to do so

Chinese PinYin : Shen Shi Hang