1457 February 16, this was an extremely dark day in the Ming Dynasty.
The entire Beijing City is covered with clouds, and the people in the city are crying for Yu Qian, but even so, he must die today.
Coincidentally, 315 years ago, the Yue Fei , who suffered a strange injustice for "false" crime, was buried in Hangzhou, his birthplace.
Now, it’s Yu Qian’s turn.
His crime is for "will", that is, it is absurd to convict a person of death by guessing what he wants to do.
Yu Qian was beheaded, the people shouted for justice
The Tumu Fort Incident, the shame and jokes of the Ming Dynasty
1450, August 15, Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen finally returned to Beijing, and his current identity is the "Supreme Emperor".
Zhu Qizhen, who was only 24 years old this year, has become the "Great Emperor". What's going on?
Everything has to start a year ago.
What happened a year ago was such a shame and a joke, and it almost pushed the Ming Dynasty to perish.
To tell this joke, I have to mention a guy named Wang Zhen .
Wang Zhen is very interesting. He worked as an instructor in the village school in his early years, but because of his poor level, he quickly stopped working. As for the path of imperial examinations, let alone the path, which is comparable to climbing to the sky for him.
However, Wang Zhen actually thought of another way to stand out. This method is both "weird" and extremely admirable - castrate yourself and go to , Forbidden City, , to be a eunuch.
After entering the palace with purse, Wang Zhen was sent to the side of Emperor Yingzong of Ming Dynasty, Zhu Qizhen, to accompany him to , and often had a lot of fun with Xiao Yingzong.
yingzong has a simple personality since childhood. After ascending the throne at the age of 9, his relationship with Wang Zhen became closer and closer and trusted him very much.
But Wang Zhen is not a decent person, but a very ambitious villain.
When Emperor Yingzong grew up, Wang Zhen "controlled" Yingzong through his own means, which was equivalent to controlling the court.
In this way, Wang Zhen became the first autocratic eunuch in the 276-year history of the Ming Dynasty, and the phenomenon of embezzlement and buying officials began to grow increasingly.
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During this period, in the north of the Ming Dynasty, Ola , which was once one of the Mongolian groups in the west of , rose rapidly under the leadership of the Taishi Yesian, and unified the tribes of Mongolia.
Yesen did not claim to be king by himself, but instead supported the descendant of Genghis Khan " Golden Family " as Khan, which shows his ambition.
He set his sights on the prosperous Central Plains.
Oirat and the map of the Ming Dynasty
Before, the Oirat had to pay tribute to the Ming court every year, and the Ming court would also return gifts.
At first, the Oirat would only send about 50 envoys to Beijing, but the number of people later increased to more than 2,000. Obviously, this was asking for more rewards from the Ming court.
The Ming court satisfied it, but the Oirats became more and more greedy. They even lied that 3,000 people came when they paid tribute in 1449, but in fact only 2,000 people came.
Shilijian Wang Zhen could not bear it anymore. He only rewarded two thousand people and cut the tribute horse by half.
also learned about it first, and in anger, he decided to go to war with the Ming Dynasty.
Under Yesian's leadership, the Oirat started a war with the Ming Dynasty
Because the Ming Dynasty's army had not fought for a long time, the Oirat has been in a state of combat in order to unify -Mongolia over the years.
Therefore, the Datong and Xuanfu of the Ming Dynasty were conquered by the Oirat without much effort.
message was sent to Fengtian Palace . The ministers were very panicked, but Wang Zhen was not panicked at all.
On the contrary, he was quite excited. felt that his chance to become famous for a thousand years had finally come.
Not only that, he also instigated the emperor to lead the army in person.
Although Yu Qian and many other ministers tried their best to dissuade him, Emperor Yingzong of Ming still decided to take action himself.
Yingzong was only in his early twenties at this time, and he was full of energy and eager to create a hegemony.
The more important reason is that he and Wang Zhen around him think the same thing: Why should I be afraid of the only barbarians of the Oirat, what should I do in the Ming Dynasty?
At that time, the main forces of the Ming Dynasty were not in Beijing. Yingzong and Wang Zhen temporarily pieced together 200,000 troops from the surrounding areas in just three days, and then hurriedly set off for the war.
Before leaving, Yingzong also made his two-year-old son the crown prince and made his younger brother Zhu Qiyu the state supervisor, that is, he handled state affairs on his behalf. Yu Qian, who was the left minister of the Ministry of War at the time, was also left in the capital.
rushed to Datong, and Wang Zhenxian sent Song Ying and Shi Heng to fight, but the two were defeated and Song Ying died in the battlefield.
Wang Zhen saw that the army was shaken and Yingzong wanted to withdraw his troops, so he decided to let the entire army go to a place to rest first, because it would be too embarrassing to withdraw troops and return to Korea now.
Next, Wang Zhen began his "epique stupid performance".
The place he asked the whole army to go is Weizhou from Shanxi.
chose this place because it is very simple - this is his hometown.
In other words, Wang Zhen wants to go home to show off, after all, there is nothing more glorious than taking the Emperor of Ming Dynasty and the army home together.
Possibly, for Wang Zhen, it is more like a "travel" than a war.
His second decision proves this.
On the way, Wang Zhen suddenly worried that the army would step on the crops in his hometown when he went to Weizhou, so he changed his mind and stopped going to . Then he changed his direction and headed towards Xuanfu.
Wang Zhen’s third “magical operation” happened when the army arrived at the Tumu Fort. I heard him suddenly give the order - stop!
It turned out that the baggage troops did not catch up, but the Ming army waited on the spot for a whole night. You should know that Tumu Fort is only less than twenty miles away from Huailai City . If you can enter the city early and fight against the city, then the Ming army can almost be said to be sure to win.
But Wang Zhen had to wait until the baggage caught up before he felt at ease. This is understandable, because was carrying many of his personal belongings on those cars!
The next day, the Ming Dynasty's baggage troops failed to catch up, and the elite cavalry of the Oirat came and surrounded the Ming army.
This frightened the Ming army. Wang Zhen then made a fatal, comparable to the "Wala undercover" decision - digging trenches, building fortifications, and sticking to Tumu Fortress.
seems to be a very ordinary military arrangement, but if you tell me that there is no water source near Tumu Fort, you will know how stupid Wang Zhen is.
So, this can also explain why the Oirat had only 50,000 people and also surrounded the 200,000 Ming army in Tumu Fort.
Ming army and the Oirat army fought with map
Oirat did not launch too many attacks, but more of a siege rather than attack.
Three days later, Ming Jun was so thirsty that he doubted his life.
Just when he was so thirsty that he collapsed, the Ola messenger came to the Ming army camp, saying that he was here to negotiate peace. Wang Zhen thanked God, applauded and discussed with him.
Then, all the Oirat troops were withdrawn.
Wang Zhen saw this and ordered the entire army to find the water source immediately.
Everyone was so thirsty that they were almost out of reach. Two hundred thousand people came out in full swing and finally found the nearest water source.
However, these 200,000 people never expected that Before they could drink the water, the Oirat people suddenly rushed out from all over!
It turns out that Ola peace talks is a scam.
In the end, the result was:
(1) .2 million Ming troops who were thirsty and weak and had long become frightened birds destroyed ;
(2) Wang Zhen, who repeatedly offered "god assists", was killed by the guard general Fan Zhong in the name of "killing the thief";
(3) This time, Wang Zhen also "invited" many princes and ministers to go together, and they all died;
(4) Emperor Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen was captured .
Ming Yingzong was captured
Yu Qian supported the new emperor and launched the battle to defend Beijing
The news that the Ming army was slaughtered and the emperor was captured came to the capital. The whole court was not only in an uproar, but also in tears.
Because in the ranks that were accompanying the battle, many people were their close friends, and countless families were broken from then on.
At present, it is tantamount to the time of the Ming Dynasty's national crisis.
But more importantly, what should I do next.
Among these ministers left in Beijing, Wang Zhi, the Minister of Personnel, had the highest official position, but at this moment he was already in a trance and could not come up with any decent ideas.
Yu Qian, the left assistant minister of the Ministry of War, stepped forward and stood up.
Yu Qian was calm in the face of danger and stood up
He proposed:
First of all, we must unify the firm "main battle" idea and start the war of defense of Beijing. must never escape to Nanjing. will only repeat the tragedy of the Southern Song Dynasty.
Secondly, they urgently dispatched all over the country, especially Nanjing's Preparatory Army (reserve service), Preparatory Army (the army previously used to prevent Japanese pirates) and Grain Transport Army , so that they could quickly support the capital.
Third, Beijing's grain and grass are stored in Tongzhou , and Tongzhou is a distance away from Beijing. It is obviously unrealistic to send people from Beijing to Tongzhou to transport grain back and forth, but if the Tongzhou granary is left to the Oirat, the consequences will be unimaginable.
Therefore, can order all troops to enter Beijing from Tongzhou and collect food and grass in Tongzhou, encouraging "the capable ones to take more" to serve as military pay.
Yu Qian's wisdom and courage showed at a critical moment made Queen Mother Sun and his ministers admire him. Queen Mother Sun appointed Yu Qian as the Minister of War and handed him over the important task of defending Beijing.
The image of Queen Mother Sun’s film and television drama
Yu Qian’s dispatch and arrangement, the originally empty defense of Beijing City has gathered more than 200,000 people at once, and sufficient food and grass reserves are also sufficient.
But for Qian, compared to soldiers and food, there is a problem that is even more difficult - the emperor.
Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen was still in the hands of the Oirat. Yingzong can now be said to be the strongest weapon of the Oirat.
Because when , the Oirat came to the city of Beijing, they would definitely hold Yingzong hostage to ask the Ming army to open the city gate. The soldiers guarding the city would definitely not be able to watch the emperor of their own country be killed.
In this way, Beijing City will be destroyed without any attack.
Based on this consideration, Yu Qian asked Empress Dowager Sun for an order to change the regent, that is, the half-brother of Emperor Yingzong Zhu Qiyu was the emperor.
Empress Dowager Sun had to agree to Zhu Qiyu ascend the throne, which was for Jingtai Emperor .
Zhu Qiyu became emperor
In the end, under Yu Qian's leadership, the Ming army turned the tide, resisted the attack of the Ola, and defended Beijing.
Thanks to Yu Qian's series of wise decisions, the Ming Dynasty was able to escape the difficulty of destroying the country.
But In fact, Yu Qian and Zhu Qiyu both bear huge political risks for this, especially the change of Zhu Qiyu as emperor.
From the perspective of modern people, this is very reasonable, but it may not be the case in the era when the monarchy was supreme.
But in order to save the country, Yu Qian could only take this move.
22 million Ming troops vowed to protect the capital to the death
The Emperor Returns
Seeing that the dream of dominating the Central Plains was getting farther and farther away, the Oirat had to send an envoy to the Ming court to seek peace, saying that they were willing to let their emperor go back.
Just when the ministers were sighing that Emperor Yingzong was finally coming back, some people were unhappy. This person was Emperor Jingtai Zhu Qiyu.
According to " Ming Shi ", Emperor Jingtai said directly in the hall: "I didn't want to ascend this position, but I refused again and again, but you ministers insisted that I was the emperor."
Emperor Jingtai was not deliberately humble at the beginning, but he knew in his heart that making him the emperor in such a dangerous moment was equivalent to using him as a "shield".
Later, it was only under Yu Qian's speech education that he had to be called emperor.
But now, the Oirat has been driven out, and Zhu Qiyu is reluctant to come down from the dragon throne.
After hearing Emperor Jingtai's words, the court officials kept silent. After all, this was an extremely sensitive royal topic. If you say the wrong thing, it would be unfavorable to your career.
At this time, Yu Qian stood up again and said: "The throne of heaven has been settled, so it would be better for him." means that as long as he is Yu Qian, Zhu Qiyu must be the emperor.
Yu Qian's words were like giving Emperor Jingtai a reassurance, so Emperor Jingtai sent someone to take Emperor Yingzong Zhu Qizhen back.
After Yingzong returned to the Forbidden City, Emperor Jingtai was full of defense and hostility towards his brother. He asked Yingzong to live in Nangong .
Nangong is surrounded by palaces and buildings. In other words, in order to prevent Yingzong from launching a coup, Emperor Jingtai put Yingzong under house arrest and did not allow him to meet and contact with outsiders.
This level has been closed for a full seven years.
Ming Yingzong was placed under house arrest in Nangong
The beginning of revenge
Emperor Jingtai also deposed the prince previously appointed by Emperor Yingzong and changed his son to the crown prince.
But it was this child that caused huge changes in the history of the Ming Dynasty.
The young prince of Emperor Jingtai unfortunately died of illness a few years later, and Emperor Jingtai had only one son like him.
So, the ministers submitted memorials to change Yingzong's son to the crown prince. Emperor Jingtai was certainly unwilling to accept it and fought with the ministers every day. As a result, he accidentally got into a severe cold and was bedridden.
Jingtai Emperor Zhu Qiyu was seriously ill
When someone saw this, he had a conspiracy. This person was Shiheng.
mentioned above that before the Tumu Fort Incident, Shi Heng and Song Ying were defeated by the Oirat. Song Ying was still killed in battle at that time, while Shi Heng fled back, but was also sent to prison for defeat.
Later, before the Beijing Defense War began, Yu Qian "takes" him out of prison, hoping that he can make meritorious service.
Logically speaking, Shi Heng should be grateful to Qian, but at the moment, Shi Heng plans to take revenge on Yu Qian.
What's going on?
After the Ming army defeated the Oirat, Emperor Jingtai rewarded him on his merits, and Yu Qian was undoubtedly the first merit.
However, , the selfless Minister of War, repeatedly and firmly refused to accept the reward.
In his opinion, the war has just ended, the country and the people are still not stable, and the border Oirat has not yet subsided, so it is inappropriate to reward at this moment.
In order to repay Yu Qian's "save the prison grace", Shi Heng suggested to Emperor Jingtai that since Yu Qian was unwilling to receive the reward, it would be better to reward his son.
Emperor Jingtai felt that it was reasonable, so he promoted Yu Qian's son beyond his level.
After Yu Qian learned about this, he scolded Shi Heng in front of everyone in the court.
Yu Qian accused Shi Heng of having never promoted a talent, but he promoted his son, which was obviously a fraud.
Shi Heng never expected Yu Qian to have such a reaction. also made him, the second most powerful contributor of the Ming Dynasty, make a fool of himself in public. He was obviously thanking him, but he was taught a lesson by the other party.
Therefore, Shi Heng gradually changed from "gratitude" to "hate".
Shi Heng saw that Emperor Jingtai was seriously ill and Emperor Yingzong was under house arrest. A thought came to his mind: If Emperor Yingzong was supported at this time, how would things develop?
After all, Yu Qian was not as high as his current status during the reign of Emperor Yingzong.
He had no friendship with Yingzong, and it was Yu Qian's strong suggestion that Zhu Qiyu became emperor. In other words, Yingzong was abolished by Yu Qian.
Thinking of this, a more evil thought emerged in Shi Heng's mind: he defeated Yu Qian, replaced him and became the number one official of the Ming court.
Shiheng quickly started to act. He found three other people who had a grudge against Yu Qian and discussed with them.
Among them, one was once severely punished by Yu Qian for corruption, and the other was the remnant of the former eunuch Wang Zhen.
and the third one is named Xu Youzhen, the original name is Xu Youzhen , he is a cultural person. After the Tumu Fort Incident, he advocated that everyone in the court would flee to Nanjing, but Yu Qian angrily denounced him as he was completely disregarding the people in Beijing. He was immediately ordered by Yu Qian to "get out".
From then on, Xu Feng lost all his face, and he went to Nanjing.
He was worried about being laughed at by others, so he changed his name to Xu Youzhen .
It can be said that the hatred between him and Yu Qian is the deepest.
After a period of planning, the four of them finally opened the door of Nangong at dawn on the 17th day of the first lunar month of the eighth year of Jingtai (1457), and then shouted excitedly: "Please ascend the throne again!"
Yingzong was so happy when he heard this.
You should know that over the past seven years, he has not lived as a prisoner in the Mongolian Wala, and he has not even sufficient basic daily necessities.
During this period, I finally talked to the eunuch who delivered the meal. Later, the two became deeply in love. Emperor Yingzong gave the eunuch a small gift, but Emperor Jingtai thought he was colluding with the eunuch, so he issued an order to behead the eunuch.
The guards saw Shi Heng and others supporting Yingzong out and immediately stopped him.
Yingzong shouted loudly: " I am the Supreme Emperor. " The guard had to retreat.
On the morning court of the 17th, the civil and military officials were shocked, but no one opposed it.
Because everyone knew in their hearts that Emperor Yingzong had no guilt at all, but Emperor Jingtai wanted to be the emperor too much, but he was seriously ill and had no children.
Therefore, is indeed the best choice for restoration of Yingzong.
This is also true for Yu Qian, the most important minister of the dynasty.
We know that Yu Qian has always put the country first. In his heart, the country is more important than the king - as long as the emperor is wise, no matter who he is, it is the same.
It’s like this. Eight years later, Emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Qizhen, once again sat on the dragon throne in Fengtian Hall, known in history as the “Nangong Restoration”.
Nangong Restoration
Eternal strange injustice "desiring to be guilty"
After the successful restoration of Nangong, the organizers of the coup, Shi Heng, Xu Youzhen and others, were reused by Emperor Yingzong.
began to take control of the power in the court, and then they began to retaliate against their enemy Yu Qian.
Xu Youzhen ordered Yu Qian and the chief minister of the cabinet Wang Wen to be arrested in front of all the civil and military officials of the court, and to be sentenced to prison for "planning to establish a foreign vassal."
When Emperor Jingtai was seriously ill and his son died prematurely, it was logical that the son of Hui Yingzong should be re-established as the crown prince.
Xu Youzhen claimed to be , and Yu Qian and Wang Wen did not agree with this. They were secretly trying to support the throne of the vassal kings from other places.
This was undoubtedly a death sentence in the Ming Dynasty.
This is completely Xu Youzhen is talking nonsense. The officials in the case could not find any evidence at all. As a result, Xu Youzhen actually said for the first time: "Then they are determined to establish a foreign vassal."
In other words, although there is no actual evidence, it can be concluded that they "want" to establish a foreign vassal based on personal speculation, and this is evidence.
Xu Youzhen framed Yu Qian
Yingzong learned that Yu Qian would be executed, and he felt complicated. After all, if Yu Qian had not been able to be destroyed in the first place, the entire Ming Dynasty might have been ruined.
Yu Qian, who defended Beijing back then,
Xu Youzhen and Shi Heng told Yingzong at this time:
Even if Emperor Jingtai died of serious illness, Yingzong should not succeed to the throne, but his son, the crown prince, succeeded to the throne.
Moreover, Before Emperor Jingtai died of illness, the emperor restored the throne, so in theory, this was an act of rebellion.
But if Yu Qian is convicted and said that he and Wang Wen intend to support foreign vassals and proclaim themselves emperors, then the emperor's restoration is to quell Yu Qian's rebellion and save the situation in the Ming Dynasty.
In this way, it will neither cause controversy nor be caught in the future.
Yingzong nodded after hearing this.
Yingzong intends to clean up the old party of Emperor Jingtai
That's it. On February 16, 1457, Yu Qian, a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty, was wrongly beheaded in the city of Beijing where he once vowed to defend to the death, at the age of 60.
Yu Qian was wrongly beheaded in Beijing
Emperor Sun, the mother of Yingzong, was depressed all day long and could not eat for several days.
Empress Dowager Sun will never forget this life: When defending Beijing, Yu Qian, as a civil servant, bravely led his troops to the front line and fought to the death with the Oirat.
It is precisely because of his forward and turning the tide that the peace of the Ming Dynasty has been achieved today.
After Empress Dowager Sun, who was sad for Yu Qian's death, the court ordered the Jinyiwei to search Yu Qian's home, but did not find much money.
They couldn't believe that this was the home of the most important officials of the Ming Dynasty. What they saw in front of them was more like the residence of an ordinary family.
They couldn't help but shed tears in emotion, sighing for Yu Qian's unjust death.
Jinyiwei searched his home, but found that Yu Qian was poor before his death
The idiom "two sleeves and clean wind" is known to everyone. The protagonist of the allusion is Yu Qian " Yu Shaobao ".
Yu Qian's life was open and selfless, and always put the interests of the country first. However, he was eventually revenged by villains and became a political victim of the restoration of Emperor Yingzong.
Of course, we often say that character determines destiny. Perhaps it is because Yu Qian is too straightforward and serious, which leads to such an ending, but if he doesn't do this, he will not be Yu Qian! He could not become the number one loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty!
History portrait
