Author Lu Dongping
1: Wei Zhongxian’s godson... Li Jinshi
When I was a child, I often listened to old people telling historical stories. Especially during the dynasty changes in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, because some people near their hometown served as officials in the imperial court, some things related to the place and the imperial court happened. The stories that happened in the neighboring villages sounded particularly real and friendly. Although hundreds of years have passed, the old people told them vividly and interestingly as they were passed down from generation to generation, as if they were right before their eyes. What I am telling is not official history, just popular folk tales. Folktales are not restricted by the imperial court's revision of history, and they have freedom of speech. There are many versions, but the general idea is the same. I still remember some of them, which are quite interesting, so I would like to share them with you today.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the government was corrupt, and the eunuch Wei Zhongxian began to chaos during the reign of Zhu Youxiao, Emperor Xizong of the Ming Dynasty. Wei Zhongxian, a Han nationality from Suning County, Cangzhou, Hebei Province, was a eunuch in the late Ming Dynasty. After the palace, he changed his name to Li Jinzhong, and the emperor gave him the name Wei Zhongxian.
During the Ming Xizong period, he served as the eunuch of Si Li Bingbi. He was very popular and was called "Nine Thousand Nine Hundred Years Old". He excluded dissidents and arbitrarily ruled the country. The eunuchs were autocratic and the judiciary was chaotic, so that people "only knew that there were loyal and virtuous people, but they didn't know that there was an emperor." After Zhu Youjian of Chongzhen succeeded to the throne, he cracked down on and punished eunuchs, punished Wei Zhongxian for ten major crimes, ordered him to be arrested and punished, and hanged himself. The rest of the party was also eliminated. He has power over the government and the public, and everyone is afraid of him. Even the elders of the cabinet took the initiative to join him, not to mention the other governors of the six ministries, nine ministers and the four directions. In order to expand his sphere of influence and consolidate the position of "Nine Thousand Years Old", Wei Zhongxian formed cliques for personal gain and recruited surrenders and rebels. He took advantage of the ministers' tendency to flatter dragons and phoenixes, and decided to accept 360 Jintu as his sons. In this way, although he is an eunuch, he has many "children and grandchildren". Because for the sake of glory and wealth, and to keep their official position, many ministers shamelessly tried to cling to powerful people and were willing to worship Wei Zhongxian as their father and claim to be their godson. His team of "descendants" continues to grow, the most famous of which are the Five Tigers, Five Biaos, Ten Dogs, Ten Children, and Forty Grandsons.
Li Fan, a Jinshi during the Guichou period of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, was born in Houmazhuang, Rizhao. He had not kept his duty since he was a child and was unruly. He thought about it day and night, and wanted to be Wei Zhongxian's godson. Unfortunately, Wei Zhongxian's quota of 360 godsons has been filled. Li Jinshi, who was good at speculation and scheming, begged Wei Zhongxian on his knees and offered to be Wei Zhongxian's godson. When Wei Zhongxian heard this, he was secretly happy. After all, his godson was a generation younger than his godson. Wei Zhongxian saw Li Fan's loyalty and liked it, so he agreed wholeheartedly! Li Fan received Wei Zhongxian's permission and quickly knelt down to worship his 9,000-year-old godfather. Wei Zhongxian was so elated that he already had 360 godsons and one more godson! I was originally inferior to one person and superior to ten thousand people, but now my family is great and my family is full of "children and grandchildren". Why not be happy! Li Fan became Wei Zhongxian's confidant, and he rose to the rank of imperial censor and minister of Taipu Temple. Later, the Wei party squeezed out Zhongliang, and most of them were replaced by Li Jinshi. Li Fan became Wei Zhongxian's godson, and Wei Zhongxian's 360 Jinshi godsons naturally became Li Jinshi's godfathers. Although a godson is a generation younger than a godson, his power is many times greater. From then on, his official career flourished and his power expanded day by day. With Wei Zhongxian and 360 Jinshi godfathers on his back, he went from being a Jinshi during the Wanli period to becoming the censor of the Lujiang magistrate during the Tianqi period. It was not until the beginning of Chongzhen that the "counter case" was decided to redeem the people. After Li Jinshi returned to his hometown, he still did whatever he wanted, ran rampant, bullied men and dominated women, and committed all kinds of evil, becoming the largest evil force in the local area. The reason why he acted so boldly was because he not only had Wei Zhongxian, his godfather, as a protective umbrella in the court, but also his 360 Jinshi godfathers, who became his protective umbrella in government offices across the country. So with a hum, the world was in turmoil. Numerous protective umbrellas protect a demon king who does all kinds of evil. People are doing it, God is watching, and public anger is hard to quell.Just when Li Fan and Li Jinshi were doing all kinds of evil and getting carried away with themselves, the protective umbrella was powerless. In the confusion, a catastrophe befell Li Jinshi!
(to be continued)
