The Prosperous Era of Longwan

"The three main halls have been repeatedly rebuffed. Now, taking advantage of the opportunity of their re-completion, I would like to change their names. I hope this will ensure the safety of the three main halls."

Emperor Jiajing said calmly.

It's just that these plain words didn't sound like thunder in the ears of Xu Jie, Yuan Wei, and even Huang Jin.

How does this work?

The news spread to the outer court. If the courtiers knew about it, they didn't know how they would make a fuss.

Although they wanted to object in their hearts, the emperor had not finished speaking after all, and it was difficult for them to talk for the time being.

In front of the emperor, they could not speak casually without His Majesty's permission. They could only wait for Emperor Jiajing to finish speaking.

"The Fengtian Hall is called Huangji, the Huagai Hall is called Zhongji, and the Jinshen Hall is called Jianji. What do you think of the two ministers?"

Emperor Jiajing was very pleased to see the reactions of Xu Jie and Yuan Wei. No one jumped out to object after he stated his purpose.

obedient.

This is the cabinet minister he wants.

Xu Jie and Yuan Wei below immediately understood that the idea of ​​changing the names of the three main halls was definitely not an impromptu idea of ​​Emperor Jiajing.

Huangji, Zhongji and Jianji have all been named.

Actually speaking, changing the names of the three major halls is not a big deal, but it represents inheritance.

When Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, moved the capital to Beijing, none of the three major palaces changed their names. Why? Still stick to the name given by Zhu Yuanzhang?

At this time, the two cabinet ministers were thinking more about whether the people in the Ministry of Rites would accept this matter.

Even if Yan Ne and Gao Gong don't support it, they probably won't openly oppose it. As for other people, their opinions don't seem to have much influence.

In fact, as long as Yan Ne and Gao Gong acquiesce in this matter, the opinion of the Ministry of Rites is basically settled, and it will be difficult for others to change the opinion.

"Your Majesty, do you want to change your name for some reason?"

At this time, Emperor Jiajing had already asked for their opinions. Naturally, Xu Jie and Yuan Wei could not pretend to be deaf and dumb, but still wanted to say a few words.

"A few years ago, I saw the three main halls burned by fire from heaven again. I felt extremely sad and thought hard about the reason."

Emperor Jiajing began to tell the reason why he changed the names of the three major halls. In fact, it was because of the fire in the 36th year of Jiajing that he understood why the three major halls suffered fires repeatedly after they were built.

It turned out that after the burning of the three main halls caused harm to the Meridian Gate, the frightened Emperor Jiajing summoned all the alchemists to discuss the matter. Because he was afraid that this was God's dissatisfaction with him, he rained down fire from heaven.

Do you want to know what the three halls are?

That represented the supreme imperial power. The burning of the three main halls seemed to represent the instability of his imperial power.

So, after the alchemists arrived, he asked: "Why does this heavenly fire always burn down the Fengtian Temple? Is there any way to avoid it?"

At that time, an alchemist stood up and replied: "Your Majesty, I believe that the natural disaster was caused by the words "Fengtian Temple".

Your Majesty, please see, this word "Feng" is in front of the word "天", blocking the word "天". God is naturally not happy, so he sent down fire from heaven to burn the hall to warn us. "

While speaking, he also drew the word "Fengtian" in the sky, one up and one down.

Emperor Jiajing didn't understand what it meant at first. After he came to the capital and ascended the throne as emperor, when he first saw Fengtian Hall, the plaque hanging on the hall had these three words, arranged from top to bottom.

Seeing that Emperor Jiajing didn't understand, the alchemist reminded again: "Your Majesty, where should the word "天" be when writing?"

After hearing the reminder, Emperor Jiajing instantly understood what the man meant.

At this time, the text is written from right to left and from top to bottom. There is no punctuation mark or anything. Originally, one should fill up one vertical line and then move one line to the right to continue writing, but sometimes it is necessary to mention the line, that is, there is no writing. Man also needs to continue writing on the right line, in which there is the word "天".

For example, the six words "Fengtian Chengyun Emperor" in the imperial edict actually occupy two lines, and the word "Feng" occupies a separate line, and then there are five words "Tian Chengyun Emperor". The reason is that the word "天" must be in each line. First in line.

Of course, in addition to mentioning lines, there are many taboos in the writing.

As for the reason why Western writing uses horizontal lines, while in the East, vertical lines have always been used, there are many speculations about the formation of this writing habit.

Among them, the most widely accepted one is Mr. Qian Cunxun’s understanding, which is due to the inheritance of ancient writing habits.

As we all know, before the invention of paper, people mainly used bamboo slips for writing.

When writing, hold the bamboo slip in your left hand and write with your right hand, usually one bamboo slip per line, and for the convenience of holding the bamboo slip in your left hand, the blank bamboo slip is placed on the left. When I finished writing each abbreviation, in order to avoid mixing the written abbreviations with the blank ones, I pushed them one by one to the right with my left hand and arranged them in a row.

In this case, the first written slip is always on the right, and the rows are from right to left. The slip held by the left hand is upright, while most people hold long and slender objects. It is perpendicular to the human finger, so the strokes of Chinese characters become from top to bottom, from right to left.

But at this point, Emperor Jiajing seemed to have an enlightenment and understood why the three main halls were repeatedly hit by fires.

It seems that it is true, because the word "天" is suppressed by the word "Feng" below, which caused the dissatisfaction of heaven, so it rained down fire from heaven.

The alchemist's words were quickly agreed upon by others, who expressed their correct answers.

If you put this statement in modern times, you don’t have to think about it. It must be nonsense and heresy. However, in the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Jiajing thought it was very reasonable and thought that the reason had been found. Then the next step was to find the reason. Come up with solutions.

So next, everyone started discussing how to solve the dissatisfaction of God.

At first, it was naturally based on the text. Some people suggested that the palace plaque should be written in two lines, and the emperor should be placed in the first position of the second vertical line. However, no one agreed because it would appear nondescript.

At this time, another alchemist stood up and said: "Your Majesty, I think you can turn the plaque sideways, so that Tianzi stands in the middle, and God will know the importance of his status."

As soon as this sentence was finished, an alchemist stood up and objected: "You can't do this. When you read it, the word "Feng" is still in front, and the word "天" is still not highlighted."

Indeed, placing the word "天" horizontally on the plaque puts it at the first position, but who knows whether God will approve this approach. Maybe God wants the word "天" not to be suppressed at all, and the word "天" must be placed In the first place.

Fengtian Hall, should it be renamed "Tianfeng Hall"?

In fact, at this time, neither the alchemists nor Emperor Jiajing thought of changing the names of the three main halls and replacing the original names with new ones.

Just when everyone was talking and having disputes, until a person appeared to break the hustle and bustle, he was the famous Blue Immortal Lan Daoxing.

Just when everyone was thinking of a way, Lan Daoxing realized that if he continued to use the name "Fengtian Palace", he would not be able to solve the taboo in their mouths anyway, so he thought of changing the name directly. , completely circumventing the word "天" to solve this matter.

Not only that, Lan Daoxing also thought of a sentence in "Shang Shu Hong Fan Pian", which said: "The emperor's construction has its own ends" to give Fengtian Palace a new name, that is, Huang. Extreme palace.

"The Emperor Jian Qi Youji" means that the emperor's teachings can always serve as the code of conduct for the people.

"Your Majesty, why not just change the name of the palace to Huangji Palace? This will not only have "Huangtian" in the first place, but also closely connect you with the people. It is very meaningful!"

Lan Daoxing expressed his idea and the name of the new palace. Although it was just an idea, it might not be adopted. It would depend on Emperor Jiajing's wishes.

Lan Daoxing actually entered the palace not long ago. Although he had already earned the nickname "Blue Immortal" with the help of some people in both the government and the public, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

Although he got the attention of Emperor Jiajing, he still needed this opportunity to reveal his face in the face of so many competitors.

Emperor Jiajing heard his words, and of course he would not immediately say, "Yes, this is a good idea, I like it very much!" However, Emperor Jiajing did start to summon Lan Daoxing frequently after that.

Maybe Lan Daoxing had told Xu Jie about this before, but after all, it had been so many years and Xu Jie had long forgotten about it. Now that Emperor Jiajing mentioned it, it seemed like he had heard about it before.

"I called you here today without summoning the officials from the Ministry of Etiquette, just to see what your attitude is?"

After telling the story, Emperor Jiajing said again.

At this time, the two people in the palace, neither Xu Jie nor Yuan Wei, were willing to offend Emperor Jiajing. They also wanted to continue serving as officials.

How wonderful it is to be an official.

Although officials from the Ministry of Rites would not object fiercely, officials from other yamen could not say that, especially officials from Qingliu.

However, it is actually not difficult for the emperor to accomplish this. He can just ignore the objections. The most important thing is actually the attitude of the Ministry of Rites.

Do you want to object?

Or support the emperor on the surface but oppose it secretly?

He didn't care what Yuan Wei thought about Xu Jie. He quickly weighed the pros and cons in his mind at this time, and finally discovered that if he changed his name, some people might accuse them of being flattering to the ministers in the cabinet. As for the rest, it didn't seem like there was much loss.

Thinking of this, Xu Jie bowed and replied: "I can understand your Majesty's thoughts, but I am afraid that the Ministry of Rites and the courtiers will oppose this proposal on the grounds of ancestral system."

Yuan Wei, who was behind him, understood when Xu Jie said this that Xu Jie would not object openly. In fact, he had similar thoughts to Xu Jie.

In fact, both himself and Xu Jie have only average reputations among the scholars. If Yan Ge Lao hadn't blocked them in front, the firepower would have hit him long ago.

When I wrote Qingci to please the emperor, I was criticized a lot, but it doesn't matter, since I am in the cabinet now.

"Your Majesty, I am also worried about this."

Since Xu Jie was like this, Yuan Wei said without hesitation that he and the emperor were of one mind as soon as possible.

After hearing what they said, Emperor Jiajing was very pleased, because he was very satisfied with the attitude of the two cabinet ministers he had found.

"I'm very happy that you have this idea."

Emperor Jiajing first spoke in approval, and then continued: "That's why I summoned you two this time instead of letting officials from the Ministry of Rites come.

After today, you will communicate privately with several ministers of the Ministry of Rites to see their attitude.

You are cabinet ministers and my assistants. I hope you can convince the officials of the Ministry of Rites. As for the opinions of other courtiers, as long as the Ministry of Rites does not openly oppose this matter, other people's words naturally do not need to be considered. "

Sure enough, as Xu Jie and Yuan Wei thought, Emperor Jiajing only needed the support, or at least tacit approval, of officials from the Ministry of Rites, but absolutely no public opposition was allowed, and the matter had to move forward.

Think about it, Emperor Jiajing has been thinking about it for many years, how could he give up just because some ministers objected.

"According to the order."

Xu Jie and Yuan Wei then bowed and answered directly.

After leaving Yuxi Palace, the two were still discussing the meaning of Huangji, Zhongji and Jianji.

"Huangji" means the emperor's ultimate rule. The emperor will formulate and establish the highest standards for the world. It emphasizes that the imperial power is the highest and will rule the world forever.

"Zhongji" is the North Star referred to by the ancients, and is also defined as the position of the emperor. As the saying goes, "Ziwei Palace is the middle palace, so it is called Zhongji."

"Jianji" refers to the establishment of the middle and right way, that is, "to establish, to establish. Ji is like the pole of the North Pole. The meaning of the ultimate is the name of the standard, which is neutral and what is right in all directions."

The two of them talked as they walked. As they talked, they felt that the three palace names chosen by Emperor Jiajing were quite good, and the group of alchemists around the emperor seemed not to be without merit.

It's a pity that the person who proposed it has died in prison.

The names of Huangji Hall, Zhongji Hall, and Jianji Hall are actually no more brilliant than Fengtian Hall, Huagai Hall, and Jinshen Hall. But if Emperor Jiajing wants to do this, what can they do?

What's more, they are still in the palace now. If they say anything and are heard by the eunuchs and servants around them, they may be recorded in a small notebook in the East Factory and sent to the emperor, no matter how quiet their conversation is.

But vaguely, the two of them still had other thoughts for no reason. They always felt that Emperor Jiajing wanted to change the names of the three main halls. There seemed to be other meanings in it, but they couldn't figure it out for the moment.

The two of them left Xiyuan and quickly arranged their itinerary. Naturally, they were going to meet with the officials of the Ministry of Etiquette. They did not summon them together, but met alone to test and persuade them.

Emperor Jiajing asked them to deal with the officials of the Ministry of Rites. Naturally, it was not only the Minister of Rites and the Minister of Rites, but also other officials of the Ministry of Rites, such as the ministers of the Qing Dynasty and the officials of the Ministry of Rites. These people were also the real powerful figures in the Ministry of Rites. Although their official positions were only the fifth rank, they had great influence. Not weak.

Moreover, the Ministry of Rites is special. Many officials in the Ministry of Rites come from Qingliu and are often not dependent on their superiors. After all, they have the real power.

Today's summons was extremely secretive. In the past, none of the eunuchs who served in the palace were seen. Only Huang Jin stood by.

Wei Guangde and the others learned about the emperor's intention from the note sent by Gao Gong the next day, but for a while no one spoke.

The contents of the cabinet's re-recording ceremony had been leaked last night. After all, the issuance of an imperial edict had to go through multiple yamen, so it was easy for the news to leak out. Both Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng were still very happy at this time.

They knew that their names were on the selection list, but in the end Emperor Jiajing chose them, so they were naturally lucky.

"Is it necessary to change the name of the three major halls?"

But at this moment, King Yu really looked at them in confusion, hoping for an answer.