Volume 1: Birth! Seven time travelers Chapter 001 Imagination is important
It is said that the birth of great monarchs in all dynasties would cause strange phenomena in heaven and earth. This is true for all ages, both in China and abroad.
Although this is true for all times and all countries, there are huge differences between China and the West in the specific implementation plans.
For example, in 1453 AD, the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II led an army of 80,000 to capture Constantinople and renamed it Istanbul. The country's history books say that when this man was born, the crop yields of all the lands of the Ottomans at that time increased by 40%. At that time, people in Constantinople saw a fiery red meteor streaking across the sky...
How dare you brag about such a poor imagination?
The births of the great emperors of China were always accompanied by auspicious signs. The descriptions in the history books are beyond your imagination and written by the historians.
According to the agreement of the gods, after the seven chosen people were born, the entire space would be sealed. But in order to send these seven people in, the gods needed to stay in this space for a short time. Therefore, Huangdi created enough momentum for Wang Dong's birth.
When Wang Dong's mother in this life began to move her fetus, a colorful aurora suddenly appeared in the sky of Yanjing City in the Ming Dynasty, which was absolutely impossible to see at this latitude. The range of the aurora was so large that it completely covered most of the sky.
Along with the aurora, countless cranes suddenly appeared from the sky, and then circled and danced above the residence of the eldest prince Zhu Changluo.
After a while, the sky was suddenly covered with heavy clouds. Then, a blue dragon appeared in the clouds. The blue dragon circled in the sky for a while, attracting the amazement of millions of officials and citizens in the entire Yanjing City. Suddenly, a loud dragon roar was heard, and then it swooped down at a lightning speed. Then, amid the exclamations of many servants in the eldest prince's mansion, it turned into a phantom and plunged into the belly of Guo, the eldest prince Zhu Changluo's wife...
When the time came, Huangdi withdrew from this space. Without the support of the ancestor, the aurora quickly disappeared, the clouds and mist dispersed, and the cranes suddenly disappeared. Then, the loud cry of a newborn baby was heard in Zhu Changluo's mansion.
"A blue dragon has appeared, and cranes are flying around the beams. This is the arrival of a saint! Go out and investigate quickly to see whose house the blue dragon in the sky finally entered."
The same order was soon issued in the homes or official residences of the nobles in Yanjing City. Driven by the masters of the houses, countless servants swarmed out and inquired about Canglong's whereabouts.
Of course, since it was the ancestor who took action , there would definitely not be any obvious omissions. The personnel sent by various dignitaries finally reported very clearly to their respective masters: Canglong entered the residence of the eldest son Zhu Changluo, and then news came from the residence of the eldest son that his wife Guo had given birth to a son!
"So that's how it is. May God bless our Ming Dynasty!"
"Haha, the dispute over the country's foundation has lasted for fifteen years. Can even God not stand it anymore?"
"Come here, get some paper and ink. I want to present my book to you! This time, the Emperor should have nothing to say!"
"How could this happen? How could this happen? I don't know where Chang Luo invited this expert from, but he actually performed such a grand illusion! Someone, help me change my clothes. I want to see the emperor!"
Just as the ministers were gearing up for a new round of national offensive and Concubine Zheng's party was panicking, Wang Zhizhen, the deputy secretary of the Jinyiwei, was nervously reporting to Emperor Wanli in his study.
"Your Majesty, the Royal Guards have already found out that after the blue dragon descended from the sky, it did enter the residence of the eldest prince. The servants in the palace also confirmed that the blue dragon entered Guo's belly. A few breaths later, Guo gave birth to a son. I sent out five general flags to investigate this matter, but the news they reported back was the same."
"Ah~~" Wanli sighed and waved his hand weakly: "I know."
"In that case, I will take my leave."
"Go ahead."
After Wang Zhizhen left, Chen Ju, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department and the supervisor of the Eastern Depot, emerged from behind the thick curtains and said, "Your Majesty, I have also sent the Eastern Depot's supervisor to investigate. The information we got is exactly the same as what the Imperial Guards heard."
After saying this, Chen Ju knelt on both knees and said, "Congratulations, Your Majesty. The birth of a blue dragon in the imperial family of the Ming Dynasty is a great auspicious sign!"
When Canglong appeared, who was the most nervous at first? Of course, the royal family: Was the heaven dissatisfied with the Zhu family and wanted to send down the Holy Son of Heaven to start a revolution? After gathering information from many sources and making it clear that Canglong had entered the Zhu family, Emperor Wanli was of course relieved.
However, after feeling relieved, Wanli still felt very depressed.
Why? The drama of the dispute over the national capital can no longer be performed.
Emperor Wanli had seven sons at this time, of which the second and fourth died young, and the fifth son survived. None of these seven sons were born to the empress. In other words, they were all illegitimate sons.
Among them, the eldest son Zhu Changluo was born in the tenth year of Wanli (1582). His birth was an accident. His birth mother, Concubine Wang Gong, was originally a palace maid. One day, Emperor Wanli was in a good mood and clapped his hands, and then he was born. As for the emperor's feelings for Concubine Wang Gong? It can be basically confirmed that there was none at all.
The third son, Zhu Changxun, was born in the 14th year of the Wanli reign. His mother, Concubine Zheng, was extremely favored by the Wanli Emperor.
However, according to the etiquette and laws that have been passed down for thousands of years in the orthodox dynasties of China, if there is a legitimate heir, the heir shall be appointed as the crown prince, and if there is no legitimate heir, the eldest son shall be appointed as the crown prince.
But Wanli did not do so. Not only did he not make Zhu Changluo the crown prince, he also expressed, either implicitly or openly, that he wanted to make the third son Zhu Changxun the crown prince.
This, of course, aroused opposition from the ministers. Then the emperor and the ministers had a quarrel over this. Because the crown prince was the future and foundation of the country. So the dispute over who should be the crown prince was a dispute over the foundation of the country. This was the dispute over the foundation of the country during the Wanli era of the Ming Dynasty.
This dispute over the national foundation lasted for too long, starting from the 14th year of the Wanli reign (1586), when the then Prime Minister Shen Shixing proposed to make Zhu Changluo the crown prince, but was rejected by the Wanli Emperor. It has lasted for nearly 15 years now.
Over the past 15 years, four cabinet ministers (Shen Shixing, Wang Jiaping, Zhao Zhigao, and Wang Xijue) were forced to resign, more than ten ministerial officials, and more than 300 central and local officials were involved, of whom more than 100 were dismissed, fired, or exiled. Emperor Wanli himself refused to attend court for a long time because his ministers used this matter to make trouble every time he attended court. In the end, he even created a historical record of a monarch not attending court for 20 years.
Of course, the Ming Dynasty may not have much else, but there were more people who wanted to be officials than ever before. Therefore, officials' resignation and dismissal were not a big deal.
The grand court meeting was just a formality. Haven't you heard the saying: small meetings are used to decide big things, and big meetings are used to discuss small things? Therefore, if the emperor didn't attend the court, it would have no real impact on the operation of the country.
However, the biggest sequelae of the dispute over the national foundation is that because too many ministers were dismissed from office for the same thing, these officials with different personalities, ages, regions, and beliefs actually had a common goal. This made the officials of the Ming Dynasty consciously or unconsciously form cross-regional factions - the prototype of the Donglin Party began to appear because of the dispute over the national foundation. And the terrible thing is that because this group of guys are the ones who jumped the hardest and cursed the hardest in the dispute over the national foundation, they are often the ones who are punished the worst by Wanli. Doing so will not only make these guys famous, but also let the future Donglin Party stand on the moral high ground from the day it was conceived.
