Chapter 492 491 Imperial Pole, Middle Pole, Construction Pole

"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 not easy 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 also 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 name 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, I don't know why you want to change your name?"

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 sent 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 main 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 him 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, in the imperial edict, the six words "Fengtian Chengyun Emperor" 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, followed by rows 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 having said that, Emperor Jiajing seemed to have a sudden 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 this statement were put in modern times, it would be a bunch of nonsense and heresy without even a second thought. However, in the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Jiajing thought it made sense and thought that the reason had been found, so the next step was to find a solution.

So, everyone started to discuss how to solve the dissatisfaction of heaven.

At first, it was naturally according to the text. Someone 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, but no one agreed, because it would be out of place.

At this time, another Taoist priest stood up and said, "Your Majesty, I think the plaque can be turned horizontally, so that the word "天" stands in the middle, and the heaven will know how important his status is."

As soon as this sentence was finished, a Taoist priest stood up and rejected it, saying, "You can't do this. When reading, the word "风" is still in front, and the word "天" is still not highlighted ."

Indeed, the word "天" is placed horizontally on the plaque, but who knows whether the heaven will approve of this approach. Perhaps what the heaven wants is that the word "天" is not suppressed at all, and the word "天" should be placed in the first place.

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

In fact, at this time, the alchemists and Emperor Jiajing had not thought of renaming the three halls and replacing the original names with new names.

Just when everyone was talking about it and arguing, until the appearance of a person broke the noise, he was the famous blue fairy Lan Daoxing.

Just when everyone was trying to find a solution, Lan Daoxing keenly discovered through the previous statements of several people that if the name "Fengtian Hall" was continued, it would not solve the taboo in their mouths anyway, so he thought of changing the name directly and completely avoiding the word "Tian" to solve the problem.

Not only that, Lan Daoxing also thought of a sentence in "Shangshu Hongfan Pian", which said: "Huangji, Huangjian has its limit" to change the name of Fengtian Hall to a new name, that is, Huangji Hall.

"Huangjian has its limit" means: the emperor's teachings can always be used as the code of conduct for the people.

"Your Majesty, why not change the name of the palace to Huangji Palace? This way, not only will "Huangtian" be at the top, but it will also closely connect you with the people, which is very meaningful!"

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

Lan Daoxing had not been in the palace for long at this time. Although he had won the nickname "Lan Shenxian" with the help of some people in the court and the public, intentionally or unintentionally.

Although he had received the attention of Emperor Jiajing, he also needed such an opportunity to show his face in the face of so many competitors.

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

Maybe Lan Daoxing had told Xu Jie about this matter at the beginning, but after all, it had been so many years, Xu Jie had forgotten about it long ago, and now he heard Emperor Jiajing mention him as if he had heard of it before.

"Today I called you here instead of summoning the officials of the Ministry of Rites, just to see what your attitude is?"

After telling the story, Emperor Jiajing said again.

At this time, neither Xu Jie nor Yuan Wei in the palace wanted to offend Emperor Jiajing, and they still wanted to continue to be officials.

How good it is to be an official.

Although it is thought that the officials of the Ministry of Rites will not strongly oppose it, it is hard to say about the officials of other yamen, especially the clean officials.

However, it is not difficult for the emperor to accomplish this matter. For the opposing memorials, just keep them in the court. The most important thing is actually the attitude of the Ministry of Rites.

Should we oppose it?

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

Xu Jie didn't care what Yuan Wei thought. He quickly weighed the pros and cons in his mind at this time, and finally found that in fact, if he changed his name, someone might accuse them of fawning on the cabinet ministers, but as for the others, it seemed that there was not much loss.

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

Yuan Wei, who was standing behind him, understood that Xu Jie would not publicly oppose it. In fact, he had similar ideas to Xu Jie.

In fact, both he and Xu Jie had only average reputations in the literati circle. If it were not for the old man Yan blocking 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 what's the matter, anyway, I am in the cabinet now.

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

Since Xu Jie said so, Yuan Wei spoke without hesitation, expressing his intention to be of one mind with the emperor as soon as possible.

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

"I am very pleased that you have such an idea."

Emperor Jiajing first praised it, and then continued: "That is why I summoned you two this time, and did not let the officials of the Ministry of Rites come.

Today, you should communicate with several ministers of the Ministry of Rites in private to see their attitude.

You are cabinet ministers and my helpers. I hope you can convince the officials of the Ministry of Rites. As for the opinions of other court officials, as long as the Ministry of Rites does not publicly oppose this matter, the opinions of others will naturally not be considered."

Sure enough, just like what Xu Jie and Yuan Wei thought, Emperor Jiajing only needed the support of the officials of the Ministry of Rites, at least tacit approval, but absolutely no public opposition, and this matter must be pushed forward.

Come to think of it, the Emperor Jiajing has been considering this for many years, how could he give up just because some ministers objected.

"As you wish."

Xu Jie and Yuan Wei bowed and replied directly.

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

"Huangji" means the emperor builds the infinite, the emperor formulates and establishes the highest principle of Zhongzheng in the world, which emphasizes that the emperor is supreme and rules the world forever.

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

"Jianji" refers to the establishment of Zhongzheng, that is, "Jian, establish. Ji, like the extreme of the North Pole. The meaning of the extreme, the name of the standard, the one who is neutral and the four directions take the right."

The two walked and talked, and they felt that the three palace names chosen by Emperor Jiajing were not bad, and the group of alchemists around the emperor did not seem to be useless.

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

The names of Huangji Hall, Zhongji Hall, and Jianji Hall are not more brilliant than Fengtian Hall, Huagai Hall, and Jinshen Hall, but what can they do if Emperor Jiajing wants to do this?

Moreover, they are still in the palace. If they say something and are heard by the eunuchs around them, it may be recorded in the small notebook of the East Factory and sent to the emperor, even if they talk in a low voice.

However, the two of them still have other thoughts in their hearts for no reason. They always feel that Emperor Jiajing wants to change the names of the three halls, and there seems to be other meanings in it, but they just can't figure it out for a while.

After the two left the West Garden, they quickly arranged the itinerary. Naturally, they had to go back to meet the officials of the Ministry of Rites. They were not summoned together, but met alone to test and persuade.

Emperor Jiajing wanted them to deal with the officials of the Ministry of Rites, naturally not only the Minister and the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, but also other officials of the Ministry of Rites, such as the Langzhong and Yuanwailang of the Qinglisi. These people are also powerful figures in the Ministry of Rites. Although their official positions are only fifth-rank, their influence is not weak.

Moreover, the Ministry of Rites is special. Many of its officials are from the clean stream and often do not rely on their superiors. After all, they hold real power.

Today's summons were extremely secretive. In the past, the eunuchs who served in the palace were not seen. Only Huang Jin stood by.

Wei Guangde and others learned about the emperor's intention from the note sent by Gao Gong the next day, but they did not speak for a while.

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

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

"Is it necessary to change the names of the three main halls?"

But at this moment, Prince Yu did look at them in confusion, hoping to get an answer.