Legend has it that there is such a rule among the people: when worshiping ancestors, a mouse tablet should be placed on the altar to be sacrificed side by side with the ancestors. Speaking of this rule, there is a long history…

During the Zhengde period of the Ming Dynasty, there was an official named Liu Yishan in the dynasty. He was upright and upright. He did not turn his head and resisted strong criticism in case of trouble. He loved to disagree with the emperor's old son and was nicknamed Liu Stubborn. He went through three dynasties. Although the emperor knew that he was a loyal minister, he did not like him very much. Liu Yishan was not an official, but he was very prestigious in the dynasty. From the Son of Heaven to the relatives of the emperor, everyone was a little afraid of him.

This year, Emperor Xiaozong ascended to the heavens, and the one who ascended the throne was Zhu Houzhao, a famous dim ruler in the history of the Ming Dynasty, with the era name Zhengde. This little emperor had a surly personality, acted strangely, was greedy for money and lust, and liked to play new and exciting things. He was the most funny and funny emperor in history.

Once, the emperor left the palace privately and went to Xuanfu Datong to play. He met a stunning civil young woman, and the little emperor Zhengde played "dragon and phoenix" again, bringing the young woman back to the palace, preparing to seal the concubine to accompany the king.

Everyone in the capital knew about this. These immortal ministers wrote a letter of advice together, saying that the emperor was acting in violation of the ancestral system. What they hated even more was Liu Yishan, who actually brought out the ban of the Great Ancestor Hong Wu…

It turned out that after the founding of the People's Republic of China, in view of the Yuan Dynasty harem's interference in politics, the female master's dictatorship, and the disruption of the imperial platform, a special ban was established: the later emperors' selection of concubines must first be handled by the ministers' court, and the selection of empresses and concubines, regardless of family background or background, depends on her virtue, virtuous or not. If her virtue is at a loss, she will not abide by women's ethics, and no matter how beautiful she is, she will not be elected to the harem. Those who violate the order, the ministers can follow this ban, connect the officials of the three stations and six departments, and severely punish the emperor for violating control.

This strict decree issued by Taizu was hidden in a side hall next to the Imperial Hall, and was strictly guarded by guards, because future emperors, regardless of whether they were stupid or bright, did not dare to violate this decree. In addition, this decree concerned only the Son of Heaven and did not promulgate the world. After a long time, everyone knew that there was such a decree, but no one had seen it. With this thing, the absurd little Emperor Zhengde also felt a sharp sword hanging over his head, and did not dare to go too far.

It had only been one night since beauty entered the palace, and the old man Liu Yishan came to the palace to give advice. The emperor didn't want to see this old annoying thing, but he heard from the eunuch that the old man Liu brought more than 100 civil and military officials to wait outside the palace in unison, kneeling in the dark.

It was the hot summer, and several old officials suffered from heat stroke, which alerted the ancestors of the Empress Dowager in the harem. When the emperor heard that the Empress Dowager had been alerted, he saw all the officials coming to remonstrate. He knew that everyone was angry and could not be offended, so he had to ask the eunuch to persuade the officials back, and Liu Yishan entered the palace alone to face the king.

After Liu Yishan entered the palace, he was not polite. After kowtowing three times, he sent a copy to the emperor.

The emperor's eyes were angry when he saw the playbook, and he thought to himself that this old Liu was really real. He did not open any pot and said that the emperor was immoral and violated the ancestral system as soon as he opened his mouth.

The emperor suppressed his anger, gritted his teeth, and asked, "How did Liu Qing know that she was a married woman and an unclean daughter?"

Liu Yishan said that he had already found out that the woman's husband was an honest craftsman. Last winter, he married the woman at the order of his parents and according to the words of the matchmaker. They were an upright couple.

After a debate between the monarch and the ministers, the emperor was at a loss for words. He stuttered and asked, "According to your opinion, how should we deal with it?"

Liu Yishan said that he would quickly send the woman back to her original husband, reward her with some gold and silver to appease her family, and then the emperor would issue a "self-inflicted edict" to the people, which would be considered an apology.

The emperor almost jumped up when he heard that, and he was unwilling to do either of the two things: First, the little emperor had been fascinated by the beautiful woman in front of him, how could he be willing to return it to his husband's family? Second, he asked the emperor to issue an edict of guilt, admitting to his people that he had taken away his wife's room, and as the emperor took the lead in violating the law of the Great Ming, where did this make the emperor's face go? But he couldn't directly say that he didn't do it, so he had to use a tactic of delaying the army, and said hypocritically: "Liu Qing, let me think about it and talk about it." After saying that, the emperor flushed his sleeve.

Seeing that the emperor was ignoring him, Liu Yitou suddenly became very stubborn. He hit his head against the southern wall of the palace to remonstrate with death, and his head was bleeding and he passed out on the ground. He panicked, causing the palace maids and eunuchs to mess up, and it was passed on to the empress dowager. The old ancestor hurriedly sent the imperial doctor to rescue Liu Yishan, and sent someone to scold the emperor: "Treating the old minister like this, aren't you afraid of freezing the hearts of the world?"

When the emperor was annoyed, Jiang Bin and Gu Dayong, his two confidants, couldn't sit still. After discussing it, they ran to the emperor and said that it was Old Man Liu's trouble, which made the crowd angry. The Empress Dowager was also dissatisfied.

Gu Dayong told the emperor that now that Jiang Bin had not yet married, the emperor could give him this woman, so that others would not dare to say anything more, and Lord Jiang was just a false name, and the one who really benefited was the emperor. The emperor could sneak into the Jiang mansion at any time and have a tryst with beauty.

Hearing this, the emperor even called it "a good plan", but he said hypocritically: "But… I feel a little sorry for letting Jiang Aiqing cuckold and take the blame for stealing the people's wife!"

Jiang Bin hurriedly said, "The glory and wealth of the slaves are all bestowed by the emperor. What is it to suffer this little grievance?"

The emperor was overjoyed when he heard this, and immediately issued an edict saying that Jiang Bin had worked hard and had not yet married. I couldn't bear it in my heart, so I specially bestowed upon Jiang Bin the beauty who had been brought into the palace the day before yesterday.

With this edict, although Baiguan was not very convinced, the emperor gave in, and it was difficult to say anything more. The emperor also rewarded the woman's husband's family with a lot of gold and silver, which was counted as a "sealing fee."

So a fake play began: Jiang Bin married the beauty in the hall, and then put her in a quiet room. He did not dare to get the slightest bit of fishy smell, and waited for the emperor to come for a tryst in the middle of the night.

The scandal of the emperor's affair with Jiang Mansion at night soon spread in the capital. Liu Yishan, who didn't know what to do, took the lead in making trouble again. He brought a hundred officials and surrounded Jiang Mansion in the middle of the night.

After being honest in the palace for a few days, the emperor immediately missed that beautiful woman again, and his heart was itching, almost making him crazy.

Jiang Bin and Gu Dayong learned that they secretly sent the beautiful woman to the palace to cure the emperor's heart disease, but they annoyed Liu Yishan and brought a hundred officials to the palace to remonstrate the king in person.

The Empress Dowager, who had lived in seclusion in the palace for many years, finally couldn't sit still. The Empress Dowager did not want to violate the ancestral system and interfere with the government, but this grandson was too absurd. She had to come forward!

On that day, the emperor and all the ministers came to the court, and the Empress Dowager sat by the side. After all, she was the empress of the harem.

When Liu Yishan said that he was excited, he sacrificed the magic weapon of Lord Hong Wu's injunction and asked Tingwei to get it quickly. When the Empress Dowager saw that Lao Liu was coming for real, she was a little panicked: The emperor was fooling around again and again. According to Lord Hong Wu's injunction, it was not just spanking, but abolishing the emperor, but abolishing the emperor is an earth-shaking and earth-shaking thing, how can it be done easily? Although the current emperor is absurd, after all, he is the first crown prince, the most orthodox heir of the Daming Jiangshan, and the grandson of the Empress Dowager's direct relatives, how could the ancestors want to abolish their own grandson and establish kings who are not related by blood? Liu Yishan, an old stubborn head, only knows that he does things upright and bright, and he is not afraid of the sky and the earth, how can he know that level of interest?

The Empress Dowager saw that Liu Yishan was going to take the ban, so she had to say, "Liu Qing, although the Emperor is absurd, after all, he is young and ignorant, and he is still holy on weekdays. The matter of the ban involves the abolition of the establishment, and if you are careless, it will harm the Daming Sheji, the world, the Manchu Dynasty, and the nine clans of Lord Liu -"

These words were clearly a threat. He wanted Liu Yishan to stop in moderation and accept it as soon as he saw it, but this stubborn Liu head was not enlightened and did not hear the overtones of the Empress Dowager, so he still had to act according to the ban.

In this way, not only the Empress Dowager and the Emperor were anxious, but those who knew the truth among the officials were also sweating: originally they wanted to remonstrate the king, but now they have become "abolished the king", this matter is really big!

At that moment, Tingwei had been ordered to take the ban, and the emperor and old man Liu were forced to have no way out!

The Empress Dowager gritted her teeth in hatred and thought to herself: Old Liu, if you dare to abolish the emperor, the Ai family will destroy your nine clans!

Just as she was thinking of this, Captain Tingwei had already taken the ban from Lord Hong Wu, and the atmosphere suddenly became tense.

The emperor's heart was about to jump to his throat. All the officials were trembling with fear and panting heavily. A few timid people fainted on the spot.

Tingwei presented a roll of paper. Liu Yishan opened it on the spot, but looked left and right, but couldn't find the ban. Looking at the roll of paper again, the middle was full of holes gnawed by mice. It turned out that the ban had not been used for more than a hundred years, and it was hidden in the palace and ignored.

Liu Yishan stared and looked at him for a long time, wondering again and again, "Is this God's will?"

Empress Dowager heaved a sigh of relief and said, "Since it is God's will, Liu Qing will stop here!"

Liu Yantou had nothing to say at this time, so he had to give up and let the matter go.

The next day, the Empress Dowager issued a decree saying that Liu Yishan was loyal to the country, bluntly remonstrated the monarch, and was a minister of society. The Ai family cherished his diligence in state affairs, pitied his old age and sickness, and named him a duke, gave him a thousand taels of gold and a thousand acres of good land, and went home to care for the elderly; in addition, the Empress Dowager also gave Liu Yishan a gold plaque of "Bone Dump Straight Minister", giving him enough face to let Lao Liu go away.

On the way back to his hometown, Liu Yishan did not know which string was touched in his mind, and he suddenly became enlightened and realized: Danger! What the Empress Dowager said yesterday clearly had something in it, implying that he wanted to destroy my nine clans! I still don't know what I mean, I insist on going my own way, but thanks to the help of the mouse, I gave the emperor and me a step, so I have this ending, otherwise...

Thinking of this, Liu Yishan secretly thanked the mouse. After returning to his hometown, he set up a tablet for the mouse and offered sacrifices like his ancestors. Later, the descendants of the Liu family followed this custom, and the locals called them the "Liu family of mice".