"The Traitors of the Ming Dynasty" is a masterpiece of historical novels set during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty. It tells the shocking journey of Yan Song and his son, who relied on flattery and power tactics to dominate the world and bring disaster to the country and the people for more than 20 years, and finally collapsed in the midst of public outrage. In the early years of Jiajing, the imperial court's finances were empty, and the emperor was obsessed with fasting and squandering money. It was under this background that Yan Song entered the cabinet. He understood the emperor's intentions, tried his best to please him, and turned Shizong's absurdities into laws, but he ignored the common people in the world. Relying on the illusion of being "loyal, diligent and smart", he quickly rose to the position of first minister of the cabinet and gained overwhelming power. What is even more outrageous is that he promoted his son Yan Shifan to be in charge of the government. Both father and son were called "Great Prime Minister" and "Little Prime Minister". They controlled the government, corrupted and perverted the law. The official positions in the court were clearly priced: a small state sentence cost 300 taels of silver, a general commander cost 700 taels, and even the power of the general army could be bought with silver taels. Yan Shifan was even more arrogant and said with a smile, "I am not as rich as the imperial court." No one asked about the sufferings of the people, and the scholars and people all over the world hated him, but there was nothing they could do. However, the laws of nature are clear and clear. In his later years, Sejong gradually became tired of the Yan family and his son. Lan Daoxing's few words of support, "Today there is a treacherous official to make trouble," turned out to be the last straw that broke the Yan party. The wind direction changed suddenly, Xu Jie and other loyal ministers joined forces to fight back, and the ministers impeached him like a wave, and Shizong finally abandoned him like a rag. Yan Shifan, who was extremely powerful, was sentenced to be beheaded and cried bitterly before his execution; Yan Song was also demoted from his official position and returned to his hometown, his family property was confiscated, he was sent to the tomb, and he died alone. A generation of powerful prime ministers, from the pinnacle of being looked up to by thousands of people to the end of betrayal and alienation, has truly interpreted the iron law that "the country will be destroyed if it harms the country, and the traitors will be killed."
