Zhu Changxun failed to seize the crown prince and became the richest vassal king in the late Ming Dynasty, but let Li Zicheng step on his shoulders to destroy the Ming Dynasty. The fate of the prince is full of drama and irony. He was born in the Wanli period, and was the beloved concubine of Emperor Wanli and Concubine Zheng Guifei, and in a fierce battle for the throne, he finally failed to give way to his eldest son Zhu Changluo. However, Emperor Wanli doted on him and made him the blessed king of the rich country, giving him countless wealth and privileges. Zhu Changxun lived a luxurious life in Luoyang, but who would have thought that this spoiled prince would become the fuse for the fall of the Ming Dynasty? In the flames of the peasant uprising, his luxurious mansion was reduced to ashes, and the former glory and wealth can only become a ridiculous story. What kind of fate did Zhu Changxun usher in in the end? How did the Ming Dynasty fall on his shoulders?
1. Zhu Changxun failed to seize the prince and was named the unprecedented wealth and vassal king of the past
Since the beginning of Emperor Wanli's accession to the throne, he has been bent on establishing a prince. When he ascended the throne, he originally planned to set up his eldest son Zhu Changluo as the crown prince, but who knew that Queen Wang had no heirs for many years, and he later preferred Zheng Guifei, so he came up with the idea of deposing Queen Wang and setting up Zhu Changxun, the second son born to Zheng Guifei, as the crown prince.
As soon as Emperor Wanli mentioned this matter, it was unanimously opposed by the ministers of civil and military affairs. They believed that the eldest heir, Zhu Changluo, should be the crown prince, which was in line with the law of etiquette, and that the queen was not at fault and should not be deposed. Emperor Wanli's will was difficult to follow, so he had to put the matter on hold. But he secretly still hopes to create conditions and make Zhu Changxun the prince sooner or later.
As a result, in the next 15 years, the government and the opposition launched a tense contest over the storage position, which was the famous "national capital dispute". In order to achieve his goal, Emperor Wanli did not hesitate to denigrate, distribute and even kill thousands of civil and military officials, and the situation once endangered the stability of the country.
In contrast, Zheng Guifei is even more of a shining bane. She continued to blow wind in Emperor Wanli's ears, making him more and more contemptuous of Zhu Changluo's mother and son, and even repeatedly abused.
Just when the situation was almost out of control, the Empress Dowager Li, who had already retreated into the background, had to intervene again, supporting the proposal of the Minister of Civil and Military Affairs, and asking Emperor Wanli to appoint Zhu Changluo as the crown prince, so as not to gradually relax the court.
In the end, Emperor Wanli reluctantly agreed to the request of his ministers and appointed Zhu Changluo as the crown prince. But his doting on Zhu Changxun is deep-rooted, not only canonizing Zhu Changluo as the blessed king and giving Luoyang as the palace, but also spending as much money as dirt when building the palace, spending as much as 280,000 taels of silver, almost ten times the general regulations.
When Zhu Changxun got married at the age of fifteen, Emperor Wanli was even more extravagant and wasteful, holding a wedding for him with 300,000 taels of silver, and enjoying more generous treatment than the prince. Later, although he was reluctantly "exiled" to Luoyang, he was unwilling to leave Beijing at all, and Emperor Wanli blindly connived, not only leaving Zhu Changxun in the palace for many years, but also promising to give him 40,000 hectares of fertile land.
Although the ministers repeatedly wrote letters of advice, they tried in vain. In the end, although Zhu Changxun obtained less than 40,000 hectares of fertile land, it occupied the fertile land that confiscated Zhang Juzheng's family that year. What's even more terrifying is that in order to make up for the regret of Botian, Emperor Wanli also gave Zhu Changxun all kinds of miscellaneous taxes from Jiangdu to Taiping, as well as taxes such as salt wells in Sichuan, which is simply an important weapon of the country!
Second, the luxury of Luoyang Mansion surpasses that of the imperial tomb
Although Zhu Changxun is not allowed to be a prince, he enjoys the treatment of a prince. Emperor Wanli not only ordered him to build a luxurious mansion in Luoyang, but also squandered a huge amount of money, making this palace far more magnificent and magnificent than the imperial mausoleum of the current dynasty.
According to records, when Emperor Wanli ordered the construction of Zhu Changxun's palace in Luoyang, he spent as much as 280,000 taels of silver. At that time, the main project of the imperial tomb usually only needed 20,000 or 30,000 taels to complete, but Zhu Changxun's palace was more than ten times higher than the project cost of the imperial tomb, which was a rare spectacle in the history of the Ming Dynasty.
In order to pursue absolute luxury and style, the Ministry of Industry will select the best craftsmen in the country to participate in the construction of the palace. The palaces and garden pavilions in the palace are all made of the finest building materials, and they are magnificent, just like a small palace. The inner hall is paved with precious jade and jade, and the main building complex and the back garden are also full of various rare scenes.
The construction of such a luxurious palace naturally came with considerable logistical expenditures. In Wanhu Prefecture, where the entire palace is located, most of the annual taxes paid are given to Zhu Changxun alone. Not only that, Zhu Changxun was also allowed to take salt farms in Huaiyang to obtain banknote sales taxes and various miscellaneous taxes, so his income sources were all-encompassing, and his wealth was rivaling that of the country.
Interestingly, Zhu Changxun himself did not know the hardships of farmers in the fields to make a living, he only knew about extravagance. The warehouses in the palace are stacked with countless grains all year round, enough to feed a large army. However, because no one managed it, all of this food eventually rotted and spoiled, and even dogs could not eat it.
What's even more outrageous is that in order to show the dignity of the royal nobles, Zhu Changxun actually raised hundreds of good horses in the stables of the palace, and the degree of waste can be seen. As we all know, the border defense of the Ming Dynasty was in danger, but he was so profligate that he simply ignored the safety of the country.
After the palace was completed, although Zhu Changxun lived here quietly, Emperor Wanli was not satisfied. He first held a grand wedding for Zhu Changxun, costing as much as 300,000 taels of silver, and later promised to give Zhu Changxun 40,000 pieces of fertile land to ensure his rich life.
Although he failed to give 40,000 hectares of land as he wished, Zhu Changxun obtained a large amount of fertile and fertile land, but the fields of Zhang Juzheng's family were confiscated that year. In addition, together with the sovereign tax on land, Zhu Changxun was given many miscellaneous taxes from Jiangdu to Taiping and the Yanjing tax in Sichuan, which was equivalent to the important weapon of the state falling into private hands.
Third, the whole country paved the way for Zhu Changxun, and corruption was rampant
In order to meet Zhu Changxun's extravagant living expenses, Emperor Wanli had to levy money and grain all over the country. To this end, he sent a large number of tax envoys and mining envoys to various places to loot wealth, causing social unrest and rampant corruption.
Zhu Changxun was allowed to take salt farms in Huaiyang and monopolized the right to operate a large number of salt farms, which was tantamount to giving him the privilege of monopolizing salt merchants. At that time, the salt industry played a very important role in the tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty, and the salt merchants were very profitable, which shows that Emperor Wanli intended to let Zhu Changxun make huge profits in the salt industry.
However, this practice directly led to a shortage of military salaries and weakened the strength of the border army. As we all know, the Huaiyang area was an important granary for the Ming Dynasty to maintain its border defense, and a large number of military supplies were allocated from here. But after Zhu Changxun monopolized the right to the salt farm, the military quartermaster was forced to share the pie and subsidize his expenses.
This phenomenon was quite common at the time, and civil riots continued to occur in various places, mostly because local officials followed the example of the central government and oppressed the people for huge profits. In order to make up for Zhu Changxun's huge expenses, they did not hesitate to adopt all kinds of illegal means, causing social problems to become more and more serious.
The most typical example is that Xiao Cigao, a tax envoy who was once appointed by Emperor Wanli to serve in Jiangxi. This person was greedy, and after he took office, he severely expropriated the rent and silver money and cotton gauze of the households. He hired hundreds of homeless people to work for him, burned and looted everywhere in the countryside, and anyone who dared to resist was sentenced to death.
What's more, in order to get more silver taels, Xiao Cigao actually hollowed out his mind and came up with all kinds of blackmail methods. He instructed his men to capture the wives and daughters of wealthy families everywhere, put them under house arrest, and then demand exorbitant ransoms from their relatives or kill the hostages. This shows how far the corruption had reached at that time.
This is not an isolated case, and similar incidents are not uncommon everywhere. In order to provide for Zhu Changxun's extravagant life, almost everyone up and down in the Ming Dynasty coveted how to profit from it, and people picking quarrels and provoking troubles were running around the streets, and the social order was becoming increasingly chaotic.
Even the military towns along the border lines are no exception, and in order to maintain military spending, many local officials have no scruples and plunder. During the march and battle, they repeatedly plundered the people's food and property, forcing the people to live in poverty, and even produced a large number of displaced people, and then joined the ranks of the peasant rebel army.
It can be seen that although Zhu Changxun was just a simple favored minister, his extravagant life was like a big net, which included all the corruption of officials across the country, accelerating the pace of the fall of the Ming Dynasty. The intensification of social contradictions at that time was a chain reaction triggered by his net worth.
Fourth, the flames of Li Zicheng's peasant uprising engulfed Zhu Fugui
Zhu Changxun's extravagant life and the rampant corruption that arose for it finally detonated a huge peasant uprising in the last years of the Ming Dynasty. This rebel army led by Li Zicheng was almost wiped out from the initial suppression, and later made a comeback to smash Huanglong, completely swallowing Zhu Changxun's rich life.
Things have to start from the eighth year of Chongzhen. That year, Li Zicheng, a farmer from Henan, gathered in the Tongbai Mountains to rebel against the tyrannical rule of local officials, and then grew in popularity. Seeing this, the imperial court sent a large army to suppress it, which can be said to be waiting for it with heavy examples.
At the same time, Zhu Changxun's palace is still extravagant in Luoyang, completely unaware of the changes in the government and the opposition. Although Li Zicheng's rebel army was suppressed for a time, it did not disappear, but made a comeback a few months later, with a large number of troops and a wider range of generals, and its momentum was even greater than that of that year.
In the first month of the eleventh year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng personally supervised the army's westward expedition and came straight to Luoyang. This made Zhu Changxun in the palace feel unprecedented panic, and he ordered people to strengthen the defense and wait for it. Who would have thought that the offensive of the peasant rebel army would be so fierce that it would break through the defense of Luoyang in just a few days.
In the face of the fury of hundreds of millions of peasants, Zhu Changxun's priceless palace was equivalent to a large papier-mâché dye vat, and the defense naturally ignored it. On 19 February, the peasant rebel army completely captured Luoyang, and Zhu Changxun's palace was burned to the ground.
When the news of the fall of Luoyang reached Jingshi, the government and the opposition were shocked and shocked. For a time, the voices of the ministers of the DPRK and China were endless, and they all criticized Zhu Changxun in every way, believing that it was his extravagance and public resentment that caused today's catastrophe.
However, Zhu Changxun had no intention of repenting, he not only excused the defeat of the army that caused the palace to be looted, but also asked the court to reallocate funds to rebuild the palace. These arrogant and presumptuous words and deeds are undoubtedly an open provocation to Emperor Chongzhen and the Minister of Civil and Military Affairs.
In the face of Zhu Changxun, who had become a disaster, Emperor Chongzhen was furious, and finally ordered him to be imprisoned in a prison in Beijing. At this time, although Zhu Changxun was still kept in captivity in the palace, the glory and wealth of the past were no longer there, let alone the extravagance like before.
Although Zhu Changxun's imprisonment made the ministers feel a little relieved, it was only a symptom but not a root cause after all. Li Zicheng's peasant uprising never stopped there, but after the capture of Luoyang, it was like a bamboo, and it approached the Jingshi. The famine years and the double blow of ruling corruption made the defense line of the Beijing division unable to hold, and finally fell into the hands of the peasant rebel army in the first month of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen.
In this way, Zhu Changxun witnessed his former wealth and glory come to naught. The priceless palace has become a mound of earth, and countless gold and silver treasures belonging to him have been looted wantonly. Once upon a time, he was arrogant and extravagant, but now he can only spend the last days of his life in prison.
5. Zhu Changxun was burned alive by Li Zicheng's army
On the 25th day of the first month of the 17th year of Chongzhen, the peasant rebel army captured the city of Beijing. On the same day, Zhu Changxun was held in a prison cell in Beijing. As a former minister, he undoubtedly became the target of the peasant army's hatred.
On this day, Li Zicheng led a large army to the prison where Zhu Changxun was located. To make sure nothing went wrong, they lit a large circle of torches around the cell and surrounded the entire prison. The flames were blazing and the smoke was billowing out, and the sight alone was enough to make people shudder.
However, Li Zicheng did not stop there. In order to completely eliminate Zhu Changxun, the mastermind behind the sinful crimes, he actually came up with a heinous idea - to burn Zhu Changxun alive.
It didn't take long for Li Zicheng's men to take action. They first dragged Zhu Changxun out of the cell, and then tied him to a thick wooden stake like a corpse with hemp rope, unable to move. Afterwards, the crowd began to light more torches around the stake, and continued to add firewood to the fire.
In order to make the wooden stakes burn more vigorously, his subordinates also brought a large amount of firewood, all of which were piled up around Zhu Changxun. In the blink of an eye, the raging fire had surrounded Zhu Changxun, and the billowing smoke made him breathless. At this time, he was tightly tied and completely unable to move.
Soon, Zhu Changxun's heart-rending screams came from the wooden stake. The raging flames began to gnaw at his body from the bottom up, and the pain of the skin opening can be imagined. The pain made him scream and wail at times, and his voice was so terrible that it was unbearable to hear.
However, no matter how Zhu Changxun screamed and begged, he couldn't get any mercy. Li Zicheng's soldiers scolded him one after another, insulting him for the heinous crimes he had committed in the past. They reprimanded Zhu Changxun for his extravagance and extravagance in Luoyang, coupled with the greed for ink and the corruption of society, which caused today's people to live poorly and had to take up arms to resist.
As the fire became more and more vigorous, Zhu Changxun's screams gradually weakened, leaving only some fragmented moans. But even so, the peasant army's battle was still extremely large, and they continued to add firewood to the fire to ensure that Zhu Changxun would endure the terrible torture from which he could never recover.
In the end, Zhu Changxun completely lost his vital signs in the screams of extreme pain. He was once high and arrogant, but he was burned alive in front of everyone, and suffered the same cruel retribution.
When Zhu Changxun's body was completely reduced to ashes, Li Zicheng ordered a ceasefire and ordered his ashes to be thrown into the wind. In this way, the lives of a generation of traitors and powerful people came to an end, and not even a handful of dust was left.