Zhu Yijun, the thirteenth emperor of the Ming Dynasty
Emperor Mingshenzong Zhu Yijun (1563–1620) was the thirteenth emperor of the Ming Dynasty and the third son of Emperor Mingmuzong. In the sixth year of Longqing (1572), Muzong died, and 10-year-old Zhu Yijun took the throne, the year name Wanli, reigned for 48 years, the longest reigning emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
On August 17, 1562, the forty-first year of Jiajing (1562), Zhu Yijun was born in the Yu Dynasty, the third son of Emperor Muzong Zhu Zaiyuan. Muzong had four sons, the eldest son Zhu Yizhao and the second son Zhu Yizhao, who died prematurely. The fourth son, Zhu Yijun, was born to both The Li clan. The birth of Zhu Yijun brought joy to the Yu King's Mansion, and the palace was full of lights and people who came to congratulate him, and it was very lively. However, this festive atmosphere soon dissipated and was replaced by the horror of everyone endangering themselves. It turned out that Zhu Yijun's grandfather, the Jiajing Emperor, was not happy about the birth of this imperial grandson, but had a kind of resentment. Therefore, regarding the birth of Zhu Yijun, no one dared to report the emperor, let alone name it, until the age of 5, this imperial grandson had the name Zhu Yijun. Muzong said: Giving you the name Jun, means that the Holy King rules the world, just like the instrument of the instrument, which means very much. You should never forget it.
The Wanli Emperor was the only son of Muzong, and on March 11, 1568, in the second year of Longqing (1568), Zhu Yijun was made crown prince and was in charge of the Eastern Palace. Wanli's birth mother, Empress Li, was originally a palace official, and her mother was later promoted to a noble concubine. The crown prince is the future emperor, and in order to govern the country and the people in the future, he must receive education from an early age, understand the lessons of the past emperors who inherited the industry and govern the country, be familiar with the allusions of the dynasty, and master the skills of controlling the subjects. Although the Wanli Emperor was young, he knew this truth very well. Muzong appointed a group of ministers as instructors to guide them in their studies. Zhu Yijun studied very hard. His mother, Li Shi, "taught her son to be quite strict. The emperor may not read, that is, summon the envoy to kneel. Every time the imperial sermon is served, the order is followed by the speaker to speak first. In the event of the dynasty, the five more went to the emperor's bedchamber, called 'emperor rise', and sat down with the emperor left and right, took water as a noodle, and ascended to the throne to get out." Thanks to the dedicated counseling of the lecturers, the strict discipline of Empress Li, and his own hard work, the Wanli Emperor grew older and more and learned more and more. Later, he himself often said very proudly: "I can read at the age of five." ”
On May 22, the sixth year of Longqing (1572), the news of The Longqing Emperor's critical illness came out of the palace. On the twenty-fifth day, the Cabinet University Sergeant Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng, and Gao Yi were summoned to the palace. Gao Gong and the others entered the east room of the palace, and saw Emperor Longqing sitting on the imperial bed, behind the curtain of the bed sat empress Chen and the imperial concubine Li shi, and the 10-year-old crown prince Zhu Yijun stood on the right side of the imperial bed. The Longqing Emperor grabbed gao gong's hand and entrusted himself with a dangerous situation, "making Mr. Tired with the whole country." The eunuch Feng Bao read out the will and testament to the crown prince Zhu Yijun: "Testament and crown prince." You can't do it, Emperor. One should be the etiquette of the ministry of the title please do. You should be counseled by the three assistant ministers and the celebrant, study and cultivate morality, use the meritocracy to enable, do nothing to be idle, and protect the imperial industry. After the three university scholars were entrusted, they covered their tears. The next day, the Longqing Emperor died at the Qianqing Palace. On the tenth day of the first month of June, crown prince Zhu Yijun officially took the throne, and the following year changed the Yuan Wanli calendar.
After taking the throne, in terms of reading, the Myōjin Sect also insisted from the very beginning on following the old system of the ancestors, speaking on the day, the imperial scripture feast, and reading the scriptures and history books. Among the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, except for Taizu, it was indeed rare to be like Shenzong. Shen Defu, a man of the Wanli Dynasty, recounted that after Emperor Shenzong ascended the throne, he followed the advice of Zhang Juzheng, the first assistant of the cabinet, and every day at the beginning of the sun, he rode the Wenhua Hall to listen to the Confucian ministers talk and read the scriptures. Then take a short break, return to the pulpit, and read the history books again. Return to the palace at the end of lunch. Only on the third, sixth, and ninth day of the month, the lecture is temporarily exempted. In addition, even the mid-winter heat is never stopped. Therefore, in the past ten years, "the holy days of learning are new, and the rule of peace is brought to the throne." Emperor Xi Yingzong was also in Yuchong, and at first he did not hear that the Three Yang Princes had this day and night, so he made Wang Zhen steal the power of the country and endanger the sect. Then in the early years of the present, we can really know the eternity."
When Emperor Myeongshinzong ascended the throne, a prominent problem in front of him was that "the handles and subjects were rolling together, the door was gradually opening, and the emperor failed to revitalize the imperial program and correct the accumulated habits." This problem has also become more intense. According to the arrangement of the Longqing Emperor, the high arch was the highest among the ministers of the outer court; in the palace, Zhu Yijun naturally relied on Feng Bao. However, Feng Bao's relationship with Gao Gong was very bad. Previously, the position of eunuch of si li was vacant, and Gao Gong successively recommended Chen Hong and Meng Chong, who was unwilling to let Feng Bao be a palm eunuch. Emperor Shenzong himself also ordered them in the Edict of Dengji: Shuofang in Chong Nian, Shang Lai Wen Wu Pro Xian, "Co-figure Hua Theory", "With the people to start".
Feng Bao knew the book and was fond of piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and was very cultivated, so he was very popular with the Longqing Emperor. Feng Bao took advantage of the power vacuum between the changes of imperial power and easily drove away Meng Chong through a testament and became a palm seal eunuch himself. However, as far as Gao Gong was concerned, Feng Bao was naturally bound to get rid of it quickly, and at the behest of Gao Gong, the engineering departments all gave Cheng Wen, the officials all gave Zhongzhong Luo Zun, and Li Ke all gave Lu Shude the matter and began to impeach Feng Bao. As a result, a political struggle is inevitable, in the struggle, the two sides of the conflict are Feng Bao and Gao Gong, and Zhang Juzheng is ostensibly helping Gao Gong. But in fact, Zhang Juzheng and Feng Bao had a very close relationship and had long planned to drive away Gao Gong.
In the last year of Emperor Mingmuzong's reign, Gao Gong was the first assistant to the cabinet. High arch, "straight and proud", "biased", speaking casually, often offending people for this. He had a contradiction with Xu Jie, and after Xu Jie's return from government, Gao Gong "spared no effort to strangle the order", and for this reason, the relationship with Zhang Juzheng broke down and became the enemy of the wrongdoer. Gao Gong was in charge of the cabinet and insisted on opposing the eunuchs' overstepping their powers, thus offending Feng Bao, a great red eunuch in the inner court at that time. Feng Baosui colluded with Zhang Juzheng inside and outside, wanting to put Gao Gong to death. When Muzong died, Gao Gong said bitterly when he cried bitterly: "How can the ten-year-old prince rule the world?" After Emperor Shenzong ascended the throne, Feng Bao distorted this sentence and changed it to "Gao Gong said, how can a ten-year-old child decide to become an emperor." When the Divine Sect heard this, "The doubt of dictatorship is deep in the heart of the Emperor." He did not ask whether the background of Gao Gong's statement was true, that is, on June 16, 1572, in the sixth year of Longqing (1572), he was removed from his post and replaced him with Zhang Juzheng. After that, Shenzong reigned for forty-eight years and always insisted on exercising self-control. He said, "If you take it with your hands, it is not up to the imperial court, how can you rule the world?" As soon as Gao Gong left, Gao Yi was also shocked to vomit blood and died for three days, leaving only Zhang Juzheng among the three cabinet ministers. At the same time, economic and political problems are piling up. In the face of these difficulties, this Wanli Emperor did not flinch, and in order to "make the emperor's map forever solid", he firmly grasped the authority of "employing people solipsism" and taking over the imperial court with the style of "young heavenly son", and exerted great efforts to govern and implement the new policy, and Shenzong made great achievements in the first ten years of his reign.
After Zhang Juzheng became the first assistant to the cabinet, Emperor Shenzong entrusted the affairs of the inner court to Feng Bao, "and the great handle was entrusted to Juzheng". Zhang Juzheng was not only entrusted with heavy responsibilities, but also honored, and he must be called "Mr. Yuanfu Zhang", or "Mr. Zhang", and never called him by his first name. On June 19, 1572, in the sixth year of Longqing (1572), Zhang Juzheng had just taken office for a few days, and Emperor Shenzong summoned him alone on the platform (that is, the back left gate) to discuss the grand plan. Since Emperor Mingmuzong had never summoned a minister during his reign, this incident caused a sensation at that time, so that the courtiers could see the spirit and determination of Emperor Mingmuzong to inherit the cause and govern the country, and greatly enhanced Zhang Juzheng's prestige.
From the ideological point of view to action, the Myeongshin Sect fully supported Zhang Juzheng and worked together to carry out reforms and implement the New Deal. The main measure of political reform was the "Examination Law" implemented in the first year of the Wanli Calendar (1573). It was put forward in response to bureaucracy and clericalism, and was intended to "respect sovereignty, teach officials, believe in rewards and punishments, and give orders", and improve the efficiency of the imperial court institutions. According to the requirements of the Examination Law, everything must be full-time, and the limits must be completed; supervision at all levels, each responsible for its own responsibilities. The MingShen Sect said, "If things don't work out, why do they have the bottom performance?" At that time, because Shenzong was young, he did not fully understand the ancestral system, and he did not know the stakes. Later, he realized that Zhang Juzheng's power was too great, "almost shocking the lord", which was undoubtedly an important reason.
The reform in the economic field is, first, to clear up the whole country's fields and acres; the second is to popularize the "one whip law." This is the central link of the entire social reform in the early years of the Wanli Calendar, and it is also the most meaningful and successful. Qingzhang Tianmu, also known as "Qingzhang Tian grain", is intended to correct the chaos of the field system. This was another nationwide land clearance after the Hongwu Dynasty. In November of the sixth year of the Wanli Calendar (1578), Emperor Myōshin ordered a pilot project in Fujian. The central problem is to change the strange phenomenon that those who have land do not pay taxes and grain, and those who do not have land are suffering from paying, so that the fields and acres are linked to taxes and grain. Due to the clear attitude of the MingShen Sect, Zhang Juzheng gave effective guidance and resolutely eliminated resistance, and the pilot work proceeded quite smoothly. By September of the eighth year of the Wanli Calendar (1580), Fujian "Qingzhangtian Grain Affair" was completed. Shenzong and Zhang Juzheng took advantage of the situation to strike iron while it was hot, and immediately passed through the whole country. The Ministry of Households was instructed to formulate eight regulations on the scope, duties, policies, methods, fees, and time limits of the Qingzhang, which were issued to all localities in November of the same year. By December of the tenth year of the Wanli Calendar (1582), all provinces were basically completed according to the three-year period, and the total expenditure increased by more than 1.4 million hectares. The promotion of the "one-whip law" was another major play in the economic reform at that time. In the ninth year of the Wanli Calendar (1581), a whip law has been "done" throughout the country. This marks that the entire Zhang Juzheng reform has achieved a major victory.
In the first 10 years of the Wanli Dynasty, with the support of the little emperor, Zhang Ju was carrying out drastic political and economic reforms, and the government had a new look and greatly improved the economic situation. In June of the tenth year of the Wanli Calendar (1582), a generation of famous ministers Zhang Juzheng died of illness, and Shenzong began to pro-government. This reform began in the first year of the Wanli Calendar (1573) and basically ended in the Tenth Year of the Wanli Calendar. It is the continuation and development of the landlord class's reform and self-help movement since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, and it is also a profound reflection of the new changes in political and economic relations in the late Ming Dynasty. Its scope covers political and economic aspects. The concrete steps are to focus on political reform in the first five years and economic reform as the main task in the last five years. The ten years of reform have made great achievements, reversing the decline formed since the Zhengde and Jiajing dynasties.
After Zhu Yijun pro-government, he presided over the famous "Three Great Marches of the Wanli Calendar". Three large-scale military operations were carried out in the northwestern and southwestern frontiers of the Ming Dynasty, and Korea; namely, Li Rusong (Li Chengliang's eldest son) pacified the Mongol rebellion of the Battle of Ningxia, Li Rusong, magui fought against the invasion of the Japanese Toyotomi Hideyoshi regime, and Li Hualong's Battle of Bozhou, which pacified yang Yinglong, the head of the Miao territory, and consolidated the Territory of the Han family. Later generations have explained that although the armies were victorious, the military expenditure was very expensive. The actual military expenditure of the three major levies was allocated in full by the silver of the inner treasury and the Tai Warehouse, and after the end of the three major levies, the internal treasury and the Tai Warehouse still had silver in storage.
In November of the fourteenth year of the Wanli Calendar (1586), Zhu Yijun began to indulge in wine (it is said that he was addicted to opium). Later, he quarreled with the cabinet for more than ten years over the matter of establishing the crown prince, and finally simply did not leave the palace for thirty years, ignored the government, did not suburbs, did not temples, did not dynasty, did not see, did not approve, and did not talk. In the seventeenth year of the Wanli Calendar (1589), Zhu Yijun no longer received courtiers, and the phenomenon of "people lagging behind officials" and "Cao Bureau being empty" appeared in the cabinet. In March of the tenth year of the Wanli Dynasty (1582), Zhu Yijun followed the example of his grandfather Sejong and elected concubines in the folk election, and married the "Ninth Concubine" in one day. Moreover, while playing with female sex, Shenzong also played with the little eunuch. At that time, there were 10 very handsome eunuchs in the palace, that is, they were specially "given to the emperor, or Cheng'en and Shangtong lying down", known as "Ten Jun". Therefore, there is a criticism of "Lucky Ten Jun to open the door of deception" in Luo Yuren's sonata, which is a little similar to the absurd Wuzong at the beginning. As for the greed for money, Shenzong is the most famous among the emperors of the Ming Dynasty. After he took over the government, he confiscated the family property of Feng Bao and Zhang Juzheng, and let the eunuch Zhang Cheng move all into the palace and put it under his control. In order to plunder money, he sent eunuchs to serve as mining inspectors and tax collectors, and searched everywhere for the people's wealth.
In the twenty-fifth year of the Wanli Dynasty (1597), the right deputy capital Yushi Xiejie criticized Zhu Yijun for being absurd in political affairs, and the pro-government government was not as good as before: "Your Majesty's filial piety to his parents, respect for his ancestors, studiousness, diligence, respect for heaven, love for the people, saving expenses, listening to opinions, relatives and sages, can not be the same as in the beginning." So much so that after the middle of Zhu Yijun's reign, the courtiers who entered the cabinet did not know what the emperor looked like, and although Yu Shenxing, Zhao Zhigao, Zhang Wei, and Shen Zheng, four important ministers of the state, although they were worried about political affairs, they had no choice but to count the length of the sun's shadow to pass the time on duty. In the forty years of the Wanli Calendar (1612), the imperial history of Nanjing was sparse: "The province of Taiwan is empty, those who are committed to abolishing it, the emperor has lived deeply for more than twenty years, and has never received a minister, and the world is about to fall." Shoufu Ye xianggao said that the emperor could receive King Fu twice a day. In November of the forty-fifth year of the Wanli Calendar (1617), "the ten major officials of the ministry and temple were missing six or seven, and the wind and constitution were heavily spaced for several years, and only four people were left in the six sections, and only five people were left in the thirteen provinces." ”
Although after the middle of the Wanli Dynasty, there was no eunuch rebellion, no foreign relatives interfering in politics, and there were no traitors such as Yan Song, and the internal party disputes were also controlled, and Wanli reacted to the Japanese army's attack on Korea, the Jurchen invasion and the attack, saying that although he ignored the general government, he still cared about the major affairs of the country and controlled the situation in a certain way.
In his later years, Myeongjinzong was weak and his physical condition deteriorated. Therefore, during Zhu Yijun's pro-government period, he rarely went to the court. His main method of dealing with political affairs was to convey them to the following in the form of edicts. The handling of major frontier events in the "Three Great Expeditions of the Wanli Calendar" was through the form of edicts, not the form of "summoning the right" that the ministers hoped. After the end of the three major marches, Zhu Yijun seemed even less interested in the ministers' approval of the recital.
There are really two stages before and after Zhu Yijun's absurdity: the former stage is that he is unwilling to go to the court to listen to the government; the latter stage is that he does not even approve the ministers' notes, and directly "stays in China" and does not issue them. However, according to the Ming system, the emperor was the sole decision-maker of the government. Once the emperor was reluctant to dispose of it, but did not easily delegate it to eunuchs or ministers, the functioning of the entire civilian government could come to a standstill. When Zhu Yijun was entrusted with the upper echelons, the Hundred Officials Party was fighting for the lower, and this was the official trend in the late Wanli Dynasty. There are many parties in the bureaucracy, and the battle for the door is getting bigger and bigger, and it is falling against each other. Donglin Party, Xuan Party, Kun Party, Qi Party, Zhejiang Party, there are many names. As Liang Qichao said, the party struggle at the end of the Ming Dynasty was like two groups of Mr. Dong Bao fighting, fighting until the Ming Dynasty died, and then they were pulled down together. Such evil consequences may not have been caused by Zhu Yijun's absurdity.
At a time when the Donglin party was in an endless struggle, because Emperor Mingshen secretly loved Zhu Changxun, the son of the noble concubine Zheng and the Prince of Fu, insisted that his royal palace Zhuangtian "serve 40,000 hectares" before he was willing to let him out of the capital country, so a seven- or eight-year-long dispute between Fuwang Zhuangtian and The Imperial Court was set off. Just one year after Luoyang, the kingdom of the Fu King, on the fourth day of the first month of May in the forty-third year of the Wanli Calendar (1615), there was another famous attack in the history of the late Ming Dynasty, committed by a man named Zhang Cha in Jizhou, known in history as the "Attack Case". It is the first and most important of the three major cases at the end of the Ming Dynasty (the Strike Case, the Red Pill Case, and the Palace Removal Case). Outsiders broke into the court, and this kind of thing happened many times in the Ming Dynasty, and there were several times in the Wanli Dynasty alone, and the result was not over. At that time, there were two diametrically opposed views on this "attack case". One thinks that Zhang Cha is a madman, an accident; the other believes that Zhang Cha is not a madman, but a conspiracy by Emperor Mingshenzong's concubine Zheng Shi to deliberately harm crown prince Zhu Changluo. At first, the crown prince also thought that "there must be a messenger." At that time, Zheng Guifei repeatedly swore to the heavens, knowing that she did not have him. Emperor Mingshenzong saw that the matter involved the Zheng clan, and for many years people had been talking about him not treating the crown prince well, felt that the matter was important, and was afraid of burning himself, so he soon personally designated Zhang Cha as a "crazy adulterer" and ordered that "he should not be innocent and cause injury to Tianhe", and only Zhang Cha and the eunuchs related to him, Pang Bao and Liu Cheng, were executed. On the twenty-eighth day of the same month, on the twenty-eighth day of the same month, he summoned the Minister for the first time in twenty-five years, announced his order, and put the case to a hasty end.
Just when Emperor Ming shenzong was in the deep palace, "ignoring everything", resulting in an indissoluble quarrel from the inner court to the outer court, The Liaodong Houjin rose rapidly, constantly sent troops to the south, launched an attack on the Ming army, and the Liaodong War broke out. On the first day of the first lunar month in the forty-fourth year of the Wanli Calendar (1616), the Later Jin regime was officially established and finally became a major threat to the Ming Dynasty. Since then, the situation in Liaodong in the Ming Dynasty has also deteriorated. Especially after the War of the Eastern Expedition to Aid Korea and the mineral tax caused Gaohuai to chaos, the liaodong side of the country was empty of air defense, the military and the people were in difficulty, the supply was difficult, and the Ming Emperor improperly employed people, and the Ming army repeatedly lost the north. In March of the forty-seventh year of the Wanli Calendar (1619), the Battle of Salhu, the Ming army of the four roads, the three roads of the entire army was destroyed, 90,000 divisions were lost, and the defeat was completed. The Liaodong War cost about 4 million taels of silver every year, and in order to cope with this huge military expenditure, since September of the 46th year of the Wanli Calendar, emperor Mingshenzong has ordered three times to increase the national land endowment, then called "Liao salary". At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the three salaries (Liao, Suppressed, and Lian) were added to the sect. Instead of doing anything, jiapai provoked strong dissatisfaction among the people of the whole country and threw themselves into the revolutionary torrent of opposition to the Ming Dynasty. The Myōjin Sect himself was depressed and frowned.
In July of the forty-eighth year of the Wanli Dynasty (1620), the Wanli Emperor Zhu Yijun died and passed the throne to the crown prince Zhu Changluo. Zhu Yijun was the longest-reigning emperor in the history of the Ming Dynasty. The history of the Ming Dynasty lasted nearly 48 years in the Wanli Era. In fact, if it were not for the fact that Zhu Yijun's son Zhu Changluo died a month after he ascended the throne, the Wanli Dynasty would have been 48 years long, that is, from 1573 to 1620 AD. Zhu Changluo ascended the throne in August of the forty-eighth year of the Wanli calendar (1620) and died in September. The ministers proposed that the first year of Taichang be taken after August of the 48th year of the Wanli calendar to commemorate the short-lived emperor. Thus the Wanli Epoch is less than 48 years old.
The Ming Tombs are located in the Changping District of Beijing, and the general layout of the ground buildings is in a front and rear circle, containing the symbolic meaning of the ancient Chinese philosophical concept of "heavenly round place".