This article is composed by: Third Floor Old Fan Original Creation
In fact, Jiajing's becoming emperor is really a pie in the sky. Jiajing's name was Zhu Houxi, his father was Zhu Youxi, the Prince of Xingxian, and his father died early, when Zhu Houxi was 12 years old, his father died, and Zhu Houxi began to guard his father's funeral. Two years later, Emperor Mingwuzong died, but before his death, Emperor Mingwuzong, who had no sons, held up his body and chanted: Brother and brother, five days before his death, as an emperor, issued an edict, not only ordering Zhu Houxi to shorten the time for his father to serve the funeral and inherit the title of Prince of Xing, so that Zhu Houxi was designated as the next monarch.
On the day of Emperor Mingwuzong's death, Yang Tinghe, the first assistant, asked the empress dowager's will and announced Zhu Houxi's legal identity. Coincidentally, Emperor Mingwuzong's son died young, and Emperor Mingwuzong's brother Zhu Houwei also died in front of Emperor Mingwuzong, so people of The same generation as Zhu Houzhao were not considered. Therefore, the scope had to be extended to the people of Ming Wuzong's father's generation, and the brothers of Ming Wuzong's father, Ming Xiaozong, died early and had no heirs. Although The fourth brother of Emperor Xiaozong of Ming, Zhu Youjiao, also died early, but left Zhu Houxi and his brother, Zhu Houxi's brother died early, so "brother and brother", Zhu Houxi became the person who inherited the unification. Such a coincidence, it is really not an exaggeration to say that it is a pie in the sky.
Great ceremonial event
Suddenly told that he wanted to be emperor, which surprised the young Zhu Houxi at that time, after all, although he was a royal family, he was not a direct family, and the imperial throne was still very far away from him, and finally under the repeated lobbying of the cabinet, he agreed to be emperor. However, after succeeding to the throne, he faced a very difficult situation, he was only 15, suddenly succeeded to the throne, and there was no minister to trust in the DPRK. Moreover, the above-mentioned Yang Tinghe and the big idea at that time was that he had always had imperial power, and Zhu Houxi, who was young and had no roots, just bumped into the muzzle of the gun.
The most typical event is the famous "big ceremony" event. After Zhu Houxi succeeded to the throne, he wanted to posthumously honor his own biological parents, but the courtiers were unwilling, they said that Jiajing was the heir to the throne, not directly inheriting his own father's throne, so that Jiajing became the son under Emperor Mingxiaozong's name, his biological parents were no longer his biological parents, they became his uncles and aunts, and Ming Wuzong was no longer his cousin, but should be his brother. In this way, it brought a great blow to the young Jiajing, but although Jiajing was small, he was not stupid, and he did not agree with Yang Tinghe and others. So he and the courtiers began to fight.
Because, JiaJing knew very well that this matter was called the ceremony of succession, but in fact it was a struggle between him and the courtiers, it was Yang Tinghe and other courtiers who bullied themselves as alone, young and ignorant, and once this struggle failed, his authority as an emperor would be greatly reduced. Therefore, Jiajing and Yang Tinghe argued with each other, and Yang Tinghe did not feel that this young emperor who was in danger could match himself, but he did not expect Jiajing's political skills.
Jiajing enlisted Zhang Xuan and other wall-riding spectators, and used them to turn defeat into victory. More importantly, Jiajing maintained his majesty with very simple and brutal means, and he directly took the hundred officials who opposed him at that time. Officials under the level of five pins were even directly crushed into prison, with a total of 134 people; Officials with more than four pins are suspended; Sixteen people were killed. Such iron-blooded means directly gave the officials at that time a blow, and the three-year "great etiquette" incident ended in Zhu Houxi's military suppression. At the same time, Jiajing also successfully established the dignity of his own emperor, although the emperor is young, but the prestige is no longer comparable. This move further maintained the system of Daming, and at the same time, stabilized the imperial program for the vigorous reforms of the later Jiajing period.
After that, Jiajing vigorously promoted reforms, and a situation of "Jiajing ZTE" appeared. Led by Zhang Xuan and Xia Yan, he greatly reformed the court at that time, stimulated daming's political vitality, and was even praised as reversing the decline of daming by collecting different opinions, sanctioning the rights of eunuchs, strictly supervising the system, reforming the imperial examination, abolishing foreign relatives' hereditary titles, and restraining eunuchs. It has dealt a blow to the long-rooted vassals and royalty, greatly taking power into their own hands, and strengthening the process of centralized power. Moreover, his reforms are also credited to later generations, and even the reforms of Zhang Juzheng in later generations have also stained the light of this reform.
It was also because of this that the courtiers all believed that Jiajing was a wise and divine Emperor, giving the Ming Dynasty hope for a new life. Even the prodigy Zhang Juzheng admired him: "When the ministers and others were young, they still saw that the scholar officials were many celebrities in the sea, who could respect themselves with the Tao, and did not favor people, and no one dared to do anything for themselves. The confucian style of the scholar is like a modern ancient. Even a yushi at that time praised Jiajing one after another, saying that he "today's sub-examination is on the top, and the hundred vibrations are on the bottom." "You must know the mouth of the Imperial History of the Ming Dynasty, but everyone dares to scold, how many posts the first assistant has been scolded, such a non-stingy praise, it is really rare."
Jiajing was obsessed with Taoism
However, a sudden change caused the wise monarch to disappear. In October of the twenty-first year of Jiajing (1542), because the palace maid could not bear the harsh regulations, she almost strangled Jiajing to death in the bed, that is, the famous "Change of Nongyin", and Almost died at the hands of the palace maid, Jiajing deeply realized the fragility of life. Coupled with the fact that at that time, because of the previous reforms, the situation was stable, and Jiajing did not have the heart to make progress. Jiajing began to engage in civil engineering construction without a problem, and even blindly re-alchemists, regarded Taoism as the supreme, and indulged in asking immortals.
Like many emperors, the fear of death accelerated Jiajing's superstition. He began not to go to the court, and even had to pull the ministers along to practice Dan. It is also because of the dedication to immortality. He reused ministers like Yan Song, and during the more than twenty years that Yan Song was in power, a large number of good ministers were killed, such as Yang Jisheng and Shen Lian. Even the military affairs of the border pass were relaxed, and the mongol army even went straight into the hinterland of Daming.
However, this did not mean that Yan Song could be above Jiajing. Jiajing did not go to the court, but still controlled the court of Daming, and the powerful Yan Song was still a promise in front of Jiajing, and there was never anything that suppressed Jiajing. After that, in his later years, Jiajing suddenly woke up, deposed Yan Song, reused Xu Jie, and implemented a large number of reform measures such as reform measures such as reform and reduction of defects and the revitalization of gang discipline, ordering the return of some encroached people's land and eliminating more than 100,000 military school craftsmen. He also regained praise from both the government and the public.
Looking back on Jiajing's life, it seems to be a magical novel. His succession was an inexplicable pie, and as a young man, he won the battle against the scheming first assistant Yang Tinghe, and under his reforms, he was renewed. Under his command, such people as Yan Song and Xu Jie did not dare to relax, and after twenty years of not going to the dynasty, they still grasped the lifeblood of the imperial court. Sudden awakening, under the reform, gave the New Ming a new life, which made many emperors in history hopeless.