The Qianqing Palace is the most important and magnificent palace in the Forbidden City, and it was the place where the Ming emperors lived and worked. However, because the Qianqing Palace was a wooden structure and lacked protective measures, it was burned many times in history. However, in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the Qianqing Palace was once again destroyed by fire, but the emperor did not expect to clap his hands and applaud.
It happened in 1514, the fifteenth day of the first month of the ninth year of zhengde in the Ming Dynasty, that is, the day of the Lantern Festival. The emperor who reigned at that time was Zhu Houzhao, emperor of the Ming Dynasty, who was arguably the most absurd emperor in the history of the Ming Dynasty, because the fire was directly related to him. The Ming Dynasty paid more attention to the Lantern Festival, and since Zhu Di began, every year it would display lights on the upper floors of the Noon gate and set up Aoshan lights, and the monarchs and courtiers would enjoy the music together.
Ming Wuzong's greatest hobby was play, and after he took the throne, he paid more attention to the Lantern Festival, spending a lot of money every year to hold lantern festivals, "every year the lanterns are for fun, and the cost is tens of thousands." At that time, candles were used for lighting, and every year the candles in the palace during the Lantern Festival were not enough, and the Mingwu Sect sent people to the people to purchase candles, "the storage of yellow and white wax in the library is insufficient, and the re-order is to buy and supplement it."
The Lantern Festival in the ninth year of Zhengde was very lively, because Zhu Chenhao, the king of Ning, had obtained some fresh things and offered them to the emperor. The specific thing is not said in the history books, but it is said that this kind of thing is pasted on the wall and the pillar, and the inside of the house is "brilliant as day". Emperor Mingwu was overjoyed and quickly ordered people to paste these things inside the Qianqing Palace.
Emperor Mingwuzong also felt that he was not addicted, and "set up a felt curtain according to the eaves" in the Qianqing Palace, that is to say, set up a large tent inside the palace. We all know that Ming Wuzong likes to ride horses and fight wars and yearns for military life, so he set up a tent in the palace. However, Emperor Mingwuzong put gunpowder inside the tent and "stored the gunpowder in the middle" .
As a result, it did not pay attention, causing a fire, the fire burned the tent, and then burned to the Qianqing Palace, the fire could not be controlled. According to the records, "the burning of the palace, from the second drum to the end of the Ming Dynasty, the fire is blazing", that is to say, the fire burned from about 9 pm to the next morning, and the huge Qianqing Palace was reduced to ashes. So when the Qianqing Palace caught fire, what was Ming Wuzong doing that caused the fire?
It turned out that Emperor Mingwuzong neither commanded the personnel to extinguish the fire nor showed any concern, but instead left the Forbidden City surrounded by eunuchs and drove to the "Leopard Room", as if the fire had nothing to do with him. When he was on the road, Ming Wuzong looked back at the burning Qianqing Palace, and actually acted very happy, and joked with the people next to him, excitedly saying: "It's a good shed of fireworks!" ”
Some Ming history lovers may think that I am "black" Ming Wuzong again, but this is not the case! Because this record is not written by the Qing Dynasty officials, nor is it written by people, but from the official records of the Ming Dynasty. The so-called record is popularly speaking, that is, after the new emperor takes the throne, the main deeds of the old emperor during his reign should be written down. In general, the actual records are beautified.
However, there are some exceptions to Ming Wuzong's actual records, because the reigning Ming Shizong, that is, the Jiajing Emperor, he is the cousin of Emperor Wuzong, he has no good feelings for Ming Wuzong, there is no need to beautify him, of course, he will not deliberately demean, because after all, he is the emperor's brother. Therefore, the records of Emperor Mingwuzong are generally objective, recording many precious historical materials at that time. After this fire broke out, Emperor Mingwuzong once issued an edict in the upper dynasty, asking his courtiers to speak out about the shortcomings of the times.
Officials at all levels made many suggestions, but as a result, Emperor Mingwuzong ignored them all, and instead punished some low-level officials. After the Qianqing Palace was destroyed, Ming Wuzong's mood was not affected, and he began to play in the palace. On the sixth day of the first month of February of that year, Emperor Mingwu secretly came to the Sect Ofe to see music. The Ming Dynasty's priests were in charge of music and dance, and the women who had been raided were also arranged here and reduced to official prostitutes. After that, Ming Wuzong played bigger and bigger, and eventually died in the leopard room.
References: 1. Records of Emperor Wuzong of Ming; 2. History of Ming; 3. Chronicle of Ming History