Zhu Zaikun was born in the sixteenth year of Jiajing, although as the third son of Emperor Mingshizong, his mother was not favored, and he not only had almost no relationship with the throne, but also did not get the favor of his father. However, fate was very favorable to him, his brother died prematurely due to illness, and he was not favored at that time because of his father's superstitious Taoism and was snubbed, but the younger son was more favored by the emperor. The favored four sons lived a high-profile and luxurious life all day, while the unfavored Zhu Zaiyuan lived every day trembling and cautiously.
However, the good times did not last long for forty-four years, and the younger son of Emperor Ming Shizong died, and Zhu Zaituo's position as crown prince officially became a matter of certainty. Although Zhu Zaiyuan became a candidate for the crown prince, his personality and behavior were not in line with the style of the crown prince, and because he had been subordinate to others for many years, he had developed into a taciturn character, and even if he ascended the throne, he still lacked self-confidence.
In 1566, Zhu Zaituo took the throne and changed the name of the country to Longqing. Soon after becoming emperor, he began to implement a new policy, correcting the shortcomings left by his father during his reign, recalling all the ministers who had been exiled to the imperial court one by one to become officials, and officials who died during exile were also given family pensions, and also reduced the high taxes for the people, and cancelled the Taoist activities that his father had held because of his superstitious Belief in Taoism.
At the suggestion of Zhang Juzheng and other cabinet ministers, peace was negotiated with the Mongols, which resolved the war on the northern border of the Ming Dynasty for many years. This time, the peace negotiations not only solved the border problem, but also opened up more than a dozen border trade exchanges, allowing the Mongols to have commercial exchanges with Daming. As a result, the people on the border also lived a peaceful and happy life, and the imperial court was able to extract a lot of oil and water from it.
After the business arrangements on land were made, Zhu Zaituan focused on maritime trade. The sea ban was abolished, allowing the people to do business with Japanese and Southeast Asian merchants. In order to better control the trade between local merchants and overseas merchants, a special office was set up in Zhangzhou, Fujian Province, which was specially responsible for private overseas trade and tax issues.
Zhu Zaituan reopened the once closed sea and land trade, which promoted the substantial growth of the Ming Dynasty's economy and laid a good foundation for the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty. For example, the silk, porcelain, tea, etc. produced in China are commodities that foreigners have never seen before, and these commodities have also attracted the strong attention of all countries in the world, and many European countries have extracted silver from the American continent in order to obtain Chinese goods, all of which are exchanged for goods with Chinese merchants.
It is said that during the six years of Zhu Zaituan's reign, China has earned more than 350 million silver from overseas, which is only official data, and there are not a few silver that flow into China through other channels in addition to this, and in those few years, the Ming Dynasty earned almost half of the world's silver.
However, an emperor who allowed the country to earn all its wealth was very cowardly above the court, and he had no sense of existence. When Zhang Juzheng and Gao Gong, the two cabinet ministers quarreled over the court because of something, Zhu Zaiyuan did not dare to dissuade him, but did not say a word and waited for the ministers to announce their resignation after the quarrel and covered up the matter. Over time, when the ministers quarreled in the court, they gradually stopped asking for the emperor's regulation, and Zhu Zai's presence above the court was like that of Fu Ming Shizong when he was not favored.