The revision of the history of previous dynasties by successive dynasties is a practice handed down from ancient times in our country, on the one hand, it is a summary of the extinct dynasties, and on the other hand, it is a tradition that implies orthodoxy. As a conclusive conclusion of the Ming Dynasty, the history book of the Ming Dynasty has been revised for a full 90 years, which is probably not just a simple starting point for the Qing Dynasty to "compile it properly".
Throughout the entire "History of Ming", Qing Dynasty historians have a tendency to demean and stigmatize the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, such as the record of Ming Xianzong Zhu Jianshen, in addition to the eye-catching and half-old Xu Niangwan Guifei, who is 17 years old and 17 years old, it also focuses on the record that "the Imperial Family of Ye Ting is fortunate to have a body, drinking medicine and injuring countless people, the birth of Emperor Xiaozong, the top inch Xu Hairless, or the Medicine Institute Zhongye." The death of Concubine Ji Shufei was a harem scandal.
Wan Guifei was so spoiled and arrogant that she forced the concubines pregnant with dragon heirs to have an abortion, and even the later Ming Xiaozong almost died because of this, and Xiaozong's biological mother, Ji Shufei, died directly at the hands of Wan Guifei. For this "demon concubine" who killed the imperial heir, Ming Xianzong was actually indifferent except to sigh a sentence of "the veteran is dead, childless". Zhang Min, the eunuch who sacrificed his life to keep Emperor Xiaozong, died for fear that Wan Guifei would retaliate against The Golden.
According to this description in the History of Ming, Emperor Ming Xianzong was a complete emperor, and the harem of the Ming Dynasty was even more chaotic and dark. So is this really the case?
In fact, the record of the Xianzong Dynasty in the History of Ming itself has a big loophole. First of all, Emperor Mingxianzong gave birth to 20 children before and after, and when Emperor Ming xiaozong succeeded to the throne, he also gave 10 brothers the title of king, if Emperor Mingxianzong really "spoiled" Wan Guifei in a special room, and Wan Guifei "injured countless people, and his concubines did not dare to enter", how could emperor Xianzong have so many children?
Secondly, when talking about Wan Guifei's persecution of Xiaozong, the History of Ming says: Wan Guifei heard that Ji Shi had given birth to a son (that is, Ming Xiaozong), and ordered Zhang Min to drown, and Zhang Min exclaimed, "There is no son on the top, so why abandon it?" This is even more of a big loophole, because when Emperor Ming xiaozong was born, the crown prince Zhu Youji was still alive, how dare Zhang Min say such a rebellious thing as "the emperor has no son"?
What is even more strange is that in the "Records of Emperor Ming Xianzong" and "Records of Emperor Xiaozong of Ming Dynasty" compiled by the Ming Dynasty itself, there is no mention of Wan Guifei's persecution of the imperial heir, and when referring to Emperor Xiaozong's birth mother, it is clearly recorded that "with illness inferior to the Western Palace" (death from illness). After Emperor Xiaozong succeeded to the throne, he did not pursue any accountability for Wan Guifei's family.
This gives rise to two possibilities: the first is that Ming Xiaozong, out of the consideration of protecting his father's reputation, did not want to publicize the palace scandal, so he omitted the relevant content in the actual record; the second possibility is that the Qing Dynasty falsified history and fabricated this ming harem scandal.
Which is the truth?
The "Genealogy of the Zhang Clan" discovered in Fujian can be said to have clarified the historical truth. The "Genealogy of the Zhang Clan" in Tong'an County, Fujian Province, preserves a large number of materials on the three brothers such as the eunuch Zhang Min during the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty, and many of the contents are the original texts of the imperial edicts. For example: "The Emperor's Edict of the Eunuch Zhang Mingong: Ling Ming'er trained with the British Duke Zhang Mao and the Marquis of Xiangcheng Li Jin to manage the officers and soldiers of the Five Military Camps."
The History of Ming only refers to Zhang Min as a door supervisor or a royal horse supervisor, and says that he committed suicide by swallowing gold in the year when Emperor Xiaozong's identity was exposed (1475), but the emperor's edict preserved in the "Zhang Family Tree" shows that Zhang Min not only did not commit suicide, but was promoted by Emperor Xiaozong to be a eunuch of the Ceremony Supervisor, and his status was very respected.
So when did Zhang Min die? The "Genealogy of the Zhang Clan" is very clear, it is the twenty-first year of Chenghua (1485), that is, Zhang Min lived for 10 years under the eyes of Wan Guifei, and after Zhang Min's death, Emperor Mingxianzong also sent a eunuch To set up a eunuch Chen Mian to sacrifice. In addition, it is also recorded in the "Golden Gate Chronicle": "Chenghua twenty-one years, sensitive disease, emperor sent tai doctor to diagnose and see."
It can be seen from this that Zhang Min died of illness, and Ming Xianzong was not as faint and incompetent as described in the "History of Ming", allowing Wan Guifei to act recklessly, and Wan Guifei's power was not so powerful that he wanted to kill anyone he wanted.
The contents of the "Genealogy of the Zhang Clan" and the "Ming Shilu" corroborate each other, overturning this widely circulated scandal in the ming harem, and also confirming the Qing Dynasty's behavior of falsifying history when revising the "History of Ming".