Zhang Ju, the head of the Cabinet during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, was also a politician and reformer in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, who assisted the Wanli Emperor in creating the "Wanli New Deal", and the methods of this reform were both vigorous and bold and innovative, and played a considerable positive role in saving the precarious rule of Daming at that time.
Zhang Juzheng, who advocated reform, could have led Daming to ZTE through the implementation of the "New Deal", but the reform touched the "cheese" of some vested interests, coupled with the gradually growing Wanli Emperor began to continuously consolidate real power, various objective factors not only made the reform half-abandoned, but also made the reformer Zhang Juzheng fail to get a good end.
At that time, some people with red eyes and jealousy and ulterior motives also deliberately fabricated gossip that Zhang Juzheng had an affair with Empress Li, hoping to smear and demean Zhang Juzheng.
According to the history of the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Juzheng was not only talented and outstanding in political achievements, but also elegant and handsome in appearance, even though he was nearly fifty years old, he was still charming.
When the reform showed results, Zhang Juzheng was tired of his "high appearance" and became the male protagonist of the palace scandal, but were those wild history rumors true? Today, let us distinguish between true and false by exploring historical facts.
Wanli Emperor's biological mother, Li Shi: Although she was from a humble background, she had the honor of becoming empress dowager
Emperor Mingmuzong was the 12th emperor of the Ming Dynasty, who reigned for a short time and died of illness at the age of 36. After the death of Emperor Muzong of Ming, the 10-year-old crown prince Zhu Yijun hurriedly ascended to the throne as the Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
Muzong died early, the lord was suspicious of the country, and Empress Li, who was Zhu Yijun's biological mother, was just an ordinary woman with no background to rely on and was only 25 years old, in order to consolidate her power and win over allies, Empress Li targeted Zhang Juzheng, a courtier who had been serving as the prince's teacher, hoping that he would faithfully assist the Wanli Emperor in governing the country.
Subsequently, the eunuch Zhang Juzheng (張居正) and the eunuch Feng Bao (封保) formed an auxiliary political triangle with Empress Li to supervise and guide the young emperor Zhu Yijun in an all-round way, with a view to keeping the emperor's business, mastering government affairs, and consolidating imperial power.
Empress Li was originally a noble concubine of Emperor Muzong of Ming, she was born in 1545 AD, and the history of Ye records that Empress Li's real name was Li Caifeng, and when she was born in a cold age, she was sold by her parents to the Yu King's Mansion as a slave.
A few years later, the beautiful Li clan was accidentally blessed by Zhu Zaiyuan, who was then the King of Yu, and after that, li shi was secretly married and successfully gave birth to the later Wanli Emperor Zhu Yijun.
Later, Zhu Zaiyuan, the King of Yu, inherited the throne of Daming, and the young and beautiful mother of the Li clan was crowned as a noble concubine of the dynasty after entering the palace, and lived a happy life of pampering and pampering.
The short-lived emperor Zhu Zaiyuan did make certain political achievements during his lifetime, but the problem of greed and lustfulness destroyed his body, and Emperor Mingmuzong Zhu Zaiyuan died of illness after only 5 years on the throne.
In the early summer of 1572, Emperor Mingmuzong, the 10-year-old crown prince Zhu Yijun, took the throne as emperor, and his mother Li Shi was immediately honored as the empress dowager by the courtiers. Seeing that orphans and widows were alone, the 25-year-old Empress Li could not help but be silently worried about her status and future with the little emperor.
Before Emperor Mingmuzong's death, gao gong, Zhang Juzheng, and Gao Yi were appointed as auxiliary ministers of the new emperor. As the elder of the Three Dynasties, Gao Gong was the first assistant minister at the time, he was highly qualified and powerful, and during the reign of Muzong, Gao Gong was not very friendly to Li Caifeng's mother and son. After Li Shi became empress dowager, he was always wary and wary of the powerful minister Gao Gong.
In order to protect herself and safety, Empress Li soon began to secretly cultivate her own forces, she was very optimistic about Zhang Juzheng and successfully gathered him into her own henchmen, and also focused on the eunuch Feng Bao, the three of them joined forces to implement strategies, not only successfully drove Gao Gong out of the court, but also took advantage of various opportunities to exclude Gao Yi, and soon Gao Yi fell ill due to fear, and soon died of depression.
When there were no two auxiliary ministers in the court, Gao Gong and Gao Yi, Zhang Juzheng, who was only high in the eight buckets, naturally became the first assistant minister, and he continued to serve as the emperor's teacher, going in and out of the inner court every day to teach the young emperor Zhu Yijun to write history ceremonies and the law of government, and naturally had the opportunity to meet with Empress Li to discuss state affairs.
Empress Li was cautious by nature, and she hoped that her son Zhu Yijun would soon become a wise mingjun, so she was always particularly strict about the study and study of the Wanli Emperor, and under the strict control of Empress Li and under the earnest teachings of Zhang Juzheng, the little emperor Zhu Yijun grew older and learned more and improved, and his knowledge was very profound.
Zhang Juzheng, a generation of famous people who were deeply trusted by Empress Li and the emperor
In 1525, Zhang Juzheng was born in a Xiucai family in the capital of Jingzhou in Daming, and 21 years later, Li Caifeng, the empress dowager of Daming, who had the fate of Fengluan, was also born in this world.
In the decades that followed, the wheel of fate quietly turned, Zhang Juzheng entered the ceremony because of his good reading, and Li Caifeng became a royal female relative because of his youth and beauty.
In 1569, Zhang Juzheng, a cabinet scholar, was appointed by Emperor Mingmuzong as the teacher of crown prince Zhu Yijun because of his outstanding knowledge, so Li Caifeng, who was then a noble concubine and also the birth mother of the crown prince, first heard of Zhang Juzheng, a talented courtier. At the same time, Li Guifei's sense of identification and trust in Zhang Juzheng came out of nowhere.
After Zhu Yijun ascended to the throne, the 48-year-old Zhang Juzheng wanted to use some ingenious methods to exclude Gao Gong and Gao Yi, and then become the first assistant minister with real power by gaining the emperor's trust.
It has to be said that Zhang Juzheng is indeed well versed in the way of being a subject and some power tricks, and he firmly grasped the independent consciousness of the Wanli Emperor who wanted to exercise his own authority, and immediately after winning the emperor's trust, he judged the hour and sized up the situation, and carried out a drastic reform, known in history as the "Wanli New Deal".
Under Zhang Juzheng's efforts to reform, in the first decade of the Wanli Emperor's pro-government, Daming had a brief reign of Zhongxing. Although this Zhongxing was the only highlight of the Wanli Emperor's lifelong rule, all the hard work and effort, sweat and wisdom behind this were all from Zhang Juzheng. I have to say that Zhang Juzheng, a great talent who is loyal to the Lord, can be said to be a rare generation of sages in history.
Although Zhang Juzheng, the virtuous minister and good minister, is indeed highly accomplished in assisting the political council, in life, his private virtues have two major stains that are despised by the world, one is corruption and extravagance, and the other is greed and indulgence.
In his later years, Zhang Juzheng was already in monopoly of power, so he began to indulge his selfish desires, in order to be able to play freely and enjoy life, he began to be corrupt and bribed, and after the hoarding of land and money to a certain extent, he also thought about lust.
In addition to 7 famous and valuable wives and concubines, he also raised a large number of beautiful women in the house, and regularly collected beautiful women into the house, and his life style was extremely corrupt and degenerate.
When Zhang Juzheng reached middle age, he was still tall and handsome, and his temperament did not diminish at that time, and many of his colleagues in the government and the public who were jealous of Zhang Juzheng's close relationship with the empress dowager and the emperor began to openly and secretly find opportunities to orchestrate and slander him.
Some people think that the reason why Empress Li trusts and relies too much on Zhang Juzheng is because Zhang Juzheng relied on her extraordinary appearance to "flatter" Empress Li, coupled with a series of performances that Zhang Juzheng became more and more lustful in his later years, so that Zhang Juzheng fell in the history of the wilderness with the contemptuous words of "Zhang Juzheng, Juzheng is not right".
From a historical fact, it can be seen that Zhang Juzheng's ambiguous scandal with Empress Li is pure nonsense
Since Zhang Juzheng, who has monopolized the power of the DPRK and China for several years and single-handedly vigorously implemented the New Deal, has chosen to toss and turn in the political circle, he will inevitably offend others. In the long run, there will inevitably be many people inside and outside the imperial court who are jealous of him and hate him.
In 1582, the 57-year-old Zhang Juzheng was hollowed out by beauty lust and government affairs, and after taking the home remedy for the last time, he screamed and died violently at home.
On the fourth day after Zhang Juzheng's death, seven important courtiers joined forces to impeach several of Zhang Juzheng's henchmen.
Don't look at the Wanli Emperor posthumously named Zhang Juzheng the State of Shangzhu at his funeral, adding the title of "Duke of Wenzhong", and just 9 months after Zhang Juzheng was buried, Emperor Zhu Yijun personally gave instructions on the song, saying that Zhang Juzheng did not think of being loyal to the country before his death, and was favored and selfish, and had negative favors.
In the early summer of the twelfth month of the Wanli Calendar, the Wanli Emperor ordered the confiscation of Zhang Juzheng's family property, and most of Zhang Juzheng's descendants and family members ended in misery, and more than 10 members of the Zhang clan were starved to death after the catastrophe.
According to the Ming history, the Wanli Emperor issued an edict to thoroughly confiscate Zhang Juzheng's family property, and Empress Li was also very supportive of her son's decision, so it is not difficult to see from this historical fact that there is no ambiguous relationship between Empress Li and Zhang Juzheng, otherwise, Empress Li will certainly take care of her private feelings and protect Zhang Juzheng's family descendants, or intercede, or block the catastrophe of destroying the family.
The reason why Empress Li was so ruthless in the face of the emperor's edict and the raid on Zhang Juzheng's home was actually to show her innocence to others.
It seems that the power of the emperor's imperial court is really fierce and decisive--when it is necessary to appoint courtiers to be talented, it is intimately co-opted, and when it is no longer necessary to be able to be a courtier, it is decisively abandoned, and then quickly removed, without half a sense of pity for the old feelings.