The Sixteen Emperors of the Ariake Generation have very different personalities, which are different from other dynasties.
There is a bowl at the beginning, Zhu Yuanzhang, the taizu of Chengming Daheshan; Zhu Qizhen and Zhu Qiyu, who have brothers relaying to be emperors; Even the January Emperor Ming Guangzong appeared; Carpenter Emperor Zhu Youxiao. Historical evaluations of them are fair and objective, but among these sixteen emperors, a seemingly absurd emperor appeared, which made historians' evaluations of him divergent. And as time went on, more people thought that the emperor seemed ridiculous, but in fact he was also talented, not as bad as some official sources wrote.
He was the tenth emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Wuzong of Ming. The "ridiculous" emperor who built a leopard house and built eight tigers.
Boy Tianzi
Zhu Houzhao was the only son of Emperor Xiaozong Of Ming, Zhu Qizhen (Zhu Qizhen only loved Empress Zhang in his lifetime, and had two heirs: the eldest son Zhu Houzhao and the second son Zhu Houwei.) Zhu Houwei died early) It is also for this reason that playing a small Zhu Houzhao is spoiled. The eunuchs in the palace all knew that this Zhu Houzhao was the future emperor, so they were even more saddled before and after the horse, and they offered their courtesy. As a result, around Zhu Houzhao, eight eunuchs led by the eunuch Liu Jin were formed who were heavily valued by Zhu Houzhao: Ma Yongcheng, Gao Feng, Luo Xiang, Wei Bin, Qiu Ju, Gu Dayong, and Zhang Yong. They followed Zhu Houzhao since childhood, formed some feelings, and after Emperor Mingwuzong ascended the throne, they obeyed the will of the current emperor, whether right or wrong, they all opposed the Manchu Dynasty Wenwu, privately abused finances, committed wrongdoing, and were hated by people.
In 1505, in the eighteenth year of Hongzhi, Zhu Houzhao, who was only fifteen years old, succeeded to the throne as the Zhengde Emperor. Fortunately, Zhu Youfan was a rare Ming Emperor who created the prosperous Ming Dynasty of Hongzhi Zhongxing, and entrusted the young Zhu Hou to Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, Xie Qian, and others at the time of his death.
However, although there were old ministers sitting in the seat, they could not hinder Zhu Houzhao, who was stubborn in nature. Although Zhu Houzhao was jealous of these old ministers, he did not fall down like the northern expedition to the little prince of Mongolia, the rebellion of the king of Southern Pingning, the construction of the leopard house, and the permanent residence of Xuanfu, and still went his own way.
Zhu Houzhao, the young Tianzi, is not an ordinary greedy play, but in the stripping of the cocoon, we can see the different Ming Wuzong in history.
He reused eunuchs, but how many emperors in the Ariake generation did not reuse eunuchs? Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang was too fierce to reuse eunuchs. However, from the beginning of the Yongle Emperor Zhu Di began the ming dynasty to reuse eunuchs. Zheng He is not a perfect person, Zheng He became a eunuch for some historical reasons, but he is a famous Sanbao eunuch in history, and his feat of seven trips to the West has long been recorded in history. He was a eunuch, a eunuch labeled the Great Navigator.
Why did the Ming emperor appoint such a half-man as a eunuch? This was because the Ming Dynasty civilian official clique was too powerful, and in order to contain the civilian clique and maintain centralized rule, it was necessary to strengthen the imperial power to compete with the Manchu Dynasty's civil and military forces. However, in the vast deep palace, except for the Manchu Dynasty Wenwu and the palace women who brought tea and water, only eunuchs were left. From this point of view, eunuchs became the only tool that the Ming emperors had to choose to oppose the Manchu Dynasty. The eunuch group made Emperor Daming no longer alone and alone when he fought against the civilian bureaucracy.
How to judge whether an emperor uses eunuchs as tools or eunuchs as puppets? Emperor Mingxi Emperor Zhu Youxiao allowed the eunuch Wei Zhongxian to control the imperial government in order to fulfill his dream of being a carpenter, and finally even said to the Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youjian when entrusting the throne:
Duke Wei Zhongxian is a heavy minister of the country, and you must use him well
。 As soon as these words came out, we can see that Emperor Xizong's emperor Zhu Youzheng had properly transformed himself into a puppet of Wei Zhongxian and a bunch of other eunuchs, which was really sad, pitiful, and hateful.
However, Emperor Mingwuzong Zhu Houzhao was different, although he reused the Eight Tigers, he did not condone the Eight Tigers to arbitrarily harm the lives of the ministers. When Liu Jian and other old ministers were ineffective in their persuasion, they also felt that they had the heavy responsibility of entrusting the former emperor Zhu Youfan, so they told the old man to return home, and Zhu Houzhao did not embarrass these former courtiers. There are also some scholars who are also dissatisfied with the Actions of the Eight Tigers, but they commit suicide when they have nothing to do.
Why is it said that Zhu Houzhao only uses Liu Jin and other eight tigers as tools? This is because when Liu Jin's power was in full swing, he began to deceive and deceive, and enriched his own pockets, which aroused the disgust of the civil and military officials and even the "colleagues" who were also the Eight Tigers. In the fifth year of Zhengde, Zhang Yong, one of the Eight Tigers, took the opportunity to expose Liu Jin's seventeen counts to Emperor Wuzong, and Zhu Houzhao immediately decided to kill the traitor Liu Jin.
When Liu Jin was gaining power, he easily killed Liu Jin, which showed that Liu Jin had never touched the foundation of the Ming Dynasty, and he was always attached to Emperor Wuzong. At the sound of an order, the head fell to the ground, and Zhu Houzhao was the emperor who allowed the eunuch to demonize the court?
Leopard room for fun
Is the leopard room, as the name suggests, just a palace feather for raising ferocious animals such as leopards? Obviously not, the Leopard Room is a leisure place built by the Eight Tigers led by Liu Jin and others to please the fun-loving Ming Wuzong in order to achieve wealth and glory.
How about a leisure method? First of all, he raised leopards in the leopard house. At the beginning, Zhu Hou was accustomed to taking care of all kinds of people, and he fell in love with raising beasts for his amusement. After careful cultivation and buying a large number of animals for experiments, it was found that the leopard, an animal, could still be fierce indoors, and there was no lack of animalism, so he used the name of the leopard as the name of the palace. It actually has the function of a zoo.
In addition, it has multiple chambers in which people walk as if they were walking in a huge labyrinth. There are also brothels, school grounds, and Buddhist temples in the labyrinth, where Emperor Mingwuzong also gathered many children and children (beautiful young men who served the dignitaries) to satisfy their special habits. Zhu Houzhao is also interested in human women, and every time he travels to meet a beautiful woman from a good family, he has to flirt, and for those who look beautiful and conform to their wishes, they must be abducted for their own enjoyment. (Zhu Houzhao's pampered Liu Niangniang)
Later generations have commented that the leopard house gradually evolved into the political center of the Wuzong dynasty, and where the emperor lived, it was the political center. However, what makes us even more indisputable is that the leopard room is the happy valley of Emperor Mingwu Zhu Houzhao, and it is the "paradise on earth" where he indulges in indulgence, gets rid of the emperor's rules and regulations, and pursues freedom. This is also one of the main evidences that he has been criticized by posterity.
Zhu Shou
Emperor Wuzong made great achievements in military affairs, mainly in the great victory of Yingzhou. At that time, less than seventy years after the defeat of the Tumu Fort, the little Mongol prince Boyan raised an army to the Ming Dynasty, and the people above the court were panicked, and everyone was immersed in the fiasco of the Tumu Fort. In this troubled autumn, Emperor Mingwu Zhu Houzhao announced in the hall that he would personally conquer the little prince of Mongolia, and he would be ashamed of his blood. This was undoubtedly a thunderbolt on a sunny day for Manchu Wenwu, who was obstinate, and under the persuasion of Manchu Wenwu, Zhu Houzhao was still indifferent. And decided to stay in Xuanfu, Xuanfu as the front line against the Mongols, is the first line of defense against the Mongol Tatar invasion, Ming Wuzong Zhu Houzhao dared to be on the front line, not just blind arrogance, but the performance of Shangwu. In this life, Emperor Mingwu Zhu Houzhao greatly admired Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang for unifying the jiangshan and Chengzu Xiaoyong and fighting well.
Everyone commented that Emperor Mingwuzong was stationed in Xuanfu just for fun and to have the addiction of war. Taking him as the Duke of Zhenguo, he had the pseudonym Zhu Shou (朱寿) and sealed himself, and asked the military department to keep the case of Zhu Shou as a general, and also urged the household department to pay himself a soldier. One person played two roles, and Zhu Houzhao played happily.
He also criticized Zhu Houzhao for only knowing pleasure, and transported the beauty, child prostitution, and gold and silver of the leopard room to Xuanfu.
But what was the result? Zhu Shou ate and lived with the warriors, and personally went into battle to kill the enemy, so that the little Prince of Mongolia was defeated and returned. For some years, the Mongol Tatars no longer dared to easily invade the Daming border. All this shows that Emperor Wuzong only knows pleasure, but the chapter is played in the middle of the dynasty, and it is not bad for a day, and it is all transported to Xuanfu.
Zhu Houzhao quelled the rebellion of Zhu Chenhao, the king of Ningning (in fact, the rebellion suppressed by Wang Shouren), and was willful and did not take prisoners, so it can be said that he was stubborn.
However, throughout Emperor Wuzong's dynasty, he appointed Li Dongyang, Yang Yanhe, Yang Yiqing, and other humeral ministers, how could he be framed for being faint? His achievements in the Battle of Yingzhou were enough to make his grandfather Zhu Qizhen ashamed.
We admit that Emperor MingwuZong Zhu Houzhao was stubborn, but he was definitely not a faint-hearted king. Although he built a leopard house, called himself Zhu Shou pro-zheng, and raised concubines, although contrary to Confucian traditional ideas, they did not fundamentally shake the foundation of the Ming Dynasty. On the contrary, at this time, the West began to open its eyes to the world, and the era of great navigation was coming, and China lacked people who were full of curiosity about the world. (Emperor Mingwu Zhu Houzhao was often mixed with monks and missionaries)
The Zhengde Emperor was the successor of the orthodox, and he received a royal orthodox education from an early age, and the appointment of eight tigers to check and balance the hundred officials was one of the embodiments. Moreover, on the occasion of the death of the Zhengde Emperor, he said his heartfelt words: The previous events were all made by mistakes, and ru cao could not predict them.
Such a spontaneous emperor is rare in history, as to why he was hacked so badly. Mainly related to his successor, the Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi. Because Zhengde died early and had no heirs, he was succeeded by his cousin Zhu Houxi. Perhaps in order to highlight his own political achievements, he deliberately added oil and vinegar to the deeds of the former dynasty Zhengde and made small things bigger, so as to show the political clarity of the Jiajing dynasty.