Pie in the sky
To say which dynasty in history has more strange emperors, Daming must have a name.
The emperors of the Ming Dynasty, from the Yongle Emperor onwards, were not as good as the next generation, until one after another "Carpentry Emperor" and "Xiuxian Emperor" appeared one after another, and the future of Daming could already be glimpsed.
So who is the most bizarre emperor of Daming?
That is, the lazy emperor Jiajing Emperor, who has not been in the dynasty for 24 years, even if he does not go to the dynasty, the key is that he can easily rule for 45 years with his "imperial skills" in one hand, becoming the emperor who has actually held power in the Ming Dynasty for the longest time.
The Jiajing Emperor was the 11th emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Houxi, and the other emperors were all trying to compete for the throne, but for Zhu Houxi, this throne was a pie that fell from the sky.
In 1521, Zhu Houzhao died, but because he had no heirs, Empress Zhang consulted with her ministers and elected a person from the imperial family to inherit the throne.
So Zhu Houxi, as Zhu Houzhao's cousin, picked up a big bargain in this way.
However, although he picked it up cheaply, it was not easy for Zhu Houxi to sit on the throne, and because of this, he had already seen his imperial talent from that time.
At the beginning, the government was in the hands of Empress Zhang and the First Auxiliary Minister, and before Zhu Houxi ascended the throne, the First Auxiliary Minister wanted him to inherit the throne as the "Crown Prince".
Zhu Houxi was certainly unwilling, he said: "The will of the former emperor only let me succeed to the emperor's throne, and did not say that I would be a prince", in fact, to put it bluntly, if I take the throne as a prince, is it not equivalent to recognizing my cousin as a father?
Because both sides were deadlocked, there was also a conflict for a time. After Zhu Houxi ascended the throne, he posthumously named his own father and mother as emperor and empress, and the ministers vigorously opposed it.
However, Zhu Houxi was very tough, and the stalemate between the two sides finally ended with Zhu Houxi's comprehensive victory.
So why can we say that his imperial talent can be seen from this little thing?
The reason why Zhu Houxi tried his best to posthumously honor his own father and mother, filial piety was only a small part of the reason, the biggest of which was to strengthen the imperial power and quickly get rid of the control of the old courtiers.
After this, he vigorously changed the political landscape, promoted new people, straightened out the bureaucracy, and finally gave the cabinet the dictatorship of the secret, so as to keep the cabinet firmly in his own hands.
He proceeded step by step, first rectifying the program of the dynasty and implementing the new policy, and then reforming the examination system, eliminating many drawbacks and ensuring the benign development of the election.
He also treated the people like a son, and in previous years those heavy taxes should be halved, the exemptions should be returned to the people, and the ministers who had perverted the law were severely punished.
I have to say that things have developed quite normally here, so it seems that Zhu Houxi is also a Ming Emperor, and when he first took the throne, he was diligent in ruling and rectifying the program of the dynasty, which won the hearts and minds of the people.
Where did such a wise man see the strange things?
In fact, throughout history, many emperors were diligent in the early days of their reign, and began to be confused in the middle and late periods, such as Tang Xuanzong in the front and the Qianlong Emperor in the back, which are typical examples.
Zhu Houxi also failed to escape this spell, but what was more special about him was that he began to commit crimes in the middle and late period because a big thing happened.
The emperor was almost strangled to death by more than a dozen palace women
This matter should also begin with Zhu Houxi's dislike of "Buddhism."
After Zhu Houxi took the throne, he vigorously suppressed Buddhism and vigorously promoted Taoism, of course, successive emperors who did not believe in Taoism, but it is still up to Zhu Houxi who can believe in the fire.
He was extremely superstitious about Taoism, believing that the alchemist could produce a long-lived Bhutan, which was enough, and he also gave himself and his father and mother the title of Dao to deify himself.
When the soldiers were outside the battlefield, he led the eunuchs to pray inside the Taoist Temple, and in order to build the Taoist Temple, he did not hesitate to abuse the people's power and financial resources, which once led to the emptiness of the national treasury.
Because Zhu Houxi's belief in Taoism was too extreme, he almost buried his own life.
Zhu Houxi was tricked by the jianghu warlocks into being able to make a long-bodied Bhutan, so he selected palace women into the palace several times in the folk, and each time there were hundreds of palace women, and the task of these palace women was to pick nectar for him in the early morning.
Zhu Houxi believes that using manna to serve ginseng can prolong life, and these palace women have a very heavy job, whether it is a cold winter or a summer full of mosquitoes, they have to pick manna for him every day.
Under such a strong workload, many palace women fell ill, not only palace women, but even the concubines were squeezed and labored by her, and over time, many palace women fell ill.
In 1542 AD, there was a "change in the palace of Nongyin" that shocked ancient and modern times.
It was winter, and when the lights were lit at night, the two concubines discussed: "Instead of dying at his hands, we should start first." ”
So after some preparations, the next day, while Zhu Houxi was asleep on Cao Duanfei's bed, several concubines took out ropes and put them on Zhu Houxi's neck.
Zhu Houxi was suddenly awakened, seeing that he was about to break free of the shackles, the palace maid who was serving next to him was afraid to move at first, but then he remembered Zhu Houxi's evil deeds, and instantly evil turned to the side of the guts.
They didn't stop doing anything, they all went forward and held Zhu Houxi to death, and more than a dozen palace women worked together, vowing to send him to the Western Heavens.
It's just a pity that although there are many people, they are all weak women, and the palace ladies have tied the rope into a dead knot in a panic, and the more Zhu Houxi struggles, the more he can't kill him.
Seeing that the assassination was not successful, some people were afraid, so they quickly ran out of the palace and went straight to the empress's residence, saying that someone wanted to assassinate the emperor, and in the end, the assassination ended in failure, and Zhu Houxi also recovered a life.
After this incident, Zhu Houxi was greatly frightened, and he could not sleep at night, and since then he has moved to the West Pavilion and refused to see anyone again.
That is, after this node, Zhu Houxi was even more confused, he had not been to the dynasty for 24 years in order to maintain his health cultivation, in order to build a temple, he did not care about the already precarious national treasury.
According to historical records, after the "Nongyin Incident", Zhu Houxi summoned the chancellor a total of 3 times in more than 20 years, and never went to the court again.
Then some people asked, how can an emperor who does not go to the dynasty still sit on the throne for more than 20 years? Isn't such a fainting emperor not enough to arouse the indignation of the people?
In fact, it is not that Zhu Houxi's actions did not cause public indignation, but that Zhu Houxi did not return to the dynasty, which does not mean that his imperial power fell into the hands of others.
Zhu Houxi controlled the government of the dynasty for 45 years with the "imperial skill", and even if he did not go to the dynasty, he could clearly understand the every move of officials large and small in various places.
How did he do it?
He played the Imperial Mind Technique to the point of being magical
Zhu Houxi's Imperial Mind Technique was very simple, that is, he could directly see the essence of things.
If you want to control the imperial power, the most important thing is to hold the cabinet firmly in your hands, and no one is allowed to touch it.
The cabinet was an institution that controlled secret affairs, equivalent to the Military Aircraft Department of the Qing Dynasty, but it was more strict than the Military Aircraft Department, because the Cabinet was the administrative and executive organ of the imperial court.
Of course, since the cabinet controlled the government, the cabinet officials also had the right to cover the sky, so Zhu Houxi did not hesitate to use Yan Song in order to balance the cabinet with the courtiers.
Yan Song was also one of the most powerful courtiers in the ming dynasty, and Yan Song was not unaware of these Zhu Houxi in the DPRK, but at the same time he also understood that as long as Yan Song was there, his imperial power could be secured.
For Zhu Houxi, as long as Yan Song did not covet the throne and did things effectively, he could turn a blind eye to what Yan Song did.
At the same time, he gave the cabinet some special rights to allow the celebrant to participate in the government.
In fact, to put it bluntly, the Celebrant was originally created to manage the eunuchs, but Zhu Houxi was lazy in the government, so the rights of the Celebrant were expanded.
They had the right to approve the red in place of the emperor, but they did not have the right to make decisions, but this could still form a constraint between them and the powerful courtiers, and Zhu Houxi sat in the rear and reaped the benefits of the fisherman.
In addition to the cabinet, the monopoly of foreign relatives was also a major threat to the imperial throne, and in order to limit the development of the imperial relatives, he specially tailored some policies for them.
Many of the imperial relatives could not inherit titles and no longer enjoyed special benefits to ensure that they did not have the ability of cholera.
The last point is also the most important point, no matter how many years of social development, money is always the most important foundation for settling down, and it is the same for the emperor.
He indulged his traitors to collect taxes on the people, and as long as he could fill the treasury, he could tolerate the behavior of corrupt officials.
Of course, Zhu Houxi was indeed able to play the imperial power into a divine state, but this did not mean that he could govern the country well and become a good emperor.
A good emperor is to develop the country in a good direction while having the imperial heart, rather than just focusing on strengthening the imperial power and ignoring the people of the world.
Obviously, Zhu Houxi is the latter.
Although he held the imperial power firmly in his hands for 45 years, at the same time, the entire imperial court rotted from the inside to the outside.
Corrupt officials in the DPRK and China continued to defile, Yan Song controlled the government and did wrongdoing, and at the same time, the Wokou harassed the people several times, but the imperial court was unable to resist.
The people were already miserable and starving, and the emperor still had to work hard to build temples and promote Taoism, and the imperial power was indeed strengthened, and the people could not survive.
When the border was harassed, the whole Daming was in danger, Qi Jiguang and other soldiers were desperately fighting at the border, but Zhu Houxi was looking for elixirs everywhere.
In 1566, Zhu Houxi, who had found a lifelong elixir, still died, and died on his "elixir".
After Zhu Houxi's death, he left a mess for the next generation of emperors, and at this time, the imperial court was worried about internal and external troubles, the Wokou were rampant, and the civil uprisings were continuous, and finally became the bane of the demise of Daming.
Nowadays, people in later generations still have mixed praise and criticism for the Jiajing Emperor, and at that time, the people even popularized a children's song: "Jiajing Jiajing, every family is pure", which is used to describe the people's irony of the Jiajing Emperor.
However, at the same time, it was because of the strengthening of his imperial power that a large number of capable people appeared in the imperial court, which was rare in the history of the Ming Dynasty, and even some people said that if the Jiajing Emperor and the Chongzhen Emperor were to be reversed, Daming would not necessarily die.
So what kind of emperor do you think the Jiajing Emperor was?