Emperor Wuzong of Ming, Zhu Houzhao, was more familiar with another title of his: Emperor Zhengde. There are two emperors in history who have had the most elegant lives, one is the Qianlong Emperor and the other is the Zhengde Emperor. Neither of them took much effort to inherit the unification, and there were no particularly tough courtiers in the DPRK, so they could do whatever they wanted and do whatever they wanted. The only thing that Zhu Houzhao was inferior to Qianlong was that his life expectancy was not as long as his, and other aspects were more open than Qianlong's. Unlike the Qing Dynasty, the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty could intervene in politics and were a great weapon used by the Ming emperor to balance the power of civilian officials. After Zhu Houzhao ascended the throne, he favored the eight eunuchs around him: Liu Jin, Ma Yongcheng, Gao Feng, Luo Xiang, Wei Bin, Qiu Ju, Gu Dayong, and Zhang Yong, known as the "Eight Tigers".
Power is a double-edged sword. Some people use it to benefit the people and the world, and some people use it to do evil and poison the people. There is no doubt that Liu Jin belongs to the latter. After Liu Jin had power in his hands, he began to amass family property. The method of accumulation is nothing new, it is nothing more than taking bribes from people below. The eunuch who was in charge of the ceremony wanted to collect some silver, but the people below did not obediently send it? At that time, when officials from other places came to the capital, the first thing they did was not to meet the emperor, but to meet Liu Jin and give a "meeting gift". This "meeting gift" is not low, as little as a thousand taels of silver, as much as 5,000 taels of silver. Some officials are relatively honest and really can't afford to give "meet and greet gifts." What should they do? I had to borrow money from the rich people in the capital, and this debt was called "Beijing debt".
Liu Jin also vigorously carried out land audits, focusing on military land. When the Ming Dynasty was founded, Zhu Yuanzhang, the ming emperor, allocated nearly fifty percent of the world's land to the army, which was specially used to raise the army. Soldiers and military families cultivate the land, and then 70% of the harvest is handed over for military expenses. As time passed, the world was at peace, and there were fewer battles, and powerful officers set their sights on the army's land and wanted to privatize it. Looking at the inventory records at that time, 70% of the state-owned land was privatized. That is to say, when Zhu Yuanzhang was divided into military land at that time, only 30% of it was still in the hands of the state when Liu Jin inspected it. You say that if you do this, how can the country not be poor? How can the combat effectiveness of the army not decline?
Liu Jin's unauthorized self-imposed power caused dissatisfaction within the eunuch clique and hatred among the civilian bureaucracy. The two families joined forces to send Liu Jin to prison. Zhang Yong, one of the "Eight Tigers", and Yang Yiqing, the capital of yushi, jointly agreed on a plan to remove Liu Jin. Zhang Yong took advantage of the opportunity of the captivity offering to expose Liu Jin's crimes to Emperor Wuzong of Ming, and Liu Jin was sent to prison for interrogation. The minister took the opportunity to write a letter impeaching Liu Jin for his crimes. Emperor Wuzong of Ming initially demoted Liu Jin to Fengyang. However, when Liu Jin's family property was confiscated, millions of taels of gold and silver were found from his home, and there were forged seals, jade belts and other prohibited items. Liu Jinling was executed, and his family and henchmen were killed. Liu Jin's government affairs measures were all abolished.