In many costume dramas, the emperor gave the audience the impression that except for the morning pilgrimage every day, other events were all about enjoying life. In particular, the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty went down to Jiangnan when there was nothing to do, and his life was quite happy and comfortable.
But in fact, were the ancient emperors really so relaxed? In fact, no, for any emperor who has the world in mind, it is impossible to let himself be so free. The most typical representative also comes from the Qing Dynasty, the Yongzheng Emperor, who has never been out of the Forbidden City in his life, and in addition to eating and sleeping on weekdays, he is almost reading the chapter.
It is no exaggeration to say that pleasure is reserved for the Emperor, and mingjun is basically not idle. However, there are also some rather bizarre existences. For example, Zhu Youxue of the Ming Dynasty was neither called Emperor Mingjun nor Mingjun. Because of a hobby, he abandoned the government and was called the most unscrupulous emperor in history.
So, what is Zhu You's hobby of ignoring the government? In fact, it was carpentry, and he spent his whole life studying carpentry and construction techniques, and he regarded an emperor as a carpenter. He was also known as the "Carpenter Emperor" by later generations.
When it comes to why Zhu Youxiao is addicted to carpentry, we have to start from his childhood. He was the grandson of Zhu Yijun, the MingShen Sect, and Zhu Yijun was not a good emperor during his lifetime, only caring for his own pleasure every day, and paying no attention to the education of his children. Therefore, Zhu Youxiao had no education since he was a child, and when he ascended the throne at the age of 16, he was even called the "Illiterate Emperor" because he had no culture.
It is also because Zhu Youxiao has no education, and since he was a child, he has been in a state of no one to take care of, and often runs to the Ministry of Works when there is nothing to do. As soon as he came and went, he developed a keen interest in carpentry.
I have to say that although Zhu Youxue has no culture, he is still quite accomplished in the carpenter area. Many of the things he made back then look amazing now, and even make people throw themselves to the ground. So, what exactly did he do?
According to the history books, the beds made by carpenters in the palace during the Ming Dynasty were extremely bulky, and usually needed more than a dozen people to lift them. Due to the large number of woods used, the style looks extremely ordinary and is not beautiful at all. If you catch up with the move, people often get tired and half dead. In view of this situation, Zhu Youxiao personally designed an extremely lightweight folding bed, which is very convenient to carry and move. Moreover, due to the small amount of wood used, you can also carve various patterns on it, which looks very elegant.
In addition, Zhu Yu also made a landscape similar to a fountain. He took a copper cylinder and drilled a small hole in the cylinder. After the cylinder is set up with various mechanisms, the cylinder is filled with water. Through the operation of the mechanism, the water in the tank will be sprayed out, and the water column will change shapes. At the same time, there are many small wooden balls outside the cylinder, and the water flows at the same time, and these small wooden balls will also jump with it, which looks very interesting.
In addition to his obsession with making these ingenious things, Zhu Yu also loved architecture. He especially liked to build the house himself, and when he was finished, he would destroy it immediately, and then redesign it. Despite the extravagance and waste, Zhu You still enjoyed it.
In the Ming Dynasty scholar Wu Baoya's "Kuangyuan Magazine", it was mentioned that Zhu Youxiao built a small palace in the courtyard, and its interior decoration was almost the same as that of the Qianqing Palace, but the size was only three or four feet. It can be described as small and exquisite, ingenious and ingenious, from which we can also see the superb craftsmanship and craftsman spirit of Zhu You
Although he was quite good at carpentry and architecture, it was also an indisputable fact that Zhu Youxiao's shortcomings in governing the country were also indisputable. He hated the government and indulged in carpentry for a lifetime, which led to the eunuch Wei Zhongxian in charge during his reign, and the Ming Dynasty was full of complaints and complaints, and the people were not happy. Even after his death, he ordered Chongzhen to reuse Wei Zhongxian. However, Chongzhen was not blind and eventually got rid of Wei Zhongxian.
It was also because of the evil consequences of Zhu Youxiao's neglect of the government, after his downfall, the Chongzhen Emperor was also powerless to return to heaven, and eventually the Ming Dynasty went to the end, and Zhu Youxiao thus became a typical example of the emperor in history who "did not do the right thing".
In fact, simply liking carpentry is not something worth criticizing, but Zhu Youxue is the king of a country, and excessive indulgence will indeed mislead the country and the people. It can be seen that the ancient emperors were actually involuntarily in many cases, but they were still a grass people at ease.