Written by Zhao Mengde
In 1626, as usual, Emperor Zhu Youxiao of the Apocalypse was eating breakfast at the Qianqing Palace, when suddenly the great hall shook, and the emperor threw down his rice bowl and ran to the Jiaotai Palace. As a result, the top of Zhu You's personal bodyguard's head was smashed. Zhu Youxiao ran into the Jiaotai Hall and hid under a table in the main hall, and the crown prince Zhu Cijiong, who was not yet one year old, was also smashed to death in this disaster. This mysterious explosion, known as the "Great Explosion of the Apocalypse" at the time, was a "change that has never changed in ancient and modern times", and Zhu Youxiao successfully escaped with his life, which was a lucky one.
Zhu Yu School
However, he eventually died in an accident.
Before that, he had just experienced a capsizing incident, the Emperor of Heaven, accompanied by Wei Zhongxian and keshi and the eunuch Wang Tiqian, came to the water to take a boat for pleasure, and was suddenly overturned by a fierce wind, the boat was overturned, the four fell into the water at the same time, and finally were rescued by several eunuchs, resulting in two eunuchs drowning and dying, after which the physical condition deteriorated, coupled with the stimulation after the weather explosion, Zhu You's condition gradually worsened.
Zhu Youxiao's father, Zhu Changluo, who died within a month of his reign in the so-called "Red Pill Case", was a short-lived mingguang emperor who lived in repression because the Wanli Emperor did not like him and had to make him crown prince under the pressure of his courtiers. Perhaps after ascending the throne, he was quite concerned about his eldest son, and during his illness, Zhu Changluo said to his subordinates: "It seems impossible to do anything about it. Then he turned his gaze to the minister of the ministry and said, "The secretary of state and the emperor are worried about each other, and the eldest son of the auxiliary emperor is important, and he must be assisted by the prince of Yao Shun." Then he said to Zhu Yu, who was standing next to him, "Brother, tell me." Zhu Yu said to the first assistants quite politely: "Sir, he works hard and listens to his father's words." ”
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Shortly thereafter, Zhu Youxiao, who was a middle school student, officially succeeded to the throne and became Daming's pawn.
Although he became the emperor, Zhu Youxiao was destined to go the unusual way, like all teenagers have a hobby, he is no exception, completely uninterested in the emperor, and only doing carpentry work can make him feel happy and accomplished.
"Good nature, good drama, good building houses, self-wielding axe sawing and cutting, skillful craftsmen can not reach" "Three Dynasties and Wilds" It seems that the talent of this carpenter is too strong, so that those skillful craftsmen also sigh in front of them. In addition, he was "good at paint, all hand-worn utensils, self-made, impatient, and promising, and ready to go." "From a professional point of view, Zhu Youxiao is really powerful, not only can carpenter work, but also paint, and even he will invent some automatic systems, "with large barrels and other large cylinders, chiseling holes to create machines, opening and closing infusion, or gushing like spray beads, or flowing like waterfalls ..."
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If placed today, there is no doubt that he is a brilliant craftsman who can perform multiple crafts. Unfortunately, however, fate handed over the Ming Empire to him.
The middle school age is precisely the rebellious period, and he is determined not to do things that he is not interested in, Zhu Yu school is indeed like this, so he turned the palace into a professional "carpenter's studio", closing the door every day to discuss the craftsmanship with the close minister, "unless you are intimate with the close minister, you must not peep."
So the eunuch Wei Zhongxian joined hands with the eunuch Wang Tiqian, took over all important government affairs, and each time he would hand over official documents from the side when Emperor Xizong was very focused on carpentry work, so that Emperor Xizong would be very impatient and say: "You do it with your heart, I already know." ”
In this way, his youth was exhausted in his harem focus on carpentry work, and by the summer of the seventh year of the Apocalypse, Zhu You's illness worsened, and even carpentry work could not be done. At that time, The Imperial History of Henan Province, Ni Wenhuan, said: "The Eucharist is not safe, is it out of order?" If this is the case, it should be pure-hearted. A month later, the courtiers heard that the young emperor was getting worse and worse, so under the leadership of the first assistant of the cabinet, the civil and military officials went to the palace gate to greet him. Zhu Youxiao summoned them at the Qianqing Palace, and the imperial doctor briefed the ministers on the emperor's health, and then Zhu Youxiao said: "The Eucharist has always been weak, and recently due to the anxiety and fatigue of the war in Liaodong, he finally fell ill. At present, he is meditating on cultivation, and all major imperial affairs are discussed and praised by the cabinet and the factory ministers. ”
From the IQ point of view, Zhu Youxiao was not stupid and mentally retarded, but because he had no heirs, he had to make arrangements for posthumous affairs, and it was rumored that except for the accidental death of his son, the rest of the empresses were either miscarried or died prematurely, all of which were committed by Wei Zhongxian and Keshi, in order to control the government for a long time. Even the emperor could not protect his first son. At this time, the entire Ming Dynasty was left with his half-brother Zhu Youjian.
When he finally received his subordinates, he specially told everyone that he had recently summoned the information of zhu Youjian, the fifth brother of the Fifth Brother, which was an extraordinary message, that is, to let the ministers know that after his death, Daming had handed over to his younger brother. Therefore, this plan is also completely out of helplessness.
There are wild records that Wei Zhongxian had planned to get rid of Zhu Youjian in advance in order to cut off the possibility of his succession, and when he consulted with the eunuch Wang Tiqian, he explicitly opposed it and tried his best to stop it, because he even had Zhu Youxiao's temper: "The Lord is obsessed with everything, and there is no thin relationship between himself and his brothers and wives, and if there is an accident, my generation will die." Therefore, Wei Zhongxian stopped planning.
Heavy love and righteousness Zhu Yu School, it seems that the rumors are true. He grew up with Zhu Youjian since childhood, and had a deep affection, but at that time, Wei Zhongxian controlled the government, everyone was in danger, and Zhu Youjian, the king of faith, often lived in trembling and trembling, so he had to make a posture of indifference to power: "Zhu Youjian was not tolerated by the loyal sages at the beginning, and he was deeply obscure, and often said that he was ill and did not go to the dynasty. After he was crowned as the Queen of Faith, in order to avoid disasters, he even created an external image for the outside world that "he was not dressed neatly, did not see the internal servants, did not sit on the book, did not look at him, did not speak ill, and did not smile."
When the two brothers finally met, Zhu Youxiao said directly to Zhu Youjian, "Come! My brother should be Yao Shun. After hearing this, Zhu Youjian was silent for a while, and then he replied: "The subject is guilty of capital crime, and His Majesty has said this, and the subject should die." Zhu Yu did not allow him to shirk, but only instructed him to do two things well: one was to "look at the palace well" and the other was to "be loyal and wise and should be entrusted." ”
A few days later, the carpenter Emperor Tianqi, who was only in his twenties, died, and Wei Zhongxian announced to the outside world: "Zhaoxin Wang has entered the succession to the unification", and at this point, a conversion has been completed. During the critical period, the carpenter remained sober, and it was not a big deal, but for the whole Daming, his deeds were a disaster for the empire, and the credit eunuch Wei Zhongxian even temporarily confessed to continue to appoint him, which showed that in a sense, wei Zhongxian's possible encounters behind him were prejudged. In essence, Zhu Youxiao's carpenter status is completely another deformity caused by his father's lack of education management from childhood, because his father Zhu Changluo has lived under great pressure for a long time, and even encountered accidents several times, so he is depressed and even more neglectful of his son, and finally died hastily after only one year on the throne, pushing this wayward son to the throne. This led to a series of tragedies, and even accelerated the speed of Daming's subjugation.
References: "Chronicle of the End of History", "History of Ming", "Testament of Chongzhen"