In 1508, an emperor of the Ming Dynasty moved out of the Forbidden City. He lived in a leopard house in the suburbs, and from then until his death, the leopard house became his living and office. The maverick emperor's name was Ming Wuzong, so why did he choose to live in the leopard house all the time?
The Leopard House was originally a place to keep beasts of prey for the nobles to play. Emperor Mingwuzong chose the leopard house in the northwest corner of the imperial city and expanded it on this basis. Eventually, it became the office of Emperor Mingwuzong. In addition to resting in the leopard room, there are also places for play and training.
First, what is a leopard room
According to historical records, Ming Wuzong also kept leopards in captivity in the leopard house, but there was only one. According to the regulations of the imperial court, the Qianqing Palace was the emperor's main residence, showing his noble status and status. Emperor Mingwuzong moved away from the palace, much to everyone's surprise.
After Emperor Mingwuzong moved out of the palace, he rebuilt the leopard house. It is not only a place where beasts of prey are kept in captivity, but also where you can play and train. The place where Ming Wuzong played in the leopard room was a place where all women felt ashamed and afraid.
Perhaps Emperor Mingwu left the palace and began to act recklessly. He sent people around in search of beautiful women and kept them in his leopard room. For a while, the women in the city disappeared in the middle of the night. This caused the whole city to fall into fear, and the women did not even dare to go out during the day.
However, there is a bold woman who still dares to go to the street every day. It is also helpless to say that the woman and her father sell art to make money, if they do not come out, where is the money to live? Because there is not a single woman in the city, the woman and her father have attracted a lot of people to sell their art, and of course, they have made a lot of money.
However, when the woman was selling art, she met a rich man. The rich man coveted the beauty of the woman and wanted to harass her in the street. However, the woman was very strong, and the rich man went away in sorrow. Before leaving, he warned the father and daughter that they would see each other again in the evening.
Seeing that this place was not suitable for long, the father and daughter immediately packed their bags and prepared to rush out of the city. Not long after, the father and daughter arrived on the outskirts of the city. They thought that the rich man would not be able to catch up, so they prepared to rest at a nearby inn. In the middle of the night, something went wrong in the store.
The room was brightly lit, and many people poured in at once. The woman took the lead in the way of the rich man who had teased her before, and the rich man grabbed the woman's father. The woman could only go with the rich man and begged him to let go of her father.
The man looked at the woman with a bad smile, "I'll be in the leopard room right away." Later, the woman was taken away by several white-looking men. The woman tried to break free, and the man who was the leader slapped the woman. The man warned her, "When you get here, you must be obedient, don't make the emperor unhappy."
When the woman arrived at the leopard room, she realized how ugly it was. It turned out that the woman was sent to the leopard room for entertainment. All the women gathered here are not allowed to wear clothes day or night. In winter, the leopard room will burn charcoal for warmth, so it does not feel cold.
There was only one bed in the room, surrounded by a circle of light veils. Even so, whatever everyone does will be seen by others. When the woman first came in, she felt very uncomfortable. She was thinking, there are so many women in the leopard room, why don't they resist and finally escape from the leopard room?
Second, deeply loved
In fact, none of the women in the leopard room wanted to escape. However, at first, several courageous sisters tried to strangle the emperor when he entered the leopard room. But how could a group of weak women be the emperor's opponents? The sisters were eventually sent by Emperor Mingwuzong to feed the leopards.
Eventually, the Leopard Room became a secret chamber for Ming Wuzong to satisfy his own selfish desires. As the most rebellious emperor in history, Ming Wuzong hid many beautiful women in the leopard room. These women accompanied Ming Wuzong day and night to satisfy Ming Wuzong's absurd and shameless desires.
Because Emperor Mingwuzong moved out of the harem, there were not too many rules set in the leopard room. This also gave Ming Wuzong more "show" space, and it is reported that Ming Wuzong was very fond of the two women in the leopard room. One is a pregnant woman surnamed Ma, and the other is Liu Niangniang.
The woman surnamed Ma was married and pregnant. However, Emperor Mingwuzong did not care, and he included women surnamed Ma in the leopard room as usual. Emperor Mingwuzong's approach made the former imperial ministers very panicked, and the Zhu family's own princes may not be able to become emperors, so how to deal with this child of unknown origin?
However, Emperor Mingwuzong was not very affectionate. He was fortunate that the woman surnamed Ma had not yet reached four months, and gradually snubbed her. Of course, the relatives related to the women surnamed Ma, Ming Wuzong, were all dismissed as officials. The other Liu Niangniang was a woman that Ming Wuzong accidentally met when he was on a tour.
Emperor Mingwu did not seem to be picky about favored women, and there was a female relative named Wang Mantang in history. She was also known as the "Queen of Huan" by later generations, and initially, she was also a woman drafted by Emperor Mingwuzong; However, Wang Mantang was not selected.
After tossing and turning, Wang Mantang was actually selected to enter the Huan Clothing Bureau. Later, Wang Mantang entered the leopard room of Emperor Mingwu by chance. Although Wang Mantang came from a humble background, he was deeply loved by Emperor Mingwuzong. She was also the last woman favored by Emperor Mingwuzong, and soon after, Emperor Mingwuzong died violently.
3. The Second Imperial Court
In addition to Ming Wuzong's wanton pleasure in the leopard room, the leopard room was also the second imperial court set up by Ming Wuzong. Emperor Mingwuzong used this method to get rid of the interference of the courtiers on his imperial power, although this very affected office efficiency, but Mingwuzong still insisted.
Emperor Mingwu regarded wealth as his destiny, and also spent money like earth. He squandered profligately, often leaving the treasury empty. Emperor Ming also enjoyed various roles, such as playing the role of a merchant and trading with others. Emperor Mingwuzong was still a scrooge, and every time he went out, he let the household department pay for it, without using his own internal treasury.
Emperor Mingwuzong was very fond of going out and playing, and everywhere he went, he would ask his courtiers for money. This act not only brought heavy disaster to the Ming Dynasty, but also bought himself a curse. Too many items were collected on a southern tour, causing the hull to tilt. When Ming Wuzong was fishing, he unfortunately fell into the water.
4. Summary
Years of sexual immorality had almost hollowed out Ming Wuzong's body. This not only made him desperate, but also made his body very weak. When Ming Wuzong fell into the water, it was early winter, because the pond water was relatively cold, which made Ming Wuzong feel the wind chill.
Although the subordinates quickly sent Emperor Mingwuzong back to the capital, Emperor Mingwuzong still could not hold on. Soon after, Emperor Mingwuzong suffered from coughing up blood. A few months later, Emperor Mingwu died. In fact, this time on the southern tour, all the courtiers did not support it. However, the rebellious Ming Wuzong insisted on touring the south.
After Emperor Wuzong's violent death, he created a difficult problem for the replacement of the Ming Dynasty. Although Emperor Mingwu had favored countless women, none of them had given birth to a son and a half-daughter for him. In the end, only the right person to take the throne could be found from the Zhu family royal family. In the end, Emperor Mingwuzong's cousin Zhu Houxi took the throne as emperor.