During the Reign of The Ming Dynasty, from the beginning of Zhu Yuanzhang's founding of the dynasty to the reign of Zhu Di, the Ming Dynasty has always been proud militarily and economically. However, since the change of Tumu fort, the influence of the Ming Dynasty has not been as good as in the early days, and even after the anti-Wu incident in the Jiajing period, the world seems to have finally "remembered" the Ming Dynasty, so that the public's understanding of the Ming Dynasty has a "gap period".
In fact, during this gap period, the Ming Dynasty fell into a situation of "self-difficulty", with eunuchs involved in politics before and Wuzong dying in the leopard house, which can be described as rich in talking. During this period, the Ming Dynasty can be described as the people's livelihood was withered, and there were many internal and external disasters, but the Ming Dynasty survived this period alive. This is because, in this "gap period" of internal and external troubles, there was a Ming Lord, Xiaozong, who created a Zhongxing of the Ming Dynasty: Hongzhi Zhongxing.
1. After the civil engineering, during the Chenghua years
The national fortunes of the Ming Dynasty took a sharp turn after experiencing the "rule of Ren Xuan", and Tumu Fort almost stuck the Ming Dynasty in 1449, but fortunately Yu Qian won the defense of Beijing so that the tragedy would not happen.
However, this incident seriously left a shadow on the Ming Dynasty, since then the emperors have begun to govern conservatively, and in the Chenghua years, the Ming emperors who began with Emperor Xianzong have learned to slack off in government, although there are famous courtiers, they cannot stand the emperor's tired government, and the increasing crisis of rule has been whitewashed very well.
At this time, the Ming Dynasty looked very quiet, but in fact there was an undercurrent of turmoil, the Mongol Wa thorn power declined, the "little prince" Dayan Khan did not grow to the point of threatening the Ming Dynasty, and the imperial court briefly did not have to worry about border troubles. Even though there were several local uprisings in the early years, things didn't seem to be going big. As a result, Xianzong, who thought that Guotai Min'an, began to "act recklessly", which then led to eunuchs interfering in politics, and fangshi demon monks flooded the dynasty, and the court was too dark to be true.
At the same time, social contradictions also began to intensify, which stemmed from the fact that during the Chenghua years, huangzhuang used policy benefits to plunder land on a large scale, and the consequences of the peasants' lack of land could be imagined; and the post of chuanfeng official bred a large number of yuxing elements, which were almost equivalent to the government's "selling officials and lords"; the west factory was even more ruthless, compared with the modern military unification, which made people panic from the capital to the mountainous areas; however, in the last years of Chenghua, Xianzong nestled in the palace every day, and naturally could not see these internal troubles.
2. Change yuan hongzhi, before and after emperor Xiaozong
However, Xianzong died prematurely at the age of 40, and then his only son, Emperor Xiaozong, succeeded to the throne, and what Xianzong left to his son was a pure mess, the so-called "Hongzhi Zhongxing" was mainly aimed at the corrupt political situation of the Chenghua Dynasty, and the country that Xiaozong took over was called a thousand holes. For this reason, after Emperor Xiaozong came to power, he worked diligently day and night, and only briefly made the government new, and finally made the Hongzhi dynasty have no major border troubles outside and relatively peaceful internally, which is a rare Qingming period in the Ming Dynasty.
In fact, Emperor Xiaozong's benevolence and virtue are also at the level of leadership of the first class today, and his good reputation, in addition to his outstanding political achievements, also has the saying of single-mindedness - loyal to Empress Zhang, insisting on not accepting concubines. However, Emperor Xiaozong's life has a big stain, that is, the heir he chose, Emperor Wuzong, is really overwhelmed, and this matter is known from the later death of Emperor Wuzong in the leopard house that he played a lot before his death, and because Emperor Wuzong had no heirs after his death, he gave Xiaozong's nephew an opportunity to take advantage of it, and this nephew was the Jiajing Emperor who later became famous, and based on this chaotic inheritance relationship, it also triggered the "Great Ceremony Discussion" recognition incident, of course, this is a foreign language.
Compared with the two generations of emperors before and after, Xiaozong, who founded ZTE, did not have an "emperor" at all in his childhood. Before the age of 6, he grew up eating a hundred meals, and there were fierce empresses everywhere, and fortunately there were eunuch palace ladies who sheltered him. It was not until he was 6 years old that Emperor Xiaozong was recognized by his father, Emperor Xianzong, who gave him the title of crown prince, and only after that did he begin to live a life of abundant food and clothing. Since then, he has been out of the cabinet to lecture at the age of 9, experienced 9 years of super-first-class quality education, officially took the throne at the age of 18, and worked until the age of 36 to "die of overwork", and died young in office.
Third, the ZTE dynasty, hongzhi innovation
The reason why Emperor Xiaozong fought so hard was because he was read by Confucian and the masters of science, and his "emperor education" was too good; on the other hand, it was also because the situation was too bad, and when he took the throne, the peasant uprisings rose up again and again, the state finances were in serious deficit year after year, and the border troubles gradually arose and the military defense had long been abolished. However, Emperor Xiaozong was well aware of "diligence and clumsiness", and the courtiers recommended him to accept it for two dynasties a day, and Emperor Xiaozong was wise and discerning, and selected Li Dongyang and Liu Jian a series of famous courtiers.
When Emperor Xiaozong ascended the throne, he first replaced all the old squads, removed the "paper paste three cabinet elders", and then drove a large number of "officials" home, and then beheaded all the eunuchs who dared to recommend the techniques of the room to the emperor before, and replaced them with sages like "two capitals and twelve departments, only one king forgiveness". At the same time, Emperor Xiaozong also set up a system of "one inspection for six years for Beijing officials" and promoted all the officials who could perform the official duties, which undoubtedly gave a boost to the imperial court facing collapse.
In addition, Emperor Xiaozong also attached great importance to military construction. He first allocated money to renovate the Ming Great Wall, which had fallen into disrepair, and built the nine-sided town, and then implemented the "Law of Strengthening the People" to do a good job in preparing for the recruitment of troops. In the courtroom, Emperor Xiaozong supported Ma Wensheng in deposing all the failed generals, the military headquarters was temporarily renewed, and Ma Shangshu often raised the battalion for training, which increased the combat effectiveness of the Beijing Division by more than one grade. During his reign, the Ming Dynasty not only took back Hami by force three times, but also effectively repelled the Tatar invasion, which can be described as outstanding military achievements.
However, just as the so-called "heaven will descend on the Si people, they must first suffer their hearts", Emperor Xiaozong's ascension to the throne did not happen to catch up with the years of frequent floods and droughts: the Yellow River broke in the second year of Hongzhi, the Susong River flooded in five years, the Yellow River collapsed again in six years, and natural disasters continued to endanger the lifeline of the north-south shipping transport. To this end, Emperor Xiaozong resolutely sent six Shangshu xiatian to relieve the disaster, and enlisted hundreds of thousands of people to cooperate with the construction of the embankment to block the project. The imperial court also grasped the problem of displaced people in a timely manner, and the people's hearts and minds were appeased by the relief that should be spared, and the people's hearts were appeased, so there was no reversal of the state.
In the face of the withered national economy, Emperor Xiaozong also knew that economic reform should start from me, so he cut the internal staff of the imperial court in half, reduced the total number of staff, and practiced frugality himself, greatly reducing the budget of guanglu temple. Emperor Xiaozong also cared for the people's livelihood, and he issued an edict to stop the imperial palace, return the land to the people, and reduce the summer tax and autumn tax as soon as he had time. Emperor Xiaozong also used the Kaizhong method of Hongwu Nian to vigorously encourage the development of the commercial economy, and the merchants who made money from the salt trade to do business have been active, and the income of the Kaizhong Law was 8 times that of the Yongle years.
Fourth, after the hongzhi, it is difficult to ZTE
Under such a diligent administration, even if there were many disasters in the Hongzhi Dynasty, economic development and population growth could be quite stable and prosperous. Peasant uprisings occurred frequently before and after Hongzhi, but there were very few dynasties in Hongzhi alone, which stabilized the political situation for many years and a prosperous "Zhongxing" era appeared.
In this regard, even in the "History of Ming" revised by the Qing Dynasty, the Qing people had to praise Emperor Xiaozong for "diligent administration and love for the people, and update the government" of Shuzheng. It can be seen that although Emperor Xiaozong is a shoucheng monarch, he is indeed not stingy as a good emperor, he treats his subjects with courtesy, changes his course, and revitalizes the national strength, and he deserves the four words of "lord of Zhongxing".
Of course, for such a lord of ZTE, posterity still has a controversial evaluation of ZTE, which stems from the late Filial Piety's indulgence in Buddhist Taoism and jai-mashing. As soon as Emperor Xiaozong left, various hidden dangers broke out more and more due to Emperor Wuzong's absurd government, and since then, the rule of the Ming Dynasty has become worse and worse, and it has never been able to "ZTE" again.
However, even as the long river of history rolls by, the shadow of Emperor Xiaozong has been passed down like an example. His spirit of being industrious and uncomplaining and striving for the prosperity and strength of the country can be described as the epitome of the people who are striving to become richer and stronger in the motherland today. China's thousands of years of history are led by these people to carry the weight forward, smiling proudly among the nations of the world.
Reference materials:
1. History of the Ming Dynasty
2. "Ming Shilu"
3. The Great Biography of the Hongzhi Emperor