The Hongzhi Emperor Zhu Youfan was the ninth emperor of the Ming Dynasty and the seventh master of the Beijing Imperial Palace. He was secretly born in Nishinomiya Anle Hall, and it was not until he was six years old that he first met his father and was made crown prince that year.
He officially began to study at the age of nine, and at the age of eighteen, he married Zhang Shi as a princess, and succeeded to the throne that year. Since then, after the exclusive favor Zhang, there have been no concubines. This was unique in the Ming Dynasty.
Empress Zhang, a native of Xingji (present-day Cangzhou, Hebei). His father's name is Luan, and he enters taixue with the township tribute, and is generous to people and faithful. Mother Lady Jin, it is said that after the dream moon was born in her arms, she was quite mysterious. Twenty-three years after Chenghua, Zhang Shi was elected crown princess. In the same year, Zhu Youfan was eighteen years old, that is, the emperor's throne, the era name Hongzhi, Zhang Shi was registered as an empress.
In the first year of the Reign of Hongzhi, the eunuch Guo Yong asked for a draft girl to be stored in the palace, and planned to wait for Zhu Youfan to finish the funeral, and then crown the two as concubines in order to reproduce the heirs. Because during the mourning period, it was shelved. The following year, Li Ke right handed Han Ding another question on the selection of concubines. Although Zhu Yufan agreed with Han Ding's opinion, it was controlled by Empress Zhang and did not achieve it. Empress Zhang, on the other hand, begged for heirs by prayer.
Empress Dowager Zhou chose two beauties, one of the Zheng clan and the other of the Zhao clan, to serve Zhu Youfan in the palace. Later, Zheng Mei gave birth to a son. Empress Dowager Zhou congratulated Zhu Youfan, who felt embarrassed because he did not know how to tell Empress Zhang. Empress Dowager Zhou said, "This is easy to handle, even if the child is born to Empress Zhang." Then he issued an edict to the world and made him crown prince. Empress Zhang was also in favor of doing so. This child was Zhu Houzhao, the later Emperor Zhengde of Mingwuzong.
After the death of The Hongzhi Emperor, his son Zhu Houzhao succeeded him as the Zhengde Emperor, and Empress Zhang became Empress Zhang; the Zhengde Emperor was childless, and after his death, he succeeded to the throne with The Son of King Xingxian, Zhu Houxi, who was the Jiajing Emperor. Empress Zhang became the emperor's aunt until Jiajing's death in the twenty-first year.
This Empress Zhang took on the three identities of empress, empress dowager, and imperial aunt to protect her relatives and do evil deeds outside, it was one person who won the Tao, and the chicken and dog ascended to heaven. Throughout the Ming Dynasty, foreign relatives were favored, and no one exceeded the Zhang family.
Empress Zhang's father, Zhang Luan,whose father was a daughter of Gui, was born by a scholar, jumped to become the governor of Tongzhi, and then created Shou Ningbo, entered Shou Ning Marquis, and posthumously gave it to the Duke of Changguo. There were no political achievements or martial arts, but Gong, Hou, and Bo occupied all of them.
Zhang Luan had two sons: Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling, and was given the title of Marquis. The Zhang brothers, robbing the people's fields, running amok, competing for the people's interests, like tigers and wolves, are lawless. The northern area was not satisfied, and he ran to the south of Taizhou (present-day Taizhou, Jiangsu Province) to plunder the people's land. The people were horrified, and a great calamity came.
Some ministers eagerly demanded that the land that had been encroached upon be returned to the people, that Zhang Heling be admonished to abide by the law, that his servants and others should be registered with the government and forbidden to enter or leave, and that all lawless people such as helpers and accomplices should be expelled and not allowed to continue to be evil. This kind of righteous voice of asking for the people's life did not receive a response from Zhu Youfan at all.
The ambiguous attitude of the Hongzhi Emperor fueled the arrogance of the Zhang brothers, who were also involved in commerce. In the sixth year of Hongzhi, the emperor ordered the Zhang family to set up shops, invite merchants to intercept goods, monopolize the market, and from the capital city and the outer fang city, to Tongzhou Zhangjiawan and HexiWu, all the people's profits and private property were all usurped by him.
In the ninth year of Hongzhi, there was a dispute between the two families of Zhou Yu, the brother of Empress Dowager Zhou and Zhang Heling, the brother of Empress Zhang, and the two families formed groups, armed with instruments, and gathered crowds to fight, causing a sensation in the capital. Relatives of the emperor and the state, still like this, are both lost in view and detrimental to the prestige of the dynasty.
The minister said, "When the emperor hears about this, can he remain indifferent?" The opening of shops in the Xunqi family has aroused the resentment of the common people, and it is easy for relatives to form a vendetta, and the resentment is getting deeper and deeper, and the hatred is not easy to solve. "What should the Hongzhi Emperor Zhu Youfan do?" The palm of the Zhou family's hand is meat, the back of the Zhang family's hand is also meat, and in the end it is only a list of forbidden words, and the problem cannot be solved.
The Zhang brothers were not only insatiable for wealth, but also went to the palace to do something wrong. They arbitrarily entered and exited the forbidden place because of the emperor's relatives, and the eunuch He Wending was very disgusted by this. One day, the Zhang brothers went to the palace to watch the lights, and Zhu Youfan accompanied them to drink. Halfway through, Zhu Yufan wanted to go to the toilet, so he took off the crown and handed it to the deacon. The Zhang brothers took the opportunity to wear the crown. In addition, Trillium was drunk and raped the palace people. The eunuch He Wending was furious and waited outside their drinking curtain with a large golden melon in his hand, preparing to kill the Zhang brothers. Because the eunuch Li Guang leaked the wind to the Zhang brothers, they escaped by chance.
The next day, Wen Ding tried his best to advise, but Zhu Youfan not only did not listen, but was very angry, and handed He Wending to Jinyiwei for torture and pursued the main messenger, Wen Ding said: "There are two people who are the main envoy, but they must not take him." "Who is it, ask?" Answer: "Confucius, Mencius." Zhu Youfan was furious and, at the behest of Empress Zhang, killed He Wending with his staff in Nanhaizi. (Shen Defu,"Wan LiYe Won")
Right and wrong are reversed, when is it? When the time comes, evil will be rewarded!
After the death of Emperor Minghongzhi, Empress Zhang became Empress Dowager Cishou, and the Zhang brothers were the uncles of emperor Zhengde, so during the Zhengde period, the Zhang family was still in flames. Some people sued Zhang Yanling for conspiracy, and the Zhengde Emperor Zhu Houzhao ordered a multi-official trial. The Zhang brothers were very afraid, and Empress Zhang had to mediate, and Zhang Heling also sent a large number of bribes, so-so, perfunctory, and the situation calmed down.
After the death of the Zhengde Emperor, because he had no sons, his cousin Zhu Houxi entered the succession to the throne, with the era name Jiajing. The Jiajing Emperor was a successor, with his birth mother as the empress dowager and Empress Zhang as the imperial aunt. Zhang's status is not as good as before. It is said that the Zhang brothers have lost a strong political protection and should be greatly restrained, but they continue to do evil. This inevitably leads to bad retribution.
In the early years of Jiajing, Zhang Yanling's maid stole some money to give alms to a monk, and Yanling killed the maid and monk for this purpose. There was also a commander named Si Cong, who had always lent money to Trillium, and owed him 500 taels of silver, and Trilling was in a hurry to demand debts, so he beat Si Cong to death with a random stick, and also summoned his son Si Sheng, ordering him to burn his father's body, he could be relieved of his debts. Si Sheng denounced Trillium. At this time, Empress Zhang was separated from Renshou Palace in the name of the imperial aunt, and the relationship with Zhu Houxi's mother and son was not good, and she did not have the strength to protect her brother. Zhu Houxi ordered him to be imprisoned in the Prison of the Ministry of Punishment.
At this time, someone said that Zhang Heling had secretly conspired with King Yizhuang and created a spell to kill Emperor Xing, and Emperor Jiajing immediately ordered his arrest. Zhang Heling died on his way from Nanjing to Beijing. Some people also accused the Zhang brothers and their sons and nephews of the Jiajing Emperor and his mother of the town of Witchcraft; the Trilling family traveled to and from Renshou Palace, stole the inner treasure, and detected the emperor's movements, and so on. The Jiajing Emperor was furious and arrested Zhang Yanling and dozens of others.
Empress Zhang put on a worn-out short coat and sat down on a mat made of straw, saying that she was guilty and thought that Trillium had asked for her life, but the Jiajing Emperor still refused to forgive.
In August of the twenty-first year of Jiajing, Empress Zhang died, and Zhang Yanling completely lost her backstage. Later Zhang Yanling was eventually beheaded in Xishi. Zhang's foreign relatives raged for half a century, and after three dynasties of Hongzhi, Zhengde, and Jiajing, they were finally "badly punished".
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