The Ming Dynasty was the last feudal dynasty established by the Han people in Chinese history, from the founding of the Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang in 1368 to the chongzhen emperor Zhu Youjian mountain in 1644, which enjoyed 276 years and passed on 16 emperors. Most of the emperors of the Ming Dynasty are very strange, and several of them have very serious quirks, and they are incredible quirks, such as the eighth emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Ming Xianzong Zhu Jianshen, the family girl who put flowers and branches on display, did not love, preferred to fall in love with a palace girl who was 17 years older than him, and still loved to die and live; and the tenth emperor, Ming Wuzong Zhu Houzhao, compared to being an emperor, he seemed to be more obsessed with riding on the battlefield to establish military feats, and more interestingly, he also named himself "Mighty Great General Zhu Shou", which was quite strange; and as in history Zhu Yijun, the "famous" Wanli Emperor, was the thirteenth emperor in the history of the Ming Dynasty, and for 30 years he did not go to the dynasty, did not pay attention to the government, and did not read the chapters, so that some ministers had never seen him look like in their entire lives in the imperial palace. This move of the Wanli Emperor can definitely win the crown of the "laziest emperor" in Chinese history. Interestingly, he reigned for 48 years, which created the highest number of emperors in the history of the Ming Dynasty; there was another one that was particularly strange, he was the fifteenth emperor of the Ming Dynasty and the penultimate emperor- Ming Xizong Zhu Youxiao, born in the imperial family, so superior conditions, he was half illiterate, and he did not recognize all the characters, let alone the Four-Five-Five Classics and the Hundred Sons. If that's all, he likes to be a carpenter and invents the folding bed, which is really jaw-dropping to think.
The one we want to talk about today is the father of the Wanli Emperor and the twelfth emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Ming Muzong Zhu Zaikun. Although he did not reign for a long time, only six years, and his qualifications were also very mediocre, he was also extremely lustful and indulgent, but he did a lot of great things to improve people's livelihood and affect the course of history, and he can be regarded as a generation of sages. The Ming Dynasty is a relatively strange dynasty in Chinese history, except for the Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang and his son Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, the other successors are basically not "heroic and ambitious", at most they are not faint and sloppy. The strange thing is that even if the emperor is more mediocre or even inactive, the government has not been delayed much, and the country has not fallen into chaos. This is entirely due to the good luck of the Ming Dynasty, and almost every dynasty can encounter virtuous and loyal ministers of the pillar state, and the mediocre lords with loyal ministers and the British lords are treacherous, and they will not deviate the country from too biased tracks. If, like the end of Qin, the mediocre lord met the traitorous courtiers, and he was not one or two traitors, then the consequences would be unimaginable.
Emperor Mingmuzong's luck was also good, first, it was purely an accident that he could become emperor, and second, after he became emperor, he happened to have several rulers under his command, so there was the "Longqing New Deal". Zhu Zaikun was the third son of the Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi, and according to the Ming Dynasty's "primogeniture inheritance system", normally Speaking, Zhu Zaikun waited until the sea withered and the stones rotted, and I am afraid that he would not be able to become an emperor. But sometimes history is so interesting that he never moves forward along man's normal logic. Emperor Jiajing's eldest son Zhu Zaiji died just two months after his birth, so in February of the eighteenth year of Jiajing (1539), Emperor Mingshizong made his second son Zhu Zaiyuan crown prince, his third son Zhu Zaiyuan the Prince of Yu, and his fourth son Zhu Zaizhen the King of Jing. Originally, everyone lived in peace and order, and according to the custom, Zhu Zaiquan would end his life in his fiefdom in the future, and that was it. But if the burden of history is going to fall on you, you can't escape if you want to, and in March of the twenty-eighth year of Jiajing (1549), the crown prince Zhu Zaiyuan also died. Since the Jiajing Emperor lost two sons in a row, both of whom died after he became crown prince in name only, after the death of crown prince Zhu Zaiyuan, the Jiajing Emperor never made a crown prince again. But everyone also knew that the eldest died and the second died, and the second died, which was not to blame, but the Jiajing Emperor seemed to prefer Zhu Zaizhen, the King of Jing, a little more, which made the ministers take it for granted that Zhu Zaiquan, the prince of Yu, became the prince with some uncertainty. As a result, the ministers of the DPRK and the CENTRAL Government were also divided into two factions, the "Jingwang Faction" represented by Yan Song and the "Yuwang Faction" represented by Xu Jie, and the two factions were in a state of uproar and discussion. In his later years, the Jiajing Emperor indulged in "Taoism" and especially believed in the theory that "deafness does not meet each other", and he felt that the eldest son Zhu Zaiji and the second son Zhu Zaiyuan died precisely because they were made crown princes, and if he made another prince now, it would be difficult to ensure that the new prince would not die again. Therefore, in the thirty-ninth year of Jiaqing, when the chancellor Guo Xiyan presented a petition to the crown prince, the Jiajing Emperor was so angry that he directly killed him. Earlier we said that the most interesting thing about history is that it never moves along the will of man, and if it is true- just when the ministers were in a dilemma for who was the prince, Zhu Zaizhen, the King of Jing, actually died. In this way, the candidate for the crown prince will be left with Zhu Zaiyuan, the king of Yu, and there is nothing to argue about.
In December of the forty-fifth year of Jiajing (1566), Emperor Mingzong Zhu Houzhao, the Jiajing Emperor, died, and Zhu Zaituo, the Prince of Yu, succeeded to the throne and changed his name to Yuan Longqing. As soon as Zhu Zaikun came to power, he immediately pardoned the officials of the Jiajing Dynasty who had been "convicted of their words, and let them reinstate them from their posts, and those who had died were immediately comforted by comforting their families and making them officials in the DPRK as officials to show their gratitude. During the Jiajing Dynasty, the relationship between Daming and the Mongol tribes in the north was very tense. At that time, the Mongol tribes scattered in the north of the desert proposed that they hoped to trade and cooperate with the Ming Dynasty, but due to the historical reasons caused by the "feud", the Ming Dynasty did not understand it at all. The Mongols were well aware that they did need Ming goods in their daily lives, but at present, the Ming Dynasty was stubborn and did not agree to trade with them, so there was only one way - to rob! As a result, the Mongols who were driven to the north of the desert by the Ming Dynasty often harassed the border people, burning and looting continuously. After Emperor Mingmuzong succeeded to the throne, he felt that the Mongols only wanted to trade with Daming in order to solve their daily lives. Therefore, at the suggestion of the Cabinet University Shigao Gong, Zhang Juzheng and others, Zhu Zaituan negotiated peace with the Mongolian Qata Khan, and successively launched nine trade channels in northern China, which were for the Longqing Peace Conference. During the Jiajing period, the problem of the northern plague was so complicated, but he did not expect that here in Ming Muzong Zhu Zaiquan, it was completely solved by dividing three times and five divisions. In the late Ming Dynasty, the Wokou problem had become a major hidden danger that threatened the security of Daming's coastal defense and the interests of the coastal people, so the Jiajing Emperor had to restart the sea ban. This not only did not solve the rampant problem of wokou, but also seriously affected the normal life of the people along the coast. Therefore, While sending people to fight against the Wokou, Emperor Mingmuzong abolished the sea ban and allowed people to sail and trade freely. This measure not only greatly improved the living conditions of the coastal people, but also promoted the prosperity of Daming's economy. Known as longqing switch.
Perhaps because of his humble personality and mediocre ability, Zhu Zaitu basically did not restrict the behavior of the ministers, nor did he rarely interfere with their actions, but let them do it vigorously, although they let go of their hands and feet, thus fulfilling the ambitions of many capable officials, but on the contrary, the social prosperity and stability of this period, and the country's economy and taxation were much better than those of the Jiajing Dynasty. Unfortunately, this kind of letting go of hands and feet has also led to a serious phenomenon of self-dealing and open strife between ministers. Ming Muzong also had to turn a blind eye, because he didn't know how to solve it, or he didn't have the ability to solve it. With rulers like Zhang Juzheng, Gao Gong, and Hai Rui sharing the worries of Emperor Mingmuzong Zhu Zaituan, Zhu Zaikun had more time and opportunities to do what he was interested in. He shuttled between the harem concubines all day, indulging in indulgence and taking medicine frequently, resulting in physical overdraft and deteriorating health. After recuperating for two full months, he finally fell ill in May 1572, six years in Longqing, and died shortly afterwards at the age of 36.
Although Ming Muzong reigned for a short time, fate handed over the jack of history to him, and Te also completed the task brilliantly. He knew that he was not a wise lord, so he entrusted the heavy responsibility of governing the country to the hands of the able ministers and officials, and the monarchs and ministers worked together and worked together from top to bottom, so that they had the "Li Da Feng Gong" and "Longqing Switch" that were praised by later historians.