Wen 丨Creative Wenzhai
Editor丨Creative Wenzhai
When it comes to the emperors with distinctive personalities in Chinese history, the Ming Dynasty is definitely one of them. Although it was true that there were several wise monarchs in the middle and early Ming dynasties, many other emperors had some personality traits or unique hobbies. Among them, some like woodworking craftsmanship, some tend to cultivate, and some love to play with clams. The lifestyle and hobbies of these emperors often exceeded the imagination of later generations.
Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Houzhao, was the tenth emperor of the Ming Dynasty. At that time, the Daming Dynasty had shown gradual decline, serious political problems, and Zhu Houzhao himself was a relatively indulgent and willful ruler, and civil unrest often occurred.
Despite this, Ming Wuzong's extravagant life did not last long, and he died at the age of only thirty. It is said that he died in his beloved "leopard room". But where is this "leopard room"? Many concubines were terrified when they heard this, and even preferred to die rather than step into it. What is the secret of this leopard room that makes many people fearful?
Zhu Houzhao ascended the throne at a young age, without parental discipline and the misdirection of the eunuchs around him, Zhu Houzhao completely released himself, Zhu Houzhao was completely different from his father, he not only accepted all the beasts that came in, but also kept them all in the leopard room.
In order to raise all kinds of wild beasts in the leopard room, Ming Wuzong ordered people to build a "deer farm and pigeon room" around the leopard room, and every day he would personally come to the leopard room to watch the scene of the beasts preying, and when he saw that he was happy, he would give some rewards to the little eunuchs standing on the side and serving.
Because Ming Wuzong's demands became more and more strange, the eunuchs came up with more and more methods to curry favor with the emperor. Slowly, a large number of "animal breeding rooms" such as elephant rooms, eagle rooms, tiger cities, leopard rooms, and pigeon houses were formed in the imperial city of Beijing. Listening to the howling of various animals every day, Zhu Houzhao's mood was particularly comfortable, and he even let people build a "palace" nearby specially for fun so that he could enjoy himself.
In addition to the leopard, there are many other entertainment items in the leopard room. Zhu Houzhao placed many beautiful women, and also took some male favorites, among which the famous eunuch Qian Ning and the general Jiang Bin were one of them. In order to cater to the emperor's preferences, some powerful officials would even introduce some men with outstanding looks to him.
Such a leopard room made Zhu Houzhao more addicted to play, and rarely went to the upper dynasty. According to historical records, once there was a fire in the Qianqing Palace, he did not give up his plan to go to the leopard room and continued to indulge in a luxurious life. Zhu Houzhao, who pursues freedom and fun, even invested heavily in building a larger leopard house in the northwest corner of the imperial city, where many leopards were raised. This makes the people in the vicinity live in worry and fear, and life is quite difficult.
In order to pursue a new way of pleasure, Zhu Houzhao placed a large number of beautiful women in the leopard room, regardless of their identity background, as long as they were his favorite, they would be included in the leopard room for his enjoyment. Some of them are married, widowed or pregnant. It is said that Zhu Houzhao was quite interested in exotic styles. Yu Yong of Jinyiwei, knowing that Zhu Houzhao had lost his freshness to the women in the palace, recommended the women of Seme to him, claiming that their skin color was fair and their posture exceeded the beauty of the Central Plains. Arousing Zhu Houzhao's curiosity, he asked Yu Yong to look for these women. In order to cater to the emperor, Yu Yong ordered Lü Zuo to offer 12 dancers in his family who were good at song and dance in the Western Regions. However, when Zhu Houzhao learned that Yu Yong had a beautiful daughter, he also asked to include her in the leopard room. In order to protect himself, Yu Yong replaced it with a neighbor's daughter, thus avoiding a disaster.
These mediocre behaviors of Zhu Houzhao made the people frightened to the extreme, either keeping their daughters at home, or marrying out early, for fear that they would fall into Zhu Houzhao's hands and be tortured to death.
But just these fun are always tired of times, and after a long time, Zhu Houzhao decided to go to the lake to try fishing and catching shrimp. He stood on the side of the boat, holding a fishing net and casting it into the lake.
When he threw the fishing net into the water with all his strength, he did not expect that there were too many fish caught in the net, and the weight of the fish in the lake made the hull of the boat slightly inclined, and Zhu Houzhao slipped into the lake from the side of the boat with a mistake. On the surface of the water, Zhu Houzhao's figure gradually sank, and he struggled to float up, but the lake was like a huge hand, tightly holding him and preventing him from coming up. The guards and attendants around him were shocked when they saw this, and they jumped into the water to try to rescue him.
After some effort, they finally pulled him onto the boat, but Zhu Houzhao had already inhaled a large amount of lake water, his breathing was short and his face was pale. After being returned to the palace, the doctor diagnosed him with pneumonia, and in the following days, his body weakened and he was in a coma every day.
In the last moments of his life, Zhu Houzhao was placed in his favorite leopard room. This leopard room, once a place of his indulgence, is now the place where his life ends. As the years passed, Zhu Houzhao finally left this world in the gentle countryside of the leopard house at the age of thirty.
With the death of Zhu Houzhao, the glory of the leopard room also dimmed, and those once laughter and extravagant banquets turned into historical dust. Reviews of Ming Wuzong were mixed, with some condemning his indulgence and mediocrity, others expressing sympathy for his pursuit of freedom and pleasure. But in any case, his reign did accelerate the decline of the Ming dynasty. And that former leopard room has also become a little-known corner in the history of the Ming Dynasty, full of mystery and tragedy. Time washes away everything, but that history has always been with it, reminding future generations of the intertwining of power, desire and fate.