Preface
When it comes to famous emperors in Chinese history, there must be a place for Zhu Qizhen of Ming Yingzong, but Zhu Qizhen can be listed among them not because he is virtuous, but because the emperor is not very good.
One of the most famous events in Zhu Qizhen's life is definitely the "Tumubao Change", he listened to the eunuch's slander and had to go to the imperial conquest, but was not only arrested by Wara, but also made the Ming Dynasty almost die here.
After returning to China, Zhu Qizhen launched a rebellion to seize the door after being placed under house arrest for several years, squeezing his younger brother Zhu Qiyu from the throne and restoring his own rule.
Zhu Qizhen was definitely not a good emperor before he was arrested, but after the restoration, how did Zhu Qizhen become an emperor?
1. How to deal with ministers
In fact, the reason for Zhu Qizhen's restoration is because Zhu Qiyu has no successor, he originally had only one son, Zhu Jianji, but Zhu Jianji died not long after being made the prince.
And Zhu Qiyu has exhausted his body in order to give birth to a son over the years, and he has been sick and crooked, and the ministers are worried that Zhu Qiyu will have no successor to the throne after he dies one day, so they will advise Zhu Jianshen, the son of Zhu Qizhen, who was originally the prince, to be re-established as the prince.
After learning about this incident, Shi Heng and Xu Youzhen, who had been secretly supporting Zhu Qizhen, realized that the time had come, so they took the lead in taking advantage of the fact that the people in the palace did not react, and jointly launched a mutiny with the eunuch Cao Jixiang and others, welcoming Zhu Qizhen back to the throne.
Therefore, after the restoration, Zhu Qizhen used these ministers who helped him return to the throne very much, and at the same time, under their selfish advice, he also settled accounts with the important ministers of the Zhu Qiyu period.
On the day of the restoration, Yu Qian and Wang Wen, two important ministers, were arrested and imprisoned on charges of murdering the prince, and at this time Zhu Qizhen still knew that the two of them were loyal ministers who saved the country when the Ming Dynasty was in danger, especially Yu Qian.
Therefore, when the sentence was decided, Zhu Qizhen couldn't bear to brutalize Yu Qian, and said hesitantly: "Yu Qian is indeed meritorious to Sheji, does it have to be like this?"
But his attitude is even more doomed to Yu Qian's death in the eyes of those traitors, otherwise once Yu Qian regains his status, wouldn't it be them who suffer?
So Xu Youzhen reminded Zhu Qizhen that if he didn't kill Yu Qian, Zhu Qizhen's restoration would have no name, that is, it would be illegal, and Zhu Qizhen would naturally be able to carry his throne and a minister, so he agreed to execute Yu Qian and others.
After the restoration, Zhu Qizhen also did another thing, that is, to rehabilitate his close confidant eunuch Wang Zhen.
Wang Zhen was the main force to persuade him to personally conquer back then, and after Zhu Qiyu succeeded to the throne, of course, he wanted to kill this traitor who harmed the emperor, but Zhu Qizhen didn't think that Wang Zhen harmed him at all, not only rehabilitated him, but also sacrificed for him.
And the ministers and eunuchs who helped Zhu Qizhen to restore were not united with each other, so after the dust settled on the restoration, they also began to tilt power with each other.
Zhu Qizhen was also quite unhappy when they fought each other as a gunman, and he also realized that these factions just wanted power, not really loyal to themselves.
So Zhu Qizhen took advantage of the fact that they were fighting each other until their strength was weakened, and killed Xu Youzhen and Shi Heng, the two officials, and the eunuch Cao Jixiang began to worry that he would also be liquidated after seeing it, so he launched a coup d'état.
But this coup was also suppressed by Zhu Qizhen, and after that, Zhu Qizhen really took power back from the traitors.
Second, change the face and make great efforts
After successfully taking power and eliminating all those who stood in his way, Zhu Qizhen really succeeded in achieving restoration, and after that, Zhu Qizhen also realized the importance of diligence.
After all these years of hardships and dangers, he is no longer the emperor who grew up pampered and had no vision before the change of Tumubao, so Zhu Qizhen began to change his mind.
In the past, Zhu Qizhen was stubborn and self-serving, and he didn't want to take care of the government, which led to the blockage of the court's speech, a stupid scene, and even he was coerced by the sweet words of the eunuch forces.
Therefore, after experiencing all this, Zhu Qizhen grew wise, and knew that he could no longer ignore the government, so he changed his laziness and became diligent in government.
After Cao Shi's change, Zhu Qizhen saw clearly that Li Xian, the minister who was in tat-for-tat with Shi Heng and Cao Jixiang, was the real minister who wanted to be his heart, so he vigorously promoted Li Xian.
not only supported Li Xian to rectify them during the Cao Shi Rebellion, but also reused Li Xian and a number of virtuous ministers into the cabinet to assist in government affairs after the chaos was pacified, so that the cabinet could operate normally.
In addition to appointing virtuous ministers, Zhu Qizhen also made considerable determination to change himself, and he began to handle government affairs diligently, getting up every day even before dawn to review the recitals.
After reviewing the chapters, Zhu Qizhen also worshiped the ancestors devoutly, and then never left behind every time he went to the court, and after the next dynasty, he discussed government affairs with important ministers, as if he was like a Ming monarch.
In his spare time, in addition to handling government affairs diligently, Zhu Qizhen will also visit his mother Empress Dowager Sun regularly, which is also a change from the previous arrogant and disrespectful appearance of elders, which also makes Empress Dowager Sun quite happy.
Zhu Qizhen, as the emperor, set an example for the virtuous ministers and the villain, and the officials of the imperial court also quickly took on a new look, and began to select talents and talents again, so naturally more ministers with real talents and real learning were reused.
3. Abolish the system of human martyrdom
In addition to these political affairs, which gradually became better under Zhu Qizhen's hard work, Zhu Qizhen also decided to change some of the rules of the royal family after experiencing such a nearly loss of his life.
Since the time of Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, in order to prevent the emperor's concubines from interfering in politics after his death, the Ming Dynasty re-picked up the martyrdom system that had been abolished for thousands of years after the Han Dynasty.
Before Zhu Qizhen, there were a total of six emperors in the Ming Dynasty, except for Emperor Jianwen, whose whereabouts are unknown, the remaining five emperors were buried with nearly 100 concubines after their deaths.
Zhu Qizhen took a trip to the Ghost Gate, and when he came back, he learned that his mother and his queen were worried about his life, so he was deeply touched, and he naturally became more sympathetic to the concubine.
Therefore, when Zhu Qizhen was dying, he decided that after his death, the concubine did not have to accompany the funeral, and since then the funeral system has been abolished, so that the concubine does not have to be afraid of the emperor's death.
And Zhu Jianshen, who succeeded to the throne, also implemented his father's will and asked not to accompany the burial before his death, so the abolition of martyrdom could be carried out in the later Ming emperors.
But one thing to say is that even though Zhu Qizhen feels sorry for his harem, he has no mercy for the aftermath of his younger brother Zhu Qiyu, who robbed him of the throne.
After Zhu Qiyu's death, Zhu Qizhen not only buried Zhu Qiyu with the princely ceremony, but also gave him the evil word of "戾", and even buried all his concubines, which is indeed a double standard in this regard.
epilogue
Before the "Tumubao Change", Zhu Qizhen was definitely not a good emperor, but after the restoration of Zhu Qizhen in the "Change of Seizing the Gate", he definitely changed his mind and worked hard to do what he should do as an emperor.
But after the restoration, Zhu Qizhen does not mean that he has no shortcomings at all, allowing traitors to kill important ministers such as Qian and Wang Wen is one thing, and the loss of private morality is another, which cannot be cleaned.