More than 600 years ago, a woman cried and put her neck into the white silk hanging from the beams of the house. She regretted that she had opened the jar that her husband had brought home, and that a life-saving cricket had escaped, and she had to apologize for her sins.
The woman's husband was a local official, and his superiors gave him the task of finding aggressive crickets within a week.
He searched everywhere non-stop, and finally found a particularly good one. So he exchanged the horse he was riding.
The wife was curious and didn't know how amazing it was to exchange a tall horse for a small cricket. So while her husband was not at home, she secretly opened the jar that her husband had brought back.
Unexpectedly, as soon as the lid was opened, the cricket jumped out and disappeared in two times.
The woman knew that she had caused a catastrophe, and she was so frightened that she hanged herself.
After the official returned home, he felt sorry for his wife and committed suicide, and he was afraid that he would not be able to hand over the crickets and be punished, so he also followed his wife and hanged himself.
Ming Dynasty Lu Bi recorded in "A Little History of the Ming Dynasty": "The emperor is good at promoting the weaving of the play, and the Jiangnan is repatriated, and its price is expensive, to more than ten gold." When Fengqiao was a grain chief, he was sent by the county governor to find the best one and use the horse he rode to change it. The wives and concubines thought that the horses were easy to insects, and they would be different, and they stole at them, but they jumped away. The wife is afraid, she dies, the husband returns, hurts his wife, and fears the law, and also endures. ”
One cricket forced two large living people to death, which sounds ridiculous. Many people question this story as it is recorded in ancient books.
The story takes place during the Xuande period of the Ming Dynasty, and the reason can be traced back to Zhu Zhanji, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, who was extremely obsessed with "fighting crickets".
It is actually a very dangerous thing for the emperor to have hobbies, the so-called "good at the top, but bad at the bottom." ”
Officials in various localities have made a big show of procuring high-grade crickets into Beijing, because it is not a strange news that crickets lose their heads, and there are not a few people who have been promoted to official positions and made a fortune.
Luzhou Mansion in Anhui Province once paid tribute to a particularly combative cricket, and fought more than a dozen famous insects in the palace. Ming Xuanzong was overjoyed and specially rewarded the prefect of Luzhou with a thousand taels of gold.
Ming Xuanzong even used his official position to reward cricket tributers. In the army, catching high-quality crickets and taking the enemy's head are the same merits, and great merit can be credited, and the position can be promoted several levels in a row.
Therefore, from the members of the imperial court to the ordinary people, no one dares to take it lightly and take catching crickets as a top priority.
The price of crickets has risen, and they are often worth hundreds of taels of silver.
However, this history is often confusing.
During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty, the politics were clear, social contradictions were alleviated, and the economy developed unprecedentedly.
Moreover, Ming Xuanzong is very accomplished in calligraphy and painting, whether it is landscapes, figures, animals, flowers and birds, and cordyceps, they are all painted vividly. Calligraphy can be seen in addition to the familiarity, and is evaluated as: "Sketching with ink, and then competing with Xuanhe (Song Huizong)." ”
Such a wise and martial and personable good boy actually likes to fight crickets?
This is like a scholar who is obsessed with playing mahjong with excellent character and learning, and the contrast is too great. And there has never been a record of Zhu Zhanji's obsession with crickets in the official history. It is no wonder that for hundreds of years, some people have been suspicious of the records in ancient books.
In the spring of 1993, a pile of broken blue and white porcelain pieces was unearthed in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi. Archaeologists were taken aback when they restored the broken porcelain pieces.
The bottom book of the porcelain prototype has the blue and white regular script of "Xuande Year System of the Ming Dynasty". The utensils are painted with five-clawed dragons, phoenixes, heavenly horses, sea beasts and other ornaments, and the paintings are delicate, which should be used exclusively by the emperor.
The utensils were neither bowls nor vases, but cricket jars!
It turned out that Ming Xuanzong, who had grown up from excellent to large, really had a strange hobby of "fighting crickets"!
When Zhu Zhanji was born, his grandfather Zhu Di was sleeping. He dreamed that his father, Zhu Yuanzhang, handed him Dagui, a symbol of power, and said to him: "The grandson of the heirloom will be prosperous forever." ”
He was in doubt, and suddenly someone came to report that his grandson Zhu Zhanji was born.
Zhu Di was overjoyed and said again and again: "This is the blessing of the Ming Dynasty." ”
Zhu Zhanji's father, Zhu Gaochi, is kind-hearted, but he is not the type that Zhu Di likes. Zhu Di prefers his second son, Zhu Gaoxu, who is physically fit and can fight well.
When Zhu Di was choosing the crown prince, he was very hesitant and difficult to make up his mind.
Once, Minister Xie Jin praised Zhu Zhanji: "Good saint!" prompted Zhu Di to make up his mind.
In order to be able to let his beloved grandson inherit the throne, Zhu Di finally canonized Zhu Gaochi as the crown prince.
At that time, Zhu Zhanji was only 6 years old.
Zhu Zhanji was unusually loved by his grandfather, and was trained as a future successor since he was a child:
- Zhu Di invited many celebrities to give lectures to Zhu Zhanji;
- When Zhu Zhanji was 11 years old, Zhu Di took him to see the farmers' food, clothing and transportation, and to learn about farming tools;
- When Zhu Zhanji was 13 years old, Zhu Zhanji was made the emperor's grandson;
- Since then, Zhu Di has taken Zhu Zhanji with him whether he is on a parade or on an expedition.
Under Zhu Di's careful training, Zhu Zhanji became a man of all-round talents in civil and military affairs.
In 1424, Zhu Gaochi ascended the throne as emperor, that is, Mingrenzong. Unexpectedly, he died suddenly before he had been on the throne for a year.
Zhu Gaochi died too suddenly, and it only took 2 or 3 days from the onset of the disease to his death.
Zhu Gaochu, the king of Han, arranged a lot of eyeliner around Zhu Gaochi, and when he heard that Zhu Gaochi was seriously ill, he began to plan to seize the throne.
Prior to this, Zhu Zhanji was sent on a business trip to Nanjing, and Zhu Gaoxu was in Le'an, Shandong. Judging from the distance, Zhu Gaoxu is obviously much closer to the capital than Zhu Zhanji.
Once the emperor died, the news would inevitably reach Shandong, which was close to the capital.
Zhu Gaoxu prepared to arrange for his men and horses to ambush Zhu Zhanji on the way back to Beijing, and intercepted Zhu Zhanji halfway. Then take advantage of the chaos to enter Beijing and seek to seize the throne.
But things were completely unexpected by Zhu Gaoxu. When he received the news of Zhu Gaochi's death, he ambushed people and horses in the middle of the road, waiting left and right, he only waited for one news: Zhu Zhanji had succeeded to the throne as emperor in the capital.
Zhu Zhanji's series of miraculous operations really made Zhu Gaoxu feel incredible.
One theory is that Zhu Gaochi understood the stars, and when he watched the sky at night, he realized that his life was about to end, and sent someone to tell Zhu Zhanji the news, so that he could return to Beijing safely.
Another theory is that Zhu Gaochi's death was planned and carried out by Zhu Zhanji.
Of course, these are wild histories, and there is no actual evidence.
Although the reason behind it is intriguing, Zhu Zhanji was able to escape his uncle's interception. After his father's death, he arrived in the capital safely, and his strategy and methods can be seen.
The 26-year-old Zhu Zhanji ascended the throne and became the emperor, that is, Ming Xuanzong, and the year name was "Xuande".
Zhu Zhanji can be literate and martial, but he is not a "child of someone else's family" in the traditional sense.
In addition to his obsession with "fighting crickets", he has a lot of things that make people look ridiculous.
1] Kill the teacher
Zhu Zhanji's teacher Dai Lun is knowledgeable, rigorous in his work, and dares to admonish.
Zhu Di once said to Zhu Zhanji: "You have to wear Lun, if Tang Taizong has Wei Zheng." ”
It's a pity that Wei Zheng is skillful in his advice, and he has achieved his reputation as an upright and loyal minister. But Dai Lun's admonition ended up being beaten to death with a stick.
When Zhu Zhanji was young, Dai Lun often recorded his mischievous situation and reported it to Zhu Di and Zhu Gaochi.
Zhu Zhanji hated him since he was a child, but because of the teacher-student relationship, after he ascended the throne, he still promoted Dai Lun to the head of the military department, and the official rank was very high.
Once, Zhu Zhanji was going hunting. As a result, Dai Lun refused to carry out the emperor's decree on the grounds that the emperor had just ascended the throne and should focus on state affairs and not be greedy for fun.
New hatred and old hatred came together, and Zhu Zhanji became angry and demoted Dai Lun to Cochin (present-day Vietnam).
Dai Lun couldn't help but complain in private, but it reached Zhu Zhanji's ears.
He recalled Dai Lun back to Beijing and interrogated him personally, Dai Lun was also a temperamental person, and he argued with Zhu Zhanji face to face, and his words were ugly, which made Zhu Zhanji very faceless.
Zhu Zhanji was furious and ordered Dai Lun to be beaten to death with a stick. In the "History of the Ming Dynasty", it is said: "If you touch the anger of the emperor, you will die immediately."
2] Uncle Du
After Zhu Gaoxu failed to intercept and kill Zhu Zhanji halfway, he rebelled in the second year of Zhu Zhanji's ascension to the throne.
After Zhu Zhanji learned the news, he personally drove the army and marched to Zhu Gaoxu's Le'an City.
He wrote a letter to Zhu Gaoxu: "As long as you hand over the person who instigated the rebellion, I will forgive you of your faults, and the favor and courtesy will be the same as before." Otherwise, you will be captured as soon as the war begins, and your subordinates will tie you up as a strange commodity and sacrifice you to me, and then it will be too late for you to regret it. ”
This kind of heart-attacking technique shocked Zhu Gaoxu, he thought about it, and had to sneak out of the city and surrender from the path.
Zhu Zhan basically didn't want to kill him, but just demoted Zhu Gaoxu's father and son to concubines and imprisoned them in the imperial city.
Who knew that Zhu Gaoxu took advantage of Zhu Zhanji's opportunity to come to see him, stretched out his legs, and tripped him fiercely.
At this moment, Zhu Zhanji couldn't bear it anymore, and ordered someone to detain Zhu Gaoxi with a 300-pound copper cylinder. Charcoal was lit around the copper jar, and Zhu Gaoxu was burned alive.
Then, Zhu Zhanji cut down the grass and killed Zhu Gaoxu's 12 sons.
Although Zhu Gaoxu's death was purely "made" by himself. But he killed his uncle by such violent means, and killed his 12 cousins one after another. It still makes people feel bloody and ruthless, and it is criticized by others.
3] Waste Queen
Zhu Zhanji's Empress Hu was selected by his grandfather Zhu Di and was not loved by Zhu Zhanji.
Zhu Zhanji likes Sun Guifei, and when he was nearly 30 years old, Sun Guifei gave birth to his eldest son Zhu Qizhen.
Zhu Qizhen was made the crown prince in less than three months. Then, Zhu Zhanji began to work on the abolition of the queen, but the queen mother and the ministers all thought that Empress Hu had not made any mistakes and should not be abolished.
Zhu Zhanji was resolute, and Empress Hu was forced to ask for resignation from the Middle Palace. Subsequently, Sun Guifei was canonized as Empress Sun.
These major events have become so marginal, and all kinds of small and absurd things in life are not to mention.
Just looking at these absurd things, it is easy to make people think that Zhu Zhanji is an unreliable emperor.
However, he is known by historians as a rare Ming Jun. Many people believe that the period of his reign, "the rule of Renxuan", can be compared with the "rule of Wenjing" and "the rule of Zhenguan" in the prosperous era of Chinese history.
Judging from the fact that Zhu Zhanji avoided his uncle Zhu Gaoxu's interception and put down Zhu Gaoxu's rebellion without bloodshed, Zhu Zhanji was quite politically skilled and strategic.
1] Then he dealt with Zhu Gaoxu in an extremely bloody way, but in fact, it was not just to vent his anger. The greater role is to knock the mountain and shock the tiger, so that people with ulterior motives will be in awe, so as to strengthen the imperial power and smoothly reduce the feudal domain.
When he summoned another imperial uncle, Zhu Gaosui, and hinted that he should hand over the military power, Zhu Gaosui did not resist and obediently handed over the three guards and horses, and in this way, the problem of the vassal king for nearly half a century in the early Ming Dynasty was finally resolved in the Xuande Dynasty.
2] In order to have more time to have fun, Zhu Zhanji adjusted the institutions of the Ming Dynasty to make them more efficient. This saved him a lot of time in dealing with political affairs.
Unlike the previous emperors of the Ming Dynasty, any recital had to be reviewed and reviewed in person.
At that time, he selected a group of important ministers and humbly accepted their suggestions, and the relationship between the monarch and the minister was extremely harmonious. In response to the recitals submitted by the officials, the important ministers drafted their replies for royal approval.
Then the eunuchs around the emperor reviewed the draft replies of the officials and helped the emperor to make the imperial approval.
Of course, these eunuchs are not ordinary people. They are all talented people carefully selected by Zhu Zhanji.
Not only that, Zhu Zhanji also set up an "inner study hall" and designated Hanlin scholars to teach the eunuchs to read.
The eunuchs and important ministers checked and balanced each other, and two groups of think tanks helped the emperor make decisions, which were called "joint assistants of ceremonies and eunuchs".
3] When Zhu Zhanji first succeeded to the throne, corruption was rampant in the Ming Dynasty and the army was corrupt. He set up a system of supervision and supervision.
Arrange for cronies to inspect and supervise the provinces, the army, and important engineering offices.
These overseers could report directly to the emperor, which greatly stopped unhealthy practices.
4] During the reign of Zhu Zhanji, he implemented a policy of recuperation and vigorously developed agricultural production.
In areas affected by locust plagues and floods, he personally arranged for officials to take measures to eradicate locust plagues and comfort the victims.
Although the people are quite disturbed because of catching crickets. However, he also benefited greatly from Zhu Zhanji's many times to stop the construction of palaces, wantonly logging, pearl collection and other laborious and money-losing things.
5] During Zhu Zhanji's reign, he inspected the frontier three times and rectified military discipline many times, and the frontier has been relatively peaceful.
6] Foreign exchanges were frequent, and Zheng He's seventh trip to the West occurred during the period of "Ren Xuanzhi's rule".
Zhu Zhanji's adoption of the "joint assistant government of ceremonial supervisors" and the system of inspectors and governors are both pioneers, very advanced, and have achieved excellent results. It also frees him up for time to play and have fun.
At the same time, he used both grace and power, cut the feudal domain to avoid internal chaos, sympathized with the people, attached importance to agriculture to appease the people, and actively carried out foreign exchanges and deterrence to stabilize the frontier......
It can be seen that playful children are not necessarily scumbags, and the real school bully should be good at learning and playing, although ridiculous but better.
Zhu Zhanji died at the age of 37, and after his death, Zhu Qizhen, who succeeded him, was only 8 years old.
In order to prevent the young Zhu Qizhen's playthings from losing his mind, the Empress Dowager ordered the removal of all "good things". As a result, a large number of cricket jars were smashed, and even the cricket jars that had not been paid tribute after the Jingdezhen official kiln factory was burned were not spared.
In order to protect her son's reputation, the Empress Dowager also forbade historians to record Zhu Zhanji's cricket play, so the record of "promoting the weaving of the Son of Heaven" only appeared among the people, and the official official history did not mention a word.
What the Empress Dowager didn't expect was that more than 600 years later, this batch of blue and white broken porcelain pieces unearthed in Jingdezhen revealed this deliberately hidden history to the world.