In 1435 AD, on the third day of the Lunar New Year, in the Qianqing Palace, 35-year-old Ming Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji was lying on the bed. His eyes were blank, his expression was tired, and his breath was like a gossamer. In front of the bed, the people who knelt on the ground were all forced to endure their sorrows, their eyes were red and swollen, and the six gods had no owner. Zhu Zhanji held on to his breath, finished the edict with great difficulty, and ordered someone to issue it immediately, and then swallowed his breath with endless unwillingness. When Zhu Zhanji died, he was only 36 years old, and his reign was only ten years.
Why did Zhu Zhanji, the all-round emperor of civil and military affairs, suddenly die unexpectedly in the prime of life? What is the truth?
So how could such an all-round man of civil and military affairs, who was strong and able-bodied, and who could shoot the enemy with his own hands, suddenly die in the prime of life?
- The first type: the theory of the assassination of the civilian clique
In the first month of the twenty-second year of Yongle (1424 AD), Zhu Di sent Zheng He to the West to Xuanwei Division in the old port, and half a year later, the Yongle Emperor died suddenly on the way to the north. In June of the ninth year of Xuande (1434 AD), Zhu Zhanji once again sent Wang Jinghong to the West to go to the old port to Xuanwei Division, and the Xuande Emperor died suddenly half a year later.
According to this, there is a theory that the civilian-official group headed by Yang Shiqi killed Xuanzong together with the Empress Sun. There is no doubt that going to the West has touched the interests of civil officials, but whether they have the courage and the ability to kill the monarch can only be a matter of opinion.
- The second type: overindulgence
Every emperor dies young, and the article of overindulgence will be brought out and discussed. However, after the death of Xuanzong, the queen Sun buried almost all the harem, leaving only the deposed queen Hu and the biological mother of the prince Zhu Qiyu, Wu. However, according to the records of "Ming Shilu", the number of martyrs in Xuanzong's harem was only ten:
Duanjing Guifei He, Chunjing Xianfei Zhao, Zhenshun Huifei Wu, Zhuang Jingshu Concubine Jiao, Zhuang Shunjing Concubine Cao, Zhenhui Shun Concubine Xu, Gongding Li Concubine Yuan, Zhenjing Gongfei Zhu, Gongshun Concubine Li, Su Xi Cheng Concubine He.
Counting the queen and the abolition queen, there are only thirteen people in Xuanzong's harem, and the theory of excessive indulgence is not credible.
- The third type: poisoning theory
The poisoning here is said to be the poisoning of the pill caused by Xuanzong's alchemy, or the formaldehyde poisoning after the overhaul of the Forbidden City, or the lead poisoning when refining the "Xuande furnace". There is no record in the history books that Zhu Zhanji is addicted to pills, as for the latter two, it will not poison the emperor alone, right?
- Fourth: the theory of genetic diseases
If conspiracy theories are ruled out, Xuanzong's sudden death may still have to find the cause from family genetic diseases. Zhu Zhanji's great-grandfather Zhu Yuanzhang lived to be 71 years old, and his grandfather Zhu Di lived to be 65 years old, and they didn't seem to have any problems with their health. Although his father Zhu Gaochi lived to be 48 years old, he also died suddenly, and it is generally believed to be caused by cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.
The author thinks that this genetic problem is likely to come from Zhu Gaochi's grandfather: Xu Da, the first military minister of the founding of the country, King of Zhongshan Wuning. Xu Da's eldest daughter was Princess Yan, who later became Empress Renxiaowen. Empress Xu was only 46 years old when she died, and the eldest of her three sons, Zhu Gaochi, died at the age of 48, and the third son, Zhu Gaosui, died at the age of 50. And Xu Da's second daughter is the acting princess, and her son Zhu Xunxuan only lived to be 26 years old.
The emperors of the Ming Dynasty from Zhu Gaochi to the next may have had certain genetic diseases because of Empress Xu. Including Xuanzong's son Yingzong Zhu Qizhen, Tianshun was "unhesitating" on the second day of the first month of the eighth year of Tianshun, and died on the seventeenth day of the first month, only 38 years old. Xuanzong's grandson, Xianzong Zhu Jianshen, died on August 13, the 23rd year of Chenghua, and died on August 22, at the age of 41.
As for the story of being assassinated by the civilian clique, it is a bit too appalling. The emperors of the early Ming Dynasty, especially Zhu Di and Zhu Zhanji, had a very strong control over the army. Would civil officials be so bold to kill the king?
From the existing historical records of the death of Ming Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji, there is no sign of any "conspiracy", and he does not seem to have been killed or died unnaturally, he may have died of a sudden illness, but the specific disease caused his sudden death, but the historical materials have not recorded. The reason why people suspect that Zhu Zhanji's death has an unknown truth is mainly because he was only 38 years old when he died, and Zhu Zhanji made a lot of achievements during his reign, and he was a rare promising king in the entire Ming Dynasty. After analyzing Zhu Zhanji's political environment, I believe that the statement that he died of illness rather than a conspiracy is credible.