In 1620 AD, Zhu Changluo, who was ill, took two red pills. The first one made him energetic and refreshed, while the second one made him die and ride west, only 29 days after he ascended the throne.
Later, people figured out that these two so-called magic red pills were actually aphrodisiacs. The emperor in the prime of life, why would he eat such a thing?
It is often said that character determines destiny, and character is largely determined by childhood experiences, especially family parent-child relationships. In this regard, Zhu Changluo can be called a "poor child": from his father, Emperor Wanli, he and his mother almost never received a trace of family affection.
In 1578, Zhu Yijun, the 16-year-old Wanli Emperor who reigned for six years, established Wang as his queen. Although Queen Wang is skillful and dignified, she is born infertile and is not favored by Wanli.
One day four years later, Wanli washed his hands in Cining Palace, where his mother, Empress Dowager Li, lived, and next to him was a palace maid surnamed Wang. Maybe Miss Wang was quite beautiful, and the Mingshen Sect, who was only 20 years old at the time and had strong blood, was fortunate to her, and immediately put the matter behind her.
But I never thought that Miss Wang was pregnant, and her belly was visibly getting bigger day by day. After confirmation, Empress Dowager Li arranged for someone to record this incident in the living notes according to the rules.
According to the rule that the emperor of the Ming Dynasty "had a private pleasure for the palace maids, there must be a gift", and the pregnant palace maids should be given the corresponding titles. But Wanli has always disliked Wang's lowly status, and he came to her on the spur of the moment, and he didn't like her, not only refused to give the reward, but even flatly denied that he had been fortunate to Wang.
But the Empress Dowager Li had already prepared, she ordered someone to move out of the living note, only to see that the time and place of Wanli's affair were remembered clearly, so he could not admit it; then, the Empress Dowager Li persuaded her son bitterly: she is getting older, looking forward to holding her grandson day and night, since the queen is unable to give birth, if the girl in front of her can do it for her, wouldn't it be a beautiful thing?
The evidence was conclusive and the mother's fate was difficult to violate, Wanli had to accept the reality and ordered the Wang family to be Concubine Gong. In the same year, Concubine Wang Gong gave birth to a son as the Queen Mother wished, which was Zhu Changluo, the eldest son of Wanli.
But Wanli's attitude towards Concubine Wang Gong has not changed because of this, and even his own son has been left out in the cold. According to the history books, Concubine Wang Gong's mother and son live in the most remote palace all the year round, and rarely see Wanli, and "all the gifts are thin", how can there be a trace of the treatment of the princess and the prince?
As for political status, that's even more to say. Although Zhu Changluo had just been born, Empress Dowager Li and the Manchu Dynasty civil and military forces put Lichu on the agenda, but Wanli shirked it in every possible way on the grounds of "hoping to give birth to a prince".
Four years later, Concubine Zheng, who was favored by Wanli, gave birth to the prince Zhu Changxun, and the difference in treatment immediately came out: Concubine Zheng was named the imperial concubine, and Zhu Changxun was also favored by Wanli.
This practice of the Wanli Emperor violated the rules of order in the feudal etiquette and was not conducive to the stability of the regime, and was fiercely opposed by many ministers. In this regard, he adopted the two-faced approach of delaying everyone in person and making promises to Concubine Zheng in private, suppressing Zhu Changluo and elevating Zhu Changxun for a long time. And the ministers were not to be outdone, and they were resolute and tough. So much so that in 1590 A.D. (the eighteenth year of Wanli), Wanli, who had been scolded all the year round, thought that the ministers were deliberately targeting themselves, and since then they have been passive and neglected to go to the early dynasty.
It was not until 1592 A.D. that the unbearable Empress Dowager Li personally came forward to exert pressure, and Wanli reluctantly canonized Zhu Changluo, who had reached the age of 20, as the crown prince, and Zhu Changxun was made the king of Fu.
However, even after this, the Wanli Emperor was very cold to his crown prince, and Concubine Wang Gong did not have a "mother by son", and her status was not improved in any way, until Zhu Changluo's son Zhu Youxiao was born in 1605 AD, and Wanli, who was promoted to grandfather, was promoted to Wang as a concubine while being happy. As for Zheng Guifei's mother and son, Wanli took care of him in every possible way as before, and he also violated the system by leaving Zhu Changluo, who was supposed to stay in the fiefdom, in the capital.
This is extremely abnormal in the feudal era, and it is almost an "official announcement" that Zhu Changluo's position as the crown prince is unstable. The unrelenting Concubine Zheng and her henchmen were eyeing Zhu Changluo's pigtails, and the Wanli Emperor was notoriously long-lived. The superposition of these two factors made Zhu Changluo the most tragic and trembling prince in history.
In 1613, Concubine Zheng Guifei was reported to curse Zhu Changluo and Empress Dowager Li. When it came to his most respected mother, Wanli was furious and wanted to investigate the matter strictly, but after thinking about it, he only moved King Fu to a fief. In this way, King Fu's seizure of the crown prince was naturally hit.
Two years later, the shocking "Assault Case" occurred: someone armed with a wooden stick broke into the Ciqing Palace where Zhu Changluo was located, and was subdued only after injuring the eunuch guarding the door. At that time, all the evidence pointed to King Fu's party, and the panicked Zheng Guifei had to follow Wanli's instructions and bow down to the prince and beg for mercy.
In the end, Zhu Changluo let Zheng Guifei's mother and son go. Since then, his situation has been much better. Until 1620 AD, Wanli, who had been the emperor for 48 years, died, and Zhu Changluo, who had gone through hardships, finally became the emperor for Mingguangzong.
At the beginning of his ascension to the throne, Zhu Changluo showed a positive style completely different from his father, and in a short period of time, he promulgated several policies that dealt with the disadvantages of the times:
Stop collecting mining taxes, remove mine supervisors, and abolish all donations. After the edict was issued, the whole country was jubilant;
2 million taels of silver were transferred from his inner treasury, and he ordered Liaodong Jingluo Xiong Tingbi to appease Jiubian. Although the money is not much, this kind of behavior of caring for the soldiers has greatly moved the government and the public;
A large number of officials who had been suppressed and denounced in the past were appointed, and a large number of talented middle and lower-level officials were promoted, so that the once suspended political structure was restored to normal operation.
It is no exaggeration to say that after the vigorous and resolute rectification of the Ming Guangzong, the atmosphere of the Ming Dynasty has been greatly improved, and people have seen the hope of reversing the declining trend. However, no one expected it. All of this will come to an abrupt end quickly.
In the past 30 years, the lack of fatherly love and the life of being on guard against being calculated all the time have made Zhu Changluo form a cautious, calm and low-key character, but the perennial repression and forbearance have also made his heart highly distorted and even perverted, specifically, extremely greedy for women. Since he became the emperor and lost his father's deterrence, he has indulged in lust openly, except for the court, he has been hanging out with a group of beautiful women in the harem.
After such a toss, on the tenth day of his accession to the throne, that is, on August 10, 1620, Zhu Changluo fell ill. What's even more bizarre is that for this kind of physical weakness caused by excessive indulgence, the imperial doctor Cui Wensheng actually diagnosed it as "kidney deficiency and fire" and prescribed a dose of laxative. Zhu Changluo pulled his stomach thirty or forty times in one day after taking it, and his condition became more and more serious.
In this regard, the ministers highly suspected that it was Zheng Guifei who did it:
First, Cui Wensheng was originally a close confidant of Concubine Zheng;
second, on the second day of Zhu Changluo's accession to the throne, Concubine Zheng Guifei sent 8 stunning beauties to the palace;
Third, Zhu Changluo was seriously ill, but Concubine Zheng was in a hurry to urge him to crown himself as the queen mother.
Just when Zhu Changluo showed no signs of improvement, and the imperial court was in a hurry for this, Li Kezhuo, the Cheng of Honglu Temple, asked for an elixir. Although the first assistant of the cabinet, Congzhe, believed that the drug should not be used indiscriminately and rejected the proposal, Li Kezhuo privately let Zhu Changluo know about the situation through the eunuch.
On August 29, Zhu Changluo, who knew that his time was short, summoned his ministers to arrange the aftermath, and suddenly proposed to summon the people who offered the elixir. Li Kezhuo immediately rushed to the palace and offered a red pill that he had "carefully refined".
After taking the medicine, Zhu Changluo suddenly felt refreshed, and even happily told the ministers that he was physically and mentally comfortable and his appetite had increased greatly, so that everyone could rest assured and did not need to worry. Seeing this scene, all the civil and military officers of the Manchu Dynasty left the palace with joy and joy, leaving only Li Kezhuo and a few imperial doctors to serve in the palace.
That night, Zhu Changluo took another red pill. During this period, officials sent people into the palace to inquire about the situation, and the reply was: The emperor's condition is stable and the progress is gratifying. However, early the next morning, Zhu Changluo of Mingguangzong died suddenly and became the shortest-reigning emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
This process is too weird, and the government and the opposition are in an uproar.
In fact, the so-called red pill offered by Li Kezhuo is a red lead golden pill made of red lead, autumn stone, and human milk, which is a secret aphrodisiac made by the palace.
At that time, public opinion was in an uproar, and the ministers demanded a thorough investigation and accountability, and Zheng Guifei was obviously the biggest suspect. But at this time, no one could effectively curb Zheng Guifei and his party, and under their obstruction, the case was finally closed. It was not until the fourth year of the Apocalypse (1624 AD) that Li Kezhuo was sentenced to exile to the frontier and Cui Wensheng was sent to Nanjing.
In this way, Zhu Changluo, who had a rough life and experienced hardships, became a rare "January Son of Heaven" in history, and the hope of the Ming Dynasty to return to the light was dashed. After the apocalypse Emperor Zhu Youxiao ascended the throne, the politics of the Ming Dynasty fell into deeper darkness, and the third disaster of eunuchs broke out - Wei Zhongxian's rebellion, and the Ming Dynasty was getting closer and closer to the end of its demise.