(Forbidden City Photography)
In the ninth year of Zhengde, 1514 A.D., the sixteenth day of the first month, the night.
The emperor of the Ming Dynasty at this time was Wuzong Zhu Houzhao, who was the tenth emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
When Zhengde was nine years old, Zhu Houzhao no longer lived in the Qianqing Palace, but moved to his newly renovated leopard room.
The leopard room is in the southwest of the Taiye Pool in the West Garden of the Imperial City, and is relatively close to Xihuamen and Beihai Park.
Although the name is called the Leopard House, there are not only leopards, but also tigers, elephants, elk, eagles, pigeons, etc., and it is a zoo of fierce beasts.
Of course, in addition to raising animals, the equipment for eating, drinking and playing in the leopard room is equipped with everything, whether you want to sing and dance or want to fight wine and play cards, it must be able to have fun, so this place can be called Zhu Houzhao's ancient high-level entertainment and leisure club for himself.
Zhu Houzhao played well, played a lot, of course, spent more money, spent a lot of money when building the leopard house, and maintained the operation of the leopard house after it was built, which was a lot of expenses every year.
Guanglu Temple Qing Hu Gong once played: The temple supplies trivial, and there is no cost.
It means that Lord Hu complained, saying that this leopard room wants this and that all day long, today wants meat and tomorrow wine, and the day after tomorrow wants cattle and sheep is the day after tomorrow to ask for gold and silver, and the old money is spent, and the flowing water of Guanglu Temple can't be calculated at all.
The governor of Ningxia's capital Shi Han Wenyan played: Ningxia picks leopards as tribute, which costs a lot and is useless. It is advisable to stop. so as not to disturb the military and civilians.
The imperial court demanded that the Ningxia region capture leopards alive in the local area all day long, and then pay tribute to the palace, which was not only laborious and costly, but also made the local army and people uneasy to live, and was essentially of little use.
(Half-length statue of a panther)
We must know that at that time was the era of cold weapons, although the Ming Dynasty already had muskets, but it may not be equipped with the grassroots, even if it is equipped with the grassroots, it is not necessarily a hand, so setting traps and shooting with bows and arrows have become the most common means of hunting leopards.
But we have to know that the leopard is a very sensitive animal, smell and vision are particularly keen, for example, leopard, if an adult leopard runs, the average speed can reach 80 kilometers per hour, that does not mean that you can catch and shoot if you want.
Moreover, Zhu Houzhao doesn't want to die yet, people want to live, and people can't live yet, and people have to be unscathed, and their appearance can't be destroyed, because Zhu Houzhao wants to be put in the leopard room to play as a pet, which greatly increases the difficulty of capturing leopards.
This Zhu Houzhao was looking for fun in the leopard room all day long, and he was not idle in the Qianqing Palace, where he originally lived, and he was transformed into a warehouse, specializing in stacking ordnance and gunpowder.
And on the night of the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, fireworks were set off in the palace, and the Qianqing Palace was accidentally lit, and the fire burned all night, Zhu Houzhao watched from the sidelines, not only did not organize firefighting, but laughed and said such a sentence: It is a good shed of fireworks!
Cynism, this seems to be Zhu Houzhao's nature.
In the twelfth year of Zhengde, the Tatars invaded the border of the Ming Dynasty, and the news reached Beijing, Zhu Houzhao was quite happy, and immediately said that he wanted to drive the expedition in person.
Of course, his idea was quickly rejected unanimously by the ministers.
The emperor before Wuzong was Xiaozong, Xiaozong was Xianzong before, Xianzong was Yingzong before Xianzong, if this Yingzong didn't have to drive the imperial expedition back then, would he have committed the fiasco of Tumubao later?
Generally speaking, the six departments and three divisions of the cabinet are not allowed to go, and the emperor basically can't go, but Zhu Houzhao is not an ordinary person, someone stopped him from going during the day, and at night he slipped out single-handedly, galloped straight to Juyong Pass, and temporarily took over the Ming army in the border area, which is not counting, Zhu Houzhao also commanded the Ming army to successfully repel the Tatars and won the war.
(Yingzhou Victory)
Later, when Zhu Houzhao recalled the experience on the battlefield, he also said complacently that he not only drove the expedition himself, but also went to the battlefield in person, and it was not counting that he had killed an enemy soldier with his bare hands.
We have to know that this kind of thing is addictive, there is a first time, then there will be a second time, as a result, in the fourteenth year of Zhengde, Zhu Chenhao, the king of Ning, Jiangxi, rebelled, and Zhu Houzhao even reorganized the army overnight, and led the team to pull out Jiangxi to quell the chaos in person.
Of course, the ministers still disagreed this time, but this time Zhu Houzhao also had experience, and he didn't grind anymore, and he pressed all the ministers who opposed him to the ground with a crackling staff, and kept the court staff until he agreed.
The heroes couldn't stand it three times, and those who couldn't stand it all agreed, and those who could stand it were all killed by Zhu Houzhao, so the emperor's southern tour was inevitable.
However, it is said that it is a southern tour, but in fact, it is essentially a southern expedition, Zhu Chenhao wants to cosplay Zhu Di, in case he really makes it, you Zhu Houzhao can't eat and walk around sooner or later, you should be nervous, but our Comrade Zhu Houzhao completely regarded the southern expedition and quelling the chaos as a relaxed and comfortable trip.
First of all, he found a big problem on the way, that is, the people of the Ming Dynasty, their own people, raised a lot of pigs, basically raised at the beginning of the year, and killed them during the New Year, either kept for their own food, or sold them for money to supplement the family, because pigs are one of the six animals, as early as the era of matrilineal clan communes, our ancient ancestors have begun to raise piglets, calves and other animals.
This pig and the cow are a little different.
The ancients had special protection for cattle, firstly, the number of cattle at that time was relatively scarce, and secondly, cattle were an important productivity tool for ancient Chinese farming, so the imperial court generally set up laws to protect cattle, for example, in the Tang Dynasty, the crime of killing cattle and killing people was almost the same, but pigs were different, pigs were an important economic and food source for the ancient people, so it was normal to raise pigs.
However, Zhu Houzhao thought it was abnormal, he thought about it and came to a very absurd conclusion, that is, his surname is Zhu, and pigs and Zhu are homonyms, so the common people raising pigs and eating pigs are equivalent to eating themselves, which is obviously not good for themselves, so he simply ordered a nationwide ban on raising pigs, not only forbidden, but also not allowed to steal food, if there is a violation, directly exiled for 3,000 miles, and sent to remote areas to fill the army.
(Portrait of Wang Shouren)
Anyway, on the road, Zhu Houzhao is all kinds of whimsical ideas, a moment to leave the team and privately run out of the palace concubines, a while feel that the scenery is better, he temporarily stopped, punched a card and then continued to move forward, as a result, the emperor's division just arrived in Zhuozhou, Hebei, the front line came to the rebellion of King Ning has been pacified, Ning King Zhu Chenhao is even more unlucky, has been captured alive by the governor of Southern Jiangxi Wang Shouren.
Zhu Houzhao, Zhu Houzhao, you don't use it if you have a chance, who made you go so slowly!
When the news came, Zhu Houzhao almost didn't plant off the horse, he was anxious and angry, complaining that Wang Shouren was nosy, so that he couldn't show his skills on the battlefield, but he snapped quickly, the emperor adjusted his mood again, thinking that since he came out, he should be happy, so he simply changed the southern tour to tourism, and went to Baoding, Linqing, Yangzhou and other places to play for more than half a year, and finally arrived in Nanjing, the capital of the Ming Dynasty.
After arriving in Nanjing, Wang Shouren also happened to hand over the rebellious Zhu Chenhao to Zhu Houzhao, and Zhu Houzhao turned out to be Zhu Houzhao
I had to let Zhu Chenhao go and catch him again, to show that the credit was not Wang Shouren's, but his own, so a group of people began to accompany him to act again, untying Zhu Chenhao's shackles, and Zhu Houzhao Wuyang led a large group of people to press Zhu Chenhao to the ground again, and put shackles on him again.
In this situation, I think of Zhu Chenhao's thoughts with only one word in his heart: 6.
More than half a year has passed, the trouble is also noisy, the play is also played, Zhu Houzhao finally plans to drive back to the palace, the ministers are quite happy, hugging Zhu Houzhao and going back, but, on the way back Zhu Houzhao is still a demon, passing by Qingjiangpu in Huai'an Prefecture, Jiangsu, he saw that the water and grass are abundant and the lake is clear, and he has to personally drive a boat to the lake to fish, but a stumble did not stand firm, and fell into the water with a plop, when he fished up, he had drunk a full water, the drowning was not light, the autumn water was cold, Zhu Houzhao thought that he had a wind chill again, and the lungs were filled with dirty water to cause infection, after returning to Beijing, the body was sick for a long time, various conditions, and died in less than a year。
We said that Zhu Houzhao was an unruly emperor, his biggest wish in life was that the world was so big, he wanted to see it, he never liked the Forbidden City, let alone those pedantic ministers.
His words and deeds in the palace must be restricted, and the civil officials always want to manipulate him.
In fact, this is not to blame Zhu Houzhao, because when Zhu Houzhao ascended the throne, he was only fifteen years old, which is the age of youthful throbbing, and it is a stage of infinite curiosity and yearning for the outside world, and no one can stand a group of ministers who manage him like this.
Spending money and spending money is not allowed, entertainment is not allowed, and even whoever he plays with will be criticized, Zhu Houzhao simply hates the civil officials of the Ming Dynasty.
But in fact, the author thinks that the civil officials of the Ming Dynasty, such as Liu Jian, Xie Qian, and Li Dongyang, the civil officials at that time, may not be determined to restrict Zhu Houzhao, because the Wenchen who was able to talk to the emperor in Zhengde was basically promoted from the Hongzhi dynasty, and they were all middle and lower-level officials in the Ming Dynasty, transferred the kindness to Hongzhi to Hongzhi's son Zhengde, quite a bit of "cover the special encounter of the first emperor, and want to repay it to His Majesty".
(Ming Wuzong Zhu Houzhao portrait)
So some people will say that when Zhu Houzhao is dying, he should also understand this, and understand that the ministers are all for his good, so the emperor's last words will be:
The previous things were all caused by me, and they are beyond the reach of all of you.
In the past, it was all wrong with me, and it has nothing to do with everyone here.
So judging from this sentence, Zhu Houzhao, who has been unruly and deviant all his life, should have regretted it before he died, he completely denied what he had done in life, and sincerely apologized to his ministers, so although this person died, the ending seemed to be quite perfect.
But is this really the case?
Wuzong was the last emperor in the history of the Ming Dynasty to conquer in person, and he was victorious, and in the face of the rebellion and local uprisings of the vassal kings of the Ming Dynasty, Wuzong also indirectly pacified, although it had nothing to do with him in essence.
Politically, he suppressed the power of the civil official group, culturally, he cultivated the "Daming Huidian", economically, he developed overseas trade, so it seems that Wuzong actually did a lot of things.
His personality is relatively stable, not to mention the kind of mediocre king who is cruel and murderous in the traditional sense, and even in many things (such as killing Liu Jin), he can also distinguish right from wrong.
Of course, it is an indisputable fact that Wu Zong is lewd and lustful, and he is greedy for pleasure, and in the Qing Dynasty, if the princes who went to the study did not study seriously, the master who taught would reprimand him, and said, You don't study hard, do you want to emulate Zhu Houzhao of the Ming Dynasty?
It can be seen that Zhu Houzhao has become a typical example of a negative emperor.
Some people say that this is the emperor's imminent death, and his words are also good, it is the golden basin of the bad people, and the evil people are the painful change of the past, but some people say that this is the emperor who pursued his own personality and freedom, and he was helpless to compromise and give in at the last moment of his life.
Finally, let's take a look at Mr. Zhu Houzhao's evaluation of himself:
The car drove to the Maoshe Hall, and the seal book was hung with the Yaolong Chapter. Shengping banquet and Mingliang meeting, the event spread for thousands of years.
Drinking drunk and going out of the door, Lao Qing persuaded Jin Zun again and again. The southern expedition has been set to rotate the division brigade to violently eliminate the first person.
Zhengde's reputation has been spread, and the southern expedition and northern suppression dare to take the lead. His life is mighty and peaceful in the world, and the town of Yongzhen has been in the country for thousands of years.
If you want to talk and stop, you want to talk and stop, no matter what, Zhu Houzhao finally put a break for himself.
In the material world, Zhu Houzhao's physical body has long since dissipated, and in the spiritual world, who will judge the soul of this great genius?