In the twenty-first year of Jiajing, there was a "change in the palace of Nongyin", jiajing was almost strangled to death by the palace women, after which he began to live in seclusion in the Western Garden. Yan Song was in charge of the imperial court, and the Jiajing Emperor lived in seclusion for a full twenty years. So what causes an emperor to go to the court for twenty years and trust his country to a minister?
Yan Song stills
First, the Jiajing Emperor was very scheming, and during his reign, all the ministers saw him with respect, which was a kind of fear that flowed from the heart. When Jiajing received the news of the succession to the throne, under the leadership of the people who came to the palace, he did not follow the path led by others to enter the palace, but insisted on taking the emperor's special imperial road. At that time, his explanation was that "you invited me to inherit the throne, not to make me a little prince", when he was only fifteen years old. In the end, the helpless former empress dowager had to compromise, and after passing this incident, he established a good prestige in the hearts of the ministers, letting the ministers know that this emperor was not easy to mess with.
Second, the Jiajing Emperor's control over his subordinates had reached a very high level, and he could master the situation well in the twenty years of not going to the dynasty. During the twenty years that Jiajing lived in seclusion in Nanyuan, through the surveillance of Dongchang and Jinyiwei, he learned which small groups of ministers there were, what kind of contradictions there were between these small groups, and used these contradictions to balance the various groups, so that the imperial court reached a good balance. When he is not in the dynasty, the Ming Dynasty can also run very well, and he has a good control over the officials, and he does not have to worry about his throne being protected, so why should he go to the dynasty and leave time to cultivate.
The third is that the middle-aged Jiajing indulged in monasticism and was obsessed with those immortal techniques. For the Taoist elixir and some immortal doctrines are very respectful, when they are not there, the country is developing steadily, there is no difference between going up and down, and it is good to spend a little more time on cultivation.
Ming Shizong Jiajing
Emperor Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty was the eleventh emperor of the Ming Dynasty, named Zhu Houxi. Zhu Houxi was born in 1507 in Anlu Prefecture, the political secretary of Huguang Province. Zhu Houxi was the second son of Zhu Youshen, the Prince of Xingxian, and Zhu Youxi was the fourth son of Emperor Mingxianzong Zhu Jianshen, which means that Zhu Houxi was Zhu Jianshen's grandson.
Stills of Myungseijong
Zhu Houxi was very intelligent when he was young, and after his father taught him to read the poems several times, he could accurately recite them. After growing up, under the guidance of my father, I learned a lot of principles for self-cultivation and family governance. Since his father allowed him to participate in the ritual activities in the royal palace when he was a child, he was familiar with various rituals and norms at a very young age. When Zhu Houxi was 12 years old, his father died, so the young Zhu Houxi inherited the palace.
Two years later, Emperor Mingwu died, but he had no heirs, so Zhu Houxi, who was the bloodline of the imperial family, inherited the throne. During the reign of the Jiajing Emperor, he was inspired to emulate Taizu and Chengzu in implementing the "New Deal" and eliminating all the shortcomings of the previous dynasty's policies. Zhu Houxi was politically good at receiving advice, diligent in government affairs, killing traitors and reusing virtuous ministers; Economically, the land was returned to the people, farming was encouraged, the conscription was rectified, and the disaster relief was alleviated, and soon a prosperous era was created, known in history as "Jiajing Zhongxing". This was also the second heyday of the Ming Dynasty.
In the later period of the jiajing emperor's reign, because the country was too peaceful for too long, Zhu Houxi lost his enterprising spirit. He is also very superstitious, advocating Taoism, and pursuing immortality. Those Daoist monks took advantage of this to fool the Jiajing Emperor and defrauded him of a large amount of money. Later, the Jiajing Emperor almost did not even care about the government, so the first assistant Yan Song began to grasp the power of the government, framed Zhongliang, and the country was in chaos. In his later years, the Jiajing Emperor reacted and returned to take charge of the government, and the country was back on the right track. However, due to having taken too many Dan medicines before, the Jiajing Emperor was very ill and died in 1567 AD.
How could Ming Shizong be the first Ming Emperor of the Ming Dynasty
Emperor Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty reigned for forty-five years, the second longest-reigning emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and later generations also called him the First Ming Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, although he did not go to the ming dynasty for twenty years. Why is an emperor who has not been in the dynasty for twenty years still called the First Ming Emperor? There are two reasons for this:
Jiajing stills
First, in the early days of the reign of the Jiajing Emperor, he showed his superficial qualities as a generation of Ming emperors, that is, to be people-oriented and humbly accept advice. At the beginning of Jiajing's reign, he carried out reforms, and the focus of these reforms was the people's livelihood, and he not only implemented the people's livelihood policy of lightly dispensing with thin endowments, but also collected and integrated the land that the royal family did not use, and then distributed it to the peasants for farming, and the rent silver collected was also very small. In the government of the dynasty, he could also humbly listen to the advice of the courtiers, and he did not show any mercy to the traitors of the former dynasty, and all of them were killed. In dealing with foreign invasions, he was also able to be humble and unobtrusive, and well resisted the invasion of the southeastern Wokou and the northwestern Mongols.
Second, Jiajing did not go to the ming dynasty for twenty years in the later period, which is also a strong evidence that later generations denied that he was the "first Ming Emperor of the Ming Dynasty". However, during the twenty years that Jiajing did not ascend to the dynasty, the Ming court not only did not fall into chaos, but was able to develop steadily. In the government, although on the surface it seems that Yan Song is in charge alone, everything will eventually be gathered in front of the Jiajing Emperor and decided by him.
In addition, the Jiajing Emperor used the Ming Dynasty's most famous secret service agencies, the JinyiWei and the Dongxi Factory, to closely supervise the major ministers, grasp the contradictions between the ministers, and use these contradictions to balance the court. During Yan Song's reign, the Jiajing Emperor did not care, because he knew that Yan Song was just his microphone, and he had full control of this person. Therefore, later, Yan Song committed public anger, and the Jiajing Emperor only issued a holy decree, and Yan Song's family was destroyed and died, and he ended up alone.
During the reign of the Jiajing Emperor, he commanded the sinking ship of Daming very well to sail in the ocean of history, and such an emperor can indeed be called the first Ming Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.