Emperor Xiaozong of Ming, whose name was Zhu Youfan, was the ninth emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and his life could be roughly divided into two stages, the first half of his life was an emperor for eighteen years, and the second half of his life was an emperor for eighteen years. In 1505, Emperor Xiaozong of the Ming Dynasty died in the Qianqing Palace at the age of 36, and there were only eight days from illness to death! How did Emperor Ming Xiaozong, who was not good at speaking and did not accept the elixir, when he was still in his prime, suddenly died? What little-known things are hidden behind this?
Let's take a look at what happened during the last eight days of Ming Xiaozong's life! On the 30th day of the fourth lunar month in 1505, Emperor Mingxiaozong felt unwell and "occasionally felt the wind and cold", so he did not go to the court, but he was still able to handle government affairs. The next day, When The Rebbe Shangshu Zhang Sheng and others asked for peace, Emperor Mingxiaozong said, "The conditioning of the body is gradually cured, and it is advisable for the secretary and others to do things with peace of mind." "It shows that Ming Xiaozong's physical condition was still very good at that time."
However, in the days that followed, Emperor Ming was still unable to ascend to the throne, and even the banquet of the Fifth Dragon Boat Festival in early May was cancelled. On the sixth day of the first month of May, dai Yi, the eunuch of the Ceremonial Supervisor, hurried to the cabinet and summoned the cabinet scholars Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, and Xie Qian to the palace. The three of them came to the imperial bed in the East Warm Pavilion of the Qianqing Palace and quickly knelt down to ask for peace. At this time, although Ming Xiaozong was seriously ill, his consciousness was still very clear, and he said to the three people: "Eighteen years after the great unification of the ancestors of the Emperor, he is now six years old Chinese New Year's Eve, but he has suffered from this disease and cannot get up." ”
Liu Jian and the others hurriedly comforted the emperor, "The emperor occasionally violated peace, why did he talk about this, the courtiers and others looked up at the Holy Body, full of spirit, long life without boundaries, fortunately relieved." Then Emperor Mingxiaozong reviewed the events since he ascended the throne and made final political arrangements. After the eunuch finished writing the will, Ming Xiaozong took Liu Jian's hand and said: "The Eastern Palace (indicating Wuzong) is smart, but he is still young, and the gentlemen can often ask him to come out to study and tutor him to be a good person." Liu Jian and the others knelt down and cried bitterly.
At noon the next day, a whirlwind rose in the Forbidden City, "dust is four, cloud cages are three halls", Ming Xiaozong swallowed his last breath. According to historical records, before His death, Emperor Mingxiaozong was "red in jade and full of fire", saying: "The heat is even worse, and it is impossible to help!" "Order the attendant to take the water and wipe it with a cloth. This shows that there is indeed a problem with the death of Emperor MingXiaozong! Five days after Emperor Ming's death, the official Shangshu Ma Wensheng wrote a petition requesting an investigation into Emperor Ming's death.
It turned out that after the death of Emperor Xiaozong of Ming, Ma Wensheng heard that the sudden death of the emperor was related to "the mistake of using medicine for doctors". Three days later, the results of the imperial court's investigation came out, and four people involved in Ming Xiaozong's treatment were sent to prison for punishment. These include Zhang Yu, the superintendent of the division, Shi Qing, the right tongzheng of the Palm Tai Hospital, Liu Wentai, the judge of the Tai Hospital, and Gao Tinghe, the imperial doctor. At the same time, the imperial court also announced the specific cause of death of Emperor MingXiaozong, which was directly related to these four people.
Previously, Ming Xiaozong accidentally had a wind chill when he prayed for rain and fasting, it was summer, the weather was hot, and Ming Xiaozong suffered from heat, which should be a disease such as wind fever and cold. Emperor Ming Xiaozong did not take it seriously, so he asked the eunuch Zhang Yu to "discuss prescription medicine" with the Tai Hospital. According to common sense, the Tai Hospital must diagnose the emperor's pulse before it can be drugged. However, Zhang Yu, Liu Wentai and others violated the normal process and directly injected medicine from the emperor.
Liu Wentai used a hot agent, and the result was that the doctor was not right, and Ming Xiaozong was "irritable, so that he was a guest". After the facts of the case were clearly tried, the imperial court agreed that Zhang Yu and Liu Wentai would be sentenced to death, and other relevant personnel would also be punished to varying degrees. However, no one expected that Zhang Yu and Liu Wentai had quite a foundation in the DPRK, and many relatives and nobles were related to them, and finally the two "spared death" and sent them away. Poor Ming Xiaozong's generation of Ming Jun, he was actually killed by quack doctors!
References: 1. Records of Emperor Xiaozong of Ming Dynasty, 2. Records of Emperor Wuzong of Ming, 3. Records of Emperor Ming Dynasty