The emperors of the Ming Dynasty were notoriously lazy, but in Chinese history, there seems to be a low evaluation of particularly diligent emperors, such as the original Qin Shi Huang, recently zhu Yuanzhang, which is basically a mixed reputation.
Why would a particularly diligent emperor be unpopular, because the history books are all written by Confucians, and the ideal political model of Confucianism is that the emperor is on top, usually talks as little as possible, and the specific affairs are responsible for by the ministers, which is the strict good politics of Confucianism, so for the emperor who is particularly diligent, there will usually be some criticism in the history books, and Yongzheng is also an example.
If an emperor does nothing, it is definitely not OK, it must be said to be a faint and incompetent monarch, such as Jiajing and Wanli, who have not been in the dynasty for decades, and it can be said that they are lazy to a certain extent.
No wonder when the Ming Dynasty reached the last king, Chongzhen, he was so angry that he scolded the group of ministers, it was you ministers who delayed the country, it seems that the emperor of the Ming Dynasty is really not good, too diligent, too lazy.
Even if the ministers of the Ming Dynasty had a rough taste, there were still people who met this extremely strict standard, neither lazy nor too diligent, and this person was Ming Xuanzong, Zhu Zhanji, who claimed to have the rule of Ren Xuan.
Zhu Zhanji is Zhu Di's grandson, Zhu Di, who wants to leave a good impression on future generations, after sitting on the emperor, he began his own image project, as diligent as his father Zhu Yuanzhang, it may be that the father and son have used up all the energy of the old Zhu family since then, and there has been no diligent emperor since then, knowing that the last emperor, Chongzhen has recovered a little bit, but it is too late.
Zhu Di's son Zhu Gaozi only did ten months as emperor and died, Lao Tzu advocated force, the son will like Wenzhi, which is very obvious in terms of emperor succession, Zhu Gaozi only did less than a year as emperor, but won a lot of praise, all the praise can be boiled down to one sentence, rest and recuperation.
Zhu Gaozi's son, Zhu Zhanji, also inherited his father's style, basically maintained a policy of recuperation, and also had a nickname in the folk, called the Cricket Emperor, saying that he loved to fight crickets.
But it is precisely because of the love of fun, the power handed over to the right minister, the famous Sanyang Cabinet, which created the Renxuan prosperous era in the history of the Ming Dynasty, but there is one thing that this cricket Tianzi has planted a big thunder for the Ming Dynasty.
This great thunder is a eunuch, and in the history of the Ming Dynasty, there have been many eunuchs who have fallen in power and opposition, and the root cause is here with Zhu Zhanji, because he did something that seemed harmless to people and animals, but it was this incident that was the root cause of all the troubles.
This thing is to teach eunuchs to read, you say how can literacy have such a big harm, this should be in response to the old saying, hooligans are not terrible, they are afraid that hooligans have culture.
The emperors of the Ming Dynasty, whether diligent or lazy, managed to firmly grasp the imperial power in their own hands, and Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di were both labor models, and they seized power by constantly approving and reading the chapters and constantly beating up the courtiers.
But the later emperors were not so diligent, especially Zhu Zhanji, who loved to play and entrusted the government to the Sanyang cabinet, which was indeed a good thing, but no one dared to guarantee that there would be no Cao Cao.
So Zhu Zhanji decided to find a helper to come to see the folding idea for himself, the cabinet was already the emperor's personal secretary, but the emperor was not at ease, and since ancient Times, the emperor's most trusted person has always been a eunuch.
And to let the eunuchs assist themselves, literacy is a must, you can't even read a recital, you can't read the holy will, this obviously can't help the emperor.
Zhu Yuanzhang hated eunuchs very much, and set up an iron plaque in the palace, and the eunuchs died in government, but from the time of Zhu Di, this existed in name only, but at least he still obeyed the ancestral precepts of not allowing eunuchs to read, and everyone knows that eunuchs who cannot read big characters cannot set off huge waves.
Zhu Zhanji was lazy, and he did not have absolute trust in the courtiers, and he had to firmly grasp the power, so he could only teach the eunuchs to read and write, and from then on, the eunuchs became the power center of the Ming Dynasty like the cabinet, and the Ming Dynasty also produced a lot of famous and harmful eunuchs.
Eunuchs read and write, which means that eunuchs can read chapters, can read official documents, to put it more seriously, and can even replace the cabinet, of course, eunuchs and the cabinet itself are mutually balanced, and the emperor of the Ming Dynasty relied on the mutual checks and balances between the cabinet and the eunuchs to maintain absolute imperial power.
There are many powerful eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty, but no matter how powerful you are, the two-foot-wide strip in the palace will be handed out and you will be able to take your life immediately, and there is no eunuch in the Ming Dynasty who can threaten the imperial power, but the harm to the people and the imperial court is really too great, and all this Zhu Zhanji is at least responsible for a large part.