The Ming Dynasty was the last dynasty in China's history to be unified by the Han Chinese, and the founding emperor was Zhu Yuanzhang, who was also one of the few successful peasant uprisings. In the 276-year reign of the Ming Dynasty, a total of sixteen emperors were born, including emperors and ming kings, and most of them were praised and criticized in the mouths of the world.
Among the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, there was such an emperor who inherited from the top to the bottom, and the innovation system was unanimously recognized by the whole country. But this emperor died young, his life is like a flash in the pan, he is the twelfth emperor of the Ming Dynasty Longqing Emperor Zhu Zaiyuan.
Zhu Zaiyuan was born in 1537, the third child of the current emperor Ming Shizong, and his mother was Princess Du Kang. In the Ming Dynasty, there was an unwritten feudal system, that is, the emperor and the emperor should see each other less when they were young, because both were dragon vein offenders.
Therefore, the relationship between Ming Shizong and his children was very distant when he was a child, but according to the ancient hereditary system, the eldest son was generally made a prince, so Ming Shizong made Zhu Zaiyuan's eldest brother a prince when the children were young. He was then crowned King Yu and his younger brother King Jing.
When they were a little older, Ming Shizong missed the prince too much, so he met with Zhu Zaiyuan's eldest brother, who thought that the prince would soon die of illness, and the emperor would have to appoint another prince.
Logically, Zhu Zaiyuan was now the eldest and should naturally become the crown prince, but Emperor Mingshizong did not announce who he wanted to appoint as the crown prince. Ming Shizong did not have much contact with these children when they were young and was not close, so he wanted to know more about it before deciding.
Although Zhu Zaiyuan was older than King Jing, his mother Du Kangfei was not favored by the emperor, but his younger brother King Jing's mother was a red person in front of the emperor, so on this level, Zhu Zaiyuan's chances of wanting to become a prince were not as likely as his younger brother King Jing.
After the two people were slightly older, they began to show their magic for the position of prince. Zhu Zaiyuan is relatively low-key, usually reading books and studying, or going to the people to walk around more, to see the current situation of the country, but his younger brother King Jing is the opposite of him.
With the support of his mother, King Jing spent more time with Emperor Ming Shizong than Zhu Zaiyuan, and learned more imperial mental techniques and handled more affairs in the imperial program. One year, the ministers raised the issue of reforming the region, and King Jing took the initiative to ask for orders to deal with it, and his heart must have been to make a little political achievement for the emperor, and then the crown prince's position was immediately accomplished, but the result was counterproductive.
King Jing died in the second year after he went out, and Zhu Zaiyuan picked up the leak, because Ming Shizong had no successor to cultivate, so he became a prince within a few years, and after the death of Ming Shizong in 1566, he directly became emperor and changed the name of the country to Longqing.
After Zhu Zaiyuan became emperor, he began his plan to become a generation of Ming emperors. During the time of his father, Emperor Ming, who was imprisoned by Emperor Ming for some of his courtiers' outspoken advice, Zhu Zaiyuan directly pardoned these outspoken ministers and then worshipped them as powerful ministers in the court.
Those ministers who were attached to the inflammatory tendency were also rectified by Zhu Zaiyuan, and some officials who were more serious in corrupting the law were directly beheaded, and those who had serious circumstances were put into prison, and those who were not serious were either demoted to commoners or demoted by officials to several levels.
After Zhu Zaiyuan's rectification, corrupt officials and corrupt officials were basically removed, and those who wanted to serve the country ushered in the spring. Zhu Zaiyuan rectified the scientific expedition system and stepped up efforts to entrust a new generation of young officials with heavy responsibilities, which also made Zhu Zaiyuan's ruling power more and more solid.
After Zhu Zaiyuan became emperor, there was a problem left by Emperor Ming Shizong, that is, how to solve the problem of the Hu people in the upper part of the north and the lower part of the south. Because the ancient regime was based on the military, if the country was weak, it would definitely be divided by the nearby forces, or even swallowed up completely.
After thinking about it, Zhu Zaiyuan felt that he could not fight a war, and the primary purpose was to develop the economy and enhance his own strength. So he took the advice of Li Chunfang, the former cabinet assistant minister, and others, and then discussed with many ministers and decided to negotiate with mongolia in the north first.
The Mongols in the north wanted to invade and occupy the Ming Dynasty, but only for the rich materials of the Central Plains. Zhu Zaiyuan decided to cooperate with the Mongols, to send the Ming Dynasty's supplies to Mongolia, and then to exchange mongolian things, in this bartering method, to stabilize the threat of northern forces, and the remaining thorny problems were left to the Wokou.
The Wokou have appeared since the thirteenth century, with their earliest origins coming from Japan, but eventually including some island powers, and the goal of the Wokou was not to rob passing ships, but to invade the coastal cities of Korea and China.
Because the resources in the island area are limited and not conducive to development, there are more and more Wokou. Especially in the more than forty years from Jiajing to Wanli, Wukou was the most rampant. After more than a hundred years of development in coastal cities, wokou have begun to infiltrate every place.
Because of the customs policy of the imperial court, the people in many coastal areas had a difficult life. The imperial court was not allowed to carry iron and silk with them, and once it was found that the situation was serious, it was even beheaded on the spot. However, these commodities were relatively profitable, and the imperial court strictly guarded them, and the coastal areas could not develop commerce.
Resources in ancient times were also relatively scarce, and the fisheries at that time were not very mature, so the people in the coastal cities became poorer and poorer, and they began to have no food during the Jiajing years. Therefore, in order to survive, many people have begun to take risks and sell prohibited goods themselves to make a living.
This has led to an increasingly close relationship between the people and the Wokou, because the Wokou have channels and ways to deal with such commodities, and people can exchange them for money just by handing things over to the Wokou. Therefore, during the Jiajing period, the imperial court sent troops to suppress the Wokou, and the local people still hated the officers and soldiers, and they were particularly protective of the Wokou.
Zhu Zaiyuan was well aware of this situation, and if he wanted to be tough, he would definitely not be able to do it, so he thought of a way to import and export trade. That is, he adjusted the types of import and export commodities, many things can be imported and exported, and the imperial court has channels to help people sell, but the premise is that they need to collect more tariffs.
But people have an account in their minds, and the tariff on these things is much less than the difference in price they sell directly to the Wokou. So after the implementation of this policy, people began to trade freely, and the country's economy developed better and better. Without the protection of the people, the Wokou began to shrink slowly, and in the end they did not pose any threat to the imperial court.
Zhu Zaiyuan's strategy can be said to be killing two birds with one stone, which not only solves the problem, but also develops the economy. From the two things he did as soon as he became emperor, it can be seen that he was a wise man who benefited all the people. However, Zhu Zaiyuan was later reduced to beauty, and unfortunately fell ill and died young, at the age of only 36.