Portrait of Zhu Gaozi
Zhu Gaozi was the fourth emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and the first three dynasties have left a hard memory in his life experience. He saw the harshness and obsession of his grandfather Zhu Yuanzhang, and as the prince of the clan, he experienced the condescending arrogance of his cousin Zhu Yunjiao, and as a prince, he fought and oversaw the country for nearly twenty years under the strict lessons of his father Zhu Di. He left a good reputation of benevolence, kindness, loyalty, and love in his life, but unfortunately he was born without a chance to take the throne, and after sitting on it for less than a year, he hurriedly passed away from others, when people lamented, and posterity regretted.
Zhu Gaozi's being the son of the world, being made crown prince, and even sitting on the throne are all the effects of the environment, and it seems that it has little to do with his own efforts. When his father was still the king of the domain, it was his grandfather's opinion that made him the son of the Prince of Yan; his father became the emperor, it was Xie Jin, a powerful minister in the court, and most of the civil officials who supported him as the crown prince.
Zhu Gaozi is very convinced of Confucianism and traditional culture, and respecting the idea of benevolence, adhering to the confucian righteousness, and treating others with generosity in the world are his basic positions in doing things. He was by no means a decoration, and he supervised the country for twenty years six times, which greatly enriched his experience and tempered his administrative ability. The policy he formulated was relatively peaceful, frugal, try not to increase the financial burden, even after his death did not disturb the people, the funeral was really simple, his mausoleum dedication should be the most rudimentary place in the Ming Tombs, and it has not been opened to the public so far, because the planning and construction of the mausoleum does not have much visit content and excessive extravagance.
Within the family, he dared to raise dissenting opinions and touch his father's authority. Under the pressure of his father's dictatorship, he still did not engage in emotional and power confrontation with the two brothers, and his generosity and gentleness avoided internal divisions in the family, laying a mass foundation for his son Zhu Zhanji to ascend the throne in the future, and also enabling the imperial court to avoid turmoil, war, and bloodshed.
He respected and cared for the ministers around him, and often encouraged them to consult. When things happen, he loves to discuss, never arbitrarily court ministers, and the relationship between kings and subjects is very harmonious.
He was a humble gentleman who knew how to restrain himself and neither competed for merit nor favor. He has great righteousness in his heart and the world in his eyes, and he does not overexplor hisself.
He truly understood and absorbed the essence of the mediocrity in traditional culture, and did not look at problems from a position and point of view, thus winning a good personal relationship for the expansion of his life. When he was very young, once his grandfather Zhu Yuanzhang asked the emperors and grandchildren to review the army, and he proposed to hold it after breakfast to avoid soldiers waiting in the cold wind hungry. This is to see the problem from the standpoint of others, and in an era of authoritarian rule, it is an important basis for establishing the idea of being close to the people.
Zhu Gaozi has a certain transcendent thinking. During his twenty-year political career as a state of supervision, he always insisted on valuing talent and personal conduct, transcending the general selection model of emphasizing military merit and actual achievements. Immediately after he took the throne, he stopped the war of the Northern Expedition against Mongolia, stopped Zheng He's huge and profligate activities in the Western Ocean, suspended the Southern Expedition, rehabilitated and restored a large number of officials who were punished for their different political views, and even the former imperial officials implicated in the Battle of Jingnan also restored their reputation and status.
The doubt and improvement of traditional thinking is the embodiment of the spirit of the times.
From the end of the Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, China was in retreat, and ancient China gradually became a semi-colony because the ruling class did not establish a clear direction of national development, and the reason why external forces were able to invade was because the internal power was not strong enough.
What is even more valuable is that Zhu Gaozi's desire for supreme power is not very strong, and he may be more likely to be a saint who desires peace and peace than the emperor who is in the limelight. In the face of the fierce competition of his brothers, he never resisted head-on, and always resolved with a magnanimous and benevolent heart. In his world, being an emperor and pursuing the throne is certainly not the only pursuit, he can still live well without the throne, he has a peaceful life realm, and he has set an insurmountable imperial benchmark for the Ming Emperor.
Zhu Gaozi in the film and television drama