After Zhu Houzhao's death, because he was childless, according to the order of "brother to brother and brother", Zhu Houxi was selected as the heir to the throne by Yang Tinghe and Empress Zhang, the first assistant of the cabinet. Empress Zhang was the mother of Emperor Mingwu of Zhu Houzhao and empress dowager of Emperor Xiaozong of Ming.
At the beginning of the reign of Emperor Ming Shizong Zhu Houxi, the major events of the Ming Dynasty were the controversy over the great ceremonies.
In order to safeguard the interests of Emperor Xiaozong of Ming, the former dynasty's foolish and loyal ministers, represented by Yang Tinghe, racked their brains, and without seeking the consent of Zhu Houxi and his mother, arbitrarily changed Zhu Houxi's parents and robbed Princess Xingxian of her only son, so that Zhu Houxi recognized Emperor Xiaozong and his empress as his biological parents and changed his parents to his uncles and aunts.
Ming Shizong was a great filial son, and he tried his best to maintain his inherent relationship with his parents, so a year-long ceremonial discussion began, which eventually led to the Zuo Shunmen case, which ended with Zhu Houxi's victory.
Why does Zhu Houxi have to fight for the fame and respect of his parents? Although there are reasons for fighting for orthodoxy for themselves, the more reason is that Zhu Houxi is not a weak emperor, with a strong personality, and does not want to be an emperor who is subject to people everywhere.
What is the result of confessing filial piety as father? It can be seen from the small details before and after Zhu Houxi's big wedding.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >01 Empress Jiang entered Beijing</h1>
Shortly after Zhu Houxi ascended the throne, Empress Jiang entered the capital from the distant palace of the domain, and when she arrived in Tongzhou by car, she learned that the court wanted her son to call Xiaozong the father, and her husband and herself as the emperor's parents. You people enjoy a high position, why do you have to break up our mother and son?
Then Empress Jiang ordered the car to stop in Tongzhou and said that she would not take a step forward. After hearing this, Zhu Houxi burst into tears and personally went to Empress Zhang's palace to express that she was not the emperor and wanted to accompany her mother back to the domain. This frightened the courtiers, and the consequences of the emperor's resignation were very serious.
It was at this time that Zhang Xuan, a political scholar, sang a play with Yang Tinghe and wrote a book of "Great Gifts or Questions", which had a great influence on the dynasty, and finally Yang Tinghe had no choice but to agree that "Ben's father Xingxian Wang should be called Xingxian Emperor, and his mother should be called Xingxian Hou". Originally, King Xingxian was to be renamed "Emperor Kao xingxian King", and Princess Xingxian was to be renamed "Imperial Uncle Mother Xingguo Grand Concubine".
When Empress Jiang saw that it was good, she gladly came and arrived at the capital with the escort of the empress dowager, accompanied by five hundred guards of the Jinyi Guard, and entered the palace from the Daming Gate.
In fact, the word "Bunsen" only acknowledges Zhu Houxi's biological parents, but in the patriarchy, he still has to call Xiaozong "Huang kao" and Empress Zhang "mother queen", in fact, he was still inherited to the name of Xiaozong.
When Empress Jiang entered the palace to see Empress Zhang, Empress Zhang was high up in the air and still regarded Empress Jiang as a princess. Empress Jiang knelt down to pay her respects, but Empress Zhang did not even get up to dissuade her, but only slightly raised her hand to answer the salute.
Perhaps Empress Zhang has been honored for a long time and does not realize that today is different from the past. Zhu Houxi's mother and son were very embarrassed, and the little emperor wrote down this scene forever, determined to wash away the humiliation of his mother. Empress Zhang also paid a terrible price for this many years later.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >02 Zhu Houxi was rejected by using the big wedding to add the title of "Emperor" to his parents</h1>
After Zhu Houxi took the throne, the marriage was put on the agenda.
Zhu Houxi wanted to take advantage of the big wedding to make a decree in the name of Empress Zhang to borrow his own wedding to add the word "emperor" to his biological parents, Xingxian Emperor, and after The sacrifice, but was strongly opposed by Yang Tinghe and other cabinet ministers.
The cabinet ministers believed that Zhu Houxi's parents had been revered to the extreme, and with the addition of the word "emperor", would not they stand side by side with Emperor Xiaozong and Empress Zhang, and it would be impossible to distinguish what orthodoxy was, which would violate heavenly reason.
What Zhu Houxi wanted was that his parents and Empress Xiaozong were equal in name, and he also learned to speak in the name of Empress Zhang, and what he said in Yi Zhi was absolutely unquestionable, which was extremely deep for a little emperor of 15 years old.
When the cabinet ministers saw the situation, they collectively resigned to blackmail, but Zhu Houxi did not agree. Later, more than a hundred officials opposed the addition of the "Emperor", but Zhu Houxi still ignored it.
Finally, the palace suddenly caught fire, almost burning to the rear hall of the Qingning Palace where Empress Jiang lived. The cabinet ministers took the opportunity to go up, believing that the fire was related to the anger of the emperor and the "emperor" to anger the heavens, and also quoted the scriptures, saying that in the five elements of the fire ceremony, the harem fire is "the response to the abolition of the ceremony".
Zhu Houxi was influenced by his father since childhood, and he was more superstitious about celestial disasters, and he did not dare to insist on it anymore when he saw this. Empress Jiang was also a little frightened, and did not dare to let her son insist, so she had to listen to Yang Tinghe, calling Emperor Xiaozong the Emperor Kao and Empress Dowager Cishou the Virgin, and Empress Xingxian as her parents, without adding the word "emperor".
The fire in the palace was a bit strange, and it was later lost.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >03 Zhu Houxi wanted her grandmother to officiate at the wedding and was rejected</h1>
Having said that, Zhu Houxi's big wedding was presided over by Empress Zhang, and it was Empress Zhang who ordered the Ceremonial Department to officially begin to select the empress, and the Celebrant of Ceremonies sent internal supervisors to various places to strictly preliminarily select, and after layers of screening, the last few selected were to be examined and evaluated by the empress dowager.
From the beginning to the end, there was no such thing as Zhu Houxi's biological mother, Empress Jiang, and Zhu Houxi was naturally very unhappy. But who makes mothers low? That's it.
However, Zhu Houxi thought about it and thought, even if the mother is not suitable for the wedding, she should be able to ask the grandmother to preside. In the early years, when the grandmother married her three sons, she could not preside over the marriage of her sons because of her low reputation, and it was Ming Xiaozong and Empress Zhang who presided over it at that time, and now that her grandson has become emperor, she should always fight for it.
Therefore, Zhu Houxi proposed that his grandmother Empress Shou'an issue a decree and send a eunuch to send a message to the cabinet, hoping to gain the support of the cabinet.
However, Yang Tinghe and others still disagreed, and the reason given was: The previous preparations for the big wedding were to send the internal supervisors of ceremonies to various places to select women, all of which were edicts issued by Empress Zhang, and everyone in the world knew that now they were suddenly changed to Empress Shou'an's will, which was inappropriate from the point of view of preparations, and violated the patriarchal law of etiquette, so how could it be made known to the world?
A big wedding at the end of the good end made the little emperor feel very awkward, his own big wedding relatives and grandmother could not preside over the wedding, these cabinet ministers preferred to let Empress Zhang preside, and always a lot of truth, quoting scriptures, echoing hundreds of responses, fierce wording, and they were isolated, what can they do?
Although Zhu Houxi was annoyed, he had no choice but to insist on it any longer, but he left a psychological shadow. Empress Chen and Emperor Ming lived together for only seven years, and later died of misery due to anger at Zhu Houxi.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >04 My grandmother died of illness</h1>
Zhu Houxi's grandmother, Empress Shao, who had experienced many vicissitudes, was not blessed with the sudden arrival of honor, and died peacefully after 50 days of her grandson's big wedding.
Zhu Houxi was very sad and held a very solemn funeral for his grandmother. He originally wanted to do filial piety for his father, so that the once desolate old grandmother could enjoy his old age in the palace, who expected that the sky would not be what people wanted.
In a moment of mourning, Zhu Houxi remembered the harshness of the ministers on him since he took the throne, and the more he thought about it, the more angry he became.
When the big wedding was to let the grandmother come forward to preside over the wedding, the ministers did not agree, so that their own mother and grandmother stood aside; the grandmother was the noble concubine of Emperor Mingxianzong, who was higher than Empress Zhang, and should have been called the empress dowager, but the ministers wanted to say a lot of truths, so that the grandmother lived after Empress Zhang.
What happened to Empress Shao's honorific title?
After the fire in the harem of the Qingning Palace in the first year of Jiajing, Zhu Houxi put away his stubbornness, heeded the proposal of Yang Tinghe and others, and gave the honorific titles to Empress Zhang, Empress Xia of Emperor Mingwuzong, his grandmother Empress Shao, and his mother Empress Jiang in the first month.
Empress Zhang added the four words "Zhaosheng Cishou", and her mother only added the honorific title of "Empress Xingguo", without the word "Emperor", which was too far away from Empress Zhang, and the honorific title was a long way off.
Honorific titles are different, and etiquette is also different. According to the rank of honorific titles, first Empress Zhang and Empress Xia, and the next day Empress Shao and Empress Jiang. In terms of seniority, Empress Shao was the highest, but it was listed after her grandson Empress Xia, and the patriarchal orthodoxy of the Minister of Ceremonies was like this.
Zhu Houxi was the king of the outer clan who entered the capital to inherit the throne, and only the people who came with the king of the clan were people, the talent of the royal palace was limited, and they could not but rely on the cabinet and the ministers of the DPRK, these former courtiers habitually respected the Ming Xiaozong lineage, and vigorously safeguarded the interests of the Xiaozong lineage, often causing all kinds of displeasure to the new Tianzi, Zhu Houxi did not obey his basic administrative team, and he had no choice for a while.
The courtiers were also so harsh on their grandmother that Zhu Houxi could only accept it, giving her the honorific title of Empress Dowager Shou'an, and it was not until the seventh year of Jiajing that she was changed to Empress Dowager Tai, and was eventually honored as Empress Xiaohui Kangsu Wen Ren Yishun Xie Tianyou Sheng.
When his grandmother died, Zhu Houxi originally wanted to relocate maoling in February of the following year, Yang Tinghe and others said that the ancestral tomb could not be moved, it would alarm the gods, Zhu Houxi ignored it, or insisted on burying in Maoling, known as Empress Mingxianzong, for his grandmother to win a posthumous title.
Since Zhu Houxi ascended the throne, one incident after another has made him realize that his parents and grandmother do not have the honorific title they deserve, they are always inferior everywhere, and even the big marriage is subject to people everywhere, like a marionette, so he must be tough on the issue of whether to change his parents and fight against the forces represented by Yang Tinghe.
Text: Ten Mile Osmanthus (Follow me and tell you more interesting historical stories.) Originality is not easy, unauthorized please do not reprint, violators will be investigated! ）