The small transparent Ming Emperor created the prosperous era of the Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty was a fascinating period of history, with 16 emperors each with their own unique characteristics, attracting the attention of history buffs. Among them, there is a unique emperor, although he is not as famous as Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Di and Zhu Youzhen, but among all the Ming Dynasty emperors, he is more like a "** person".
However, his historical influence cannot be ignored. He was not made crown prince and died after 6 years in power. However, during his reign, he succeeded in reforming the maladministration left by Emperor Jiajing.
Through his own efforts, he created the last prosperous era of the Ming Dynasty - Longwan Zhongxing. He is the TV series "Daming 1566", Prince Yu and Emperor Zhu Zaikun of Longqing, who was snubbed by his father.
How did he get to the throne? How did it open the last prosperous era of the Ming Dynasty?
Zhu Zaikun: The Difficult Road to a Prince Zhu Zaikun, the third son of Emperor Shizong Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty, was born on March 4, 1537, to his mother Concubine Du Kang.
In 1539, Emperor Jiajing named him King Yu. However, while he was growing up, some strange behaviors of Emperor Jiajing made his life full of challenges. In 1552, Zhu Zaikun performed the crown ceremony and lived in the mansion of the vassal king of Jingshi.
Gao Gong, Chen Yiqin, Zhang Juzheng and other ** have come to the palace to give lectures to him and tutor him in his studies, hoping that he can establish an excellent image of a prince. At that time, Emperor Jiajing had two sons who were particularly outstanding, one was Zhu Zaijun and the other was Zhu Zaizhen.
Zhu Zaizhen is smart and quick-witted, and he can always figure out his father's thoughts, which has been recognized by Jiajing. In contrast, Zhu Zaikun's personality is a little wooden and he is not very valued by his father.
Even Yan Song, the first assistant of the cabinet at that time, supported Zhu Zaizhen, but Emperor Jiajing never officially established the crown prince. Zhu Zaikun's life was full of setbacks and challenges, but he did not give up, he has been studying hard, hoping to be recognized by his father.
Despite the bumps in his path, he persevered and eventually became a good prince.
Above: Zhu Houxi, Ming Shizong, Emperor Jiajing (September 16, 1507 – January 23, 1567). His father preferred Zhu Zaizhen, so Zhu Zaikun lived a cautious life.
When his third son, Zhu Yijun, was born, he didn't even dare to name the child, let alone hold a haircut ceremony when the child was full moon, for fear of offending his father. It was not until Zhu Zaizhen's death in 1565 that Zhu Zaikun became the de facto person who could inherit the throne.
However, even so, Emperor Jiajing still did not appoint Zhu Zaikun as the crown prince. On January 23, 1567, Emperor Jiajing fell seriously ill and died before he could summon Zhu Zaikun before he was carried into the Qianqing Palace.
At this time, Xu Jie hoped that Zhu Zaikun could enter the palace to preside over the funeral and ascend the throne as soon as possible. On February 4, 1567, Zhu Zaikun held an enthronement ceremony in the Huangji Hall and announced that the Yuan was changed to Longqing.
Above, Emperor Longqing, who wore a Tang scarf and a red Taoist robe, changed the situation of the abandonment of the government in the late Jiajing period, and introduced ministers such as Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng, and Chen Yiqin into the core of the imperial court.
On the day of his accession to the throne, Emperor Longqing ordered the release of Hai Rui and rehabilitated Jiajing, who had been convicted for his words. In addition, he also ordered the expulsion of Taoist priests, the demolition of Taoist altars, and the prohibition of fasting Jiao.
Under the hard work of Emperor Longqing, the government took on a new look. According to historical records, Emperor Longqing showed a dignified and steady temperament in the court, rarely gave clear questions, observed the people's feelings, and the ministers' recitals were rarely seen by him personally.
In his daily prayer and feast days, he only followed the old procedures and did not humbly inquire about them. From this historical material, we can see that Emperor Longqing governed the country with simplicity and let the ministers handle government affairs.
This line of ruling by doing nothing gave the minister considerable room to exert himself, and it was against this background that the reform of the high arch was carried out in an all-round way. Emperor Longqing had a generous personality, was good at mediating conflicts between cabinet ministers, and generally gave courtesy to those who were difficult to stay in office, which was in stark contrast to Emperor Jiajing, who was good at using power.
Under the leadership of Emperor Longqing, the Ming Dynasty underwent changes in the political, economic, and military spheres. Among them, the reform of the employment system proposed by Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng was an important task of the Longqing Dynasty.
They advocate employing people according to their needs, taking ability and actual performance as the criterion, employing outstanding personnel exceptionally, strictly abiding by the principle of clearly distinguishing rewards and punishments, severely punishing corrupt behaviors, and resolutely removing redundant officials from their posts.
The implementation of this system not only cultivated a group of outstanding leaders such as Tan Lun, Qi Jiguang, and Wang Chonggu, but also effectively resisted the rise of Yan Song and other greedy ministers. In short, Emperor Longqing's reform of the employment system brought a positive impact on the development of the Ming Dynasty.
1.Qi Jiguang's (1528-1588) second plan was to rectify corruption. Emperor Longqing, with the assistance of Gao Gong, strictly enforced the discipline of officialdom, and all those who accepted gifts were escorted to the Criminal Department for questioning.
2.Emperor Longqing, with the support of Emperor Longqing, revised the "Investigation of Impeachment Cases", clearly stipulating that "all those who are seriously corrupt must be questioned; Those who are incompetent shall be demoted, transferred or dismissed according to their circumstances.
Those who fail the second time will be punished for slackness. "This has intensified the fight against incompetence and redundancy. 3.Emperor Longqing cooperated with Gao Gong to implement measures to rectify corruption, and escorted all the ** who received gifts to the Criminal Department for questioning.
At the same time, Emperor Longqing, with the support of Emperor Longqing, revised the "Investigation of Impeachment Cases", which stipulates that the ** with serious corruption shall be questioned, and the ** with insufficient ability shall be demoted, transferred or dismissed respectively.
This further increases the handling of incompetence and redundancy.
1.In the twelfth year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, Liancheng County, Fujian Province, the Qingzhang Household Return List proved that the economic reforms included: first, the implementation of a whip law, the merger of forced labor, the abolition of forced labor, the reduction of the burden on peasants, and the increase of productivity; the second is the resumption of maritime transportation, the development of overseas **, the prosperity of the commodity economy, and the enrichment of the cultural life of urban citizens; Third, the construction of water conservancy has improved people's livelihood and played a positive role in promoting economic development.
2.These reforms laid a solid foundation for the economic prosperity of the Ming Dynasty, and the implementation of one of the whip laws and the restoration of maritime transportation were particularly important. A whip law simplified the tax system, reduced the burden on farmers, and improved agricultural production efficiency; The restoration of maritime transport has promoted the development of overseas **, increased the wealth of the country, and enriched the cultural life of urban citizens.
In addition, the construction of water conservancy was also an important part of the economic reform of the Ming Dynasty, which improved people's livelihood and provided a strong guarantee for economic development. Overall, these reform measures made an important contribution to the economic development of the Ming Dynasty.
Hai Rui (January 22, 1514, November 13, 1587), also known as Ruxian, was a famous ** of the Ming Dynasty, who made many important suggestions for military reform.
One of them was the emphasis on the personal involvement of the emperor. Emperor Longqing personally participated in military training to encourage the whole country to strengthen military preparations. This action attracted widespread attention and became an important milestone in the military reform of the Ming Dynasty.
Hai Jui's thinking has had a far-reaching impact on later generations, reminding us that military reform is not only a first-class thing, but also the responsibility and obligation of every citizen.
Above] During the Longqing period of the Ming Dynasty, Gao Gong began military reform, increasing the number of soldiers from 2 to 4, and promoted Tan Lun, Qi Jiguang, Wang Chonggu and others to attach importance to the northern border defense and strengthen the assessment of the army.
He carried out eight major tasks to prepare the army, such as accumulating money and grain, repairing dangerous passes, training soldiers and horses, reorganizing equipment, opening up tuntian, managing salt, collecting horses, and dispersing the rebels, so that the Ming army's combat effectiveness took on a new look.
In the summer of 1570, the Duolu Ming army took the initiative to attack Ordos and other places, killing more than 160 enemy troops. In August of the same year, the Mongol attack on Jinzhou was repulsed by the Ming army, and more than 40 people were beheaded.
Emperor Longqing's political, economic, and military reforms achieved remarkable results, enabling the Ming Dynasty to sweep away the decline of the late Wanli period and make achievements in exchanges with ethnic minorities.
In 1571, Emperor Longqing ordered the Mongol Yuda to be the "King of Shunyi" and concluded a treaty of feudal rules, which realized the comprehensive reconciliation between the Ming Dynasty and the right side of Mongolia, and saved a lot of border defense expenses.
In addition, he also adopted a combination of grace and power in response to the turmoil in Guizhou Tusi, so that the situation was quickly brought under control.
After Emperor Longqing ascended the throne, he practiced hard work with practical actions, released Hai Rui, and rehabilitated the unjust, false and wrongful cases during the Jiajing period. He attaches great importance to talents, reuses Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng, etc., carries out reforms in politics, economy and military, sweeps away Jiajing's maladministration, lays a solid foundation for Longwan Zhongxing, and opens the last prosperous era of the Ming Dynasty.
These deeds are recorded in the Ming Muzong Zhu Zaikun book in the collection of the Palace Museum.