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There is a sentence about Wanli in the History of the Ming Dynasty:"The death of Ming, the death of Shenzong"。Shenzong is often referred to as the Wanli Emperor.
The Wanli Emperor was known for his dereliction of duty. How did he neglect his duties?
The emperor was called the Son of Heaven and was supposed to sacrifice heaven and earth, but Wanli did not participate, which was a serious violation of etiquette in feudal society.
Wanli not only sacrificed to the heavens and the earth, but also did not let go of his ancestral temple, and ordinary people knew that worshipping their ancestors and ancestral emperors was actually very disrespectful.
An emperor who does not respect heaven, earth, or even his ancestors will naturally have even less respect for the government.
It is understood that Wan Li has not appeared in court for several years.
You don't have to go to court. How difficult is it for a minister to see the emperor? Zhu Geng has been the first assistant for three years, and he has never seen the emperor once. Of course, Wanli hasn't seen it either. His favorite son, King Fu, saw him twice a day.
Some ministers, of course, were not satisfied with this, he said in his book"Taiwan Province is empty, affairs are in ruins, and the world will have the worry of sinking if it is not with the ministers"。This sentence is very unkind, what Emperor Wanli said is that the world is in danger of overturning. This is certainly not alarmist, but this kind of writing will not get any response, because Wanli did not recognize Zhang Cambodia.
Ye Xianggao felt this the most, and the mood of this highly respected chief minister of the empire could even be described as despair.
There was no teacher to teach for eight years, and Ye Xianggao repeatedly asked for the selection of a famous teacher, but he did not answer.
The crown prince's mother died, and there was no mourning for a few days, and Ye asked Gao Wei for permission to mourn. The funeral of the crown prince's mother, how important, the etiquette must be approved by the emperor, Wanli ignored it, and the matter was postponed.
Ye Xianggao did everything possible to pass the exam, selected more than 70 talents, and asked the emperor to appoint them. Ye Xianggao wrote dozens of letters for this, but he did not appoint Wanli for two years.
But Wanli is not an abbot, King Fu asked for a reward for the abbot, and he got it in one day.
Foreign ambassadors came to the palace, but they were not welcome; Courts from all over the world come to the capital, but they don't sign their names; There are prisoners in prisons who have not been tried for many years; The Office of the Ombudsman has not had an Ombudsman for eight years, and the list goes on.
The desperate Ye Xianggao asked Wanli for his resignation, but Wanli did not approve or approve, and the first auxiliary minister could only say that he was sick at home. The emperor died, there was only one person in the cabinet, and all the documents flowed into Ye Xianggao's mansion, but he couldn't solve these things, so he had to close the door for less than three months.
Ye Xianggao, who was old and serious, was forced to be helpless, and Zhao Huan, who was quite impatient, was even more worried.
At that time, there was only one scholar, and Zhao Huan was actually the second person in the dynasty.
Among the six ministries, there is only the Criminal Department, Zhao Huan and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of Industry, and there is only one Shangshu (equivalent to the deputy minister, generally two). Zhao Huan had no choice but to resign, he couldn't, he couldn't, but he couldn't wait for a reply.
In desperation, Zhao Huan finally wrote a letter of voluntary resignation. Zhao Huan's predecessor in the ministry, Sun Piyang, also resigned in the same way.
After Zhao Huan left, Wanli finally agreed to ask him to come back.
Zhao Huan thought that he had a chance this time, so he hurriedly wrote a letter to do work, but he didn't expect the stone to sink into the sea without a trace.
During this period, the news of the defeat of the Battle of Salhu came, the empire was threatened, and the hundred officials anxiously awaited the emperor's decision, but the emperor still ignored Wanli.
Zhao Huan still couldn't sit still, and praised him outside the Wenhua Gate, and asked the emperor to discuss countermeasures, Wanli did not listen to the 78-year-old Zhao Huan's dissuasion, and resolutely did not back down, and waited until the evening, and finally waited for Wanli's reply, in a word: retreat from the dynasty.
Zhao Huan was furious and said:"In the future, when the island gate is destroyed and the enemy knocks on the door, Your Majesty will still be able to rest in the palace. "
If it had been someone else, his head would have fallen off a long time ago.
Zhao Huan was not killed, but soon died of grief and anger.
Emperor Wanli was so negligent, so what exactly was he doing in the palace?
First of all, drinking and getting drunk are commonplace. It's not for work, it's for pleasure. Such a life created the fat body of the Wanli Emperor. As he walked, the eunuchs had to let him walk slowly forward with his stomach held up, looking at the Empress Dowager Cixi"Bow down"。
Wanli also often robbed money. He did not hand over the treasury, but transferred the looted money to the inner treasury (the emperor's private account).
He specialized in collecting more money from the salt industry, mining and other oil and water industries, Wanli plundered a lot, and a lot of money was swallowed by these eunuchs, Wanli didn't get much silver, and he sent more people to pay heavy taxes, which caused great dissatisfaction among the people.
Tianjin tax inspector Ma Tang and a group of 37 people were killed by more than 10,000 people in the province; Hubei tax inspector Chen Feng and a group of 16 people were thrown directly into the river by the people; More than 200 people in Yunnan were all killed by the people.
At that time, the court doctor Tian Da patiently criticized the Wanli Emperor:"Take money and jade as the root of life"。
Wanli is very generous to the people he likes. On Zheng Guifei's birthday, he rewarded 200,000 taels. At that time, the annual income of the whole country was 4 million taels, and Zheng Guifei's birthday gift was 5% of the national income.
It stands to reason that his mausoleum cost 8 million taels, after all, it was the emperor's posthumous affairs, but he spent 12 million taels to canonize all the princes.
During this period, the Ming Dynasty was under siege, and the Council provided 4 000 000 stone to the capital for the payment of ** and the army's military salary, and 8 330 000 stone to the Ming royal family.
But what if that's not enough? Then add taxes. Three times before and after, the tax rate was increased by 5.2 million taels, which is equivalent to doubling.
But does Miles know there's something wrong with his approach?
In February of the thirtieth year of Wanli, Wanli suddenly fell ill and urgently summoned Prime Minister Shen Zheng.
Emperor Wanli said:"Although I am seriously ill, I have been the emperor for many years and have no complaints. I have entrusted my children to you, sir, and ask the prince to assist you in his capacity as a king. At the beginning, we set up a mine supervisor to collect mining taxes, which was really a last resort, because the main hall had not yet been completed. We can stop here and recall all the eunuchs that have been dispatched.
The next day, Emperor Wanli came to his senses again, opened his eyes, and asked the eunuchs to rush to find Shen Cheng and save him.
When the eunuch came to Shen Guan's house, a minister in the ministry said no, and the Son of Heaven was speechless, because he said that we would send him down.
Shen Guan hesitated for a moment, and more than 20 eunuchs came to rescue Grandpa Niu one after another.
Shen always refused, the eunuchs knelt on the ground, blood was flying, and Shen always returned the holy decree to them. Shen had no choice but to return the decree to them.
In fact, not all eunuchs were in favor of the emperor retracting his ordination. The reason given by Tian Yi, the eunuch of the Ministry of Rites, angered the emperor, so the emperor took up his sword and tried to kill him. But Tian Yi still insisted on his opinion, and he didn't blink his eyelids. At the same time, the eunuch withdrew the decree of the gods.
Later, Tian Yi saw Shen Yiyi, took a sip, and said:"Wait a little longer, the mining tax will be abolished, why are you so cowardly? "He said:"Wait a little longer, the mining tax will be abolished, why are you so cowardly!
Shen, who is the first assistant, can only swallow his anger.
Wanli was the longest-reigning emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and ten years after his death, his Fajisi and Huang Taiji soldiers besieged the city of Beijing, and Zhao Huan was furious when he heard it"On the same day, the enemy knocked on the door, when will His Majesty be able to rest in the deep palace, did he say it was due to illness? "
Twenty-four years after his death, the Ming Kingdom was invited by the ministers of the Wanli Dynasty'Taiwan Province is empty, affairs are in ruins, and the country has lived in simplicity for more than 20 years, and there are no ministers to accommodate, and the world will have the worry of sinking'。
In 1956, 336 years after Wanli's death, Wanli Dinglin Temple was completed. Now, Jorinji Temple is open to the public and is crowded with tourists.
He did not like going to court during his lifetime, but after his death, tens of thousands of people visited him every day.