Emperor Xiaozong of Ming Dynasty

Zhu Youji

Zhu Youchu, Emperor Xiaozong of Ming Dynasty

(July 30, 1470 to June 8, 1505), male, Han nationality, reigned from 1487 to 1505, with the age of Hongzhi. He was the ninth emperor of the Ming Dynasty and the third son of Zhu Jianshen, Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty. His mother was empress dowager xiaomuji.

In September 1487, he ascended the throne. He was generous, merciful, thrifty, not close to women. He was diligent in politics, attached importance to justice, and made great efforts to reverse the state of corruption, expel the treacherous and sycophantic, diligent in politics, and made great efforts to govern. He appointed Wang Shu, Liu Daxia and other upright ministers, which is known as "the resurgence of governance". In the late Ming Dynasty, Zhu Guozhen, the first assistant of the cabinet in Wanli period, said: "the virtuous leader of the following three generations is Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty and Emperor Xiaozong of the Ming Dynasty."

In 1605, Emperor Hongjing died in emperor Taicheng's tomb.

Life experience

Early experience

Zhu Youzhe, the emperor of filial piety in Ming Dynasty, had a very rough and unfortunate childhood. His biological mother, Ji's, was the daughter of the chieftain surnamed Ji in Guangxi. After the rebellion of Ji's, the girl, Ji's, was captured in the palace to manage the emperor's private money. Once upon a time, Xianzong passed by and saw Ji's beauty and intelligence, so he stayed overnight. Afterwards, Ji became pregnant. When Princess Wan, who is in favor of the crown, knows about it, she orders a maid in waiting to have an abortion for Ji. Ji's popularity is very good. The palace people sent by him can't bear to start. When they repay Princess Wan, they lie that they have a tumor in their belly instead of being pregnant. Princess Wan is still not at ease and orders Ji to be demoted to the cold palace. Ji's family secretly gave birth to Zhu Youzhe in the cold palace in the shadow of Princess Wan. When Princess Wan learned of this, she sent Zhang Min, the gate supervisor, to drown the new prince. However, Zhang Min risked her life to help Ji hide the baby secretly and feed it with rice flour every day. Empress Wu, who was rejected by Princess Wan, also helped to raise her baby. Princess Wan searched several times, but failed to find it. In this way, Zhu Youzhe has been eating a hundred meals until he was six years old.

One day, when Zhang Min combed his hair for Xianzong, Xianzong sighed and said, "I'm getting old, and I don't have a son yet." Zhang Min said: "long live, I have a son." Xianzong was surprised and asked what happened. Zhang Mincai told the truth. Emperor Xianzong was overjoyed and immediately ordered to pick up the prince. When Emperor Xianzong first saw his thin son, whose hair had not been cut and dragged to the ground because of his long-term confinement, he could not help but burst into tears. On that day, all the ministers were called together to tell the truth. The next day, the imperial edict was issued to the whole world, and Zhu Youchu was made the crown prince, and Ji was granted the title of Shufei. But then Ji's family died suddenly in the palace, and Zhang Min, the gate supervisor, also killed himself by swallowing gold. Obviously, the death of Princess Ji and Zhang Min is directly related to the persecution of Princess Wan. Empress Dowager Zhou, the mother of emperor Xianzong, worried that Princess Wan would poison the prince, so she held her grandson in her Renshou palace, so that the prince could live safely in the palace.

Succeeding to the throne

In the spring of 1487, Princess Wan died, and Emperor Xianzong died in August. The crown prince Zhu Youli succeeded to the throne on renyin day in September. In the second year, it was changed to Hongzhi, which was named Xiaozong of Ming Dynasty. However, what emperor Xianzong left to 18-year-old Prince Zhu Youzhe was a country with disordered government and poor national strength. In this stage full of holes arranged by heaven, Emperor Xiaozong turned the tide with his tolerance and diligence, which made the Ming Dynasty prosper.

Rational governance

Due to the frustrations of his childhood, Xiaozong was always weak and ill. However, Xiaozong was diligent in politics. He not only arrived every day in the early Dynasty, but also reopened the Wu Dynasty, which gave ministers more opportunities to assist the emperor in handling government affairs. At the same time, he reopened the banquet to consult the ministers on the way of governing the country. Xiaozong also opened the Wenhua hall to discuss politics. Its function was to discuss the way of governing the country and political affairs with the cabinet in the spare time of the early and afternoon dynasties.

Zhu Youzhe advocated to speak out, to be kind, to be thrifty, to be diligent in politics, and to pay attention to justice. Emperor Xiaozong's hard work was finally rewarded. It was a peaceful period of economic prosperity and people's living and working in peace in the history of Ming Dynasty that emperor Hongzhi kept officials clean, appointed talents, restrained officials, worked hard in politics, advocated economy and rested with the people. It is called "Hongzhi Zhongxing" by historians.

Later period of rule

Because of his difficult childhood, Xiaozong has been in poor health. He hopes to change his physical condition through Buddhism and Taoism. As a result, some crafty and sycophantic people once again mixed into the palace and once again disturbed the government. Eunuch Li Guang is one of them, and he is deeply trusted by the emperor Xiaozong. Later, Li Guangwei committed suicide. Xiaozong thought that there was a letter from heaven in Li Guang's family. He ordered someone to search for it, but found out Li Guang's account book of corruption and bribery. Xiaozong realized this. The Li Guang incident awakened the emperor Xiaozong, who had been sleeping for many years and worked hard for governance. He began the second and last diligent period in his life. Zhu Youchu began to constantly reflect on his past actions, re distancing himself from his courtiers and reusing Liu Daxia, Dai Shan and other courtiers, and vigorously rectifying the imperial platform. However, the excessive work intensity also completely brought down his body.

die young

In 1505, Zhu Youzhe died in the Qianqing Palace at the age of 36. On his deathbed, he summoned Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, Xie Qian and others to Qianqing palace to take care of their orders. The order was passed on to the crown prince Zhu houzhao, and told Zhu Qing: "the crown prince is very clever, but he is still young and happy. Zhu Qing should help him to take on the important responsibility, and I will die in peace." Finally, the last instruction to Prince Zhu houzhao was to "appoint virtuous officials".

Political initiatives

See data:

Hongzhi Zhongxing

Politics

He is not rigidly conservative. He dares to deny his predecessor's policy, that is, the established policy of his father Ming Xianzong, and boldly set things right. During the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Xianzong favored Buddhism and Taoism, which led to many sycophants mixing into the court. Zhu Youzhe ordered that the court should not worship Buddhism and Taoism. He removed all the titles of the former dynasty, such as the king of law, the national teacher, the real person, and the son of the state, and executed the evil monk Jixiao, which made the civil and military officials celebrate each other.

In terms of personnel arrangement, Zhu Youzhe had a complete exchange of blood. He dealt with the former dynasty's paper paste three cabinet elders, clay sculpture six ministers, and treacherous villains such as Li Zisheng, eunuch Liang Fang, and Wan Xi, the younger brother of Princess Wan. He dismissed Wan'an, the cabinet chief assistant, and sent Liang Fang to prison. He exiled Li Zisheng. At the same time, he dismissed more than a thousand people, such as Kuai Gang, the right Tongzheng Ren Jieshi Lang. But he didn't kill a lot. Historians praised him for his action.

Zhu Youzhe devoted his life to people. He pasted the list of officials above grade four on the wall of Wenhua hall in the palace. He kept it in mind at ordinary times, so as to grasp the official trends and avoid being hoodwinked. He went to the court every day to listen to the government. In addition to the early court, he also restored the system of the late court, which had long been abandoned. He often read memorials very late and never allowed eunuchs to approve memorials. One day, a fire broke out in Renshou palace. People rushed to put out the fire. After a busy night, Zhu Youzhe didn't catch his eyes. So he didn't go to court. He specially sent someone to the court to explain the reason to the ministers and ask them for leave.

In terms of employment criteria, Zhu Youzhe followed the principle of only virtuous and only virtuous, and made a great deal of use of talented people, thus forming a peaceful and prosperous situation of "many gentlemen in Hongzhi Dynasty". He formulated a strict official evaluation system, and promoted officials mainly based on their achievements.

Zhu Youchu was very generous to his subordinates, and he was able to confide in his heart. He never whipped his ministers. Therefore, the monarchs and ministers were very close, just like a family. It's not a big deal for a feudal emperor to be so kind and peaceful to his subordinates. When a Beijing official returns home at night, he will send his troops to carry lights. But it's not easy for him to be so kind to his subordinates. In this way, a large number of honest, diligent, enterprising and country oriented officials have the opportunity to display their talents, which is a rare collection of good officials in history. Zhu Youzhe also spoke widely and accepted remonstrations with an open mind. In addition to the daily morning and evening court, the relevant ministers are summoned twice a day on the platform for discussion, which is called "platform summoning".

In view of the lesson of the previous eunuch's dictatorship and disorderly administration, Xiaozong strictly controlled the eunuch. Dongchang and Jinyi guards no longer dare to act arbitrarily, but can only abide by their own duties. Therefore, several Jinyi commanders were able to uphold the law fairly and use punishment leniently. This is a rare phenomenon in other dynasties in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Youzhe corrected the legal system and was very careful in the application of penalty. In 1500, the "Regulations on interrogation and punishment" was formulated, and in 1502, the "code of the Ming Dynasty" was compiled, which deleted many brutal decrees in the original "law of the Ming Dynasty". He was ordered to be cautious in punishment and prison, and the law enforcement officials he appointed were more wise and fair.

Economics

After the orthodoxy, the biggest problem of the Ming Dynasty was that there were few famous officials who knew foreign lands and border affairs, few civil servants who knew military affairs, and all military practitioners used the ancient law to deduce. On the contrary, there were many famous officials, among whom Xie chaoxuan, Li Shao, Chen Jin and Mu Kun were the most farsighted frontier officials of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Youzhe was considerate of people's livelihood and kind to the people. He often reduced local taxes. Local officials memorialized the request for exemption from the tax due to the disaster, and he agreed without exception. Besides duty-free grain, he also gave the poor wheat and cattle. He also prohibited the imperial clan and the royal family from inviting the land and being offered by others, and prohibited the powerful families from plundering the people's interests. On one occasion, Zhu Youchu specially sent his men to deliver sheep and wine to the Yellow River construction site to reward Liu Daxia and river workers for harnessing the Yellow River.

The main measures of emperor Xiaozong of Ming Dynasty were to build water conservancy, develop agriculture and prosper economy. In the second year of Hongzhi (1489), the Yellow River burst in Kaifeng. Xiaozong ordered Bai ang, the left Minister of the household department, to lead 50000 people to repair it. In the fifth year of Hongzhi (1492), the Susong river was silted up and inundated. filial piety

Chinese PinYin : Ming Xiao Zong