At midnight on July 19, the ninth year of the Zhengde reign of the Ming Dynasty, mourning bells rang in Beijing. The funeral ceremony of Emperor Zhengde of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Houzhao, was held today.
The Donghua Gate palace door opened wide, and Zhu Houzhao's coffin was first carried out of the palace by seventy-two coffin bearers. Then, amid the deafening music of ceremony, sixty-four flag-bearers, all in plain clothes, held high the Ten Thousand People's Umbrella and various flags.
Leading the way, followed by 1,600 Han generals
The battalion's honor guard, all in plainclothes, held the guard of honor to clear the way. Zhu Houzhao's huge golden nanmu coffin was carried by 128 coffins. Behind the coffin was a team of monks and Taoists, and at the end were the civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty and the emperor's relatives.
Chariots and horses.
The funeral procession of thousands of people continued continuously and filled the streets. The sounds of carriages and horses, the sounds of crying and shouting, and the sounds of monks and Taoists reciting scriptures with wooden fish and bells merged together.
This scene is really lively and pompous. What Zhu Houzhao liked most during his lifetime was the liveliness and pomp. This should be the last lively and pompous scene in his life as the protagonist.
The funeral procession came out from Donghua Gate, went south along Long Street, and circled the palace via East and West Chang'an Street. After bidding farewell to the palace, it headed west and left the city through Xizhimen.
On the long street, people were bustling like a tide. More than 100,000 people in the inner and outer cities stood along the street in plain clothes, watching the funeral procession pass by in front of them. When the coffin passed by, they were asked to kneel down, kowtow, and cry. But it was obvious that many people
It's not sadness that comes from the heart.
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In fact, for the people in the capital of the Ming Dynasty, their mood was a bit complicated. The death of the emperor was naturally not a good thing, and they should feel sad and sad. But in the nearly ten years since Zhengde ascended the throne, the people actually had nothing special about him.
I have a good impression, but I actually don’t feel too sorry or nostalgic. When the emperor dies, there will be a new emperor who will come and go, but it’s not like that.
The funeral procession left the city from Xizhimen and went straight to the imperial mausoleum on Wanshou Mountain in the northwest of the capital. Before noon, the door of the Tai mausoleum was opened, amidst the sounds of sad music and chanting, the tears of the emperor's relatives, civil and military ministers, and the hoarse voice of Empress Dowager Zhang.
cry
Amid shouts and torrential tears, the coffin was moved into the side tomb of the Tailing Mausoleum for temporary storage. The broken dragon stone was put down, and houses, buildings, carriages, horses, paper figures, gold ingots, and ingots were flying in the fire, and paper money scattered in the sky.
, all over the mountains and fields.
At this point, the life of Emperor Zhengde of the Ming Dynasty came to an end.
Zhu Houzhao's death was as hasty as his ascension to the throne. When Emperor Hongzhi died suddenly, Zhu Houzhao was still a teenager. He was pushed onto the throne of the emperor without even preparation and became the leader of the huge Ming Dynasty.
Master of the empire.
Zhu Houzhao loved to play and play since he was a child. Although he was the son of Emperor Hongzhi, his character was completely different from that of Zhu Youtang. His rebellious and out-of-touch temper may also be the reason why he was not liked by the Empress Dowager Zhang.
Emperor Hongzhi was a diligent emperor who focused on government affairs. He was busy every day, worrying about state affairs, and neglected to ask Zhu Houzhao. Zhu Houzhao was smart and knew how to deal with his father. Whenever his father asked about his studies, Zhu Houzhao would always ask questions.
With his cleverness and extensive knowledge, he could answer questions fluently, which made Zhu Youtang unaware of the seeds of rebellion and uneasiness in his character, and failed to correct his bad habits in time.
As for Queen Mother Zhang, her thoughts were on how to serve her husband well and her brothers from her mother's family. She paid little attention to this son. When they met, she scolded her more than loved her, and she appeared as a strict mother. After all,
The reason is that she still feels that this son is not the calm and calm character she likes in her husband. In other words, the relationship between mother and son is not right.
Zhu Houzhao grew up in this kind of atmosphere. In fact, he grew up barbarically and laissez-faire. He lacked the affection and love of his parents. Coupled with the deliberate pandering and temptation of Liu Jin and others around him, he became more and more desolate and hesitant.
He is also more and more rebellious towards the rules.
But to be fair, Zhu Houzhao actually did not do anything that was harmful to nature and made people and gods angry. After he took over, the Ming Dynasty was indeed in chaos, with several rebellions and people revolting, which caused an uproar and shocked the world. These things were very popular among the Ming emperors. Naturally,
It is responsible. However, we have to admit that these are the shortcomings and contradictions accumulated by the previous emperors of the Ming Dynasty, and they were caused by the concentrated outbreak in the Zhengde Dynasty.
The turmoil of a dynasty cannot simply be attributed to the behavior of a single person. The outbreak of long-standing abuses is not something that Zhu Houzhao can solve alone. Before the Zhengde Dynasty, the defeat of Emperor Yingzong's Tumu Fort was the turning point in the decline of the Ming Dynasty. Tumu
After the defeat of the fort, the Ming Dynasty was in a downward trend in terms of mentality. Since then, the atmosphere in the court has changed. It was originally a situation of forging ahead, and gradually turned into pursuing personal gain and living in a dream.
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The subsequent emperors also failed to reverse this trend. On the contrary, some even intensified internal conflicts and crises. Xianzong reigned for more than 20 years. Although he made some achievements, he had three major maladministrations during his reign.
Strengthening the establishment of secret service agencies such as the West Factory and Neihang, led to the rampant spirit of informing and false accusations in the court, and people at the top and bottom acted with fear and did not dare to act vigorously for fear of getting angry.
Xianzong used public weapons for private purposes, condoned the practice of selling officials and conferring titles, and appointed so-called ministers to grant official positions at will, which seriously damaged the fairness and impartiality of the political power and corrupted the administration of officials.
Furthermore, with the establishment of imperial estates, the royal family took the lead in amassing land and annexing the common people's fields. This led to the trend of annexing and annexing common people's fields. Originally, the royal family had restrained themselves somewhat, but the royal family took the lead, and everyone else would follow suit. Therefore, it became a trend that spread throughout the country.
The taxation and financial foundation of the Ming Dynasty was gradually destroyed. Mergers from above and below were like wolves and tigers. Farmers went bankrupt, and the court's finances and taxes dropped sharply. In addition, the court's extravagance and extravagance laid the foundation for a huge crisis.
When Emperor Hongzhi was in power, although he was known as the ZTE, he was also diligent in government affairs and enterprising. However, during his reign, he arbitrarily awarded acres of land to distinguished royal relatives, which led to the collapse of a large-scale tax base. A large number of homesteaders became
As tenant farmers, the imperial government suffered from financial and tax deficits year after year, and the crisis worsened.
Although Hongzhi won the reputation of a wise king, it was because of his actions as a good man. Whether it was his connivance with the civil servants of the foreign court or the reward of a large amount of land to the distinguished royal relatives, all of them were left to the dynasty that his son accepted.
Made a tattered mess.
There is a saying that it doesn’t hurt if you sell your farmland. Zhu Youtang can say that you don’t feel bad if you sell your farmland.
During his more than ten years in office, every family of a high-ranking official was rich and wealthy. There were many manors and they were incredibly large. For example, rising stars like Zhang Yanling and Zhang Heling, the Queen's natal family, and the two brothers owned many acres of land at their peak.
It amounts to 500,000 to 600,000 acres, not to mention the land owned by other established families.
Generously giving land to these people will naturally calm their hearts and win their support and praise. However, the people's lives are becoming more and more poor. The so-called ZTE does not exist at all. A large number of people are displaced and refugees are in chaos. In fact, it is already
It's normal.
The imperial court had to recruit a large number of refugees into the army to ensure social stability, which greatly increased the financial and tax burden. Military expenditures increased sharply, and the number of soldiers and horses was huge, but their combat effectiveness was average. Officers at all levels ate empty pay and military expenditures, like wolves and tigers.
Generally speaking, under the appearance of ZTE, it is actually extremely corrupt.
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Zhu Houzhao inherited a mess, but he was not the kind of capable and courageous emperor. He only had the ambition to become an emperor through the ages, but in fact he did not have the qualities to become an emperor through the ages. He also had a very stubborn temper.
Conflicts intensified when he took office, leading to the impeachment of the Eight Tigers. Although he won the victory, Liu Jian, Xie Qian and others were deposed, and many officials were dismissed, demoted or even killed. This made Zhu Houzhao already under the control of the foreign court.
abandon.
The reason why Zhu Houzhao has a bad reputation is that the ridiculous things in the palace are well known to the world, which is the result of the full publicity by the civil servants in the outer court. The civil servants are not great at anything else, but they are the most powerful talkers. Generally speaking, the courtiers naturally protect the reputation of the emperor.
, would not talk about the emperor's privacy and scandals, but the civil servants of the Zhengde Dynasty were in opposition to Zhu Houzhao and would not defend him. Instead, they privately publicized and slandered Zhu Houzhao to discredit Zhu Houzhao.
With such a court, such an emperor, and the chaotic actions of Liu Jin and others, it is expected that the world will be in chaos. The local vassal kings took advantage of the opportunity to take action, which was to see that Zhu Houzhao's foundation was shaken and he was able to accomplish something.
Maybe, we will take action only if there is a response.
In the Zhengde Dynasty, turmoil arose, which was inevitable. If Zhu Houzhao was truly capable, he might have delayed the occurrence of all this, but it could not be avoided.
But overall, Zhu Houzhao was not confused about some major matters. For example, when he found out that Zhang Yanling was a real capable minister and wanted to do things for the Ming Dynasty, he completely trusted him. He made firearms, he asked for the opening of sea restrictions, and opened up the
Zhu Houzhao supported measures such as overseas shipping lanes and fended off a lot of criticism for Zhang Yanling.
All in all, as a ruler of a dynasty, Zhu Houzhao is hardly qualified. But it is unfair to attribute all the faults to him.
In any case, he paid the price for his actions and died at a young age. It is meaningless to conclude the coffin. However, with his death, the disputes in the Ming Dynasty did not end, but may intensify and become more complicated and confusing.
Where will the Ming Dynasty go? Who will succeed the throne? Zhu Houzhao has no control over it.
At this moment, he is lying in the tomb of Tailing, the noisy crowd has gone away, and the darkness in the tomb shrouds his coffin. He has completed his short, noisy and chaotic life, and will forever remain in the vast unknown.
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