Chapter 342 Chapter 341 Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji

One night, Zhu Di, who was still the king of Yan at that time, suddenly had a dream. He dreamed that Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang gave him a big gui, and said to him, "Let it be passed on to the descendants, and it will be prosperous forever."Zhu Di was surprised when he woke up.A few days later, his eldest grandson came to the world.When Zhu Di saw the baby at the full moon, he was overjoyed and said excitedly: "The boy is full of heroism, and he fulfills my dream." This baby is Zhu Zhanji, Emperor Xuanzong who was regarded as the jewel in his palm by Zhu Di and was called the wise king by later generations.

Zhu Zhanji gradually grew up, and he was really intelligent, fond of books and studious, and was deeply loved by his ancestor Zhu Di.In order to make his grandson the wise king he wanted, Zhu Di devoted a lot of effort to Zhanji's growth.Seeing his grandson growing up in the deep palace for a long time without contact with the outside world, he tried to let him know the difficulties of farming and understand the customs and customs of the people.In the eighth year of Yongle (AD 1410), Zhu Di was going to inspect from Nanjing to Beijing, and he specially brought Zhanji along with him. Along the way, he let him experience the people's customs and customs and the hard work of farming and mulberry, and told him the difficulties of the great ancestor Zhu Yuanzhang in founding a country. Tell him the story of the rise and fall of ancient times, and ask him to take it as a warning.With this as the theme, the book "Wu Ben Xun" was specially compiled for Zhan Ji, and he was asked to keep learning and always keep in mind.In the ninth year of Yongle, 13-year-old Zhu Zhanji was established as the grandson of the emperor.From then on, Zhu Di always took Zhu Zhanji with him, whether he was patrolling Beijing or patrolling the borders, and taught him at any time, or lectured on scriptures and history, or taught the art of war, or observed the sufferings of the people. Lay the groundwork.

In the 22nd year of Yongle, with his father ascending the throne, Zhu Zhanji was established as the prince.A year later, his father Zhu Gaochi died of illness, and he ascended the throne as emperor for Xuanzong.The dating name is Xuande. Like ordinary emperors, Xuanzong announced amnesty at the beginning of his accession to the throne.But he has strict control over the release of officials.Although those sent to prison for corruption and breaking the law may be released from prison with pardon, they must be dismissed from office and serve the people. In terms of employing people for government, Xuanzong not only trusted and reused a group of experienced veterans such as Yang Pu, Yang Rong, Yang Shiqi, Jian Yi, Xia Yuanji, and Huang Huai, but also paid great attention to discovering and appointing new talents.In the third month of his accession to the throne, he notified the Ministry of Officials to recommend impartial and honest talents to the fifth rank and above in Beijing, the censor, and the minister, the chief executive, the second inspector, and the prefecture, prefecture, and county.In order to ensure the quality of talents and prevent favoritism, it is also stipulated that if a referee breaks the law, the recommender will sit together.Because Xuanzong paid attention to the administration of officials and made good use of talents, coupled with the better social foundation of Renzong, the Ming Dynasty at this time presented a scene of prosperity, which was called "the rule of Renxuan" in history.But at this moment, something that Xuanzong least wanted to happen happened.

Hanwang Zhu Gaoxu was Xuanzong's uncle.During the Yongle period, in order to compete for the position of the prince, he repeatedly framed Zhu Gaochi, and was later demoted to Le'an (now Guangrao, Shandong) by Zhu Di.When Renzong died, Zhanji traveled from Nanjing to Beijing for the funeral. Gao Xu had planned to intercept him on the road and usurp the throne himself.Due to the rush of things, it failed.In the second month of Xuanzong's accession to the throne, Gao Xu sent someone to send a memorial, and put forward four suggestions for benefiting the country and the people.When Xuanzong saw the memorial, he was very happy and said to the ministers: During the Yongle period, the emperor often told Huang Kao and me that this uncle had different ideas and we should guard against him, but Huang Kao was extremely kind to him.The four things he mentioned today are indeed out of sincerity, which shows that my uncle's old heart has changed.Therefore, Xuanzong ordered Yousi to implement Gao Xu's suggestion, and wrote back to express his gratitude.In the first year of Xuande (1426 A.D.), Gao Xu sent people to Beijing to contribute Lantern Festival lanterns.At this time, someone reported to Xuanzong that the King of Han was spying on the reality of the court in the name of offering lamps.Xuanzong graciously expressed that he should entertain with humility and not be suspicious.Xuanzong also responded to Gao Xu's request.When he asked for camels, Xuanzong gave him 40 camels at a time, and for horses, he gave him another 120, and for robes, he was satisfied.

However, all of this did not affect Gao Xu.In August of this year, he still raised the banner of rebelling against the imperial court and seeking the throne. Gao Xu first secretly sent people to sneak into Beijing in an attempt to invite Zhang Fu, the British prince, as an internal response, but was captured by Zhang Fu and sent to the court.Afterwards, Gao Xu asked Shandong Capital to command Jin Rong as the internal response to capture Jinan, planning to take Jinan first and then Beijing.Li Jun, the censor who was in Jinan at the time, learned of these situations, abandoned his family, changed his name and surname, and rushed to Beijing to call the police.But before he arrived, Gao Xu made trouble.He wrote to Xuanzong, accusing Renzong of violating the old system of Hongwu and Yongle, accusing Xuanzong of committing many mistakes, and reprimanding Xia Yuanji and others as treacherous ministers.At the same time, he also sent letters to the princes and ministers to provoke the relationship between the monarch and his ministers, and spread rumors to slander Xuanzong.

At this point, Xuanzong had no choice but to send troops to suppress the rebellion.In the middle of the night, Xuanzong summoned several confidant ministers, retreated to the left and right, and discussed the grand plan of the conquest.University scholar Yang Rong suggested that Xuanzong personally lead the expedition.He believed that Gao Xu must have felt that Xuanzong would not come to the battlefield in person just after he ascended the throne.At this time, the British Duke Zhang Fu took the initiative to ask for a fight, saying that Gao Xu had always been bluffing, but he was actually very cowardly inside, and Gao Xu could be captured with only 20,000 troops.Xia Yuanji reminded Xuanzong that Zhu Di raised Jingnan's soldiers, and Emperor Jianwen only sent Li Jinglong to conquer, but failed in the end.He also said that yesterday he saw some generals panicked as soon as they received the order to prepare for battle.Therefore, he suggested that the soldiers should be swift and fast, and that the royal driver should conquer in person, and first overwhelm the opponent in terms of momentum.Xuanzong adopted the opinions of Yang Rong and Xia Yuanji and decided to conquer Le'an himself.

Forward Xue Lu arrived in Le'an, and Gao Xu agreed to play the next day.At this time, Xuanzong was still nearly a hundred miles away from Le'an. After learning the news, he immediately ordered the army to march day and night.Wen Chen reminded Xuanzong to proceed with caution, while Wu Chen was afraid that there was an ambush between Lin Mang and advised him to leave the next day.Xuanzong said decisively, "Soldiers are precious and fast. If we can reach the city and set up camp, they will be like tigers in a well. Now that the army is overwhelming, how can these mobs care about setting up an ambush?" They rushed all night, and at dawn they finally arrived at Le Ann, surround the city.

Seeing that Xuanzong had surrounded the city, Gao Xu dared not go out to fight, but only fired artillery in the city.The general asked Xuanzong to order the siege of the city, but Xuanzong did not agree. Instead, he wrote two letters to Gao Xu to persuade him to surrender, but there was still no reply. The guards scrambled to pass it on to each other, and some people wanted to capture Gao Xu in order to get rewards for their meritorious service.Gao Xu saw that the army outside the city was pressing down on the border, and the army inside the city was not stable. He knew that the situation was over, and he was very depressed and afraid.He regretted that he had underestimated Xuanzong, and felt that he had no other way out, so he decided to surrender in order to be forgiven.So he secretly sent someone to Xuanzong's tent, begging Xuanzong to take a day off so that he could say goodbye to his wife and children, and promised to go out of the city to obey the law the next day.Xuanzong agreed to his request.

That night, Gao Xu destroyed all the privately made weapons and the documents that secretly discussed the rebellion.After dawn, Gao Xu was about to leave the city to surrender, but his subordinate Wang Bin and others tried their best to stop him, saying that he would fight to the death, and would rather die in battle than surrender and be humiliated.Gao Xu just sighed repeatedly: "The city is too small, the city is too small." As soon as Wang Bin left, he quietly changed his clothes and sneaked out of Le'an City to meet Xuanzong.Xuanzong did not agree to the proposal of the ministers to execute Gao Xu, but only showed the impeachment papers of the ministers to Gao Xu, and then asked him to summon a few sons back to Beijing.

Xuanzong won without a fight.He punished the main counselors and generals who actively followed Gao Xu's rebellion, and pardoned most of the followers, changed Le'an Prefecture to Wuding Prefecture, left Xue Lu and Shangshu Zhang Ben to govern, and led the army to triumph. After Gao Xu was escorted to Beijing, he was abolished as a commoner, given preferential treatment in life, and imprisoned in Xi Nei, named Xiaoyao City.In the fourth year of Xuande (1429 A.D.), Xuanzong went to visit Gao Xu with good intentions, but Gao Xu was caught by surprise and hooked Xuanzong to the ground with his feet.Xuanzong became furious at this, and immediately ordered the Hercules to find a large copper vat weighing more than 300 jins, and dunk Gao Xu into the vat.Relying on his courage, Gao Xu lifted the vat up.Xuanzong ordered people to bury the copper cylinder with charcoal, and then burned Gao Xu to death with fire.

Gao Sui, who was named the king of Zhao, took the initiative to hand over his guards after Han Wang Gaoxu was put down, and was more careful.So far, Xuanzong's position has been unshakable. During Zhu Yuanzhang's time, the government was very strict.In the last years of Yongle, corruption in the officialdom began to rise. In the reign of Renzong Hongxi, due to the development of production and the long peace, the corruption of officials became more and more popular.Xuanzong knew very well that whether the administration of officials was clear or not was related to the rise and fall of the court.Therefore, he paid great attention to promoting and appointing upright and talented newcomers, dismissing ineffective and mediocre officials, and punishing corrupt officials. In June of the third year of Xuande (1428 A.D.), Emperor Xuanzong boarded the imperial city and looked from a distance. Suddenly, he found that there was a large-scale construction in a place far away, and the scale was very grand. Zhizhiwuwu refused to answer, and after repeated questioning, he found out that Wu Zhong, Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry, used the wood and stones from the official factory to build a private house for him.Xuanzong was furious, and immediately ordered Wu Zhong to be imprisoned. This incident once again made Xuanzong feel the need to strengthen the power of inspectors.Yang Shiqi and Yang Rong recommended Gu Zuo, the history of general affairs, to him.Gu Zuo used to be Yingtian Yin. He was upright, honest and powerful, and was compared to Baogong at that time.After hearing Er Yang's introduction, Xuanzong immediately made a decision and promoted Gu Zuo to be the censor of Youdu. After Gu Zuo was ordered, he really lived up to Xuanzong's great trust.As soon as he arrived at the Metropolitan Procuratorate, he first inspected all the censors in the court, and relegated 20 incompetent ones to Liaodong as officials, another 8 were demoted, and 3 were dismissed from office.At the same time, more than 40 upright and promising people were recommended as censors.Chao Gang was inspired, and Xuanzong also highly appreciated Gu Zuo's drastic actions. After appointing Gu Zuo, Emperor Xuanzong promoted Shao Qi, the inspector of Fujian, as the censor of Nanjing.Shao Qi was meticulous and asked Xuanzong to dismiss more than 20 incompetent censors.So far, there is Gu Zuo in the north, Shao Qi in the south, the north and the south echo, the corrupt officials are quiet, and Ji Gang is awe-inspiring. Xuanzong severely punished corrupt officials, and he showed no mercy to mediocre, ignorant and ignorant officials.Cabinet scholars Zhang Ying and Chen Shan were former ministers of the East Palace when Xuanzong was the prince, and they had a deep friendship. However, after Xuanzong came to power, he gradually found that the two of them were ignorant and had nothing to do in their positions. Wait for his opinion from Yang Shiqi and others After being verified, Xuanzong did not favor them because they were his old people, but removed them from the cabinet.Chen Shan was sent to teach the young eunuch, while Zhang Ying was demoted to Nanjing to be the Minister of Rites. Under Xuanzong's strong advocacy, ministers such as Jian Yi, Xia Yuanji and "Three Yangs" recommended a large number of honest and honest officials to serve as governors of the government and prefectures.Many of these people became upright officials in Ming history.For example, Kuang Zhong, who was famous in later generations, was recommended by Jian Yi and others as the magistrate of Suzhou in the fifth year of Xuande.At that time, Suzhou's tax burden was the heaviest in the country.Corrupt officials took this opportunity to seek personal gain and commit fraud.After Kuang Zhong took office, he was promoted to office for the first time. Facing a lot of official documents brought by the group of officials, he pretended not to understand anything, asked left and right for advice, and handled everything according to their instructions.The group of officials were overjoyed, thinking that they had run into another confused magistrate. Three days later, Kuang Zhong summoned the group of officials and brought out the things that had been done three days ago, telling the group of officials which things should be done but they stopped them, and which things should not be done but they forced him to do, He also counted their various fraudulent activities, and beat and killed several leading treacherous officials on the spot.At the same time, repel all those cowardly and greedy people.This incident not only shocked the Suzhou government, but also spread to the court.Kuang Zhong won the trust of Xuanzong and the support of the people of Suzhou.His mother passed away. According to feudal etiquette, he had to leave his post and keep his filial piety for three years. However, under the strong demands of the people, Xuanzong had to let him stay in filial piety.Later, when his term expired, he was relocated, and more than 20,000 people asked the inspector to let him serve again.Xuanzong once again agreed to the request of the people.Because Xuanzong hired some officials like Kuang Zhong, the politics in Xuande years were relatively clear. Xuanzong often told his courtiers the deeds of those emperors who paid attention to recuperating with the people in history, thus bringing about peace and prosperity.Such as Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing of the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty, Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty and so on.He also paid special attention to absorbing the historical lessons of those emperors who were so extravagant and extravagant that they ended up in disaster and ruined the country.He once compared Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty with Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, and believed that although Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty made great achievements and wasted money at home, he could still punish his past mistakes in his later years.However, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty had a style of chastity when he was in power, but later he was greedy for fame and indulged in lust, which finally led to disaster.This is where Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty was better than Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty.In order to avoid prosperity and decline, and order and chaos, he often took Sui Yangdi and Tang Xuanzong as his warnings.He summed up such a historical experience: the prosperity of a country lies in recuperating with the people; the weakness of a country must be caused by civil wars. Based on this understanding, Xuanzong paid great attention to understanding and caring about the sufferings of the people.In March of the fifth year of Xuande (AD 1430), Xuanzong traveled to the eastern suburbs of Changping on his way back to Beijing from a visit to the imperial mausoleum. He saw several farmers plowing the land beside the road, so he brought several officials to the field and dismounted. Talking to the peasants, asking about the year and life, and taking the plow from the peasants and pushing it three times, he said: "I am tired of pushing the plow three times, let alone working like this for many years. People often say that no one is as hardworking as a farmer. Sure enough." So he rewarded each farmer with 60 ingots.Afterwards, all the passing farmers were given money.After returning to Beijing, Xuanzong personally wrote an article "The Story of the Farmer" to motivate himself and the ministers.In the seventh year of Xuande, Xuanzong wrote another piece of "Weaving Women's Ci", and asked people to draw a picture and hang it in the palace.For this reason, he told the courtiers that it was not because he was good at writing poems to show off, but because Nongsang was the foundation of food and clothing.That's why poems are made, which are often passed down and not forgotten, and paintings are hung up to let the concubines know the hardships of the people. Xuanzong asked the court to take the lead in frugality, and opposed the practice of extorting money from the people for the emperor's enjoyment and enriching the treasury.He believes that if the king is respectful and thrifty, the household registration will increase and the wealth will naturally be sufficient.When he first came to the throne, a Minister of the Ministry of Industry suggested to him that there was not enough imperial utensils in the palace, so he had to go to the people to buy them.Xuanzong stopped and said: "The clothes and curtains of Han Wendi have no patterns and colors, and it is said that they are respectful and frugal and love the people. I also want to set an example for my ministers by being frugal." A monk claimed to build a temple to bless him for a long life , was reprimanded by him.He said: "People want to live a few more years. In ancient times, kings like Zhongzong, Gaozong, Zujia in the Shang Dynasty, and King Wen in the Zhou Dynasty ruled the country for the longest time. Say? Emperor Qin Shihuang and Emperor Wu of Han prayed to gods and immortals, Emperor Wu of Liang and Emperor Huizong of Song respected monks and Taoism. Also strongly against the wind of luxury.When building the mausoleum for his father Emperor Renzong, he followed Renzong's will, planned it himself, practiced strict economy, and built the mausoleum in only three months.Xianling is much smaller in scale and cost than Chengzu's Changling.It has made a good appearance for the tombs of future generations of emperors.It was only when Sejong built the Yongling Mausoleum that it became extravagant and gorgeous again. In the third year of Xuande, Jian Yi, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, suggested to Xuanzong to abolish internal and external redundant officials in order to implement the policy of frugality. He immediately got his support and asked Jian Yi to be responsible for this matter.The declaration also forbids officials from harassing the people.Every time he set off, he repeatedly warned the soldiers: "Anyone who dares to disturb the people will be killed without mercy." Zhong Fabao, the commander of Jinyiwei, suggested to go to Dongguan to pick pearls. Xuanzong believed that he was "disturbing the people for profit", and he was dismissed from office and imprisoned.Wu Zhong, Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry, believed that Guoyuan Temple in Shanxi was a place blessed by the state, and wanted to recruit labor to repair the old pagoda. Xuanzong said: "You want to build a pagoda for blessing, but I want to bring peace to the people." His request was rejected. Exempting land tax and opening warehouses for disaster relief are the methods Xuanzong often adopted to help people in disaster-stricken areas.A county magistrate in Henan distributed more than 1,000 Shiyi food to the victims without asking for instructions.It is a serious crime to use the imperial rations without permission. However, Xuanzong not only did not get angry when he knew about it, but praised the county magistrate as a smart and competent county magistrate.Natural disasters often occurred at that time, and the people moved around in order to escape the famine.Many local governments are afraid of the rebellion of the refugees, and often send troops to arrest them.Xuanzong ordered many times to stop it.He has repeatedly emphasized that the exile of the hungry people is due to helplessness, and it would be "extremely inhumane" to drive them away and make them homeless.Sometimes, some refugees settled down in one place and gradually established a family business, but the government in these places often deported them back to their original places.In this regard, Xuanzong issued an apology.He believes that no matter where the land is, it is the land, as long as the people can live in peace.It is this kind of people-oriented thinking that made the people in the Xuande period relatively stable. In December of the ninth year of Xuande, Zhu Zhanji suddenly fell ill.In the first month of the tenth year of Xuande, the Shoucheng Mingjun, who was often praised by later generations, died of illness in Qiande Palace in Beijing at the age of 38.In June, Zhu Zhanji was buried in Jingling, posthumously titled "Emperor Xiaozhang", temple name "Xuanzong", also known as Emperor Xuande in history books.