Chapter 346 Chapter 345 Xiaozong Zhu Youtang

On August 6th in the 23rd year of Chenghua (1487 A.D.), Emperor Xianzong Zhu Jianshen died.On September 6, the 18-year-old crown prince Zhu Youtang succeeded his father on the throne of the emperor. The next year was the first year of Hongzhi (1488 AD), which was Xiaozong. Xiaozong's mother, Ji Shi, was just a little girl Shi (the name of a court lady). She was originally a Yao nationality girl in He County, Guangxi. Send it to Beijing.Because of Ji's outstanding beauty and intelligence, he learned Chinese well within a few years after entering the palace, so he was ordered to manage the collection of books in the palace.In the autumn of the sixth year of Chenghua, Emperor Xianzong came to the study by chance and saw that Ji's family was as beautiful as flowers and jade, and he should be worthy of the decree, so he was happy and lucky, so he became pregnant.When Ji was pregnant with a dragon son, she violated the taboo of the concubine Wan Gui, who was favored by Xianzong.When Ji was pregnant, Concubine Wan Gui once paid attention to her. The other court ladies lied that she was a sick person, so she was demoted to An Le Tang.Soon after Zhu Youtang was born, Ji's family endured the pain and handed him over to Zhang Min, the gate supervisor, to drown him.

Zhang Min is a kind person. He thought that the emperor had no children, so he secretly fed Zhu Youtang behind the back of Wan Guifei. saved his life.Gradually Zhu Youtang grew up to be 6 years old. One spring day in the eleventh year of Chenghua (1475 A.D.), Emperor Xianzong called Zhang Min to comb his hair, and sighed to the mirror: "The old man is approaching, and he has no heirs yet!" Min told him about Zhu Youtang.Xianzong was overjoyed and immediately sent someone to pick him up.When Zhu Youtang went to see his father, the fetal hair had not been cut off, and it hung down to the back of his neck. When he saw Xianzong, he threw himself into Xianzong's arms according to his mother's confession, and called "Dad" loudly.Xianzong looked at it for a long time, mixed with sadness and joy, and said again and again: "This child is like me, he is really my son!" Then the Ministry of Rites named it and canonized Ji as concubine Shu.After all, Concubine Ji was not able to escape the bad luck, and soon died suddenly in her new residence, Yongshou Palace.Concubine Ji's death was said to have been poisoned by Concubine Wan Gui, and others said to have been strangled to death by someone sent by her. Since Emperor Xianzong didn't investigate further, the matter was left alone.The death of his mother made Zhu Youtang extremely sad, and he looked like an adult for a long time.In November of this year, Zhu Youtang was registered as the prince.Later, he came to the throne as Xiaozong.

This experience in the harem had a great influence on Xiaozong, which formed his character of hatred and hatred.In a very short time after he came to the throne, Emperor Xiaozong severely punished the eunuch Liang Fang, the right servant Li Zisheng of the Ministry of Rites and others.The eunuch Liang Fang was the favorite of Concubine Wan Gui. He had donated a large number of beautiful pearls and treasures to her and gained his favor. Some treacherous people got official positions including the minister of Taichang Temple through his door.On the sixth day of his reign, Emperor Xiaozong sent him to imperial prison.Li Zisheng was banished and punished because he did a lot of evil by relying on Concubine Wan Gui, openly manipulated the cabinet ministers to remove and promote officials at will, and was punished and guarded on the border.Two months later, Xiaozong ordered the dismissal of the Chuanfeng officials, and the expulsion of all those entertainers and monks who had falsely received official salaries. There were as many as 3,000 people in total.Next, Xiaozong took the traitor who was in the cabinet again, and first dismissed the officials of Wan'an.Wan'an's backer was also Concubine Wan Gui. In order to curry favor with this woman, he shamelessly called himself her nephew.When Xiaozong was still the prince, he was very disgusted with this person. After he ascended the throne, he found a box of memorials in the palace. Zou Shu went to the cabinet to find Wan An and severely accused him: "Is this something written by the minister?!" Wan An was so ashamed that he was sweating and couldn't say a word.Xiaozong then ordered his removal from office.In addition, Xiaozong also punished some other traitors in various ways.During the cleaning process, Xiaozong paid attention to the methods and methods, and did not kill.The one who had his head cut off was Ji Xiao, a monk who committed a heinous crime against Xianzong.A series of acts worthy of the name of sageness, like a storm that washes away the dirt, has suddenly reduced the number of villains in the court.This has played a role in removing obstacles for a comprehensive political refresh.

Combined with dismissing traitors and sycophants is appointing talents.In order to get acquainted with the situation of the officials, in March of the first year of Hongzhi, Emperor Xiaozong ordered the two departments of officials and soldiers to copy all the names of the ministers of civil and military affairs in the two capitals, and the officials above the prefect outside the prefecture, and paste them on the wall of Wenhua Hall. Those who are not allowed to change at any time.He also instructed the Ministry of Officials and the Metropolitan Procuratorate many times: "The main criterion for promoting and dismissing officials is to see whether the person has actual achievements." minister.

After Xiaozong ascended the throne, he also paid great attention to spreading the word, so shortly after he came to power, a vivid situation of courtiers writing letters was formed.For example, in March of this year, Ma Wensheng, the censor of the capital, made a statement on the fifteen things about current affairs, one of which was "saving expenses to relieve the hardships of the people's lives." One point will benefit the people." The words are extremely sharp and profound.Xiaozong appreciated this suggestion very much, praised Ma Wensheng, and ordered to reduce palace expenses.Since orthodoxy, the emperor can face his ministers only once a day in the early morning, and the ministers are limited by time, so they can only visit and talk for a while.As a result, the emperor had very little time to meet with the ministers, so he had to listen to the opinions of the eunuchs on some major issues, and he knew very little about the ministers.In view of this situation, Wang Shu, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, suggested that, in addition to the early court, Xiaozong had better summon the ministers in the side hall every day to discuss political affairs, read his memorials in person, and issue instructions.Wang Shu believes that this will not only enable the emperor to deepen his understanding of the ministers, but also improve his ability to deal with political affairs, so that correct opinions can be implemented.After Xiaozong heard it, he found it very reasonable, so he began to increase the number of "noon courts". He met ministers at Zuoshunmen every day, listened to their opinions on political affairs, and made many important decisions.

History books can often see examples of the new monarch who was diligent in government affairs at the beginning of his accession to the throne, and then neglected.The monarchs of the Ming Dynasty were particularly obvious.But Xiaozong was an exception. Many advantages of Hongzhi's early years have almost been maintained since then. The reason why Xiaozong was able to do this was that around Xiaozong, there were a group of ministers who were loyal to the court, such as Wang Shu, Ma Wensheng, Liu Daxia, Liu Jian, Xie Qian, Li Dongyang and others, who made great contributions to his efforts to govern.Among the officials, Xiaozong trusted Wang Shu the most, and because of Wang Shu, Xiaozong was like a tiger with wings added to his glory.Wang Shu was a veteran minister who was forced to retire by Emperor Xianzong in the last years of Chenghua. He was known for his "good outspokenness".Two months after Xiaozong ascended the throne, due to the recommendation of many ministers, he was appointed Minister of the Ministry of Officials, and he has been working for nearly 6 years.Wang Shu was very grateful for the good appointment of the new king. During his tenure, in addition to being able to criticize the current malpractice, he was loyal to his duty and introduced many talents including Liu Daxia to Xiaozong.Ma Wensheng was also appreciated by Emperor Xiaozong.This is a minister with both literary talent and military strategy. In the second year of Hongzhi (1489 AD), he was promoted from Zuodu Yushi to Minister of the Ministry of War and admiral of the 12th Battalion.After Ma Wen was promoted to the post, due to the lack of military equipment, he vigorously reorganized the army and dismissed more than 30 incompetent generals.As a result, the resentment of the demoted general was aroused. Some people waited at his door with bows at night, trying to assassinate him, and some wrote slanderous letters and shot them into the palace.Xiaozong immediately ordered Jin Yiwei to arrest him, and specially dispatched 12 knights to guard Ma Wensheng from time to time.A few years later, Xiaozong still regarded the use of loyal and good people as a guarantee for governing the government, and successively promoted Liu Jian, Xie Qian, Li Dongyang and others to the cabinet to participate in the maintenance.Regarding the petitions and opinions of the cabinet ministers, although Xiaozong was able to listen to most of them at the beginning, sometimes he did not agree with them all, but later he saw that these people were indeed assisting with one heart, and his trust was greatly strengthened.All court ministers accepted all requests for memorials, and the relationship with them was extremely harmonious. Because Liu Jian had served as a lecturer when he was the prince, he always called him Mr. and respected him exceptionally.When Xiaozong met with Liu Jian and others, he often asked people on the right and left to step down. According to these people, Xiaozong obeyed what he said to his cabinet ministers, and often praised them for kindness. This kind of situation is indeed rare among monarchs and ministers.

Xiaozong also did many good things in reducing the burden on the people.This is reflected in the reduction or exemption of tax collection in the disaster-stricken areas.From the beginning of the exemption of autumn grain due to disasters in Henan in the third year of Hongzhi, he almost without exception agreed to the request for exempting taxes due to disasters in the annual report.In the sixth year of Hongzhi, there was a severe famine in Shandong due to the disaster. After Xiaozong heard about it, he sent more than 500,000 taels of money and more than 2 million dans of rice to the disaster area, and sent officials to supervise the distribution. The lives of more than 2.6 million disaster victims were lost.In order to control the floods in the Yellow River and the south of the Yangtze River, Emperor Xiaozong ordered Liu Daxia to come to Shandong in July of the fifth year of Hongzhi and sit in Yanggu.Liu Daxia lived up to his mission and completed a number of water conservancy projects. After two years, he finally conquered the water damage.Xu Guan, the servant of the Ministry of Industry who was ordered to control the flood in the south of the Yangtze River, also fulfilled the imperial order brilliantly.He conducted extensive investigation and research in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, and determined a relatively complete water control plan. He built and connected 135 rivers, ports, Jing, lakes, and embankments in one fell swoop, so that the floods could pass through the channels in Wusong and Baimao without obstruction. The earth leaked into the sea, getting rid of a major scourge that threatened the main economic area of ​​the imperial court.

While benevolent to the people, Xiaozong continued to accept advice with an open mind, encouraged the atmosphere of speaking out, got close to ministers, stayed away from villains, was diligent in political affairs, and behaved quite wisely.In leap March of the ninth year of Hongzhi, Shao Zhan Shi Wang Hua gave him a lecture on "University Yanyi" in the Wenhua Palace, and took the opportunity to expose the close relationship between the eunuch Li Fuguo and Queen Zhang, who recruited power and accepted bribes.After Li Fuguo found out about this, he immediately retaliated, saying that Wang Hua had all kinds of bad deeds and should be expelled.Xiaozong didn't listen to the nonsense, instead he laughed and ordered Zhongguan to give Wang Hua food to show his closeness.In February of the tenth year of Hongzhi, Emperor Xiaozong spent too long playing in the back garden, and Wang Jia, a scholar of the lecturer, repeatedly advised him. Xiaozong did not accept it at the time, but he did not blame him afterwards. Instead, he said to the eunuch who induced him to have fun: "The lecturer pointed out this The shortcoming is completely correct, it is a sincere feeling, and it is completely for my sake!" Since then, I no longer go hunting in the back garden for pleasure.In order to guide the ministers to speak up, Xiaozong often brought up this matter, asking people to know everything.In order to eliminate the worries of lecturers, avoid lecturers to wait and see, and refused to speak out boldly, he specially summoned Liu Jian and others, and said: "The lectures must speak the words of those sages, so it's okay to be so blunt." The cabinet ministers: "Don't worry about passing on my words to you as an official." Xiaozong is so open-minded, which is rare among the monarchs of the Ming Dynasty.

In order to strengthen the military power, in the fifteenth year of Hongzhi (AD 1502), Emperor Xiaozong promoted Liu Daxia, who had made great contributions to repairing the Yellow River, from Yushi, the left deputy capital of the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi military affairs, to Minister of the Ministry of War.During his tenure as Minister of the Ministry of War, Liu Daxia wanted to carry out some reforms, so he often told Xiaozong the real situation among the people.Once, Emperor Xiaozong summoned Liu Daxia in the side hall and asked him: "You told me several times that the people in the world have run out of money, and since my ancestors collected money regularly, I have also tried my best to take measures to reduce the taxes and corvees of the people. Why is it still like this? Liu Daxia replied: "Your Majesty thinks that there is a rule for collection, but it is not. I work in Guangdong and Guangxi. Every year, I see Guangxi for Duomu and Guangdong for fragrant medicine. The cost is tens of thousands. Does Your Majesty know about this situation?" Xiaozong asked again Regarding the situation of the army, Liu Daxia replied: "It is as poor as the common people." Xiaozong didn't understand, and said: "Soldiers usually have monthly rations, and they also have rations when they go out. How can they be poor?" Liu Daxia reported to him: "Generals and commanders The amount of embezzlement is more than half, how can it not be poor?" Xiaozong then sighed: "I have been a monarch for a long time, but I don't know that the soldiers and people in the world are so miserable. military spending.Xiaozong loved ministers like Liu Daxia very much, and often called him together to discuss major issues.Sometimes I spent too long talking with Liu Daxia and felt very tired, so I asked Li Rong, the eunuch of Li, to help me walk.Once in the early court, Liu Daxia stood on one side, Xiaozong didn't see it, and told him the next day: "Did you lose the court yesterday? I was worried that the imperial censor would trouble you, so no one called you at that time." A small misunderstanding is enough to explain Xiaozong's feelings for Aichen.With Xiaozong's support, Liu Daxia vigorously rectified the military.First, starting from checking the surplus of the army, a large number of strong men were recruited. At the same time, Emperor Xiaozong was asked to stop many "weaving" and sacrificial offerings.Xiaozong read Liu Daxia's "Ten Harms of Military Affairs" and accepted many of his suggestions. However, he also had some reservations. Some of them were related to the powerful and close friends. Xiaozong thought that they had little to do with military equipment, so he put them on hold. , without comment.For example, Liu Daxia advocated the withdrawal of all "guardian officials" distributed in various places and recalled them to Beijing. This is a correct opinion, but Xiaozong did not agree.

With the support of the cabinet ministers and the six ministers, Xiaozong continued to move forward along the road of improvement on the basis of governing the government in the early years of Hongzhi, and achieved remarkable results.However, it is still a serious social problem to do evil by eunuchs and eunuchs, and Emperor Xiaozong paid special attention to this.In September of the third year of Hongzhi, Emperor Xiaozong ordered that the clan and honored relatives be prohibited from asking for land, and that they were not allowed to accept donations of money and items from outsiders.This is a battle that has been fought over and over again.Almost all the honorable and close ministers opposed this order, and they did not restrain themselves in their actions, blatantly despising various regulations. Some of them opened shops in the capital, invited merchants, and accepted gifts. , Some even raised a large number of servants in the mansion, arbitrarily ravaging the people.Faced with this situation, Xiaozong once again issued an order about "the forbidden family robs the people's interests".In the ninth year of Hongzhi, Xiaozong ruled out resistance, and first operated on the two brothers of Empress Zhang, who was greatly outraged by the people.The queen has two younger brothers, Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling. The Zhang brothers are arrogant and arrogant. Even if the slaves seize the people's land and houses and order the officials to release the prisoners who committed bribes, they are very overbearing.The ministers of the DPRK and China were very indignant, and they all made reports. After Xiaozong received the report, he sent people to investigate, and the results were true.Xiaozong unceremoniously ordered sanctions.

Because some eunuchs in the palace had a great influence on Xiaozong, it was difficult to correct some of Xiaozong's problems. Although compared with his strengths of being diligent in political affairs over the years, these flaws are not concealed, but after all, he has the image of a blind king. He also made big mistakes sometimes.For example, he has the shortcomings of being keen on fasting and offering sacrifices and practicing.In terms of government affairs, Xiaozong couldn't fully persevere in some good measures, and it was not uncommon for him to say nothing and waver in the middle.In the worst years of the situation, Xiaozong stopped the practice of the Wu Dynasty, except for the early court, he could still insist on it, and hardly met with the ministers.Zhang Zuo's comments were not timely, and some of them could stay for several months, and those who gave instructions did not ask about the implementation.Fortunately, this situation changed in the last years of Hongzhi.After the fourteenth year of Hongzhi (AD 1501), Xiaozong received more and more remonstrances, which made him more and more aware of his mistakes and paid attention to corrections. Among Xiaozong's many mistakes, one is the lack of a consistent attack on the illegal behavior of Lord Huangqi.He once regarded this problem as quite serious, and resolved to solve it in the third and ninth years of Hongzhi, but there were not many sanctions implemented, and the resistance mainly came from Queen Zhang. In March of the eighteenth year of Hongzhi, Li Mengyang, a doctor in the household department, wrote a letter "denouncing bad governance", with tens of thousands of words.Among them, Zhang Heling, the brother of Empress Zhang, was especially harsh, exposing that he recruited scoundrels and fished the common people.After Zhang Heling and the Queen's mother, Mrs. Jin, heard about it, Mrs. Jin cried every day in front of Xiaozong and wanted to put Li Mengyang in prison.Xiaozong had no choice but to do so.The Taoist officials went to the rescue one after another, and Mrs. Jin did not give up the offensive, and cried in front of Xiaozong, demanding that she be severely punished.Xiaozong was furious and raised the case.Then the Ministry of Criminal Justice came to ask for instructions on how to deal with it, and Xiaozong wrote without hesitation: "Mengyang will be reinstated, and his salary will be fined for three months."Some days later, when Emperor Xiaozong visited Nangong at night, Zhang Heling came in to accompany him to drink, and the queen and Mrs. Jin were also present.When the wine was half drunk, the queen and Mrs. Jin went in to change their clothes. Xiaozong called Zhang Heling to talk alone.Since then, the Heling brothers have greatly restrained themselves.Soon, when Xiaozong summoned Liu Daxia, after talking about other things, he asked about the situation of public opinion in the society.Liu Daxia told him: "Recently Li Mengyang was released, and the Chinese and foreign cheered and praised His Majesty's holiness." Xiaozong said to him: "Li's Shangshu contains the word 'Zhang'. Some people say it is an insult to the queen. There was no way to send him to prison. When the Ministry of Punishments arrived, I asked people how to deal with it, and some even said that they should be punished with a stick. I know that these people's original intention was to punish Mengyang to death, so as to relieve the wrath of a woman .So I ordered him to be released and reinstated, and the judiciary will not be allowed to convict." The blow to Lord Huangqi naturally reached its peak after Li Mengyang was released.Jin Yiwei and Dongchang's detectives came and went to inquire, and punished the crimes according to the facts, which was quite powerful.From Xiaozong's decisive actions, those dignitaries who had been rampant in the past felt that a cold and sharp blade was approaching, and they all restrained their bad deeds.Several shops and stores were quietly closed in the capital, and the dismissed house servants also found other ways of life.The area around the capital was safe. In the last period of his power, Xiaozong went all out to rectify the imperial court, eager for the revitalization of the empire.In the eighteenth year of Hongzhi, Li Dongyang, the chief assistant, was ordered to go to Qufu, Shandong Province to worship Confucius. It was a severe drought. On the way back to Beijing, Li Dongyang reported what he saw and heard to Emperor Xiaozong, most of which were adverse consequences caused by imperial abuse.When Xiaozong received the report, he shed tears of pain. He reflected on himself and couldn't sleep at night.At the same time, in order to reduce the expenditure in the palace, Zeng Jianjian, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, advised him to cut down the craftsmen of the Shangyi Bureau, the Military Weapons Bureau, and the Divisional Supervisor, and he approved it without hesitation.Afterwards, he received a report from the Intrauterine Acupuncture Bureau that planned to recruit a large number of tailors into the palace, but he did not agree.Emperor Xiaozong also ordered to reduce one-third of the weaving amount, which greatly saved expenses. Before Xiaozong died, he left a large amount of tangible and intangible wealth to the crown prince who was going to succeed him in power. .For his own life, he felt that he had a clear conscience, and the only thing he was worried about was how long the auspicious atmosphere of "Hongzhi rule" that he had painstakingly created could last?How much he hopes that the crown prince who succeeds him can carry forward his political achievements, so that the "rule of Hongzhi" will continue to become "rule of Hongzheng".Unfortunately, his hopes were dashed. The 36-year-old Xiaozong died in May 1505 and was buried in Tailing.