When history recedes like the tide, it will always leave some traces in our hearts, appearing lonely and abruptly in front of everyone, which is surprising and inexplicable.
If our perspective can be pulled higher, such as standing on the top of Mount Tai, then we can clearly see what kind of dire straits the Ming Dynasty was in in the fourth year of Hongzhi, that is, 1491 AD.
In the sixth month of the lunar calendar of this year, a major earthquake struck the capital of the Ming Dynasty, the capital at the foot of Yanshan Mountain, without warning, displacing countless people. The entire Ming Dynasty, both the government and the public, was in panic.
But the disaster has not spared these poor people. In the eighth month of the lunar calendar, Jiangnan, known as the land of plenty, the most prosperous Jiangnan in the Ming Dynasty, and the Suzhou and Hangzhou areas known as the "Paradise on Earth", first experienced raging floods, and then Nanjing faced another
There was another earthquake.
Corpses are everywhere in the sky and on earth, and yellow and white paper money is flying all over the country.
If you think these were the only disasters in 1491, you are completely wrong. In the tenth month of the lunar winter, the Yellow River naturally burst its banks. Floods rushed around the land of Henan, taking away countless lives.
Fortunately, the disaster-ridden Ming Dynasty had a very good emperor at this time. His name was Zhu Youtang. Later generations called him the "Lord of the ZTE", and historians called him Xiaozong of the Ming Dynasty.
, novelists usually call him by his reign title: Emperor Hongzhi.
In fact, his exact professional title is so difficult to pronounce that it makes people unable to read it in one breath: Jiantian, Mingdao, Honesty, Zhongzheng, Shenwen, Shenwu, Benevolence, Great Virtue and Respect the Emperor.
Is it long enough?
Emperor Hongzhi was a very good emperor. His character and knowledge were both top-notch. His husband and wife had a deep love for each other. At the same time, he also had the heart of an emperor who was constantly making progress.
His predecessor, his father Ming Xianzong, was an emperor who was unlucky, weak and infatuated. Although Zhu Youtang inherited his father's infatuation, he abandoned Xianzong's weakness.
There was no imperial concubine involved in politics, no messy Bubu Jingxin, Zhu Youtang devoted all his efforts for the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty.
He was even more diligent than the most unlucky Ming Dynasty emperor Chongzhen in history, and he used a diligent attitude second only to the founding emperor Zhu Chongba to be a good emperor.
Before dawn, he got up and held the morning court, and then continued to review various memorials.
At noon, he would also hold a midday pilgrimage.
Every day, he would listen to the ministers' speeches, which were lectures like a forum for hundreds of schools.
However, a good emperor's attitude cannot govern a country well, so he delegated a lot of power to the cabinet, even willing to compromise in front of the civil servant group, in order to achieve a win-win situation.
History has proven that his strategy was successful. Unlike Emperor Chongzhen who worked hard and finally hanged himself, Zhu Youtang, who also worked hard and worked hard, won the "Hongzhi ZTE".
A hero has three helpers, and Zhu Youtang also had three helpers when he created "Hongzhi ZTE".
The first one was Liu Jian from Henan. In the fourth year of Hongzhi's reign, he had just been promoted to Minister of Rites and Bachelor of Wenyuan Pavilion. He was one of the four elders of the cabinet.
The second one was Li Dongyang from Hunan. However, in the fourth year of Hongzhi, he had not yet entered the cabinet. Because of his contribution to the revision of "Xianzong Shilu", he was promoted from Zuo Shuzi and lecturer to Taichang Shaoqing.
The third one is Xie Qian from Zhejiang. Like Li Dongyang, he joined the cabinet in the eighth year of Hongzhi's reign. At the beginning of this article, he was just a young minister and a lecturer, that is, a lecturer in the palace.
These three people are all the most outstanding talents in the civil service group of the Ming Dynasty, especially Li Dongyang. His imperial examination results are not as dazzling as Xie Qian's number one scholar, nor as unremarkable as Liu Jian, but judging from the subsequent historical process , he is undoubtedly the most outstanding of the three, or can be said to be the best at governing...
The reason why Li Dongyang was mentioned is because both Liu Jian and Xie Qian were cleared out of the cabinet in the first year of Zhengde, euphemistically called "Zhi Shi".
The ones who cleared them out were two people, one was Liu Jin who was standing at the front desk as a thug, and the other was Zhu Houzhao, Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Houzhao, who is known in the history circle for "playing all the way until death", was born in the troubled four years of Hongzhi.
When later generations study history books, they always want to find various clues hidden in the fog of history, such as the famous sentence "Li Gongmou, Liu Gongdan, Xie Gongyou talked".
Why did the fourteen-year-old Zhu Houzhao get rid of Liu Jian and Xie Qian as soon as he ascended the throne, but left Li Dongyang alone?
Scholars all say that the Eight Tigers headed by Liu Jin framed Zhongliang, but upon closer analysis, this theory is flimsy.
Liu Jian has a bad temper and is impatient, but his greatest advantage is that he has super judgment. Basically, nine times out of ten, he can firmly grasp the things he targets.
And what about Xie Qian? He was born in the imperial examination and was very good at bragging. He also served as a royal lecturer for a long time, and his eloquence and skills were outstanding.
In the heart of the young Zhu Houzhao, one who liked to brag and the other who was impatient were not good things. Anyway, the Ming Dynasty's civil service group was full of talented people, so it was better not to have these two.
So he chose the scheming Li Dongyang. In addition to having a sophisticated brain, a scheming person also has a knack for doing things.
But if you are full of evil, you will naturally cherish your life. Li Dongyang is not as stubborn as Liu Jian, nor is he as cool as Xie Qian. He knows when to retreat and when to pretend to be a grandson.
He knew the art of compromise, which was the main reason why the young and energetic Zhu Houzhao kept him.
It can also be seen from this point that the classmate Zhu Houzhao in history was indeed not a good emperor, and he tore a good three-man regiment into a mess.
You must know that the golden combination of Liu, Li and Xie was second only to the San Yang combination in the history of the Ming Dynasty.
Looking back, if Zhu Houzhao had half the political understanding and execution ability of his father, this book might not exist.
However, the Zhu Houzhao described in this book is slightly different from the official history.
Anyway, after all this nonsense, our protagonist Zhu Houzhao finally landed on the land of the Ming Dynasty. This year was the fourth year of Hongzhi, 1491 AD.
Zhu Houzhao worked hard to show his existence to the people of Ming Dynasty with his newborn throat and loud cry.
His crying made his father Zhu Youtang very happy. We all know that Zhu Youtang, Xiaozong of the Ming Dynasty, was not only a good emperor, but also a good man and a good father.
No matter how some unofficial historians and so-called experts in later generations smear him, at least one thing is that Comrade Zhu Youtang created an unprecedented and unprecedented record: he only married one wife, Xiaokangjing and Queen Zhang, and had no other concubines in his life.
What is an emperor?
There are seventy-two concubines in the three palaces and six courtyards, and thousands of beauties for his entertainment. This is the emperor's normal life.
In a human society filled with desires, no one can be as single-minded as Zhu Youtang. In the imperial mausoleums of past dynasties, concubines were buried with them, but in Xiaozong's Tailing Mausoleum, only the husband and wife were buried.
An adult and healthy emperor has only one queen in his life. In Chinese history, he is the only one so far.
It can be seen that when we cannot recognize the opinions of some experts clearly, at least in this aspect, we can regard Zhu Youtang as a uniquely good person.
He's a really good guy too.
Zhu Youtang, who struggled to survive under the persecution of Concubine Wan Gui, was able to become emperor because of God's mercy. And his hard work after becoming emperor pushed him to a moral high ground.
Being a villain at a distance and a wise minister at a distance, only doing what you should do. This is the standard of a good emperor. Zhu Youtang undoubtedly achieved this...
But good people usually don't live long, and our emperor is no exception.
Liu Jian, whom he single-handedly promoted, lived to be ninety-four years old; Xie Qian lived to be eighty-two years old; and Li Dongyang, the shortest among the Three Wise Ministers, also lived to be sixty-nine years old. But our respectable emperor He only lived thirty-four years! (Thirty-six is a false age)
Therefore, it is very reasonable to say that good people do not live long.
When he was seriously ill, Zhu Youtang did not break the rules. He still worked hard, as if the earth would end tomorrow.
In addition to the cabinet, he promoted Liu Daxia and Yang Yiqing to serve as military commanders-in-chief of the Ming Dynasty.
Facts have proved that both men completed their tasks very well. A few years later, Yang Yiqing even performed exceptionally and directly killed Liu Jin, who had the most power in the world.
There were civil servants and military generals, and Hongzhi ZTE also turned the Ming Dynasty into a prosperous era. Although there were still some problems in the country, they were not serious, so Zhu Youtang decided to retire.
We all know that when an emperor wants to retire, there are usually only three ways: one is to be killed, the other is to abdicate, and the third is that his time has come. As for Emperor Qianlong's alternative retirement method, few emperors generally want to adopt it.
Zhu Youtang chose the third option. He knew that his health was not good, so he summoned the cabinet trio known as the second best in the Ming Dynasty, as well as the prince Zhu Houzhao who was kneeling on the ground crying and the man with a full face. Liu Jin stood humbly in the corner.
"Your Majesty!" The ministers' faces were full of tears. They understood that such a good emperor was really hard to find.
"I have no regrets in this life." Zhu Youtang looked at the sarong above his head and said lightly.
It was already the summer of the 18th year of Hongzhi's reign, and the weather was very hot. The cicadas were screaming in the trees, just like the mood of everyone in the palace.
Under the service of the palace ladies, Zhu Youtang raised his head to slow down the nosebleed. Without looking at the kneeling people, he said slowly: "There is one thing that I have always been worried about."
Without waiting for anyone to reply, he continued: "Donggong is young and loves to have fun, and the elders are good at helping him."
Everyone burst into tears. The trio of cabinet members wiped their tears and loudly replied with different expressions: "I will do my best until I die."
Zhu Youtang smiled slightly, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth to his chest, and the maids hurriedly wiped it for him.
If there was another emperor, these palace ladies would have been beheaded long ago, but Zhu Youtang did not do this.
He raised his thin right hand, slowly stretched it out, and touched Zhu Houzhao's head. Looking at his son who was kneeling in front of the couch with tears on his face, he said softly: "I can no longer watch you grow up."
Zhu Houzhao grabbed the edge of the couch with his hands and cried: "Father!"
Zhu Youtang glanced at his son for the last time, withdrew his gaze, slowly closed his eyes, a string of tears rolled out of the corners of his eyes, and his right hand suddenly fell on the bright yellow dragon robe.
Countless cries suddenly sounded in the palace, and soon spread throughout the capital: The emperor has died!
This year is 1505 AD, exactly thirteen years have passed since Columbus arrived in America. But it has only been one hundred and thirty-nine years since Li Zicheng conquered the capital.