An emperor is lustful and rotten, and even abuses aphrodisiacs, no matter how you look at it, it looks like a faint king, but he just started the Meiji era.
Although he only reigned for 6 years, he extended his life for the Ming Dynasty for 70 years, who is this emperor?
Becoming an emperor is all about luck
In 1572, Ming Muzong Zhu Zaikun died of illness in the Qianqing Palace at the age of 36. The cause of death is very simple, that is, because of long-term indulgence, he ate too much aphrodisiac, which caused his body to be hollowed out, and finally lost his life, so that his reign was only 6 years.
Don't look at other people's stupid style, but what they do is serious. Zhu Zaikun's father is Emperor Jiajing, the emperor who is obsessed with cultivating immortals and is crazy about alchemy.
Zhu Zaikun was not the first choice for the crown prince, he was only the third son of Emperor Jiajing, and his mother concubine had a low status and was very unfavored. Therefore, Zhu Zaikun is not able to be the emperor no matter what.
But he was lucky, because his two older brothers, Zhu Zaiji and Zhu Zailili, died early, and he accounted for 50% of the chance.
The two sons died one after another, and a superstitious person like Emperor Jiajing must have gone to the Taoist priest to calculate the calculation as soon as possible, so he found his most trusted "master" Tao Zhongwen.
Master Tao thought of a way for Emperor Jiajing, that is, "the two dragons do not meet". In other words, Emperor Jiajing is the Son of Heaven, so he is naturally a true dragon, and the children born of dragons are naturally also dragons, but they have not grown up, so they cannot be called true dragons.
The momentum of the true dragon is relatively strong, and it is easy to deter other dragons, they can't withstand the pressure, and they will naturally die.
If you want to keep the child, send the remaining son out of the palace and don't meet Emperor Jiajing, naturally there will be no accident.
When Emperor Jiajing heard this, it turned out that I was so powerful! So immediately according to what Master Tao said, Zhu Zaikun and Zhu Zaizhen were sent to their respective palaces, in 1565 AD, Zhu Zaizhen died of illness, and the candidate who could inherit the unification was left with Zhu Zaikun, so even if he was not allowed to be the prince, it would not work.
Therefore, Zhu Zaikun's position as the prince depends more on luck. In 1567, Emperor Jiajing died, Zhu Zaikun ascended the throne, and the year name was changed to Longqing.
The first thing Zhu Zaikun did after ascending the throne was to execute those monks who had bewitched the people and stopped all Taoist ceremonies. And he also ordered the reduction of taxes for half a year across the country, which greatly reduced the burden on the common people, which shows that Zhu Zaikun was a relatively benevolent emperor.
Zhu Zaikun doesn't drink alcohol, and he doesn't do much construction and labor, but he is lustful, although he has only been in power for six years, he has to accept an average of three concubines every year, and six years is 18.
Although it's lustful, people have also made merits, and it's not small.
The two policies extended the life of the Ming Dynasty for 70 years
For Emperor Jiajing's father, Zhu Zaikun is actually not very familiar with it, but Zhu Zaikun is still very clear about the absurd things he did, so after he ascended the throne, he reformed things during the Jiajing period.
For example, trade markets are opened in border areas. In the middle and late period of Emperor Jiajing's reign, the hidden danger of "southern and northern captives" began to appear and lasted for a long time. The southeast coast was plagued by Japanese samurai, and the northwest was plagued by Mongols.
Emperor Jiajing's way of dealing with all this was to send troops to suppress it, although it was effective, but it could not be eradicated.
In the process of fighting with the Mongols, he found that they made trouble because the Ming Dynasty cut off trade cooperation with the Mongols, and the Mongols' productivity could not meet their living needs, and they could not buy from the trade market, so they could only rely on robbery to make a living.
And Zhu Zaikun's behavior of opening a trade market solved the troubles of the Mongols, and since they could buy it, there was no need to rob it anymore, so they also stopped making trouble and started business with the Ming Dynasty.
This policy of Zhu Zaikun enabled the solution of the Hulu problem, which had plagued the Ming Dynasty for a hundred years.
In addition, there was a problem of Japanese samurai raging in the southeast coastal area, mainly because of the Ming Dynasty's maritime ban policy. After all, the people at that time relied on the mountains to eat the mountains and the water, and the Ming Dynasty implemented a sea ban policy, not allowing fishermen to build ships, go to sea, fish and trade, which is equivalent to cutting off their way of life?
In order to survive, the people had to cooperate with the Japanese Invaders. In order to completely solve this problem, Zhu Zaikun completely lifted the sea ban policy and encouraged fishermen to travel far away at sea.
This problem, which Emperor Jiajing did not solve in his life, was easily dealt with by Zhu Zaikun.
Lost his life because of lust
It may be that the important things have been dealt with, Zhu Zaikun began to let himself go, every day he was obsessed with women, rowing and playing with the concubines, and he didn't care about political affairs, and he didn't go to court, and put all his efforts on the harem.
Among his three thousand beauties, the most favored is the Li family, which can be said to stay overnight, but he also managed to get the rain and dew evenly, and while playing with the Li family, he would also call other palace maids.
In pursuit of excitement and pleasure, Zhu even opened a "palace amusement park" and built a building called the "Feifeng Pavilion", which enshrined the statues of each of his beloved concubines.
Ignoring the pleasure of his body every day, Zhu Zaikun's health also had problems, and he began to be powerless in terms of bed problems. In order to be happier, he began to take warm medicine to help him, but over time, the toxins accumulated in his body, causing great damage to his body, causing him to die at the age of 36.
In fact, don't look at Zhu Zaikun's work, there is an element of luck, but he also has a strategy, for example, Zhu Zaizhen's death may have his handiwork.
Although there were only two of them left as the candidate for the prince at that time, Zhu Zaikun has never been loved by Emperor Jiajing, so as long as there is another candidate, Emperor Jiajing will never choose Zhu Zaikun, so it is more likely that Zhu Zaizhen will be the emperor.
If Zhu Zaikun wants to take the position, he must first get rid of Zhu Zaizhen. He deliberately let Zuo Zhongyun Guo Xiyan release rumors, saying that Yan Song wanted to frame Zhu Zaikun and support Zhu Zaizhen to take the position, anyway, Yan Song was already standing on Zhu Zaizhen's side, splashing water on him, and killing two birds with one stone to suppress Yan Song's forces.
When the time was ripe, Guo Xiyan wrote a letter asking Emperor Jiajing to make Zhu Zaikun the crown prince, but Emperor Jiajing now has only two choices, if he really makes Zhu Zaikun the prince, it is against his heart.
If Zhu Zaizhen is made the crown prince, then Yan Song may really frame Zhu Zaikun, Emperor Jiajing really doesn't want to lose a son, so he chooses to make Zhu Zaikun the prince.
But this is not the real end, and then the fall of Yan Song gave Emperor Jiajing the idea of establishing Zhu Zaizhen, but Zhu Zaizhen's life was short, and before the edict of the prince was announced, Zhu Zaizhen died of illness first.
Therefore, Zhu Zaikun fought for a long time in vain, and the position of the crown prince was given to him in vain.
epilogue
For Zhu Zaikun, his political performance is actually very mediocre, but his two policies are enough to be praised, no matter how lascivious he is in the palace, but in the eyes of the people, he is a virtuous monarch.
Because of his policies, it benefits the people, and it can be said that he has also fulfilled his responsibilities as an emperor.