On September 26, 1620 AD, Ming Guangzong Zhu Changluo died suddenly after taking the "Red Pill", which was known as the "Red Pill Case" in history.
Ming Guangzong lived for 38 years and reigned for only 30 days. He was called the "January Emperor" by later generations.
His death has become an unsolved case in the history of Ming Dynasty. Through the tragic life of this emperor, what we see is the power struggle between the scholar-bureaucrat group and the eunuch and the harem behind it. This is also the reason why An important reason for the demise of the Ming Dynasty, and the poor January Emperor Zhu Changluo was a victim of this struggle from beginning to end.
As soon as Zhu Changluo was born, he was regarded as a shame by his father.
Because his biological mother's identity was too humble, she was once just a maid beside Empress Dowager Li .
At that time, Emperor Wanli only had eyes for Concubine Zheng Guifei, and he wanted to make her son Zhu Changxun the prince. For this reason, he even personally wrote the "Oath of Giving" to make Zhu Changxun the prince.
However, due to the opposition of the queen, the queen mother and the ministers in the court, Wanli finally had to give up the establishment of Zhu Changxun and passed the throne to Zhu Changluo.
What's going on?
Let’s look at the Queen and the Queen Mother first. The purpose of their opposition was to suppress Concubine Zheng.
Queen Wang is the daughter of Wang Wei, the commander of the Jinyi Guards. She was married to Emperor Wanli by Queen Mother Li who took the initiative when Emperor Wanli was 16 years old. However, the rebellious Emperor Wanli did not like Wang and Queen , and only doted on Zheng. Royal concubine.
As a result, in the harem, Queen Wang and Queen Mother Li formed a camp against Concubine Zheng, and firmly disagreed with making Zhu Changxun the crown prince.
Let’s look at the ministers of the DPRK and China. The reason for their opposition was that it violated the ancestral law of "establishing direct descendants and establishing elders."
In the Wanli Dynasty, especially when Zhang Juzheng was the chief minister, the power of the cabinet was very great, large enough to check and balance the imperial power.
It is precisely because of this that Emperor Wanli has not been in court for 30 years, and the government affairs of the court can still run normally.
Therefore, when Emperor Wanli proposed to make Zhu Changxun the crown prince, the ministers dared to strongly oppose it.
To establish a direct line , the queen has no sons; to establish a eldest son, Zhu Changluo is the eldest son, and it is completely unreasonable to want to establish Zhu Changxun. As a result, the struggle between Emperor Wanli and his ministers became increasingly fierce.
In order to establish Zhu Changxun as the crown prince, Emperor Wanli took great pains. First, he issued an edict to confer the title of three kings together, that is, the eldest son Zhu Changluo, the third son Zhu Changxun and the fifth son Zhu Changhao were crowned king together. Later, the good one among them would be selected as the crown prince. This reduced the authority of the emperor's eldest son in disguise and prepared the way for Zhu Changxun to be crown prince in the future.
However, Emperor Wanli's operation was completely seen through by the ministers, and they all opposed it. Even the bachelor Wang Xijue who was entrusted with the execution of the edict was forced to resign. Under the high pressure of the ministers, Emperor Wanli had to withdraw the edict.
They fought like this for 15 years. In the end, even the "Oath of Giving" written by Emperor Wanli to Concubine Zheng was eaten by insects, and the word "Chang Xun" became a big hole in the edict. Emperor Wanli believed that this was God's will, and issued an edict to make Zhu Changluo the crown prince, and named Zhu Changxun the Fu Wang.
This struggle forced the resignation of 4 chief ministers of the cabinet, more than 10 ministerial-level officials, and more than 300 central and local officials. It was called "the battle over the country's roots" by later generations. Now that Zhu Changluo successfully became the prince, how did it lead to future tragedies?
That's because Concubine Zheng has never been idle. Concubine Zheng joined forces with the eunuchs and began to plan the murder of Prince Zhu Changluo, creating two famous unsolved cases in the history of the Ming Dynasty.
is the first case, attacks .
One day in May of the forty-third year of Wanli (1615), a man named Zhang Cha broke into the palace of Prince Zhu Changluo with a wooden stick and committed murder. He injured several guards and was subdued.
This incident alarmed Emperor Wanli, and Zhang Cha was taken to the Ministry of Punishment for trial. After being sentenced to death, he told the truth. It turned out that he was ordered by the eunuchs Pang Bao and Liu Cheng of Concubine Zheng.
Because Concubine Zheng was involved, Emperor Wanli did not want to pursue the case any further. In the end, he secretly ordered Pang Bao and Liu Cheng to be executed, and the case became an unsolved case in history.
The second case is the red pill case.
In the forty-eighth year of Wanli (1620), Emperor Wanli died and Zhu Changluo ascended the throne.
Concubine Zheng held a grudge and gave him 8 beauties. On the 10th day after ascending the throne, Zhu Changluo was drained of her body and could not afford to fall ill.
The imperial doctors were helpless and rushed to seek medical treatment. They found Concubine Zheng's confidant Cui Wensheng. After taking Cui Wensheng's medicine, they began to suffer from diarrhea. Then they heard that Honglu Temple Cheng Li Kezhuo had an elixir. , can cure all diseases.
Taking elixirs to treat illnesses was very popular in the royal family at that time. Wanli's grandfather Emperor Jiajing was obsessed with alchemy and Taoism all his life, so he came to Li Kezhuo and took a "red pill". After taking the first pill, Zhu Changluo felt really good. As a result, he died suddenly after taking the second pill a few days later.
Poor Zhu Changluo only served as emperor for 30 days before reaching the end of his life. Through his tragic ending, what we see is the party struggle within the politics of the Ming Dynasty.
Although during his reign, he also abolished mining taxes, raised border defenses, and filled official vacancies, he may have wanted to make a difference. It is a pity that he was not born in a strong family and the imperial power was weak, so he was destined to become a victim of party strife.
He became the emperor because the scholar-bureaucrat group used him to fight against the harem and eunuch groups. And his death was also the product of the harem's alliance with the eunuch group and the struggle for power with the scholar-bureaucrat group of the previous dynasty.
It is a law of history that when the minister is strong, the ruler will be weak.
