In the twenty-first year of Jiajing (1542), an unprecedented palace coup occurred in the Ming Dynasty. Why is it said to be unprecedented? That's because most of the ordinary palace upheavals are struggles for imperial power, or eunuchs killing the emperor, but this palace upheav

Jiajing Twenty-one years ago (1542), Ming Dynasty had an unprecedented palace change. Why is it said to be unprecedented?

That's because most of the ordinary palace upheavals are struggles for imperial power, or eunuchs killing the emperor, but this palace upheaval during the Jiajing period was initiated by palace maids.

That night, Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty Zhu Houcon was sleeping in Concubine Duan's palace. He was suddenly choked by someone while he was sleeping, which scared him awake.

Zhu Houcong When he opened his eyes, he was surrounded by more than a dozen palace ladies. These palace ladies put a rope around his neck, held down his hands and feet, and even blocked his mouth with a cloth, making him unable to shout.

Afterwards, the palace maids stabbed him with hairpins on their heads, which caused Zhu Houcong unbearable pain, but he could not cry out for help. It was not until Queen Fang got the news and came that Zhu Houcong was rescued.

So why did these palace ladies want to assassinate the emperor? What did Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty do to make these palace ladies take desperate risks?

Ming Shizong was the eleventh emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and he was also a son of luck. Since the previous emperor Ming Xiaozong had no heirs and died suddenly, Zhu Houcong, who was a vassal in Anlu, died. He was summoned to the capital and inherited the throne. At this time, he was only twelve years old.

Ming Shizong could be called a wise king in the early days of his reign. He not only reformed the bad governance during the Ming Wuzong period, but also reactivated ministers who had been convicted for speaking out and admonishing. At the same time, he practiced frugality, rectified the imperial examinations, and so on. In general, the early Ming Shizong governed the Ming Dynasty in an orderly manner, which significantly improved the economy, politics, culture and other aspects at that time.

But in the middle period of Jiajing period, Ming Shizong gradually lost the motivation for progress. He began to believe in Taoism, and carried out large-scale construction projects and built many Taoist temples, which consumed countless human and financial resources.

Not only that, he practices Taoism every day and is very obsessed with elixirs, so those Taoist alchemists have become celebrities around him. For this reason, Ming Shizong was called the "Emperor of Alchemy" by later generations. It seems that this title is more appropriate.

In history, emperors who swallowed elixirs would become extremely irritable, and Ming Shizong was no exception. After swallowing the elixirs refined by alchemists, Ming Shizong became suspicious, violent, and moody, so the maids often will be punished by him.

In ancient times, palace maids were also a high-risk profession. If they were favored by the emperor, they could fly on a branch and become a phoenix. On the contrary, if there was anything that displeased their master, they would be beaten severely, or tortured.

The palace maids during the Jiajing period were even more miserable. For example, Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty had to take "qinglu" every morning, which was the dew on the leaves in the morning. Therefore, the palace maids had to get up early every day to collect dew for him, which was slightly uncomfortable. Shen will receive a severe beating.

According to the records in "Records of Emperor Zhongjong of the Lee Dynasty", "If there was a slight mistake, (Sejong) would always add trouble, so as many as 200 people died." It can be seen that the treatment suffered by the palace people at that time was very cruel."

You need to know There were only more than a thousand palace ladies in the Ming Dynasty, and Ming Shizong ordered more than two hundred people to be killed. Therefore, these palace ladies were very afraid of Ming Shizong.

As time went by, these palace ladies could no longer endure this. life, so a dozen palace ladies led by Yang Jinying decided to regicide because they could not bear the emperor's atrocities. There have been such examples, that is Tang Jingzong Li Zhan. The emperor indulged in fun after he came to the throne, and he was considered the most playful emperor in the Tang Dynasty. If the eunuchs did not cooperate well when playing, they would be beaten and scolded, and in the end they could no longer bear it.

It can be seen that the main cause of these two palace coups was the emperor's atrocities, and the difference between them was that one succeeded and the other did not.

On the night of October 21, the 21st year of Jiajing (1524), Ming Shizong came to Yikun Palace to sleep as usual. The concubine living here was his favorite Concubine Cao Duan.

After Ming Shizong and Concubine Cao Duan fell asleep, the group of palace maids who were preparing to assassinate the emperor crept in, not daring to take a breath. After all, they were assassinating the emperor, so everyone was very nervous.

The leading palace maid Yang Jinying handed the rope she was carrying to the other palace maid Su Zhouyao. After all, she was also very scared, but Suzhou Yao turned around and handed the rope to Yang Jinhua and motioned her to make a noose. Perhaps because he was too nervous, Yang Jinhua didn't realize that he had tied the rope into a dead knot.

After they put the rope on Ming Shizong's head, the palace maid Yao Shucui took out a piece of cloth, covered Ming Shizong's face, and strangled his neck fiercely.

Ming Shizong was also awakened from his sleep by the sudden feeling of suffocation. When he wanted to shout, Yao Shucui took the opportunity to stuff the cloth into his mouth. The other maids quickly held down Ming Shizong's body, hands and feet.

As Ming Shizong's body shook, Concubine Cao Duan beside him also woke up. Still feeling sleepy, she opened her eyes and took a look, and was stunned by the scene in front of her.

Originally, according to the palace ladies' plan, they used a rope to strangle Ming Shizong to death, but because the rope had a dead knot and could not be tightened, they could not strangle Ming Shizong to death after pulling for a long time.

At this time, the palace maids were anxious. They picked up the hairpins on their heads and stabbed Ming Shizong indiscriminately. The stabs made him covered in blood, but did not hurt any vital parts.

I have to say that Ming Shizong's vitality was extremely tenacious, and he could not be strangled or stabbed to death, but instead made the palace maids confused.

A palace maid named Zhang Jinlian could not bear the tremendous psychological pressure, so she ran out of the door and ran to Queen Fang's palace to surrender.

Even if she hates the emperor, she is still killing people, which is hard to accept for a palace maid who has never experienced anything in the world.

When Queen Zhang learned that a group of palace maids were murdering the emperor, she was shocked and rushed to Yikun Palace with her people.

When Zhang Jinlian ran out, the maids also sensed that the situation was not good, let go of Ming Shizong and ran around, but were eventually arrested.

After arriving at Yikun Palace, Queen Fang was really shocked when she saw the emperor covered in blood and the wounds with big holes and small eyes. Then she quickly untied the rope around his neck and summoned the imperial doctor. .

After such a scare, Ming Shizong fell into a coma and his breath was very weak. The imperial doctors were afraid that they would accidentally send the emperor away, so they did not dare to use medicine. In the end, the imperial hospital ordered Xu Kun to risk beheading. The danger gave Ming Shizong a strong dose of medicine.

Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty gradually came to his senses. As for the imperial doctor, he became seriously ill due to excessive fright and passed away soon after.

As for those palace maids, they were executed by Queen Fang's order, along with Concubine Cao Duan and Concubine Wang Ning who were sleeping that night. Although this incident had nothing to do with Concubine Cao Duan, she was also a victim after all. However, Wang Ningbin, who came after learning the news, was jealous of Concubine Cao Duan, so she framed Concubine Cao Duan for being involved.

Although Queen Fang saw through Wang Ningbin's little thoughts, she did not reveal it because she had no good impression of the two concubines, so she took advantage of Ming Shizong's coma and secretly executed them both. .

It is said that after this palace change, Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty no longer dared to sleep in the palace. From then on, he lived alone in Xiyuan, and he attributed his survival to the protection of Taoism, and instead became more attentive. Became a Taoist.

However, Ming Shizong was not satisfied with Empress Fang's private handling of the concubines. Therefore, when the Kunning Palace where the empress lived five years later caught fire, Ming Shizong stopped the eunuch who went to put out the fire and watched it with his own eyes. The palace was reduced to a pile of ashes.

Therefore, the reason behind Ming Shenzong's move, coupled with the mysterious fire in the queen's palace, is somewhat intriguing.

Generally speaking, this palace change was caused by the emperor's atrocities, and it was also the only palace change in history that was led by a palace maid, so it makes people feel incredible.

It happens that this year is Renyin year , so this palace change is called " Renyin palace change ".