Emperor Wanli was the Ming Dynasty the thirteenth emperor. He reigned for 48 years and was the longest reigning emperor in the Ming Dynasty. However, Emperor Wanli stopped attending court in the middle and late stages of his reign. This interruption lasted for more than 20 years. However, Emperor Wanli did not lose his imperial power just because he did not go to court, and there was no eunuch rebellion, relatives interfering in politics, or power among ministers and officials in the court. Although Emperor Wanli rarely went to court, he would still issue orders through edicts. However, in the later period, Emperor Wanli did show signs of slacking off in government and was addicted to having fun. This also laid hidden dangers for the future decline of the Ming Dynasty.
As the head of the dynasty, the emperor should be diligent and diligent, eating and drinking every day. As we all know, the most diligent emperor in history was undoubtedly Yongzheng. He got up early every day and took care of everything. He seldom rested during holidays and festivals, and worked hard for the prosperity of the Qing Dynasty. In sharp contrast to Yongzheng is Wanli. This emperor has not been in court for more than 20 years, and his slackness is evident. Wanli did not go to court for decades, but the Ming Dynasty's system was still functioning, thanks to the Ming Dynasty's system.
If the emperor does not go to court and does not deal with national affairs, he may lose power and the throne will be taken by others. But Wanli is an exception. Not only does he not give up power, but he firmly holds the power in his hands. What is the reason for this? Here are three reasons to explain this situation. First, not going to court does not mean not managing politics. Everyone must be very aware of the situation in the previous dynasty. The emperor sat on the dragon throne, and the ministers stood under the steps, reporting on major national events and waiting for the emperor to deal with them.
This kind of going to court is just a formality. The ministers report and the emperor makes a decision. Wanli directly removed this form and directly summoned ministers in the palace. In other words, Wanli just changed the place where he went to court, from a formal occasion to his own home, so it gave people the feeling of not going to court. Wanli held small meetings to handle world affairs, which was very similar to and Jiajing . Wanli still held the imperial power firmly in his hands, and no one dared to shake it.
Second, the Ming Dynasty’s system was complete. The Ming Dynasty implemented a cabinet system, setting up a cabinet and letting cabinet members handle political affairs. The cabinet helps Wanli handle political affairs, which naturally reduces his responsibilities. A few people in the cabinet can have an insight into the world's major events, but Wanli only needs to summon a few of them. This directly reduces the screening of information and can obtain important information. The cabinet system was a characteristic system of the Ming Dynasty, which provided a good condition for the emperor's laziness.
Finally, another reason why Wanli did not go to court was that he had a hidden physical illness. Judging from Wanli's corpse, his calves were a little twisted and different from those of normal people, so it can be concluded that Wanli was lame. Due to his lameness, Wanli couldn't walk easily, and naturally he couldn't go to court. Firstly, it was inconvenient to move, and secondly, it was too embarrassing. If a dignified emperor of a great country is lame, it will naturally attract people's attention and even some ridicule.
From the above three aspects, we can explain why Wanli did not go to court and why the power would not fall aside. The cabinet system also witnessed the strength of the Ming Dynasty and the advancement of the Ming Dynasty's system.
Emperor Wanli, also known as Ming Shenzong, was called Zhu Yijun. Wanli is the reign name of Ming Shenzong, and it is also the longest-used reign name among the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, as long as 48 years.
In 1572 AD, Emperor Mu Zong of the Ming Dynasty passed away, and Zhu Yijun ascended the throne at the age of 9. Coincidentally, the ambitious Zhang Juzheng became the chief minister of the Ming Dynasty's cabinet at that time. Zhang Juzheng wanted to reform the Ming Dynasty and get rid of its shortcomings. Because the emperor was young, Zhang Juzheng held great power in the court.
During the ten years that Zhang Juzheng was in charge, Zhang Juzheng implemented a series of reform policies involving finance, system, military and other aspects. In these ten years, the Ming Dynasty experienced a renaissance, which was also rare in the late Ming Dynasty. At this time in China, the budding stage of capitalism appeared. Unfortunately, it was interrupted as soon as Zhang Juzheng died. After Zhang Juzheng's death, Ming Shenzong truly took power.
However, without the existence of Zhang Juzheng, Ming Shenzong did not continue to solve the problems that existed in the late Ming Dynasty. In the middle and late period of Ming Shenzong, there was a state of neglect.Since Ming Shenzong was addicted to wine and sex and was not interested in major affairs in the court, I don't know if it was due to the existence of Zhang Juzheng in the previous ten years. He was too strictly controlled. After Zhang Juzheng's death, he degenerated and indulged himself to make up for what he had lost.
When did Ming Shenzong not go to court early? This has to start with the national dispute in the Ming Dynasty. The dispute over the foundation of the country was a quarrel over the establishment of a crown prince during the Ming Shenzong period. At that time, Ming Shenzong wanted to make Fuwang Zhu Changxun the crown prince, but was opposed by the civil service group. They insisted on making their eldest son Zhu Changluo the crown prince.
Since Ming Shenzong doted on Zhu Changxun's mother Zheng Guifei , he wanted to establish Zhu Changxun. However, due to the large civil servant group, Ming Shenzong could not compete with them. This matter lasted for more than ten years, until 1601, when Zhu Changluo was named the prince. But Zhu Changxun did not leave the capital to take up the post of vassal king elsewhere. According to the ancestral teachings of the Ming Dynasty, when the prince was established, other princes would be named vassal kings and leave the capital.
Zhu Changxun was unwilling to leave the capital. Firstly, he still had hope for the position of prince, and secondly, he was reluctant to leave Concubine Zheng. Because of Ming Shenzong's favor, the ministers did not dare to say anything, until the attack broke out, targeting Concubine Zheng, and Prince Fu Zhu Changxun had to leave the capital to become the vassal king.
Just like this, around the dispute over the country's foundation, Ming Shenzong Zhu Yijun and the ministers of the Ming Dynasty formed a conflict. Beginning in 1587, Ming Shenzong retaliated against the civil service group by not going to court. In the early days after Zhang Juzheng's death, he was still somewhat interested in government affairs. In 1587, Ming Shenzong had been in the palace, only dealing with some important matters. He could be seen occasionally in the morning, but by 1588, he stopped going to court.
Although it shows that Shenzong did not go to court, he was still concerned about national affairs. Among them, the three major campaigns of Wanli are the best proof. Of course, there are many reasons why Ming Shenzong Zhu Yijun did not go to court. As for Ming Shenzong, who has not been in court for so many years, isn't he afraid of a change of dynasty? How could the Ming Dynasty function without the emperor presiding over the morning dynasty?
Regarding the change of dynasty, it would not have happened during the Wanli period. His two brothers had died long ago, and he controlled the entire court. Who would dare to rebel? His half-brother Zhu Yili can't do it even more. Therefore, during the period when the emperor was not in court, no one would rebel. After all, the achievements of Wanli's three major expeditions still had a great influence.
How did the Ming Dynasty function when Shenzong was not in power? First of all, we must understand the system of the Ming Dynasty. The system of the Ming Dynasty was different from other dynasties. Before the Ming Dynasty, Zhongshu provinces were established under the emperor. The chief official position was the prime minister or prime minister. The prime minister at that time had great power. In 1380, Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the Zhongshu Province, and the position of prime minister disappeared. After
, the fourth auxiliary officer was established to assist in political affairs. In July 1382, this system was abolished again. It was not until the period of
that this system was activated again, and the cabinet system began to be used. In the beginning, the cabinet and were just advisers to the emperor, acting as "passengers and pens". They would follow whatever the emperor said. The cabinet had no real power.
During the Ming Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji period, the cabinet began to slowly gain real power. Cabinet ministers could write their own opinions on some memorials. After that, the power became more and more powerful. During the reign of Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty, the status of the cabinet had surpassed the six ministries of officials, households, rituals, industry, punishment, and military affairs, reaching a new height. The subsequent cabinets became the highest decision-making body of the central government of the Ming Dynasty.
There are four ministers in the cabinet, and the chief minister is the first assistant minister among the four. The powers of the cabinet are the product of politics and are only due to political needs. In the early years of Jiajing, Longqing, and Wanli, the boundaries between the first assistant and the second assistant were strict, and the entire cabinet was the institution that managed the entire world.
In other words, even if the emperor is not around, cabinet ministers can decide many things. Moreover, in the Ming Dynasty, the imperial power system was the most strictly controlled. Jinyiwei, dongchang, xichang were all loyal to the emperor. Those who had the intention of rebellion would definitely die quickly. The center of operation of the Ming Empire revolved around the emperor. As the highest central decision-making body under the emperor, the cabinet was the center of operation of the entire empire. Except for the inability to appoint personnel and a few matters beyond the imperial power, they could be involved in all other matters.
At that time, the cabinet was short of people. Since Ming Shenzong did not appoint anyone to the position, a dispute broke out between the Donglin Party over the matter of recommending people. In the end, the struggle for power between the Donglin Party and the Eunuch Party became more and more serious, and finally became a major reason for the demise of the Ming Dynasty.
With the cabinet system, the feudal system of the Ming Dynasty reached its peak. In the 276 years of the Ming Dynasty, no emperor's rights were emptied. This was the feudal system reaching a new milestone, and the entire court was monitored under multiple systems. Of course, Ming Shenzong's absence from the court does not mean that he ignores government affairs. He will pay attention to major events, but he is too lazy to comment on other ordinary things. The cabinet system was the center of operation of the Ming Dynasty. Emperor Wanli did not come to court for 28 years. How did he firmly control the court? This army has made great achievements
China has lasted for five thousand years. During the Ming Dynasty, China was also very prosperous for a while. The newly founded Ming Dynasty was stable in terms of the emperor and the court. However, with the development of history, later The emperors are getting more and more weird. Let's start with Zhu Yuanzhang, who started out as a beggar. He ascended to the throne step by step from the common people, fought among the masses, and ascended to the throne covered in blood. He has gone through the sufferings of the people and many battles. Therefore, many of his policies are in line with public opinion and the country is peaceful and the people are safe. But the style of the next few emperors was obviously wrong.
There were two emperors in the Ming Dynasty who were not doing their jobs properly. One was Emperor Tianqi , who stayed with wood every day. Discuss carpentry with a group of carpenters, and even have outstanding abilities. The other one is the famous emperor in history, Emperor Wanli.
Speaking of this emperor, history records that he did not go to court for twenty-eight years. An emperor does not attend court in the morning and does not deal with political affairs, and he does not know what to do every day. Wasn’t the country in chaos long ago? In fact, it was not the case. The entire country is still functioning normally and even thriving. Not only that, the entire country still has the surname Zhu. No relatives seized power, and no eunuchs controlled the government. In his spare time, he ordered three battles. The famous aid to Korea and the Anti-Japanese War was one of the three major campaigns in Wanli. Why is the country still so prosperous even though the emperor is making such nonsense? This starts with Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor.
Start from the establishment of the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang once considered this issue. At that time, in order to ensure that the imperial power would not decline, he established Jinyiwei . Anyone who has watched the Ming Dynasty TV series is familiar with this institution. He has iron-blooded methods and obeys the emperor's orders for life. Whichever emperor is in power is the master. Moreover, the Jinyiwei were not affiliated with the imperial court, but only obeyed the emperor's orders. In order to strengthen management, Jin Yiwei hid in the homes of hundreds of officials and recorded the officials' words and deeds to detect whether the officials secretly violated the imperial edict or were dissatisfied.
Once there is any sign of this, the Jin Yiwei will report it to the emperor immediately, and the consequences may be to confiscate the house and behead the person, not to mention. Among all institutions, Jinyiwei takes priority over other institutions, independently obeys the emperor's orders, and is superior to other institutions. It also made Jinyiwei's fortunes rise.
In addition to Jinyiwei, people who are familiar with the Ming Dynasty may also think of Dongchang. The most impressive one is factory flower played by Chen Kun . Zhu Di set up the East Factory, and the West Factory appeared during the reign of Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty. These two institutions are also independent of the imperial court. But obeying the emperor's orders was also to strengthen the imperial power and consolidate the throne. Later, both the East Factory and the West Factory were under the control of the eunuchs, and because they were the emperor's confidants, the East and West Factory gradually overran the Jinyiwei. The emergence of Dongxichang and Jinyiwei greatly strengthened the imperial power, and also caused panic among the officials in the court, who did not dare to have second thoughts.
This is only the maintenance of government affairs, as well as military centralization. Otherwise, do you think that the three battles were really issued casually? When there is an army behind him, he is the emperor who is confident, and it is justifiable for him to station troops. In this way, even if Emperor Wanli does not live or die in the morning, what can the officials do, and they dare not complain. Who knows that sentence will fall into the emperor's ears and end up in a different place. And although Emperor Wanli would not go to the morning court, he was still concerned about political affairs. After all, the country could not be ruined in his hands.
The reason why these emperors were so relieved was simply because the monarchy at that time had gradually improved.That's why we can let go of government affairs, but everything that flourishes will inevitably decline, so that by the Qing Dynasty, the monarchy reached its peak, but it also gradually declined. When Wanli was 16 years old, the Queen Mother and his ministers chose a queen and concubines for him, but Wanli's attitude towards them was very cold. He had his own ideas about marriage, and he did not like marriages imposed by others.
20-year-old Wanli was blessed with the Wang family, so he had his eldest son Zhu Changluo. Before meeting Zheng, Wanli always treated his harem with a cold attitude. Zheng was a palace maid. She was beautiful and intelligent, and Wanli loved her very much. Zheng was later named a noble concubine and gave birth to Zhu Changxun. After the Zheng family became the imperial concubine, Wanli wanted to make Zhu Changxun the prince.
The ministers of the imperial court opposed the appointment of Zhu Changxun as the prince. They believed that the elder and the younger should be in order, and the prince should be established by his direct descendants. It is not in line with tradition to come from behind. The actions of the ministers made Wanli very angry. In order to confront the courtiers, he chose not to go to court. In October of the 29th year of Wanli (1601), he still made Zhu Changluo the prince.
The reason why Wanli did not go to court for 28 years was ultimately due to the conflict between the imperial power and the civil service system. The imperial power was restricted, so he adopted a passive and lazy way to fight against it. However, Wanli did not kill the court ministers because of this. If he doesn't go to court, it doesn't mean he doesn't work.
2. After the death of his mentor Zhang Juzheng, Wanli discovered that he had been embezzling and accepting bribes. As Wanli's teacher, Zhang Juzheng's behavior and values had a great influence on Wanli. Wanli was very disappointed after learning about his mentor.
3. Through some things, Wanli saw clearly the true face of the Ming Dynasty civil servants, so he did not want to face these people and chose to ignore the government affairs and stay away from these hypocritical court ministers.
4. Wanli suffers from leg disease and has difficulty moving. In May 1956, Guo Moruo took the lead in the excavation work of Dingling. When the tomb was opened, the strange atmosphere made everyone present panic. When the coffin was opened, the scene in front of him was surprising. Wanli's right leg was curled up. Looking at the restored body, archaeologists found that Wanli's legs were of different lengths, with his right leg obviously shorter than his left. They also found morphine ingredients in the tomb, indicating that Wanli often took drugs.
From the excavation of Dingling, we can know that Wanli suffered from severe leg disease during his lifetime and also took drugs. From this result, we can think that Wanli may not go to court because he has difficulty moving and does not want to lose his majesty in front of the courtiers. As for the morphine content in the tomb, it may be that he was suffering from leg disease and wanted to take drugs to relieve the pain.
So, how did Wanli control the government and keep the country functioning normally? Most people regard going to court as a necessary step for the emperor to manage national affairs. In fact, it is possible to handle national affairs without going to court.
1. When Wanli faced an important event, he would convene a meeting with the court officials to discuss how to deal with it and handle the political affairs properly. For some minor matters, he will leave them to the corresponding ministers.
2. Wanli took the military power into his own hands. Some eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty were very rampant, but they failed to control the government. The main reason is that they have no military power and they are still controlled by the cabinet.
When Wanli was young, he lived a puppet-like life under the power combination of Zhang Juzheng, Feng Bao and Empress Dowager Li. He did not trust eunuchs and therefore would not allow them to gain important rights.
3. The three powers of cabinet, eunuchs and imperial power that emerged during the Ming Dynasty made courtiers fear the emperor. The existence of eunuchs is closely related to imperial power.
Wanli has been idle for a long time, but he can still control the ministers and government affairs. His skills and abilities are truly extraordinary. There are different opinions on the reason why Emperor Wanli did not come to court for twenty years. One of them is interesting.
After the Dingling Tomb of Emperor Wanli was excavated, by observing the skeletons of the people buried in the tomb, it was discovered that if the deceased in the tomb was indeed Emperor Wanli, then this emperor had one foot long and one foot short, and might have suffered from a serious leg and foot disease.As an emperor who rules over the world and is the most respected emperor of all times, this situation must not be known to outsiders. This is very detrimental to the image of the Ming Dynasty and the emperor himself, so Emperor Wanli chose to hide behind the scenes. There is another more interesting statement about
: I said this statement
. I think it may be related to and Matteo Ricci .
When Matteo Ricci went to the Forbidden City to meet the Chinese emperor for the first time, he did not see the emperor himself. The object he knelt three times and kowtowed to was only the dragon chair that symbolized the emperor, and the emperor who was symbolized was the Wanli Emperor Zhu Yijun.
It was obvious that Emperor Wanli had no interest in this little foreigner at first, until he discovered the self-ringing bell donated by Matteo Ricci. He was very interested in this thing and would hold it while sleeping.
So I speculate that Emperor Wanli played with the chimes at home when he was not in court. Of course, it was not limited to self-ringing bells. The things that Emperor Wanli played while hiding at home may include many, many novel and attractive things like self-ringing bells.
In a nutshell, why did Emperor Wanli not go to court for more than 20 years? Playthings make you lose your mind!
I don’t intend to end my article here. If it is true that Emperor Wanli suffered from leg and foot diseases, and he really liked self-ringing bells, then there is a question: from not going to court for twenty years, inferring that he has no interest in self-ringing bells and other related matters. Depending on the liking and frequency of playing the same attractive thing, this chiming clock is easy to break. If it is broken, you have to find Matteo Ricci to repair it. In this way, Ricci will meet the emperor. If the chiming bell is broken more than once, then Matteo Ricci will meet the emperor more than once.
The next question is, when Emperor Wanli met Matteo Ricci, wouldn’t his leg and foot diseases be exposed? I don't think so. When the emperor summons the people below, he can sit down so that nothing is exposed.
There is another possibility. Matteo Ricci just repaired the bell, and repairing the bell did not need to be done in front of the emperor. If this was the case, Emperor Wanli's leg and foot diseases would not be exposed.
Matteo Ricci's job is not a clock repairer, he is a missionary. If a missionary can make the emperor a believer, then he has completed his mission to the country.
But this is impossible, because in the eyes of Emperor Wanli, Matteo Ricci was a clock repairer, and only a clock repairer.
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, many Western missionaries tried to preach in China. In addition to Matteo Ricci, there were also Tang Ruowang, Nan Huairen and Lang Shining.
When I first saw the name Tang Ruowang in a book, I thought he was a Chinese, such as a descendant of Tang Xianzu or something. I've always wanted to find out who helped him change such a nice name, but I couldn't find it.
Tang Ruowang is a German. He came to China and it is hard to say whether he taught the Chinese people how to make cannons and astronomy and calendar . He also became the science teacher of Emperor Kangxi and was named a first-grade Guanglu doctor.
Nan Huairen is a good friend of Tang Ruowang. Just hearing this name, I seriously doubt that he is Nan Huairen's long-lost brother. Nan Huairen, like Tang Ruowang, was also good at astronomy and calendar.
Every missionary who comes to China must have special skills, otherwise he will not be ignored by the Chinese people in the heaven. Lang Shining's unique skill was not astronomy or cannons, but painting. The portraits of Emperor Qianlong and his concubines that are now circulated were all painted by Lang Shining.
As a lower-class person, I can't appreciate Castiglione's painting attainments, and I don't know how they compare with Chinese painters. But at least he showed the Chinese emperor and the Chinese people a brand-new painting, and this kind of painting is very different from the black-and-white Chinese paintings drawn with brushes and inks. In 1572, the ten-year-old Wanli Zhu Yijun took over from his father, Emperor Longqing, and became the successor of the Ming Dynasty. After Gao Gong returned to his hometown, he was assisted by Zhang Juzheng, the chief minister of the cabinet.
From 1572 to 1582, Wanli's New Deal was in full swing, and a prosperous situation emerged where the country was rich and the army was strong. Inside there was Zhang Juzheng strategizing thousands of miles away, outside there was Qi Jiguang, Li Chengliang defended the enemy thousands of miles away, and rebuilt the Ming Dynasty Thousand Miles of Great Wall.
But in 1582, Zhang Juzheng still passed away at the age of 60. Little Wanli, whom he had high hopes for, failed to shoulder the responsibility of reviving the Ming Dynasty. Wanli began not to go to court for 28 years. If you are Wanli, you probably won't go.
When Zhu Yijun came to the throne in 1572, the entire Ming Dynasty was already extremely weak. The 10-year-old Wanli and the 20-year-old Queen Mother Li were unable to handle government affairs at all. At this time, Feng Bao, the chief eunuch of , the Superintendent of Ceremonies, and , the great eunuch, recommended someone as Wanli's teacher, which changed the trajectory of the Ming Dynasty.
This person is Zhang Juzheng, but in the history of the Ming Dynasty, you can see that Zhang Juzheng is said to be a person with different appearances and duplicities. He colluded with Feng Bao, squeezed out Gao Gong, and even took bribes and perverted the law. Wanli in the history of the Ming Dynasty was a man of great achievements. He promulgated the internal examination of into , and thousands of incompetent officials were dismissed.
The One Whip Law severely cracked down on corruption and perversion of the law by Ming Dynasty officials and inhibited land annexation. Appoint officials based on their talents and do not engage in personnel terror policies. Qi Jiguang and Li Chengliang were appointed externally, and the Japanese pirates Mongolian tribes did not dare to step into the territory of the Ming Dynasty. Maybe you are wondering why such a "wise king" would hold a grudge against his teacher?
In fact, Zhang Juzheng had a problem with Wanli's education. Even though he worked hard, he still failed to recognize the rebellion and fear in Wanli's heart. In front of Teacher Zhang, Wanli could only endure the teachings, and there was no smooth communication between teachers and students.
For example, Wanli once went out to play with his young eunuch, got drunk and beat him up. As a result, Empress Dowager Li and Mr. Zhang Ge did not persuade him carefully, but threatened him to depose the emperor. Teenagers are extremely rebellious, let alone a nine-five-year-old emperor. How could he not hate it? When Zhang Juzheng's condition worsened after experiencing the crisis of losing love, he wanted to return power to Wanli and let him take the helm as an adult. At this time, Wanli began to show his true nature.
The glory of Zhang Juzheng's life was that he thought he had found the right person at the helm, but the "patriarchal" education suppressed Wanli for too long. After Zhang Juzheng died in 1582, Wanli began a general liquidation and confiscated the entire Zhang family, only to find only 100,000 taels.
completely overturned Wanli's accusation that he was guilty of corruption and bending the law, and ruined the Ming Dynasty's path to revival. Wanli, who shot himself in the foot, ignored the government affairs for 28 years, and ended up doing the same thing but doing the same thing, causing him to miss the best opportunity to eliminate Nurhachi . So if you are a person like Wanli, maybe it will be the same. You can't take responsibility and you like to exercise power. After 60 years, the Ming Dynasty finally came to an end. The essence of not going to court in Wanli is to fight against the civil servant group and the Confucian system behind the civil servant group. Going to court, like other ceremonies, is firstly a demonstration of etiquette behavior, and secondly, it deals with government affairs. And according to the actual situation, which is just a formality, the actual government affairs processing is carried out below.
Wanli not only does not go to court, it can be said that he does not do any ritual behavior, including but not limited to temple visits, sacrifices, visits, interviews. Simply put, as long as it is such pretentious behavior, as long as it is liked by Confucian ministers, he will not do it. Well, just out of anger, what can you do? But as mentioned earlier, this does not mean that the emperor did not handle government affairs, especially in a dynasty like the Ming Dynasty that was famous for its eunuchs and spies. As long as the emperor was willing, he had enough channels to obtain information and implement his own ideas (of course, the characteristic of any ancient bureaucracy is that it will change when it goes down, haha). The emperor did not have to rely on the civil service group to maintain and promote the operation of the country to a certain extent.
In addition, Confucianism is a system of kidnapping, and the emperor's demonstration role is equivalent to a death order for ministers. Therefore, whether it is the emperor or the county magistrate, if they do not go to court or ascend to the court, other national/local government officials will operate on their own for a long time under the original demonstration effect without serious problems. This can be considered an advantage of this system.
I mentioned earlier that Confucian governance was a foreshadowing, because I wanted to illustrate the miraculous stability of traditional Chinese Confucian governance.Modern people's management methods are closer to the Legalist method, so everyone thinks that if you don't go to court for one day, something big will happen. In fact, if you don't go to court for 20 years, it can just run smoothly. What's more, the emperor is just angry, not really giving up.
PS: It’s really interesting to compare Wanli and Chongzhen . One doesn’t care about anything, while the other has to care about everything. If you read a lot of relevant books and don't look at the problem from an ethical perspective, you will find that Laozi is actually quite right. To govern a big country is like cooking small delicacies. That is to say, the more you stir things up, the muddy they will become. On the contrary, if you don't let things go, things will get a little better. During the 10 years that Zhang Juzheng served as the chief minister of the cabinet, he not only presided over national affairs, but was also the teacher of Emperor Zhu Yijun. In Zhu Yijun's heart, Zhang Juzheng is not only his mentor in life, but also a pillar of the country with amazing talents, and a great reformer who is just and selfless! After Zhang Juzheng's death, his luxurious and glitzy life was turned upside down! The teacher's inconsistent words and deeds deeply hurt the heart of the young Emperor Wanli, and directly affected his attitude towards the court officials. No. 2: The dispute over the foundation of the country. The dispute over the foundation of the country, that is, the incident of the Ming Shenzong appointing a prince.
Over the issue of whether to establish the emperor's eldest son Zhu Changluo or Zhu Changxun, the son of his concubine Zheng Guifei, as the crown prince, various factions have been arguing for about 15 years! Countless ministers were reprimanded, demoted, and beaten with sticks because of this! Ming Shenzong himself was physically and mentally exhausted, and his beloved concubine was also depressed. Through this incident, Zhu Yijun felt that although he was the emperor, he was always controlled by his ministers, and even fell out with them. As a result, Zhu Yijun gradually lost interest in government affairs and began to neglect government affairs. No. 3: Emperor Wanli had serious foot problems. In 1956, archaeological experts excavated the Ming Dingling Tomb of Emperor Wanli.
They were surprised to find that more than 300 years later, Emperor Wanli was still curled up in pain in his coffin! This fully shows that Emperor Wanli did suffer from serious foot disease during his lifetime. It can be seen from his corpse that Emperor Wanli's left leg was much shorter than his right leg! It turned out that Emperor Wanli was actually a lame man! The emperor is the most respected person in the world. If you go to court every day and walk with a limp, won't you lose your image in front of the ministers? Therefore, he simply chose not to go to court. Changes in the Ming Dynasty's court meeting system The Ming Dynasty's court meeting system was founded by Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, and was basically perfected by the time of Ming Chengzu.
Morning dynasty is the core part of the dynasty meeting system. It is a way for the emperor to regularly meet with ministers. During the Hongwu period, Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the prime minister and strengthened the concentration of imperial power. All major matters required the emperor to make decisions alone. Therefore, this requires the emperor to be of high quality in all aspects! Mature emperors such as Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di can still hold on, but how can those young emperors adapt? Moreover, morning meetings were too frequent in the Ming Dynasty, and their ceremonial nature was far greater than their administrative significance, similar to the daily morning meetings in companies today! Therefore, most of the emperors of the Ming Dynasty were diligent in early court in the early period and lazy in early court in the later period.
During the Ming Yingzong period, there were also clear restrictions on the number of incidents reported by courtiers in the early dynasty. This has greatly weakened the political function of the early dynasty! By the time of Emperor Wanli, the early dynasty system had undergone qualitative changes. The number of morning pilgrimages has been directly reduced to the third, sixth and ninth day of each month, and the number of morning pilgrimages has been reduced to nine times a month. As the early dynasty system gradually weakened, Emperor Wanli gradually became tired of the exaggerated side of those who did not mean what they said and did what they did. Coupled with the increasingly serious condition of his legs, Emperor Wanli finally became too lazy to go to court.
Someone made statistics and found that he had not been in court for a total of 28 years. Not going to court does not mean not handling the affairs of the court. Bai Juyi described in "Song of Everlasting Sorrow" Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty: "The spring night is short and the day is high, and the king will not go to court early from now on." Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty had a warm and fragrant soft jade in his arms, and he had no intention of going to court in the early morning. It was not until the Anshi Rebellion happened later, and the Sixth Army had no choice but to do nothing! Emperor Wanli was different from Tang Xuanzong! He did not come to court for 28 years. There was no major riot in the Ming Dynasty as a whole, and state affairs remained as usual! All of this is directly related to the mature political system of the Ming Dynasty! When Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty abolished the prime minister, he established a cabinet.
After about 50 years, the Ming Dynasty completed the cabinet discussion, as well as the civilian political system in which the emperor made decisions and the ministries implemented them. Since then, the power of the Ming Dynasty cabinet has gradually increased, and its status is comparable to that of the real prime minister, and it can even suppress the six ministries. Does such great power mean that the imperial power is in vain? Of course not! In addition to a complete cabinet system, the Ming Dynasty also had a voting system. Under normal circumstances, officials would submit memorials, which would be submitted to the cabinet. After discussion, the cabinet would issue a draft vote, which is the cabinet's proposed handling opinions, and then the eunuch would submit it to the emperor.
is approved or disapproved by the emperor (this is called batch red ). If the emperor agrees, it will be stamped and issued for implementation. If he disagrees, it will be sent back to the cabinet for deliberation. "Ting meeting - voting (cabinet) - approval (emperor or chief of ceremonies) - rejection (six subjects) - execution (six departments)", this is the general process of handling government affairs. The cabinet has also changed from the previous relatively empty form of deliberation to a more practical deliberation behavior of approving, voting, and approving! Therefore, cabinet deliberations are included in the decision-making process! However, the cabinet vote needs to be approved by the emperor before it can finally become a decision, which will be implemented by the six ministries.
In the first episode of " Ming Dynasty 1566", Emperor Jiajing hid behind the scenes and listened to the discussions of cabinet ministers. Then he gave his opinion by ringing a bell. During the Wanli period, the first and assistant ministers had to rely on eunuchs to deliver approval before they could take charge of political affairs, such as Zhang Juzheng and Feng Bao. Therefore, this special system allows the emperor to handle national affairs even if he does not go to court. Of course, no one can take away his imperial power, and no one can dethrone him.
What major events happened during the 28 years when Emperor Wanli was absent from the court? Historical records generally believe that Emperor Wanli was idle for 28 years. In fact, Wanli's complete neglect of government began in 1600 and lasted for 20 years. During the period of Emperor Wanli's neglect of government, three major expeditions took place, namely the Battle of Korea in 1592, the Battle of Ningxia in 1592, and the Battle of Bozhou in 1598. The victory of the three wars is the biggest highlight of Wanli's 48 years in power! However, while stabilizing the Ming Dynasty's border areas, it also severely consumed the Ming Dynasty's financial resources.
In addition, the influence of the Donglin Party Controversy is not small! The Donglin Party Struggle was an event that seriously undermined the imperial court during the reign of Emperor Wanli. It originated from a personnel change in the 38th year of Wanli. At that time, the cabinet was short of people. Gu Xiancheng, the founder of Donglin Academy , advocated that the governor Li Sancai, who had considerable political achievements, join the cabinet. As a result, he was slandered and abused by the forces that opposed Li Sancai's entry into the cabinet! After that, various forces in the DPRK concentrated on attacking the Donglin faction that was gradually emerging. In the 46th year of Wanli, that is, in 1618 in history, Nurhachi rebelled against the Ming Dynasty.
As the war became increasingly tense, Ming Shenzong, who had been in the deep palace for a long time, seemed to finally feel the crisis on the border! There has been some change in negligent governance, but not much. After all, the old Emperor Wanli was already beyond his capabilities. In the second year, Nurhaci defeated the Ming army in the Battle of Sarhu. The Ming Empire's strategy against the Jurchens changed to defensive strategy. Objectively speaking: in the early days of Emperor Wanli's reign, because Zhang Juzheng, the chief minister of the cabinet, presided over government affairs, and Zhang Juzheng implemented a series of reforms, including the enthusiasm of Emperor Wanli in the early days of his reign, the entire Ming Dynasty experienced unprecedented economic prosperity at this stage.
The emergence of the capitalist economy even gave rise to the "Wanli ZTE" situation in history. Emperor Wanli was negligent in his administration. Although there was no eunuch rebellion, no relatives intervening in politics, and no treacherous ministers in power, the partisanship within the court was also under control. However, due to Emperor Wanli's long period of neglect, the central government of the Ming Dynasty almost fell into a state of paralysis in the later period. "History of the Ming Dynasty: The Benji of Shenzong" says: "The death of the Ming Dynasty was actually caused by Shenzong." San Shao said: Emperor Wanli did not go to court for 28 years, but he became the longest reigning emperor in the Ming Dynasty.
Speaking of the Ming Dynasty, we have to mention Emperor Wanli (Zhu Yijun). One of his great measures during his tenure was that he did not go to court for many years. The court was not in chaos, but he achieved many achievements. In contrast, Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty was much unlucky. He went to court every day and tried to reform, but he was still controlled by Cixi. The court was full of smoke and chaos.Before answering how Emperor Wanli, who had not gone to court for thirty years, suppressed his ministers and officials, let us first understand why Emperor Wanli did not go to court.
First of all, Emperor Wanli ascended the throne at the age of ten. After ten years of hard work and a series of reform measures, he gave the Ming Dynasty a strong shot. Logically speaking, he should be a wise emperor? But why did he neglect his political career, indulge in drinking and sex, and ignore the government affairs? In fact, the most important reason is to establish a prince. Emperor Wanli loved his third son, Zhu Changxun, and wanted to establish him as the crown prince, but the ministers disagreed. Since ancient times, he has not established a concubine instead of a concubine, believing that doing so violates the ancestral precepts. The two sides have been arguing for decades. You don't believe me, and I don't believe you. Emperor Wanli was so angry that he didn't even go to court.
Then a big reason is that Emperor Wanli had leg problems and had difficulty moving. There are records in history books: Many ministers accused Emperor Wanli of not going to court, but Emperor Wanli explained to them that his legs were not good and he could not go to court. This can also be concluded from the excavated tombs that Emperor Wanli did have serious leg problems. In the end, he was rebellious because he had been suppressed for too long. It is not an exaggeration to say that when a ten-year-old child becomes the emperor, it is fun, but he has to be taught by Zhang Juzheng and other ministers to learn the concepts of governing the country. It is not an exaggeration to say that he will feel dissatisfied.
After a little while, his power was restricted and he could not do what he liked to do. He had to behave in everything he did. Resentment naturally arose, which led to Zhang Juzheng's death. Emperor Wanli ransacked his home and exterminated him. No one cares about it, you can indulge yourself and break the situation of three points and one line (Jinluan Palace, Yangxin Palace, Qianqing Palace). Next, let’s talk about how Emperor Wanli suppressed his ministers without going to the morning court. First, we have to make it clear here that not attending the morning court does not mean that we do not care about political affairs.
Although Emperor Wanli did not go to court, he still read the memorials and called ministers to the inner hall of the palace to discuss important matters. For example, the three major campaigns of Wanli were promulgated in this way and won. As for minor matters, they were left to the cabinet. Second, take control of the military. Emperor Wanli focused on controlling military power due to his experience of becoming a puppet in his early years. It is precisely because we have military power that we have nothing to fear. Third, there is a cabinet system and a supervisory system. The power of the prime minister is distributed to the cabinet, and the cabinet is allowed to review statistics, but the final decision-making power still rests with the emperor.
