Ming Wuzong Zhu Houzhao (1491-1521), the eldest son of Ming Xiaozong, was named "Zhengde". He ascended the throne in 1505 and reigned for 16 years; he died in 1521 at the age of 31.
Ming Wuzong Zhu Houzhao
1. Zhu Houzhao enjoyed exclusive favor since childhood, but was led astray by the eunuchs of the "Eight Party"
Ming Xiaozong Zhu Youtang's Queen Zhang gave birth to two sons, the eldest son Zhu Houzhao and the second son Zhu Houwei. Because Zhu Houzhao was the eldest son, he was established as the crown prince when he was two years old. His younger brother Zhu Houwei died early, so Zhu Houzhao was favored since he was a child. Moreover, the young Zhu Houzhao was also very smart and learned everything quickly. Those who are close to Zhu are red and those who are close to ink are black. The influence of the eunuchs around them completely changed Zhu Houzhao's life.
"Eight Party" eunuchs
Among the eunuchs in the East Palace (Prince's Palace), headed by Liu Jin, and the eight eunuchs Ma Yongcheng, Gao Feng, Luo Xiang, Wei Bin, Gu Dayong, and Zhang Yong, they were called the "Eight Party". They took advantage of the Emperor Xiaozong's favor, ran rampant and arbitrarily squeezed out the ministers who opposed them. In order to make long-term investments for long-term monopoly, to please the prince Zhu Houzhao, he presented eagles and dogs to the prince in different ways every day, held singing and dancing, and held fights and other performances. At that time, the East Palace was nicknamed the "Hundred Theaters". The young Zhu Houzhao, as a child, could resist the temptation of these things, so he indulged in them and was happy to forget about Shu.
2. Soon after he ascended the throne, he indulged in lewd pleasures, built a "Leopard House", and worked incognito as a flower collector among the people.
In 1505 AD, 15-year-old Zhu Houzhao ascended the throne. The following year was changed to the first year of Zhengde, known as the "Ming Wuzong" in history, and he began his absurd and bizarre career as an emperor. Not long after he ascended the throne, Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty began to be tempted by eunuchs, leave the palace incognito, and seek pleasure in brothels. A few more months later, Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty had become addicted to pleasures, slacked off in government affairs, and no longer wanted to go to court. The British prince Zhang Mao wrote an admonition: "Since the emperor came to the throne, he has held banquets and been personally involved in the common government, and the world has been anxious to govern. When those who are nearby suddenly hear about the banquet, they are careful to ride and shoot, and even a small group of miscellaneous people After leaving Yemen, he visited the gardens and indulged himself in pleasure. When the ministers heard about it, they were frightened. "Liu Jian, a great scholar, also sent a letter to advise: "Your Majesty has been too late to watch the court in recent days. He has been playing too late and the games have become more and more popular."
Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty lingered in brothels
But under the guidance of the great eunuch Liu Jin, Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty not only did not restrain his changes, but intensified his efforts and even played new tricks. First, many shops were built in the palace to imitate the streets of the city, and eunuchs were asked to pretend to be bosses and common people, while Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty pretended to be wealthy businessmen and acted in them for fun. This is not enough, and they imitate the brothels in the market and let the maids dress up as prostitutes and prostitutes in the palace. Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty went from house to house to listen to music, and when he got interested, he started to have sex, making the palace a mess, more like a brothel than a brothel. Some upright and loyal ministers jointly submitted a letter requesting severe punishment of the " Eight Tigers ". After hearing the news, Liu Jin cried in front of Ming Wuzong, which made Ming Wuzong dizzy. He in turn punished the ministers who first remonstrated, cabinet members Xie Qian, and Liu Jian threatened to retire and return to their hometown. Ming Wuzong readily agreed, and no one has been able to remonstrate with Ming Wuzong since then.
Ming Wuzong's "Leopard Room"
After defeating the ministers, the "Eight Tigers" became more confident and arrogant. Liu Jin also helped Ming Wuzong build the infamous "Leopard House" in later generations. There were more than 200 houses and more than 240,000 taels of silver. Not only did they really raise leopards, , tigers and other beasts, but there were also many Lehu and beauties inside for Ming Wuzong to have fun day and night. Listening to the howls of the beasts, they played and sang night after night, which was even more exciting. It really was a new trick, and it was the best in Chinese history. For the sake of sexual pleasure, Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty had an extremely broad mind and frequently used tricks. After he traveled around the palace and the capital, he ignored the world's political affairs and took the eunuch Jiang Bin and others incognito to look for flowers in other places. He often broke into people's homes at night and forced women to accompany him. When he found someone he liked, he would take him back to the palace, which made the people feel insecure and complain. Yongping The prefect Mao Siyi thought it was the flower-picking robbers, and posted a notice to calm the people, saying that from now on, anyone who falsely claims that the emperor is here without official documents and disturbs the people will be severely punished. Unfortunately, the prefect Mao Siyi did not know that the emperor was really the flower-picking robbers, so he was directly arrested and imprisoned. Once, Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty fell in love with Feng'er, the sister of a small shop owner, so he adopted Feng'er as his concubine. Unexpectedly, God did not have his wish, and Feng'er was not blessed and died on the way back to Beijing. Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty was very sad. Soon after, Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty fell in love with Liu, a member of the Le Palace (today's actor or singer), so he made Liu his concubine and doted on her so much that everyone in the harem called her Liu Empress.
Ming Wuzong looked for flowers among the people
3. Personally designed a funny Spring Festival ceremony and stayed in Xuanfu
During his northern tour, Ming Wuzong liked the Zhenguo Mansion in Xuanfu (now Xuanhua City, Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province) very much and directly called it "home". At the beginning of spring in 1518 AD, Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty was in Xuanfu, and a Spring Welcome Ceremony was held as usual. In the past Spring Welcome Ceremony, bamboo and wood were used to make a frame, with some auspicious patterns placed on it, and presented to the emperor, which was called "Incoming Spring". This time, Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty personally designed the Spring Festival ceremony and ordered dozens of carriages filled with women and monks to be prepared. While marching, the colored balls in the women's hands collided with the monk's bald head to the rhythm, and the colored balls fell down one after another. Wu Zong was always in high spirits during this funny Spring Festival ceremony, and was very proud of his masterpiece.
Zhenguo Mansion
Under the instigation of the eunuch Jiang Bin, Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty ordered the extensive expansion and repair of the Zhenguo Mansion, and transported treasures and beauties from the Leopard Room in the capital to enrich the Zhenguo Mansion. It seemed that he had the intention of permanently stationed in Xuan Mansion to handle government affairs. The advantage of being in Xuan Mansion is that you no longer have to listen to the endless advice of ministers; he ordered that no ministers are allowed to come to Xuan Mansion, and only the personal followers of Baofang can come in and out at any time.
The expanded Zhenguo Mansion
4. Worshiping the martial arts of Emperor Taizu and Chengzu, and often using his chariot to conquer personally
In 1517 AD, the Mongolian prince Boyan knocked the pass and invaded southward. Zhu Houzhao, Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty, was very excited, thinking that the opportunity to establish his achievements had come, and quickly returned to Beijing to prepare for the expedition. At that time, it was less than 70 years after the Tumu Fort incident. When the courtiers heard the word "personal expedition", they were worried about repeating the same mistake, and they all advised Ming Wuzong. However, Ming Wuzong was never willing to let go of this opportunity to prove himself, and finally led the troops to fight in the name of "General Zhu Shou". The two sides fought for several days. In this battle personally directed by Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty, he achieved a record of killing 16 enemies, wounding 563 people and killing 25 people on his own side. This time the Northern Expedition was considered a victory. After all, the Mongolian Tatars were defeated.
Ming Wuzong's Northern Expedition against the Mongolian Tatars
In 1519 AD, King Ning of Jiangxi Zhu Chenhao, who had long harbored dissident intentions and conspired to cause rebellion, killed the imperial official and led a crowd to rebel. Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty once again led the expedition in person. The ancients did not take women with them when they were marching to war. They thought it was unlucky to bring women with them. Before Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty set off with his army, Empress Liu gave her a hairpin as a token. Unexpectedly, Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty knocked off the hairpin just after leaving the Marco Polo Bridge, so he stopped marching and searched for it for three days. Then the army went to Zhuozhou, Hebei Province. The governor of southern Gansu Wang Yangming did not understand the holy will at all and did not leave a chance for the emperor to perform. He actually captured Prince Ning alive before Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty personally led the army to conquer. The rebellion had been put down, but Emperor Wuzong of Ming Dynasty was very unhappy after receiving his reward. On December 1, Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty arrived in Yangzhou Prefecture, and took the opportunity to live happily in Yangzhou, Yangzhou. Every day he was either hunting in the west of the city or hanging out in various brothels. Suddenly the price of pollen skyrocketed and the prostitutes' worth doubled.
On the way back to Beijing after quelling the rebellion of King Ning
, Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty traveled to Zhenjiang, climbed to Jinshan Mountain, and crossed the Yangtze River from Guazhou. In September 1520 AD, while passing by Qingjiangpu, Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty saw the beautiful scenery on the water and the fish swimming on the shallow bottom. He suddenly became more playful and started fishing by himself in a small boat. As a result, he was extremely happy and sad. When he lifted the net, many fish fell into the water. Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty grew up in Beijing and could not swim. Although the attendants struggled to rescue him, the water choked his lungs, coupled with fear and panic, his health deteriorated. In addition, he caught a cold in autumn, which caused pneumonia .
Ming Wuzong fell into the water
In the first month of 1521 AD, Ming Wuzong and his party returned to Beijing. On the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty still forced himself to go to the southern suburbs to preside over the sacrifice ceremony. When the first ceremony was being held, Emperor Wuzong bowed to heaven and earth, suddenly vomited blood, collapsed to the ground, and never got up again, and the ceremony ended immediately. In March, he died in Baofang at the age of 31. He really "played with life, played with death, and lived a short life just to play", which ended his game-oriented and bohemian life.
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