Zhu Zaiyuan's biggest image in history is his good temper, often courtiers quarrel in front of him, and he is calm and not angry. But the good-tempered Zhu Zaiyuan also has a tough side, and the first thing he did after ascending the throne was to rectify corruption.

Since the first year of Longqing, the officialdom has set off a storm of rectification, not only a large number of corrupt officials have been dismissed, but even many mediocre officials who have no bad deeds but are in a vegetarian position have also been laid off. Even so, Zhu Zaiyuan was not satisfied, in the first month of the second year of Longqing, after hearing that many corrupt officials had only been dismissed, Zhu Zaiyuan immediately quit and ordered not only to investigate the economic responsibility of the corrupt officials, but also to sort out the relevant bad deeds of this group of corrupt officials in detail and announce them to the world.

Even if you can't be cured, you will be stinked to death, and for those cadres who successfully passed the inspection, Zhu Zaiyuan did not forget to beat them, and issued an order to educate and say: "You can pass the test as lucky, and you will do a good job in the future." ”

Zhu Zaiyuan was often criticized by officials for not working, and during his six years in power, the main scene in the Ming Dynasty was that officials formed gangs and fought with each other. But Zhu Zaiyuan did not know about this question, and once he asked Zhang Juzheng: "I heard that there are many parties in the DPRK and the Central People's Republic of China, which party do you belong to?"

Zhang Juzheng replied: "Gentlemen are not parties, let them quarrel." ”

Zhu Zaiyuan was very happy to hear this, and waved his hand, yes, let them quarrel. In the fourth year of Longqing, the Tatar Khan Altan, who had long invaded the border of the Ming Dynasty, negotiated with the Ming Dynasty to pay tribute and make peace, that is, the Ming Dynasty canonized Altan, and the two sides opened up trade and stopped the war.

This decision caused a shock in the Ming Dynasty at that time, the support faction and the opposition quarreled, the ministers asked Zhu Zaiyuan to get an idea, Zhu Zaigao replied: "You discuss it, discuss it and report it to me, I don't want to learn from the first emperor, and I will be scolded for working every day." ”

The benevolent emperor Zhu Zaiyuan, the most criticized shortcoming of the ministers is laziness. The first is that he is often absent from work, and he will be exempted from work at every turn, that is, he will be off duty; second, he is often lazy after work, and when he sits in the court, he is often silent and does not speak, that is, he is in a daze.

The biggest difference between Zhu Zaiyuan and his father is that although his father Emperor Jiajing is not in the court, he is good at handling the ministers, and everyone is often nervous even if they can't see the emperor. Zhu Zaiyuan was often in a daze even in the court, but the ministers were relaxed.

But compared to going to work, Zhu Zaiyuan's spare time life is very colorful, one is like to collect rare treasures, and the jewelry paid tribute from all over the country, he also likes to personally check and identify, distinguish the authenticity, and once because the appraisal of jewelry is unqualified, fined the household officials half a year's salary. The second is a good beauty, in addition to intensively pampering concubines, she has also drafted girls in the civil public many times, and even caused fraud.

A eunuch named Zhang Jinchao falsely claimed to be a draft girl for Zhu Zaigao in Hubei, taking the opportunity to make a lot of money, and frightened the local people to marry daughters one after another, defrauding a total of 180,000 yuan in silver for two months.

Zhu Zaiyuan ascended the throne, and he took over the mess of his father Emperor Jiajing, Taicang's grain storage was only enough for one month, and the household department was even poorer, and he couldn't even get the military salary for the southern bandits, so he could only order the front-line soldiers to raise their own funds, inside and out, they were very short of money. When he was worried about this matter, Jiang Zilamb, the deputy envoy of the Shaanxi Provincial Prosecutor, came up with a good idea: "In the past, when the magistrates went to Beijing to report their work, they had to be punished up and down. Why don't you just let the magistrate take part of this money and give it to the imperial court, and the treasury will be full?"

Who knew that it was sparse, but it made Zhu Zaiyuan very angry, and instead issued a strict order, prohibiting the local officials from apportioning and extorting the people in the name of entering Beijing. Jiang Zilamb, who wanted to speculate, was demoted after being scolded, not to mention, and became the laughing stock of officialdom at that time.

Zhu Zaiyuan's most trusted person is Gao Gong, a cabinet scholar, Gao Gong has been a lecturer in his palace since he was King Yu, and the two have established a very deep relationship. In the early days of his ascension to the throne as emperor, Gao Gong was once dismissed and returned to his hometown under the exclusion of Xu Jie, and Zhu Zaiyuan also specially sent his closest eunuchs to escort him, taking care of Gao Gong's diet and daily life all the way.

A year later, Gao Gong was reinstated, whenever there was a difficult event, as long as Gao Gong came, the sad Zhu Zaiyuan would definitely smile, and he often said: "I believe that Mr. Gao Gong will have a way." ”

In the first month of the sixth year of Longqing, Zhu Zaiyuan, who was dyed with heavy lotus, summoned two auxiliary ministers Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng, facing the terminally ill emperor, the two ministers howled and cried, but Zhu Zaiyuan deliberately called Gao Gong to his side, stretched his arm and smiled bitterly at Gao Gong and said: "Sir, you see, the wounds on my body have never been scarred. ”

Then Zhu Zaiyuan supported the sick body and took the two ministers to inspect the Ganqing Palace, and along the whole way, Zhang Juzheng followed behind, while Gao Gong held Zhu Zaiyuan's hand and walked in front. Before returning to the dormitory, according to the custom, the emperor should rest and the minister should retire, but Zhang Juzheng retired, but Zhu Zaiyuan still held Gao Gong's hand and said to Gao Gong: "Send me." When he said this, both the monarch and the minister had tears in their eyes, this is a rare pair of monarchs and ministers who have known each other for life.

Zhu Houyu and Zhu Zaiyu's father and son, their achievements in governing can be seen from the attitude of the officials and the people when they passed away. This is not the case with Zhu Zaiyuan, when the bad news came, many ministers cried profusely.

When Gao Gong listened to the edict, he cried loudly on the spot, and when he walked outside the palace gate after the incident, he couldn't help but howl loudly. The people of Suning County, Hebei Province, in the early days of his accession to the throne, had been ordered by him to return the land occupied by the eunuchs, and when the news of his death came, the local officials and people of Suning also played for the court and asked to build a temple for him to commemorate. And said that when the bad news came, everyone cried, and this emperor, who was regarded as weak by later generations, was an emperor who won the hearts of the people.

Zhang Juzheng, a peasant son born in Jiangling, Hubei Province, was known as a prodigy when he was a teenager, proficient in the Four Books and Five Classics at the age of 10, a talent at the age of 12, and a person at the age of 16; because of his ingenuity and the implementation of a number of reform measures, the declining Ming Dynasty was able to prolong the state for 60 years.

During the reign of Ming Muzong, Zhang Juzheng, a scholar, was deeply trusted by Muzong for his outstanding talents. After the death of Mu Zong, Mingshenzong ascended the throne, because of Mu Zong's edict, Zhang Juzheng and other three ministers were appointed to assist the ten-year-old Shenzong in governing the country. Soon after Shenzong ascended the throne, the forty-eight-year-old Zhang Juzheng became the first assistant, he did not forget Muzong's entrustment, not only dedicated to governing state affairs, but also taught the young Shenzong like a teacher to a student.

He also compiled and painted an illustrated historical story book "Emperor Jian Illustrated", which was explained to Shenzong every day, and Shenzong found the book very interesting, and he often listened to it with relish when Zhang Juzheng explained. Once, Zhang Juzheng talked about Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty comforting the army in Xiliu, so he said to him: "Your Majesty should pay attention to armaments, the peaceful days will be too long, and the military strength will become more and more lax, so you must always pay attention to it." The Divine Sect nodded in agreement.

Again, Zhang Juzheng said that Song Renzong didn't like to decorate himself with pearls, and Shenzong said after hearing this: "This is very right, the monarch should treat the virtuous ministers as treasures, what is the use of pearls?"

Zhang Juzheng saw that he was young but could say these words, and said happily: "Xianjun should value grain more than Zhuyu, because food can feed the people, Zhuyu can't eat these things when you're hungry, and you can't keep out the cold when you're cold." ”

Zhang Juzheng's education of Shenzong is very strict, Shenzong is both respectful and afraid of this strict teacher, coupled with the support of the Queen Mother, most of the government is dominated by Zhang Juzheng.

After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the government was in decline, and the people's fat and ointment were all in the pockets of corrupt officials. Therefore, after he seized real power, he immediately launched a series of political, economic, and military reforms.

In the military aspect, Zhang Juzheng sent the famous general Qi Jiguang to guard Jimen in the north, Li Zhiliang to guard Liaodong, and Qi's army built more than 3,000 fortresses on the Great Wall from Shanhaiguan in the east to Juyongguan in the west; Zhang Juzheng adopted a peaceful policy of trade and exchange against the northern Tatars who often invaded at that time, and the two sides traded tea, horses, and other goods, so that in the following two or three decades, there was no war between the Ming Dynasty and the Tatars.

In the political aspect, we have implemented the law on the examination of officials, rectified the administration of officials, employed people on the basis of merit, and eliminated redundant officials who do not need to be appointed, so as to give a new look to the political style. In terms of economy, the Yellow River at that time was in disrepair, and the river flooded, resulting in the inundation of many farmlands. Zhang Juzheng appointed Pan Jitao, a well-known water conservancy expert, to rectify the Yellow River, so that floods would not occur again, agricultural production could be restored, and traffic would be smooth; a whip law was implemented to simplify the complicated tax system that had been complicated since the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, and to merge the taxation of labor, so that the landless peasants could be relieved of the burden of labor and the peasants who had land could have more time for farming, which was not only conducive to agricultural production, but also promoted the development of industry and commerce with surplus manpower. After the implementation of the whip law, the state treasury revenue increased significantly, and the financial situation was improved, and Taicang had nearly a decade of grain reserves available for use at that time.

Zhang Juzheng is carrying out heavy drug reform, and it is inevitable to offend those with vested interests. In the fifth year of his tenure as the first assistant, Zhang Juzheng's father died of illness in his hometown in Gangneung, and according to the etiquette of the time, he had to leave his post for three years, but he was worried that the various reforms he was carrying out would be affected by his resignation, so he persuaded Shenzong and other ministers to let his son go home to mourn on his behalf, and he remained in office.

In this way, those who were originally jealous of him, caught him for not losing his filial piety, exaggerated the big thing, impeachment, and the black letter attacked Zhang Juzheng in an overwhelming manner, and finally forced Shenzong to order that all those who opposed Zhang Juzheng should be executed, and the matter calmed down.

Shenzong gradually grew up, and Zhang Juzheng's power became more and more concentrated, so Shenzong had nothing to do. There was a group of eunuchs in the palace who came up with special ideas to entertain Shenzong, and once, Shenzong almost beat two little eunuchs to death for no reason because he was drunk. When this matter reached the ears of the Queen Mother, in addition to giving him a stern lesson, she also asked him to read the Book of Han.

The book records that when Huo Guang was the auxiliary government of the Western Han Dynasty, Liu He, the king of Changyi, was deposed by the Queen Mother and Huo Guang soon after he ascended the throne; Later, Zhang Juzheng still took charge of driving these eunuchs away, although the matter passed, but Shenzong's fear of Zhang Juzheng evolved into hatred.

A few years later, Zhang Juzheng died of illness, and Shenzong personally took power, and those who opposed and dissatisfied Zhang Juzheng impeached and attacked his governance one after another. The following year, Shenzong ordered the removal of his official titles and titles, and confiscated his family property, more than a dozen family members were starved to death, and the eldest son was forced to commit suicide.

Although later generations have mixed reviews of Zhang Juzheng, it is also an indisputable fact that his achievements and contributions in the ten years of his reign made the Wanli period the most prosperous and stable era in the Ming Dynasty.