-- The book continues --

After Xu Miaoyun pacified Zhu Di, he began to talk about the life of Ming Muzong Zhu Zaikun.

Zhu Zaikun was born on the 23rd day of the first month of the sixteenth year of Jiajing, the third son of Zhu Houxi of Ming Shizong, and his mother was Concubine Du Kang (then Concubine Kang).

In the eighteenth year of Jiajing, the second son Zhu Zaili was appointed as the crown prince, the third son Zhu Zaili was the king of Yu, and the fourth son Zhu Zaizhen was the king of Jing.

Gao Gong, Chen Yiqin, Yin Shidan, Zhang Juzheng, etc. successively served as the attendants of Yuwangfu, tutored Zhu Zaikun's studies, and at the same time created an image of a "good prince" for him and promoted his succession to the throne.

In the thirty-third year of Jiajing, the situation of the two kings was opened, and Zhu Zaikun's mother Du Shi died. Du was not favored during his lifetime, and after his death, he was also suppressed by Sejong on the funeral specifications, requiring him to "engage in regular rites", not allowed to follow the specifications of Concubine Ji Shu in Chenghua, nor allowed to follow the ritual system of Sun Guifei in Hongwu, and not allowed Zhu Zaikun to behead the decline for three years with parent-child friendship clothes, and hundreds of officials did not accept mourning clothes, only wore light and light-colored clothes to sacrifice, and did not worship when reading the book, nor did he posthumously crown Du Kangfei as a concubine, etc.

And Zhu Zaizhen's mother Lu not only survives, but also serves Sejong's side, plus Zhu Zaizhen is smart and exposed, sensitive, good at communicating, and good at catering to his father's intentions; On the other hand, Zhu Jae-jin has a dull personality and is introverted, so Sejong prefers Zhu Jae-jin.

Since then, Zhu Zaikun's sons have tried to avoid reporting to Shizong, for example, the third son Zhu Yijun did not choose a name after his birth, and did not dare to ask for a haircut when the moon was full (the princes and daughters of the Ming Dynasty all cut their hair when they were young).

Since Zhu Zaili's death, Sejong has always refused to formally establish a prince, and regarded Zhu Zaikun and Zhu Zaizhen as equals, "the dress is no different", so that "the external argument is turbulent, and it is said that it is not suitable to follow".

Yan Song fell in the straight way, and Xu Jie became the first assistant of the cabinet. Despite this, it cannot be said that Zhu Jaezhen obtained the throne, but it was reported that Zhu Jaezhen Zhu Zaizhen died of illness, and Zhu Jaezhen became the only son of Sejong, which ensured his de facto status as the prince.

In the forty-fifth year of Jiajing, Sejong was seriously ill, during this period, the old bureaucrats of Yuwangfu entered the cabinet, Zhang Juzheng and Chen Yiqin were respectively appointed as the right attendant of the Ministry of Rites and the left attendant of the Ministry of Officials, Emperor Jiajing was carried from Xiyuan to Qianqing Palace due to critical illness, and died before he had time to summon Zhu Zaikun. Xu Jie asked Zhu Zaikun to enter the palace to preside over the funeral, and drafted an edict, which was announced the next day, "All the Jiao, civil engineering, jewelry, and weaving are all stopped, and the great gifts, prisons, and words offend the ministers are all involved", and the most important content is to pass the throne to Zhu Zaikun, the king of Yu.

After Zhu Zaikun ascended the throne, he set out to reform the historical problems and various maladministrations left by his father. On the day he ascended the throne, he ordered the release of Hai Jui, a retainer who had been imprisoned by his father on death row.

Later, the case of the persecuted people who had offended the persecuted people in the Jiajing Dynasty for his suggestions was reversed, and he was given preferential praise and employment, and at the same time he punished some of the Liao King Zhu Xian and a group of civil and military officials who flattered and aided the evil in the previous dynasty.

At the same time, the Taoist altar was demolished, the Jiao was banned, the priest Wang Jin and others were arrested, and the officials of Shao Yuanjie, Tao Zhongwen and other priests were pursued. He also ordered the disqualification of his grandfather, Ruizong Zhu Youjing, to be a celestial emperor in order to pander to public opinion that opposed Sejong's pursuit of his father's honor.

Not long after Zhu Zaikun ascended the throne, he disappointed his subjects. He didn't talk much when he went to court, and he rarely took the initiative to express his stance or consult his ministers, "When he was in court, his holy face arched, and he asked questions when he didn't taste it, and he observed the people's feelings; Zhu Si Zhang, Shao Jing Yu Guan; After the feast, he stopped the attack and did not humbly inquire about it."

Moreover, since the first year of Longqing, Zhu Zaikun has repeatedly announced that he will be "exempted from the court", and has repeatedly "not bowed to the temple" (not to worship the Taimiao), and enjoyed himself in the palace, which has caused the ministers to admonish him constantly, and some people describe this kind of music as "enough to be compiled into a special compilation".

However, Zhu Zaikun did not change his opinion, and also gave a court rod to Shi Xing, Zhan Yangpi, Li Ji and other officials who advised him.

In the case of Zhu Zaikun's "Duan Gong Yuanmo", the operation of the imperial court was centered on the cabinet.

The cabinet of the Long Qing Dynasty had nine scholars, namely Xu Jie, Li Chunfang, Gao Gong, Guo Pu, Chen Yiqin, Zhang Juzheng, Yin Shidan, Zhao Zhenji, and Gao Yi.

The most important of them are Xu Jie, Gao Gong, and Zhang Juzheng, all three of whom are talented, but they are inclined to each other.

At the beginning of Longqing, Xu Jie and Gao Gong competed for power, and Xu Jie used the momentum of the official to force Gao Gong and his party Guo Pu to step down. However, Xu Jie offended many eunuchs because of his persuasion of Zhu Zaikun, and Zhang Juzheng also joined forces with Gao Gong to collude with the eunuch Li Fang to force Xu Jie to remove the throne and take Li Chunfang as the first assistant of the cabinet.

Zhu Zaikun handed over the government to the ministers, he lived in the palace, indulged in sensuality, even if he went out of the palace there was play, in order to satisfy his desires, he continued to extract a huge amount of silver taels from the treasury for the royal use, at that time Jiangnan after the rebellion of the Japanese invaders, very tired, the Ministry of Industry stated this situation, emphasizing that the people of Jiangnan are "Your Majesty should be pitied".

Zhu Zaikun turned a deaf ear. The Ministry of Industry also requested that it be supervised according to the "original pattern" and not to add "re-hair patterns", and Zhu Zaikun emphasized that "it is indispensable for me to use" and asked Li You to continue to "weave according to the order".

After Zhu Zaikun ascended the throne, he was still obsessed with women. Originally, he was cautious when he was in Yuwang's Mansion, "Ji Yu was very rare", and he was "full of courts" when he ascended the throne.

Zhu Zaikun has been on the throne for two and a half years, and he has thirteen concubines, and there are countless fortunate women below the concubine. Every time he co-opted for palace people, there were about 300 people, and the folk women between the ages of eleven and sixteen.

During the Longqing Dynasty, the personnel was reformed, the government was rectified, and the eunuchs were favored, but in the end, the favored eunuchs such as Teng Xiang, Cui Min, Li Hu, Chen Hong, Meng Chong and others were still competing for KitKat's lewd skills after all, and the emperor was mainly accumulating, even if Lu Yong, Gao Xiang and others who were ordered to supervise the regimental battalion did not actually seize the military and political power, and there was no such power traitor as Wang Zhen, Wang Zhi, Cao Jixiang, and Liu Jin who could control national politics.

Zhu Zaikun's land clearance and trial implementation of a whip-law were carried out by some local officials in some areas as early as the early years of Jiajing, and on this basis during the Longqing period, relatively obvious phased results were achieved.

During the Longqing period, the river was opened on a large scale to build water conservancy, which was mainly due to two purposes: one was to alleviate the flood that had plagued for many years; Second, it is necessary to solve the problem of serious blockage in the transportation of grain from the south to the north. In terms of alleviating floods, when Hai Rui was appointed governor of Yingtian, he vigorously repaired the Wusong River and Baimao River and diverted water into the sea as the most important project, and he combined hunger relief with water conservancy repair, which also had a good effect on stabilizing the social order in the southeast region.

Resumption of shipping, overseas trade, Guizhou Tusi An Guoheng caused turmoil due to obscenity, torture and vendetta, Guizhou governor Wang Zhen transferred the general army An Dachao to crusade against An Guoheng, but was defeated. At the suggestion of Gao Gong, Zhu Zaikun was promptly reappointed as governor Nguyen Van Trung, and implemented the principles of the ancestors' teachings of "do not burden good with evil", "Huiwei parallel", "soothing them quietly, treating them with sincerity, and giving them reason", so that the situation quickly returned to calm.

In the case of increasing indulgence after the accession to the throne, Zhu Zaikun's body is also getting worse, in the sixth year of Longqing, Zhu Zaikun got sick and had hot sores on his wrist, Zhu Zaikun ordered the eunuch to let Gao Gong stay in the palace and not leave, Gao Gong pulled Zhang Juzheng to stay together, on May 22, Zhu Zaikun's condition worsened.

For this reason, it has triggered a trend of "Lalang matching" in the Jiangnan area.

On the afternoon of the 25th, Zhu Zaikun was critically ill, and the ministers Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng, and Gao Yi entered the Qianqing Palace, received Gu Zhi, and assisted the young prince Zhu Yijun.

At this time, Zhu Zaikun was unconscious, and died in the Qianqing Palace the next day.

On the third day of the seventh month, the ministers were called Emperor Qitianlongdao, Yuanyi, Kuanren, Xianwenguang, Wuchun, Dehong, Xiaozhuang, and the temple was Muzong. In September, he was buried in the Ming Zhao Mausoleum.

Zhu Di recorded a holy decree while talking in Xu Miaoyun at this time, and when Zhu Di found out that Zhu Zaikun died, he asked her to continue to talk about the strange life of the next emperor.

——To be continued——