Emperor Zhu Gaochi was seriously ill and was dying. A eunuch was ordered to leave Beijing and rush to Nanjing at full speed to summon the crown prince Zhu Zhanji back.

This day is the tenth day of the fifth month of the first year of Hongxi (1425).

Only two days later, Zhu Gaochi died, but it would take seven or eight days for the eunuch who left Beijing to reach Nanjing.

The situation was urgent, and the minister of the DPRK, Xia Yuanji, and others decided not to mourn secretly.

A few days later, Zhu Zhanji, who received the edict to return to Beijing, could clearly feel that rumors were spreading in Nanjing. His subordinates advised him to lead an escort of soldiers and horses back to Beijing, just in case.

26-year-old Zhu Zhanji said no. He said: "As soon as I arrived in Nanjing, I would immediately return to Beijing, who would have predicted? The monarch is above, the world is in the heart, who dares to have a second heart? My father summoned me back to Beijing, how could I delay? ”

However, the person who could expect to have a second heart was still alive in the world at that time - he was Zhu Zhanji's uncle and Zhu Gaoxu, the king of Han.

Fortunately, Zhu Zhanji acted quickly, and Zhu Gaoxu's plan to send people to ambush the crown prince in Shandong was declared to be in vain.

On the third day of June, Zhu Zhanji successfully arrived in Liangxiang near Beijing. Xia Yuanji and others publicly announced the death of Emperor Hongxi Zhu Gaochi, and 20 days had passed since Zhu Gaochi's death.

On the same day, Zhu Zhanji entered the city of Beijing.

On June 12, exactly one month after Zhu Gaochi's death, Zhu Zhanji officially ascended the throne as Emperor Xuande.

A crisis of succession to the throne has finally been temporarily alleviated.

Xuande Emperor Zhu Zhanji

01

But inside and outside the court, people who are familiar with the Han King Zhu Gaoxu know that he will never stop there, and he will definitely continue to be a demon.

Zhu Gaoxu is the second son of Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, who is fierce and good at riding and shooting. In his early years, he followed Zhu Di to fight against difficulties, made many military exploits, and helped Zhu Di turn the corner several times. Zhu Di also believes that Zhu Gaochu is "like himself" and once revealed his intention to make him the heir to the throne. Relying on his military exploits and the favor of his father, Zhu Gaoxu was quite arrogant, and often compared himself to Tang Taizong: "I am heroic, isn't it similar to the people of the Qin Dynasty?" ”

In contrast, Zhu Di's eldest son Zhu Gaochi is obsessed with obesity and benevolence, and is not very well treated by Zhu Di. The ambiguous attitude conveyed by Zhu Di fueled Zhu Gaoxu's idea of winning the heir, and made him speed up the pace of winning the heir. The courtiers were thus divided into two factions, and Zhu Di was also very conflicted.

Once, Zhu Di solicited the opinions of the talented Xie Jin and others on the issue of succession. Xie Jin said: "The emperor's eldest son is benevolent and filial, and the world is in the heart." Zhu Di didn't speak, and Xie Jin added: "Good emperor and grandson." This sentence finally touched Zhu Di, because Zhu Di has always liked Zhu Gaochi's eldest son Zhu Zhanji.

According to historical records, when Zhu Zhanji was born, his skin was dry and cracked, like a grilled fish. Although the appearance is not pleasing, grandfather Zhu Di likes this black baby very much. It is said that in the first year of Jianwen (1399), on the eve of Zhu Zhanji's birth, Zhu Di happened to have a dream, dreaming that Zhu Yuanzhang gave Zhu Di, a symbol of imperial power, Dagui, and said to Zhu Di: "The descendants of the descendants will be prosperous forever." After waking up from the dream, the news of Zhu Zhanji's birth came, and Zhu Di realized. It may be that this auspicious dream further stimulated Zhu Di's desire to seize the country of his nephew Zhu Yunwen.

When Zhu Zhanji was full moon, Zhu Di saw this eldest grandson for the first time, and said that this grandson was "heroic", which was completely consistent with my dream. Since then, Zhu Zhanji has left his parents and is raised by his grandparents, focusing on cultivation.

Screenshot of "Daming Fenghua", after the Battle of Jingjing, Zhu Di said this to Zhu Zhanji

Under the training of Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, Zhu Zhanji can be literate and martial, and has a great atmosphere. When Zhu Zhanji was 15 years old, Zhu Di ordered him to pair up and say: "Wanfang Jade Silk Wind and Cloud Meeting." Zhu Zhanji didn't think about it, knelt down and kowtowed, and said: "Unify the country and the sun and the moon." Zhu Di was overjoyed. This pattern is indeed the best candidate for the future emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

During the Yongle period, Zhu Di made many expeditions to the north, and each time he went on an expedition, he either asked Zhu Zhanji to accompany him and let him experience war; Either order him to stay behind and develop the ability to handle government affairs. Zhu Di made Zhu Gaochi the crown prince and Zhu Zhanji as the imperial grandson, on the one hand, to express his love for Zhu Zhanji, and on the other hand, to contain the crown prince who was in charge of the country in Nanjing through the imperial grandson.

However, Zhu Zhanji knew that his father Zhu Gaochi was in an extremely dangerous political environment since he was a child, so he has always tried his best to maintain his father's image and did not want to become a pawn to suppress his father.

For the uncle Zhu Gaoxu, who was ambitious and wanted to replace the crown prince, Zhu Zhanji had been with him very early. In a sense, it is precisely because of the existence of Zhu Zhanji that Zhu Gaoxu is getting farther and farther away from the identity of the heir to the imperial throne. Once, Zhu Di ordered his three sons Zhu Gaochi, Zhu Gaoxu, Zhu Gaosui and his eldest grandson Zhu Zhanji to visit the filial piety tomb together. Zhu Gaochi fell because he was fat and lame, and Zhu Gaochu immediately sarcastically said behind him: "The predecessors lost, and the descendants knew the police." When Zhu Zhanji heard this, he immediately shot back: "There are more descendants who know the police." Zhu Gaoxu turned his head and looked at this nephew, not daring to answer.

In the later part of Zhu Di's reign, in order to prevent the bloody power struggle between his sons, he sanctioned the always arrogant Zhu Gaoxu, and from the fifteenth year of Yongle (1417), he was sealed to Le'an, Shandong, and weakened his protective force. In this way, after Zhu Di died in the twenty-second year of Yongle (1424), Zhu Gaochi was able to succeed to the throne smoothly with the assistance of important ministers in the court.

Portrait of Zhu Di

However, Mingrenzong Zhu Gaochi died of serious illness less than ten months after succeeding to the throne, and the situation of the Ming Empire at this time was in the eyes of Zhu Gaochu, who was eyeing him, how similar to Zhu Di's situation when he faced his nephew Emperor Zhu Yunwen. Zhu Gaoxu wants to repeat the history of the Battle of Jingjing, and his nephew Zhu Zhanji also wants to prove that he is not Zhu Yunwen.

After sending troops to ambush and kill Zhu Zhanji in vain, and Zhu Zhanji successfully ascended the throne, Zhu Gaoxu stepped up his plan to launch his own "Battle of Jingjing". Due to the limited number of troops in his hands, he even smashed open the gates of the state and county prisons, released the death row prisoners inside, gave these people preferential treatment, and trained them to practice martial arts and fight. At the same time, he also recruited the children of scoundrels and social hooligans into the army. It can be said that in order to wage a war for the throne, everything is done.

And Zhu Zhanji behaved as weak as his dead father and responded to Zhu Gaoxu's needs. In order to test the weight of the new emperor, Zhu Gaoxu kept putting forward some excessive requirements, but he didn't expect Zhu Zhanji to meet them one by one. This made Zhu Gaoxu even more reckless, thinking that this nephew was not so smart and terrifying. As a matter of fact, Zhu Zhanji did not move because he wanted Zhu Gaoxu to expose himself and kill himself, so as to win moral and public opinion support.

Detail of "Zhu Zhanji's Pleasure Map".

In August of the first year of Xuande (1426), Zhu Gaoxu, who couldn't hold back, finally rebelled.

Zhu Zhan of Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty basically wanted to order the generals to lead the army to conscript, but Yang Rong, one of the "Three Yangs of the Cabinet", reminded him that Zhu Gaoxu had already expected that you had just succeeded to the throne, and it was impossible for you to drive the expedition in person. Another important minister, Xia Yuanji, also used the past of Li Jinglong, the commander of the Central and Southern Army, who finally defected to Zhu Di in the Battle of Jingjing, and advised Zhu Zhanji to be in person, otherwise once the commander of the Expeditionary Army was dealt with by Zhu Gaoxu, he would really repeat the story of Jingyan.

Zhu Zhanji therefore made up his mind to take the expedition in person, and overwhelmed the rebels at once under the momentum. The soldiers and horses who had agreed to raise troops with Zhu Gaoxu before did not dare to act rashly. Zhu Zhanji's army surrounded Le'an, and the generals asked for a siege, but Zhu Zhanji did not allow it, but only set off artillery outside the city to show off his muscles and deter the rebels. Soon, the morale of the rebels collapsed, and Zhu Gaoxu went out of the city and surrendered under strong pressure.

Zhu Zhanji's soldiers were bloodless, quelling Zhu Gaoxu's rebellion, eliminating a potential "battle of appeasement", and consolidating his authority as the new Son of Heaven.

Zhu Zhanji didn't want to be infamous for killing his uncle, so in the end he just stripped Zhu Gaochu of his title. Some wild histories record that three years later, in the fourth year of Xuande (1429), Zhu Zhanji went to see how this uncle, who was used to domineering, was doing now. Unexpectedly, Zhu Gaoxu suddenly stretched out a kick, hooked Zhu Zhanji to the ground, and then looked up to the sky and laughed. Zhu Zhanji was furious, and ordered the guards to cover Zhu Gaoxu with a large copper cylinder weighing 300 catties on the spot. But Zhu Gaoxu had a lot of strength and rose from the top of the cylinder. Zhu Zhanji then ordered firewood to be piled up around the copper jar, lit a fire and roasted it, and Zhu Gaoxu was roasted alive.

02

After quelling Zhu Gaoxu's rebellion, the vassal kings of the Ming Dynasty handed over their military power to Zhu Zhanji of Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty. Only when Zhu Zhanji's power has been consolidated can he be remembered by history in other images.

The Ming Dynasty under the rule of Zhu Zhanji is marked in the history books as "the rule of Renxuan". The history books have a very high evaluation of Zhu Zhanji, and it can be said that it has received rave reviews. For example, "History of the Ming Dynasty" commented on him like this:

(Zhu Zhanji) after ascending the throne, the officials called their posts, the government was peaceful, the discipline was repaired, the warehouse was full of envy, and Lu Yan was happy, and the year could not be a disaster. Gai Mingxing is sixty years old, and the people's morale is gradually relaxed, and there is a sign of peace. If the strong domain rises suddenly, it will be flattened immediately, sweeping away the side dust, cunning and deterring, the emperor's heroic posture is strategic, and the ancestor of the warrior is a few grams.

Because the reign of Ming Renzong Zhu Gaochi was very short, less than ten months, it is generally believed that the "rule of Renxuan" is the credit of Ming Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji. But in fact, within a few months, Zhu Gaochi had already changed many of the policy orientations of the Yongle Dynasty. You must know that Zhu Di fought for the throne in the first half of his life, and fought for the legitimacy and legitimacy of the throne in the second half of his life, so he launched many "big productions", such as moving the capital to Beijing, sending troops to Annan, personally conquering Mobei five times, sending Zheng He's large fleet to the Western Ocean, and so on. These policies have the characteristics of an expansive empire, but they are extremely draining of people and imperial power. After Zhu Gaochi succeeded to the throne, he almost went against Zhu Di's expansion policy, and turned to readjust the empire's ruling policy from the perspective of compassion for the people, contraction, and preservation.

For Zhu Zhanji, on the one hand, his upbringing and ruling ability all came from his grandfather Zhu Di, and on the other hand, he succeeded to the throne after the brief reign of his father Zhu Gaochi.

This choice was crucial to the direction of the Ming Empire.

Zhu Zhanji's reign lasted for ten years (1425-1435), between 60 and 80 years after the founding of a dynasty. According to the analysis of historians, between 60 and 80 years after the founding of the country, all dynasties will encounter a bottleneck of development, which is named the mid-dynastic disease. Breaking through this bottleneck and overcoming the mid-dynastic illness will allow the empire to usher in the reign of the dynasty, otherwise it will plunge the society into turmoil, and even affect the life and death of the dynasty in serious cases.

In any dynasty, the expansion-contraction policy should have a degree. Regardless of national strength, blindly expanding, recklessly using force, or crushing the people's power with large projects, the outcome may be as short-lived as the Qin and Sui dynasties. The two emperors of the Ming Dynasty, Ren and Xuan, were able to continue the country of their fathers and ancestors, to a large extent, because they mastered the "degree" of national strength.

It is undeniable that Zhu Di's expansion policy during his reign is of positive significance, but the consumption of national strength is also unprecedented. In particular, several major projects were carried out at the same time, so that the Ming Empire in the later period of the Yongle Dynasty was in a serious state of national overload. Not only that, Zhu Di was cruel to politics, and once wantonly killed the remnants of the Jianwen Dynasty, and later used the excuse to wantonly kill the prince's officials and subordinates, which shrouded the court with a bloody and terrifying atmosphere.

During the reigns of Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Zhanji, the father and son ended the politics of terror and replaced it with benevolent rule, stabilized and regained the hearts of the people, and ushered in a golden age of development for the Ming Dynasty. Historians have likened this period to the reign of Wenjing in the Western Han Dynasty.

Portrait of Zhu Gaochi

However, it is difficult to open up, and it is also difficult to keep it. Zhu Zhanji finally chose the political path of inheriting his father, and in fact he was also burdened with tremendous moral and public opinion pressure.

In October of the fourth year of Yongle (1406), because of the civil strife in Annam, Zhu Di ordered troops to occupy Annam in eight months, and then established Jiaozhi County, which completely incorporated Annam into the territory of the Ming Dynasty. However, Annam was not quiet, and various armed uprisings against the Ming Dynasty and the restoration of the country occurred one after another, so that the Ming Dynasty invested huge manpower and financial resources in the local area. After Zhu Gaochi succeeded to the throne, he began to adopt some soft pacification measures in an attempt to ease the anti-Ming sentiment of the Annan people and stabilize the regional order. Li Li, the leader of the Annam Uprising, gradually grew in the confrontation and maneuvering with the Ming army. After Zhu Zhanji succeeded to the throne, he learned that the Ming army at the front line had been defeated many times, and immediately signed an edict to take tough measures against Annan.

However, the day after the order was signed, Zhu Zhanji secretly summoned cabinet scholars Yang Shiqi and Yang Rong to discuss the situation in Annan. Before the formal conversation, Zhu Zhanji specially told the two of them that in today's conversation, I only told you two that you must not leak it out.

Zhu Zhanji told the two that he wanted to inherit his father's legacy, and let Annan become a vassal state, and pay tribute every three years like the system of the Hongwu Dynasty, so that "China also saves the labor of soldiers." However, if this is done, the commentators will inevitably say that I have "abandoned the business of my ancestors".

After finishing speaking, Zhu Zhanji once again told the two not to leak secrets.

Later, while appointing Wang Tong as the chief military officer to lead the army to Annam, Zhu Zhanji further expanded the scope of the Tongqi Association to four people: Jian Yi, Xia Yuanji, Yang Shiqi, and Yang Rong. Zhu Zhanji once again expressed his desire to "make Annan a country of its own, with the lives of the people of all sides, and also to rest the people of Middle-earth." Yang Shiqi and Yang Rong, who were originally angry, supported Zhu Zhanji at this time, saying that his decision was "a holy monarch", saying that every time he conquered Annam since the Han and Tang Dynasties, the gains outweighed the losses, and our dynasty should not fall into this quagmire again. But Jian Yi and Xia Yuanji, who were not angry at the beginning, objected, saying that now Annan is just a clown, and once he gives up, it will not only damage the prestige of the Ming Dynasty, but more importantly, the 20 years of work since he became an ancestor will be in vain.

Portrait of Natsuhara Yoshi

Zhu Zhanji did not receive the expected results in this conversation.

This is exactly what Zhu Zhanji is worried about, if any major decision of the emperor cannot be unanimously supported by the important ministers of the court and the central government, and if it is carried out, it will definitely bear the infamy of the ages. The emperors of the Ming Dynasty seemed to have a lot of power, but except for Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di, the other emperors actually lived in the cage of the system. He can do what he wants, but he has to weigh and weigh the consequences of his willfulness at all times. Even in the matter of abolishing the empress, Zhu Zhanji had to communicate with the cabinet ministers five or six times, seek support, and get their unanimous consent before he dared to appoint the Sun family as the empress on the grounds that Empress Hu was sick and childless. Not to mention, what is being discussed now is the territorial issue. The pressure on Zhu Zhanji's heart must be very great.

The development of events was eventually resolved in an unexpected form. Zhu Zhanji wanted to abandon Annan in a dignified form, so he constantly sent troops into Annan to support the face of the empire by relying on crushing victories. However, he successively sent three corps, Wang Tong, Liu Sheng, and Mu Sheng, all of which were broken by the Annan army. In the end, in the case of the defeat of the Ming army, he negotiated peace with Annan and passively recognized Annan's independent status.

But in any case, the enemies of the Ming Empire were in the north, not in the south. Zhu Zhanji did not continue to invest manpower and financial resources in the Annan battlefield, and it was the right choice to abandon Annan at the right time. His ruling policy was basically a continuation of his father Zhu Gaochi, but there was one thing that he opposed - he abandoned his father's plan to move the imperial capital back to Nanjing, and instead continued his grandfather's decision to set the imperial capital in Beijing. He clearly knew in which direction the enemies of the empire were.

There is a theory that Zhu Zhanji chose to continue to use Beijing as the imperial capital in order to satisfy his personal fascination with side affairs. Influenced by his grandfather, he liked to patrol the border, and he was intoxicated by the occasional good news on the border. This was the beginning of the Ming emperor's attention to, but despised the northern enemy. This characteristic of Zhu Zhanji was unfortunately inherited to his son Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen, and the early Qing Dynasty historian Tan Qian said that the change of Tumubao in 1449 was far from this.

Stills from "Daming Fenghua".

03

In 1449, the Tumubao Change, which almost made the Ming Dynasty freeze in 81, actually has an institutional cause behind it. And this system was established during Zhu Zhanji's reign.

Among the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Zhanji was a person who knew how to introspect. There was a bumper harvest in a certain part of the empire, and the ministers routinely wanted to tout the emperor's sacred heart to move the heavens, "whatever the sacred heart wants, the heavens will indulge it", and the flesh is so numb that you don't want it. Zhu Zhanji couldn't stand this kind of flattery, and he would ask rhetorically, how could there be floods and droughts in other parts of the empire? Or our good governance is not enough, and we and other monarchs and ministers should work harder.

However, Zhu Zhanji is not a perfect emperor either. He also has his faults. Outside the official history books, he is a well-known "cricket emperor" who likes to fight crickets, and has turned this hobby into a political task, causing many human tragedies. In the historical materials of North Korea, he was still a Lolicon who liked young Korean girls, and during the funeral of his grandfather and father, he couldn't wait to send eunuchs to North Korea several times to ask for a young virgin.

The main thing is that he was an emperor with artistic talent. Writing poems, paintings, utensils, and playing well, he is proficient in everything. He was the first generation of artist emperors cultivated by the Ming court, and in turn, he shaped the culture of the Ming court, a court style that tended to be extravagant and flamboyant. After him, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty had more or less bizarre preferences that belonged to them. The problem is that historical experience tells us that artist emperors are often reluctant to devote their whole body and soul to governing the country, preferring to spend their time on the display of artistic talent.

Later, Zhu Zhanji would also indulge in all kinds of art and fun without any scruples.

Zhu Zhanji's paintings

You must know that this dynasty has abolished the prime minister during the period of Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, and the power communication between the emperor and the six ministries responsible for specific government affairs is nominally carried out. However, even Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di, who are dedicated to studying to be emperors, are not competent for the heavy daily management affairs, let alone Zhu Zhanji, who often comes out to be an artist and indulges.

The power vacuum was eventually filled by the Cabinet. However, the cabinet members are not only willing to be the emperor's communication machine, they must not only obey the emperor's will, but also obey the Confucian discipline, and use Confucian ideas and ancestral methods to test whether the exercise of imperial power is appropriate, if not, the cabinet will also have conflicts with the emperor. This is the institutional factor that the emperor does not dare to and cannot act recklessly.

Zhu Zhanji is a "smart man". In order to reflect the imperial power to a greater extent and avoid excessive constraints of the cabinet, he introduced the system of joint auxiliary government of the celebrant and the eunuch in the system of imperial power and cabinet, that is, the cabinet put forward the opinions on the handling of various chapters through the "vote draft", and then the emperor made decisions and approved them (i.e., "approved red"), and at the same time authorized the eunuch to sign and approve the cabinet's draft vote on behalf of the emperor.

Under this system, "the votes of the cabinet had to be determined by the approval of the internal supervisors", the cabinet was controlled by the celebrants who represented the imperial power, and the power of the emperor and his domestic slaves, the eunuchs, was further expanded and strengthened. Those emperors who were lazy in government affairs and lazy in pleasure could safely appoint domestic slaves to control the cabinet and then the political situation. See, the two most typical emperors of the Ming Dynasty who did not go to the court, Jiajing and Wanli, were still able to control the political situation, which is really due to Zhu Zhanji's institutional design.

In order to make the eunuch domestic slaves better serve the imperial power, Zhu Zhanji began to transfer to senior civil officials and teach the eunuchs to read and write.

However, no system can be perfect. Zhu Zhanji was freed from heavy government affairs and could be a dashing and powerful emperor, but the scourge of eunuchs began to manifest.

From the central government to the localities, from the military to the civil affairs, during Zhu Zhanji's reign, the degree of eunuch interference in government affairs was greatly deepened, causing great harm to society. During the Xuande period, almost all border towns had town guard eunuchs, and these eunuchs often believed that they were people around the Son of Heaven, overriding the chief military officer, interfering with military and political affairs, and doing whatever they wanted. Zhu Zhanji also handed over the most elite firearms and artillery units to the control of eunuchs, and the eunuchs who controlled the military and political affairs were already capable of contending with generals in various localities. It can be seen that during this period, the eunuchs had already obtained some military power.

In Chinese history, the Ming Dynasty, the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty were the three dynasties with the most serious disasters for eunuchs. At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, some people reflected on the reasons for the death of the Ming Dynasty and pointed out that "the death of the Ming Dynasty did not die in the rogue, but in the factory guards (eunuchs)". And Zhu Zhanji is the key person who made the eunuch power rise strongly.

In fact, the Ming Dynasty almost didn't have to wait until 1644, but in 1449.

In the tenth year of Xuande (1435), 36-year-old Zhu Zhanji died young. Zhu Zhanji's mother, Empress Dowager Zhang, temporarily became the central figure in the court, but the eunuch Wang Zhen, relying on his favor in the Xuande Dynasty, his institutional advantages, and his special relationship with the little emperor and Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen, soon defeated the cabinet Sanyang and the old empress dowager, began to monopolize the government, and finally led the young emperor to risk war with the northern captives, resulting in the Tumubao Rebellion of 1449 - even the emperor was taken captive by the Mongols.

Historians believe that it was Wang Zhen's autocratic power and Ming Yingzong's incompetence that led to the Tumubao Change, but under the circumstances at that time, those capable old ministers and the adjusted and improved system during the Zhu Zhanji period were powerless to prevent this fiasco. In this sense, the Tumubao Revolution was the general outbreak of political hidden dangers in the Xuande period, the tragedy of the cabinet-celebrant control system, and the tragedy left by Zhu Zhanji personally.

Although Zhu Zhanji could not see this tragic scene with his own eyes, did such a talented emperor, after creating Renxuan's rule, ever think that the Ming Dynasty would quickly usher in a situation of middle decline? And the unsustainability of the prosperous era will also greatly reduce the prosperity itself.

Where there is a cause, there must be an effect, and where there is an effect, there must be a cause. The cause and effect of one's own choice, even if it is not visible, will wait for the final judgment of history.

References:

Zhang Tingyu et al., History of the Ming Dynasty, Zhonghua Book Company, 1974

Gu Yingtai: "The End of the Ming History Chronicle", Zhonghua Book Company, 2018

Zhao Zhongnan, The Biography of Emperor Xuande, China Social Publishing House, 2008

Chen Wenyuan, "An Examination of the Beginning and End of Ming Xuande's Abandonment of Annan", Jinan Historiography, vol. 4, 2005

Zhu Hong: "On the Other Appearance of Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty", Volume 1 of "Ming and Qing Commentaries", in 1999, Emperor Zhu Gaochi was seriously ill and was about to die. A eunuch was ordered to leave Beijing and rush to Nanjing at full speed to summon the crown prince Zhu Zhanji back.

This day is the tenth day of the fifth month of the first year of Hongxi (1425).

Only two days later, Zhu Gaochi died, but it would take seven or eight days for the eunuch who left Beijing to reach Nanjing.

The situation was urgent, and the minister of the DPRK, Xia Yuanji, and others decided not to mourn secretly.

A few days later, Zhu Zhanji, who received the edict to return to Beijing, could clearly feel that rumors were spreading in Nanjing. His subordinates advised him to lead an escort of soldiers and horses back to Beijing, just in case.

26-year-old Zhu Zhanji said no. He said: "As soon as I arrived in Nanjing, I would immediately return to Beijing, who would have predicted? The monarch is above, the world is in the heart, who dares to have a second heart? My father summoned me back to Beijing, how could I delay? ”

However, the person who could expect to have a second heart was still alive in the world at that time - he was Zhu Zhanji's uncle and Zhu Gaoxu, the king of Han.

Fortunately, Zhu Zhanji acted quickly, and Zhu Gaoxu's plan to send people to ambush the crown prince in Shandong was declared to be in vain.

On the third day of June, Zhu Zhanji successfully arrived in Liangxiang near Beijing. Xia Yuanji and others publicly announced the death of Emperor Hongxi Zhu Gaochi, and 20 days had passed since Zhu Gaochi's death.

On the same day, Zhu Zhanji entered the city of Beijing.

On June 12, exactly one month after Zhu Gaochi's death, Zhu Zhanji officially ascended the throne as Emperor Xuande.

A crisis of succession to the throne has finally been temporarily alleviated.

Xuande Emperor Zhu Zhanji

01

But inside and outside the court, people who are familiar with the Han King Zhu Gaoxu know that he will never stop there, and he will definitely continue to be a demon.

Zhu Gaoxu is the second son of Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, who is fierce and good at riding and shooting. In his early years, he followed Zhu Di to fight against difficulties, made many military exploits, and helped Zhu Di turn the corner several times. Zhu Di also believes that Zhu Gaochu is "like himself" and once revealed his intention to make him the heir to the throne. Relying on his military exploits and the favor of his father, Zhu Gaoxu was quite arrogant, and often compared himself to Tang Taizong: "I am heroic, isn't it similar to the people of the Qin Dynasty?" ”

In contrast, Zhu Di's eldest son Zhu Gaochi is obsessed with obesity and benevolence, and is not very well treated by Zhu Di. The ambiguous attitude conveyed by Zhu Di fueled Zhu Gaoxu's idea of winning the heir, and made him speed up the pace of winning the heir. The courtiers were thus divided into two factions, and Zhu Di was also very conflicted.

Once, Zhu Di solicited the opinions of the talented Xie Jin and others on the issue of succession. Xie Jin said: "The emperor's eldest son is benevolent and filial, and the world is in the heart." Zhu Di didn't speak, and Xie Jin added: "Good emperor and grandson." This sentence finally touched Zhu Di, because Zhu Di has always liked Zhu Gaochi's eldest son Zhu Zhanji.

According to historical records, when Zhu Zhanji was born, his skin was dry and cracked, like a grilled fish. Although the appearance is not pleasing, grandfather Zhu Di likes this black baby very much. It is said that in the first year of Jianwen (1399), on the eve of Zhu Zhanji's birth, Zhu Di happened to have a dream, dreaming that Zhu Yuanzhang gave Zhu Di, a symbol of imperial power, Dagui, and said to Zhu Di: "The descendants of the descendants will be prosperous forever." After waking up from the dream, the news of Zhu Zhanji's birth came, and Zhu Di realized. It may be that this auspicious dream further stimulated Zhu Di's desire to seize the country of his nephew Zhu Yunwen.

When Zhu Zhanji was full moon, Zhu Di saw this eldest grandson for the first time, and said that this grandson was "heroic", which was completely consistent with my dream. Since then, Zhu Zhanji has left his parents and is raised by his grandparents, focusing on cultivation.

Screenshot of "Daming Fenghua", after the Battle of Jingjing, Zhu Di said this to Zhu Zhanji

Under the training of Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, Zhu Zhanji can be literate and martial, and has a great atmosphere. When Zhu Zhanji was 15 years old, Zhu Di ordered him to pair up and say: "Wanfang Jade Silk Wind and Cloud Meeting." Zhu Zhanji didn't think about it, knelt down and kowtowed, and said: "Unify the country and the sun and the moon." Zhu Di was overjoyed. This pattern is indeed the best candidate for the future emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

During the Yongle period, Zhu Di made many expeditions to the north, and each time he went on an expedition, he either asked Zhu Zhanji to accompany him and let him experience war; Either order him to stay behind and develop the ability to handle government affairs. Zhu Di made Zhu Gaochi the crown prince and Zhu Zhanji as the imperial grandson, on the one hand, to express his love for Zhu Zhanji, and on the other hand, to contain the crown prince who was in charge of the country in Nanjing through the imperial grandson.

However, Zhu Zhanji knew that his father Zhu Gaochi was in an extremely dangerous political environment since he was a child, so he has always tried his best to maintain his father's image and did not want to become a pawn to suppress his father.

For the uncle Zhu Gaoxu, who was ambitious and wanted to replace the crown prince, Zhu Zhanji had been with him very early. In a sense, it is precisely because of the existence of Zhu Zhanji that Zhu Gaoxu is getting farther and farther away from the identity of the heir to the imperial throne. Once, Zhu Di ordered his three sons Zhu Gaochi, Zhu Gaoxu, Zhu Gaosui and his eldest grandson Zhu Zhanji to visit the filial piety tomb together. Zhu Gaochi fell because he was fat and lame, and Zhu Gaochu immediately sarcastically said behind him: "The predecessors lost, and the descendants knew the police." When Zhu Zhanji heard this, he immediately shot back: "There are more descendants who know the police." Zhu Gaoxu turned his head and looked at this nephew, not daring to answer.

In the later part of Zhu Di's reign, in order to prevent the bloody power struggle between his sons, he sanctioned the always arrogant Zhu Gaoxu, and from the fifteenth year of Yongle (1417), he was sealed to Le'an, Shandong, and weakened his protective force. In this way, after Zhu Di died in the twenty-second year of Yongle (1424), Zhu Gaochi was able to succeed to the throne smoothly with the assistance of important ministers in the court.

Portrait of Zhu Di

However, Mingrenzong Zhu Gaochi died of serious illness less than ten months after succeeding to the throne, and the situation of the Ming Empire at this time was in the eyes of Zhu Gaochu, who was eyeing him, how similar to Zhu Di's situation when he faced his nephew Emperor Zhu Yunwen. Zhu Gaoxu wants to repeat the history of the Battle of Jingjing, and his nephew Zhu Zhanji also wants to prove that he is not Zhu Yunwen.

After sending troops to ambush and kill Zhu Zhanji in vain, and Zhu Zhanji successfully ascended the throne, Zhu Gaoxu stepped up his plan to launch his own "Battle of Jingjing". Due to the limited number of troops in his hands, he even smashed open the gates of the state and county prisons, released the death row prisoners inside, gave these people preferential treatment, and trained them to practice martial arts and fight. At the same time, he also recruited the children of scoundrels and social hooligans into the army. It can be said that in order to wage a war for the throne, everything is done.

And Zhu Zhanji behaved as weak as his dead father and responded to Zhu Gaoxu's needs. In order to test the weight of the new emperor, Zhu Gaoxu kept putting forward some excessive requirements, but he didn't expect Zhu Zhanji to meet them one by one. This made Zhu Gaoxu even more reckless, thinking that this nephew was not so smart and terrifying. As a matter of fact, Zhu Zhanji did not move because he wanted Zhu Gaoxu to expose himself and kill himself, so as to win moral and public opinion support.

Detail of "Zhu Zhanji's Pleasure Map".

In August of the first year of Xuande (1426), Zhu Gaoxu, who couldn't hold back, finally rebelled.

Zhu Zhan of Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty basically wanted to order the generals to lead the army to conscript, but Yang Rong, one of the "Three Yangs of the Cabinet", reminded him that Zhu Gaoxu had already expected that you had just succeeded to the throne, and it was impossible for you to drive the expedition in person. Another important minister, Xia Yuanji, also used the past of Li Jinglong, the commander of the Central and Southern Army, who finally defected to Zhu Di in the Battle of Jingjing, and advised Zhu Zhanji to be in person, otherwise once the commander of the Expeditionary Army was dealt with by Zhu Gaoxu, he would really repeat the story of Jingyan.

Zhu Zhanji therefore made up his mind to take the expedition in person, and overwhelmed the rebels at once under the momentum. The soldiers and horses who had agreed to raise troops with Zhu Gaoxu before did not dare to act rashly. Zhu Zhanji's army surrounded Le'an, and the generals asked for a siege, but Zhu Zhanji did not allow it, but only set off artillery outside the city to show off his muscles and deter the rebels. Soon, the morale of the rebels collapsed, and Zhu Gaoxu went out of the city and surrendered under strong pressure.

Zhu Zhanji's soldiers were bloodless, quelling Zhu Gaoxu's rebellion, eliminating a potential "battle of appeasement", and consolidating his authority as the new Son of Heaven.

Zhu Zhanji didn't want to be infamous for killing his uncle, so in the end he just stripped Zhu Gaochu of his title. Some wild histories record that three years later, in the fourth year of Xuande (1429), Zhu Zhanji went to see how this uncle, who was used to domineering, was doing now. Unexpectedly, Zhu Gaoxu suddenly stretched out a kick, hooked Zhu Zhanji to the ground, and then looked up to the sky and laughed. Zhu Zhanji was furious, and ordered the guards to cover Zhu Gaoxu with a large copper cylinder weighing 300 catties on the spot. But Zhu Gaoxu had a lot of strength and rose from the top of the cylinder. Zhu Zhanji then ordered firewood to be piled up around the copper jar, lit a fire and roasted it, and Zhu Gaoxu was roasted alive.

02

After quelling Zhu Gaoxu's rebellion, the vassal kings of the Ming Dynasty handed over their military power to Zhu Zhanji of Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty. Only when Zhu Zhanji's power has been consolidated can he be remembered by history in other images.

The Ming Dynasty under the rule of Zhu Zhanji is marked in the history books as "the rule of Renxuan". The history books have a very high evaluation of Zhu Zhanji, and it can be said that it has received rave reviews. For example, "History of the Ming Dynasty" commented on him like this:

(Zhu Zhanji) after ascending the throne, the officials called their posts, the government was peaceful, the discipline was repaired, the warehouse was full of envy, and Lu Yan was happy, and the year could not be a disaster. Gai Mingxing is sixty years old, and the people's morale is gradually relaxed, and there is a sign of peace. If the strong domain rises suddenly, it will be flattened immediately, sweeping away the side dust, cunning and deterring, the emperor's heroic posture is strategic, and the ancestor of the warrior is a few grams.

Because the reign of Ming Renzong Zhu Gaochi was very short, less than ten months, it is generally believed that the "rule of Renxuan" is the credit of Ming Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji. But in fact, within a few months, Zhu Gaochi had already changed many of the policy orientations of the Yongle Dynasty. You must know that Zhu Di fought for the throne in the first half of his life, and fought for the legitimacy and legitimacy of the throne in the second half of his life, so he launched many "big productions", such as moving the capital to Beijing, sending troops to Annan, personally conquering Mobei five times, sending Zheng He's large fleet to the Western Ocean, and so on. These policies have the characteristics of an expansive empire, but they are extremely draining of people and imperial power. After Zhu Gaochi succeeded to the throne, he almost went against Zhu Di's expansion policy, and turned to readjust the empire's ruling policy from the perspective of compassion for the people, contraction, and preservation.

For Zhu Zhanji, on the one hand, his upbringing and ruling ability all came from his grandfather Zhu Di, and on the other hand, he succeeded to the throne after the brief reign of his father Zhu Gaochi.

This choice was crucial to the direction of the Ming Empire.

Zhu Zhanji's reign lasted for ten years (1425-1435), between 60 and 80 years after the founding of a dynasty. According to the analysis of historians, between 60 and 80 years after the founding of the country, all dynasties will encounter a bottleneck of development, which is named the mid-dynastic disease. Breaking through this bottleneck and overcoming the mid-dynastic illness will allow the empire to usher in the reign of the dynasty, otherwise it will plunge the society into turmoil, and even affect the life and death of the dynasty in serious cases.

In any dynasty, the expansion-contraction policy should have a degree. Regardless of national strength, blindly expanding, recklessly using force, or crushing the people's power with large projects, the outcome may be as short-lived as the Qin and Sui dynasties. The two emperors of the Ming Dynasty, Ren and Xuan, were able to continue the country of their fathers and ancestors, to a large extent, because they mastered the "degree" of national strength.

It is undeniable that Zhu Di's expansion policy during his reign is of positive significance, but the consumption of national strength is also unprecedented. In particular, several major projects were carried out at the same time, so that the Ming Empire in the later period of the Yongle Dynasty was in a serious state of national overload. Not only that, Zhu Di was cruel to politics, and once wantonly killed the remnants of the Jianwen Dynasty, and later used the excuse to wantonly kill the prince's officials and subordinates, which shrouded the court with a bloody and terrifying atmosphere.

During the reigns of Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Zhanji, the father and son ended the politics of terror and replaced it with benevolent rule, stabilized and regained the hearts of the people, and ushered in a golden age of development for the Ming Dynasty. Historians have likened this period to the reign of Wenjing in the Western Han Dynasty.

Portrait of Zhu Gaochi

However, it is difficult to open up, and it is also difficult to keep it. Zhu Zhanji finally chose the political path of inheriting his father, and in fact he was also burdened with tremendous moral and public opinion pressure.

In October of the fourth year of Yongle (1406), because of the civil strife in Annam, Zhu Di ordered troops to occupy Annam in eight months, and then established Jiaozhi County, which completely incorporated Annam into the territory of the Ming Dynasty. However, Annam was not quiet, and various armed uprisings against the Ming Dynasty and the restoration of the country occurred one after another, so that the Ming Dynasty invested huge manpower and financial resources in the local area. After Zhu Gaochi succeeded to the throne, he began to adopt some soft pacification measures in an attempt to ease the anti-Ming sentiment of the Annan people and stabilize the regional order. Li Li, the leader of the Annam Uprising, gradually grew in the confrontation and maneuvering with the Ming army. After Zhu Zhanji succeeded to the throne, he learned that the Ming army at the front line had been defeated many times, and immediately signed an edict to take tough measures against Annan.

However, the day after the order was signed, Zhu Zhanji secretly summoned cabinet scholars Yang Shiqi and Yang Rong to discuss the situation in Annan. Before the formal conversation, Zhu Zhanji specially told the two of them that in today's conversation, I only told you two that you must not leak it out.

Zhu Zhanji told the two that he wanted to inherit his father's legacy, and let Annan become a vassal state, and pay tribute every three years like the system of the Hongwu Dynasty, so that "China also saves the labor of soldiers." However, if this is done, the commentators will inevitably say that I have "abandoned the business of my ancestors".

After finishing speaking, Zhu Zhanji once again told the two not to leak secrets.

Later, while appointing Wang Tong as the chief military officer to lead the army to Annam, Zhu Zhanji further expanded the scope of the Tongqi Association to four people: Jian Yi, Xia Yuanji, Yang Shiqi, and Yang Rong. Zhu Zhanji once again expressed his desire to "make Annan a country of its own, with the lives of the people of all sides, and also to rest the people of Middle-earth." Yang Shiqi and Yang Rong, who were originally angry, supported Zhu Zhanji at this time, saying that his decision was "a holy monarch", saying that every time he conquered Annam since the Han and Tang Dynasties, the gains outweighed the losses, and our dynasty should not fall into this quagmire again. But Jian Yi and Xia Yuanji, who were not angry at the beginning, objected, saying that now Annan is just a clown, and once he gives up, it will not only damage the prestige of the Ming Dynasty, but more importantly, the 20 years of work since he became an ancestor will be in vain.

Portrait of Natsuhara Yoshi

Zhu Zhanji did not receive the expected results in this conversation.

This is exactly what Zhu Zhanji is worried about, if any major decision of the emperor cannot be unanimously supported by the important ministers of the court and the central government, and if it is carried out, it will definitely bear the infamy of the ages. The emperors of the Ming Dynasty seemed to have a lot of power, but except for Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di, the other emperors actually lived in the cage of the system. He can do what he wants, but he has to weigh and weigh the consequences of his willfulness at all times. Even in the matter of abolishing the empress, Zhu Zhanji had to communicate with the cabinet ministers five or six times, seek support, and get their unanimous consent before he dared to appoint the Sun family as the empress on the grounds that Empress Hu was sick and childless. Not to mention, what is being discussed now is the territorial issue. The pressure on Zhu Zhanji's heart must be very great.

The development of events was eventually resolved in an unexpected form. Zhu Zhanji wanted to abandon Annan in a dignified form, so he constantly sent troops into Annan to support the face of the empire by relying on crushing victories. However, he successively sent three corps, Wang Tong, Liu Sheng, and Mu Sheng, all of which were broken by the Annan army. In the end, in the case of the defeat of the Ming army, he negotiated peace with Annan and passively recognized Annan's independent status.

But in any case, the enemies of the Ming Empire were in the north, not in the south. Zhu Zhanji did not continue to invest manpower and financial resources in the Annan battlefield, and it was the right choice to abandon Annan at the right time. His ruling policy was basically a continuation of his father Zhu Gaochi, but there was one thing that he opposed - he abandoned his father's plan to move the imperial capital back to Nanjing, and instead continued his grandfather's decision to set the imperial capital in Beijing. He clearly knew in which direction the enemies of the empire were.

There is a theory that Zhu Zhanji chose to continue to use Beijing as the imperial capital in order to satisfy his personal fascination with side affairs. Influenced by his grandfather, he liked to patrol the border, and he was intoxicated by the occasional good news on the border. This was the beginning of the Ming emperor's attention to, but despised the northern enemy. This characteristic of Zhu Zhanji was unfortunately inherited to his son Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen, and the early Qing Dynasty historian Tan Qian said that the change of Tumubao in 1449 was far from this.

Stills from "Daming Fenghua".

03

In 1449, the Tumubao Change, which almost made the Ming Dynasty freeze in 81, actually has an institutional cause behind it. And this system was established during Zhu Zhanji's reign.

Among the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Zhanji was a person who knew how to introspect. There was a bumper harvest in a certain part of the empire, and the ministers routinely wanted to tout the emperor's sacred heart to move the heavens, "whatever the sacred heart wants, the heavens will indulge it", and the flesh is so numb that you don't want it. Zhu Zhanji couldn't stand this kind of flattery, and he would ask rhetorically, how could there be floods and droughts in other parts of the empire? Or our good governance is not enough, and we and other monarchs and ministers should work harder.

However, Zhu Zhanji is not a perfect emperor either. He also has his faults. Outside the official history books, he is a well-known "cricket emperor" who likes to fight crickets, and has turned this hobby into a political task, causing many human tragedies. In the historical materials of North Korea, he was still a Lolicon who liked young Korean girls, and during the funeral of his grandfather and father, he couldn't wait to send eunuchs to North Korea several times to ask for a young virgin.

The main thing is that he was an emperor with artistic talent. Writing poems, paintings, utensils, and playing well, he is proficient in everything. He was the first generation of artist emperors cultivated by the Ming court, and in turn, he shaped the culture of the Ming court, a court style that tended to be extravagant and flamboyant. After him, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty had more or less bizarre preferences that belonged to them. The problem is that historical experience tells us that artist emperors are often reluctant to devote their whole body and soul to governing the country, preferring to spend their time on the display of artistic talent.

Later, Zhu Zhanji would also indulge in all kinds of art and fun without any scruples.

Zhu Zhanji's paintings

You must know that this dynasty has abolished the prime minister during the period of Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, and the power communication between the emperor and the six ministries responsible for specific government affairs is nominally carried out. However, even Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di, who are dedicated to studying to be emperors, are not competent for the heavy daily management affairs, let alone Zhu Zhanji, who often comes out to be an artist and indulges.

The power vacuum was eventually filled by the Cabinet. However, the cabinet members are not only willing to be the emperor's communication machine, they must not only obey the emperor's will, but also obey the Confucian discipline, and use Confucian ideas and ancestral methods to test whether the exercise of imperial power is appropriate, if not, the cabinet will also have conflicts with the emperor. This is the institutional factor that the emperor does not dare to and cannot act recklessly.

Zhu Zhanji is a "smart man". In order to reflect the imperial power to a greater extent and avoid excessive constraints of the cabinet, he introduced the system of joint auxiliary government of the celebrant and the eunuch in the system of imperial power and cabinet, that is, the cabinet put forward the opinions on the handling of various chapters through the "vote draft", and then the emperor made decisions and approved them (i.e., "approved red"), and at the same time authorized the eunuch to sign and approve the cabinet's draft vote on behalf of the emperor.

Under this system, "the votes of the cabinet had to be determined by the approval of the internal supervisors", the cabinet was controlled by the celebrants who represented the imperial power, and the power of the emperor and his domestic slaves, the eunuchs, was further expanded and strengthened. Those emperors who were lazy in government affairs and lazy in pleasure could safely appoint domestic slaves to control the cabinet and then the political situation. See, the two most typical emperors of the Ming Dynasty who did not go to the court, Jiajing and Wanli, were still able to control the political situation, which is really due to Zhu Zhanji's institutional design.

In order to make the eunuch domestic slaves better serve the imperial power, Zhu Zhanji began to transfer to senior civil officials and teach the eunuchs to read and write.

However, no system can be perfect. Zhu Zhanji was freed from heavy government affairs and could be a dashing and powerful emperor, but the scourge of eunuchs began to manifest.

From the central government to the localities, from the military to the civil affairs, during Zhu Zhanji's reign, the degree of eunuch interference in government affairs was greatly deepened, causing great harm to society. During the Xuande period, almost all border towns had town guard eunuchs, and these eunuchs often believed that they were people around the Son of Heaven, overriding the chief military officer, interfering with military and political affairs, and doing whatever they wanted. Zhu Zhanji also handed over the most elite firearms and artillery units to the control of eunuchs, and the eunuchs who controlled the military and political affairs were already capable of contending with generals in various localities. It can be seen that during this period, the eunuchs had already obtained some military power.

In Chinese history, the Ming Dynasty, the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty were the three dynasties with the most serious disasters for eunuchs. At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, some people reflected on the reasons for the death of the Ming Dynasty and pointed out that "the death of the Ming Dynasty did not die in the rogue, but in the factory guards (eunuchs)". And Zhu Zhanji is the key person who made the eunuch power rise strongly.

In fact, the Ming Dynasty almost didn't have to wait until 1644, but in 1449.

In the tenth year of Xuande (1435), 36-year-old Zhu Zhanji died young. Zhu Zhanji's mother, Empress Dowager Zhang, temporarily became the central figure in the court, but the eunuch Wang Zhen, relying on his favor in the Xuande Dynasty, his institutional advantages, and his special relationship with the little emperor and Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen, soon defeated the cabinet Sanyang and the old empress dowager, began to monopolize the government, and finally led the young emperor to risk war with the northern captives, resulting in the Tumubao Rebellion of 1449 - even the emperor was taken captive by the Mongols.

Historians believe that it was Wang Zhen's autocratic power and Ming Yingzong's incompetence that led to the Tumubao Change, but under the circumstances at that time, those capable old ministers and the adjusted and improved system during the Zhu Zhanji period were powerless to prevent this fiasco. In this sense, the Tumubao Revolution was the general outbreak of political hidden dangers in the Xuande period, the tragedy of the cabinet-celebrant control system, and the tragedy left by Zhu Zhanji personally.

Although Zhu Zhanji could not see this tragic scene with his own eyes, did such a talented emperor, after creating Renxuan's rule, ever think that the Ming Dynasty would quickly usher in a situation of middle decline? And the unsustainability of the prosperous era will also greatly reduce the prosperity itself.

Where there is a cause, there must be an effect, and where there is an effect, there must be a cause. The cause and effect of one's own choice, even if it is not visible, will wait for the final judgment of history.

References:

Zhang Tingyu et al., History of the Ming Dynasty, Zhonghua Book Company, 1974

Gu Yingtai: "The End of the Ming History Chronicle", Zhonghua Book Company, 2018

Zhao Zhongnan, The Biography of Emperor Xuande, China Social Publishing House, 2008

Chen Wenyuan, "An Examination of the Beginning and End of Ming Xuande's Abandonment of Annan", Jinan Historiography, vol. 4, 2005

Zhu Hong, "On the Other Appearance of Xuanzong in the Ming Dynasty", Ming and Qing Commentaries, vol. 1, 1999