0p0 Chapter 159 Zhu Houzhao Dies by Drowning
Chapter 159 Zhu Houzhao Dies by Drowning
"In later generations, Zhu Houzhao has always been portrayed as a debauched and pleasure-seeking man, but his attitude of seeking knowledge and learning was still stronger than that of many people. For example, he was proficient in various foreign languages, such as Mongolian, Tibetan, Sanskrit, Arabic, as well as Portuguese and Spanish."
"Even by today's standards, he would be incredibly impressive. He even has an Arabic name, Myoja Aolan. And the Leopard Chamber, which is so detested, is said by some to have not been a place of debauchery, but rather a place for handling political affairs,"
"The people living in the Leopard House, besides those favored by Zhu Houzhao and the animals, were mostly the officers and soldiers of the Leopard House, who carried waist tokens with them."
"Nominally, they were charioteers and leopard handlers, but in reality, they were probably guards with duties such as leopard training. Most of them were descendants of Mongols and people from the Western Regions."
"His purpose in raising leopards for hunting was probably more to restore the military strength of the Ming Dynasty and to become a capable emperor like the previous emperors of the Ming Dynasty."
"But the ministers saw it as child's play and indulgence in pleasure. For example, the Ming Shilu records Zhao Zhao training soldiers, which is portrayed as childish play in other records."
"In their view, Emperor Wuzong did not meet their expectations of an emperor, and these hunts should be rejected. Some civil officials even wrote poems to criticize and satirize Zhao Zhao's military training."
"After Zhu Houzhao, there was no emperor in the Ming Dynasty who was so martial. It can be said that they got worse and worse!"
"Oh, by the way, Zhao Zhao spent 240,000 taels of silver to build this Leopard House. Compared to the 50 million taels spent on the Yuanmingyuan Garden in the Qing Dynasty, that shouldn't be much!"
Liu Zhuzhu (Big Han): When did becoming emperor mean having to meet the expectations of your officials?
Zhu Bajie of the Ming Dynasty (in a fit of rage): ...
Emperor Zhao Kuangyin of the Song Dynasty: That Yuanmingyuan actually cost so much money!?
Civil officials during the Zhengde period of the Ming Dynasty (currently banned): ...
An official from the Song Dynasty: Is the Ming Dynasty also like my Song Dynasty, ruling the country together with scholar-officials?
Judy, the Grand General Who Conquers the North: ...
A member of the Tang Dynasty imperial family: In other words, he was secretly conducting military operations outside!? What kind of situation is this? Even the emperor couldn't openly train soldiers!?
……
"Moreover, the Yingzhou victory, which is only mentioned briefly in historical records, has been examined by scholars who have shown that Emperor Wuzong's victories in foreign wars were closely related to the intelligence network established by the Leopard Chamber. This shows that the Leopard Chamber was more of an imperial force."
"In fact, in addition to the great victory at Yingzhou in the twelfth year of Zhengde's reign, the Ming Dynasty also won a victory against the invasion of Turpan in the thirteenth year of Zhengde's reign."
"It was extremely difficult for Emperor Zhu Houzhao to make such a decision. First of all, the Ming Dynasty inherited the Song system, and the emperor's edicts had to be issued through intermediary institutions such as the Council of State Affairs or the Grand Secretariat."
“If the decree is issued directly without this procedure, then officials have a reason not to accept it.”
"Therefore, when Zhaozhao wanted to personally lead the army against Dayan Khan's invasion in the twelfth year but was rejected, he formally appointed himself as the Mighty General in front of the officials and ordered himself to go to war. His move was entirely to bypass the cabinet."
"As we mentioned before, this great victory at Yingzhou was hindered by ministers and the garrison commander. It was this kind of resistance that led to his image being wantonly vilified."
"For example, the 'Veritable Records of Emperor Wuzong' records that the Ming army had 52 dead and 563 seriously wounded, while the Mongol army had 16 dead (with heads taken). However, the 'History of Ming' records a different account: several hundred people died."
"After this battle, Zhu Houzhao also said that he personally beheaded one person, and he must have been proud of it at that time!"
A Tang Dynasty spectator commented: "This history book is strange! It makes him seem like a foolish and frivolous person!"
A scion of a prominent family in the Song Dynasty: My first time fighting on the battlefield was quite impressive! Compared to my great-grandfather!
A skilled farmer in the Ming Dynasty: He had every reason to boast that he had killed several more, but he only mentioned one…
A spoiled young master from the Tang Dynasty: Wow, that's amazing! They've never even fought a war before, and they still won!
……
"To be honest, this battle was the first time since Tumu Fortress that the emperor had held military power, and it was also the last."
"But things didn't go smoothly for him before he went to war. Even the Minister of Revenue only provided half of the grain. Even though he won the battle, he didn't receive praise from these civil officials. In fact, all the officials in the Hanlin Academy refused to congratulate him. There were also many officials who criticized him. If this had happened in the Qing Dynasty, he might have been subjected to a combination of literary inquisitions."
All emperors of the Qing Dynasty: ...
"It is said that he adopted so many sons in order to cultivate new military nobles, because the old ones had already formed alliances with the civil officials through marriage."
"What he did was enough to cause panic among the civil officials. If the emperor were to take control of the military, their power would be reduced, so they could only try their best to smear the emperor."
"Among the common people, officials told the people that the emperor had actually lost the battle, but was lucky to have survived, so the reputation sounded better. Moreover, there was no real victory, and the retreat of the yurts was just due to the continuous sandstorms that forced the enemy to retreat."
"These officials also said that the emperor almost ended up like Emperor Yingzong, becoming a prisoner of the Mongols, but was rescued by his own guards. The emperor even boasted that he had killed one of them."
"Besides manipulating public opinion, this group also submitted a memorial to Zhu Houzhao, saying that this battle was not actually a great victory at all, and hoped that His Majesty would not casually lead the army, but instead expand the principles of Heaven, suppress human desires, and remain deep within the Nine Palaces..." (Veritable Records of Emperor Wuzong of Ming)
Big Han Liu Zhuzhu: The emperor was effectively sidelined like this! ? ?
First Emperor: Truly unbelievable!
Emperor Zhao Kuangyin of the Song Dynasty: How can these scholars be so shameless!?
Zhu Bajie of the Ming Dynasty: ...
All Emperors of the Ming Dynasty: ...
A scholar-official from the Han Dynasty said: "By smearing their emperor among the people, aren't they afraid of destabilizing the court?!" I don't really understand this approach!
"As for Zhao Zhao's cause of death, it is actually quite strange. The official history records that she fell into the water and caught a chill, and her condition deteriorated. The season in which she fell into the water was during her southern tour in September."
"You know, no matter how good September is in Jiangnan, it can't compare to the frozen rivers of winter. And it's really suspicious that someone who loved riding and archery since childhood and had fought in battles would die of illness like this!"
"Moreover, there are records proving that his physique was good at least a year ago. For example, when Emperor Wuzong returned to Xuanfu from Taiyuan, he rode a horse through wind and snow, and although many of his attendants were ill, the emperor showed no signs of fatigue..."
"According to historical records, Zhu Houzhao often vomited blood as a child, which might be a symptom of tuberculosis or something similar. However, he was in good health when he was emperor, unlike Emperor Zhezong of Song. He even went to the battlefield!"
"When he returned to the capital and entered the city gate, he rode his horse and inspected the military formation for a long time, which did not seem like he was seriously ill, but he vomited blood just three days later."
"And the most contradictory thing is that before Zhu Houzhao died, he asked Yang Tinghe to change the imperial physicians, but was refused. However, after Zhu Houcong took the throne, he immediately replaced a group of doctors in the Imperial Hospital. This is very intriguing!"
General Judy, the Northern Expeditionary Army: !!!
"Later generations have suggested that he was poisoned and murdered. First of all, Zhao Zhao's confidant Jiang Bin was not by his side, so he can be ruled out. After all, his power was given by the emperor. If something happened to Zhao Zhao, he would definitely be finished."
"Secondly, for an illness like drowning, couldn't a doctor be found in Jiangnan? Why not wait until he recovered before returning to the capital, or did he have a compelling reason to go back?"
"Many people also believe that Zhao Zhao's death was due to the civil official group. Yang Tinghe may have colluded with Zhang Yong in the inner court. Therefore, the so-called will was probably not spoken by him personally, and Zhang Yong was a confidant of Zhu Houzhao."
"After Zhu Houzhao died, all his confidants were purged, but Zhang Yong was protected by civil officials. This seems suspicious. If Zhaozhao is eliminated, his current military power will be suspended, and he has no children. This will inevitably give civil officials an opportunity."
"Moreover, after Zhu Houzhao returned to the capital, Yang Tinghe ordered the city gates to be closed and transferred the troops loyal to Zhaozhao away. In addition, not long after the emperor died, Yang Tinghe ordered the Leopard House to be demolished. Not to mention, when Zhaozhao wanted to change doctors, he scolded him for living a ridiculous life."
"The emperors of the Ming Dynasty all died mysteriously. For example, Zhu Gaochi died after only ten months on the throne, Zhu Zhanji died after only about twenty days from the onset of his illness, and Zhu Youxiao also died of illness after falling into the water."
"It can be said that Zhu Di's lineage did not live very long, basically around 30 or 40 years old. Except for Zhu Houcong, who did not attend court for more than 20 years and lived a little longer, the rest were no exception."
"These are all other speculations by later generations regarding the cause of Zhaozhao's death. Everyone is free to have their own opinion!"
A scion of a prominent family in the Song Dynasty: Why am I getting goosebumps?! It's creepy! Seriously, are Ming Dynasty civil officials this audacious?!
Ming Dynasty official: ...
A spoiled young master from the Tang Dynasty: This is indeed very suspicious! Why does the Ming emperor seem so fragile?!
Zhu Bajie of the Ming Dynasty (in a fit of rage): !!!
Liu Zhuzhu from the Han Dynasty: The later generations are truly eye-opening!
Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty
Zhu Di was trembling with rage as he held the document Lin had just given him (a data sheet on the lifespan of his descendants) in his hand! His own descendants were all dying in their thirties or forties!
Ha, an emperor who died inexplicably!
When did it become the time for civil officials to govern the country in our Great Ming Dynasty?!
The emperor actually had to support eunuchs in order to contend with them!
They even have to sneak off to the battlefield! And after winning, they still spread rumors among the people!
Excellent! Excellent!
……