Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 301 Drama Zhengde, the real pig ban [Please subscribe]

"Emperor Zhengde Zhu Houzhao is one of the most controversial emperors in the history of the Ming Dynasty."

Very controversial?

Is it bigger than me?
Liu Kuan's first words further attracted the attention of Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di, and even Zhu Biao became more interested in Zhengde's deeds.

Liu Kuan continued, "First, let's talk about the birth of Emperor Zhengde. Didn't I mention this when I was talking about Emperor Hongzhi? Zhu Youtang only married one empress, Zhang, in his entire life, and she gave birth to two sons and one daughter."

"According to official historical records, Zhu Houzhao was Zhang's eldest legitimate son. As for Zhang's second son and daughter, they all died in infancy."

"But in the late Hongzhi and early Zhengde years, the famous 'Zheng Wang's Witchcraft Case' occurred. Zheng Wang was a remnant of the Beijing Garrison Army. He had a daughter named Wang Nv'er. When she was twelve, she was sold to a noble in Beijing. Soon after, she was sold to a family surnamed Shen..."

After Liu Kuan finished talking about the "Zheng Wang's Evil Words Case", the three of Old Zhu, his father and his son, began to think about it.

Zhu Biao then spoke first, "According to what my brother-in-law said, there are only two possibilities. One is that Zhu Houzhao was born to Empress Zhang, and Zheng Wang was simply obsessed with wealth and fame, and was deceived by a eunuch, who spread the rumor that Zhu Houzhao was his daughter's son."

"Secondly, Zhu Houzhao was not born to Empress Zhang, but was the son of that prince's daughter. To protect Empress Zhang, Zhu Youtang executed the eunuch who helped Zheng Wang contact the palace maids, but spared Zheng Wang's life."

Old Zhu said nonchalantly, "Whether Zhu Houzhao was born to Zhang or a palace maid, he is still a descendant of our Zhu family."

"In addition, Zhu Youtang had no other sons who grew up, so no matter who Zhu Houzhao was born to, it would not affect his throne."

"This matter is of no importance to the Ming Dynasty, so there is no need to discuss it further."

On the one hand, it is irrelevant, and on the other hand, this matter is ultimately a palace secret, even close to a scandal. Even if those present are all members of the Zhu family, it is embarrassing to discuss it.

Liu Kuan did not delve into Zhu Houzhao's thoughts on his life experience, and continued: "The second controversial point about Zhu Houzhao is that he built the Leopard House, lived in the Leopard House for a long time, and handled state affairs there."

"Zhu Houzhao ascended the throne as a young man, and when he ascended the throne, he was assisted by three cabinet ministers left behind by Zhu Youtang: Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, and Xie Qian."

"When he first ascended the throne, he was diligent in his work, but soon he came into conflict with ministers like Liu Jian over the handling of state affairs."

"In the second year of the Zhengde reign, he had the eunuch Liu Jin build the Leopard House in the southwest of the imperial city. He moved in the following year and rarely lived in the palace after that."

"Some say the Leopard House already existed in Beijing, and Zhu Houzhao simply ordered its expansion. Others say the Leopard House was built during the Zhengde period."

"As for Zhu Houzhao's reason for living in the Leopard House, some say it was so he could watch the beasts fight and indulge in sensual pleasures."

"But some also say that this was a method Zhu Houzhao used to counter the already powerful group of civil officials at the time."

Liu Kuan paused here.

Zhu Biao and Zhu Di couldn't help but look at Old Zhu.

Because the two felt that Zhu Houzhao's move to the Leopard House was somewhat similar to that of Zhu Yuanzhang - Zhu Yuanzhang was also not able to govern the country in other palaces, and finally moved to such a special place as Fengxian Hall.

It should be noted that Fengxian Hall is the place where the tablets of the Zhu family's ancestors are enshrined. When court officials reported matters here, they would probably feel uncomfortable or even scared.

"Why are you all looking at me?" Old Zhu glared, then said, "Liu Kuan, keep talking. Besides the Leopard House, what other controversial things did Zhu Houzhao do?"

Liu Kuan said: "Zhu Houzhao also favored and used eunuchs and military generals - perhaps he wanted to learn from his predecessors and use eunuchs and military generals to balance the power of the growing civil officials and gentry groups."

"But it turned out that the people he successively relied on, such as Liu Jin, Zhang Yong, Qian Ning, and Jiang Bin, were all selfish, greedy, and power-hungry individuals—a total of eight of them, who were later collectively known as the 'Eight Tigers.'"

"The most powerful of the Eight Tigers was the eunuch Liu Jin. It is said that at the height of his power, Liu Jin not only became the top eunuch in the imperial palace, but also befriended court officials and even military commanders leading troops abroad."

"Later, when he implemented the policy of surveying and arranging military farms in Shaanxi and Gansu, it caused discontent among the army. The Prince of Anhua in Ningxia seized the opportunity to declare an uprising to purge the court of corrupt officials. The manifesto for purging the court of corrupt officials listed all the crimes Liu Jin had committed."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Di's expression changed.

Although he knew that two princes had rebelled during the Zhengde period, he still felt guilty when he heard Prince Anhua rebel in the name of "clearing the court" - because in the Ming history told by Liu Kuan, he later also rebelled in the name of clearing the court.

He looked towards the dragon throne and found that Zhu Yuanzhang was glaring at him again.

Liu Kuan continued, "Prince Anhua did not make sufficient preparations before launching his rebellion. It could even be said that he was a bit frivolous. Therefore, not long after he started his rebellion, he was captured by a guerrilla general from Ningxia."

"Afterwards, Prince Anhua was sent to the capital. When Zhu Houzhao held a grand celebration banquet, Zhang Yong and others among the Eight Tigers took the opportunity to accuse Liu Jin of all sorts of illegal activities, even accusing him of plotting a rebellion."

"Eunuch rebellion?" Zhu Di couldn't help but exclaim in surprise when he heard this.

Liu Kuan smiled and said, "Later, Zhu Houzhao sent people to search Liu Jin's house. In addition to millions of taels of gold and silver and various jewelry, they also found armor, bows and crossbows, and other prohibited weapons." Zhu Yuanzhang said calmly, "What's so strange about that? Since Zhang Yong and others wanted to overthrow Liu Jin, they could have found anything during the search."

Zhu Di was not stupid and understood it instantly.

In other words, the armor, crossbows, etc. were most likely placed in Liu Jin's home by Zhang Yong and others?

Liu Kuan concluded, "Zhu Houzhao began to employ eunuchs, military generals, and other sycophants in order to counterbalance the power of civil officials—a goal he apparently achieved. Before Liu Jin came to power, ministers such as Liu Jian and Xie Qian resigned and returned home."

"However, from then on, the court during the Zhengde period was essentially a scene of the Eight Tigers fighting each other. First, Liu Jin ousted the two eunuchs who had previously favored the civil officials. Eventually, he was overthrown by Zhang Yong and others. Subsequently, Zhang Yong, Qian Ning, Jiang Bin and others competed for power, almost forming a situation of factional strife among the sycophants."

"However, during this process, the military and political power of the Ming Dynasty became increasingly concentrated in the hands of Zhu Houzhao. After gaining greater power, Zhu Houzhao did many things that seemed outrageous to people at the time."

After hearing this, the Zhu family and their two sons all felt that although Zhu Houzhao seemed unreliable, he was much stronger than Bao Zong.

Firstly, Baozong was deceived and manipulated by the eunuchs, and secondly, he did not need to seize power from the civil officials like Emperor Zhengde did. Even so, he still caused the defeat at Tumu Fort and the subsequent incidents, which is truly incompetent.

Liu Kuan said, "Zhu Houzhao loved to go on tours, and he particularly liked to go on incognito tours. Later generations even left behind many legends about Emperor Zhengde's incognito tours."

"For example, in the 14th year of the Zhengde reign, Zhu Houzhao issued a 'pig ban' during his southern tour, citing his surname and zodiac sign, pig, and the fact that eating pork would cause sores."

Pig ban?
When they heard this word, Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao and Zhu Di were all stunned.

Later rumors claimed that during the Ming Dynasty, pigs were not allowed to be called "zhu" (pig), but rather "彘" (彘), to avoid the homophonic name "Zhu" (朱), which signified the Ming imperial family. Some even said that the Ming emperors did not eat pork.

This is basically a rumor, and most of it only existed during the Qing Dynasty.

First, if Zhu Yuanzhang really had this taboo, when he ordered people to compile "Hongwu Zhengyun", he could have changed "朱" and "猪" to have different pronunciations, so that the taboo could be fundamentally solved.

But Zhu Yuanzhang did not do so. In "Hongwu Zhengyun", Zhu is pronounced the same as Zhu.

Secondly, many official documents and histories of the Ming Dynasty did not avoid the word "pig". For example, the "Imperial Ming Dynasty Code" recorded the display of sacrificial offerings in the royal Fengxian Hall, and directly used the word "pig".

Furthermore, although "pig" was increasingly used as an insult at that time and later, it has always been a symbol of blessing from ancient times to the present, and is not entirely a derogatory term.

Furthermore, if the character "猪" (pig) is taboo, should the character "马" (horse), which is the same character as Empress Ma's surname, also be taboo? Is there any ambiguity in the character "骑骑" (horse)?

It can be said that Lao Zhu is indeed stingy and harsh in some aspects, but very tolerant and generous in some aspects.

Of course, it was for this reason that Zhu and his son were surprised when they heard Liu Kuan talk about the "pig ban".

"Once the ban on pigs was issued, pigs were quickly slaughtered everywhere. For a time, people had no pork to eat. Later, during the New Year, when the Taichang Temple was preparing the imperial sacrifice, they asked what to use instead of pigs. The court officials used this as an excuse to request that the ban be relaxed. Gradually, the ban became a dead letter."

Upon hearing this, Old Zhu commented, "Zhu Houzhao's ban on pigs is indeed nonsense."

Liu Kuan continued, "Your Majesty, there are many interesting stories about Zhu Houzhao. Some of them are difficult to tell whether they are true or false, so I will not go into such detail."

Afterwards, Liu Kuan briefly recounted Zhu Houzhao's deeds that have been passed down to later generations, such as "watching the fire in the Leopard Room", "changing his name to Zhu Shou and appointing himself a mighty general", "robbing men and women", "favoring other people's wives", "liking to go shopping", "addicted to drinking", and "being keen on foreign cultures".

For a moment, Zhu Houzhao, Zhu Biao and Zhu Di were all stunned and thought to themselves: Isn't this kid Zhu Houzhao too troublesome?
Finally, Liu Kuan said: "There is no doubt that Zhu Houzhao is a very smart person, at least he has a good learning ability."

"Not only did he learn several foreign languages ​​due to his passion for foreign cultures, he also enjoyed poetry, painting, and music, and even left behind some of his creations that have influenced future generations."

"But he does these things for fun, rather than for any lofty goal. If I were to evaluate him, he would be cynical and uninhibited."

Old Zhu snorted, "What do you mean by cynicism or unruliness? Why not just say he's unfit to be a ruler?"

Liu Kuan smiled awkwardly, which was considered as his agreement.

Before he traveled through time, he had read some comments on the Internet praising Zhu Houzhao - he had to admit that Zhu Houzhao was indeed an interesting person, but he was indeed not very qualified to be an emperor.

Historically, during the Zhengde period of the Ming Dynasty, not only did two vassal kings rebel one after another, but many local people also revolted - because the Eight Tigers he appointed were indeed treacherous and flattering.

As for his achievements in combating civil officials and gentry, they were limited to the court. On the local level, the gentry's power grew even stronger during the chaos in the court.

Zhu Houzhao's most positive achievement was probably that he reorganized the northern border troops in the Xuanda area, and personally led the army to repel the invading Tatars at the right time, which to a certain extent boosted the military virtue of the Ming Dynasty.

　First update.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)