How superstitious was Jiajing, the eccentric emperor of the Ming Dynasty? The history encyclopedia editor brings relevant content to everyone. Interested friends, come and take a look!
In feudal society, dynastic changes were not uncommon, and each feudal dynasty had its unique characteristics. The Tang Dynasty was prosperous, the Song Dynasty was weak, the Yuan Dynasty was barbaric, the Ming Dynasty was bizarre and tough, and the Qing Dynasty was ultimately destroyed by the female rooster.
The content of this issue is to talk about the bizarre emperors of the Ming Dynasty. There were many bizarre emperors in the Ming Dynasty, and in the hundreds of years of inheritance, there were more than one who were absurd, incompetent, and incompetent.
For example, there were more than one emperor who did not attend court for a long time, such as Zhu Zhanji, Zhu Youxiao, Zhu Houzhao, and so on. Emperor Wanli and Emperor Jiajing can be said to be rare occurrences throughout history.
But compared to Emperor Jiajing, Emperor Wanli is still a bit inferior. Jiajing was a ruthless person who could not go to court for thirty years. Among all the emperors in history, he was the only one who could do such a thing.
However, like most emperors, Jiajing was very obsessed with longevity, especially believing in Taoism, believing that “cultivating immortals” could lead to longevity.
Jiajing is very famous for his love of “cultivating immortality”, but what many people don’t know is that he did many cruel things for the sake of “cultivating immortality”.
During Jiajing’s lifetime, he married a total of seventy-six concubines, of which fifty-one were tortured to death by him, as well as three empresses, all of whom were killed by Jiajing. He became emperor only because of his good fortune.
The former emperor Zhu Houzhao was a very extravagant emperor. During his reign, he not only built large buildings and leopard houses, but also abducted many women. At that time, women in the city were so scared that they dared not go out during the day. Of course, he also paid the price for his absurdity in the end and died in the leopard house.
At that time, although Zhu Houzhao had a promiscuous private life and never lacked women around him, he was unable to give birth to his own children. Therefore, after Zhu Houzhao’s death, Emperor Jiajing of the imperial family was elected to the throne. For someone who had no possibility of succession, this was like a pie from the sky.
After Jiajing ascended to the throne, in order to avoid following the old path of Zhu Houzhao, he “worked tirelessly” and almost “worked day and night” to have his own children. Therefore, he selected concubines several times and added a total of 76 concubines to the harem.
As the second longest reigning emperor of the Ming Dynasty after Wanli, although Jiajing did not cultivate personal virtues, he did have certain political talents.
During his reign, he rectified Japanese pirates, governed the court, reduced taxes, and cut eunuchs. With a busy schedule, he brought the Ming Dynasty, which had been plagued by chaos caused by Zhu Houzhao, back on track. After that, Jiajing could not go to court for thirty years thanks to his early efforts.
The Biography of Flattery and Happiness in the History of Ming Dynasty records: “In the pursuit of eternal life, there is no kinship in suburban temples, and all court lectures are abolished, and there is no connection between rulers and ministers.
In historical records, although Jiajing had the ability, he was too obsessed with Taoist immortality and almost always hid in the palace to “cultivate immortals” and refine pills during the middle and later stages of his rule, which led to the chaos in the court.
Since Jiajing became obsessed with elixirs, the palace has provided many alchemists who use young girls’ sunflower water as medicinal guides to refine pills. In order to obtain more “medicinal guides”, Jiajing allows young girls to drink dew and medicine every day.
Just because the alchemists said that only pure girls could refine elixirs that could grant immortality, Jiajing used girls to refine elixirs and persecuted and killed many of them, leading to the “Renyin Palace Incident”. If it weren’t for Empress Fang, Jiajing would have been strangled to death by palace maids.
Besides palace maids, the women of Jiajing also had a hard time. Dozens of people were tortured to death by him, even the empress was no exception. Among the three empresses, the first one was kicked to death because she was pregnant and jealous, which angered Jiajing. Even the funeral was very messy. The second empress was originally favored, but Jiajing was fond of the new and disliked the old. She was soon thrown into the cold palace and died inexplicably.
The third empress, Empress Fang, who saved Jiajing during the “Renyin Palace Incident”, was suspected after saving her. She then killed her concubine and attempted to kill her. In the end, a fire broke out in Empress Fang’s palace, and Jiajing turned a blind eye to it. She was burned alive by the fire.
Jiajing did have some talent in political achievements, but his personal ethics were not very good. Among all the emperors in history, when it comes to killing concubines, he can be regarded as the first one.
