Is Zhu Youxiao the main culprit behind the downfall of the Ming Dynasty, as he highly valued eunuch Wei Zhongxian

Many people are not familiar with Zhu Youxiao and Wei Zhongxian. Let’s follow the history encyclopedia editor to appreciate them together.
When it comes to Zhu Youxiao, the founder of Ming Xizong, many people may only have a vague impression, but when it comes to the carpenter emperor, the support of the eunuch Wei Zhongxian, and the childless emperor who conferred the title of wife to his wet nurse Ke Shi but passed it down to his younger brother, people immediately share many gossip about him. That’s right, he was the brother of Emperor Chongzhen, who was known as Tianqi and was criticized by later generations as the second to last emperor of the Ming Dynasty due to various absurd incidents.
Zhu Youxiao was the grandson of Emperor Wanli, and his father was Emperor Guangzong Zhu Changluo of the Ming Dynasty. When Zhu Changluo was the crown prince, Emperor Wanli was determined to have Zhu Changxun, the favored son of Zheng Guifei, assume the position of crown prince. In order to ensure his own safety, Zhu Changluo adopted a method of not allowing him to learn in the education of Zhu Youxiao, in order to alleviate the potential harm caused. Therefore, although Zhu Youxiao was a grandson of the emperor, he was almost illiterate. Before he became emperor, he did not read any books. During his ample time, Zhu Youxiao devoted himself to studying his favorite carpentry skills.
It has to be said that Zhu Youxiao is still very talented in carpentry. He enjoys doing carpentry work and has a clever mind, making many technically advanced objects. If Zhu Youxiao could choose to let him become a carpenter in the folk, perhaps he would be much happier than his short and tragic life in the palace.
However, fate does not always turn out as one wishes. Sometimes, the direction of one’s destiny cannot be chosen by oneself.
In the year when Emperor Wanli passed away, Zhu Youxiao was sixteen years old, and his mother had already passed away when he was fourteen years old. The wet nurse Ke Shi loved Zhu Youxiao as much as herself, and Zhu Youxiao had an extraordinary attachment to the wet nurse Ke Shi. After Wanli’s death, Zhu Changluo succeeded to the throne, but a month later, at the age of only 38, Ming Guangzong Zhu Changluo died of a sudden illness. At that time, Zhu Youxiao’s foster mother had the ambition of selecting attendant Xi Li to oversee politics. After experiencing the palace relocation case, Zhu Youxiao was enthroned as emperor.
Perhaps due to an uncontrollable Oedipus complex, after Zhu Youxiao became emperor, he conferred upon his wet nurse, Lady Ke, the title of Lady of Worship and gave her very generous treatment. Ke Shi caused trouble in the imperial harem, not only colluding with Wei Zhongxian, but also cruelly persecuting the pregnant concubines in the palace. Empress Zhang was also unable to escape after she became pregnant, let alone others, resulting in Zhu Youxiao not leaving behind a man and a woman. Empress Zhang was also under the guidance of Zhu Youxiao and the bond of marriage, which prevented her from being harmed by the Ke family.
Zhu Youxiao highly valued eunuch Wei Zhongxian, leading to a serious party dispute between the eunuch party led by him and the Donglin party in the court. Honest individuals were persecuted and exiled, while Wei Zhongxian held immense power between the court and the public, earning him the nickname “Nine Thousand Years Old”. Perhaps Zhu Youxiao’s original intention was to balance power so that he could truly control it, but those who were not good at playing with fire ultimately set themselves on fire, and the calamity of party strife shook the foundation of the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Youxiao is not entirely useless. He has some merits in identifying and employing people. He employed a group of talented and practical individuals such as Yuan Chonghuan, which stabilized the situation in Liaodong. During his reign, he also defeated the Dutch twice in Penghu, and the Battle of Tuen Mun prevented the Portuguese from making too much demands on Macau.
After serving as emperor for seven years, the Tianqi Emperor Zhu Youjian, who was later referred to as “neglecting his duties,” fell into the water during a trip and fell ill, and soon passed away.
Although Zhu Youxiao was revered as an emperor, his life was still a tragic one. As an emperor, he was a failure and left a very bad reputation in history. As his successor, his younger brother Zhu Youjian was the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Some people say that Zhu Youxiao was a ridiculous emperor. If he hadn’t fallen into the water and died, he might have changed the historical trajectory of the Ming Dynasty’s downfall. As for whether Zhu Youxiao has been vilified, the merits and demerits will be judged by future generations.