Merits and demerits: At the beginning of Sejong's accession to the throne, he changed the tyranny of Wu Zongchao, abolished the Royal Guards and saved the people. However, Sejong was an unfortunate emperor, and the Sultan Khan of Mongolia, who succeeded to the north almost at the same time, had great intentions to revive Mongolia. In the east, the Muromachi shogunate in Japan was plunged into civil strife, and the official forces could not contain the enemy. The enemy began to invade the southeast coast again, and the Awa dynasty of Myanmar in the south rose and began to invade the northern chieftain of Myanmar who surrendered to the Ming Dynasty. However, if Sejong is gifted, he can still be a hero. It happens that this is an emperor who loves Taoist spells and is known as the "Qing Ci Emperor" in history. Among ministers, Yan Song can be reused because he is good at clearing words. It was Yan Song's self-destruction of the Great Wall that led to the March of Andan Khan and the change of Geng Xu. Sejong didn't go to court for a long time in the middle and late period, until Liu Pin official Harry shouted "Every family is clean", which was a sudden awakening. Before he died, the prince's testamentary edict killed the alchemist, smashed the Dan furnace and released Harry, which was a great revelation. In addition to Zhu Yuanzhang and his son, another Ming Di mentioned by Mao Zedong is Zhu Houzong, Jiajing Emperor, and the most widely known is a passage by Mao Zedong in 1965. 196565438+February 2 1 When talking with Chen Boda and others in Hangzhou, he said that Yao commented on the new historical drama "Hai Rui dismissed from office" and named Wu Han, but he missed something. The key issue in "Hai Rui Dismissed from Office" is "Dismissed from Office". Emperor Jiajing was only an official of Harry, but in 1959, we were only an official of Peng. Peng is also' Harry'. " From prosperity to decline in Ming Dynasty, Jiajing's coming to power was a major turning point. However, when people talk about the history of the Ming Dynasty, most people think that Emperor Wanli is responsible for the demise of the Ming Dynasty, and that the Ming Dynasty "died in Wanli". Especially after the publication of the book Fifteen Years of Wanli by American scholar Huang Renyu, this impression is even more profound. In fact, when commenting on Emperor Jiajing, Ming Shi wrote: "If there were many reasons at that time, it would be tiring and thieves would be trapped inside, but advocating Taoism, enjoying Buddhist scriptures, building a prosperous time, hiding it by the government, and leveling the industry for more than a hundred years, and gradually replacing it." So the real decline of the Ming Dynasty began with Jiajing. Mao Zedong was very dissatisfied with Emperor Jiajing, saying that he was "an alchemist, a fatuous old man, who sat in the world for more than forty years, but did nothing". This evaluation is appropriate. Among the Ming emperors, Jiajing's identity was quite special. He was the cousin of Ming Wuzong, and his fief was in Anlu (now Zhongxiang City), Hubei Province. Since the death of Wu Zong, there has been no heir to the throne. In this case, Empress Cishou and Yang Tinghe, important ministers, decided that Zhu Houzong should be a vassal. So Zhu Houzong, escorted by eunuch Gu Dayong and others, went to the capital day and night for fear of what would happen in this sacred joy. Jiajing ascended the throne for the first time, and it felt good. He drastically reformed the malpractice, cut down the secret service, and implemented a lenient policy, which is a very wise man. But soon he played politics and indulged in pleasure. He relied on Yan Song and other treacherous court officials to kill Zhongliang, often courted ministers, and especially believed in Taoism, indulging in such boring things as fasting, witchcraft and good omen. In view of this, Qin Jin, Yang Jue, Harry and other ministers took turns to remonstrate, hoping that Jiajing would continue as always. Yang Jue, an imperial envoy, remonstrated bitterly: "At the beginning of his reign, Your Majesty made great efforts to govern the country and tried to show the world with' proverbs of respect and inferiority'. However, for several years, I have been devoted to the royal family and Jane. I went to visit in the morning and declined politely, but I didn't take a look. " He expects Jiajing to "think about the difficulties of starting a business in his ancestors, think about the difficulties that can be maintained today, and then look at what I have played and realize it." However, Emperor Jiajing was furious after reading this book and put Yang Jue in prison to discuss the crime. When Mao Zedong read Biography of Yang Xuan in Ming Dynasty, he approved four words: "Decadence has no beginning. "There seems to be infinite emotion when writing. In The Book of Songs, you can find the phrase "Decadence has no beginning, freshness has an end", which means that most people have a good start, but few people can finish it well. In the Ming Dynasty, Jiajing was famous among more than a dozen emperors. Of course, the big reason lies in the famous article "Hai Rui dismissed from office". In history textbooks, the evaluation of Mr. Jiajing is always inseparable from those words-fatuous, immoral and shameless. In the eyes of many people, this Jiajing emperor has been begging for immortality for decades, making an alchemy and blessing, and ignoring state affairs and officials. He is a thoroughly bad emperor, and he is also stupid. Is that really the case? If you think so, it's all wet. In fact, this emperor is one of the smartest emperors in the history of the Ming Dynasty. His IQ is far higher than that of ordinary people. He has been in power for more than 40 years, playing with countless people and applauding them. Those who think he is a fool are completely deceived by him, including me. In the sixteenth year of Zhengde (152 1), the most legendary emperor in history, Zhengde Emperor Zhu Houzhao, fell into the river while taking a boat. Although he was fished out, he fell ill and died. Because he has been playing for more than ten years, the child has failed to take care of his life. But the emperor had to be done by someone, so Yang Tinghe, the first person in North Korea at that time, acted as the emperor for 37 days, and finally chose the successor-Zhu Houzong. Zhu Houzong, Zhu Houzhao's cousin, was fifteen years old. He was later Emperor Jiajing. Yang Tinghe chose this boy from many sons and grandchildren because he is said to be very clever. As long as you are smart enough and have a high IQ, you can be a good emperor. This is Yang Tinghe's expectation. Of course, the wily Yang Tinghe made this choice because of another idea-children are small and easy to control. Unfortunately, he miscalculated. After three dynasties, wandering in officialdom for decades, an old scoundrel is slippery, and Liu Jin also makes him unpredictable. Yang Tinghe never dreamed that this 15-year-old child was a real genius, a genius enough to beat him. X Yang Tinghe is ready to welcome Zhu Houzong to Beijing as emperor. In his view, children should be grateful to themselves, but surprisingly, Zhu Houzong raised objections. The problem lies in birthright. Zhu Houzong's children thought they accepted the testamentary edict and went to Beijing to be emperor, but Yang Tinghe asked him to be a prince first and then an emperor. This is a shameful thing, so he hopes that Yang Tinghe can rearrange the procedure of succession to the throne according to his meaning. Yang Tinghe refused, and his elder statesman of the three dynasties can still listen to your orders? ! Facing the arrogant attitude of Jianghu, Zhu Houzong smiled and expressed his opinion: "If this arrangement is necessary, I will do it, but I will not succeed." Yang Tinghe was silly, only to find that the 15-year-old child was so fierce. In desperation, 63-year-old Yang Tinghe and 15-year-old Zhu Houzong reached a compromise and finally completed this great event. Yang Tinghe was relieved that the matter was finally solved, but what he didn't know was that more deadly trouble was yet to come. Shortly after he ascended the throne, Zhu Houzong began to play new tricks. He said that since he was an emperor, his dead father should be regarded as an emperor instead of a vassal. This matter should be put in today, and the civil affairs department will do it for him in a few minutes. Anyway, everyone is dead, how can I give you a title? But in the eyes of civil servants at that time, this was a big violation. People who are familiar with Confucius and Mencius pay the most attention to etiquette. Zhu Houzong, who are you to dare to challenge the tradition of your ancestors? So, Yang Tinghe stood up again, ready to confront Zhu Houzong. The two sides fought fiercely for two years, which was a famous "big etiquette" event in the history of China. Under the pressure of Zhu Houzong, Yang Tinghe made the last move-resigned voluntarily, which was also very clear: I am an old minister of three dynasties, and most of the DPRK and China are my people. If you Zhu Houzong insist on your own opinion, I will come to a non-violent non-cooperation, and see what you do! However, the result of the struggle was really unexpected. Zhu Houzong didn't panic at all after receiving the resignation report. He just said quietly, since you want to go, go ahead and I'll send you the money. Machiavellian was stunned by Yang Tinghe. For decades, after all the storms, he capsized in this small sewer in Zhu Houzong. But Yang Tinghe won't stop there. He is going to have a showdown with Zhu Houzong. One morning in July of the same year, it was time for a showdown. On this day, Yang Tinghe's son Yang Shen entered the palace as usual and stood in front of Zuo Shun's door. Suddenly, he raised his arms and shouted the most famous slogan in the history of the Ming Dynasty: "The country has trained scholars for 150 years, today! "The trouble, brothers! So 229 ministers followed Yang Shen and burst into tears in front of Zuo Shun. Suddenly, the crying inside the palace gate was loud and a mess. These civil servants worked so hard to tell the young emperor one thing-you have to listen to us! Zhu Houzong was very annoyed, but he used his superhuman wisdom in time and came up with the best way to solve the problem. Of course, this is not a compromise. He was very wise to realize that it was useless to reason with these scholars, so he chose the most appropriate method-beating. The results are as follows: officials who made trouble in front of Zuo Shun on that day, officials above level 4, were given a salary reduction, and all those below level 4 were beaten. These literati lack physical exercise on weekdays and are not strong. 17 people were killed in this battle. Yang Shen, who led the trouble, was sent to Yunnan to join the army and never returned to Beijing. This is the famous "Zuo Shunmen Incident" in the history of China, which ended in the complete failure of the civil service group. Young Zhu Houzong solved this problem easily at the right time and in the right way. No one dared to touch his authority for more than forty years. This year, he was only eighteen years old. Among more than ten emperors in Ming Dynasty, Zhu Houzong ranked the top three in IQ. He skillfully used his power to manipulate all the people. There were many talents in his time, such as Xia Yan, Yan Song, Xu Jie, Gao Gong and Zhang. These people are battle-hardened and experienced officialdom veterans. However, compared with Zhu Houzong, their level is worse than one grade. This is an era of intense power struggle. Honest Xia Yan was killed by despicable Yan Song, but Yan Song was not happy for long. Xu Jie soon solved Yan Song in a more cruel way. We often sigh for Xia Yan's death, grieve for Yan Song's administration, and cheer for Xu Jie's victory. In many people's eyes, Yan Song is a bad person and represents evil, while Xia Yan and Xu Jie are good people and represent justice. They are wrong. The real person behind the scenes is Zhu Houzong. Everything is under his control. He used Xia Yan to balance Yan Song and Xu Jie to balance Yan Song. Under his rule, no one can respect the world and order officials except himself. He knows his identity very well. He is the boss. Xia, Yan and Xu are all his employees. Their job is just work. Anyone who dares to stir up will be attacked and fired and replaced by another person. Countless people know that Zhu Houzong, Emperor Jiajing, did not go to court during the day, but he practiced in his palace, regardless of state affairs, but many people don't know what he was doing at night. The answer is to change the paper. Although he pursued immortality and didn't see ministers, during his forty years as emperor, he never slacked off his state affairs, and nothing could be hidden from him, and no minister could hide from him. He knows that little things don't need to be handled, and he can't. He just needs to solve the big problems, give them to ministers to do, and then create contradictions between ministers and let them attack each other. For him, it doesn't matter whether the general manager is Xia Yan or Yan Song, as long as the chairman is always Zhu Houzong. He used tactics all his life, because in his opinion, only in this way can he firmly control everything in his residence. He is too smart, beyond measure, too smart. During his reign, political struggles continued, ministers had no time to form gangs and factions, and Mongolian troops hit the door. All departments don't want to retreat from the enemy, but they are all shirking their responsibilities. However, most of his energy is spent on the cultivation of alchemy and tactics. Zhu Houzong always believed that with his wisdom, he could firmly control all the people and stabilize his country. He did it, and no one can shake his position. However, the Ming dynasty was weakening in his wisdom. Zhu Houzong's real way of governing the country is tolerance and kindness, not Machiavellian scheming as always.