3. Life of the Young Emperor On May 22, the sixth year of Longqing (1572), news came from the palace that Mu Zong was critically ill. Three days later, on the 25th, the cabinet bachelors Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng and Gao Yi were summoned to the palace. Gao Gong and others entered the east side room of the palace and saw Mu Zong sitting on the imperial couch. Behind the curtain beside the couch were the queen and the imperial concubine. The 10-year-old prince Zhu Yijun was standing on the right side of the imperial couch. Mu Zong grabbed Gao Gong's hand and asked him to be alone in the face of danger: "I am tired of the world, Mr.", "Let's discuss the matter with Feng Bao." Then Feng Bao, the eunuch and eunuch of the ceremony, read out the edict to the prince Zhu Yijun: "The edict is with the crown prince. I No hesitation, the emperor will do it. You must follow the instructions of the three assistant ministers and the supervisor of etiquette, study and cultivate virtue, use talents and talents, and guard the emperor's career. " The three assistant ministers are Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng and Gao Yi. The status of the Supervisor of Ceremonies is also very important. In fact, Feng Bao, the eunuch and admiral of Dongchang, was also among those who took care of his fate. After the three bachelors were entrusted, the trombone came out. The next day, Emperor Longqing died in Qianqing Palace. On the tenth day of the sixth lunar month, Crown Prince Zhu Yijun officially ascended the throne and changed the Yuan Dynasty to Wanli. It is for Ming Shenzong. According to Mu Zong¡¯s arrangement, Gao Gong was the highest ranked minister in the outer court; in the palace, the young emperor naturally had to rely on Feng Bao. However, the relationship between Feng Bao and Gao Gong was very bad. Previously, the position of the eunuch of the palm seal was vacant several times as the director of rituals. Gao Gong recommended Chen Hong and Meng Chong successively, but he did not want Feng Bao to be the eunuch of the palm print. Feng Bao was a well-educated person who loved music, chess, calligraphy and painting. He was very cultivated, so he was very popular with Mu Zong. Feng Bao took advantage of the power vacuum between the changes in imperial power and easily passed a posthumous edict to drive away Meng Chong and become the eunuch of the palm. However, as far as Gao Gong is concerned, Feng Bao must be eliminated quickly. Under Gao Gong's instruction, Cheng Wen of the Engineering Department, Luo Zun of the Li Department, and Lu Shude of the Li Department began to impeach Feng Bao. Therefore, a political struggle is inevitable. During the struggle, the two parties to the conflict were Feng Bao and Gao Gong, while Zhang Juzheng ostensibly helped Gao Gong. However, in fact, Zhang Juzheng had a very close relationship with Feng Bao and had long planned to drive Gao Gong away. On June 16, the sixth year of Longqing, Feng Bao used what Gao Gong once said, "How does a ten-year-old prince rule the world?" to drive Gao Gong, who had a high self-esteem and a rough personality, out of the capital. As soon as Gao Gong left, Gao Yi was so shocked that he vomited blood for three days and died. Among the three cabinet ministers, only Zhang Juzheng was left to assume the important task of assisting the young emperor. From then on, in the first 10 years of the Wanli Dynasty, the life of the young emperor was basically regulated by three people: one was his mother, the Empress Dowager Li, the empress dowager, the other was Feng Bao, the eunuch in charge of the ceremony, and the other was Zhang Juzheng, the cabinet scholar. Shenzong needs to serve two mothers. One is the aunt's aunt, Empress Dowager Rensheng, who was originally Mu Zong's empress, Chen; the other is the biological mother, Empress Dowager Cisheng, Li. The Empress Dowager Rensheng was frail and infertile, but she loved the little emperor very much. It is said that when the little emperor was still the prince, he often went to play with the queen. Mrs. Chen was very happy every time she heard the sound of the prince's running shoes. Therefore, although Shenzong respected his biological mother Li, that is, he changed the past practice of only calling the emperor's biological mother "the emblem plus the empress dowager", adding the word "huang" to Li, and calling her the "cisheng empress dowager", but for his legitimate mother benevolence empress dowager The Queen Mother was always very respectful, treated everyone equally, and was extremely filial. At that time, people said that Shenzong's filial piety was "rare in the filial piety of emperors in ancient and modern times." Compared with his grandfather Sejong who ordered Empress Xiaozong Zhang to move to a secluded place in the palace city on the grounds of palace constraints, Shenzong was obviously much more affectionate and righteous. However, the main guardian of the young emperor is his biological mother, the Empress Dowager Cisheng. The Empress Dowager Cisheng was simple and kind by nature. For example, although she valued her mother over her son, she was very respectful to the Empress Dowager Rensheng. In the ninth year of Wanli (1581), when she was choosing a prince-in-law for her daughter Princess Shouyang, facing three candidates including Hou Gongchen, she only chose Hou Gongchen, who was plainly dressed and cautious. She also said: "This son is simple and uncaring." He is truly my son." Regarding her son, the Empress Dowager Cisheng also wanted him to become a promising king. It is said that the Queen Mother "taught the emperor very strictly". Every time the young emperor Wanli refused to study, Empress Dowager Li ordered the emperor to kneel on the ground. On the day when she was about to go to court, the Queen Mother went to the emperor's sleeping place at five o'clock and asked him to get up. She ordered the eunuchs to help the little emperor up, wash his face, and urge him to go to the throne. Once, the little emperor drank a little too much wine in the palace and ordered his servants to sing. The chamberlain replied that he could not sing. The little emperor was furious, saying that the servants dared to resist the order, so he picked up the sword and stabbed them. With the persuasion from the left and right, the little emperor playfully cut off the hair of the two servants, which was regarded as "beheading" them. This incident reached the ears of Empress Dowager Cisheng. The Queen Mother was very angry and ordered the young emperor to kneel on the ground for a long time and count his faults. The little emperor was so frightened that he burst into tears and asked to be allowed to correct his mistake. This matter is finally settled. On another occasion, the emperor drank wine under the guidance of eunuchs Sun Hai and Ke Yong. They were tempted by them and injured two of Feng Bao's adopted sons, and then rode straight to Feng Bao's residence. Feng Bao was so frightened that he could only hold up the boulder to hold the door. The next day, Feng Bao reported the matter to the Queen Mother.The Empress Dowager Cisheng immediately changed into blue cloth clothes without jewelry, and ordered the ministers of the cabinet and ministry to report to the Ancestral Temple to depose the young emperor Wanli. The little emperor was frightened and went to apologize. The Queen Mother said: "Are you the one who can inherit the great treasures of the world?" She meant that she wanted to replace Shenzong's younger brother, King Lu. Shenzong knelt on the ground and cried for a long time before the Queen Mother was willing to forgive him. Both the Empress Dowager Cisheng and the eunuch Feng Bao loved calligraphy. Therefore, Shenzong's calligraphy was extremely neat when he was very young. When Feng Bao was in the palace, he was called "Banban" and "Daban" by the emperor. The young emperor Wanli was very afraid of Feng Bao. Every time when the little emperor Wanli was playing with the little eunuch, he would see Feng Bao coming, and he would sit upright and say, "Here comes the big companion." Feng Bao's responsibility was not only to provide general education to the emperor, but also to criticize on behalf of the emperor. Therefore, the relationship between him and Zhang Juzheng is closer. In fact, it was precisely because of Feng Bao inside and Zhang Juzheng outside that the New Deal in the early years of Wanli could be implemented smoothly. Zhang Juzheng was extremely loyal to the little emperor, and sometimes his loyalty was a bit disgusting. For example, Zhang Juzheng once said to the emperor in a memorial: "Today, the emperor Fuhe is speaking sincerely, and he is as kind as a father and his son." It is interesting that the 40-year-old Zhang Juzheng compared the 10-year-old emperor to his father. However, in fact, Zhang Juzheng's guidance and care for the little emperor was also meticulous. He arranged a detailed schedule of visits and lectures for the emperor. Zhang Juzheng would talk to the emperor in detail about everything from the way of employing people in the imperial court to the smallest details in the palace. Once, the little emperor wanted to light up the Lantern Festival, and Zhang Juzheng said, "Hang some lights in the palace and you can have fun. There is no need to build any more lamp sheds. There will be many major events in the next few years, such as the emperor's The wedding and Prince Lu's appointment cost a lot of money. The people in the world are limited, so it's better to save a little. "The little emperor understood the situation and said, "I know that the people are poor, so I will do as the gentleman said." The emperor also respected Zhang Juzheng very much. He never called him by name, but "Sir". Whenever he was mentioned in the edicts issued by Zhang Juzheng, he always wrote "Yuanfu". On May 8, the second year of Wanli (1574), after the emperor finished his lecture, he heard that Zhang Juzheng had abdominal pain, so he made a bowl of spicy noodles with his own hands, and asked Lu Tiaoyang to accompany Zhang Juzheng to eat together. Spicy heat attacks abdominal pain. The little emperor was also full of humane feelings for Zhang Juzheng. He was very happy to hear that Zhang Juzheng's parents were still alive and gave the two old people many things. In the first 10 years of the Wanli Dynasty, with the support of the young emperor, Zhang Juzheng carried out drastic political and economic reforms. The government took on a completely new look, which was very effective in improving the economic situation of the Ming Dynasty. In the past 10 years, in addition to the surge in national wealth, the little emperor has also grown into a young man of nearly 20 years old. In the tenth year of Wanli (1582), the then little emperor Wanli had become a young man who had been married for four years and began to rule personally.