Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Several candidates were rejected in succession, and the ministers became more cautious about the candidates proposed next.

Zhu Youjian is also very cautious, because he knows that the next candidate must not only have outstanding achievements, but also need to be a very well-known person——

Although the contributions of Wang Ji and other civil servants and generals were considerable, they were mostly not well-known. If most of the Purple Pavilion heroes were like this, they might not be recognized.

So he made up his mind to choose a famous person.

However, the candidates proposed by the ministers were not to his liking.

Li Guopu, the cabinet scholar, said:
"During the Hongzhi period, people said: Li Gongmou, Liu Gongjuan, and Xie Gongyou talked."

"Gong Liu Wenjing, Duke Li Wenzheng, and Duke Xie Wenzheng should be the heroes of the Purple Pavilion!"

Good guy, two Wenzhengs appeared in succession, and another one with the posthumous title Wenjing was in front of them.

If you rank the heroes by posthumous title, three of them will definitely be selected.

But Zhu Youjian really couldn't remember what great achievements the three of them had made, so he asked the officials:

"Do the three of them have any particularly great achievements?"

"How come I heard that there is a folk poem that says: Wenzheng was always posthumously named King Fan, but now Wenzheng is hard to be named."

"Fan Zhongyan was not included in the Zhaoxun Pavilion in the previous Song Dynasty. Should this dynasty choose two people who are not as good as him?"

When the officials heard this, they wanted to cover their faces with their sleeves.

Because Li Dongyang and Xie Qian were not worthy of their posthumous titles of Wenzheng.

After these two people were ridiculed for their posthumous titles, the posthumous title Wenzheng has not been used again in this dynasty——

It can be said that Li Dongyang and Xie Qian ruined Wenzheng's reputation and made him look less noble.

Now that these words came out of the emperor's mouth, all the officials knew that there was no hope for the three of them to become the heroes of the Purple Pavilion.

Zheng Yiwei, the cabinet scholar, also wanted to defend them and said:

"During the Hongzhi period, the prosperity of governance was unparalleled in previous generations. Isn't it the result of three people?"

"How can there be no heroes in such a prosperous and prosperous world?"

Zhu Youjian frowned when he heard this, and was not interested in the idea of ​​Hongzhi ZTE. Because he remembered that Tingtui's cabinet of academicians started from Emperor Xiaozong of the Ming Dynasty. During the Hongzhi period, the Kaizhong Law was abolished, which ruined the salt administration and border affairs of the Ming Dynasty. So he asked:
"Having said so much, what great achievements did you make during the Hongzhi period?"

"Did they defeat the Mongols or wipe out the Jurchens?"

"How did I hear that the Mongolian tribes on the grassland reached their peak during the Hongzhi period?"

"So as soon as Wuzong ascended to the throne, the little prince came to Kou Bian."

Zhu Youjian looked down upon Emperor Xiaozong very much, thinking that he was just like Renzong and Xuanzong who slacked off on side affairs and left disaster to future generations.

These emperors themselves were clean during their reign, and the world seemed peaceful and prosperous. However, the foreigners on the border quickly recovered their strength after recuperating——

With the level of warfare in this era, as long as there is food and people, an army can be raised. Even foreigners may not even need food, so they can directly bring people to the Central Plains to plunder.

After the Ming Dynasty relaxed its pressure on the frontiers, it would only take more than ten years for the new generation to grow up, and the foreign races in the frontiers would revive and invade the Ming Dynasty. Emperor Wuzong met his unlucky fate in this place. After the eighteen years of Hongzhi's military preparations, the Ming Dynasty ushered in an unprecedentedly powerful enemy - Dayan Khan who unified Mongolia.

This man, whom the Ming Dynasty called the little prince, sent troops to attack Wu Zong just six days after he ascended the throne, causing the Ming Dynasty to suffer the biggest defeat at that time after the Tumubao Incident.

However, the ministers in the court still behaved as if nothing had happened during the Hongzhi period. Wu Zong couldn't bear it anymore and appointed Liu Jin and others to drive almost all of them out.

Afterwards, Emperor Wuzong renovated his military equipment and even went into battle himself to block Dayan Khan who completely unified Mongolia. Dayan Khan died young after the Yingzhou War and did not become a major enemy of the Ming Dynasty.

But his grandson Ada Khan, relying only on the right-wing Mongolia, became a nightmare for Emperor Jiajing. It was not until the Longqing Peace Conference that he accepted the canonization and became the Shunyi King of the Ming Dynasty.

It can be said that all of these are the consequences of the Hongzhi years. If Emperor Hongzhi had been actively interfering with the Mongolian tribes like Emperor Chenghua, the situation on the Ming border would never have been so bad.

The officials of the Ming Dynasty may not have known these things before. But after Lin Dan Khan surrendered, Zhu Youjian had asked Kong Zhenyun and others to sort out the history of the grasslands and explain to the ministers Dayan Khan's revival of Mongolia.

After the officials heard this, they no longer had the shame to talk about Hongzhi ZTE. Because knowledgeable people all realize that if Dayan Khan had not died young, the war between Ming Dynasty and Mongolia would have been more intense.

Even some people's views on Emperor Zhengde have changed. They feel that although Wu Zong is fooling around, he really has martial arts - he has blocked the most powerful enemy since the founding of the Ming Dynasty.

However, most people still believe that Emperor Hongzhi is better. Compared with the Chenghua and Zhengde years, it was more peaceful and stable.

Zhu Youjian was too lazy to argue with them. He decided that just as he had previously connected Chengzu, Renzong, and Xuanzong as the Chengxuan rule, he also connected the Chenghua and Hongzhi years as the Chenghong rule:
"The name of Emperor Xianzong's temple originally meant ZTE."

"It's a pity that it's not perfect, and the martial arts is slightly lacking."

"In the eighteenth year of Hongzhi's reign, he made up for the deficiencies in civil affairs, but neglected military affairs. It is really a pity."

"I think Chenghua's martial arts and Hongzhi's literary governance can be called Chenghong's governance. What do you think?"

This was another time when the emperor set the tone after the Chengxuan reign. By connecting the Chenghua and Hongzhi years together, the status of Emperor Xianzong was elevated.

The ministers had the same feelings about Chengxuan's rule, and were quite uncomfortable with the formulation of Chenghong's rule. Especially during the Chenghua period, "three pavilions were made of paper and six ministers were made of clay", which made them wary.

Therefore, they focused on the shortcomings of Emperor Chenghua and believed that there was a disaster in the women's temple during the Chenghua period, which could not be called governance.

Zhu Youjian also said this, saying to the ministers:
"Is the disaster in the women's temple during the Chenghua period comparable to that during the Hongzhi and Zhengde periods?"

“Emperor Xiaozong’s relative, Empress Zhang, was the most evil-doing relative in the Ming Dynasty!”

"Liu Jin and other Eight Tigers during the Zhengde period were the eunuchs who committed the most evil before Wei Ni."

"How can the disaster at the Women's Temple during the Chenghua period compare to these?"

The ministers were speechless and could only hold their noses and rank Emperor Chenghua before Emperor Hongzhi, calling this period the Chenghong Rule.

The history book "Chronicles of the Imperial Dynasty" should also be compiled according to this tone.

After some debate, a new hero of the Purple Pavilion was still not selected. However, the ministers of the court during the Hongzhi and Zhengde years were excluded. Because they were negligent during the Hongzhi period, they were obviously at fault. They also failed to fulfill their responsibility to correct Emperor Zhengde's nonsense.

So the officials thought about it and finally came up with a name——

Wang Shouren! (End of chapter)