In fact, during the Zhengtong Dynasty, the most powerful person in the harem was Empress Dowager Zhang, the wife of Ming Renzong Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Qizhen’s grandmother, not his mother, Empress Xiaogong Sun. .
The Zhang family was established as the Crown Princess of Yan in the 28th year of Hongwu, the Crown Princess in the 2nd year of Yongle, the queen in the Hongxi year, the empress dowager in the Xuande year, and the empress dowager in the Zhengtong year. During this period, the Yongle Dynasty helped the prince Zhu Gaochi exercise to please his father Zhu Di, resisted the attacks on Zhu Gaochi by the King of Han Zhu Gaoxu and the King of Zhao Zhu Gaosui, stabilized Zhu Gaochi's position as the prince, and played a decisive role in the Hongxi Dynasty. She was said to be the daughter of Renzong Zhu Gaochi. "Queen Ma" is not an exaggeration.
In the Xuande Dynasty, Xuande Emperor Zhu Zhanji was extremely heroic and intelligent. When he succeeded to the throne, he was already twenty-six years old and mentally mature. Therefore, Queen Mother Zhang did not interfere too much in government affairs during this period. Therefore, the British Duke Zhang Fu, Shangshu Jian Yi, and University Scholar San Yang were appointed as auxiliary ministers to assist Zhu Zhanji in handling state affairs. During the entire ten years of the Xuande Dynasty, the Queen Mother Zhang only did two things: she often advised Zhu Zhanji to Love the people and suppress the Zhang family to prevent relatives from interfering in politics.
The Zhang family’s reputation for virtue and virtuousness has endured through the Six Dynasties. In the evaluations of later generations, they almost always have a good reputation. Compared with the most virtuous queen of the Ming Dynasty, the Ma family is no less generous. What is even more commendable is that the Zhang family acted as a regent but not a dictatorship. Their ability was not inferior to that of Lu and Wu, but their reputation was much better than theirs. People in the Qing Dynasty also praised it ravely. Empress Ma of the Eastern Han Dynasty and Emperor Ming of the Eastern Han Dynasty were followed by a female middle school in the Northern Song Dynasty. Queen Yingzong Gao, known as Yao and Shun.
If Empress Dowager Sun dies in front of Zhu Zhanji, can Zhu Qizhen still succeed to the throne normally?
I have said so many things about Empress Dowager Zhang just to answer this question. We know that the most powerful woman in the three dynasties of Hongxi, Xuande, and Zhengtong (seven years before Zhengtong) was Empress Dowager Zhang. , in this case, even if Emperor Xuande Zhu Zhanji’s wife Sun died early, his eldest son Zhu Qizhen would succeed to the throne normally. There are two main reasons:
1. Zhu Qizhen is Zhu Zhanji’s direct descendant The eldest son is born with legal status and has innate advantages. The origin of Zhu Qizhen's life experience in "The Elegance of the Ming Dynasty" is adapted from the records in "History of the Ming Dynasty". Anyone who knows a little bit about history knows that this is impossible.
The concubine also has no children, so Yin takes the son of the palace man as his own son, that is, the Yingzong, so he is favored by his family.
Similarly, in the play, Empress Dowager Sun dared to angrily attack Empress Dowager Zhang, and she was so frightened that she did not even dare to say a word. This plot was also a result of the screenwriter's imagination. In fact, Empress Dowager Sun would never dare to talk to Empress Dowager Zhang. When the Empress Dowager spoke like this, Empress Dowager Zhang aimed at Empress Dowager Sun and called her in the face, but she did not resist.
2. Empress Dowager Zhang supports Zhu Qizhen’s succession. The first woman in the empire has great power. It is no exaggeration to say that she can appoint whoever she wants. When Zhu Zhanji passed away, there were rumors in the palace that he was going to establish King Xiang as the emperor (Zhu Zhanyi: the fifth son of Zhu Gaochi, the younger brother of Zhu Zhanji, and the third son of the Zhang family). It was the Zhang family that made the final decision, and Zhu Qizhen, who was only nine years old, immediately As emperor, he maintained the legal status of the Xuanzong lineage.
Xuanzong died and Yingzong was nine years old. There were rumors in the palace that King Xiang would be summoned. The Queen Mother summoned all the ministers to Qianqing Palace, pointed to the prince and cried, "This is the new emperor." ?The monarch and his ministers shout long live, and the idle talk will cease.
So no matter at what point Empress Sun died, as long as Empress Dowager Zhang was still alive, Zhu Qizhen’s throne was as solid as a rock, even if Empress Dowager Sun didn’t like Zhu Qizhen and wanted to depose him. It was impossible, at least not possible before the Orthodox Seven Years. (Empress Dowager Zhang died in October of the seventh year of Zhengtong. In the same year, Wang Zhen, the powerful eunuch, removed the iron sign of Zhu Yuanzhang placed outside the palace gate. This began the dictatorship of the late Zhengtong period in the past ten years, which triggered the Ten-year Revolution. The first humiliation of the Ming Dynasty in the following years? Tumu Fort Incident):
The eunuch Wang Zhen stole the monument to Taizu's forbidden ministers. During the reign of Emperor Hongwu, Taizu learned from the mistakes of previous eunuchs and placed an iron stele three feet high with the characters "Ministers shall not interfere in political affairs" cast on it, inside the palace gate. It existed when Xuande was in power, but when it was vigorously promoted, it was gone.