The Mystery of the East Palace Red Pill Case in the Three Cases in the Late Ming Dynasty

It is not easy for Guangzong to win the throne. Since birth, he has been in a state of trembling and walking on thin ice. Before he officially ascended the throne, there were many attempts to murder him, among which the demon book case and the thunderbolt case were the most prominent. However, fate and Zhu Changluo played a modest joke: only four days after the succession, he suddenly fell ill, and I couldn't bear it. When he was emperor for only a month, he died because he ate red pills eaten by officials of the Red Temple. This is the red pill case, one of the three famous cases in the late Ming Dynasty. Why did Guangzong suddenly get sick? What kind of medicine is red pill? Is there anything hidden in the Marubeni case? The reason why Guangzong fell ill after he ascended the pole is recorded in detail in Ming History. At that time, it was circulated in Beijing that the former imperial concubine colluded with Guangzong concubine Li and presented eight beauties to the emperor, which led to the emperor's excessive indulgence. So Cui, a former eunuch, was secretly instructed to bring this rhubarb laxative that can cause diarrhea to the emperor. As a result, Guangzong suffered from diarrhea thirty or forty times a day. He was unable to move in bed and fell ill, which laid the foundation for his future death. Guangzong Zhu Changluo was in fear for a long time before he ascended the throne, which made him naturally indulge his desires and enjoy himself after getting rid of the threat. Traditionally, the 39-year-old new emperor can take away the concubines left by his father and create new concubines in addition to the original concubines in the East Palace. Therefore, Zhu Changluo indulged in the desire for women within a few days after he succeeded to the throne. Although the specific situation is not clearly recorded in the history books, it can be reflected from the relevant historical records that Guangzong's illness is indeed related to indulgence. In addition, although she failed to establish Zhu as a prince, she still tried her best to maintain her position, which can be seen from her entanglement with three cases in the late Ming Dynasty. Before Zhu Changluo succeeded to the throne, Zheng Guifei had discovered that the prince who had been excluded for a long time was greedy for sex, and he wanted to use a honey trap to achieve his goal. So she instigated her personal eunuch Cui to serve Guangzong and presented eight Maggie. This move really worked, and Guangzong soon forgot that this was a woman who wanted to harm herself. He is also very grateful to Zheng Guifei, and asked does consultation, named her empress dowager cixi. At this time, another woman Li was involved. Xuan Shi is a specialty of the late Ming Dynasty. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the maid in the palace was called Xuan Shi. Li Xuan got love and gave birth to a son, so she dreamed of becoming a queen. In order to achieve their respective goals, they colluded with Li. Ministers soon noticed that two people were colluding with each other to influence Zhu Changluo. So when Guangzong was ill, someone soon taught the emperor a lesson. Soldier Yang Lian ascended the throne first, saying that Cui Wen was guilty of taking drugs, which made the emperor deserve it; As for Zheng Guifei who wants to be the queen mother, the emperor himself has both his first mother and his biological mother. If Zheng Guifei is made Queen Mother, how will he arrange for his first mother and biological mother? As a result, three days later, Guangzong summoned the minister and announced the expulsion of Cui Xiahou and stopped sealing the Queen Mother. However, officials' attacks on Zheng Guifei and others can curb Zhu Changluo's own indulgence. According to the Biography of Zhou Jiamo in Ming Dynasty, on August 26th, Zhou Jiamo, a senior official, advised the emperor not to indulge too much. The emperor looked at him for a long time, and then asked his eldest son to announce to the palace that those rumors were not credible. This also shows that the emperor's indulgence is a well-known thing, and Guangzong himself tried to cover up his rumors in order to safeguard the dignity of the emperor. However, after all, the serious consequences of indulgence have already appeared, and then the mental state of Guangzong is getting worse and worse. On August 29th, seeing that his illness became more and more serious, Zhu Changluo began to call ministers to consider the construction of the bedroom after death, while ministers asked the emperor to set the name of the prince as soon as possible, so as not to be too late. Also on this day, an official named Li held a red cricket in the temple.

Li took one to the emperor in the morning and another in the afternoon. After eating those two red pills, it is said that the emperor really felt better at that time, but at night, there is no clear record in the history books. It was only on the first morning of September that news of the emperor suddenly came from the palace. The sudden death of a middle-aged man under 40, the king of a country, naturally caused an uproar inside and outside the court. People first suspected this kind of red pill because the emperor died suddenly after eating it, which is really doubtful. In 2000, it was only said that it was a prescription for immortality provided by Taoist priests, and the language was not detailed. Some scholars have suggested that the red pill and Chunshan gum in Han Dynasty belong to the same kind of drugs, and their main function is to stimulate male sexual desire. To think that the emperor got sick because of indulgence and then took this medicine to stimulate him is to add fuel to the fire. Results overdose led to death. No matter what medicine this red pill is, killing the emperor is a terrible thing. So the main plot of the Marubeni case is to track down the murderer who killed the emperor. You don't want it, and I don't want it. This has become a power struggle between court ministers. Party struggle and personal hatred are intertwined, and many people are involved in death. First of all, Cui and Li of Jinhongwan are suspected. Yang Lian believes that before this, there were rumors inside and outside the imperial court that Tang Street's indulgence of Thirteen Sisters was actually an excuse for Cui Wen to cover up his poisoning of Guangzong. The emperor was drugged by Cui Wen. Yang Lian's statement was supported by Zuo Guangdou, an imperial envoy at that time. At that time, many honest ministers agreed with this statement and thought it was more guilty than Li. He pointed out that Zheng Guifei was behind the scenes and demanded that Cui Wen and others be severely punished. However, the accusation against Cui was not smooth until the second year of the Ming Emperor's Apocalypse, and the matter went through many twists and turns. The reason is that, except Zuo Guangdou and others, most North Korean ministers pointed the finger at the records of Fang Congzhe, a university student who was a member of the cabinet at that time, and thought that he agreed to send medicine to the emperor by Li, so Fang Congzhe should be the most guilty. In fact, there is also a strong power conflict, so that the focus of ministers' attention is not Li and Cui, but Fang Congzhe. The reason for this is also related to Fang Congzhe's improper handling. At first, most ministers thought that Li should be put to death because he died of Red Pill, but Fang Congzhe didn't do the opposite. He ordered Li to retire due to illness and gave him a lot of money. In this way, other hostile officials seized the handle and thought that Fang Congzhe and Li had agreed that she was taking medicine. Although it's harmless to your heart, it's actually killing the king. You need to get rid of Fang Congzhe first to vent the anger of those who worship God. At the beginning, Zong also forgave him, which should be said to be reasonable. Some scholars found from Han's narrative that it was Guangzong's decision whether to take the red pill or not, and it really had nothing to do with Fang Congzhe. However, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, there was a serious conflict between the cronies in the imperial court. Since there is such a good opportunity to attack, Fang Congzhe's political opponents naturally won't, so they rallied to attack Fang Congzhe. The famous Lindong Party also supports this position. The famous Gao Panlong urged Fang Congzhe to be punished and called him a thief. As a result, Fang Congzhe wanted to muddle through, and hurriedly wrote to ask for retirement, which can be said to be pulled down from the record position. Even so, there are still many books denouncing him and demanding strict treatment, so Fang Congzhe has to defend himself vigorously, and at the same time, he has to cut his post for the people and stay away from the Central Plains. True story, Wei, Nanjing, are all light sentences. Especially after Cui and Wei Zhongxian came to power, because of his appreciation, they were promoted to be the governor of the main river. exist

As a result, at the beginning, some officials who condemned Fang Congzhe were dismissed and exiled to the frontier, while party member who attacked Cui and Fang Congzhe was also punished and forced to commit suicide. In that year, Wei Zhongxian was punished and the case was transferred back. Later, after the death of Chongzhen, Nan Ming once again provoked party struggles with this theme, and finally the Ming Dynasty went to the end in an infighting. A small red pill caused so many twists and turns, which was really unexpected at that time.