Zhu Yijun was a Ming emperor. His temple name was Shenzong and his era name was Wanli. This entry records his birth in 1563 and his death on 18 August 1620.[1] Juan 20 of the Ming History gives his personal name as Yijun. The cited Wikidata aliases give the full name Zhu Yijun.[3][1]
Heir apparent
The Ming History says he was the third son of the Longqing Emperor, and his mother was Consort Li. He was named heir apparent in the second year of Longqing, at the age of six. The annals say his bearing was uncommon. When the emperor told him to gallop a horse in the palace, he replied that the lord of the realm should not ride wildly, for fear of a fall. The emperor was pleased and dismounted to praise him. While Empress Chen was ill in a separate palace, he went each morning with the consort to ask after her. The empress rose when she heard their steps. He asked her about the classics, she answered, and the consort was glad. The two palaces grew more harmonious.[3]
Accession
The Longqing Emperor died in the fifth month of his sixth year. On the jiazi day of the sixth month Zhu Yijun took the throne, named the next year the first of Wanli, and proclaimed an amnesty. Ministers who had died loyal to the Jianwen court were commemorated in their districts, and their descendants were recorded for honor. Gao Gong was dismissed that month. Gao Yi died. Minister of Rites Lü Tiaoyang entered the grand secretariat. In the seventh month grain transport was opened to Miyun, and the court was warned to drop old habits. The empress was honored as Empress Dowager Rensheng, and Consort Li as Empress Dowager Cisheng. In the ninth month the Longqing Emperor was buried at the Zhaoling. In the twelfth month, because the mourning period was not over, the lanterns of the next New Year and the palace banquet were cancelled.[3]
Scope of this juan
Juan 20 is the first half of the Shenzong annals. Its sections run from the sixth year of Longqing through the twenty-fourth year of Wanli. The passage read here is the opening and the sixth year of Longqing. It does not reach a death scene in the forty-eighth year of Wanli, so none is added. The death date remains the 18 August 1620 already stored on this entry.[3][1]