Zhu Houzhao was the tenth emperor of the Ming dynasty. His temple name was Wuzong and his era name was Zhengde. This account follows the biography in juan 16 of the Ming History and the sources already cited on this entry.[3][1]
Family and accession
The Ming History gives his personal name as Houzhao. He was the eldest son of the Hongzhi Emperor, and his mother was Empress Xiaokangjing. He was named heir apparent in the fifth year of Hongzhi. The history says he was quick-witted and fond of riding and archery. In the fifth month of the eighteenth year of Hongzhi, his father died and he took the throne, naming the next year the first year of Zhengde.[3]
This entry records his birth in the fourth year of Hongzhi (1491) and his death in the sixteenth year of Zhengde (1521).[1] The Ming History says he was thirty-one when he died.[3]
Reign
In the first year of Zhengde, Minister of Revenue Han Wen led court officials in asking that the eunuchs Ma Yongcheng and his associates be removed from power. Grand Secretaries Liu Jian, Li Dongyang and Xie Qian supported the request, but the emperor did not accept it. Liu Jin then took charge of the Directorate of Ceremonial, and Liu Jian and Xie Qian retired. In the second year of Zhengde the emperor restored the guard of Prince Zhu Chenhao of Ning and built the Leopard House.[3]
In the fifth year, Prince Zhu Zhifan of Anhua rebelled and was soon captured. That June the emperor styled himself the Great Qing Dharma King. In August Liu Jin was imprisoned for treason and then executed. From the sixth year, uprisings spread from the capital region through Shandong, Henan and Sichuan, and were put down over the course of the seventh year.[3]
After a fire at the Palace of Heavenly Purity in the first month of the ninth year, the emperor began to travel incognito. In the twelfth year he passed Juyong Pass, stayed at Xuanfu, and called himself the General Who Governs Military Affairs and Inspires Awe. That winter he fought for five days near Yingzhou against the forces of the Little Prince. In the thirteenth year he ordered himself enfeoffed as Duke of Zhenguo under the name Zhu Shou.[3]
In the sixth month of the fourteenth year, Prince Zhu Chenhao rebelled. Wang Shouren recovered Nanchang and captured the prince at Qiaoshe. The emperor still marched south, withheld the victory report, and reached Nanjing that winter. In the ninth month of the fifteenth year his boat capsized at Jishui Pond and his health failed. Chenhao was executed in the twelfth month, and the emperor returned to the capital.[3]
Death
In the third month of the sixteenth year of Zhengde he was dying. He told the eunuchs of the Directorate of Ceremonial to inform the empress dowager, and said that the earlier mistakes had been his own. On the bingyin day of that month he died in the Leopard House at the age of thirty-one. His testament called the eldest son of the Prince of Xing to succeed him. In the fifth month he received his posthumous title and the temple name Wuzong, and was buried at the Kangling.[3]