Jiajing was one of the most controversial emperors of the Ming Dynasty and a natural power manipulator.
At the age of fifteen, he succeeded to the throne as a vassal king. He had no soldiers, no power, and was isolated and helpless. However, with his innate imperial skills, he single-handedly swept away all the civil servants of the dynasty in the grand ceremony and firmly sat on the throne. He is extremely talented and well versed in the art of checks and balances. He has not been in court for more than twenty years and has lived in Xiyuan practicing Taoism and refining elixirs. However, he has always clung to the power of the empire and manipulated powerful ministers, eunuchs, and civil servants.
He initiated the Jiajing New Deal, but also favored traitors; he was unparalleled in power, but he was paranoid about Taoism; he was a lonely Machiavellian, and he was also a monarch evaluated by both sides of history.
He had monopolized imperial power for forty-five years in his life. From the young emperor to the Taojun emperor, he used the most extreme imperial skills to write a legend of ruling the world without being in the court, and controlling the world without being close to the government.
To understand Jiajing is to understand the pinnacle of power and the abyss of human nature in Ming Dynasty.
