Changsuo Qianqiu

The dust of the Tumu Fort has not yet settled, and the horse's hooves have already arrived at the city gate. The Ming Dynasty faced the humiliation of "the emperor called the door", and also faced the panic and determination of Jingtai Emperor Zhu Qiyu's hasty accession to the throne. At the top of Beijing, Yu Qian turned the tide and forged a new cornerstone of power with his blood. However, the country that he defended could not defend the hearts of the people - after Zhu Qiyu sat firmly on the dragon throne, his eyes could no longer tolerate the elder brother in Nangong who had been released by Wala and could not support him. Nangong is locked up, and the old dream of the past has turned into a nightmare. Zhu Qizhen, Emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty, tasted the taste of being disliked in the meager warmth his wife Qian had gained in exchange for her tears and lameness. And above the court, Emperor Jingtai's Queen Hang, even though she gave birth to her eldest son, was still struggling to survive amidst the cold violence of the emperor because of her humble background. Empress Dowager Sun watched helplessly as the imperial line was strife, and could only entrust her only hope, the deposed prince Zhu Jianshen, to her personal female official Wan Zhen'er. During those years when everything was precarious and everyone was in danger, the young Zhu Jianshen developed a dank and paranoid possessive desire for Wan Zhen'er, who was seventeen years older than him. It was like a vine strangling a tree, twisting and growing in the cracks of power. In the coup, brothers killed each other, and Yu Qian's blood stained the ranks of Shi Heng, Xu Youzhen, and Cao Jixiang. The new emperor ascended the throne. During the day, Zhu Jianshen was a hero who worked hard to govern; at night, he turned into a sick prisoner and master under Wan Zhen'er's skirt, using forced love to cut off all her external emotional connections and cast this twisted relationship into a cage. Emperor Hongzhi Zhu Youtang, in order to avoid the misfortune of his relatives, actually used the isolated example of "monogamy" and asked Queen Zhang to cooperate in a drama of raising eyebrows. Behind the scenes was the extreme suppression of family affection and human nature in the imperial family. In the end, only Zhu Houzhao was left alone. As for Wuzong Zhu Houzhao, he grew up under the discipline and suppression of the civil service group, but Yun Wen and Yun Wu were rebellious and unruly. His seemingly absurd "manipulation of heaven and earth" is actually an alternative expression of freedom and power. Until "Capture and Release of Prince Ning", a game set up to trace the bribery account book burned by Wang Yangming, finally ended in the absurd tragedy of the emperor "falling into the water", "drown" and "being edicted". Four generations of emperors, from earthen forts to leopard rooms, under the crown of power, family ties become bargaining chips, love turns into shackles, friendship turns into blades, and freedom and ideals become sacrifices. Every inch of glory within the walls of this vermilion palace comes at the cost of the annihilation of human nature. Purpose: This article focuses on the four generations of Ming emperors from the Tumubao Incident to the Zhengde Dynasty, stripping away the grand narrative of "the emperor guarding the country" and focusing on the systematic strangulation of human nature by the power structure. It attempts to explore: when individuals are placed in the context of absolute power, how family, love, friendship and even self will be alienated and swallowed up. Yu Qian's "The country is more important than the king" is the swan song of idealism, and the tragedies of the emperors and concubines of the subsequent generations reveal the cold nature of the power mechanism - it not only deprives people of their freedom, but also subtly reshapes people's emotions and souls, ultimately making all good things become victims on the altar. This is an elegy written for the Ming Dynasty court, and it is also a profound interrogation of the alienation of human nature by power.