Early Reign
Wanli ascended the throne at the age of 9. For the first ten years of his reign, the young emperor was aided by a notable statesman, Zhang Juzheng . Zhang Juzheng directed the path of the country and exercised his skills and power as an able administrator. At the same time, Wanli deeply respected Zhang as a mentor and a valued minister. However as Wanli's reign progressed, different factions within the government began to openly oppose Zhang's policy as well as his powerful position in government and courted Wanli to dismiss Zhang. By 1582, Wanli was a young man of 19 and was tired of the strict routine Zhang still imposed on the emperor since childhood. As such, Wanli was willing to consider dismissing Zhang but before Wanli was able to act, Zhang died in 1582. After Zhang's death, Wanli felt that he was free of supervision and reversed many of Zhang's administrative improvements. In 1584, Wanli issued an edict and confiscated all of Zhang's personal wealth and his family members were purged. Overall during these 10 years, the Ming Dynasty's economy and military power prospered in a way not seen since the Yongle and "Ren Xuan Rule" during the 15th century.
Middle Reign
After Zhang Juzheng died, Wanli decided to take complete control of the government. During this early part of his rule he demonstrated himself to be a decent and diligent emperor. Overall, the economy continued to prosper and the country was extremely powerful. Unlike the 20 years at the end of his rule, Wanli at this time would attend every morning meeting and discuss affairs of state. The first eighteen years of Wanli's reign would be dominated by three wars that were all extremely successful:
* He defended against the Mongols. In the outer regions, one of the leaders rebelled and allied with the Mongols to attack the Ming. At this time, Wanli sent out the Li Chengliang ans sons to handle this situation, resulting in an overall success.
* Toyotomi Hideyoshi of Japan sent 200,000 soldiers in the first expedition to invade Korea. Wanli made three decisions. First, he sent reinforcements to support the Koreans. Second, if Koreans entered Ming territory, he gave them lodging. Third, told the Liaodong area to prepare and be careful. In actual combat, the first 2 battles were losses since the Ming Dynasty's troops under Li Rusong were inferior to the 200,000 strong Japanese army. Next, Wanli sent better commanders to handle the situation with more success. This resulted in negotiation that favored the Ming. Two years later, in 1596, Japan once again invaded and this time the Ming Dynasty suffered substantial casualties. However, that same year, Hideyoshi died and the Japanese lost their will to fight. This resulted in the Ming Dynasty defeating the demoralized Japanese army, sending them back.
* Yang Yin Long rebellion. At first, Wanli was still handling the war with Japan; therefore he only sent 3,000 troops for Yang Guo Zhu to command against this rebellion. Unfortunately, this 3,000 strong army was completely annihilated and Yang Guo Zhu died. When the war with Japan ended, Wanli turned his attention to Yang Yin Long sending Guo Zhi Zhang and Li Huo Long to lead the offensive. In the end, Li Huo Long would defeat the army of Yang and bring him back to the capital. After these three successful conflicts, Wanli stopped going to morning meetings, going into his later reign and his final 20 years on the throne.
Late Reign
During the latter years of Wanli's reign, he seldom attended state affairs and for years at a time would refuse to receive his ministers or read any reports sent to him. Wanli also extorted money from the government, and ultimately his own people, for his personal enjoyment. One example was the close attention he paid to the construction of his own tomb, which took decades to complete.
The Wanli Emperor then became disenchanted with the moralistic attacks and counterattacks of officials, becoming thoroughly alienated from his imperial role. Throughout the 1580s and 1590s, Wanli yearned to promote his third son by Lady Zheng as crown prince however many of his powerful ministers were opposed to the idea. This led to a clash between sovereign and ministers that lasted more than 15 years. Emperor Wanli eventually gave in October 1601 and promoted Zhu Changluo - later Emperor Taichang as crown prince. Although the ministers seemed to have overpowered the emperor, Wanli finally resorted to vengeful tactics of blocking or ignoring the conduct of administration. For years on end he refused to see his ministers or act upon memoranda. He refused to make necessary appointments, and eventually became so obese he was unable even to stand without assistance. The whole top echelon of Ming administration became understaffed. In short, Wanli tried to forget about his imperial responsibilities while building up personal wealth. Considering the emperor's required role as the linchpin of the state, this personal rebellion against the bureaucracy was not only bankruptcy but treason.¹
Finally, during this "dreaming period", the future threat of the Manchurians developed. The Jurchen area was eventually conquered by the military genius Nurhaci. Nurhaci would go on to create the Later Jin Empire which would now become an immediate threat. By this time, after 20 years, the Ming Dynasty army was in steep decline due to the lack of wars. On the other hand, while the Jurchens were of a fewer number, they were much more fiercer and more powerful. In the grand battle of Nun Er Chu in 1619, the Ming Dynasty sent out a force of 200,000 against the Later Jin Empire of 60,000, with Nurhaci controlling 6 banners and 45,000 as the central attack while Dai Shan and Huang Taji each controlled 7,500 troops and one banner attacked from the sides. After 5 days of battle, the Ming Dynasty had casualties over 100,000, with 70% of their food supply stolen. From this point on, the Ming Dynasty would lose its advantage to the Jurchens, setting up the eventual downfall of the Ming Dynasty to the later Qing Dynasty.
Scandal
In 1615 the court was hit by yet another scandal. A man by the name of Zhang Chai armed with no more than a wooden staff managed to chase off eunuchs guarding the gates and broke into Ci-Qing palace , then the Crown Prince’s living quarters. Zhang Chai was eventually subdued and thrown in prison. Initial investigation found him to be a lunatic, but upon further investigation by a more conscientious magistrate named Wang Zicai the man confessed to being party to a plot instigated by two eunuchs working under Lady Zheng. According to Zhang Chai’s confession, the two had promised him rewards for assaulting the Crown Prince thus implicating the Emperor’s favourite concubine in an assassination plot. Presented with the incriminating evidence and the gravity of the accusations, Emperor Wanli in an attempt to spare Lady Zheng personally presided over the case and laid the full blame on the two implicated eunuchs who were executed along with the would-be assassin. Although the case was quickly hushed up, it did not squelch public discussion and eventually became known as the "Case of the Palace Assault" , one of three notorious 'mysteries' of Late Ming Dynasty.
Family
Consorts
* Empress Xiaoduan , had no sons
* Empress Xiaojing , mother of Taichang Emperor. Initially a maid of the Dowager Empress who caught the eye of Emperor Wanli however Wanli only favoured Lady Zheng and all but ignored Xiaojing hence Taichang was not created crown prince until 1601. Her grandson, the Tianqi Emperor, promoted her to Empress Dowager. Thus she was re-buried from an Imperial Concubine's tomb to the Wanli Emperor's tomb. The Wanli Emperor therefore was the only Ming Dynasty Emperor buried with two wives.
Notable Concubine
* Lady Zheng , Wanli's favourite concubine which gave birth to Wanli's third son Zhu Changxun in 1586. Wanli was unable to promote Lady Zheng as Empress during his reign as well as his son Zhu Changxun as crown prince due to the opposition of his ministers. Wanli eventually promoted Lady Zheng as Empress on his deathbed in 1620. However, this order was never fulfilled by the officials before the fall of Ming Dynasty. In 1644, since Hongguang Emperor, the first sovereign of South Ming, was a grandson of Lady Zheng, the lady was finally promoted as Empress by the South Ming government, 14 years after her death.
Legacy and death
The Wanli emperor’s reign is representative of the decline of the Ming. It was said that the fall of the Ming dynasty was not as a result of Chongzhen Emperor's rule but due to Wanli's mismanagement that led to the demise of the dynasty. He was an unmotivated and avaricious ruler who allowed his country to fall apart under his rule. His reign was plagued with fiscal woes, military pressures, and angry bureaucrats. He also had sent eunuch supervisors to provinces to oversee mining operations which actually became covers for extortion. Discontent with the lack of morals during this time, a group of scholars and political activists loyal to Zhu Xi and against Wang Yangming, created the , a political group who believed in upright morals and tried to affect the government.
During the closing years of Wanli's reign, the Manchu began to conduct raids on the northern border of the Ming Empire. Their depredations ultimately led to the overthrow of the Ming dynasty in 1644. The Wanli Emperor died in 1620 and was buried in located on the outskirts of Beijing. His tomb is one of the biggest in the vicinity compared and is one of only two that are open to the public.
In 1997 China's Ministry of Public Security published a book on the history of the drug problem in which it was stated that the Wanli emperor's remains had been examined in 1958 and found to contain morphine residues at levels which indicate that he had been a heavy and habitual user of opium.
In many ways, he was a similar emperor to those emperors that were successful at first, but then loosened up and caused the eventual demise of the empire
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