25. A Frivolous Emperor With Many an Unsavory Habit
Zhu Houzhao liked to travel incognito around China. It was a pro forma incognito: most of the time, it was obvious just who he was. He was also into make believe, and was in the habit of creating elaborate alter egos for himself. One such was a general Zhu Zhu, upon whom the young emperor lavished praise and rewards. He also built a city block within the Forbidden City, China’s imperial palace, so he could pretend to be a shopkeeper. Less innocent and more harmful was his bandit and kidnapper alter ego. In that guise, the emperor took his companions on thrill raids, in which they burst into the homes of wealthy citizens.
They would violently seize and kidnap the household’s daughters, carry them off to a hideout, and hold them for ransom. Those who criticized the emperor’s erratic and irresponsible behavior were arrested, tortured, and executed by the hundreds. Zhu eventually drowned in 1521 when one of his pleasure barges sank, and finally brought his reign to a merciful end. Although he was dead, the damage he left behind proved permanent. In his reign, without oversight from the throne, palace eunuchs achieved such power within the government’s structure that subsequent emperors were unable to dislodge them. Their endemic corruption wrecked the Ming Dynasty’s effectiveness, and was a major cause of its eventual collapse.