The “Little Shizong” and the Hunger for Wealth
After assuming personal rule, Emperor Ming Shenzong (Wanli) initially managed state affairs with some diligence. However, he was headstrong and increasingly resembled his grandfather, Emperor Shizong (Jiajing). Like his predecessor, he grew to loathe court audiences, eventually ceasing them entirely in favor of “quiet governance.” He withdrew from public view, skipping even ancestral sacrifices, leaving ministers to wonder if he had vanished. Yet, he remained very much alive behind the scenes, communicating only through eunuchs and written rescripts. Unlike Shizong, who sought immortality through alchemy, Wanli was a materialist. When presented with a supposed divine omen – characters appearing on a pillar – he dismissed it as a hoax. His true obsession was tangible wealth: gold and silver.
His extravagant lifestyle – funding lavish ceremonies for births, marriages, and funerals, as well as the construction of his own mausoleum (Dingling) – drained the treasury. The tomb alone cost over eight million taels of silver, equivalent to two years of national land tax revenue. Desperate for more funds to sustain his opulence, the Emperor looked for new revenue streams beyond standard taxation.
The Rise of the Mining Emissaries
An official named Zhong Chun proposed opening mines in Northern Zhili, suggesting that untapped deposits of gold, silver, and copper could solve the fiscal crisis. The Emperor immediately embraced the idea, ignoring the Ministry of Revenue’s warning that state-run mining historically cost more than it yielded. Instead, he ordered that wealthy locals be coerced into funding the operations, with the state simply collecting the profits.
This decree triggered a frenzy across the empire. Reports of mineral deposits flooded in from every province. To manage this, Wanli appointed eunuchs as “Mining Commissioners” and “Tax Envoys.” These positions were highly coveted by eunuchs as lucrative opportunities for graft. Armed with imperial authority, these commissioners descended upon the provinces with armies of henchmen. They became local tyrants, abusing their power to extort wealth.
Extortion and Destruction
The Tax Envoys invented countless levies, taxing everything from farming and livestock to weaving and transportation. The Mining Commissioners were even more destructive; they would arbitrarily designate private homes or fields as mine sites, demolishing houses and desecrating graves in search of ore – or simply to loot valuables. Even when no minerals were found, the commissioners returned to the capital wealthy, while the local populace was left destitute. Officials who protested were ignored or silenced.
Fengyang Governor Li Sancai boldly memorialized the Emperor, arguing: “You are the lord of ten thousand people, yet you compete with them for profit. You desire mountains of gold, but do you not allow the people a single bowl of chaff? You wish for your descendants to be forever wealthy, but can you not let the people survive for a moment?” The Emperor read the petition and silently set it aside, continuing to protect his corrupt agents.
Popular Uprisings
Driven to despair, the people revolted. In Linqing, Shandong, the tax envoy Ma Tang abolished exemptions for small traders, taxing even a handful of rice or a foot of cloth. The local economy collapsed. Led by Wang Chaozuo, thousands besieged the government compound. Ma Tang ordered his men to shoot arrows at the crowd, sparking a riot where the government offices were burned. To save the rest of the town from punishment, Wang Chaozuo surrendered and was executed, becoming a martyr.
Similar uprisings erupted elsewhere. In Jingzhou, Huguang, citizens surrounded the residence of the hated envoy Chen Feng, forcing him to flee; his henchmen were thrown into the Yangtze River. In Suzhou, the gentle populace, pushed to the brink by Sun Long, drowned his accomplices in the canal.
The Emperor’s Deception
The unrest alarmed even the Grand Secretariat and Dowager Empress Li. Under pressure, the Emperor summoned Chief Grand Secretary Shen Guan. In a theatrical display, Wanli sat on the floor, feigning a deathbed scene surrounded by his weeping family. He gasped that he was dying and, out of “kindness,” ordered the withdrawal of the mining commissioners and the reinstatement of punished officials.
Shen Guan, moved to tears, drafted the edict. However, as soon as he left the room, the “dying” Emperor leaped up, perfectly healthy. It was a ruse to appease his mother. Once Shen Guan prepared the decree, Wanli sent a messenger to retract it. The deception revealed his true priorities: greed over governance. With the throne offering no relief, rebellions spread to Fujian, Guangdong, and Yunnan. The Emperor, plagued by the succession dispute and the chaos he created, lived on for many more years, but the dynasty’s foundation had been irreparably shaken.
Leave a Reply