Ministers, eunuchs and grand secretaries , the most important minister of the Jingtai Emperor's government Traditional historians often praise the rule of the Jingtai Emperor, particularly when compared to the corrupt and inept eunuchs who had controlled the government in the previous decade, but the power did not completely transfer from eunuchs to officials during his reign. Eunuchs still held a considerable amount of influence. Instead, after 1449, both eunuchs and officials collaborated to revitalize the country. To some extent, the Jingtai Emperor's regime followed the tradition of the three grand secretaries who managed the empire from the mid-1420s to the early 1440s. This continuity was embodied by
Wang Zhi, who held the position of minister of personnel from 1443 to 1457. During the 1440s, Wang Zhi was a constant opponent of Wang Zhen, but after 1449, he began to cooperate with Yu. From 1451 to 1453, he was assisted in his duties by co-minister He Wenyuan, who was later replaced by
Wang Ao. Yu supported Wang Ao's rise, and he successfully defended
Liaodong, as well as later
Guangdong and
Guangxi. Wang remained minister of personnel until his death in 1467 at the age of 73. The widely respected ministers of personnel, along with their careful selection of capable officials, contributed to a high level of administration in the third quarter of the fifteenth century. One notable characteristic of the Jingtai Emperor's reign was the remarkable stability within his core group of ministers. The heads of the
Six Ministries all maintained their positions throughout his rule: Jin Lian () overseeing the Ministry of Revenue, Hu Ying () leading the Ministry of Rites, Yu Shiyue () in charge of the Ministry of Justice, and Shi Pu () directing the Ministry of Works. Similarly, the leadership of the Censorate remained constant from 1445 to 1454, with Chen Yi (), followed by Yang Shan (), Wang Wen (), Xiao Weizhen (), and Li Shi (). Additionally, the influential army commander Shi Heng (), along with the powerful eunuchs Cao Jixiang () and Liu Yongcheng (), also retained their positions throughout this time. Some of the Jingtai Emperor's key supporters were the eunuchs Jin Ying and
Xing An. Jin held significant influence in the 1430s but eventually lost power to Wang Zhen. During the Jingtai Emperor's reign, he was appointed as Director of Ceremonial but was later imprisoned in 1450 for backing the return of Emperor Yingzong. Xing then took over as head of the eunuchs and played a crucial role in negotiating the return of Emperor Yingzong and the
change of the heir apparent in 1452. Two other eunuch generals, Cao and Liu, were instrumental in the military reform of 1453. However, prominent officials such as Grand Secretaries Chen Xun () and Gao Gu did not support the Jingtai Emperor. Despite having a stable personnel, the ruling group was not free from controversy. In 1451–1452, Yu, the most influential figure in Beijing, had a heated conflict with Shi over the abuse of power and corruption by Shi and his family. The Emperor was unable to resolve the dispute until Yu fell ill in 1454–1455, causing him to lose much of his influence.
Military reforms In 1451, once the immediate danger had passed, Yu initiated military reform. He handpicked 100,000 soldiers from the remaining troops in the Beijing area and divided them into five training divisions (;
tuanying). In 1452, he added an additional 50,000 soldiers and created ten training units. He also restructured the command system of the capital garrison. Initially, command was divided between generals and eunuchs, with each of the Three Great Camps (for infantry, cavalry, and firearms) operating independently under its own field commander, but there was little coordination between detachments from different camps. Yu placed each camp under one field commander and the entire garrison under the field marshal. He also removed the eunuchs from their supervisory role, resulting in a unified command and a greater involvement of the capital generals in managing the training camps. This new arrangement of the drill camps was unique among the various Ming command systems, as the generals in charge of training also commanded the same soldiers in battle. After 1449, the practice of hiring soldiers for wages from the peasant and urban population became more widespread due to the shortage of men and the inefficiency of many hereditary soldiers. These hired soldiers were referred to as
bing (), in contrast to the hereditary soldiers known as
jun (). After Emperor Yingzong regained power in 1457, Yu was executed and his reforms were reversed.
Economy In 1450,
Shandong experienced a famine, and from 1452 to 1454, the provinces in northern China and the lower
Yangtze River were greatly affected by heavy rains and cold weather. The drought of 1455 was followed by summer rains in 1456 in northern China. The state treasury was depleted due to providing aid to the population and dealing with tax arrears. In 1453, the ban on using coins for trade was lifted. From the mid-1450s, illegal private coins from Jiangnan began to dominate the markets in Beijing, replacing the old Yongle coins. Although there were proposals to resume state production of coins, they were disregarded, resulting in the spread of illegal mints through unofficial networks. However, the Jingtai era also witnessed the restoration of stability due to the efforts of capable ministers. In the field of culture, the era is known for the advancement of wire enamel (
cloisonné) decoration, which is now referred to as
Jingtai-lan () in Chinese. After the severe floods and changes in its course in 1448, the government took urgent action to regulate the
Yellow River. As a result, the river began to flow into the sea both north and south of the
Shandong Peninsula, but these changes in the river's flow caused problems with the water supply for the
Grand Canal. Despite attempts to fix the issue and repairs carried out from 1449 to 1452, they were ultimately unsuccessful. In 1453,
Xu Youzhen, who had fallen out of favor during the crisis of 1449 when he suggested relocating the capital from
Beijing to
Nanjing, presented a plan to rebuild the levees and canals. With a workforce of 58,000, he completed complex repairs to the dams and excavated hundreds of kilometers of canals within two years. His work successfully withstood the great flood of 1456 and remained in use for decades. Traditional history portrays the 1450s as a time of intense competition between two imperial brothers, but Marxist historians emphasize the presence of class conflicts. The population was consistently dissatisfied, leading to rebellions and keeping the army occupied for much of the decade. By 1452, the uprisings in
Fujian and
Zhejiang had subsided. In
Guangdong and
Guangxi, the lawlessness of non-Chinese populations (specifically the Miao and Yao tribes) went unchecked until Wang Ao was sent to the region in 1452–1453. In 1450–52, the Miao and Yao rebelled in
Guizhou and
Huguang, and unrest continued in Fujian, Huguang,
Sichuan, and Zhejiang in the years 1453–56. Throughout the 1450s, there were armed conflicts in Guangdong, where the authorities mobilized loyal tribes against the rebels. Non-Han Chinese groups generally rebelled against the Ming government, while Chinese miners and landless individuals in the peripheral regions of the provinces remained relatively calm. ==Succession problems, deposition and death==