Император династии Мин Ваньли, правил в 1572-1620. Сделаю предположение: борьба/конкуренция между его наследниками - может быть, снова отблеск истории Есфири, на этот раз почти совпадая во времени (если брать возможные поздние отражения этой истории в биографии царя Федора Ивановича или даже Бориса Годунова)?:

Emperor Wanli - China's Reluctant Emperor
..His alienation grew when it came time to designate an heir, who had to be chosen from the children of consorts since his empress did not bear a boy. While his officials insisted on his oldest son — born of the consort Lady Wang — he instead chose his third son, born of Lady Zheng, the consort he truly loved. The officials balked and a 15-year standoff ensued, the period in which his strike began..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanli_Emperor
FamilyConsorts
Empress Xiaoduanxian (1564–1620), had no sons.
Imperial Noble Consort Wensu, later Empress Dowager Xiaojing (1565–1612), 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 (1567? – 1630), Wanli's favourite concubine who 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 the Southern Ming Dynasty, was a grandson of Lady Zheng, the lady was finally promoted as Empress by the Southern Ming government, 14 years after her death.

И опять император царствует незадолго до падения династии и своим правлением в общем-то приближает это падение:

Legacy and death
The Wanli emperor’s reign is representative of the decline of the Ming....
In many ways, he was similar to other Chinese emperors who were initially successful, but whose subsequent poor rule caused the eventual demise of their dynasties, such as both Emperor Gaozong and Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty.

Кстати, движение/партия Дунлинь при нём - возможно, те же "жидовствующие"?:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donglin_Movement
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donglin_Academy
- Дунлиньская академия была жестоко разрушена. Существовала она якобы дважды: ...was originally built in AD 1111 during the Northern Song (北宋) dynasty at present-day Wuxi in China. It was originally a school where the neo-Confucian scholar Yang Shi taught, but later fell into disuse... When Yang Shi finished his scholarship, he went to Wuxi seeing the location of Donglin Academy similar to the Donglin temple, then began to teach students in Wuxi for 18 years under name "Donglin Academy".
In 1604, during the Wanli era, Gu Xiancheng (顧憲成 Gù Xiànchéng, (1550–1612), a Ming Grand Secretary, along with Gao Panlong (高攀龍 Gāo Pānlóng, 1562–1626), a scholar, with fellow scholars Qian Yiben（钱一本） and Yu Kongjian（余孔兼） restored the Donglin Academy on the same site with the financial backing of local gentry and officials from Changzhou state governor Ouyang Dongfeng（欧阳东风） and Wuxi county governor Linzai（林宰）. The academy gave its name to the resulting Donglin movement.
In 1626 the academy was brutally destroyed leaving only part of the stone memorial arch...

Существуют также некие три загадочных случая поздней династии Мин:

http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?/topic/7866-three-pill-case-in-late-ming/
I suppose this is referring to 晚明三疑案 Wăn Mнng Sān Yн Аn - Three Enigmatic Cases from Late Ming Dynasty.
(1) 梃击案 Tĭng Jī Аn (AD 1615) - The Case of the Clubbed Crown Prince
(2) 红丸案 Hуng Wбn Аn (AD 1620) - The Case of the Red Pill
(3) 移宫案 Yн Gōng Аn (AD 1620) - The Case of Moving to the Imperial Palace
- случай первый: некий сумасшедший, вооружённый палкой/посохом, ворвался в императорский дворец с целью, видимо, убийства наследного принца, но был схвачен. Возможно, за этим стояла любимая наложница Ваньли леди Чжэн. Второй случай: отравление этого же принца, ставшего императором Тайчаном, через месяц после воцарения с помощью "красной пилюли", используемой для омоложения и как афродизиак. Также леди Чжэн возможно за этим стоит, вторая попытка, так сказать, на этот раз достигшая цели. Третий случай: некий переезд наложницы в неподобающий для её ранга императорский дворец. Не знаю, если все эти три случая объединить, могут ли они быть отражением истории Есфири (сумасшедший с посохом - Иван Грозный? Наследный принц - сын его Иван? Присутствие сексуальной составляющей, возвышение некой любовницы)?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taichang_Emperor