On May 2, 1360, Zhu Yuanzhang's fourth son was born in Yingtianfu.
Before Zhu Yuanzhang could hug his fourth elder, he received an urgent document from the front that his old rival Chen Youyi had forgiven chen Chizhou and was going to attack Taiping (Dangtu County, Anhui).
Taiping was the gateway to Ying Tianfu, and if Chen Youyu attacked Taiping, then Zhu Yuanzhang's base camp would be in a hurry. There was no way, he quickly left his children's lovers and immediately went to the front line to direct the battle. As for what name to give the child, now there is no effort to think about it, and can only wait until the end of the battle.
Unexpectedly, this wait is 7 years, and this old fourth has his own name.
A blackened version of Zhu Yuanzhang's portrait
The little guy who was not born well was Zhu Di, the later Ming Chengzu
Zhu Yuanzhang only freed up his free time when he was 7 years old, giving Zhu Di a name to his 6 equally nameless brothers. This is also a helpless thing, and it is enough to not have a name, because Zhu Yuanzhang will ascend the throne and become emperor in the next year. I will become emperor myself,
And the son still shouted "Little Fourth, Little Fourth" all day, and he didn't even have the name of the Eight Classics of Zheng'er.
This is to make people see jokes.
Zhu Yuanzhang is a very interesting person, probably because he suffered too much when he was young, he attaches great importance to his descendants, even the names of his descendants, Zhu Yuanzhang does not spare any effort, draws a lever for them, he has drawn up 20 generations for each of his sons, and it is a smooth sentence to read, such as Zhu Di's branch is like this:
Gao Zhan Qi saw You, Hou Zai Yi Chang You, Ci He Yi Bo Zhong, Jian Jing Di Xianyou
。 Zhu Di's son Zhu Gaozi, grandson Zhu Zhanji, and great-grandson Zhu Qizhen were all passed down in this way.
The portrait of "Zhu Yuanzhang" with high recognition
In many film and television programs, we often hear a famous figure, that is, Zhu Cijiong, the "Third Prince of Zhu". Since the descendants of the old Zhu family's "Ci" generation withdrew from the stage of history, few people know about zhu Yuanzhang's descendants.
Zhu Yuanzhang painstakingly raised the "20-character" generation, which only took a little more than half to end.
In the specifications for the naming of descendants formulated by Zhu Yuanzhang, the second word of the name of the royal descendants is generational, and the third word must have a five-line word next to it, which is passed down from generation to generation according to wood, fire, earth, gold, and water. It is estimated that Zhu Yuanzhang did not realize that it would be so difficult for his descendants to name them, the number of imperial personnel in the early Ming Dynasty was not too much, and it was relatively easy to name them according to the method left by Zhu Yuanzhang, but it was too difficult to get to the back. In addition, among the names of Zhu Yuanzhang's descendants, there are more than 20 names consistent with the periodic table of chemical elements, accounting for 1/5 of the total table.
Zhu Di was originally far from the throne, and if he came according to normal circumstances, his chances of becoming emperor were too small, so small that they were almost negligible. Of course
Zhu Di later relied on self-reliance to achieve abundant food and clothing, and finally became emperor
。 Now, let's first sort out Zhu Di's position among Zhu Yuanzhang's many children, which is the main reason why his chances of becoming emperor are small.
Zhu Di was the fourth son of Zhu Yuanzhang, and he was preceded by zhu biao (later crown prince) and second son Zhu Zhu
Third
Zhu Tang, now plus this old fourth Zhu Di, of the four brothers, only Zhu Biao and Zhu Di have two names that are easy to recognize, and the throne happens to be competing in these two branches.
According to the "family patriarchal system" system and rules inherited from the pre-Qin period, even the emperor could not choose heirs from many sons at will, and generally followed the principle of "having a concubine and not standing up, and not having a wife on the elderly and young", which is also related to the marriage system of "monogamous and polygamous concubines" in ancient times. In fact, Zhu Di's three brothers, including himself, were not concubines, because Zhu Yuanzhang's original wife, empress Dowager Ma.
A renditional version of Zhu Yuanzhang's portrait
According to historical records, Empress Ma did not give birth, but several children, including Zhu Di, were raised by Empress Ma. Of course, these secrets of the Forbidden Palace are not truthfully recorded in the general history.
The Zaolin Miscellaneous Tricks mentions: "Empress Xiaocigao was childless, that is, Prince Yiwen and the second king of Qin and Jin, and Also Li Shufei gave birth to ye. "Empress Gao is also Empress Ma, Prince Yiwen is the eldest of the Zhu family, Zhu Biao, and the King of Qin and the King of Jin are the second and third elders of the Zhu family."
According to this historical record, Zhu Yuanzhang's original empress dowager did not give birth, and all four of Zhu Di's brothers were born to Zhu Yuanzhang's concubines. Historical materials such as the Chronicle of the Taichang Temple in Nanjing, the Examination of National History, and the Notes on the Three Walls all recognize this statement, and this article also temporarily endorses this statement.
However, in the History of Ming, it is also recorded that Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, "the fourth son of Taizu, the mother Of Filial Piety, Empress Dowager Gao." Historians believe that the "mother" here is not the biological mother, but the mother-in-law.
There is a problem here, that is, Zhu Di's birth mother identity is almost not recorded in many historical records.
The "Chronicle of the Taichang Temple in Nanjing" is a classic recorded by the personnel of the Ministry of Rites in that year, which once recorded the order of the gods in Zhu Yuanzhang's Ming Xiaoling Tomb: the left one Shu Concubine Li Shi, the Prince of Shengyiwen, the King of Qin, and the King of Jin Gong, and the right concubine, who was born Emperor Zuwen, who was all enjoyed in the mausoleum hall and held the ancestral official, and who had not changed in three hundred years.
According to this text, Princess Li Shufei gave birth to Zhu Biao, Zhu Zhu, and Zhu Tang, so she was able to rank behind Empress Ma's tablet. The tablet to the right of Empress Ma is Concubine Qi, who gave birth to Ming Chengzu Zhu Di.
As for the true identity of concubines, it is now impossible to examine, some say that they are members of the imperial family of the Yuan Dynasty, and some say that they are Korean women. In short, whether in the eyes of everyone at the time or in Zhu Di's own view, his birth mother's identity was not too glorious and not suitable for publicity.
Therefore, Zhu Di often declared himself to be the fourth son of Empress Ma in public.
"Empress Wu Naigao's fourth son also".
Zhu Yuanzhang was married to Empress Ma
Now let's take a look at how likely It is that Under normal circumstances, Zhu Di will become emperor.
In the case of Empress Ma's "nothing to come out of", Zhu Biao was the eldest son of Zhu Yuanzhang, "no concubine on the elder and young", and naturally, he was established as the crown prince. Zhu Yuanzhang was very attached to Zhu Biao, and specially selected Da Ru to teach for him. However, Zhu Di, the fourth elder of the Zhu family, was expelled from Nanjing in the thirteenth year of Hongwu, and he came to Beiping.
If there were no very special circumstances (such as rebellion and untimely death, etc.), he would inherit the great treasure and ascend to the Ninth Five.5. Everything is afraid of having a "but" and a "special situation".
Prince Zhu Biao
In the first year of Hongwu,i.e., in 1368, Zhu Biao was made crown prince, and he served as crown prince for 24 years. On May 17, 1392, the twenty-fifth year of Ming Hongwu, Zhu Biao passed away, and was posthumously known as "Prince Yiwen".
After Zhu Biao's death, Zhu Yuanzhang lived for 6 years.
Even at this point, although Zhu Di had the idea of becoming an emperor, he still didn't have much hope. Because even if Zhu Biao, the boss of Zhu, is gone, there are still two brothers in front of Zhu Di. But who admits that Zhu Yuanzhang did not play cards according to the routine at all, he did not choose an heir from the second son, but directly skipped Zhu Di's generation and chose Zhu Yunjiao as the emperor's grandson.
At this point, not only Zhu Laosi did not do it, Zhu Lao'er and Zhu Laosan did not do it, originally said that the good "no concubine theory of the elder and the young", when Zhu Biao was alive, everyone did not argue, but Zhu Biao was gone, it should be Zhu Lao'er's turn, why was it preempted by a small doll?
Zhu Yunjiao
Of course
The three brothers of the Zhu family dared to be angry in front of Zhu Yuanzhang
In this way, Zhu Yunjiao became the emperor's grandson.
Probably stimulated too much, Hongwu twenty-eight years, Zhu Lao'er Qin King Zhu Zhu died. Three years later, on the eve of Zhu Yuanzhang's death, Zhu Zhuo, the Third King of The Jin Dynasty, died. At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang was still alive, Zhu Yunjiao had not yet become emperor, and Zhu Di suddenly became the eldest of Zhu Yuanzhang's many sons, as if the "light" was right in front of him.
Zhu Di also had an idea, if there was no Zhu Yunjiao, wouldn't the old father's throne have to be passed on to himself? After all, his first three brothers are gone,
It is said that the wheel should also be its turn!
Zhu Di was indeed a capable man, when Zhu Yuanzhang sent him to lead the generals to conquer mobei one after another, he had a good relationship with the military generals and achieved a lot of military merit, Zhu Yuanzhang was very recognized for his ability. Thirty-one years after the death of Zhu Tang, the King of Jin, Zhu Yuanzhang once said to Zhu Di: The sons of The Emperor of The Fallen are only Ru and wise, and Qin and Jin have already been xue, and ru is the chief, and the outside is inside, not Ru qi. Erqi commanded the kings, measured the situation, and guarded against the border people, so as to reach the heart of heaven and the vice-will.
Undoubtedly, at this time, Zhu Yuanzhang already regarded Zhu Di as an important pillar for maintaining the Zhu family dynasty and had high hopes for him.
However, this remark is inevitably suspected of being beaten, after all, Zhu Di's power is too great.
It poses a direct threat to his grandson Zhu Yunjiao. Therefore, zhu Yuanzhang, who was scheming and calculating, left a last word before his death: The kings are in the kingdom, and they will not go to Beijing. The civil and military officials of the kingdom listened to the court's moderation. Zhu Yuanzhang did not even let his other sons return to Beijing to mourn after his own death, which showed his jealousy of the king of the domain.
Portrait of Zhu Di
Zhu Di was able to become emperor smoothly, and he was inseparable from a monk, that is, the Daoyan monk Yao Guangxiao.
Because Zhu Yuanzhang was a monk in his early years, he firmly believed in Buddhism. When he was to go to the place after the sons were divided, he would arrange for each son to be followed by a monk. The monk who followed Zhu Di was Daoyan Yao Guangxiao. When he first saw Zhu Di, Yao Guangxiao told him "unashamedly" to send a "white hat" to Wang Ye. Frightened, Zhu Di hurried over to cover Dao Yan's mouth, "You don't want to die, you don't want to live, do you still want to live?" ”
"White" plus the word "king" is not the emperor's "emperor"? Since then, Zhu Di and the Daoyan monk have been tied together.
Zhu Di had enough reasons to oppose Zhu Yunjiao as emperor. Zhu Yunjiao was not the eldest son of Zhu Biao's concubine, Zhu Biao had five sons, the eldest son was Zhu Xiongying, the second son Zhu Yunjiao, and the third son Zhu Yunxi. Zhu Yunjiao was only the second son, the same second son, Zhu Di felt that he was still a senior, why could his nephew become emperor, and he could not.
In 1399, Zhu Di raised an army in the name of "Jingnan" and finally won the throne after more than 3 years.
Zhu Di himself understood that his throne was not so glorious, so after becoming emperor, he did his best to justify himself. For example, he changed "Four Years of Jianwen" to "Thirty-five Years of Hongwu". In 1424, Zhu Di died of illness on his way back from the Northern Expedition, and since then he has received the temple title of "Ming Taizong". It should be said that the temple name of "Taizong" was something that Zhu Di had always dreamed of, whether before or after becoming emperor.
Because Zhu Yuanzhang's temple name is "Ming Taizu" and Zhu Di is "Ming Taizong", it means that his Throne of Zhu Di is in the same line as his father Zhu Yuanzhang, and it was passed on to him by his father himself, and he was indeed only "Jing'an" and "Qing Jun's side", rather than using illegal means to seize the throne.
The temple number "Taizong" is of great importance to Zhu Di, and it can be said that he has worked hard for most of his life, and all his merits are reflected in this temple number. But he could not have imagined that only 100 years later, his "Laisun" would change him from "Taizong" to "Chengzu". If Zhu Di knew, he would definitely jump up and scold a "no descendant."
The importance of "Taizong" to Zhu Di.
Under normal circumstances, the temple number of the founding emperor of each dynasty is "ancestor", such as Tang Gaozu, Song Taizu, etc., while the temple number of other emperors in later generations can only use "Zong". Song Shi Li Zhi JIU:
Now That Taizu was ordered to open the foundation, and Emperor Taizong inherited the Treasure of Taibao, then the temple of the Hundred Immortals was not a temple.
The meaning of "ancestor" is self-evident, as long as it is an ancestor, it is in the Taimiao Temple
What is not righteous in a hundred lifetimes is to be admired by future generations.
The "Zong" belonged to the Shoucheng Kings, and their thrones were inherited from the "ancestors". Each dynasty may have more than a dozen "sects", and the one whose status is second only to the "ancestor" is "Taizong".
Since the Tang Dynasty, under normal circumstances, "Taizong" has been the second emperor, which is a practice formed over many years. Zhu Di's throne came through Jing, and it was obvious that even if he didn't want to admit it, the truth was there, and his throne was really not inherited from his father Zhu Yuanzhang. That is to say, according to the "family patriarchal system" and the way the throne was obtained, Zhu Di was still somewhat unjustified.
Successive emperors of the Ming Dynasty
In order to make his throne more legitimate, to prove that he was the legitimate heir to the throne, Zhu Di did a lot of things. For example, he learned the lessons of Emperor Jianwen and successfully cut down the domain to avoid the "Jing Difficulty" of future generations; he went on 5 northern expeditions to Mongolia and died on the way back; he presided over the compilation of the Yongle Canon, which had a profound impact on future generations; he sent Zheng He to the West, smoothing exchanges with the West and promoting traditional Chinese culture.
In addition, the temple name of "Taizong" is also a great recognition of him by posterity, and being able to get this temple number shows that he is legally inherited from the throne.
Zhu Di succeeded, and after his death, he did get the temple title of "Ming Taizong". Originally, this had already been finalized, and his tablet had been placed in the Taimiao Temple for more than 100 years. It is estimated that he could not have imagined that the "Taizong" temple number that he had worked so hard to obtain had actually been changed. It was none other than Zhu Houxi, the Jiajing Emperor, who was evaluated by Teacher Yi Zhongtian as a "clever hun dan", who reigned for 45 years, second only to the Wanli Emperor.
The situation between Zhu Houxi and Zhu Di is somewhat similar, but also somewhat different.
Zhu Houxi's grandfather was Emperor Mingxianzong Zhu Jianshen. Zhu Jianshen's third son was the later Ming Emperor Xiaozong Zhu Youji, and his fourth son Zhu Youbi was given the title of King of Xian, with a fief in present-day Nanchang, Jiangxi. Zhu Houxi was the second son of Zhu Youxi, the eldest son of Zhu Youxi died early, and after his death, the throne of the Xianwang line was inherited by Zhu Houxi.
Similarly, the throne was originally unrelated to Zhu Houxi. However, it was such a coincidence. Zhu Houxi's third great uncle was also the Ming Xiaozong Zhu Youfan was a very special emperor, he only married one wife in his life, this wife gave birth to 3 children, two sons, a daughter, the eldest son is the later Ming Wuzong Zhu Houzhao, the second son died shortly after birth, the daughter only lived for 19 months. Without any suspense, Zhu Youxi's throne passed to Zhu Houzhao, that is, Zhu Houxi's cousin. But Zhu Houzhao was an unreliable person in terms of heir inheritance, he died at the age of 31, and did not even leave a single heir.
Faced with the sudden throne, Zhu Houxi was not excited at first, because he knew that the difficulties of being an emperor, especially the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, not only had to level the harem, but also had to fight with the ministers and eunuchs. Because Zhu Houxi was the king of the domain when he entered the capital and ascended the throne, he was 14 years old at the time, and the courtiers led by Yang Tinghe, a scheming university scholar, wanted to seize the opportunity to seize power. Zhu Houxi had just entered the capital and encountered a problem, because Yang Tinghe did not want him to enter the city through the main gate of the imperial city. Zhu Houxi was immediately unwilling, for Zhu Houxi, this is a very important thing, you invited me to come to be the emperor, not to be angry, I did not want to do it, you are still difficult for me, I am not doing it, Zhu Houxi immediately made a posture of turning his head and walking back.
This is not okay, Yang Tinghe saw that Zhu Houxi did not play cards according to the routine, and had to say a soft word. After discussion, the two sides took a step back, and Zhu Houxi first ascended the throne, and then entered from the main gate of the imperial city as an emperor.
Zhu Houxi did not expect that just after entering beijing, his ass was not yet hot, and he received a "thunderbolt on a sunny day". Because someone told him,
From the moment he ascended the throne, "your mother is not your mother, and your father is not your father", the people in Beijing found him a new father, a new mother.
That is, Emperor Xiaozong of Ming and his Empress Zhang, in short, Zhu Houxi had to pass on to the third great uncle Zhu Youfan to become emperor.
In fact, this is not difficult for Zhu Houxi, according to the provisions of the "family patriarchal system" and the "firstborn son inheritance system", which is also a conventional practice. Take the word "mother", from the middle and late Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty began to distinguish between "Mother Empress Dowager" and "Mother Empress Dowager". "Queen Mother" means "mother", not necessarily one's own biological mother, while "Empress Dowager" refers to one's own biological mother, which are two completely different concepts.
But for the 14-year-old Zhu Houxi, this is too unusual, how can he come to Beijing to become emperor and lose his father and mother? Isn't this going to kill you, Zhu Houxi said that he didn't agree with anything. Since then, the "Great Ceremony Discussion" incident during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty has begun.
Long story short, after a period of competition, Zhu Houxi succeeded, and he could recognize his biological parents. However, Zhu Houxi saw the authority of the emperor through the "Great Ceremony" incident, and he was somewhat fond of it. Zhu Houxi was a very clever child, he was very good at giving examples, and after several trials, he shot again, because he wanted to posthumously recognize his biological father, that is, the aforementioned Xingxian King Zhu Youqi as emperor, and his birth mother as empress.
This time, Zhu Houxi succeeded again, he finally tasted the sweetness, and in the fight with the ministers again and again, he was like a fish in the water, and he came with his hands.
Zhaomu system - The Seven Temples of Tianzi
After King Xingxian was posthumously recognized as Emperor Xingxian, Zhu Houxi was even more "inching forward" because he wanted to carry the tablet of his biological father Zhu Youbi into the "Taimiao Temple". This is not good, because the "Zhou Li" stipulates that tianzi applies to the seven temples, although Zhu Yuanzhang changed it to the nine temples of tianzi, but the temple is still very crowded, because the number of "nine" is fixed, and whenever a new emperor dies, the future emperor will move the ancestral tablet that is farthest away from him out of the temple. Of course, according to the principle of "ancestors are not the ancestors of a hundred generations", Zhu Yuanzhang's seat is very fixed. By the Jiajing period, the nine signs in the old Zhu family taimiao temple were: Dezu Zhu Bailiu, Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, Taizong Zhu Di, Renzong Zhu Gaozi, Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji, Yingzong Zhu Qizhen, Xianzong Zhu Jianshen, Xiaozong Zhu Youfan, and Wuzong Zhu Houzhao.
Among them, those who served as emperors but did not enter the Temple were: Emperor Jianwen Zhu Yunjiao, Emperor Zhu Qiyu of the Ming Dynasty, zhu Bailiu was the ancestor of Zhu Yuanzhang, the farthest ancestor of the old Zhu family. Zhu Bailiu gave birth to Zhu Sijiu, Zhu Sijiu gave birth to Zhu Chuyi, Zhu Chuyi gave birth to Zhu Wusi, and Zhu Wusi gave birth to Zhu Yuanzhang.
In the Taimiao Temple, Dezu Zhu Bailiu had not moved, and Zhu Yuanzhang's tablet had moved forward with time, forming such a pattern when Jiajing Zhu Houxi was in place.
Zhu Houxi wanted to stuff his father's tablet of The King into the Taimiao Temple, so he was bound to move out of one. According to the established rules, Zhu Houxi could only move out the tablet of Emperor Taizong Zhu Di, who was farthest away from him. However, Zhu Houxi did not dare to do this after thinking about it, because if zhu Di had not been the emperor, these people would not have had the opportunity to become emperors later.
Moving Zhu Di's tablet is equivalent to moving their roots.
To this end, Zhu Houxi came up with the idea of "exclusive taizu", because Dezu Zhu Bailiu was too far away from them, and their throne was basically inherited from Zhu Yuanzhang. Therefore, Zhu Houxi moved the tablet of Dezu Zhu Bailiu out of the Taimiao Temple. Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang's tablet moved forward and became a leader in the Taimiao Temple.
In this way, the Taimiao Temple had a vacant seat, and there was no need to give Zhu Di a place, and Zhu Houxi's father, Emperor Xingxian, also had a place in the Taimiao Temple. At the same time, Zhu Houxi's brain was wide open, and in order to prove that his throne had come to be very right, he unbelievably gave the temple number of "Taizong" Zhu Di to become "Chengzu". Due to the principle of "ancestors are not righteous", in the old Zhu Family Taimiao Temple, the tablets of Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di will never move.
However, what Jiajing Zhu Houxi did not expect, after his death, his father Zhu Youzhao's tablet was still moved out of the Taimiao Temple.
At this time, the layout of the Taimiao Temple was as follows: Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, Chengzu Zhu Di, Renzong Zhu Gaozi, Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji, Yingzong Zhu Qizhen, Xianzong Zhu Jianshen, Xiaozong Zhu Youxian, Xingxian Emperor Zhu Youqiu (posthumously), and Wuzong Zhu Houzhao.
Obviously, the Jiajing Emperor had already thought about it, and after his death, the Taimiao Temple would give the tablet of Emperor Akihito Zhu Gaozi (that is, the big fat man in "Daming Fenghua").
Jia Jing really played a good calculation, this operation, not only can recognize his biological father, birth mother as parents, but also posthumously crowned them as emperors and empresses, but also moved his father's tablet into the Taimiao Temple. However, in this way, Zhu Di was bitter. He originally had the temple name "Taizong" in mind, but he did not expect that in the past 100 years, his "unxiao descendant" Zhu Houxi had promoted him from "Taizong" to "Chengzu". Because the "ancestors" are generally pioneering figures, not figures who follow the trend and inherit the great unification, this also proves the disgrace of Emperor Zhu Di from the side.
What do you think would be Zhu Di's reaction if he knew that Zhu Houxi had changed him to "Chengzu"?