Ming Chengzu Zhu Di's throne was taken from his nephew Zhu Yunjiao, and when Zhu Di, who had fulfilled his wish, sat on the emperor's throne, he began to reward those who had followed him for meritorious service. Among them, the second son, Zhu Gaoxu, made great contributions to the Neutrality of the Battle of Jingnan and was deeply loved by Zhu Di, the ancestor of Ming Cheng. But the prince was proud of his achievements, fierce, disregarded his family affection, and tried to emulate his father and seize the throne by force. After the death of Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, a scene of fratricide was staged within the Ming imperial family, except that Zhu Gaoxu was not able to succeed like his father, but ended in a final failure.
Ming Chengzu Zhu Di
Zhu Gaoxu, the second son of Emperor Mingcheng's ancestor Zhu Di, was the younger brother of Emperor Akihito. In the Battle of Jingnan, Zhu Gaoxu was born into death, and made many military achievements, especially in the Battle of Baigou River, seeing that Zhu Di was about to be captured alive by Qu Neng, at this critical juncture, Zhu Gaoxu led thousands of elite soldiers to break the siege and kill Qu Neng's father and son. Zhu Gaoxu has saved his father Zhu Di in crises many times. Therefore, he was loved by Zhu Di.
After Zhu Di seized the throne, he also wanted to pass the throne to his second son Zhu Gaoxu. However, Zhu Di deeply felt the serious harm of the dispute over the throne to the country, and under the balance, he still passed the throne to his eldest son Zhu Gaozi. His second son, Zhu Gaoxu, was made king of Han.
As the king of Han, Zhu Gaoxu always coveted the position of prince, and he often compared himself to Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty, never taking the prince in his eyes.
Akihito Zhu Gaozi
After being crowned king of Han, Zhu Gaoxu's fief was far away in Yunnan, and he did not want to go to Yunnan to perform his duties, and said with dissatisfaction: "What crime do I have to arrange for me to go so far away?" Ming Chengzu had no choice but to change his title to Qingzhou. However, Zhu Gaoxu still refused to go, and played the emperor Zhu Di, saying that he was willing to stay by his father's side and did not want to work in other places. But this time Zhu Di did not agree, but only allowed Zhu Gaoxu to stay in the capital for the time being.
Zhu Gaoxu already had the intention of usurping the throne, and he secretly selected guards with excellent martial skills, secretly recruited thousands of soldiers, and established his own armed forces for his own dispatch. At the same time, he also used the emperor's carriage, utensils and other imperial supplies privately.
In 1424, Ming Chengzu Zhu Di died of illness on the way back to the Division during the Northern Expedition, so the crown prince Zhu Gaozi succeeded to the throne and became Emperor Akihito in history. Emperor Renzong Zhu Gao was bitter, and after less than a year as emperor, he gave up and returned to the west. Therefore, the crown prince Zhu Zhanji rushed from Nanjing to Beijing to take care of his father's funeral and prepare to inherit his father's throne.
King Zhu Gaoxu of Han
After hearing the news, this Zhu Gaoxu wanted to kill Zhu Zhanji, the prince of Jingben, on the way. However, people are not as good as heavenly calculations, and between yin and yang, Zhu Gaoxu missed the best opportunity to assassinate the crown prince Zhu Zhanji.
After Emperor Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji ascended the throne, he had great respect for his second uncle. Zhu Gaoxu, on the other hand, regarded his nephew's respect for him as weak and deceitful, and became more and more arrogant and arrogant, doing things that disrupted the government. In the end, the second uncle actually emulated his father Zhu Di and rebelled against his nephew Zhu Zhanji.
In 1426, Zhu Gaoxu took the banner of the Qing Emperor's side and pointed the spearhead at the old minister Xia Yuanji. A rebellion began in Le'an. Zhu Gaoxu ordered his confidants to rush to Beijing and make contact with the former people of the old part of Beijing as an internal response. The whereabouts of these people were soon detected by the British gong Zhang Fu, so Zhang Fu immediately sent an army to arrest these rebels and warned Zhu Zhanji.
Emperor Xuanzong of Ming Dynasty
At the same time, Zhu Gaoxu had agreed with The Commander of Shandong Prefecture, Jin Rong, to jointly launch a rebellion. They also contacted the commanders of Tianjin, Qingzhou, Cangzhou, and Shanxi as support. In addition, Zhu Gaoxu also privately established the capital of the Five Armies, that is, the front, rear, left, right, and middle five road army. His four sons were ordered to supervise each other, and Zhu Gaoxu himself led the Chinese army. A situation of momentum is formed.
After learning that his second uncle had rebelled, Emperor Xuanzong, on the advice of his ministers Yang Rong and Xia Yuanji, decided to personally lead a large army to conquer the rebellious second uncle.
Under the influence of Xuanzong's personal expedition, all the soldiers were greatly encouraged and shook their fists one by one. This overwhelmed the rebels in morale first. In addition, Xuanzong sent messengers to deliver letters to Zhu Gaoxu, persuading him to surrender. When Zhu Gaoxu learned that the emperor had personally marched and would soon arrive in Le'an, his heart immediately panicked. The hearts of those rebels also began to waver, and some rebels continued to surrender to Xuanzong. Emperor Xuanzong rewarded the surrendered soldiers and promised them no blame. It didn't take long for the Daming army to surround anle city and trap the rebels who had no food and grass inside and no rescue troops outside. Zhu Gaoxu saw that the whole situation was irreparable and had to surrender Kaesong.
Emperor Xuanzong ordered Zhu Gaoxu to recall his relatives who had participated in the rebellion, and all the remaining henchmen were captured. Emperor Xuanzong exonerated the garrison of Anle City from the crime of not prosecuting those who were forced to join the rebels, and then sent Zhu Gaoxu and others back to Beijing to await their fate.
After Emperor Xuanzong's army returned to Beijing, Qunchen strongly demanded that Zhu Gaoxu, the King of Han, be punished according to the laws of Daming, but Xuanzong Nian, who was the king of The Domain at Zhu Gaoxu, did not accept Qunchen's suggestion to execute Zhu Gaoxu, but reduced him to a commoner, tied his hands and feet with iron chains, and imprisoned him in the Happy Palace.
One day, Xuanzong went to visit his second uncle Zhu Gaoxu at the Happy Palace, but he did not expect that this hateful Zhu Gaoxu actually stretched out a foot and tripped Xuanzong. Emperor Xuanzong was furious, and the famous bodyguard used a three-hundred-pound copper cylinder to hold Zhu Gaoxu underneath. Zhu Gaoxu's arm was so strong that he lifted the copper cylinder vigorously and tried to smash Xuanzong. Emperor Xuanzong was horrified and hurriedly ordered people to light charcoal around the copper cylinder, and finally, zhu Gaoxu was roasted to death in the copper cylinder. Enraged, Emperor Xuanzong, in a fit of rage, sentenced all of Zhu Gaoxu's sons to capital punishment.
Later, Emperor Xuanzong personally wrote the "Record of the Eastern Crusade", which detailed the process before and after Zhu Gaoxu's rebellion and the imperial court's military crusade, and used it to warn future generations.