Yongle the Great
Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty. From the time he launched the Battle of Jingnan to seize the throne and died, he served as emperor for a total of 22 years, and his era name was Yongle, so he was also known as Yongle The Great. His vigorous life has left too many merits and demerits. Some people say that Zhu Di is a big hooligan, and since there is such a statement, it means that what Zhu Di did before his death must have made future generations disdainful. Everyone knows that in Chinese history, there was a crime against the Nine Tribes, but since Zhu Di has been in place, there has been a new way of playing "The Ten Tribes". This also starts with a person named Fang Xiaoru. Fang Xiaoru was a courtier of Emperor Jianwen and a university inquirer at the time. According to normal circumstances, intellectuals were very stubborn, and when Zhu Di seized the throne, he asked the university inquirer to draft an edict on the throne. Fang Xiaoru not only did not write, but also cried and made a big fuss in the Golden Temple, which made Zhu Di lose face, annoyed Zhu Di, and wanted to rebuke him of the Nine Tribes, Fang Xiaoru said with the dignity of a reader that I would not write about the Ten Tribes, and one minister would not serve the two lords. In this way, Fang Xiaoru's relatives and friends were also killed. This is where the "Ten Tribes" begin.
Stills of The Great Ming Style Hua Fang Xiaoru
It is said that Zhu Di has done a lot of bad things as emperor for 22 years, but he has also done a lot of things full of positive energy. For example, when he moved the capital to Beijing, he became the King of Yan in Beijing before he became emperor. In order to stabilize Daming's northern border, Zhu Di considered moving the capital to Beijing out of border pressure, and made five northern expeditions, and finally even he himself died on the way to the northern expedition. The Forbidden City, the world's largest palace, was also built. The significance of this Forbidden City today must not be repeated. In addition, in the first year of Zhu Di's reign, he ordered Xie Jin and others to compile the Yongle Canon. This is a very remarkable feat in cultural history. Although Zhu Di, as an emperor of a generation, is now several centuries away, we must also draw on his wisdom while playing with history today, so as not to stop at the superficial issue of merit and wrong.
Zhu Di stills
During Zhu Di's 22 years as emperor, he launched a total of five northern expeditions. They were 1410 (yongle 8th year), 1414 (Yongle 12th year), 1422 (Yongle 20th year), 1423 (Yongle 21st year), and 1424 (Yongle 22nd year). Next, I will briefly talk about the five northern expeditions. After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, the Mongol Yuan forces were driven to the north of the desert, and after decades of development, they gradually split into three tribes: Tatars, Walas and Wuliangha. The three departments fought fiercely and harassed the northern frontier of the Ming Dynasty from time to time, and Zhu Di's five northern expeditions were launched in this context. The First Northern Expedition took place when the Tatars killed the envoys sent by Zhu Di. Zhu Di personally led an army of 500,000 to conquer the Tatars. A decisive battle was fought against the Tatar army at the Nan River (present-day Onnen River), which resulted in a complete victory for the Ming army, and the tatar leader Benjamin only led 7 horses to flee. Because it was the height of summer at that time, on the other hand, the Food and Grass of the Ming Army were not good, so the Banshi returned to the Dynasty. The First Northern Expedition came to an end.
Expedition to the north of the desert
After the First Northern Expedition, the Wala clan grew stronger and defeated the Tatars, and the leader of the Wala clan, Mahamu, continued to invade the northern frontier of the Ming Dynasty, so Zhu Di decided to launch the second northern expedition. The Ming army rushed thousands of miles and engaged the main force of the Wallachian army near the present-day Mongol capital, Öndörkhaan. The Ming Army's Divine Machine Battalion showed its strength and made an important contribution to the victory of the Ming Army. Although this battle severely damaged The Ming army itself suffered a lot of casualties, so Zhu Di ordered the Banshi to return to the Dynasty. After several years of recuperation, the Tatars of Yongle gradually became stronger and stronger, trying to change their policy toward the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Di decided to go north again, this time because the Tatars killed the Ming commander Wang Zhao. This time, Zhu Di mobilized more than 200,000 people to transport grain and grass from the Northern Expeditionary Army. The Ming army was invincible all the way, attacked separately, and captured more than 100,000 cattle and sheep and returned. In the twenty-first year of Yongle, Zhu Di obtained the news that the Tatars had once again invaded the northern frontier of the Ming Dynasty, and the crown prince supervised the country and carried out the Fourth Northern Expedition. In September of that year, the Ming army arrived at the Xiyang River, at this time it was reported that the Tatar army had been defeated by the Wallachian department, and in October the prince of the Tatar department led the troops to surrender, and the Ming army returned to the division to end the fourth northern expedition. In the twenty-second year of Yongle, the Tatar Arutai department continued to attack the Great Equivalent Region, and Zhu Di, after gathering a group of ministers to discuss, decided to launch the Fifth Northern Expedition, which caused the 64-year-old Zhu Di to die. The Ming army of the Northern Expedition went deep into the northern desert to supply difficulties, and finally Zhu Di fell ill and died on the way back to the division. Looking at Zhu Di's five northern expeditions, it effectively attacked the power of the Mongol nobility and ensured the comfort and production of life in the Central Plains. Further consolidated the central dynastic regime; But at the same time, it also wastes a lot of human, material and financial resources.
Ming Chengzu Zhu Di can be regarded as a Ming Emperor in the heyday of the Ming Dynasty, Ming Chengzu reigned for more than twenty years, he made a lot of contributions to the country and the people, which is beyond reproach by future generations. However, there have also been many cruel incidents behind this good emperor in the eyes of the people, and the harem tragedy during the reign of Ming Chengzu and the death of Fang Xiaoru are all shocking tragedies! Ming Chengzu Zhu Di was an extremely talented and ambitious man, and he and his second son Zhu Gaoxu were both capable officers on the battlefield. Therefore, his temperament nature may have been somewhat affected by those cruel battlefields, so that after he ascended to the throne, although he was a generation of Ming Emperors, he also killed many people. During the reign of Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, there was a horrific harem tragedy, when after the death of his empress Dowager Renxiao, the management of the harem was relatively chaotic. Ming Chengzu once died suddenly and violently for a favored concubine, and at that time, without clarifying the facts, thousands of harem beauties were implicated to death! This incident can be said to be a tragic event in history, and it can also be seen that although Ming Chengzu governed the country only in a disciplined manner at that time, he still had a brutal side in some matters.
For the Fang Xiaoru incident, it can also be regarded as a harsh atrocity committed by Ming Chengzu in history! Fang Xiaoru was only a close confidant of the previous emperor Jianwen Emperor at that time. His loyalty to Emperor Jianwen can be said to have shocked the world, but in the end he was linked together with his family and friends! At that time, Ming Chengzu Zhu Di wanted to use it for his own use, but Fang Xiaoru did not bow to him from beginning to end. For this atrocity, the death of Fang Xiaoru himself as the emperor's Ming Chengzu is beyond reproach. But what was too tragic was that Ming Chengzu was killed one by one in a fit of rage against the other filial piety! The reason was because Fang Xiaoru swore loyalty to the former Emperor Jianwen and refused to surrender, and the number of people who died in this atrocity reached nearly a thousand!
During the reign of Emperor Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, there was no empress until empress Xu's death. Before that, Empress Xu was not only deeply favored by Ming Chengzu, but also helped him a lot in state affairs. After Empress Xu's death, Ming Chengzu was very fond of a concubine of an ethnic minority in the harem. This concubine was not only beautiful and charming, intelligent and virtuous, but also very intelligent and loved by the emperor. Ming Chengzu was a brave and warlike man who often personally fought in battle, and at that time, he also took this concubine with him on the expedition, but he did not expect to die suddenly on the way. The death of this favored concubine dealt a very big blow to Ming Chengzu, and he could be said to be extremely sad at that time. Suddenly, there were rumors that this concubine was poisoned by Concubine Lü of the harem in conjunction with others with poison. Ming Chengzu Zhu Di had originally loved this concubine to the extreme, and after hearing these rumors, he was not in the mood to investigate carefully and killed All of Lü Fei and others by torture. According to later rumors, nearly a hundred people were killed along with Concubine Lü at that time!
Later, Ming Chengzu Zhu Di and a concubine who was going to be crowned empress, but also died suddenly. At that time, there were rumors in the harem that Jia Lu and Yu Shi had improper relations with eunuchs. Later, Ming Chengzu was furious again, and at that time, Jia Lu and Yu Shi were scared half to death, and eventually the two committed suicide. However, this matter did not settle down, and Zhu Di immediately committed the crime of Zhu Lian, and detained people close to Jia Lu and the slaves around Yu Shi and examined them one by one. At that time, because many palace ladies in the harem could not stand such torture, some of them were beaten into confession and rumored that some people in the harem wanted to murder the emperor! Although Ming Chengzu Zhu Di was a generation of Ming Emperors, his temperament was indeed very violent. After hearing this rumor, the harem maids were captured one after another, and more and more people were involved in the harem, even as many as thousands. These beautiful women selected from all over the country were killed one by one, and the culprit at that time was the great crime of rebellion! Judging from the scene at that time, Zhu Di's means can be said to be incomparably brutal.