On the evening of the sixteenth day of the first month of 1457, the minister Xu Youzhen changed into his imperial clothes, left home with a nervous and nervous mood, and before leaving, he confessed to his wife and daughter: "I am going to do a big thing, and it is a blessing for the country to accomplish it, and if I can't do it, xu family will be destroyed, and you must be mentally prepared." ”
It turned out that at this time in the palace, the Jingtai Emperor Zhu Qiyu was seriously ill, and the position of crown prince was vacant, and the Marquis Shi Heng of Wuqing, the governor Zhang Xuan, and the eunuch Cao Jixiang decided to join forces with the chancellor Xu Youzhen to welcome the restoration of Zhu Qizhen, the emperor of Ming Dynasty, for their own interests and the pursuit of immortal merits. That night, Xu Youzhen, Shi Heng, Cao Jixiang, and others launched a coup d'état on the grounds that Wa Lai was disturbing the border to protect the safety of the capital, first mobilizing troops to control the imperial city, and then crashing through the walls of the Nangong Palace to welcome the emperor Zhu Qizhen, who was under house arrest, and announcing the restoration of the throne at the Fengtian Temple in the early morning of the next day.
Before the "change of the gate", Shi Heng first conspired with Zhang Xuan and Cao Jixiang, and then sent Cao Jixiang to the palace to obtain the support of Empress Sun, as well as to unite Xu Youzhen and mobilize the army to launch a coup, a series of actions that could not be concealed from Shangshu Yuqian, who held the power of the imperial court at that time. Everyone knows that once the restoration is successful, Yu Qian, as a great hero who supported Zhu Qiyu's succession, will naturally bear the brunt of being liquidated and punished, but the strange thing is that Yu Qian's attitude when the change of seizing the door "happened" was to completely sit idly by, why is this?
The issue of heir to the throne after Zhu Qiyu's death
In 1449, Emperor Mingyingzong ZhuQizhen personally attacked the Mongol Walla, resulting in the "Change of Tumu Fort", the Ming army was defeated, Ming Yingzong was captured, and the Large Army of Wallache, under the leadership of Taishuai Yexian, quickly approached the Beijing Division.
Faced with such a dangerous situation, a series of disputes arose around whether to "fight" or "move south", among which the proposal of Xu Heng (later Xu Youzhen), an attendant of the Hanlin Academy, to move the capital to Nanjing and avoid the sword soldiers, won the support of many courtiers, and at this critical moment, Shangshu Yuqian of the Bingbu stood up and rejected this proposal, and believed that this was the theory of national subjugation, and it was necessary to learn the lessons of the Northern Song Dynasty's move south to Jiangnan.
In order to stabilize the hearts of the people, Empress Sun, the biological mother of Emperor Mingyingzong, presided over a royal council and appointed Emperor Mingyingzong's younger brother Zhu Qiyu the Prince of Qi to oversee the state and temporarily command hundreds of officials to act as state administrators. At the same time, Empress Sun also ordered Emperor Ming's eldest son, Zhu Jianshen, who was only two years old, to be crown prince.
Soon, he also first took Emperor Ming Yingzong hostage and besieged the city of Beijing all the way, in order not to be threatened by the Mongols, and at the same time to avoid the suspicion of the lord and the country, Yu Qian, Wang Zhi and other ministers jointly played Empress Sun, supporting Zhu Qiyu the Prince of Qi as emperor and Emperor Yaozun as Emperor Taishang. After Zhu Qiyu ascended the throne, he boldly appointed The Army of Shangshu Yuqian to lead an army to resist Walla, and under the full command of Yu Qian and others, he finally repelled the Wallachian army and won the victory in the defense of the capital.
He also learned that the Ming Dynasty had established a new emperor, believing that Zhu Qizhen had lost its use value, so he had the intention to let him go in order to make peace with the Ming Dynasty. But at this time, Zhu Qiyu was in a big position of power, and the emperor was addicted to it, and he did not want his brother Ming Yingzong to return, and he did not want to send a minister to greet him, and finally Yu Qian persuaded: "The imperial throne has been decided, and it will not be changed again, so it is reasonable to take the emperor back as soon as possible", Zhu Qiyu agreed.
Although the Jingtai Emperor Zhu Qiyu welcomed back his brother Zhu Qizhen, he was not at ease with him, so he imprisoned him in the Southern Palace, and in order to prevent him from contacting his old subjects, he also sent people to closely monitor his every move.
With Emperor Taishang under house arrest and the increasing stabilization of the throne, Zhu Qiyu was no longer satisfied with himself as emperor, and wanted his son Zhu Jianji to become the legitimate heir to the throne, and if he wanted to achieve his goal, he must first depose his nephew Zhu Jianshen as crown prince and then make his own son the crown prince.
However, the crown prince Zhu Jianshen was created by Empress Sun and was generally recognized by the ministers, and it was not easy to depose the crown prince, but Zhu Qiyu did not give up, first of all, he tried to change the reserve among the eunuchs and ministers, which had no effect, and then lowered his posture to the extreme to attract bribes to the courtiers.
Under zhu Qiyu's efforts, many eunuchs and ministers adopted a tacit attitude toward Zhu Qiyu's change of crown prince, and the only empress Wang who opposed Zhu Qiyu's appointment as crown prince was deposed by the angry Zhu Qiyu and also entered the cold palace. In the third year of Jingtai (1452), Zhu Qiyu deposed his nephew Zhu Jianshen as the Prince of Yi and replaced his son Zhu Jianji with the title of crown prince, but no one expected that zhu Jianji, who had become the crown prince in the second year, died prematurely, which was also the only son of the Jingtai Emperor Zhu Qiyu, and the premature death of the prince caused Zhu Qiyu's spirit to be seriously hit.
Although the imperial court did not have a crown prince, Zhu Qiyu was in his prime, so this matter had no impact on the situation. However, in the eighth year of Jingtai (1457), Zhu Qiyu suddenly fell seriously ill, and the emperor was childless and the throne was vacant, which just gave Xu Youzhen, Shi Heng, Cao Jixiang and others the opportunity to launch a "change to seize the door".
For Xu Youzhen, Shi Heng, Cao Jixiang and others plotting the restoration of Emperor Mingyingzong, the history books do not clearly record whether Yu Qian knew in advance, but in the case that Zhu Qiyu was seriously ill and could not afford to hang on the throne, the re-restoration of Emperor Mingying may be the best choice, after all, Xuanzong's line only has two princes, Zhu Qizhen and Zhu Qiyu, and as the chief minister trusted by Zhu Qiyu, Yu Qian is even more unwilling to betray Zhu Qiyu and take the initiative to cater to Zhu Qizhen's restoration, so in the face of the behavior of "the change of seizing the door", He adopted a tacit attitude of neither opposition nor support.
Empress Sun supported Zhu Qizhen's restoration and found it difficult to act
After Emperor Mingying's Zhu Qizhen was captured, although there was a person who did not easily interfere in the affairs of the imperial court, once he encountered major events, in fact, she was the one who had the greatest say, and she was Zhu Qizhen's birth mother, Empress Sun.
After the "Tumu fort change", the emperor was captured and had no master, and as the emperor's mother, Empress Sun naturally became the legitimate and most powerful principal of the country. In order to stabilize people's hearts and minds, she vigorously appointed Zhu Qiyu, the prince of Qi, as the temporary acting state of the jianguo, promoted Yu Qian to the post of Shangshu of the Bingbu, and gave him the heavy responsibility of full authority to prepare for the enemy.
Later, Empress Sun ordered Emperor Yingzong's son Zhu Jianshen to be crown prince, and when Emperor Yingzong was holding Emperor Yingzong's town hostage and attacking the city, in order to stabilize the hearts of the defenders, Empress Sun accepted the suggestion of her courtiers to make King Qi emperor and Zhu Qizhen emperor.
It can be said that in major national events, Empress Sun had a high right to speak, and it was with the support of Empress Sun that Zhu Qiyu, the king of Qi, was able to smoothly inherit the throne and quickly stabilize the hearts of the people, while Yu Qian was ordered to repel the army of Wallachia and finally win the battle to defend the capital.
Before the "Change of The Gate", Shi Heng, Zhang Xuan, and others conspired to send the eunuch Cao Jixiang into the palace to meet Empress Sun and secretly inform her of the restoration of Emperor Yingzong in order to gain Empress Sun's support. Empress Sun was certainly dissatisfied with Zhu Qiyu's imprisonment of Emperor Zhu Qizhen and the abolition of Crown Prince Zhu Jianshen, after all, Zhu Qizhen was her own son, and the crown prince Zhu Jianshen was also established by herself, but in order to maintain the stability of the situation, she did not stand up and say anything, but privately took good care of them for the future.
Now that Zhu Qiyu was seriously ill and the country was facing a dangerous moment of imperial succession, Empress Sun explicitly supported the "change of the door" of Xu Youzhen, Shi Heng, Cao Jixiang and others, and supported the re-restoration of the throne by the Emperor Zhu Qizhen. Empress Sun's support not only strengthened the determination of Shi Heng and others to restore, but also gave this operation a legal cloak.
Yu Qian was able to become a soldier of the imperial court and successfully defeated Vala, depending on the promotion and support of Empress Sun, Yu Qian was very aware of Empress Sun's role in the situation, so as long as he knew that Empress Sun supported Emperor Yingzong's restoration, it was useless for others to do anything, and Yu Qian may have understood this and did not take any action on the night of the "change of the door".
Focus on the overall situation and are not willing to toss
Yu Qian was born in a traditional family of scholars, advocated Confucian integrity, had lofty ambitions and took the world as his duty, and later became an official in the examination, being honest and honest for the officials, not afraid of the powerful, upright, and not bent.
In the fourteenth year of orthodoxy (1449), the "Tumu Rebellion" broke out, the Ming army was defeated, and the Wallachian army surrounded the Beijing Division. When many courtiers were afraid of Wallachia's proposal to move the capital south, Yu Qian stood up and advocated the war of resistance, and believed that the officials who proposed to move south should be beheaded, and it was Yu Qian's efforts to exclude public opinion that made the decision to defend the city and resist the war quickly.
After yu Qian was promoted to the post of Shangshu of the Military Department, he was entrusted with full responsibility for the defense of the Beijing Division, and he personally supervised the battle, leading 220,000 Ming troops to line up outside the Ninth Gate of Beijing to resolutely resist the Wallachian army. Marshal Wa Lai also saw that the Ming army had already made preparations, and it might be unfavorable to force a forced attack, so he held Emperor Yingzong Zhu Qizhen hostage to force the Ming Dynasty to seek peace, and Yu Qian did not allow it to be "the society is important, and the king is light". He also saw that he could not take advantage of the city, and there was no chance of victory in the siege, so he had no choice but to retreat.
Soon, Vala also wanted to ease relations with Daming first, so he decided to release Ming Yingzong, who had been stranded in Wallachia for more than a year, and was willing to release him first, but the Jingtai Emperor Zhu Qiyu did not want emperor Taishang to return. The key moment was Yu Qian persuading Zhu Qiyu to change his mind, and it can be said that Zhu Qizhen was able to return completely to Yu Qian's credit. For Qian, taking back the Emperor Taishang was not only the righteousness of a courtier, but also a reasonable way to do so, without the slightest concern for personal gain, but what he did not expect was that it was Later, emperor Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen wrongfully killed Yu Qian.
Before the "change of the gate", the Jingtai Emperor Zhu Qiyu was seriously ill and the position of crown prince was vacant, as the most powerful Yu Qian in the imperial court at that time, for the sake of his own interests and future generations, even if he did not consider the possibility of Emperor Yingzong's restoration, he could completely support other feudal kings as emperors, which was not very difficult for Yu Qian, who won the defense of the capital and won the hearts of the people.
However, Yu Qian did not do this, because there are so many kings in the world, everyone wants to be the emperor, and the choice of who is the heir to the imperial throne involves all aspects of interests, and once it is not handled carefully, it may lead to disputes, so that the situation that has been difficult to stabilize will fall into turmoil, which Yu Qian does not want to see.
However, when Yu Qian hesitated, Xu Youzhen, Shi Heng, Cao Jixiang and a group of others plotted and plotted the "change of seizing the door" for their own interests and seeking immortal merits, and supported the restoration of Zhu Qizhen, the emperor of Taishang. Yu Qian, as Zhu Qiyu's most trusted minister, once Emperor Yingzong was restored, he would certainly not be able to die, but even so, on the night of the coup, Yu Qian did nothing, in his opinion, by the eldest son of the imperial concubine, Emperor Zhu Qizhen to re-become emperor, from the overall situation may be the best choice, the imperial court can be a smooth transition, but also reduce the turmoil, he himself is not willing to toss.
What is ridiculous is that Yu Qian, who was devoted to serving the country, was framed by Xu Youzhen, Shi Heng and others, and killed for plotting to welcome the son of King Xiang of Zhili and plotting rebellion, and the whole world was wronged.
brief summary
Yu Qian's personality is straight, which is easy to attract the envy of Xu Youzhen, Shi Heng and others, at the same time, he worries about the country and forgets himself, following the Confucian concept of "sheji is heavy, the king is light", although he is loyal to the subject, loyal to the Ming Dynasty's Jiangshan Sheji, but not which emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, Shi Heng and others framed him, and he was not in a hurry to distinguish the debate, because he knew that the division was useless; the change of the door was "That night he did nothing, tacitly acknowledging the reinstatement of Emperor Yingzong, knowing that he might not be able to die well, but if this matter was beneficial to the country, he was willing to die generously."