In 1406, a fire broke out in the city of Nanjing, and the imperial palace became a piece of ashes and rubble, and there were more than 30 corpses burned into coke, which were difficult to distinguish. When asked about the eunuch palace women, some said that Emperor Jianwen had fled, and only one eunuch pointed to a coke-like corpse and said, "This is a bit like the emperor", so Ming Chengzu Zhu Di was buried with the emperor's courtesy. Did Emperor Jianwen set himself on fire or fled? Where do you flee? It has been a mystery for more than 500 years. However, relevant historical data shows that Ming Chengzu knew where Emperor Jianwen was, but released his nephew on a horse. Why?
In 1406, a fire broke out in the city of Nanjing, and the imperial palace became a ashes of rubble
The grudge between Zhu Di and Emperor Jianwen's uncles and nephews stemmed from Emperor Jianwen's cutting of the domain. In 1392, Zhu Yuanzhang's crown prince Zhu Biao died, and Zhu Yuanzhang was deeply distressed. Zhu Yuanzhang, in accordance with the inheritance criteria of the feudal society of lien and li, ordered Zhu Yunjiao, the eldest grandson, to be the heir of the Ming Emperor. In 1398, Zhu Yunwen ascended the throne and was known as Emperor Jianwen.
The young Jianwen Emperor relied on his teachers, Qi Tai (兵部尚書齐泰), and Huang Zicheng (黄子澄), the secretary of the Dachang Temple, to handle the affairs of the dynasty. In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang sealed all 26 of his sons to various places as the kings of the clan, and the kings of the clan each led heavy troops to guard one side, which was originally meant to defend the Ming regime. The kings of the various clans were heavily armed, and the rule of the young Jianwen Emperor was always the greatest threat.
Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng had realized the seriousness of the problem, and they jointly wrote to the clan: "Your uncles have a lot of heavy soldiers in their hands, and they are strong, and only by cutting off the military power in their hands can you consolidate your throne." As soon as the young Jianwen Emperor had a hot head, he began a vigorous campaign to cut the domain.
Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng jointly wrote a letter to cut the domain
Emperor Jianwen, with the assistance of three ministers, successfully reduced the Zhou kings Zhu Shu, Min San Zhu Yu, Qi Wang Zhu Bo, and Dai Wang Zhu Gui to commoners, and forced Zhu Bai the Xiang King to commit suicide. However, Zhu Di, the King of Yan, in addition to holding heavy troops, was also resourceful, and Zhu Di was Emperor Jianwen's biggest problem, and it was difficult to rush to do it for a while.
Zhu Di, with the help of Yao Guangxiao, launched the Battle of Jingnan. In 1402, they swore an oath in Beiping and rebelled against the imperial court in the name of "Qi Tai, Huang Zicheng, and Qing Junfang", and the uncles and nephews fought for 4 years, and finally, Zhu Di attacked Nanjing, and only then did the scene of the palace being burned by Emperor Wen of Jianjian and self-immolated.
What is the whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen? Historians have been arguing endlessly. Did Zhu Di really not know the whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen? Or did he know his whereabouts and let Emperor Jianwen go?
It is said that Emperor Jianwen set himself on fire, mainly based on the records of some canonical histories such as Daming's "Records of Taizu Shilu", and since it is a canonical history, no one dares to criticize it. Because the book "Records of Taizu Shilu" was edited according to Zhu Di's intentions, the book did not recognize the existence of the Jianwen dynasty, canceled the Jianwen era name, and used the Hongwu Chronicle, so the canonical history represented by the book has a serious tendency toward rulers, which is not enough to believe.
In the Records of Taizu, it is recorded that Emperor Jianwen had set himself on fire and died, which should be a means for Zhu Di to consolidate his rule, in order to hide his eyes and ears, and obviously suspected of self-deception. As the King of Yan, Zhu Di stole his nephew's Daming Jiangshan, and his name was not justified, in order to consolidate the new political power and stabilize the people's hearts, it was better to affirm that Jianwen was missing than to affirm that he burned himself and died, which was beneficial to consolidating his imperial power.
But history is history, not subject to the will of a certain emperor, historians believe that Emperor Jianwen did not set himself on fire, but fled from Nanjing, whereabouts are unknown. Saying that Emperor Jianwen was dead, even Zhu Di himself did not believe it, and the biggest heart disease after Zhu Di became emperor was that he was worried that Emperor Jianwen Zhu Yunjiao was not dead, and he was afraid that he would gather the remnants of the party to make a comeback. At that time, there were two speculations about the whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen: one was to flee overseas, and the other was to hide in the people.
It is entirely possible to flee overseas, because the world's navigation industry developed very rapidly in the early 15th century, and sino-foreign exchanges were close. Many foreign merchant ships often did business with Ming merchants, and Emperor Jianwen took a merchant ship at will and fled abroad to settle down, which was a breeze. For this reason, Zhu Dicai sent Zheng He seven times to the West, with the obvious intention of secretly searching for the whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen under the guise of preaching the virtues of the Ming Dynasty and showing off his wealth and strength, but he never found any traces of Emperor Jianwen abroad.
Ming Chengzu Zhu Di
It is said that Emperor Jianwen did not self-immolate and die, but fled to the folk to hide almost the folk history, which is also the consensus of scholars in recent years, the main basis of which is the "Guoyu" and "Compilation of Jianwen Dynasty and Wild History". The "Guoyu" is a chronicle of the Ming Dynasty, which basically stands on the position of Emperor Jianwen and says that Emperor Jianwen did not self-immolate and died. The Compilation of Jianwen Dynasty and Wild History believes that Emperor Jianwen did not die, and that his hair was cut into monks and hidden in the ancient temple of the famous mountain.
In these wild histories, it is clearly written that after the Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunjiao escaped from Nanjing, he first lived in puji Temple in Wu County, Suzhou, and then hidden in many ancient temples in the Qionglong Mountains, and said that in the 21st year of Zhu Yunjiao, Emperor Jianwen died of illness at the age of 45. It also shows that The Chengzu Yongle Emperor Zhu Di later consolidated his position, and when he learned that his nephew was a monk, he was willing to hide in the empty door, and he was not to blame for the past.
After Emperor Jianwen died of illness, Emperor Jianwen buried him in situ and pressed it on the head of the tomb with a square bluestone to show the meaning of the imperial tomb of "Heavenly Round Place", which is clearly recorded in the Compilation of Jianwen Dynasty and Wild History. Some yeshi say that Emperor Jianwen first took refuge in Wu County, and then wore monk costumes to travel to the southwestern provinces such as Sichuan, Yunnan, and Qian, and lived permanently in Bailong'an in Yunnan. Now there is a Jianwen Peak in Nanshan, Chongqing, the Chaoyuan Temple of jiangjin Simian Mountain Scenic Area, Guizhou, Yunnan, etc., and there are many legends related to the Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunjiao.
Legend has it that the Red Cliff Book of Heaven was a rebellious text of Emperor Jianwen
Mr. Meng Sen, a Historian of the Ming Dynasty, said: "Zhu Di said that Jianwen Junwei was burned to death, and for more than hundreds of years, it was originally an excuse for Chengzu, which was highly anticipated, but Emperor Jianwen was not dead? From the analysis of many historical materials, the Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunjiao really became a monk. But we can say with certainty that the farther away the time, the more difficult it is to understand the mystery of the disappearance of Emperor Jianwen, which will become a mystery for thousands of years.
Reference historical materials: "Records of Taizu", "Compilation of Jianwen Dynasty and Opposition History", "Guoyu"