The tenth day of November in the ninth year of Yongle was an incomparably important day for the Ming Empire.
According to the instructions of Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, Ming court officials were busy with the ceremony of the canonization ceremony of his grandson Zhu Zhanji.
Accompanied by solemn and ancient court music, Zhu Zhanji, who was holding a jade gui, was guided by the officials of the Ceremonial Department to complete the various canonization ceremonies in turn.
As the true owner of this ceremony, Zhu Di was pleased that his inheritance was followed by someone.
Speaking of which, this is the third grand celebration he has held since he ascended the throne.
The first time was when he ascended to the throne, and the second time was when he was crown prince Zhu Gaozi.
In contrast, this time the mood is far more comfortable than the previous two times.
In short, the canonization of Zhu Zhanji as the emperor's grandson was not only his heartfelt wish, but also the support and support of all officials.
Watching the handsome-looking Imperial Grandson behave gracefully and decently throughout the ceremony, Zhu Di, who was overjoyed, could not help but forget the rules of the ceremony and actually got up to personally put the crown of the Imperial Grandson on Zhu Zhanji's head.
For a moment, the whole ceremony reached its climax, and the "long live" cries of officials on both sides resounded throughout the temple.
As a result, Zhu Zhanji, the "good saint grandson" who had been painstakingly cultivated by Zhu Di for 13 years, became a veritable alternate emperor of the Ming Empire.
Ming Chengzu Zhu Di stills
Zhu Zhanji was crowned as the emperor's grandson, and the joy was of course the crown prince Zhu Gaozi.
Because Zhu Zhanji was crowned as the emperor's grandson, he invisibly consolidated his precarious position as crown prince.
Taking a step back, if Zhu Diri really deposed himself in consequences, it would not be his old rival who would inherit the throne: the second brother Zhu Gaoxu.
Zhu Gaoxu stills
Zhu Gaoxu, the second son of Zhu Di, the ancestor of Ming Cheng, was good at martial arts and evil literature since childhood, and the History of Ming records that he was "fierce in nature".
After the Outbreak of the Battle of Jingnan, Zhu Gaoxu stayed in Beiping as Yan Shizi, while Zhu Gaoxu accompanied Zhu Di on the front line.
With his brave personality, Zhu Gaoxu helped Zhu Di break the siege several times.
At the same time as establishing the meritorious service, Zhu Gaoxu inevitably had a kind of idea of taking a wife.
At this time, Zhu Di's third son, Zhu Gaoxuan, also mixed in with suspicion.
As a result, Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Gaoxuan formed an alliance to jointly deal with Zhu Gaozi, the son of the world.
Soon, the contradiction between the three was discovered by Emperor Jianwen.
Emperor Jianwen then asked Fang Xiaoru to write a letter to Zhu Gaozi, who was guarding Beiping, in an attempt to separate the father and son of King Yan.
Fortunately, Zhu Gaozi saw through Fang Xiaoru's plan, and immediately after receiving the letter, he sent someone to send the letter to Zhu Di to see, and defused Zhu Gaoxu's rumors.
After Zhu Di ascended the throne, the open and secret struggle between the two became more and more intense, and the courtiers were divided into two factions.
Most of the military generals, such as Qiu Fu the Duke of Qi, and Wang Ning, the Duke of Qi, explicitly expressed their support for Zhu Gaoxu, but the civil officials of the imperial court were very fond of Zhu Gaoxu.
In fact, Zhu Di also preferred to make Zhu Gaoxu crown prince, but the old tradition of primogeniture invisibly restrained him.
It is said that the last person who made Zhu Di make up his mind to make Zhu Gaoxu crown prince was the famous xiangshi Yuan Jue, who asserted that Zhu Di had the appearance of an emperor before the outbreak of the Battle of Jingnan.
Yuan Jue called himself a resident of Liuzhuang, and the face-to-face person who later claimed to have originated from the "Liuzhuang Xiangfa" was said to have come from the teaching of Yuan Jue.
At that time, Yuan Jue saw Zhu Gaozi and Zhu Zhanji, and immediately said that both of them had the noble appearance of the Son of Heaven.
After listening to Yuan Jue's words, Zhu Di no longer did what he thought, and finally made Zhu Gaozi crown prince in the second year of Yongle.
Zhu Gaozi stills
In July 1424, Ming Chengzu Zhu Di died of illness in Yumuchuan, and the crown prince Zhu Gaozi ascended the throne as Emperor Akihito.
After Akihito came to power, he not only pursued a policy of resting with the people, but also rehabilitated Fang Xiaoru and others who were executed by Zhu Di 22 years ago.
Unfortunately, Akihito did not enjoy a long reign and died less than ten months on the throne.
When the news of Akihito's death came out, Zhu Gaoxu, the King of Han in Le'an City, could not sit still.
When Zhu Di died of illness in Yumuchuan, Zhu Gaoxu wanted to preemptively attack.
Because the imperial court blocked the news, Zhu Gaoxu did not know the truth and finally did not dare to act hastily.
At present, the secret agents in the capital have accurately discovered the death of Zhu Gaozi and Zhu Zhanji is returning from Nanjing, and this opportunity is indeed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Therefore, Zhu Gaoxu immediately decided to send his cronies to garrison the main traffic route between the north and the south, preparing to intercept Zhu Zhanji in the middle of the way, and then raise an army to seize the throne.
Zhu Zhanji watched his father Zhu Gaoxu and second uncle Zhu Gaoxu fight secretly for more than twenty years, and he was already familiar with Zhu Gaoxu's tricks.
After receiving the letter, he led several light horses back to the capital on the same day, and the killers sent by Zhu Gaoxu were still one step too late.
Zhu Zhanji stills
After Zhu Zhanji successfully inherited the throne, Zhu Gaoxu, who was a thief with a weak heart, could not help but feel a little flustered in his heart.
Therefore, Zhu Gaoxu stepped up his military and economic preparations while trying to test Zhu Zhanji.
In order to paralyze Zhu Gaoxu, Zhu Zhanji rewarded Zhu Gaoxu with a large number of treasures as soon as he succeeded to the throne.
Zhu Zhanji also approved Zhu Gaoxu's national policy proposals.
In addition, Zhu Zhanji also sent emissaries to praise Zhu Gaoxu many times.
Zhu Gaoxu was scheming, and he regarded Zhu Zhanji's desire to capture the old man as a weakness to be deceived.
Therefore, Zhu Gaoxu wanted to emulate his father Zhu Di and raised the banner of "Qing Jun's Side".
At the same time, Zhu Gaoxu also sent his close associate Mei Qing into Beijing to contact the old people who had fought alongside him in the Battle of Jingnan, and Zhang Fu, a British official who had pacified Annam and now held military power, was his first contact object.
Without saying a word, Zhang Fu immediately bundled up the piece of qing and gave it to Zhu Zhanji.
Zhu Zhanji personally interrogated Mei Qing and understood Zhu Gaoxu's troop deployment.
At this time, Shandong Prefecture and County also played the rebellion of Zhu Gaoxu, the King of Han.
At this time, Zhu Zhanji was not in a hurry to recruit Zhu Gaoxu.
He still hoped that Zhu Gaoxu would turn back in time, so he sent an old eunuch to persuade Zhu Gaoxu.
Zhu Gaoxu was simple and crisp, scolding Zhu Zhanji and his father Zhu Gaoxu for violating the ancestral system in front of the emissary.
As soon as the emissary left, Zhu Gaoxu's challenge book was sent to Beijing.
After reading Zhu Gaoxu's letter, Zhu Zhanji understood that a peaceful settlement was impossible, so he immediately convened a royal council.
At the meeting, the military generals recommended Xue Lu, the Marquis of Yangwu, who had made great achievements in battle, or Zhang Fu, a British man with superior wisdom, to lead an army to quell the rebellion.
Who knows, However, Zhu Zhanji vigorously defied the public opinion and decided to personally march on the imperial horse.
He knew that the reason why Emperor Jianwen failed that year was because he refused to march in person, but instead handed over the elite of the country to Li Jinglong, who was a self-proclaimed general, which led to the reversal of the strong and weak pattern of the Yan army in the first battle.
Then, Zhu Zhanji asked the general Zhu Gaoxu what he would do next when he learned that the emperor was driving the imperial conquest?
Some of the ministers said that Zhu Gaoxu had been in Nanjing for many years and was very familiar with the situation in Nanjing, and would go straight to Nanjing after the incident, and then use the natural dangers of the Yangtze River to oppose the imperial court. Therefore, the imperial court should send troops to control Nanjing as soon as possible; some people say that Zhu Gaoxu will not run long distances to attack Nanjing, but will use Shandong to fight a protracted war with the imperial court. Therefore, it is particularly important to control the city of Jinan.
Zhu Zhanji was worthy of being a highly qualified student trained by Zhu Di, and he did not know whether to comment on the suggestions of the generals, but instead made a long-winded analysis of the generals.
Zhu Zhanji believed that Zhu Gaoxu's cronies around him were all Le'an people, and where to use troops, Zhu Gaoxu would first ask them. These people were "born and raised in Si", and they did not want to leave their homeland, and certainly would not follow Zhu Gaoxu to Nanjing; the city of Jinan was high and deep, and Zhu Gaoxu had participated in the Battle of Jingnan and was very clear about the fortification of Jinan City. If Zhu Gaoxu could not break through Jinan in a short period of time, he would be caught in the back and forth attack of our army. In this way, Zhu Gaoxu's only choice was to stick to Le'an. Therefore, the imperial court did not have to consider Nanjing, nor did it have to consider Jinan, and went straight to Le'an.
Sure enough, Zhu Zhanji penetrated Zhu Gaoxu's mind.
After a rapid march, the imperial army successfully arrived in Le'an.
In order to deter the rebels, Zhu Zhanji ordered the Divine Machine Battalion to fire cannons at the head of Le'an City.
In an instant, the explosion of thunder began, and the rebels in the city were suddenly disillusioned.
Soon, Zhu Zhanji issued an ultimatum to Zhu Gaoxu and told the sergeant in the city that if he captured or killed Zhu Gaoxu and surrendered Kaesong, he would receive a rich reward.
That night, Zhu Gaoxu burned the documents of the rebellion and the weapons he had built, and then left the city and surrendered.
At this point, Zhu Gaoxu's rebellion was smoothly quelled by Zhu Zhanji in less than a month.
After Zhu Gaoxu's rebellion was put down, Zhu Zhanji ordered people to build a prison cell inside the Xihua Gate and imprison Zhu Gaoxu here.
Interestingly, Zhu Zhanji gave the cell a name: Runaway City.
As a result, Zhu Gaoxu, the former King of Han who was deposed as a Shuren, took handcuffs and shackles and spent nearly four years as a prisoner in this runaway city, until one day in April of the fourth year of Xuande.
On this day, Zhu Zhanji, after reading Zhu Quan's recital on pardoning Zhu Gaoxu, the King of Ning, came to Runaway City with his bodyguards, and he wanted to see if the second uncle, who had been under house arrest for three years, had repented.
When Zhu Zhanji came to Zhu Gaoxu's face and stared at him for a long time, Zhu Gaoxu, who was full of hatred, suddenly felt that there was no name for him.
Taking advantage of Zhu Zhanji's lack of attention, Zhu Gaoxu hooked Zhu Zhanji with one foot.
Zhu Zhanji was extremely angry, and immediately ordered the guards to carry a large copper cylinder weighing more than 300 kilograms to hold Zhu Gaoxu.
The 46-year-old Zhu Gaoxu was still strong, and he actually lifted the copper cylinder up with a hard neck.
Remembering the hatred of the past, Zhu Zhanji was completely annoyed, and he ordered his guards to burn charcoal around the copper cylinder.
In a few moments, the hot flame melted the copper cylinder.