In the long history of China's feudal dynasties of more than two thousand years, in order to maintain the hereditary system of fathers and sons, the emperor as the supreme ruler often selects the heir before his death and relieves himself of worries by appointing a prince, however, due to the complexity of the political struggle, it is not difficult for us to look at the history books to find that even if the emperor appoints the prince, he cannot completely avoid the contradictions and conflicts around the imperial power, and the examples of turmoil abound.
Emperor Wu of Han caused a fratricidal plague between father and son because of his suspicion of the crown prince Liu Zhao, Tang Taizong Li Shimin launched the Xuanwumen Rebellion to kill the crown prince Li Jiancheng to seize the throne, compared with these bloody and cruel political struggles, Zhu Biao, as the first crown prince of the Ming Dynasty, was more like a lucky man favored by fate, he was not only Zhu Yuanzhang's favorite son and the eldest son, but also received the respect and submission of many brothers, even Zhu Di, the King of Yan, who later launched the Jing Dynasty, did not dare to be reckless during his lifetime, then, What kind of person is Zhu Biao?
Born in a troubled world, the eldest son in the family
In the chaos of the world at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, who had a miserable life, had served as a beggar and a monk in order to survive, and when he threw himself into rebelling against the tyranny of the Yuan Dynasty, he was only one of the many peasant rebels, but Zhu Yuanzhang, who had great ambitions, was not a thing in the pool, and after he threw himself into the hands of Guo Zixing, the leader of the Haozhou rebel army, Zhu Yuanzhang gathered a group of cronies who were willing to serve him like a god, and also married Guo Zixing's righteous daughter Ma Shi and began his struggle in the chaotic world.
Just when Zhu Yuanzhang was gathering strength to attack Jiqingfu, an important town in the southeast of the Yuan Dynasty, the later Empress Ma gave birth to Zhu Yuanzhang's eldest son Zhu Biao, and after experiencing the tragic childhood of family destruction and death, with the birth of Zhu Biao, Zhu Yuanzhang felt the happiness of the long-lost family, and soon after the birth of Zhu Biao, Zhu Yuanzhang conquered JiqingFu, mastered the city of Nanjing, and became the hegemon of one side, which made Zhu Yuanzhang feel doubly excited. Zhu Yuanzhang, who was at the door of double happiness, was overflowing with love for Zhu Biao, and even in order to commemorate Zhu Biao's birth, Zhu Yuanzhang also deliberately carved a stone to commemorate it on a local mountain, leaving an inscription that read, "Those who come to this mountain do not suffer from no heirs". It is not difficult to see Zhu Yuanzhang's excitement about Zhu Biao's birth, and it can be said that the eldest son Zhu Biao has been a rare comfort to Zhu Yuanzhang, who is floating in the chaotic world, from birth.
Wu Wang Shizi, since childhood preferential treatment
As the eldest son in the family, under the feudal etiquette system of the eldest son succeeding to the throne, Zhu Biao naturally had political advantages that were incomparable to other brothers, and Zhu Yuanzhang had high hopes for Zhu Biao early on, Zhu Yuanzhang proclaimed himself the King of Wu before officially calling himself the emperor, at this time Zhu Biao was just a child who was only ten years old, Zhu Yuanzhang could not wait to establish Zhu Biao as the son of The Prince of Wu, it can be said that Zhu Yuanzhang cultivated Zhu Biao as an heir a long time ago.
In the turbulent years when the world had not yet been calmed down, Zhu Yuanzhang was very attentive to Zhu Biao's growth and education, not only hired a famous Confucian teacher to give lectures for Zhu Biao, but also carefully designed and arranged various opportunities for him to exercise his talents. Due to the confucian ideological education since childhood, and the meticulous care and preferential treatment of Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao gradually grew into a generous, benevolent and talented young man, accumulating a good reputation and prestige, which made Zhu Biao the first prince of the Ming Dynasty seem very logical.
Prince Daming, do everything you can to love
In the first year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang officially declared himself emperor and established the Ming Dynasty, zhu Yuanzhang, who had long regarded Zhu Biao as the only heir, had just ascended to the throne, and ordered Zhu Biao to be crowned crown prince, and in order to cultivate Zhu Biao's ability to govern the country, Zhu Yuanzhang, who loved him in every way, selected a group of very powerful auxiliary assistants for Zhu Biao. In the list of counselors who were selected as the prince of the Eastern Palace, almost all the meritorious people who contributed to the great Ming Kai state were gathered. Among them, there were such strategists as Li Shanchang and Liu Bowen, as well as military generals such as Xu Da, Chang Yuchun, and Feng Sheng, who could recruit good warriors, and it was not difficult to see that in order to cultivate Zhu Biao, Zhu Yuanzhang was eager to assign all the world's talents he could to Zhu Biao as counseling.
From Zhu Yuanzhang's assignment of such a powerful xungui group to the Eastern Palace to teach the crown prince, we can also perceive another layer of Zhu Yuanzhang's intention: to let Zhu Biao cultivate feelings and establish prestige with these founding heroes, and make plans for Zhu Biao's future.
Oversee the country and govern, be generous and benevolent
In the tenth year of Hongwu, Zhu Biao was twenty-two years old at the time, at this time Zhu Biao already had a certain ability to govern the country with the assistance of many ministers, and Zhu Yuanzhang saw that the world was already peaceful and stable, and also intended to further cultivate Zhu Biao's ability to govern the country, so he ordered that all future political affairs should be handled by the crown prince Zhu Biao first, and then reported to himself, in fact, Zhu Biao was given the privilege of supervising the country. In the face of his father's bold decentralization, Zhu Biao carefully took over the power to govern the country and began to learn and assist his father in handling government affairs, and it was in this process that Zhu Biao showed a very different generosity and benevolence from his father Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Yuanzhang often did not hesitate to kill in order to eliminate the Xungui clique that could not be left behind, and Zhu Biao often worked with his mother Empress Ma to persuade Zhu Yuanzhang not to go too far.
Zhu Yuanzhang believed that Zhu Biao did not understand his intentions to clear the obstacles for his succession, and once asked Zhu Biao to pick up a rattan full of thorns, implying that Zhu Biao would stop at nothing to eliminate the powerful Xun Gui in order to enable him to take over the power after his death, however, Zhu Biao retorted to Zhu Yuanzhang, saying, "There are yao shun kings on the top and yao shun people below", thinking that as long as he has a model of benevolence, the world will naturally submit, which once made Zhu Yuanzhang very angry.
Although Zhu Yuanzhang was not impressed or even quite angry at Zhu Biao's behavior of dissuading him from killing the ring, in Zhu Yuanzhang's heart, the generous and benevolent Zhu Biao was undoubtedly the best candidate to succeed him, and Zhu Yuanzhang longed that under Zhu Biao's governance, the Foundation of Daming that he had worked so hard to create could be steadily developed, and he did not expect an accident at all.
Patrol Guanzhong and love your brothers
In the twenty-fourth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang had the idea of moving the capital to Chang'an, and it coincided with the fact that Zhu Zhu, the king of Qin who had been sealed in Guanzhong, was reported for illegal acts in the local area, so Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the crown prince Zhu Biao to inspect Guanzhong to investigate the feasibility of moving the capital to Chang'an, and at the same time to investigate whether the behavior of the King of Qin was improper. Zhu Yuanzhang raised more than twenty princes in his lifetime, and unlike Zhu Biao, the eldest son born in a chaotic world, some princes were born with dignity and superiority, and they had never seen the sufferings of the people, and it was inevitable that they would act arrogantly, which was the reason why Zhu Yuanzhang would let Zhu Biao investigate the King of Qin.
For Zhu Biao, who was established as the heir early, his many younger brothers can be said to be one of the competitors to some extent, but Zhu Biao has never used the power in his hands to retaliate against them, but has more love and care for them, so that they are exempt from the harsh rebuke of his father Zhu Yuanzhang, so Zhu Biao has considerable prestige among his brothers. After Zhu Biao went to Guanzhong for an inspection, he inspected the changes in the style of the ancient capital Chang'an for Zhu Yuanzhang, and presented a detailed and complete map and inspection report. At the same time, Zhu Biao learned about the words and deeds of the King of Qin through a secret visit, and interceded with Zhu Yuanzhang on his behalf, dispelling Zhu Yuanzhang's suspicions about the King of Qin.
However, to everyone's surprise, the young and powerful Prince of Benevolence was unfortunately infected with wind and cold after experiencing a patrol of boats and cars, which caused turmoil in the originally stable situation.
Unfortunate early death, change history
In the twenty-fifth year of Hongwu, Zhu Biao, the crown prince who was pinned high hopes on by Zhu Yuanzhang and loved by his brothers and subjects, died of illness at the age of thirty-seven, and Zhu Biao, who unfortunately died young, not only lost the imperial throne by mistake, but also made the history of the Ming Dynasty undergo a lamentable change. Zhu Yuanzhang always regarded Zhu Biao as an heir, loved and cultivated him in every way, and was bent on entrusting him with the burden of inheriting the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Biao's untimely death not only caused Zhu Yuanzhang to fall into great sorrow, but also made Zhu Yuanzhang worry that there was no successor.
Since he never expected Zhu Biao to die of illness before himself, Zhu Yuanzhang early divided his other sons into kings and sent them to various places, plus the education and cultivation of other sons was far less than that of Zhu Biao, and it was difficult for Zhu Yuanzhang to choose a prince who was comparable to Zhu Biao as his heir. Therefore, out of favoritism for Zhu Biao, Zhu Yuanzhang finally chose Zhu Biao's son Zhu Yunjiao and made Zhu Yunjiao the emperor's grandson as his heir, however, Zhu Yuanzhang obviously ignored Zhu Yunzhang's rather weak deterrent power against the princes who were sealed to various places, and if they could still respect and obey Zhu Biao, it was obviously doubtful whether they could remain loyal to Zhu Yunjiao, who was younger than himself.
As Zhu Yuanzhang's most beloved son, Zhu Biao's short life received the love and care that many princes could not dream of, and his generous and benevolent style was expected to make him a Ming jun after Zhu Yuanzhang, but the young age of Zhu Biao completely changed the course of history. Zhu Yunjiao, who succeeded Zhu Biao as the heir, was eventually defeated in the Jing Dynasty initiated by Zhu Di, the King of Yan, and even the reputation after Zhu Biao's death was ruthlessly smeared, as the first prince of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Biao was undoubtedly happy and happy before his death, but after his death, he was slandered and smeared, and had to make people feel the paradox and ruthlessness of history.