His time was over.
June 24, 1398, Nanjing, Daming Palace. Zhu Yuanzhang, who knew that his time was short, struggled with his body, and struggled to face the people on the left and right and asked three times in a row: "Is the King of Yan coming?" Did the Yan King come? Did the Yan King come? ”
At this time, in Huai'an, more than 200 kilometers away from Nanjing. A group of galloping people and horses was suddenly blocked by the gushing Out Inner Guards, "The Emperor has a will, the King of Yan is not allowed to enter the capital, not to stay for a moment, to quickly return to the fiefdom, and those who violate it will be beheaded!" ”
With a long sigh, Zhu Di, the King of Yan, turned the horse's head and returned with sorrow.
According to the existing historical data, Zhu Yuanzhang summoned Zhu Di to depose the emperor's grandson Zhu Yunjiao and install his fourth son Zhu Di on the throne. After Zhu Di was ordered to enter Beijing and was blocked from Huai'an, Zhu Yunjiao was able to "correct" the throne, and thus the Battle of Jingnan occurred...
Why did Zhu Yuanzhang ask three times before he died? Who used the imperial decree to prevent Zhu Di, the King of Yan, from entering Beijing? More importantly, is this history real, or is it made up after Zhu Di came to power by tampering with historical materials?
1. Did Zhu Yuanzhang summon Zhu Di before he died?
In May of the thirty-first leap year of Ming Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang felt unwell and sent emissaries from the Inner Palace to summon Zhu Di, the King of Yan, into Beijing. When Zhu Di rushed to Huai'an, the emperor's grandson Zhu Yunjiao and his close associate Qi Tai and others "plotted deception", sent people with sealed letters, falsely transmitted the holy will, and ordered Zhu Di to return to the fiefdom. Zhu Yuanzhang closed his eyes and asked the people left and right three times, "Has the King of Yan come?" No one dared to answer.
This record can be found in the Records of Ming Taizu and the Records of Emperor Taizong of Ming, although the text is slightly different, but the core meaning is exactly the same.
Later generations believe that this is a period of history fabricated by Zhu Di after he took the throne in order to prove his legitimacy, he wantonly revised historical materials and made up. The intention was to allude to Zhu Yuanzhang's preparation to depose Zhu Yunjiao and establish Zhu Di as the new emperor. Zhu Yunjiao and others falsely preached the Holy Will to prevent Zhu Di from entering Beijing, which led to the Battle of Jingnan.
People also found the answer from the "History of Ming": In Zhu Yuanzhang's will, it was clearly required that "the kings are in the kingdom, not to the capital division", since they specifically told the kings to stay in the fiefdom and not to enter the capital, where is the three consecutive questions of "the king of Yan has not come"?
However, the "History of Ming" was tampered with by the Qing court in a large number of black and white in the revision, which is also an undeniable fact, that is to say, the "History of Ming" is not credible! In this way, whether Zhu Yuanzhang summoned Zhu Di or not became a headless public case.
So there was such a funny scene: "Ming Taizu Shilu", "Ming Taizong Shilu", "Ming Shi" are not credible, and the doubters believe in the wild history and notes circulating in the folk, thus confirming the history that Zhu Yuanzhang did not summon Zhu Di at all before his death.
2. The person Zhu Di offended was the person that Zhu Yuanzhang strongly praised
In the writer's pen, Zhu Di is a complete murderer, and he is not soft on different people.
For example, tie xuan, who had defeated the Yan army in Jinan, was captured and Ling was late to death. Because Tie Xuan cursed to death, Zhu Di had people place oil pots in the main hall, throw the corpse into it, and instantly turn into black charcoal. In order to make the bones outward and facing north, more than ten iron rods were used to clamp the remains. Seeing that Tie Hyun's body was finally facing him, Zhu Di smiled and said, "Have you come to worship me now?" "Before the end of the sentence, the hot oil in the pot boiled and splashed, and the bearer of the iron rod burned his hands and feet, abandoned the stick and fled, while the bones of tie Hyun were still turned on Zhu Di...
Such a story has been circulating for a hundred years, has no one found out: it is a completely novel history? To tell the truth, it was written purely to smear Zhu Di. Who wrote it? Later generations of literati. Why were later generations of literati so keen to smear Zhu Di? Because Zhu Di was too cruel to the literati after he ascended to the throne!
For example, the famous Fang Xiaoru was cursed by the Ten Tribes, setting a record of no ancients before and no one after. Of course, there is already evidence that the so-called Ten Tribes of The Cursed Ones are only fabricated by later generations of literati and do not exist at all. But it is undeniable that Zhu Di did kill a large number of literati Confucians, and his trust in literati Confucians was far less than that of his close eunuchs and Jinyi guards.
And the person Zhu Di offended was the person Zhu Yuanzhang praised. Although Zhu Yuanzhang was not very cultured, he had great respect for cultured people, especially after becoming emperor, he was able to "pay tribute to The Confucians, examine the rituals and dingle, reveal the scriptures, and respect the orthodox learning" - treat the Confucian literati with courtesy, examine and formulate the ritual music, show the great righteousness of the Four Books and Five Classics, and respect the orthodox doctrine of Confucianism.
Zhu Yuanzhang also killed many people, but all of them were a group of old brothers who fought with him in the world, and officials who did not make decisions for the people, and these people were all accused of "corruption" and "conspiracy to rebel". Compared with Zhu Di," who "cursed the Ten Tribes" without drafting an edict for him, Zhu Yuanzhang's reason for killing people was much more grand and just.
Zhu Di killed Fang Xiaoru, who Yao Guangxiao said was "the seed of the world's readers", and offended the confucians all over the world. They did not dare to speak out in the official revision historical materials, so they poured their anger into the wild history and notes, and what "Yan Wang came not to come" three consecutive questions, etc., were all made up by Zhu Di.
3. What is the truth about Zhu Yuanzhang's summoning of Zhu Di?
Did Zhu Di make up history? The answer is yes, such as the widely questioned question about his "who was his birth mother"? But this does not mean that the "Yan King has not come" three consecutive questions do not exist. It was only Zhu Yuanzhang's intention in summoning Zhu Di, not to abolish Zhu Yunjiao and establish Zhu Di as the new king. Because in Zhu Yuanzhang's mind, "the emperor's grandson Yun Jiong Ren Ming filial piety, the world returns to the heart, it is advisable to ascend to the throne."
Renming filial piety, this is the biggest reason why Zhu Yuanzhang chose Zhu Yunjiao, and Renxiao was once the label of prince Zhu Biao. Why does Zhu Yuanzhang value this so much? This is because he was "worried about the people in his later years", and in his later years he became more and more worried about the people's livelihood, and once built water conservancy and excavated tens of thousands of rivers in one year to benefit Nongsang. However, Zhu Yuanzhang was the emperor after all, and he knew the importance of the gun.
Zhu Biao died unexpectedly, and when he handed over power to the emperor's grandson, he found that Zhu Yunjiao, who was filial, gentle and elegant, and had no experience in ruling, was blank in the military field, let alone a military concubine. Governing the country with benevolence and filial piety, still needing military escort, looking around, who can be trusted and relied on?
In the early years, Zhu Yuanzhang went on a killing spree through the "Hu Lan case," the "empty seal case," and the "Guo Huan case," and at least 100,000 officials moved their heads. Now it is necessary to select a military auxiliary minister for the emperor's grandson, who can be anyone but Zhu Di? Therefore, the truth of Zhu Yuanzhang's summoning of Zhu Di was to appoint a minister for the 22-year-old young emperor to be given a military auxiliary government and to ensure the smooth reign of Emperor Sun.
Now, looking at the calendar of Zhu Yuanzhang's last moments in life, it may be more clear that Zhu Yuanzhang's intention to summon Zhu Di was: "On the eighth day of the first month of May, I was ill. On the twelfth day, the governor Yang Wen followed Zhu Di the Prince of Yan, and Guo Ying, the Marquis of Wuding, followed Zhu Zhi, the Prince of Liao, and garrisoned at Kaiping, both under the control of the King of Yan. On May 8, the condition deteriorated. He died in the Western Palace on the tenth day. ”
After Zhu Yuanzhang fell ill, he asked Guo Ying and Yang Wen, who survived the purge, to follow Zhu Di and Zhu Zhi to guard Kaiping. Guarding against the enemy at the northwest gateway was the greatest military strategy in the early Ming Dynasty, and Zhu Yuanzhang's arrangement of "being controlled by the Yan King" undoubtedly entrusted the safety of the empire to Zhu Di, who was also his most trusted military general before his death.
It was an inevitable option to let Zhu Di, the fourth son of Zhu Di, who could recruit good warriors and great talents, assist the emperor's grandson.
Unfortunately, Zhu Yunjiao was angry with books, and was seduced by Qi Tai and others, blocking Zhu Di from Huai'an, and after coming to power, he wantonly slashed the domain, forcing a bunch of his uncles to jump, and Zhu Di, who had nowhere to go, had to get up and create a nephew's rebellion...
References: "Records of Ming Taizu", "Records of Emperor Taizong of Ming", "History of Ming", "Records of the State of Jianwenxun", "Manuscripts of history of Ming", interested parties can read in detail