Ming Chengzu Zhu Di is a relatively special emperor in Chinese history, he is one of the few who raised an army as the king of the domain, succeeded, and ascended to the emperor's throne, Zhu Di was the King of Yan of the Ming Empire before ascending the throne.
Liu Bang was the king of Han that Xiang Yu had divided, and after Liu Bang successfully defeated Xiang Yu and unified the world, a new dynasty with the title of "Han" as the national name was established, And Li Yuan's title was the Duke of Tang, and before Li Yuan had unified the world, a new dynasty with his title of "Tang" as the national name was established, illustrating the tradition of using the title as the newly established state name.
According to general common sense, Zhu Di was the King of Yan, and as the King of Yan, under the banner of "Qing Junfang", he successfully defeated the orthodox emperor Jianwen Emperor through the Battle of Jingnan, but Zhu Di did not establish a new dynasty with his title of "Yan" as the national name, but continued to use the "Ming" established by Zhu Yuanzhang as the national name, with his own considerations.
After Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, he turned back the clock in history and revived the anti-human sub-feudal system, and divided his sons except the crown prince to various places as the kings of the clan, which led to the later Jianwen Emperor's cutting of the clan, all because of this sub-feudal system.
At the same time, Zhu Yuanzhang also did an incredible thing, that is, after the death of his eldest son Zhu Biao, Zhu Yuanzhang did not choose his son as the heir to the throne of the Ming Empire, but directly jumped to his grandson, and chose Zhu Yunjiao, the son of the eldest son Zhu Biao, as the second emperor of the Ming Emperor, and also laid the groundwork for the later Battle of Jingnan.
One is the sub-feudal system, the other is with Sun Tzu as the heir, Zhu Yuanzhang's two actions directly led to the rebellion of the later Yan king Zhu Di, all of which should be Zhu Yuanzhang's responsibility. The succession to the emperor's throne has always had a strict system, and the emperor's succession system pursued by Zhu Yuanzhang is the inheritance system of the eldest son, according to the rules, the emperor's heir must be the emperor's eldest son, this is no problem, the problem is that Zhu Yuanzhang's eldest son Zhu Biao died, and the heir to the throne after that should be Zhu Biao's brother to inherit according to the reason.
However, Zhu Yuanzhang forcibly allowed Zhu Biao's son Zhu Yunjiao to inherit the emperor's throne with his personal authority, which was tantamount to violating the system, if according to the system, Zhu Biao died, it should be Zhu Biao's brothers to inherit, Zhu Biao had several younger brothers of the concubine line, the second brother Zhu Zhu the King of Qin, the third brother Zhu Di the King of Jin, the fourth brother Zhu Di the King of Yan, and the fifth brother Zhu Zhu of Zhou, according to the system, it should be the Qin King Zhu Zhu, and Zhu Di was also the third heir.
However, Zhu Yuanzhang made his grandson Zhu Yunjiao the crown prince, and after Zhu Yuanzhang's death, Zhu Yunjiao became emperor, that is, Emperor Jianwen, and the year zhu Yunjiao ascended the throne, Zhu Zhu, the king of Qin, and Zhu Tang, the king of Jin, had already died, that is to say, Zhu Di, the king of Yan, became the eldest of all of Zhu Yuanzhang's concubines in the year of Zhu Yuanzhang's death, and according to the inheritance system, it should be Zhu Di who became emperor.
However, Zhu Yuanzhang forcibly supported Zhu Yunjiao as emperor before his death, but this Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunjiao began to forcefully cut the domain as soon as he took office as emperor, cutting it, if it is mild, it is not a big problem, but the means of Jianwen Emperor's cutting of the domain are very tough, either degraded to a common man or forced to commit suicide, and the Yan king Zhu Di at that time could only be forced to rebel in order to survive.
In the end, Zhu Di defeated the Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunjiao and successfully became the emperor, after attacking the Jianwen Emperor, Zhu Di faced a series of legitimacy problems, how to solve the legitimacy problem, is the legal principle of Zhu Di to become the emperor, but also involves a series of national and national system formulation, it also involves the issue of national name.
Zhu Di adopted the method of not recognizing Emperor Jianwen as emperor, abolished all the new decrees issued by Emperor Jianwen, and restored them all to the decrees of Zhu Yuanzhang's time, and at the same time changed even the era name to "Hongwu" in Zhu Yuanzhang's period, Zhu Di's meaning is obvious, the legal theory of his succession to the emperor's throne is because he is Zhu Yuanzhang's concubine, and in the case of Zhu Biao's death, and at the same time, Zhu Di, the king of Qin, and Zhu Tang, the king of Jin, are actually the heirs of the first line, which is very sufficient and very legally rational.
Why didn't Zhu Di re-establish a new dynasty with his title of "Yan" as the national name, but instead continued to use the ming state name?
In fact, the reason is not complicated, because Zhu Di takes Ming as the name of the country, and the law is the most correct and convincing.
If Zhu Di takes Yan as the name of the country, it is equivalent to re-establishing a new dynasty, it is equivalent to the Battle of Jingnan is a campaign against usurpation, and it is equivalent to denying the Daming established by Zhu Yuanzhang, which is difficult to explain in legal theory.
If we take Ming as the name of the country and take the system in the "Huangming Ancestral Training" established by Zhu Yuanzhang as the legal reason, it is the best reason, and the "Huangming Ancestral Training" has such a provision:
Whoever has no prince in the imperial court, must be a brother and a brother, and he who is born of his mother must be born of his mother, and although he is born of his mother, he shall not be able to stand.
This is very understandable, all those who do not have a prince in the imperial court must be inherited by their brothers who have died, and they must be sons born to their mother-in-law, and the sons born to their mothers, although they are older, cannot be established as heirs. Therefore, Zhu Di inherited Zhu Yuanzhang's imperial throne with the principle of brother and brother, and erasing the imperial title of Emperor Jianwen was the most reasonable and simple method.