The first three imperial transfers of power in the Ming Dynasty all looked extremely unusual.
For the first time, Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang abandoned the rule of "father and son succession, brother and brother", directly crossed his many sons, and handed over the throne to his grandson Zhu Yunjiao.
The second time, Ming Chengzu Zhu Di raised an army from Beijing and launched the "Battle of Jingnan", directly seizing the throne from his nephew Zhu Yunjiao.
The first two changes in imperial power were full of deceit, intrigue, and even directly broke out the hot war within the descendants of the Zhu clan, compared with them, the third imperial power transfer was not inferior, and the seemingly logical "father dies and son succeeds", in fact, the dark tide is surging and the wind and clouds are strange.
The "History of Ming" records that in July of the twenty-second year of Yongle, Zhu Di, the ancestor of Ming Cheng, died suddenly on his way back to Beijing during his personal conquest of Mobei, and the crown prince Zhu Gaozi took the throne.
Although it was logical for the crown prince to ascend to the throne, Zhu Di actually had the intention of deposing the crown prince long ago, and Zhu Gaozi was not a candidate who met his wishes.
Looking at the whole process of Zhu Gaozi's ascension to the throne, in the words of Yuanfang: There must be something strange in it.
First, Zhu Di's troubles
In determining the heir to the throne, Zhu Yuanzhang spent a lot of time in his later years and finally made a wrong decision.
Similarly, Zhu Di also made a choice dilemma on the issue of Li Chu. According to the old rule that "the heir is not long, and the concubine is not long", Hongwu twenty-eight years, when Zhu Di was still the King of Yan, he established his eldest son Zhu Gaozhi as the son of the King of Yan. When Zhu Di became emperor, Zhu Gaozi naturally became the crown prince.
However, things are far from being as simple as people think. The old rule of "standing up for a long time is not a virtuous", Zhu Di did not dare to easily break it when he was the king of the clan, but to be fair, he really did not like Zhu Gaozi, why?
It turned out that Zhu Gaozi had a cowardly, generous and gentle personality, which was indeed like the Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunjiao.
Some people say that their children have such a good character, is it not good?
Unfortunately, he was born in the imperial family. In the whirlpool of the imperial power struggle in the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yunjiao and Zhu Gaozi, who had such personalities, were clearly the fat on other people's desks!
Just imagine, if Zhu Yunjiao had the cruelty and cunning like Zhu Yuanzhang, how could Zhu Di succeed?
Moreover, in terms of personal talent, Zhu Gaozi was not the ideal successor of Zhu Di, and the historical records recorded that Zhu Gaozi was "fat and could not ride and shoot", which formed a strong contrast with his father who could fight in battle.
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the Northern Yuan forces were still there, and they often threatened the borders of the Ming Dynasty, so how could such a son be like Zhu Di?
Therefore, in terms of ability, Zhu Di preferred Zhu Gaoxu, the King of Han, who was similar to himself, and emotionally speaking, the younger son Zhu Gaoxuan, the King of Zhao, was his favorite.
The "History of Ming" records: "When the first emperor raised an army, the king of Han made several meritorious achievements in battle, and Emperor Xu was established as the crown prince... The emperor also pitied King Zhao for his youth and spoiled him. From the two kings together as the crown prince, the emperor was quite impressed. ”
Zhu Di favored Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Gaoxuan, and these two sons were not fuel-saving lamps, they were ambitious, and they often provoked dissension between the prince and Zhu Di. Therefore, Zhu Di moved his mind to abolish the prince.
However, the scholars and masters in the court did not agree, and they not only put forward various feudal rituals to resist, but also defended the prince with indisputable facts such as "leniency, benevolence and filial piety".
If Zhu Di deposed the crown prince without much negligence, it would inevitably lead to the division of forces within the imperial court and cause irreparable losses. Therefore, under the pressure of heavy public opinion, Zhu Di also had to give up temporarily.
However, in the end of the Yongle Dynasty, the dispute between the princes has never been interrupted, and Zhu Di's desire to abolish Zhu Gaozi has not disappeared because of the patience he has always had, but has become more and more intense.
As crown prince, Zhu Gaozi was too mediocre, and it was rumored that he might once again let the Ming Dynasty repeat the tragedy of the "Battle of Jing". From this level, Zhu Di's hidden worries are not unreasonable.
2. Zhu Di's testament
Twenty-two years after Yongle, Zhu Di began his fifth northern expedition to Tatars.
In the first four northern expeditions, Zhu Di failed to completely eliminate the threat from the north, so this expedition was inevitable.
However, in May of that year, when he led a large army closer to the main Tatar force, things suddenly changed: Zhu Di may have felt that his time was running out, so he made the decision to return to the dynasty.
According to the Records of Emperor Taizong of Ming, at that time, Zhu Di summoned Yang Rong, a scholar who had accompanied the army, and others to the account and said:
"Three drums last night, the dream has if it is the painting of the gods and men to tell the day of the fall: 'God is good to live'. If so again. What is this?"
Zhu Di said that he had a dream in which he saw a god man say to him: Heaven has the virtue of good life. Of course, Yang Rong understood that this was the emperor's intention to return to the dynasty with a banshi. As for the real reason, they may not have guessed it.
Therefore, Zhu Di changed his original intention of destroying the Tatars, and hurriedly took the division with the enemy close at hand. This is of course extremely unusual for him, who has been aiming to eliminate border troubles all his life.
On the way to the class, Zhu Di also appeared extremely impatient: although decades of conquest had made him familiar with the journey out of the jam, he still kept asking about the time of his arrival in Beijing, and the Records of Emperor Ming Taizong recorded his conversation with the internal attendant:
"'When is the journey to Beijing?' (Inner Waiter) To say: 'You can arrive in the middle of August'"
Later history proved that what urged Zhu Di to hurry back to Beijing was not a god man, but his health.
Sure enough, in July, on the third day that Zhu Di inquired about the regulations, the army "went to yumu river, shang (Zhu Di) Da gradually, and left the throne to pass on the crown prince."
However, the details of history are not so simple. Then a very strange scene occurred, that is, a eunuch named Ma Yun, together with the university scholars Yang Rong, Jin Youzi and others, decided not to be mourned!
"The eunuch Ma Yun and others were far away with the sixth division, and the secret did not send a funeral, and secretly discussed the funeral with the university scholars Yang Rong and Jin Youzi" (Records of Emperor Taizong of Ming)
In the actual records of Emperor Akihito Zhu Gaozi, this historical record is more detailed: "Emperor Taizong's rapid work and drama have collapsed in the Yumu River." Lieutenant Ma Yun and others are all ignorant of what to do, but secretly summon rong and Youzi into the imperial curtain, the first funeral... Or sigh at other things, write the edict with treasure, and send it into the Chi newspaper. Rong waited for the day: "Who dares to er, the first emperor is in the immediate name of the edict, bin tian and called the edict also ... NaiMei Palace prepared the intention of emperor Daxing to pass on the throne on the day of the death of Emperor Daxing and his will to pass on the throne. The cloud waits for it. ”
The general meaning of this large paragraph is that Zhu Di suddenly fell ill and died, and only Ma Yun and other eunuchs were at his side. Ma Yun was overwhelmed, so he secretly consulted with Yang Rong and others, and together they decided not to lose the secret method to prevent the King of Han and the King of Zhao from rebelling.
Moreover, because Zhu Di did not leave a will when he died, Ma Yun originally wanted to arrange for the crown prince to take the throne in the form of an imperial edict, but was rejected by the thoughtful university scholar Yang Rong and others.
In the end, together they pretended to be Zhu Di's intention, and together they created a testament to come out and smoothly "arrange" the crown prince to take the throne.
In August of that year, Zhu Gaozi became emperor. After he ascended the throne, he not only abolished Zheng He's expansion measures such as going to the West, but also cancelled the imperial court's procurement activities in Yunnan and Jiaolan, and moved the capital back to Nanjing to save state financial expenditure.
Zhu Gaozi seems to be doing everything against the old father, but in fact, he is pulling the horse from the cliff, stopping the loss in time, and saving the Ming Dynasty.
Of course, he also did his best to reward Yang Rong and other meritorious ministers who helped him ascend to the throne, and in December of that year, Zhu Gaozi gave Yang Rong the title of Shangshu of the Ministry of Works, doubled his salary, and said gratefully: "The emperor was admitted to the guest, and the sixth army was outside... But Qing Qing is loyal to the country, repays the emperor's kindness, and is decisive alone, until today... The report is very small, and now it is chasing the previous yan... Te ShengQing is the Shangshu of the Ministry of Works, the former official is as it was, the three branches are all branches, and the whole branch of the Shangshu is the true color"
In summary, Zhu Di's heart for deposing the prince was so long that he wanted to return to Beijing before his death to explain the future life, but he did not expect to die of illness before he arrived at the capital division, let alone make a will.
The eunuch Ma Yun and the chancellor Yang Rong "made a will" for him, so that Zhu Gaozi successfully ascended the throne. This is also the reason why they did not mourn in the first place.