In the fifth year of Daming Yongle, that is, in 1407 AD, in July of this year, Empress Xu, the empress of the Yongle Emperor Zhu Di, died in Nanjing, and the Yongle Emperor Zhu Di had a crooked mind about Empress Xu's sister Xu Miaojin, and ordered the envoys and female officials in the palace to go and summon, but Xu Miaojin first pretended to be ill, and then said that his face was ugly, and finally cut his hair directly as a nun. When the Yongle Emperor Zhu Di learned of this, he had to give up, but from then on he set up a virtual palace and did not set up an empress.
So, who is this woman named Xu Miaojin? And why let his emperor's brother-in-law haunt his dreams? Why would Xu Miaojin prefer to become a nun rather than marry Zhu Di as empress?
First, the story of Xu Miaojin
Xu Miaojin is said to be the daughter of Xu Da, the founding hero of the Ming Dynasty, Xu Da the Duke of Wei, who had a total of four daughters, the eldest daughter was the wife of Zhu Di of Ming Chengzu, that is, Empress Xu of the Yongle Dynasty, and the youngest fourth daughter of Xu Da at that time was xu Miaojin mentioned above, that is, Zhu Di's sister-in-law.
Xu Miaojin is not only beautiful and proficient in poetry and song, especially playing a good piano is commendable, and Zhu Di does not know which tendon is wrong, preferring to fall in love with his sister-in-law, but next to the face of his wife Empress Xu, Zhu Di does not dare to show this admiration.
In the fifth year of Yongle, that is, in 1407 AD, Empress Xu died, and Zhu Di was relieved, and immediately ordered Xu Miaojin to be summoned to the palace, and proposed to Xu Miaojin in person, but the result was of course rejected by Xu Miaojin.
Of course, Zhu Di was not willing, and entrusted Xu Miaojin's brother to bring a letter to Xu Miaojin, to be precise, a love letter, which once again expressed Zhu Di's own admiration for Xu Miaojin, and promised Xu Miaojin that she could continue to take her sister's place as empress of the Ming Dynasty, but xu Miaojin still replied to the letter and politely refused, and there was also a reply letter from Xu Miaojin rejecting the marriage proposal of the Yongle Emperor Zhu Di, called "The Book of the Emperor of Yongle", also known as the "Book of the Emperor of Yongle" or "The Book of the Emperor of Yongle".
The letter "The Book of the Yongle Emperor" is beautifully written and elegant, quite like the handwriting of Xu Miaojin, who is everyone's bridesmaid, and first expressed his own temperament in his heart, saying that he was born thin, did not want to live in wealth and wealth and only wanted to be leisurely alone; then respectfully and gently rejected the marriage proposal of the Yongle Emperor Zhu Di, saying that he deeply felt a piece of pity from His Majesty, and it was difficult to repay him in death, but he had no use for the Yongle Emperor, and was not a good match for the emperor; finally, Xu Miaojin bluntly said that he insisted on going to become a nun. I want to live this remnant with the Green Lantern Ancient Buddha.
Second, the authenticity of the Book of the Emperor of Yongle
Xu Miaojin would rather become a nun than make an empress to the Yongle Emperor Zhu Di, and if this "Letter of the Emperor of Yongle" is true, then the Yongle Emperor can also be regarded as a major setback in love, however, this "Book of the Emperor of Yongle" is obviously made up by folk literati.
On the one hand, the "Letter of the Emperor of Rejecting Yongle" circulated by the people did not conform to the format of ancient correspondence, and the correspondence exchange of the ancients had a strict correspondence format, not to mention that Xu Miaojin's courtiers wrote letters to the emperor, and the format and language would be more stringent.
The "Letter of the Emperor of Rejecting Yongle" circulated by the people obviously does not meet the standards, and there is no beginning or ending, and there is no end, but the word "courtesan" is mentioned to let people know that this is a letter to the emperor, and who wrote it and to whom it is not clearly specified.
On the other hand, if xu Miaojin did write a letter rejecting the marriage proposal of the Yongle Emperor Zhu Di, then this letter belongs to a private letter, and how can the private letter be made public? The emperor's private correspondence was naturally secret, not to mention that it contained the secret story of Zhu Di's love frustration, which naturally could not be made public.
In summary, this "Letter of the Emperor of Yongle" does not meet the format and standards of the letters, nor can it be published by Zhu Di, then it is very likely that it is a letter made up by the folk literati, but it is worth mentioning that this fabricated letter is extraordinary, the words are elegant and exquisite, and it is indeed a good article.
Third, who is Xu Miaojin?
In fact, in the existing historical materials to make Xu Miaojin's identity very confusing, it is reasonable to say that although Xu Da has four daughters in the historical records, but in the historical records and the calculation of the age of several daughters, Xu Da's fourth daughter was born when Xu Da was in a state of serious illness and dying, whether he can give birth to this fourth daughter is uncertain, how to say that this fourth daughter is Xu Jinmiao?
According to the "Qinxuan Ji Zhongshan Wuning King's Third Daughter Xu Shi Yuanming", Xu Miaojin should be Xu Da's third daughter, and of Xu Da's three daughters, the eldest daughter married Zhu Di the Prince of Yan, that is, the later Empress Xu; the second daughter was married to The Acting King Zhu Gui, that is, the Acting Princess; and the third daughter was married to The Prince of An, that is, Princess An.
Then, this Xu Miaojin is very likely to be this Princess An, that is to say, this Xu Miaojin coveted by Zhu Di is not only Zhu Di's sister-in-law or Zhu Di's younger sister, the relationship suddenly becomes complicated, and if the two-level relationship is established, the Yongle Emperor Zhu Di will inevitably be unable to escape the name of "beast".
But who is Xu Miaojin? Is it Princess Ann? Or is it an ordinary Xu family talented woman?
Fourth, the confusion between folk tales and historical notes
The Records of Ming Taizu records that Xu Da did have four daughters, namely Empress Xu, Princess Dai, and Princess An, but there is no record of the four daughters, and the marriage and whereabouts are completely unknown. So is this fourth daughter Xu Miaojin?
This undoubtedly left a huge mystery for future generations, giving people a huge space for doubts and imagination, and the folk embraced such doubts to carry out various imaginations and deduced various stories, "The Book of the Emperor of Yongle" is a typical example.
During the Jiajing period, a shangshu named Zheng Duanjian at that time recorded in his notebook "Present Words" that Xu Da's second wife's surname was Xie, that is, Xie Shi, and this Xie clan was the biological mother of Empress Xu, the Acting Princess and the fourth daughter, and Lady Xie was summoned to the palace by the Yongle Emperor Zhu Di to talk after Empress Xu's illness and death, and Zhu Di proposed to this Lady Xie to marry Lady Xie's younger daughter as an empress, and Lady Xie wanted to politely refuse, and Zhu Di said that her younger daughter was not worthy of the emperor, but the Yongle Emperor was very angry and said: If a lady and daughter do not return, what kind of son-in-law should they choose? ”
It means that your daughter does not marry me, what son-in-law do you want to choose? There is a threat in the words. Therefore, this fourth daughter eventually became a nun without anyone daring to marry, and this may be Xu Miaojin's fourth daughter should be the object of Zhu Di's marriage proposal.
However, this story is still too dramatic, there is no way to determine whether this fourth daughter exists, after all, Xu Da is almost impossible to have another child before his death, and even if he gives birth to this fourth daughter, he will be twenty-two years old when the Yongle Emperor proposes marriage.
In ancient times, it was completely unreasonable to be twenty-two years old and still to be married, not to mention Xu Da's daughter, and the time of this incident was not right, Lady Xie died as early as the Zhu Yuanzhang period, that is, before October of the twenty-second year of Hongwu, and was posthumously named Lady Zhongshan Wang, how could Zhu Di talk to the dead?
brief summary
To sum up, although folk and wild history have always spread the marriage proposal story between Xu Da's fourth daughter Xu Miaojin and the Yongle Emperor Zhu Di, it is very likely that the literati have fictionalized it.
However, we cannot completely deny the existence of Xu Miaojin, after all, Xu Miaojing is very likely to be Princess An, and if so, it is also possible that the Yongle Emperor Zhu Di's sister-in-law and sister-in-law Princess An is also possible, after all, Zhu Di once snubbed and even persecuted King An.
And Princess An has no record as early as the time when King An was in Pingliang, it is very likely that princess An was proposed by Zhu Di before King An was pingliang, and after Princess An refused to become a nun, Zhu Di was dead hearted, but there was anger and King An let him go to Pingliang, and there is still a legend in Beijing that Princess An was a monk.
However, speculation is speculation after all, and inference is only inference after all, and we do not know what the truth of the matter is, but this is also the fascinating place of history.
References: "History of Ming", "Ming Shilu", "Jinyan", "Qinxuan Ji, the third daughter of King Wuning of Zhongshan, Xu Shiyuan", "Book of the Emperor of Yongle", "Zhai ShengYewen", "Long Xingci"