In 1398, on the tenth day of the first leap month of May, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Empire, died, and his grandson Zhu Yunjiao succeeded to the throne as Emperor Jianwen.
The first fire of the new emperor's presidency burned on his uncles.
Yes, the first thing Emperor Jianwen wanted to do was to cut the domain.
Since ancient times, cutting the domain has been a technical job, and if it is not good, it will be a big deal.
For example, the Western Han Jing Emperor cut the domain, which triggered the Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms; the Western Jin Dynasty Jia Nanfeng cut the domain, and cut out the Rebellion of the Eight Kings.
Although Mr. Zhu Yunzhi had long been aware of the harm of the king of the clan and had a famous discussion with Zhu Zhongba, the chief architect of the imperial clan system, in fact, he himself did not have a definite idea of how to cut the clan.
Fortunately, at the side of Emperor Jianwen, there was also a group of upright readers who advised him.
But the group of think tanks selected by Zhu Yuanzhang Tongzi for his grandson also has a fatal problem:
Whether it is Qi Tai or Huang Zicheng, his character and knowledge are all first-class. But a good book is not the same thing as a strong ability to do things. These people around Emperor Jianwen were basically nerds who could only do learning.
Mr. Zhu Yunjiao had only been in office for a month, and at the instigation of the counselors, he was impatient to cut the domain.
In the order of cutting the domain, the think tank A Qi Tai believed that the strongest Yan king Zhu Di should be cut first, and Zhuo Jing, then the attendant of the household department, also wrote to the imperial court proposing to change the fiefdom of the Yan king to Nanchang. But think tank B Huang Zicheng objected. He believed that the King of Yan had no merit, it was not advisable to move him prematurely, and in order to win the support of public opinion, he should first find the prince with problems.
Emperor Jianwen thought that Huang Zicheng was right, so he picked up a few soft persimmons and abolished the five princes including The King of Zhou and the King of Xiang within half a year.
Emperor Jianwen's method of doing so suddenly forced the ambitionist Zhu Di to a dead end, either rebelling or being killed like the other brothers.
It was never Zhu Ditongzi's style to tie his hands, so he soon began to prepare for the uprising, recruiting a large number of soldiers, and began to solve the problem of weapons and equipment.
The ming dynasty's weapons control was quite strict, all in the hands of the imperial court. Zhu Di tongzi wants to revolutionize Zhu Yunjiao's life, and he can't always reach out to him for equipment, right? So he had to rely on himself, built a large basement, set up an arsenal in it, and opened a number of chicken farms nearby to hide his eyes, and the secrecy work was quite home.
Zhu Di had already sharpened his sword and was ready to pull Emperor Jianwen off his horse. But before that, Heaven actually gave Zhu Yunjiao two excellent opportunities to easily solve the future rebel Zhu Ditongzi.
The first opportunity was the coronation ceremony of Zhu Yunjiao, according to the regulations, the new emperor ascended the throne, and the king of the clan should enter the dynasty to meet him.
In March of the first year of Jianwen, King Yan entered the dynasty to pay homage to the new king, and this benevolent brother was quite arrogant, not only taking the imperial road to enter the palace, but also seeing Emperor Jianwen and not worshipping.
It is no wonder that with Zhu Di Tongzi's gaze at the world's style, if it was the crown prince Zhu Biao who took over, it is estimated that he could still be able to calm him, Zhu Yunjiao's milk stink has not dried, this worship, the name of the monarch is determined, how can he be willing to call him Zhu Di?
Zhu Di's arrogant and arrogant behavior caused the public indignation of the courtiers, and everyone thought that the King of Yan should be punished, and Zhuo Jing, the attendant of the household department, played it many times, suggesting that he take the opportunity to solve Zhu Di's thorn.
It should be said that this is an incomparably correct suggestion, not only is the division famous, but also the soldiers are not bloody. Zhuo Jingqi was a rare person of understanding among the nerd group around Emperor Jianwen, and it was also this gentleman who had previously suggested moving Zhu Di to Nanchang.
Unfortunately, Emperor Jianwen rejected his proposal.
Soon, however, the second opportunity came, because the coming May was the death day of Mr. Zhu Zhongbalao, the founder of the Ming Dynasty. According to the ceremonial system, Zhu Di, as a son, needed to go to Nanjing to worship.
However, Zhu Ditongzi obviously did not want to do this, and the last time he crossed the border, he still had palpitations. However, on the day of his father's death, if he did not go to the grave to worship, how would he play his banner in the future?
After careful consideration, Zhu Di decided to retreat to the second place and send three sons to Nanjing instead of himself.
Zhu Di's hand played quite a big game. Zhu Gaoxu, Zhu Gaoxu, and Zhu Gaoxuan were his only three concubines, and the first two were all rare talents.
Zhu Ditongzi's blood base was, first, to paralyze the imperial court and show that he had no different intentions; second, he also believed that Zhu Yunjiao was more indecisive and would not attack his son.
As soon as Zhu Gaozi's three brothers entered the capital, Qi Tai immediately suggested that Emperor Jianwen take the three of them hostage, but Huang Zicheng stood up against it, believing that this would strike the grass and startle the snake, and they should be released back and continue to paralyze the King of Yan.
This is more funny, the imperial court has already dealt with five or six clan kings, the grass is burning, this time is still worried about the snake, do you think Zhu Di Tongzi is hibernating?
If it weren't for the later facts that proved that Huang Zicheng was indeed Zhu Yunzhang's great loyal minister, I would have suspected that he was an undercover agent.
Under the persuasion of Huang Zicheng, Emperor Jianwen hesitated and let go of zhu Gaozi's three brothers.
Zhu Di's intelligence work was quite excellent, and he was well aware of the movements in the imperial court, and his three sons returned without any danger, which made him overjoyed. But at the same time, he also knew that there was not much time left for himself.
But rebellion is not playing CS, there is still a lot of preparation to be done, and more time needs to be bought.
Generally speaking, there are two best ways to get your opponent to let down your guard, one is to pretend to be crazy, and the other is to sell stupidity. The outstanding representative of the former is Sun Zhen; the typical figure of the latter is Tang Xianzong.
Zhu Ditongzi's shrewd and strong ability has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and the stupid is definitely not able to sell, and the only thing left is to pretend to be crazy.
Zhu Di's performance is extremely tense, and history records that he "pretended to walk wildly in the city, grabbed wine and food, talked in chaos, or lay in the ground, and did not wake up all day", even Zhang Fu, the mayor of Beiping City, who was responsible for monitoring him, and Xie Gui, commander of the Beiping Military Region, believed it.
However, later, ChangShi Gecheng betrayed Zhu Di and told Emperor Jianwen about his faking madness and actually preparing for rebellion.
In June of the first year of Jianwen (1399 AD), Zhang Fu, Xie Gui, and others were ordered to mobilize soldiers to prepare to arrest the King of Yan.
People who have watched "Infernal Affairs" know that not only are there police undercovers in the gang, but there are also gangsters in the police. Zhu Di's chief Shi Gecheng was united by Emperor Jianwen, but Zhang Xin, a member of the imperial court, was also rebelled against by Zhu Di.
After receiving Zhang Xin's notice, Zhu Di immediately dispatched 800 elite soldiers and pawns to secretly enter the palace, and then used a trick to trick Zhang Fu and Xie Gui into the palace and killed them.
Immediately after, Zhu Di officially announced the Jing Dynasty, and a few years later, he hit Nanjing and sat in the Golden Ruan Hall.