In the thirty-first year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, died. Since his eldest son Zhu Biao died prematurely, according to his will, the throne was replaced by Zhu Biao's son Zhu Yunjiao.
This year, Zhu Yunjiao was only twenty-one years old.
The new emperor taking the throne is generally a good thing for the common people. Because at the beginning of the new emperor's reign, he often formulated some policies that benefited the people, so as to conform to the people's will and strengthen his rule. Moreover, because the new emperor has just taken over this huge empire, he is generally more enterprising, so he dares to take some decisive measures to solve some of the old and difficult problems left over from the past. For the empire as a whole, and for ordinary people in particular, this is undoubtedly a good thing. But for the Ming dynasty kings, Zhu Yunjiao's succession was the beginning of their nightmare.
Obviously, Zhu Yunjiao was such an emperor. After he ascended the throne, he changed his name to Yuan Jianwen and began a drastic reform.
Zhu Yunjiao was a very ambitious emperor, and he had a sense of crisis. For Zhu Yuanzhang's large number of feudal kings, he had actually always been vigilant. Therefore, as soon as he came to power, he aimed his spearhead at these clan kings.
In fact, if we first analyze the situation of Emperor Jianwen in this matter, it is not difficult to find out why he is so anxious to deal with these clan kings.
From the perspective of generations, these clan kings were basically his uncles. Whether it was age, experience, seniority, prestige, etc., he was far inferior to these uncles. In particular, Zhu Di, the King of Yan, was even more distinguished in battle, and his personal power was huge and stable. These clan kings also had their own armies, although nominally guarding the border pass and serving the country, in Zhu Yunjiao's view, this was always a hidden danger that he had to solve.
According to a historical record, it is said that after Zhu Yunjiao had been made the emperor's grandson, zhu Di, the king of Yan, once went to Beijing to attend a palace banquet, but he did not pay attention to him at the banquet, and his attitude was very contemptuous. This made Zhu Yunjiao very unhappy, feeling that as the emperor's grandson, he did not get the respect he deserved. But at the same time, this incident also sounded a wake-up call for him: the king of the clan posed a great threat to him, and reform must be carried out.
According to historical records, there was such a dialogue between Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Yunjiao: Zhu Yunjiao said: "The kings of The Kings are not Jing, the kings are not Jing, who is the Emperor? Zhu Yuanzhang had nothing to say, so he asked Zhu Yunjiao, "What is Ruyi?" Zhu Yunjiao replied: "With virtue and courtesy, we must not cut their land, and we must not abolish their people, and even raise troops to cut them down." Zhu Yuanzhang said: "Yes, it is not easy." ”
It can also be seen from this that in fact, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Yunjiao were aware of the threat of the king of the domain, but Zhu Yuanzhang was no longer able to do anything to change, and could only leave this matter to his grandson Zhu Yunjiao. In this regard, Zhu Yunjiao also has his own set of ideas for a long time.
However, at this time, Emperor Jianwen had just ascended the throne, and his grandfather Zhu Yuanzhang, in order to help him consolidate his rule, killed the founding hero. Therefore, at this time, he has not yet fully established a team of his own confidants, and there are not many people available under him.
In the face of potential threats from these clan kings, it was imperative for Emperor Jianwen to reform the clan kings.
Therefore, the first thing, Zhu Yunjiao is to first gather people and form his own team. After careful consideration, Qi Tai, Huang Zicheng, and Fang Xiaoru soon became his good helpers in cutting the domain.
Thirty-one years after Hongwu, the drama of cutting the domain officially began.
The first protagonist to play was Zhu Xu, the King of Zhou. Emperor Jianwen first took him and directly reduced the King of Zhou to the "land of smoke and miasma" in Yunnan. Later, although he was allowed to return to Kyoshi, he was imprisoned and his freedom was restricted.
And that's just the beginning. Subsequently, Emperor Jianwen deposed the Xiang King, the Qi King, the Dai Wang, and the Min King. Judging from these few slashed objects, Emperor Jianwen's target was only some relatively weak feudal kings. However, the hidden sword only pointed to Zhu Di, the King of Yan.
Together with the cutting of the domain, there was a restriction on the rights of the king of the domain.
During the Zhu Yuanzhang period, the kings of the clan were treated very well, which was also mentioned in the previous article, and will not be discussed in detail here. Emperor Jianwen did this by cutting their treatment and forbade them to oppress local officials and not allow them to meddle in local government affairs. Most importantly, there are restrictions on their military power.
Through this series of changes, a kind of deterrence was formed for the king of the domain. The reforms had initial effects.
From our analysis just now, it can be seen that although Zhu Yunjiao did not reign for a long time, his management policy over the king of the clan was tightened during his reign. In general, it is mainly limited. Of course, we know the final result, because he was too tightly pressed, and finally the Yan king Zhu Di rebelled and seized the throne in one fell swoop, which also announced the failure of his reform.
After the successful usurpation of the throne, Zhu Di, because he was born as the king of the domain, paid more attention to the problem of the king of the domain. Therefore, after he ascended the throne, he also began to carry out reforms, which we will explain in detail in the next article. Stay tuned! I like to remember to pay attention to it!