"Although The former Han Wu and Tang Emperors repeatedly broke the Northern Di, they were all generals rather than pro-conquests. The Han Tianzi crossed the desert, and only Ming Chengzu was alone. This is a comment by the famous Japanese sinologist Naka Tongshi on Ming Chengzu Zhu Di.
It can be seen that among the emperors of the ancient Chinese dynasties, although Zhu Di was born incorrectly and usurped the throne of his nephew, the position of emperor was still quite good, and he became a rare Mingjun in the hearts of many people in later generations. However, in any case, perhaps because he felt that he was "not in the right place", Zhu Di began the journey of "making a show" after he took the throne.
For example, after Ming Chengzu Zhu Di ascended the throne, he restored some of the ancestral systems that had been abolished by Emperor Jianwen; he also sent Zheng He to the West in the third year of Yongle; personally led an expedition to the desert in the eighth year of Yongle; and built an unprecedented temple for his mother in the tenth year of Yongle.
Of course, there is also a very important point that Ming Chengzu Zhu Di built a monument of divine merit and virtue with the title of "the first monument in the world" for his father Zhu Yuanzhang.
Perhaps many people have some doubts, whether Ming Chengzu Zhu Di sent Zheng He to the West or personally conquered the desert, his purpose may be to prove to the people of the world that he is actually the most suitable emperor for the emperor. Then why did he work hard to build the so-called Monument of Divine Merit and Virtue?
Judging from Zhu Di's series of actions, his order to build a monument of divine merit for his father Zhu Yuanzhang was nothing more than guilt in his heart, and he was eager to show his loyalty and filial piety after disobeying his father (usurping the throne).
1. Construct a monument to divine merit
In the first year of Yongle, after Ming Chengzu Zhu Di ascended the throne, he carried out a "purge" of the old subjects of Emperor Jianwen of the dynasty. Three years later, Zhu Di felt that he had rebelled against his most admired father, and felt guilty that he had seized the throne set by his father himself through usurpation.
Therefore, in order to express his loyalty to his father and vigorously praise Zhu Yuanzhang's founding exploits, Zhu Di ordered the excavation of a monument of divine merit for Zhu Yuanzhang, hoping to exalt his father in the sky and stand tall.
After Zhu Di gave the order, tens of thousands of craftsmen from all over the country rushed to the Yang Mountains on the eastern outskirts of Nanjing. Subsequently, the clanging sound of chiseling stones was incessant. After a year of this, the prototype of the Sacred Virtue Monument was finally chiseled out by the craftsmen.
However, rather than saying that the Monument of Divine Merit was chiseled out of the Yang Mountain, it is better to say that half of the Yang Mountain was directly carved into the Sacred Virtue Monument of Divine Merit.
After the prototype of the Divine Merit Monument appeared in the world, three pieces of stele, stele body and stele could be faintly seen, each of which was huge and unimaginable. Among them, the stele is 17 meters high and 23 meters long, the height of the stele is 51 meters, the width is 14 meters, the thickness is 4.5 meters, and the height of the stele is 6 meters and the width is 18 meters. If it is really transported from Yangshan to the Ming Tomb, the height of this sacred monument will reach 78 meters, and the total weight will be 30,000 tons.
However, after the Divine Merit Monument had just chiseled out a prototype, it was abandoned by Ming Chengzu Zhu Di. Since then, this huge Yangshan stele has been lying in the Middle of Yangshan Mountain for more than 600 years.
So, why did Ming Chengzu Zhu Di spend a huge amount of manpower on chiseling the basic shape, and then abandon it?
In fact, as to why, there is a theory that the stele is too large to be transported and abandoned.
2. It cannot be transported
As we all know, in the ancient feudal society, if you transport huge stones or other building materials, you will usually pour water on the road surface in winter, and after freezing, you will use logs to slide the stone or other building materials away. Therefore, if Zhu Di excavated a monument to Zhu Yuanzhang's divine merit in Yangshan, if it were to be transported to the Ming Tomb, it would be a mere thirty-mile journey.
However, after the Divine Merit Monument was hewn out, its volume was too large and too heavy. If you think about it carefully, you can understand that the overall "stone blocks" of tens of meters long, weighing thousands of tons or even tens of thousands of tons of stone, even in the current society with very developed science and technology, I am afraid that it is also a helpless situation, not to mention the ancient society with extremely low manpower and material resources.
The "log" transportation method used by ancient society may not play the slightest role. Because the weight of the stele is too large, I am afraid that any material of "log" will be crushed. In this way, it is basically impossible to transport the Yangshan stele to the Ming Xiaoling Tomb.
It is precisely because the Yangshan stele is too huge that it is easy for posterity to come to a conclusion that the reason why Ming Chengzu Zhu Di abandoned the Yangshan stele is that it is too big.
After all, the journey from Yangshan to Ming Xiaoling is not to be said for the time being, even if it is transported, how can the stele weighing tens of thousands of tons and tens of meters high be "erected"? You know, if you compare it with today's society, the scale of the monument is not much worse than a twenty-story skyscraper.
So, is the reason why Ming Chengzu Zhu Di abandoned the Yangshan stele materials really because it is too big?
In fact, some people are skeptical about such a conclusion, believing that Zhu Di's abandonment of the Yangshan stele may be related to Jin and Hu Guang's advice.
3. Advice
While most people think that the Yangshan stele was abandoned because it was too large to be transported, a considerable number of people believe that it was abandoned and not all because it was too huge. Because Zheng He, who was also sent to the West by Zhu Di in the third year of Yongle, the scale of his treasure ship is also very amazing, and it is also difficult to do with science and technology now.
Therefore, some people believe that the reason why Zhu Di discarded the Yangshan stele was because Xie Jin and Hu Guang's advice to Zhu Di played a role. It is said that in the summer of the third year of Yongle, Xie Jin and Hu Guang planned to turn back to Nanjing after visiting the Tangshan Hot Springs, but after traveling to the foot of Yangshan Mountain, they saw many artisan stonemasons chiseling the mountain.
After questioning, it was learned that they had built a monument to Zhu Yuanzhang's divine merits under Zhu Di's orders.
However, Xie Jin and Hu Guang saw that under the scorching sun, many stonemasons were exhausted or whipped to death in the quarry pit, and the scene of extreme misery was unbearable, so they wrote down the matter. Not long after, Zhu Di summoned Xie Jin and Hu Guang to serve a banquet, and at this banquet, Xie Jin found an opportunity to directly advise Zhu Di.
Xie Jin's meaning is that if the Monument of Divine Merit and Virtue is built for Emperor Taizu, this matter is indeed a matter of great filial piety and great virtue. However, in the hot summer environment, the quarry supervisor blindly pandered to the situation, constantly urging craftsmen and stonemasons everywhere, resulting in a lot of bones in the stone pit, which really forced the people of the world to resent Emperor Taizu.
Hu Guang, who was on the side, also took the opportunity to mention to Zhu Di the huge and difficult to transport yangshan stele, claiming that even after the shengong shengde stele was completed, it would be difficult to transport it to the Zhongshan Xiaoling Tomb, let alone erect it.
Therefore, after the two people's advice, Zhu Di listened to this, and then according to what Xie Jin and Hu Guang said, the matter of building a merit monument for Zhu Yuanzhang stopped. Far away in Yangshan, the Yangshan stele that was about to be formed was abandoned, lying quietly in the mountain nest, becoming a "rotten tail project" left by Zhu Di of the Ming Dynasty.
To this day, if you stand at the top of the stele and look at it, you have the feeling of standing on the top of the mountain. This huge monument that has been lying down for more than 600 years still exudes a majestic spirit. If you taste carefully, you can feel the "ambition" of Ming Chengzu Zhu Di.
However, the excavation and construction of such a huge and useless monument can really make future generations feel the pain of the labor and wealth behind it, and it has to be said that this is also a kind of irony.
epilogue:
Although from a historical point of view, the Yangshan stele left by Zhu Di has become the "laughing stock" of laboring the people and hurting their wealth, from an objective point of view, Ming Chengzu Zhu Di can still be called a rare Ming Emperor in history. Judging from his personal conquest of the desert, the relocation of the capital, the dispatch of Zheng He to the West, and the order to compile the Yongle Canon, his merits are undoubtedly very obvious.
Maybe he was really so happy that he worked hard and hurt the people, or maybe he was cruel and murderous, and he was a down-to-earth tyrant. But in good conscience, it is indeed very difficult for him to make four meritorious achievements. Judging from the imperial feats of the dynasties and dynasties, if it can be made into one piece, it is already a rare feat, not to mention that Zhu Di has made four pieces.
Therefore, even if Ming Chengzu Zhu Di cannot be called "an emperor of thousands of ages", it is enough to be proud of the ancient and modern, enough to make future generations admire it. Unfortunately, during the Fifth Expedition, Zhu Di fell ill and died in the army. Otherwise, he would really be able to completely conquer the desert, which had to be regretted.
References: History of the Ming Dynasty
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