According to the History of the Ming Dynasty, "... Bury Emperor Gao in Xiaoling and perform three years of mourning", this sentence is very straightforward to show that Zhu Yuanzhang was buried in the Ming Xiaoling Tomb after his death, and the mourning period was stipulated for three years.
Zhu Yuanzhang's road to being emperor and emperor can be described as very successful, he once fell to be a beggar, but finally became an excellent emperor of Wenzhi martial arts, over the years, his achievements are still praised by the world, but before his death, a practice made the world wonder: Why did Zhu Yuanzhang not pass the throne to Zhu Di? Is it related to Zhu Di's bloodline?
After 25 years of training the crown prince, he had no choice but to find another candidate
For Zhu Yuanzhang, the eldest son Zhu Biao is of course the most suitable candidate for the crown prince, after all, he is the birth of Empress Ma, and as the eldest son, he has also been recognized by Zhu Yuanzhang, so when Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne, he made the 13-year-old Zhu Biao as the crown prince, and also trained him very carefully for 25 years to prepare for the succession of the Ming Dynasty.
However, when Zhu Biao reached the age of 38, he was seriously ill, and at that time, he had multiple large sarcomas on his body, and because Zhu Biao's eldest son had long since died, he was taken care of by his second son Zhu Yunjiao.
In the end, even Zhu Biao, who received the best medical treatment, unfortunately died prematurely. For Zhu Yuanzhang, he not only lost his most beloved son, but also made him feel sad that the successor who had been cultivated for more than twenty years was gone. The pain of losing his son, coupled with his worries about the future, made Zhu Yuanzhang not go to the court for 28 days in a row.
However, Zhu Yuanzhang has survived the wind and rain for many years, and how could he fall here. After he calmed down, the first consideration was who would succeed him, fortunately, Zhu Yuanzhang did not have many heirs, so there were more candidates to choose from.
At that time, the King of Qin needless to say, how could a person who was almost deposed be the crown prince, and the King of Lu was almost the same, a person who was addicted to dan medicine, and even lost his eyes to enter. In addition, the King of Jin was a coward. The other few were also "not too much to let go", not a good seedling in politics, so Zhu Yuanzhang also had a headache, and in the end, under Zhu Yuanzhang's trade-off, only Zhu Di, the old Fourth Yan King, and Zhu Biao's second son Zhu Yunjiao were left.
Choose one of the two, why the more suitable Zhu Di "failed"
For Zhu Yunjiao, Zhu Yuanzhang held a complex feeling, and Zhu Yunjiao's personality was deeply recognized by many ministers. As we all know, Zhu Yuanzhang was an emperor with complete martial arts and martial arts, and he was indeed brilliant in his merits, but he was born in war, and his fierce spirit was too heavy, so it was inevitable that the ministers were a little frightened.
However, Zhu Yunjiao was different, he was born in the Ming Dynasty has been quite stable, so he lived too comfortable life, and he is good at dancing and writing, so in temperament is also relatively similar to the wen courtiers, but also very suitable for the Ming Dynasty that has stabilized the rule, the ministers at that time believed that with Zhu Yunjiao's Huairou policy, then it will definitely allow the Ming Dynasty to move forward steadily.
However, although Zhu Yuanzhang liked Zhu Yunjiao, he also felt some concern about his benevolent and gentle personality, he was afraid that Zhu Yunjiao was too "soft", and in case of any major incident, he could not defend the Jiangshan that Zhu Yuanzhang had worked hard to fight.
And Zhu Di, the King of Yan, is always the person who is recognized as the most similar to zhu Yuanzhang among his descendants. Like Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Di is also a natural talent, the two have similar temperaments, it can be said that Zhu Yuanzhang can guard the Jiangshan, let Zhu Di to keep it, it will never be bad. This is also the point that Zhu Yuanzhang appreciates, so in Zhu Yuanzhang's heart, Zhu Di is more suitable for being an emperor.
However, after weighing it up, Zhu Yuanzhang made an extremely difficult decision, and he finally made 16-year-old Zhu Yunjiao the emperor's grandson, which naturally annoyed the ambitious Zhu Di, but he could only accept it temporarily.
As for why Zhu Yuanzhang did not pass the throne to Zhu Di, posterity generally believes that this is related to Zhu Di's bloodline!
Who is Zhu Di's birth mother? The theory of the Queen of Horses does not hold water
For hundreds of years, Zhu Di's birth mother has been confused. Some historians believe that Zhu Di changed the Records of Taizu after seizing Zhu Yunjiao's throne and claiming the title of emperor, compiled all relevant materials, desperately proved that he was born to Empress Ma, and also produced a lot of evidence to prove that he was legitimate to be emperor, and he also proved that Zhu Yuanzhang intended to pass the throne to him.
The reason why historians will think that Zhu Di is suspected of tampering is because in ancient China, the son born to the wife was called a concubine, and the son born to a non-wife was called a concubine. For the imperial family, there was a major difference in the name of concubines and concubines, and if Zhu Di was not a concubine, then he would be criticized by others for taking zhu Yunjiao's position.
However, there is no basis for empty words, and some people use historical records to explain the truth. A piece of historical data in North Korea is enough to expose Zhu Di's lies.
In a book written by an envoy from Korea, the Book of Envoys, it is recorded that when he interviewed Zhu Di, who was still the King of Yan, in 1389, he was unable to do so because it was the day of the mother's sacrifice.
The date in the book is the fifteenth day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, which is inconsistent with the fact that Empress Ma died on the tenth day of the first month of August, which means that Empress Ma is not Zhu Di's birth mother. The authenticity of this Korean book is also relatively high, and because it is far abroad, it is reasonable that it was not discovered and destroyed by Zhu Di in time.
So, since it is not Empress Ma, then who is the real Birth Mother of Zhu Di?
A woman became the "best candidate", and many experts believe that she is the real birth mother of Zhu Di
Regarding Zhu Di's birth mother, there are many theories besides Empress Ma, but most of them cannot withstand scrutiny, so I will not repeat them here. However, one of these claims has been endorsed by the vast majority of people, including some historians.
There is a wild history record that Concubine Qi was Zhu Di's biological mother!
During Zhu Di's reign, he once built a mysterious temple called Bao'en Temple. At that time, when Zhu Di built the temple, the reason used was to repay the kindness of his parents Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma. However, what is surprising is that Zhu Di never let anyone in, and as an emperor, he gave orders, and even if others were curious, they did not dare to go in to find out, until after the fall of the Ming Dynasty, the secrets were revealed.
In that temple, there was only one tablet, not Zhu Yuanzhang, nor Empress Ma, but Concubine Qi. And why did Zhu Di hide this? The truth is that Concubine Qi is Zhu Di's birth mother!
There is a similar statement in the "Chronicle of the Taichang Temple in Nanjing", the placement of the filial piety god, there is only one concubine on the right, which was placed during the Zhu Di period, so it is likely that she was Zhu Di's biological mother to have such a status, and experts such as Fu Sinian, Zhu Xizu and Wu Han also agreed with this statement.
So, who is this concubine?
It is said that this concubine was a world-class beauty, and when Zhu Yuanzhang was still on the throne, Goryeo paid tribute to him, and concubine Wasi was one of them. For this beauty, Zhu Yuanzhang liked it very much, and later Concubine Qi was also pregnant.
However, at that time, the concubine had not yet reached the time to give birth, and the child in the belly was a premature child, which was not understood in ancient times, so Zhu Yuanzhang believed that the child born to the concubine was adulterous with others. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and used the punishment of the newly invented iron skirt on Concubine Qi's body.
The so-called iron skirt punishment is to make the tortured person wear an iron skirt, and then make him burn on the fire and torture him to death. And the child born to this tragic concubine is believed by posterity to be the later Zhu Di.
Therefore, if this matter is true, then in Zhu Yuanzhang's view, Zhu Yunjiao is indeed more righteous than Zhu Di, so Zhu Yuanzhang did not pass the throne to Zhu Di, most likely because of his bloodline.
And Zhu Di, who knew his origins, after robbing his nephew of the throne, could only pretend to be the concubine born to Empress Ma, and only then did he have enough capital to inherit the throne.
This is also the reason why he did not recognize his birth mother, but instead recognized Empress Ma as his concubine.
brief summary
From this point of view, from the political environment at that time, Zhu Di, as a clan king, snatched Zhu Yunjiao's throne using the reason of "Qing Jun's side", but from the perspective of his identity, it was actually more like usurping the throne. And if he wants to gain a foothold quickly after the success of the rebellion, then he must minimize the resistance to confrontation with himself, and solving the problem of bloodline is the top priority. This is why Zhu Di did not recognize her birth mother, but instead recognized Empress Ma as her own concubine.
From this point of view, Zhu Di's experience is indeed sad and lamentable, under the influence of power, he cannot recognize mother and child!
References: Chronicle of Nanjing Taichang Temple, Records of Envoys, Records of Taizu, History of Ming
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