Recently, the popularity of the costume TV series "Daming Fenghua" has made many viewers have a strong interest in the historical figures of the Ming Dynasty. There is a character in the play that impresses everyone very much, that is, the cautious and somewhat funny Crown Prince Zhu Gaozi. So the question is, what kind of person is Zhu Gaozi in history? What role did he play in the history of the Ming Dynasty?
Zhu Gaozi was the eldest son of Zhu Di, the ancestor of Ming Cheng, who loved reading and Confucian culture since childhood, and showed a strong ability to handle administrative affairs in his youth, and was praised by his grandfather Zhu Yuanzhang.
After the outbreak of the Battle of Jingnan, Zhu Di, who was still the King of Yan at the time, led the main force south to fight against Emperor Jianwen's army, and Zhu Gaozi was responsible for staying in Beiping to ensure the safety of the rear. In November 1399, When Emperor Jianwen's general Li Jinglong led an army of 500,000 to besiege Beiping, Zhu Gaozi skillfully organized a defense with only more than 10,000 men under his command, and successfully resisted Li Jinglong's attack. The victory in this defensive battle made many people change their views on Zhu Gaozi, and in the past, everyone always thought that Yan Wang Shizi was just a crepe scholar, but he did not expect that he would also perform so well in the military.
After the End of the Battle of Jingnan, Zhu Di successfully seized the throne and became the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty. In May 1404, at the strong request of the university scholars Xie Jin and Huang Huai, Zhu Gaozi was made crown prince.
Zhu Gaozi's performance as crown prince was remarkable, and every time Zhu Di was on the throne, Zhu Gaozi was appointed as the overseer of the state, responsible for handling matters that required the emperor's decision. Overall, Zhu Di was quite satisfied with his performance. In 1417, Zhu Di forced his second son Zhu Gaoxu to take the throne to Le'an Prefecture (le'an Prefecture, in present-day Huimin, Shandong), a move that was equivalent to helping Zhu Gaozi remove the biggest obstacle on the political road.
In 1424, Zhu Di died on the way back to the Northern Expedition to Mongolia, and Zhu Gaozi was enthroned as emperor and was known as Emperor Akihito.
As soon as he ascended the throne, Zhu Gaozi announced the cancellation of a number of major plans and construction in progress, including: Zheng He's sea voyage plan, the border tea horse trade, and the purchase of gold and jewelry in Yunnan and Jiaotong (present-day Vietnam). The reason why Zhu Gaozi wanted to cancel many of the policies before his death as soon as his father kicked his legs was not filial piety, but that the Ming Dynasty really had no money at that time. Zhu Di's life is very good and meritorious, and he does not pay much attention to the people's livelihood. But Zhu Gaozi is well aware of the truth that "water can carry a boat and can also overturn a boat", if he adheres to his father's ruling philosophy all the way, then the Zhu family's world may soon come to an end.
During his tenure as crown prince, Zhu Gaozi was very concerned about the people's livelihood difficulties caused by his father's expensive plans. After he became emperor, he issued an edict abolishing the imperial court's unrestricted expropriation of gold, silver, timber and other commodities. He also exempted the people in the affected areas from their land and provided them with food for free. Some ministers suggested that grain be lent to the people instead of free, and then let the people repay it after the disaster, and the minister who made this suggestion was scolded by Zhu Gaozi.
In order to appease the people, Zhu Gaozi also ordered the people who had been exiled to return to their hometowns during the Yongle years to escape the excessively heavy land endowment and labor, and the imperial court exempted them from all taxes they owed, and gave them a policy of exempting them from land endowments and labor for the next two years.
The effect of these policies promulgated by Zhu Gaozi was immediate, and in just a few months, the Ming Dynasty quickly emerged from the state of people's livelihood, and a new atmosphere of vitality appeared throughout the country. This laid a solid foundation for the later prosperity of his son Zhu Zhanji during his reign.
Another major contribution of Zhu Gaozi during his reign was the promotion of a number of very capable officials, including the famous "Three Yangs" (Yang Shiqi, Yang Rong, and Yang Pu), Huang Huai, who was known as "discussing things like a high-level gang, everything is far away", and Jin Youzi, who was "a talented generation of writers and ministers of the Three Dynasties Society". These people played a very important role during the two generations of the reign of Zhu Gaozi and Zhu Zhanji's father and son, and became the biggest promoter of the "rule of benevolence."
While appointing meritocrats, Zhu Gaozi also eliminated a large number of dispensable officials, which on the one hand reduced the financial burden of the imperial court, and on the other hand, it was more conducive to creating a clean political environment.
Zhu Gaozi has a generous personality and is good at receiving advice. He encouraged ministers to be outspoken and not to fear reprisals. Although at times excessive accusations would annoy him, he was always able to reflect on himself and ask for forgiveness from his ministers afterwards, a quality rare among emperors in Chinese history. In addition, Zhu Gaozi also ordered the forgiveness of those "criminal officials" and their families who had been punished for their loyalty to Emperor Jianwen, and returned their confiscated property.
On May 29, 1425, Emperor Akihito died suddenly at the age of 47, reigning for less than a year. Short-lived emperors in Chinese history have little sense of existence, but Zhu Gaozi is an exception. Later generations praised him as an enlightened Confucian monarch who adhered to the ideals of simplicity, benevolence, and sincerity, and promptly corrected many harsh and unpopular policies during the reign of his father, the Yongle Emperor. Although he did not achieve great military achievements like his grandfather Zhu Yuanzhang and father Zhu Di, for the people of the Ming Dynasty, an emperor like Zhu Gaozi was the great tomorrow they really longed for.
Zhu Gaozi was a good man and a good emperor, and although he reigned for just over eight months, he left many valuable legacies for the Ming Dynasty and paved the way for his successors to prosperity.
Reference: "Myo history"