Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang was born in the grassroots, but with his own efforts, he overthrew the brutal rule of the Yuan Dynasty and established the Ming Dynasty. Although he was criticized by posterity for killing heroes all his life, it is undeniable that he was a wise and divine emperor. Originally, according to Zhu Yuanzhang's plan, he used thunderous means to sweep away the obstacles of the government and the opposition, and then handed over the country to the benevolent eldest son Zhu Biao. However, Zhu Biao's sudden death caused him great confusion. He did not make another crown prince, but made Chu Jun the eldest son of Zhu Biao, Zhu Yunjiao. In order to ensure that the country would not be turbulent after Zhu Yunjiao sat on the throne, Zhu Yuanzhang killed many heroes with heavy troops. It can be said that Zhu Yuanzhang's killing of heroes in the later period also has a great relationship with Zhu Yunjiao.
After Zhu Yuanzhang's death, The Emperor's eldest grandson Zhu Yunjiao took the throne as Emperor Jianwen. Emperor Jianwen was not afraid of the chancellor, but his uncles who were outside the domain. In particular, the Nine Kings of Shubian were the most powerful. In order to prevent them from plotting to usurp the throne, at the suggestion of Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng, Emperor Jianwen began to cut the domain. At that time, he first attacked the king of the small domain, and finally aimed the butcher knife at the powerful Yan king Zhu Di. Zhu Di was not as weak as the other clan kings, and directly rebelled and launched the Battle of Jingnan.
After all, Emperor Jianwen was an emperor in the Taiping Era, and he was far from Zhu Di in fighting. Coupled with the fact that there were still Zhu Di's spies inside Nanjing, he was soon defeated and beaten all the way to the city of Nanjing by Zhu Di. After that, Emperor Jianwen disappeared from the world, and there were no people in life, and no corpses in death. Zhu Di, who succeeded in Jingnan, became emperor. In order to block the mouth of the world's people, Zhu Di did not recognize Zhu Yunjiao's Jianwen regime. Instead, he claimed that he inherited the throne of his father Zhu Yuanzhang, and his mother was Empress Xiaocigao of the Ma clan, and his succession was reasonable and legal.
But is that really the case? This is not the case. Removing the factors of Emperor Jianwen, historians of successive dynasties have been arguing endlessly about Zhu Di's birth mother. According to historical records, when reading the official archives of the Southern Taichang Temple, Li Qing found that "Crown Prince Yiwen and the two kings of Qin and Jin were all born of the Li clan, and Chengzu was born to concubines." The discovery nearly struck his jaw, as it concerned the orthodoxy of the Ming dynasty's imperial succession. Li Qing felt that his knowledge was not profound enough, so he went to ask Qian Qianyi, a ming dynasty university scholar, for advice.
Qian Qianyi also felt very strange after reading the "Chronicle of the Southern Taichang Temple", so he said to Li Qing: "Then let's go to Xiaoling to see it?" In 1645, Qian Qianyi and Li Qing took advantage of the opportunity to visit the Ming Tomb on New Year's Day and opened the palace of the Tomb of Filial Piety. As a result, the order of placing the tablets inside the Tomb of Xiaoling is exactly the same as that recorded in the Records of the Southern Taichang Temple, and the position of the tomb god is at the mercy of Li Shufei on the left and Concubine Li on the right. In ancient times, the right was respected, and the placement of the god's seat should be strictly in accordance with the status level, which shows the high status level of the concubine. What makes everyone feel strange is that a person with such a high status has no information in the official records.
All indications are that it was Ming Chengzu Zhu Di who, after the success of the Jing Dynasty, deleted the relevant information about his birth mother Concubine in order to become emperor. This historical mystery also caused an academic controversy in China in the 1920s. Fu Sinian proposed in the "Doubts of Ming Chengzu's Birth Mother": "After Chengzu was introduced, he respected himself... There is only one solution that can be understood, that is, Chengzu was born in the Qi clan and raised in Gao Hou, and the Qi clan is a concubine, so it is not Zhangye. And Wu Han also expressed his support for Fu Sinian, saying in the "Ming Chengzu Birth Mother Examination": "Empress Gao has no children, and King Chengzu Zhou is a concubine." Chengzu was raised by Empress Gao, so he pretended to be a concubine. Concubine Qi's history is unknown, so she had to be suspicious. ”
In addition to the factors of succession, another reason why Zhu Di did not dare to recognize his birth mother was also related to the life style of Concubine Qi. According to some wild histories, Concubine Qi was born in Goryeo but had an affair with someone before being sent to the court. Zhu Yuanzhang didn't know it at first, so he pampered her. Later, after learning the truth, he executed her with "iron skirt torture". The iron skirt punishment is a kind of punishment for the ancient government to punish unfaithful women, which shows that it is indeed possible that Concubine Qifei did something sorry for Zhu Yuanzhang. If Concubine Qi really died because of the iron skirt punishment, then Zhu Di was not only not qualified to succeed to the throne, but also would be despised by the world.
So the truth of the matter is likely to be that Zhu Di was born to Concubine Qi. After Concubine Zhu Yuanzhang was executed, he was raised by Empress Ma. After the Battle of Jingnan, in order to justify the succession to the throne, Zhu Di tampered with the historical data and changed himself to be born by Empress Ma, while deleting the relevant information about his birth mother. What he did not expect was that the official in charge of the filial piety sacrifice in Nanjing recorded the incident. After becoming emperor, Zhu Di felt sorry for his birth mother, so he secretly placed her divine throne above all the concubines. According to legend, Dabao'en Temple was also built by Zhu Di in honor of his birth mother.
References: Fu Sinian's "Ming Cheng's Maternal Doubts", Wu Han's "Ming Cheng's Maternal Examination", "History of Ming"