Xu Miaojin, a native of Fengyang, Anhui. Born prominently, she was the daughter of Xu Da, the founding father of the Ming Dynasty and the King of Wuning in Zhongshan. During the Hongwu years, Zhu Yuanzhang wantonly slaughtered the founding heroes, almost killing the military generals who fought with him in the world, but he always had great trust in Xu Da, the first founding hero of the country, and Xu Da's family also became the first prosperous family in the early Ming Dynasty. His daughter Xu Miaojin was born beautiful, had a wealth of cultivation, knew books and etiquette, and was proficient in piano, chess, calligraphy and painting.
According to the world: being able to marry a ruyi langjun to ensure that there is no worry about food and clothing for a lifetime is the realm that every young girl yearns for. And if you can marry the emperor, it is the ancestors who have accumulated yin virtue, it is the place of their own cultivation, and their life will be extremely precious. But Miss Xu is unique, because she is immersed in the ocean of art, she does not value the love between men and women, and regards the glorious and rich life as a floating cloud.
In the fifth year of Yongle, Empress Xu of Zhu Di died, and it is rumored that Zhu Di once wanted to marry Empress Xu's sister Xu Miaojin as empress, but was rejected by Xu Miaojin. And Xu Miaojin's reason for rejecting Zhu Di is actually very simple, that is, he does not want to marry. Xu Da had four daughters, the eldest daughter married Zhu Di the Prince of Yan, who was made empress after becoming emperor, the second daughter married Zhu Gui the Prince of Daijian, and the fourth daughter married Zhu Yang the Prince of Anhui. In order, Xu Miaojin is the third oldest, and he should marry before the fourth elder. You should know that in ancient times, the order of children's marriages was very exquisite, and the elderly did not marry first, and they would not marry young children first, even now many families also pay attention to this. And Xu Miaojin is also a flower and moon appearance, piano, chess, calligraphy and painting are all familiar, so Xu Miaojin, who is talented, good-looking, and has a good family, does not have the saying that it is not good to marry, so Xu Miaojin is not ready to marry from the beginning.
Xu Miaojin is familiar with poetry and books, and knows the truth of "accompanying the king is like accompanying the tiger". Once the emperor is provoked, it will bring ruin to himself and his family. Therefore, she cleverly set up words, repeatedly emphasizing that although she was born in a rich and aristocratic family, she was willing to be indifferent and devoted to The Buddha, preferring to stay away from the red and earthly world, accompanied by green lights and yellow scrolls, and spent the rest of her life. There is a calm sadness in the clear words and beautiful sentences, and there is a proud dignity in Bai Wen's honorifics. Xu Miaojin did not accept Zhu Di's marriage proposal, and eventually cut her hair as a nun, and her face withered red in the company of Lan Ruofanyin. Zhu Di was also a peculiar emperor, and Xu Miaojin's refusal did not make him angry, but decided not to appoint a new empress from now on. After Xu Miaojin's death, Zhu Di ordered her to be buried in Changling in Beijing according to the empress's specifications, perhaps in reverence for this strange woman.
Another theory is that Xu Miaojin refused because her political stance was different from Zhu Di's, and she did not agree with Zhu Di's "Jing Difficulty" family at all. In the Battle of Jingnan, the Xu family siblings split into two camps, the eldest sister, as Princess Yan, of course sided with her husband Zhu Di, while the eldest brother Xu Huizu was a staunch royalist and charged for Emperor Jianwen. Xu Miaojin and the eldest brother had a deep affection, and under the influence of the eldest brother, they despised the usurpation of the Yan King, and supported the rebellion of the eldest brother to lead the army to resist Zhu Di. Later, Zhu Di occupied Nanjing, the eldest brother Xu Huizu was put under house arrest by Zhu Di, and Yongle ended up depressed for five years, and in the same year Zhu Di proposed to Xu Miaojin, how could she agree to Zhu Di.
Some people also think that Xu Miaojin is a fictional character, and what is even more extreme is that there is even a letter that is rumored to be Xu Miaojin's rejection of Zhu Di's "Letter of the Emperor of Yongle" circulating in the folk, it is obvious that this letter was forged by later literati, not to mention that the private letter also involved the emperor's privacy, how could it openly flow into the people. All of this reflected the "spiritual victory" of the Jiangnan scholars after the Battle of Jingnan, and some of the disciples who supported Emperor Jianwen needed the wind and bones of Xu Miaojin, and they admired figures like Xu Miaojin.
Zhu Di was the eldest daughter of Xu Da, the original empress, that is to say, if Xu Miaojin really existed, then she was Zhu Di's sister-in-law. Marrying a sister-in-law is really embarrassing, especially when Song Ming's etiquette is strict. When the literati write such a story, there is probably also an element of perverse behavior by using this black Zhu Di.