If you are interested in the history of the Ming Dynasty, then you will not be unfamiliar with our protagonist Today, Zhu Di!
After all, he was a well-known figure among the many emperors in the history of the Ming Dynasty. When it comes to the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, they are quite legendary. And Zhu Di is the best of them. After all, how can a person who guards his desolate fiefdom, endures humiliation for more than ten years, and finally pulls his nephew off the throne, how can he be an ordinary person?
Today, let's take a look at what is the outstanding point of this emperor, whether in the history of the Ming Dynasty or in the eyes of historians of later generations, who has a mixed reputation.
According to relevant historical records, he was the fourth son of Emperor Taizu. People who have studied history probably know that since the Western Zhou Dynasty, many feudal dynasties in ancient China have mostly believed in the system of primogeniture. Therefore, being born in that era became a very important thing. If a person's mother is the right wife, he will occupy a very favorable position in the future inheritance of family property, and vice versa, he will suffer a great loss.
However, the importance of this system is vividly reflected in the children of the royal family. After all, ordinary people's families are only fighting for a few acres of thin land or a few pieces of family wealth, and they are fighting for thousands of miles.
As the saying goes, "The most ruthless imperial family." Since ancient times, the royal struggle has been very cruel, and if you win, you can sit on the rivers and mountains and become the lord of the world. But once it fails, it will become a prisoner of the lower orders, and even the disaster of killing is a common thing. Therefore, those who contender for the throne will naturally rack their brains to make the situation more favorable to themselves, among them, to improve their origins, they are the usual means.
Father has become the Lord of the world, in other words, there is no one more noble under the heavens than him. Therefore, those who want to improve their origins can only start from their mothers. As a person who ascended to the throne of God through conspiracy from the king of the clan, Zhu Di naturally needed a good birth more urgently than others. In this way, his series of rebellious acts can be famous.
After all, those who win the hearts and minds of the people win the world, if there is no good reason to win the hearts and minds of the people, how can he successfully sit in the world?
Therefore, the first thing he did after he was in power was to create a good origin for himself.
And this is why we will see the record of her birth mother as Empress Ma in the Ming Shilu of the Zhengshi. However, in other historical sources of the Ming Dynasty, theories about the identity of his biological mother are different.
There are probably the following theories about his biological mother.
Today, we will discuss which statement is more credible.
The first is the empress ma that we mentioned above, and personally, I don't agree with this statement.
There are several reasons for this:
First, we must first look at Emperor Taizu, who, although he came from a humble background, has always attached great importance to the education of his son. Apparently, his education was very successful, and there were few of his many sons. However, among these many sons, the talent of the crown prince Zhu Biao is not the most outstanding, and his personality is not his favorite, so why did he choose Zhu Biao?
The main reason for this is that this person is his eldest son.
In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang was a very traditional man, so he would establish the ancestral precept that "if there is a son who is born out, he must make a son a prince; if he does not have a son, he will make the oldest of all the sons the prince".
We all know that the ancients were very filial piety, and the children of the royal family, as a model for the people of the world, should lead by example. Therefore, Zhu Di could not openly violate the ancestral precepts set by his father. He wanted jiangshan and did not want to be tied to the hat of filial piety, so naturally he could only find a way to change his origin. For a person who has already gained the world, if you want to manipulate time, you can just turn the small pen in your hand.
After all, these people are holding his rice bowl, of course, to his command. Therefore, it makes quite sense that history is often written by the victors!
The second reason why he did not agree that his biological mother was Empress Ma was in the case of Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang.
As we have already said, Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang is a very traditional man, and in his heart, he attaches great importance to the difference between concubines and concubines. If Zhu Di was really from the main palace, then why was he not made a prince at that time, but only a prince in a remote place? Therefore, from this point of view, the claim that he is the biological son of Empress Ma is still quite unreliable.
Next, let's talk about the third reason for disagreeing with this statement.
Presumably, everyone knows that although Emperor Taizu was a relatively cold-blooded emperor, he still had some affection for his hair-bound wife. After all, he had met this woman at the end of his life, and he had accompanied him through the most difficult time of his life. Even the most cold-blooded and ruthless man will still be a little different from the woman who has been with his own suffering.
Therefore, if Zhu Di was really the child of the two of them, how could he not think more about this child?
Another point is that although history says that Empress Ma was a very wise and generous woman, as long as it is a person, there will be selfish intentions, not to mention the major events related to the world. If Zhu Di was really her own son, how could she not fight for and consider her own son? Therefore, from the above points of view, this statement that Zhu Di's biological mother was Empress Ma is not valid.
Next, let's take a look at the second statement about her birth mother.
In some historical records of the Ming Dynasty, it is said that Zhu Di was born to the concubines of Emperor Yuanshun. According to legend, Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang led troops against the Yuan Dynasty many times, and in the process, he included several concubines of the Yuan Emperor in his harem. Moreover, there is a very exaggerated statement that one of these stolen concubines is actually pregnant.
And Zhu Di is the child born to this pregnant concubine after entering the palace.
However, this statement is obviously more unreliable, how can a man as shrewd as Emperor Taizu raise children for others? Moreover, he also raised the widow of the former emperor for more than ten years. In the end, he was given the right to garrison the border for him. Isn't he afraid that when this child grows up, he will bite himself back?
So, this statement is obviously even less true.
A third theory about his birth mother is that her birth mother was a Goryeo and that he and King Zhou were brothers of the same mother.
If, in a few ways alone, this statement is still somewhat credible. After all, this statement is also well documented in some historical materials of the Ming Dynasty. If Zhu Di was really born to a Goryeo concubine, then it is understandable that he, who had such talent, had only been given a remote and desolate fiefdom.
Moreover, in that era of emphasizing that "if he is not of my race, his heart will be different", he who has half of the blood of the clan has long been doomed to lose his position with the position of the Ninth Five-Year Emperor. Moreover, when Emperor Jianwen implemented the policy of "cutting the domain", the King of Zhou was most severely reprimanded, and when he heard the news, Zhu Di felt very panicked. If the two were not born of a mother, then how could he worry about his situation?
Judging from the above two points, there is still a little credibility to the claim that his birth mother was a Goryeo concubine.
Next, let's talk about the last statement.
In the "Chronicle of Nanjing Taichang Temple", it was recorded that his birth mother should be a concubine, and as the highest institution in charge of the rituals of the temple, its record should be more official and accurate. Moreover, the order of the ancient temple tablets is also very exquisite.
However, the offering of ming dynasty tablets has a very strange phenomenon. That is: all the concubines of Emperor Taizu were enshrined on the left side, and only one person appeared on the right side. And this right-hand tablet happens to be the concubine. So, what makes this concubine's tablet so different when it comes to offerings?
Obviously, this could not be the wrong hand of the people of the Taichang Temple, and the reason why they would highlight the concubine's tablet alone must be for a reason. Therefore, historians of both the present and later generations have made research and speculation on this matter. They speculated that the reason for this kind of plaque placement was that Emperor Chengzu wanted to highlight the status of his birth mother.
Although, in order to realize his imperial dream, he could not give his birth mother a name. However, emotionally, he still wants to do what he can for his biological mother, which is why there is such a strange plaque placement phenomenon. Judging from the above reasons, the statement that his birth mother is a concubine is still quite reliable.
Resources:
[Records of Ming Taizu," "Ming Chengzu Zhu Di," "Biography of Ming Shi Hou Concubines"]