Since the "Zhou Gong Custom", the Chinese feudal dynasty has determined the heir's primogeniture system, that is, the first son born to the empress or the original wife is the legal heir. This idea is to solve the problem that the emperors have too many wives and too many sons, but there is only one throne, in order to avoid brothers fighting each other in order to seize the throne, establish such a system, only the eldest son can inherit, and no one else has a share!
Those who are not the eldest son can only blame themselves for bad luck, what if the queen does not have a son? Then establish the firstborn. Although there have been some conquests in the past, in general, this system has been preserved and has been implemented very well, after all, once the concept is determined in people's minds, it is difficult to change. However, Emperor Minghui of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yunjiao, was not originally the grandson of Zhu Yuanzhang, so why was he still established by Zhu Yuanzhang as his successor? The reason for this is rather tortuous.
In the fifteenth year of Zhengzheng (1355), Zhu Yuanzhang, who was still belonging to the Red Turban Army, was attacking Jiqing, the military town of the Yuan Dynasty in Jiangnan, which is now Nanjing. Just as Jiqing was being captured, a family member suddenly came to report that his wife Ma Shi had given birth to a son for him. This is naturally very happy for Zhu Yuanzhang, who is a new father, and named his son Zhu Biao. Zhu Yuanzhang was particularly fond of and fond of this eldest son, and cultivated him as the successor to the throne from an early age. When he was just five years old, he hired Song Lian and other university inquirers to teach him to read and give him the best education.
In the twenty-fourth year of Zhizheng (1364), Zhu Yuanzhang established himself as the King of Wu and established Zhu Biao as the son of the world. In the first year of Hongwu (1368), Zhu Yuanzhang was proclaimed emperor and Zhu Biao was made crown prince. Judging from this series of actions, Zhu Biao's position as prince is unquestionable and unshakable. What is even more rare is that Zhu Yuanzhang, who has always been known for his lack of affection and harshness, has always trusted and loved the crown prince Zhu Biao.
At that time, the crown prince's eastern palace mansion included Li Shanchang, Song Lian, Liu Bowen, Yang Xian, Zhang Yi, etc., and Xu Da, Chang Yuchun, Feng Sheng, Deng Yu, Tang He, and so on. These were the top talents at that time, not only both civilian and military, but also held heavy power. Let these people directly assist the prince, and more importantly, the prince directly serves in the Eastern Palace, and there is no need to set up a separate office. This shows that Zhu Yuanzhang had complete trust in Zhu Biao, and even when Zhu Yuanzhang went out to fight, the crown prince directly supervised the country.
Not only to give people, but also to give him power, so that he can accumulate experience in governing the country. Of course, Zhu Biao did not live up to his father's ardent expectations, according to historical records, Zhu Biao was gentle and elegant, not as belligerent and murderous as his father Zhu Yuanzhang, on the contrary, he often advised Zhu Yuanzhang to kill less. He had successfully dissuaded Zhu Yuanzhang's plan to kill Song Lian. And Zhu Biao is the eldest son of Zhu Yuanzhang, the eldest brother of all brothers, and his big brother is also very good.
If the brothers made any mistakes, he would never fall into the well, and would intercede in front of Zhu Yuanzhang, and he would have the highest prestige among the brothers. Such a humble gentleman, both capable and prestigious, was a perfect heir. Unfortunately, Zhu Biao's life expectancy is not long. On April 25, 1392, the twenty-fifth year of Hongwu," Zhu Biao fell ill and died.
At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang was nearly seventy years old, lost his son in old age, and died as the heir of the empire he had carefully cultivated. In the face of such a blow, Zhu Yuanzhang cried bitterly. He buried the son next to his mausoleum and personally gave him the nickname "Prince Yiwen". Zhu Biao died, and the position of prince was vacated. The heir system of the Ming Dynasty was that "the elder who lives in the house must be in the right place". Based on this principle, the heir is definitely the eldest son of Zhu Biao's concubine. It is said that Zhu Yuanzhang also considered that Zhu Biao's son was too young, afraid that he would not be able to stay after taking the throne, and wanted to establish his own son. Of course, he wanted to stand the old fourth Zhu Di.
Modern historical research shows that the "History of Ming" has been tampered with a lot, among which after Zhu Di's successful usurpation of the throne, in order to show the reasonable legitimacy of his ascension to the throne, Zhu Yuanzhang did not like Zhu Biao and did not want to establish Zhu Yunjiao, which showed that Zhu Yuanzhang always wanted to pass it on to himself, but was deceived by Zhu Yunjiao. Of course, this is not credible, after all, the Ming Dynasty has its own legal degree, and this legal degree was founded by Zhu Yuanzhang himself, and Zhu Yuanzhang has no reason to deny himself.
Moreover, as the founding prince, it is extremely important to establish a legal institutional principle for the succession to the throne, in order to avoid disputes in future generations. Since the principle that "the elder who lives in the concubine must be in the right place", the heir is the eldest son of Zhu Biao's concubine. Zhu Biao's eldest son was named Zhu Xiongying, but Zhu Xiongying had not yet lived his father Zhu Biao, and had died as early as the fifteenth year of Hongwu. Zhu Xiongying's birth mother, Crown Princess Chang, was the daughter of Chang Yuchun, a famous queen.
As early as the fourth year of Hongwu (1371), she was personally made a crown princess by Zhu Yuanzhang. He not only gave birth to Zhu Xiongying, but also to Zhu Biao's third son, Zhu Yunxi, but she died in the eleventh year (1378) of Hongwu, who gave birth to Zhu Yunxi. Originally, after the death of the eldest son Zhu Xiongying, the third son automatically became the eldest son, but because of the death of the Chang clan. Zhu Yuanzhang made Lü Shi a crown princess, and Lü Shi was Zhu Yunjiao's biological mother.
Therefore, Zhu Yunjiao, who was originally a concubine, became the eldest son of Zhu Biao, the eldest grandson of Zhu Yuanzhang. Therefore, the second son, who was originally only born of Zhu Biaoshu, became the eldest son of the concubine because of the premature death of his mother and brother, and became the emperor's grandson because of Zhu Biao's untimely death. Historical records record that Zhu Yunjiao was extremely filial and obedient, and after Zhu Biao fell ill, Zhu Yunjiao served his father every step of the way, and took care of his seriously ill father for two years.
So that after Zhu Biao's death, Zhu Yunjiao was overly sad, did not think about tea and rice, and became emaciated day by day. Zhu Yuanzhang saw this scene and specially comforted him, saying, "You are so filial to your father, so sad, and hurt your own body, don't you care about me?" It can be seen that Zhu Yunjiao is sincere and filial, and Zhu Yuanzhang also loves and cares for him. Because Zhu Yunjiao was too young, Zhu Yuanzhang was afraid that after he ascended to the throne, he would not be able to suppress those founding heroes. So the heroes were slaughtered.
In the 26th year of Hongwu, the Blue Jade case implicated nearly 20,000 people, and basically swept away the merits of the DPRK. Zhu Yunjiao was made the emperor's grandson in the twenty-fifth year of Hongwu. It can be seen that the fundamental reason for the Blue Jade case is that Zhu Yuanzhang is clearing the way for Zhu Yunjiao's rule. Thirty-one years after Hongwu, Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang died. Emperor's grandson Zhu Yunzhi succeeded to the throne and changed his name to Yuan Jianwen. Zhu Yuanzhang may not have dreamed that he thought that he had made perfect preparations for his grandson's ascension to the throne.
He killed the founding fathers and heroes of the country, and left his sons to guard the frontier. Zhu Yunjiao's throne should be very stable. Unexpectedly, in the end, Emperor Jianwen was ousted from power, and the usurper was Zhu Yunjiao's uncle Zhu Di the Prince of Yan. Of course, there are many reasons for zhu Di's success in the "Battle of Jingnan", but Zhu Yunjiao's bookish temperament and indecisiveness are also important reasons.
After the Battle of Jingnan, Zhu Yunjiao's life and death are unknown, which has become a mystery for eternity. The sons of Zhu Biao, except for Zhu Xiongying's early death and Zhu Yunjiao's whereabouts are unknown. The third son Zhu Yunxi, the fourth son Zhu Yunxi, and the fifth son Zhu Yunxi were all imprisoned after Zhu Di was deposed as a shuren after Zhu Di ascended the throne, and the Zhu Biao family, as the eldest son of Zhu Yuanzhang, completely declined, and had no connection with the throne.
After Zhu Di ascended the throne, although he succeeded in usurping the throne, he very much adhered to the system of succession of the eldest son, and made his eldest son Zhu Gaoxu the crown prince, and let his favorite second son Zhu Gaoxu make waves, and finally the prince succeeded to the throne. In the Ming Dynasty, the inheritance of the eldest son was unshakable as a legal inheritance system.