In the eleventh year of Yongle, Ming Chengzu Zhu Di personally arranged a marriage affair, and he married his youngest sister, Princess Baoqing. The horse's name is Zhao Hui, "magnificent in appearance", because he is handsome and handsome, so he was selected as a donkey. After that, Zhu Di broke the convention and actually let his crown prince Zhu Gaozi personally send the princess to the palace. In his sister's marriage, Zhu Di was very careful, but on the issue of his daughter's marriage, Zhu Di forced his daughter to marry, why is this?
1. The marriage of Princess Xianning
Compared with Zhu Yuanzhang, the number of Zhu Di's children was not much, only four sons and five daughters. Supposedly, Zhu Di should love his children more, but this is not the case! This happened in February of the first year of Yongle, when Zhu Di crowned her fourth daughter as The Princess of Xianning and decided to marry her to Song Ying. This marriage was opposed by Princess Xianning, because she had long heard that Song Ying's appearance was very ugly, so she was reluctant to marry.
But Zhu Di didn't care so much, he said to his daughter: "
That's enough, what a look!
Under the pressure of Zhu Di, Princess Xianning was forced to marry Song Ying. So the question is, when choosing a horse for his sister, Zhu Di chose a "handsome man", when choosing a son-in-law for his daughter, why did Zhu Di choose an "ugly man" despite his daughter's objections? In fact, the reason is very simple, because this marriage of Princess Xianning is a political marriage without compromise!
Second, the background of Song Ying
Princess Xianning was born to Zhu Di and Empress Xu, and Song Ying's mother was just a concubine, for these circumstances, Zhu Di is aware of these situations, and the reason why he did this is related to Song Ying's family background! Song Ying's father, named Song Sheng, was a native of Dingyuan, Anhui, who followed his father and brother to join the Red Turban Army in his early years, and later defected to Zhu Yuanzhang. During the attack on Nanjing, Song Sheng's brother was killed in battle, and Zhu Yuanzhang let Song Sheng inherit the position of brother.
After that, Song Sheng conquered the north and south, and was also regarded as the founding hero of the Ming Dynasty, but he did not have a title. During the Zhu Yuanzhang period, Song Sheng guarded the northwest region for a long time, threatening the western region, and "prestige was long in Liangzhou". Later, Emperor Jianwen sent Song Sheng as the chief military officer to guard Gansu. During the Hongwu period, Song Sheng once followed Zhu Di on his northern expedition and had some friendships with Zhu Di. Later, Zhu Di seized the throne through the Battle of Jingnan, and he wanted to win over and appease Song Sheng, who was sitting in the northwest.
3. The Yongle Emperor's calculations
In ancient China, marriage was the best way to establish friendship, so Zhu Di decided to use marriage to establish a relationship with Song Sheng. So Zhu Di immediately took charge of the marriage, but his unmarried daughters were not many, only three remained, and most of Song Sheng's sons were already married. Zhu Di first divorced Song Sheng's fourth son, Song Hu, and then married his third daughter, Princess Ancheng. Zhu Di decided that he was not safe, and promoted the marriage of Princess Xianning and Song Ying (Song Sheng's sixth son).
That is to say, two of Zhu Di's five daughters were married to Song Sheng's sons, which shows the importance That Zhu Di attaches to Song Sheng. Song Sheng was also very knowledgeable about current affairs, and he went to Nanjing to meet Zhu Di and show his loyalty to him, and was later made a general of Pingqiang and continued to defend the northwest region. Through the forced marriage of Zhu Di, it is not difficult for us to find that the daughters are just tools for political service in Zhu Di's eyes, and the interests of the imperial power are higher than the affection of children and daughters, and above everything.
Resources:
1. "Ming Shilu"; 2. "Ming History"; 3. "Record of Sin"