The greatest charm of history lies in the mystery, which makes people full of curiosity. In the past, we have never personally experienced everything, but we can find clues and traces in historical documents and relics, unveil its mysterious veil, and try to restore the truth of the story, which is a very attractive process of exploration and decryption.
There are too many unsolved mysteries in history, and the whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen of the Ming Dynasty are a classic puzzle. Zhu Di, the king of Yan, rebelled and launched the Battle of Jingnan and usurped the throne, after which Zhu Di was proclaimed emperor, while Emperor Jianwen's whereabouts were unknown and he did not know whether he was alive or dead.
Some people said that he had died in that mutiny, and some people said that he escaped and survived in anonymity. Later generations have different opinions about the whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen, which is still an unsolved mystery.
1. The Battle of Jing
In order to maintain the imperial rule and strengthen the power of the imperial power, Zhu Yuanzhang, the ming emperor, followed the ancient system and divided the sons of the imperial family as the kings of the clan, stationed in various places to screen the royal family. In the Ming Dynasty, the power of the king of the clan was very large, and he could train troops and establish official positions in his fiefdom tun tian.
This system did play a positive role in the early days. However, as the power of the clan kings continued to increase, the imperial power was gradually threatened. The Battle of Jingnan took place against this background.
Zhu Yuanzhang's eldest son Zhu Biao died prematurely, so before his death, he made a will, ordering the emperor's grandson Zhu Yunjiao to take the throne, instructing his courtiers to do their best to assist Zhu Yunjiao, and the kings of various regions were not allowed to enter the capital unless they received an edict. When Emperor Jianwen ascended the throne, the power of the kings of various regions could not be underestimated, and the kings of Yan and Ning both supported their own troops and were arrogant.
Emperor Jianwen then consulted with Qi Tai, Huang Zicheng and other former courtiers about cutting the domain, and after some research, Emperor Jianwen began to implement the cutting of the domain. Zhu Yunjiao first started with some clan kings who had made mistakes, stripped a number of clan kings of their titles, and demoted them to shuren.
Emperor Jianwen's move to cut the domain quickly intensified the contradiction between the king of the domain and the imperial family. Everyone in the domain was in danger, and Zhu Di, the king of Yan, was the most powerful of the many kings of the clan, and he naturally became the leader of the king of the clan and began to plot to seize power.
In order to make his rebellion famous, Zhu Di pointed out that Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng were traitors on the basis of the regulations of the Taizu period, and his move to lead the army into Beijing was the side of the Qing Emperor, and everything was ready, Zhu Di launched a mutiny in the first year of Jianwen under the name of "Jing Difficulty".
Zhu Di used his troops properly and strategized, but Zhu Yunjiao lacked combat experience and improper command, and after several battles, Zhu Yunjiao was defeated and retreated, while Zhu Di attacked the capital city of Nanjing with a single blow, and from then on the country changed hands.
Second, self-immolation and death? Escape day?
After Zhu Di attacked the capital, there was a fire in the palace, and according to historical records, it was said that there was a fire in the palace, and Emperor Jianwen disappeared. When the fire was extinguished, Zhu Di had several corpses knocked out of the ruins, and some palace people recognized one of the corpses as Zhu Yunjiao, so Zhu Di announced to the outside world that Emperor Jianwen was dead, and after the hundred officials of the clan room paid homage, he buried Emperor Jianwen.
However, there are also many historical records that show that Emperor Jianwen did not die in the fire, but fled in the chaos. Regarding the whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen after he escaped from the palace, the most widely spread folk saying is that he shaved his hair after escaping, converted to Buddhism, and has since traveled all over the world and spent the rest of his life freely, and there is also a saying that he fled to Nanyang, which is now Southeast Asia.
Third, look for Emperor Jianwen
Even though he had already ascended the throne and become a righteous ruler, the unknown Jianwen Emperor had always been a thorn in Ming Chengzu's heart. In order to seek peace of mind, he sent two close ministers to secretly find out the whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen.
It was rumored that after Emperor Jianwen escaped, he became a monk and traveled in all directions, so Ming Chengzu sent Hu Qian to look for Emperor Jianwen. Hu Qi searched for fourteen years and went to many places, and he not only reported to Ming Chengzu on the progress of his search for Emperor Jianwen, but also reported what he saw and heard along the way to Ming Chengzu, so that Ming Chengzu could better understand the people's situation at that time.
Hu's investigation continued until the twenty-first year of Yongle, when he returned to Kyoto and went to the palace to meet Ming Chengzu, who told him that Ming Chengzu had gone to Xuanfu, and Hu Xi immediately went to Xuanfu. When he arrived, it was already very late, and Zhu Di had already rested, but at this time, the palace people came to report that Hu Xi had come to see him, so Zhu Di hurriedly got up and changed his clothes.
Hu Qian's main task was to find the whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen, and he met With Zhu Di late at night and talked for a long time before leaving, although the matters discussed were not recorded in detail in the historical records, and he thought that it was also for the sake of Emperor Jianwen. In short, after this meeting, Hu Qian stopped visiting around, probably because Ming Chengzu got the answer he wanted from Hu Qian.
In addition, there is also a theory that Emperor Jianwen fled overseas, so Zhu Di sent Zheng He overseas to find the whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen. Ming Chengzu sent Zheng He on an envoy to the Western countries, on the one hand, to find the whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen, on the other hand, at that time, the Ming Dynasty was strong and economically developed, and Zhu Di also wanted to publicize the ming dynasty's national prestige to the Western countries.
In fact, historians have always been skeptical of Emperor Jianwen's claim that he fled overseas, especially after the news came from Hu Qian's side, when Zhu Di was likely to have obtained the whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen, but still sent Zheng He to the sea many times.
It can be seen from this that at the beginning, Ming Chengzu sent Zheng He to the West in order to find Emperor Jianwen, and perhaps he did not expect at that time that Zheng He's envoy to the West brought huge tribute wealth to the Ming Dynasty, so after receiving the news of Emperor Jianwen, he still sent Zheng He to the West many times.
summary:
Regarding the question of whether Emperor Jianwen was alive or dead after the Battle of Jingnan, the historians of later generations have always been divided into opinions; some people believe that he did die in the fire of the Battle of Jingnan, and some people think that he escaped from the palace by chance, became a monk, and traveled all over the world.
We don't know what the truth was at that time, but it is an indisputable fact that Ming Chengzu launched the Battle of Jingnan and usurped the throne of Emperor Jianwen.
Zhu Yunjiao was gentle and elegant, benevolent and generous, but what he learned from childhood was the Confucian way, compared to Zhu Di, who was all-rounder in literature and martial arts, intelligent and courageous, and determined, Zhu Yunjiao appeared to be somewhat indecisive, and after Zhu Di took the throne, the Ming Dynasty also presented a prosperous and prosperous situation under his governance, perhaps, Zhu Di was more suitable for the role of "emperor" than Zhu Yunjiao.
Later generations were more inclined to believe that Emperor Jianwen survived the Battle of Jingnan, perhaps out of sympathy for Emperor Jianwen's suffering, or perhaps out of an attempt to express his dissatisfaction with feudal and decadent rule.