After the death of his crown prince Zhu Biao, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, chose Zhu Biao's son Zhu Yunjiao as the heir of Emperor Daming, which has been controversial and complicated in Chinese history.
When Zhu Yuanzhang had not yet become emperor and only the King of Wu, he had set up his eldest son Zhu Biao as his son, and he had already made it clear that his heir was Zhu Biao, the eldest son of The Concubine, and after becoming emperor, he still regarded Zhu Biao as the heir of the empire, indicating that Zhu Yuanzhang had always been adhering to the feudal patriarchal system, that is, the inheritance system of the eldest son.
The problem is that Zhu Biao died when Zhu Yuanzhang was still alive, and Zhu Yuanzhang not only faced the sadness of the white-haired people sending the black-haired people, but also faced the changes in the heir of the empire.
From a common sense, when the eldest son dies, he will choose the second son of the concubine, that is, Zhu Biao's younger brother as the heir, which is often said to be "brother and brother", this kind of brother and brother and the inheritance system is generally used for the previous emperor without a son or the son is very small, such as emperor Wu of Han's heir Liu Zhu committed suicide because of the rebellion, so Emperor Wu of Han chose an heir from Liu Zhao's younger brother, and finally chose the youngest Liu Fuling as the heir, which is the brother and the brother.
Zhu Biao is a concubine, he has 2 half-brothers, namely: Zhu Zhu, the King of Qin, Zhu Tang, the King of Jin, and two elderly half-brothers: Zhu Di, the King of Yan, and Zhu Shu, the King of Zhou, and the other younger brothers will not be said for the time being, according to the smooth succession, the first thing should be chosen between Zhu Zhu, the King of Qin, and Zhu Tang, the King of Jin, who died at the age of 37, and Zhu Tang, the King of Jin, was 35 years old.
However, Zhu Yuanzhang was not very satisfied with the Qin king Zhu Zhu, and just a year before Zhu Biao's death, Zhu Yuanzhang was also because the Qin king Zhu Zhu was in charge of the imperial family and other things were more wrong, so he changed the crown prince Zhu Biao to inspect Guanshan, and transferred the Qin king Zhu Zhu from the fief to the capital Nanjing, until the year of Zhu Biao's death, Zhu Yuanzhang, under zhu Biao's persuasion, let the Qin king Zhu Zhu return to the fiefdom to take the domain, that is, in this year, Zhu Biao died.
According to the system, Zhu Yuanzhang should have established Zhu Zhu, the king of Qin, as the heir, but Zhu Yuanzhang obviously did not like the Qin king Zhu Zhu, so he hesitated, if he set up other clan kings as heirs, it would destroy the patriarchal inheritance system, plus Zhu Yuanzhang learned the lessons of previous dynasties, if the king of Li Fan inherited the unification, he was worried that others would disobey and cause trouble, today he could set up a clan king as emperor, then tomorrow there will be unscrupulous traitors who will set up another clan king as emperor, which will cause turmoil, which is Zhu Yuanzhang's current consideration.
In addition, there is another important reason for Zhu Yuanzhang to consider, that is, the life span of the crown prince Zhu Biao is too short, coupled with the fact that the Qin king Zhu Zhu and the Jin king Zhu Tang are not in good health, his son's body Zhu Yuanzhang must know, from the later life span can also be seen, the Qin king Zhu Zhu died at the age of 40, the Jin king Zhu Zhuo died at the age of 41, the life expectancy is too short to inherit the emperor's throne is also a troublesome thing, after two years to choose an heir is a big problem, in the end, Zhu Yuanzhang gave up looking for an heir among his sons.
The inheritance system under the original patriarchal system should be:
When the previous emperor had sons: concubine eldest son, shu eldest son, concubine brother, shu brother
The previous emperor had no sons or sons were not eligible (young): Brother Shu Brothers Firstborn Son
According to the system, Zhu Yuanzhang should choose an heir from his grandsons, that is, from Zhu Biao's sons, Zhu Biao's eldest son is Zhu Xiongying, but he died as early as 1382, Zhu Biao's second son was Zhu Yunjiao, who was 16 years old at the time, but Zhu Xiongying and Zhu Yunjiao's mother were not alone, Zhu Xiongying's mother was Chang Yuchun's daughter, who died in 1378, Zhu Yunying's mother was the daughter of Lü Ben, the secretary of the Taichang Temple, and was supported by Zhu Biao as a princess after chang Yuchun's daughter died, so legally, Zhu Xiongying, Zhu Yunxiong was both concubines, and Zhu Xiongying also had a half-brother-in-law named Zhu Yunxi, who was only one year younger than Zhu Yunxiong and also had the qualification to inherit.
Now the key question is whether Zhu Yunjiao and Zhu Yunxi are both concubines? If they are all concubines, then according to the smooth appearance of the eldest and youngest, Zhu Yunjiao is the heir, because of the elderly, if Zhu Yunjiao is not a concubine, then it can only be Zhu Yunxi as the heir.
And the key lies in the fact that the mother of the two, Zhu Yunxi's mother Chang Shi, died in 1378, so Zhu Biao supported Zhu Yunxi's mother Lü Shi as his wife, and after Zhu Biao's death in 1392, Zhu Yunxi was a concubine, and Zhu Yunxi was also a concubine, and the patriarchal interpretation of this special situation is explained in the New Book of Tang as follows:
"New Book of Tang Dynasty Confucianism Handed Down to Wei Gongsu": The ancient princes married nine daughters, so there were no two concubines in the temple, and since the Qin, there have been remarriages, former wives and successors, all concubines, two without suspicion.
That is to say, after being corrected, the wife who gave birth to a son and the son born to the previous wife were all concubines, so Zhu Yunjiao and Zhu Yunxi were both concubines, and the concubines were older than the older, and Zhu Yunjiao was older, so Zhu Yunjiao should be appointed as the heir, and finally Zhu Yuanzhang established Zhu Yunjiao as the heir.
There is another factor that led Zhu Yuanzhang to set up Zhu Yunjiao and not zhu Yunxi as the heir, because of their matriarchal line, that is, the reason for foreign relatives, Zhu Yunxi is chang Yuchun's grandson, the Chang family has greater power in the imperial court, the relationship is complicated, the foreign relatives are too powerful, there will be a threat of interference in internal affairs, and Zhu Yunjiao's maternal relatives have no such worries.
Not only did Zhu Yuanzhang think so, in fact, there were also people in the imperial court who thought so, and at that time, a Hanlin scholar named Liu Sanwu also asked Zhu Yuanzhang to appoint Zhu Yunjiao as his heir, when Liu Sanwu said this to Zhu Yuanzhang:
Emperor Sun Nianfu, son of Shi Concubine, Son of Sun Cheng, Suitable For The Unification Ceremony. That is, the King of Liyan, where is the second king of Qin and Jin?
The meaning is: the emperor's grandson is now rich and powerful, and he is a concubine' descendant, and the son dies and the grandson inherits, which is in line with the traditional etiquette, if the King of Yan (Zhu Di) is established, then where is the King of Qin, Zhu Zhuo, the King of Jin, and zhu Tang, the King of Jin?
At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang replied directly: Good! It is a good meaning, perhaps Zhu Di, the King of Yan, was very capable and qualified to inherit at that time, but from Zhu Yuanzhang's attitude, it can be seen that he also has the intention of establishing an emperor and a grandson. Therefore, such a complicated matter as Zhu Yuanzhang's heir was finally settled, and zhu Yuanzhang, three years after establishing Zhu Yunjiao as the heir, also finally determined the content of the "Imperial Ming Ancestral Training", especially the content of the Ming Dynasty's inheritance legal system, and determined that the inheritance principle was: Where there is no prince in the imperial court, there must be a brother and a brother, and those born to the mother must be born of a concubine, and although the mother is born, it cannot be established. If a traitor abandons his concubine, he shall keep his share and not move, and he who shall send a letter to repay the concubine shall be on the throne.