Statue of Li Wenzhong, King of Qiyang
Recently, I have written several stories about the founding heroes of the Ming Dynasty and their families, Chang Yuchun and Tang He have written, and this article writes another one.
To write about Li Wenzhong, who was named duke of Cao in the third year of Hongwu (1370 AD), posthumously named king of Qiyang, and ranked third in the list of meritorious people worthy of the Taimiao Temple.
Li Wenzhong was the youngest of the six dukes (posthumously posthumously) of Zhu Yuanzhang's six dukes during Hongwu's third year, except for Chang Mao, the son of Chang Yuchun.
However, Chang Mao became the Duke of Guo by virtue of his father Meng and his sister Chang Shi's intention to marry the crown prince Zhu Biao, and Li Wenzhong was selected by virtue of his military achievements.
Of course, Li Wenzhong's other two identities also played a certain role, he was not only Zhu Yuanzhang's nephew, but also adopted by Zhu Yuanzhang as a righteous son, becoming a representative figure in the mountain of the Righteous Son faction.
Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang statue
One: The father and son of the Li family, who are highly valued by Zhu Yuanzhang
Li Wenzhong once changed his surname to Zhu, "Taizu saw Bao'er (Li Wenzhong's nickname), was very happy, thought of himself as a son, and ordered him to follow his own surname", which was carefully cultivated by Zhu Yuanzhang.
After joining the army, Li Wenzhong "Xiao Yong crowned the generals", made countless military achievements, was rewarded by Zhu Yuanzhang, rose again and again in his official position, and allowed him to "restore his surname to Li".
He was zhu Yuanzhang's nephew (the son of Princess Cao Guochang, the second sister of Zhu Yuanzhang), and a leading figure among Zhu Yuanzhang's righteous sons, so when Hongwu was knighted in three years, he was one of the highest-ranking dukes.
It should be known that another well-known figure in Zhu Yuanzhang's righteous son, Mu Ying (6 years younger than Li Wenzhong), who was posthumously awarded the title of King of Qianning after his death, did not receive the title of Marquis until ten years after Hongwu.
The Li Wenzhong recorded in the History of Ming is definitely a complete set of both literature and martial arts:
The weight of the instrument is heavy and the people are unpredictable. In the face of the battle, the wind is strong, and the enemy is stronger. Quite well-educated, often taught Jinhua Fan Zugan and Hu Han, who were well versed in scripture and poetry.
Unfortunately, Li Wenzhong did not live long, and Hongwu died of illness in the sixteenth year (1383 AD), at the age of 44.
Tomb of Li Wenzhong, King of Qiyang
When he died, Zhu Yuanzhang suspected that Hou Huazhong of Huai'an, who had treated him, had deliberately poisoned him, or suspected that Huazhong had not properly treated Li Wenzhong, and in a fit of anger, he "degraded Zhongjue and let his family belong to Jianchangwei, and all the doctors and wives were beheaded."
After being irreparable, Zhu Yuanzhang "personally sacrificed for Wen and posthumously crowned the King of Qiyang and Wujing." Worthy of the Taimiao Temple, the Temple of Portrait Heroes, the third place."
Earlier, in the eleventh year of Hongwu (1378 AD), when Li Wenzhong's father and Zhu Yuanzhang's brother-in-law Li Zhen died, he was also posthumously honored by Zhu Yuanzhang as the "King of Longxi" (when Zhu Yuanzhang fell, Li Zhen and his wife often received him).
It can be seen from this that Zhu Yuanzhang's gratitude and respect for Li Wenzhong's father and son, coupled with the inherent blood relations, therefore, if there is no major turmoil, Li Wenzhong's descendants should belong to the group that can walk sideways in the Ming Dynasty.
Unfortunately, Li Wenzhong's heroic I, but gave birth to a soft egg son Li Jinglong, but also let him encounter such a major event as the Jiangshan Dingge, and his inability to deal with complex political changes, so that Li Wenzhong's descendants stumbled for a hundred years.
Li Wenzhong's son Li Jinglong
Two: Lao Tzu's hero soft egg, Li Jinglong let the family be humiliated and degraded
After Li Wenzhong's death, his eldest son Li Jinglong attacked the Dukedom of Cao in the nineteenth year of Hongwu (1386 AD) (it took three years to attack the knighthood, presumably waiting for him to reach adulthood).
Li Jinglongshun smoothly and smoothly passed through the Hongwu period, and he was not involved in the major cases that Zhu Yuanzhang arose in his later years. His daughter also married Zhu Yuanzhang's grandson (Zhu Jixi, the second son of Zhu Zhuo the Prince of Jin), and was close to the old Zhu family.
However, after Zhu Yuanzhang's death, the Li family, which should have been rich and prosperous, immediately ushered in a major political event, that is, the test of the "Battle of Jing".
In the first year of Ming Jianwen (1399 AD, also known as the thirty-second year of Hongwu, because After Ming Chengzu succeeded to the throne, he did not recognize the Jianwen nian number), Zhu Di, the King of Yan, was not willing to be cut down by the Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunjiao, and he raised an army to Jing.
At the beginning of the war, Li Jinglong sided with Emperor Jianwen and was appointed by Emperor Jianwen to replace Geng Bingwen, the Marquis of Changxing, who had lost Emperor Jianwen's trust, and led an army to recruit the rebels of Zhu Di, the King of Yan, as recorded in the Biography of Ming Shi Li Jinglong:
And Yan Bingqi, Marquis Geng Bingwen of Changxing defeated Yan, and Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng jointly recommended Jinglong. With Jinglong Dai Bingwen as the general, he sent 500,000 troops to the Northern Expedition. Give the Heavenly Rhino Belt, the Emperor relatives for the wheel, the River Margin, and make everything cheap.
However, Li Jinglong did not know the soldiers, and with hundreds of thousands of troops and the endless material support of the Nanjing imperial court, he was repeatedly defeated by Zhu Di, whose troops were far less than his own.
Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunjiao and Li Jinglong
As a last resort, Emperor Jianwen could only transfer Li Jinglong back.
So far, although Li Jinglong has shown a stupid side militarily, politically, there is no fault, and he has fulfilled his duty as a courtier in serving Emperor Jianwen.
If that's all, even if Zhu Di later became a victor, he shouldn't have done anything to Li Jinglin, and the positions of the two sides were placed there, and Li Jinglong was not wrong.
Moreover, after all, the two sides are relatives, Zhu Di is Li Jinglong's cousin in the end, do not look at the monk's face to see the Buddha's face, the Li family should not be subjected to too many twists and turns.
However, when Zhu Dibing approached the city of Nanjing, Li Jinglong did one thing, he took the initiative to open the city gate and surrendered to Zhu Di, "Yan Bing Tun Jinchuan Gate, Jinglong and Gu Wang opened the door to meet the landing."
This act put Li Jinglong in a disadvantageous political situation, from a loyal minister to a traitor, and no one would like such a two-faced and three-bladed, greedy and fearful of death.
This also laid the groundwork for his later fate.
Li Jinglong commanded the army to fight Against Zhu Di's army
If he was a loyal vassal of Emperor Jianwen, even if Zhu Di's army did not pay attention to him after arriving in Nanjing, Zhu Di would not punish him well, but with the matter of sacrificing the city, not many people would sympathize with Li Jinglong.
Zhu Di also disliked Li Jinglong, and once commented on him: "Scheming and arrogant, fierce and discouraged, jealous and self-use."
However, when Zhu Di first entered the city of Nanjing, Li Jinglong took the initiative to surrender Kaicheng after all, and in order to set an example for him, Zhu Di still granted him the status of "Fengtian Auxiliary Transport Tuicheng Xuanli Wuchen" (Li Wenzhong was "Founding Auxiliary Transport Tuicheng Xuanli Wuchen").
Moreover, "there are major events in the imperial court, and Jinglong is still the head of the class", that is, when he was in the upper dynasty, Li Jinglong was at the forefront of all the ministers of culture and military affairs, and all the heroes of the Jing Dynasty had to be ranked behind him.
Of course, this is a stopgap measure, the "Battle of Jingnan" is actually equivalent to a change of dynasty, after Zhu Di ascended the throne, the status of the Jingnan heroes all exceeded the founding honors, so Li Jinglong stood in the forefront of the court in a dignified manner, making "all the meritorious heroes uneven."
From Li Jinglong's performance, it can also be seen that he is not only not good militarily, but also politically.
Li Jinglong opened the gates of Nanjing and surrendered to Zhu Di
When it's time to be low-key, it's not low-key, and the blow follows.
In the second year of Ming Chengzu Yongle (1404 AD), the first to fire at Li Jinglong was Zhu Di's half-brother Zhu Xu the King of Zhou, "when the King of Zhou sent his jianwen to the mansion to be bribed".
The zhou king Zhu Xu wanted to engage Li Jinglong, which can be said to be Zhu Di's acquiescence, after all, Li Jinglong could not be allowed to stand in front of the Jing Dynasty heroes for a long time.
In addition, the King of Zhou originally had a vendetta against Li Jinglong, and at the beginning, when Emperor Jianwen cut the domain, he arrested the King of Zhou and deposed him as a Shuren, and it was Li Jinglong who was sent to arrest people.
After the King of Zhou struck, the Qunchen immediately realized the intention and began to expose Li Jinglong and the Li family one after another, which is recorded in the Biography of Ming Shi Li Jinglong:
Shangshu Zheng Ci and others of the Punishment Department also impeached Jinglong for harboring evil intentions, saving his life, and plotting against him. Don't ask. Already, chengguo gong neng, the official Shangshu Jianyi and Wenwu Qunchen, the court impeached Jinglong and his brother Zengzhi for plotting against him, and the six branches gave Zhang Xin and others to re-impeach. Edict slash the title of the order, absolutely please, to return to the first place, to worship the princess. After the death of He, Li Zhigang and other repetitions of the Rebbe Shangshu: "Jing Long is at home, sitting and accepting the courtesy of the People of Yan as a monarch, which is a big mistake; ”
At this time, Li Jinglong was indefensible, and because of his previous surrender to Zhu Di, the ministers who sympathized with Emperor Jianwen and his former ministers would no longer speak for Li Jinglong, and he was in a position of isolation and helplessness.
As for the heroes of the Jing Dynasty, they were even more eager to immediately drive this disloyal and incompetent person out of the court in order to make room for their own people.
Therefore, Li Jinglong was doomed, "so he seized the title of Jinglong, and added branches (Li Zengzhi, Li Jinglong's younger brother) and dozens of his wives to privately dispose of them, without their property." Jing long tasted hunger strike for ten days and did not die, until the end of Yongle was a pawn."
Li Jinglong's grandfather Li Zhen and father Li Wenzhong won back the titles earned by the Li family, the family property was gone, the whole family was imprisoned, Zhu Di did not kill him, he tried to commit suicide on hunger strike, and after surviving for more than ten years, he fell ill and died, and the Li family fell into a trough.
The Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi gave Li Wenzhong the marquis of houzhong
Three: Three emperors Kai'en, the Li family will meet the Xun gui family sequence
After Li Jinglong was stripped of his title by Zhu Di, the Li family faltered for more than a hundred years, and after several emperors' grace, they became a member of the Ming Dynasty's nobles.
First of all, in the thirteenth year of Ming Yingzong's orthodoxy (1448 AD), Ming Yingzong first released Li Jinglong's younger brother Li Zengzhi from captivity, so that he could come out and live an ordinary life.
Then, in the sixth year of Emperor Ming's reign (1493 CE), Emperor Ming xiaozong rehabilitated many of the deposed descendants and hired Li Jinglong's great-grandson, Li Xuan, as the commander of the Nanjing Jinyi Weishi.
After decades of imprisonment, Li Jinglong's descendants finally saw the sunshine again.
Finally, in the eleventh year of Emperor Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty (1532 AD), Emperor Ming shizong re-enfeoffed the Li family and gave the Li family the title of Marquis of Linhuai, who was then knighted by Li Xuan's grandson Li Sex.
Since then, the Li family has been reused by the emperor one after another, and although some of the raiders have been convicted, the title has not been deprived and has been passed down until the end of the Ming Dynasty.
The last Linhuai Marquis Li Zushu surrendered to the Qing army
Four: The end, Li Wenzhong's descendants surrendered to the Qing Dynasty
In May of the first year of the Southern Ming Dynasty (the second year of Qing Shunzhi, 1645 AD), the Qing army approached the city of Nanjing, and Li Zushu, the last Marquis of Linhuai, accompanied by the nobles of Nanjing City, surrendered to the Qing army.
At this point, the Li family once again fell into mediocrity, "Ming died, knightly", and the subsequent deeds and historical books did not record it.
The Li family rose from the founding of the Ming Dynasty, and Li Wenzhong was regarded as a hero and a good man, and he made great achievements in the opening of the ming dynasty.
Starting from Li Jinglong, the descendants of the Li family were able to do things in a mediocre manner, and even their backbones gradually died out, and after the death of the Ming Dynasty, like most of the Ming Dynasty's Xungui families, they slowly became the dust of history.
Reference: "Myo history"
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