Ming Chengzu Zhu Di had thin heirs in his lifetime, with only four sons and five daughters, which was a small number among the emperors. Of his four sons, the youngest son, Zhu Gaoxi, was young, so he had only three sons left. Moreover, all of Zhu Di's heirs were born before he ascended the throne, and since he became emperor, no heirs have been born.
Of Zhu Di's only three remaining sons, the eldest Zhu Gaozi succeeded to the throne, namely Emperor Akihito. Although Zhu Gaozi reigned for only ten months, he created the "Rule of Renxuan" and was a highly rated renjun. The second eldest, Zhu Gaoxu, was a brave and unscrupulous warrior who had always coveted the position of the eldest brother's son, and later his position as crown prince. In the end, Zhu Gaoxu rebelled, and as a result, he was killed by his nephew Zhu Zhanji of Emperor Xuanzong of Ming, and all his heirs were implicated and killed.
It can be seen that the endings of Zhu Di's first two sons are simply different, one has been exiled for hundreds of lifetimes, and the other has been left behind for thousands of years. So what is the ending of the old third Zhu Gaoxuan, who is deeply loved by Zhu Di and also has no connection with the position of crown prince?
Zhu Gaoxuan was born in the fifteenth year of Hongwu, and his biological mother was Zhu Di's original match, Xu Shi, who was then Princess Yan. Therefore, Zhu Gaozhuo, like the eldest brother and the second brother, is Zhu Di's concubine. Unfortunately, although he was a concubine, he still had two older brothers in front of him, so the possibility of him inheriting the title of King of Yan was very small.
Like his second brother Zhu Gaoxu, Zhu Gaoxu inherited the genes of his father Shang Wu, and later became a fierce general, and was also loved by his father Zhu Di. After the Battle of Jingnan, Zhu Di took the throne, and he made his eldest son Zhu Gaoxu the crown prince, the second son Zhu Gaoxu the King of Han, and the third son Zhu Gaoxuan the Prince of Zhao.
However, Zhu Gaoxuan did not immediately take the throne, but was ordered to hold Beiping. Zhu Di ordered that all government affairs in Peiping must be handed over to Zhu Gaoxuan before being handled, which was enough to show the trust and importance he had. As his status became higher and higher, his power grew, and Zhu Gaoxuan, like the second brother, had the idea of replacing the eldest brother.
He had a good relationship with the eunuch Huang Yu, who was deeply favored by Zhu Di at the time, so he helped slander the crown prince Zhu Gaozi in front of Zhu Di. Of course, the prince's side is not a vegetarian, Zhu Gaozi is a virtuous person, has a high prestige in the dynasty, and has many supporters, so naturally there are ministers who report Zhu Gaozhuo's evil deeds.
Zhu Di was furious when he learned of Zhu Gaoxuan's illegality, and ordered his chief Shi Gusheng to be killed and stripped of his crown. But unexpectedly, Zhu Gaozi stood up to intercede for his brother, on the one hand, Zhu Di was impressed by the prince's behavior, on the other hand, he actually wanted to give Zhu Gaozhuan a chance to reform himself, so he forgave Zhu Gaoxuan.
After Zhu Di ascended the throne, there were only three sons, and Zhu Gaozi, as the eldest son of the concubine, was a righteous heir, but he did not expect that the next two younger brothers had ambitions. Although both younger brothers wanted to replace themselves, Zhu Gaozi was still willing to intercede for them at a critical moment. First, Zhu Gaozi is indeed benevolent and thinks of brotherhood, and second, he can indeed show his benevolence in front of everyone in this way.
However, his two younger brothers did not buy it, but hated their big brother even more in their hearts. After the last incident, Zhu Gaoxuan ostensibly acted a lot more restrained, but privately he still planned to seize the throne. Especially when Zhu Di was seriously ill, Zhu Gaoxuan believed that the situation was urgent, so while continuing to slander the eldest brother in front of his father, he colluded with the guards and commanders Meng Xian, Qin Tianjian Wang Shecheng and others to prepare to forge the edict, and when Zhu Di died, he announced that he would inherit the throne.
However, wanwan did not expect that Gao Yizheng, the Wei army of Xingzhou Houtun, ostensibly supported Zhu Gaoxuan and advised him, but turned around and told his in-laws Wang Yu of Zhu Gaoxuan's plot. Wang Yu immediately went to Zhu Di, who soon executed Meng Xian and promoted Wang Yu to the rank of Liaohai Wei Qianhu.
It is conceivable how disappointed Zhu Di was at this time with Zhu Gaozong. He called Zhu Gaozhuo to the front and asked if all this was his doing, and Zhu Gaozhuo had already been so frightened that he could not speak, and neither dared to admit nor deny it. As a result, Zhu Gaozi stood up and said, "What this person did, Gao Fu will not know." ”
Thanks to Zhu Gaozi's extremely hard work, Zhu Gaoxuan escaped another disaster, otherwise Zhu Di would have deposed him as a shuren. After this time, Zhu Gaoxuan began to feel a little afraid in his heart. After Zhu Gaozi ascended the throne, he added 20,000 stones to Zhu Gaozhuo and ordered him to immediately take the domain, and at the same time cut off the second guard, just to make Zhu Gaozhuan honest.
However, at this time, Zhu Gaoxu, the king of Han, was still not dead-hearted, and he planned to rebel and let Zhu Gaoxuan cooperate with him. Although Zhu Gaoxuan participated in the plot, he was actually hesitant in his heart. What neither brother expected was that Zhu Gaozi died after only ten months on the throne.
Immediately after the crown prince Zhu Zhanji succeeded to the throne, he also rewarded Zhu Gaoxuan with eighty acres of garden. At the same time, Zhu Gaoxu, the king of Han, felt that Zhu Zhanji was not afraid, so he decided to speed up the army. Zhu Gaoxuan thought about it and thought that his life was satisfied now, so in the end he did not participate in the rebellion.
Soon, Zhu Gaoxu, the king of Han who rebelled, was captured, and Shangshu Chen Shan, on the grounds that King Zhao was involved in the rebellion, asked Zhu Zhanji to arrest Zhu Gaoxuan, saying: "King Zhao and Gao Xu conspired against Him for a long time, and it is advisable to move troops to Zhangde and capture King Zhao." Otherwise, King Zhao would not be at ease on the other side, and would return to his holy worries one day. ”
However, Zhu Zhanji hesitated and asked the chancellor for his opinion, and Yang Shiqi objected, so Chen Shan asked Shang Shuyi and Xia Yuanji to echo him. Zhu Zhanji thought about it and finally said, "The first emperor loves the second uncle." The king of Han cut himself off from heaven and did not dare to pardon him. King Zhao was not in the form of another, and he could not bear to fail The Former Emperor. ”
Although Zhu Zhanji did not arrest Zhu Gaoxuan, he showed him the folds that Chen Shan and others had requested to dispose of him. Zhu Gaoxuan was very frightened after seeing it, so he took the initiative to hand over the Guards in Changshan, the Herds, and the Official School of the Yiwei Division. His attitude was very satisfactory to Zhu Zhanji, so the latter only took back his guards, not the Yi Wei Division.
In this way, Zhu Gaoxuan was able to continue to be the king of his seemingly majestic domain, and he also received a good death, and died in the sixth year of Xuande at the age of 48, with the nickname "Jane". Zhu Gaoxuan stopped his horse from the cliff in time, in exchange for a good ending, compared to the second brother Zhu Gaoxu, at least it will not leave a notoriety.
Zhu Gaotuo had two sons, and the eldest son, Zhu Zhantuo, was originally crowned the Son of the Prince of Zhao, but Zhu Zhantuo died early, and his nickname was "Mourning". So after Zhu Gaoxuan's death, his second son Zhu Zhanyuan attacked the King of Zhao.
(References "History of Ming", "Ming Shilu")