In 1426, Zhu Zhanji went to the prison to visit the forty-seven-year-old uncle Zhu Gaoxu, but Zhu Gaoxu not only did not appreciate it, but kicked him to the ground. Zhu Zhanji was furious, and ordered that a large jar weighing 300 kilograms be used to trap Zhu Gaoxu inside, and then burn him alive with a pile of charcoal. Zhu Gaoxu's wives and concubines and ten princes were killed.
Zhu Gaoxu just stumbled over Zhu Zhanji, why did Zhu Zhanji give such a ruthless hand, even his own relatives had to kill him?
Zhu Zhanji is not ruthless, but some people will not do bad things.
His second son, who did not have the throne, suffered from the prince's illness.
Zhu Gaoxu was the second son of Zhu Di, the ancestor of the Ming Dynasty, and Zhu Zhanji's father Mingren Zhu Gaoji, and Zhu Gaoxu, the King of Zhao, were all sons of Empress Xu.
Whether it is the Chinese tradition of "standing up for the throne" or the legacy of "the eldest son inherits the throne" left by Zhu Yuanzhang, it is destined that Zhu Gaoxu is two years younger than Zhu Gaoxu.
Moreover, when Zhu Yuanzhang was alive, when Zhu Di was still the king of Yan, Zhu Yuanzhang appointed Zhu Gaoxi as Zhu Di's heir, and Zhu Gaoxu was also canonized as the king of Gaoyang County.
Now that Zhu Di has changed from the king of the Yan Kingdom to the king of the Daming, Zhu Gaojie naturally wants to be promoted from the son of the Yan Kingdom to the prince, which is a fact that everyone tacitly acknowledges.
However, after Zhu Di ascended the throne, he did not canonize Zhu Gaoxu as the crown prince, but gave Zhu Gaoxu the illusion that he could also become the crown prince.
Why didn't Zhu Di take Zhu Gaoji as the crown prince? Is it because he is too weak? No.
During Zhu Yuanzhang's reign, Zhu Yuanzhang personally inspected Zhu Gaozhi, from military and political affairs to the life of the people, he was only a teenager at that time, but his answer was dripping, and Zhu Yuanzhang was full of praise, saying that he had "the knowledge of a gentleman."
Zhu Di's refusal to let Zhu Gaojie be the crown prince was purely out of his personal considerations.
First, Zhu Di felt that Zhu Gaozhi was not his person
Zhu Di is a well-known martial general, but Zhu Gaojie is a fat man, his legs are disabled, and he walks with a limp, which is not suitable for fighting at all.
Zhu Di once sent Zhu Gaojie's three brothers to practice riding, but Zhu Gaojie was a fat man and could not get on horseback. Seeing this, Zhu Di was very disgusted with Zhu Gaozhi.
On the contrary, the second son, Zhu Gaoxu, is not only burly, but also good at horseback riding and archery, and Zhu Di's impression of Zhu Gaoxu is the same as when he was a child, very fond of him.
Second, Zhu Gaoxu saved Zhu Di's life several times
Originally, Zhu Di's favor for Zhu Gaoxu was still reasonable, after all, they were both daughters of Empress Xu, and although Zhu Gaoxu was very fat, he did not do anything wrong.
This caused Zhu Di to begin to shake Zhu Gaoji's inheritance rights in the "Battle of Jingjian".
In the battle of Jingyan, Zhu Di fell into danger several times, and was almost killed by the southern army several times, and at a critical moment, it was Zhu Gaoxu who intervened to rescue Zhu Di from danger.
What was Zhu Gaochi doing at that time?
Zhu Di ordered him to garrison Beiping, and although Zhu Gaozhi, with his more than 10,000 old, weak and disabled, successfully repelled Li Jinglong's 500,000-strong army and saved the city of Beiping, compared with the saving grace, Zhu Di's impression of Zhu Gaojie was far worse.
So Zhu Di said to Zhu Gaoxu: The son of the world is weak, so he should be encouraged more. "History of Ming. Biography of Zhu Gaoxu"
If others hear this sentence, they will definitely think of it, and the meaning is: "Your eldest brother is weak and weak, and you have to work hard to take on the ultimate responsibility." ”
In other historical texts, there is a more direct description: I am tired, you supervise. The son of the world has been ill for a long time, this matter has been decided, you are the prince. Wu'er did her best. "Hongyou Lu"
Is this a promise that Li Yuan made to Li Shimin when Li Yuan rebelled? In fact, Zhu Gaoxu also often compared Tang Taizong Li Shimin.
Zhu Di's words planted a prince's dream in Zhu Gaoxu's heart.
It's a pity that Zhu Gaoxu is different from Li Shimin, and judging from what he does, he won't do anything, he will only cause trouble.
For more than 20 years, one thing is better than less, and the rebellion is known to everyone
Although Zhu Di disdained Zhu Gaojie, the canonization of the crown prince was related to Jiangshan and the survival of the major forces.
Zhu's main supporters are civil society groups.
And the literati groups strongly supported Zhu Gaozhi, on the one hand, because they strictly abided by Confucian etiquette, and on the other hand, because Zhu Gaochi was magnanimous and had a very Confucian ideal image of a king, and once he succeeded to the throne in the future, he would definitely form a friendly relationship with the courtiers.
Zhu Gaoxu, on the other hand, is the other way around, once he sits on the throne, he will definitely suppress the Wen Chen class.
It stands to reason that the generals will support Zhu Gaoxu, but in fact, except for Qiu Fu and Wang Ning, the generals did not openly support Zhu Gaoxu.
For no other reason, Zhu Gaojie had a powerful backer behind him, Empress Xu.
Empress Xu is the eldest daughter of Xu Da, the founding emperor of the Daming Dynasty, and comes from a noble family of Daming and has many connections with the Xungui family.
Empress Xu's attitude will inevitably have a certain impact on the attitude of those nobles and military generals.
Although Zhu Di was a little shaken, he did not establish Zhu Gaoxu as the imperial throne.
You know, when Zhu Di launched the "Jing Difficulty", it was under the pretext of restoring the ancestral training, if the position of the ancestor was abolished, wouldn't he have slapped himself in the face? Wen Chen seized this opportunity and left Zhu Di speechless.
In the end, the step that Zhu Di made up his mind was the "good saint grandson" of the cabinet minister Xie Jin, which moved Zhu Di.
The so-called "good saint sun" is Zhu Zhanji, the son of Zhu Gaoji.
So in the second year of Yongle, Zhu Di canonized Zhu Gaoji as the crown prince and Zhu Zhanji as the grandson. The implication is clear, even if Zhu Gaoxu is not mildly ill and dies before ascending the throne, Zhu Gaoxu cannot become the crown prince.
Zhu Gaoxu is very dissatisfied with this, and is even looking for opportunities, let's see, what the hell is he doing?
He said that he would not return to Nanjing and did anything that hurt nature.
When Zhu Di hesitated, he sensed that his three sons were about to move, so he canonized Zhu Gaoxu as the crown prince and his second son Zhu Gaoxu as the king of Han, and set up the fief in Yunnan. He made Zhu Gaoxao the King of Zhao and his Beijing his birthplace.
Seeing that the overall situation had been decided, Zhu Gaoxian had no choice but to resign himself to his fate and march towards Beijing.
Zhu Gaoxu was quite critical of this, he felt that Zhu Di's sending him to Yunnan was tantamount to exile, he was determined not to return to Yunnan, he had to stay in Nanjing, and he said to Zhu Di in public: What mistake have I made?
Perhaps because Zhu Gaoxu did not keep his promises, Zhu Di did not reprimand him, but only let him live in Nanjing.
Zhu Di's move made Zhu Gaoxu mistakenly think that Zhu Di was seeking the throne for himself, so he attacked Zhu Gaoxu again, repeatedly making mistakes, Zhu Di was furious, and it was all thanks to Zhu Gaoxu saying a few good words for Zhu Di, which saved Zhu Gaoxu from guilt.
Slander Zhu Dijin and frame Zhu Gaozhi's people
Zhu Gaoxu did not get angry because of Zhu Gaoxu's protection, but took advantage of his relationship with Zhu Di and let him sit in Beijing to plant Zhu Gaoxu.
In the eighth year of Yongle, Zhu Di went on the Northern Expedition, Xie Jin wanted to enter the palace to submit a document, Xie Jin went to the crown prince, and Zhu Gaoxu took the opportunity to frame Zhu Di, saying that he summoned him privately when the emperor was away.
Zhu Di was furious and ordered Xie Jin to be arrested and imprisoned, and the law was corrected on the spot.
It can be imagined how difficult Zhu Gaozhi's situation was at that time, on the one hand, Zhu Di often fought outside the country and asked him to preside over government affairs in Beijing, on the other hand, he did not allow him to meet with the courtiers.
Zhu Gaoxu took advantage of Zhu Di's suspicious personality and wanted to take revenge on him.
When Zhu Gaochi was the crown prince, this kind of thing was not uncommon, and a large number of ministers loyal to the prince were either arrested or killed, except for the chief assistant of the cabinet, that is, Huang Huai, Jin Wen, Yang Shiqi, and Yang Pu.
It can be said that during the Yongle Dynasty, those who were not edicted by Zhu Di did not have the face to call themselves "princelings" at all.
Fortunately, Zhu Gaochi was very patient, and while he endured Zhu Di's punishment, he did not refute and did not let Zhu Di grab his handle. And what Zhu Gaoxu did also made Zhu Gaoxu more arrogant.
The higher Zhu Di's evaluation of Zhu Gaoxu, the more dissatisfied he was with Zhu Gaoxu's approach.
In the thirteenth year of Yongle, Zhu Di moved Zhu Gaoxu's fief to Qingzhou, Shandong, and asked him to go to the fief immediately, but Zhu Gaoxu refused, and even sent 3,000 guards to kill Xu Yelu.
Secretly hiding weapons, and still want to make out the changes in the Xuanwu Gate of the Ming Dynasty?
In the fifteenth year of Yongle, when Zhu Di returned to Nanjing because he wanted to move the capital to Beijing, he received a letter saying that Zhu Gaoxu had done something similar to Li Shimin once when he left the capital.
This was Zhu Di's anti-scale, and he was degraded as a commoner in a word, and Zhu Gao begged bitterly, and Zhu Di spared his life.
Zhu Di also made up his mind that this time he must drive him to his fiefdom, but this time he moved his fief to Zhu Di's Le'an Prefecture, Shandong, which was carefully selected by Zhu Di, which is not only small in area, but also very close to Beijing, as long as he does something in his fiefdom, the imperial court will detect it at the first time.
By now, Zhu Gaoxu should also have retreated in spite of the difficulties.
However, Zhu Gaoxu was obsessed with the imperial throne, and after Le'an, instead of moderation, he was plotting to rebel. After Zhu Gaojie ascended the throne, he sent his cronies into Beijing to prepare for rebellion.
Nine months after Zhu Gaoxi ascended the throne, Zhu Zhanji was in Nanjing, and Zhu Gaoxu originally wanted to intercept Zhu Zhanji on the way while Zhu Zhanji went to Beijing for funeral.
This guy is also quite miserable, planning for decades, from father and brother to nephew, but nothing has been done.
What is worse is that this conspiracy caused "Sima Zhao's heart, known to the whole world", and the whole country knew that this imperial uncle wanted to emulate his father and create his nephew to rebel.
The first emperor of China to be burned to death
In the first year of Xuande (1426), after more than 20 years of planning, Zhu Gaoxu, who had never achieved anything, finally decided to rise up and resist despite hardships and dangers!
Before setting out, he sent his henchman Mingqing to the capital to join his best friend Zhang Fu.
However, no matter how good a friend is, it is not as good as "knowing the times", Zhu Gaoxu does not know, but Zhang Fu is clear, although Zhu Gaoxu has this ability, he also wants to emulate his father Zhu Di, but the problem is that Zhu Zhanji is not Zhu Yunji.
Zhang Fu learned the origin of Pingqing, and without saying a word, he tied Pingqing and handed it to Zhu Zhanji.
Although Zhu Zhanji knew about this, he was still unwilling to attack his uncle, so he sent the lieutenant official Hou Tai to Le'an to intercede with Zhu Gaoxu.
Unexpectedly, Zhu Gaoxu thought that Zhu Zhanji was a coward and pretentious, and not only took out his weapon to show Hou Tai, but also told him to go back and tell Zhu Zhanji: You go back to pray, Xia Yuanji, and quickly capture the traitor Xu Yi.
The implication is to make peace with me and give me the traitors of Xia Yuanji first.
At this point, even if Zhu Zhanji doesn't make a move, he can only make a move.
Zhu Gaoxu originally thought that Zhu Zhanji would send Yangwu Marquis Xue Lu to send troops, but he didn't want to, he actually went out in person, which caught Zhu Gaoxu a little off guard.
The army quickly surrounded Le'an, and shot several crossbow arrows with the magic machine crossbow, which made the rebels terrified, and they all wanted to sacrifice Zhu Gaoxu's first rank to Zhu Zhanji.
Zhu Gaoxu had to relent.
Zhu Gaoxu was defeated, and the ministers wrote to severely punish, but Zhu Zhanji could not be ruthless, demoted him, his wife and concubine, and son to commoners, and imprisoned him in the imperial city of Xi'anmen.
Zhu Zhanji has already done his best to his uncle, but Zhu Gaoxu is still doing evil.
One day, Zhu Zhanji suddenly thought of this uncle and went to Xi'an Gate to visit him.
Zhu Gaoxu, 47 years old this year, made a puzzling move, he stretched out a foot and tripped Zhu Zhanji.
No matter how good Zhu Zhanji's temper was, he couldn't bear it, so he ordered someone to take a large copper cylinder of three hundred pounds and cover Zhu Gaoxu inside, which means: "You give me honesty!" ”
However, Zhu Gaoxu did not stop there, and he also made an incredible move, that is, he actually began to lift weights and turn the three-hundred-pound big ding.
Zhu Zhanji was also stunned when he saw this series of strange actions, he asked people to seal the bronze jar, and found charcoal to burn Zhu Gaoxu alive, and Zhu Gaoxu became the first emperor in Chinese history to be roasted.
As for Zhu Gaoxu's tragic life, Gu Yingtai made a profound comment on Zhu Gaoxu's rebellion:
But the gentle plan is not Xiangdong Ketan; Xu Zhicai, not Cao Zhizhiye; The land is only Le'an, not the seven kingdoms of Wu and Chu. The only people are Wang Bin and Zhu Wei, not Guan Gao and Wu Weizhi.
The implication is that Zhu Gaoxu has no strategy, no talent, no land, no army, no talent, how can he rebel? It's delusional.
But who caused Zhu Gaoxu's suicide? All this is because of his father, Zhu Di.
If it weren't for the expectation he had placed on him that "the world is sick, and he should be encouraged", and had not repeatedly indulged him, let him feel hopeful again and again, he would no longer have any obsession, and would not have spent his old age safely like his third brother Zhu Gaoxiao.