The battle for Zhu Di's successor is a protracted struggle. Before he ascended the throne, he dug a big hole for himself.
At that time, Zhu Di was defeated by the imperial army led by Sheng Yong at Puzikou on the north bank of the Yangtze River, and even planned to return north to negotiate peace. Fortunately, Zhu Gaoxu led his army to arrive in time, which gave Zhu Di a new hope.
He patted Zhu Gaoxu's back and said a very ambiguous sentence: Do a good job, your eldest brother is not in good health.
To Zhu Gaoxu's ears, this was tantamount to promising him the position of crown prince in the future once he succeeded. Zhu Gaoxu, who was greatly excited, led his army to fight a bloody battle with Sheng Yong, and finally repelled Sheng Yong.
In the end, Zhu Di entered Nanjing and ascended the throne.
At this time, Zhu Di did not want to fulfill his promise. He hesitated for 2 years, and finally made his eldest son Zhu Gaoji a prince for the sake of his precious grandson Zhu Zhanji.
Frustrated, Zhu Gaoxu did not give up because of this, and kept trying to attack the crown prince and compete for the throne. This battle for the throne, which lasted for 20 years, ended with Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu both died, and Zhu Zhanji defeated Zhu Gaoxu by his imperial conquest.
Among them, the time of death of Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoji is only 10 months apart. If it weren't for Zhu Di's illness in his later years, he had to drive his family to the imperial expedition, and eventually died on the way back, I am afraid that he would have lived longer than Zhu Gaozhi.
Although history is already doomed, we still want to explore, if Zhu Gaoxu really dies before Zhu Di, will Zhu Di follow Zhu Yuanzhang's example and establish the crown prince as the new emperor, or will he directly pass on the throne to Zhu Gaoxu to avoid another appeasement?
After all, Zhu Yunjiang's lessons from the past are here, even if Zhu Di likes Zhu Zhanji again, I am afraid that he will have to worry about whether he can deal with Zhu Gaoxu's uncle in the future.
However, I think that even if Zhu Di is worried that Zhu Gaoxu will seize the throne, if Zhu Gaoxu dies before him, he will still choose the crown prince. There are three main reasons.
01, the status of Zhu Zhanji
Although they are both imperial grandchildren, Zhu Zhanji and Zhu Yunji are different.
Zhu Yunjiang was the crown prince after the death of the crown prince, and Zhu Yuanzhang weighed it for 3 months before he made up his mind. Generally speaking, according to the custom, when the crown prince dies, a new prince should be created, rather than choosing an heir from the prince's sons.
Even if he wanted to choose an heir among the prince's sons, Zhu Yunjiang seemed not convincing enough. He originally had an older brother, Zhu Xiongying, who was the eldest son born to Zhu Biao's original match and the eldest grandson of Zhu Yuanzhang. The entire Ming Dynasty knew that if nothing else, Zhu Xiongying would be the 3rd monarch of the Ming Dynasty.
However, Zhu Xiongying died at the age of 9. Before Zhu Xiongying died, his mother had died, and Zhu Yunjiang's mother was promoted as the new crown prince.
So, an embarrassing scene happened: Zhu Yunjiang, as the son of the current crown princess, can be regarded as a concubine. And his third brother, Zhu Yunxi, is the son of Zhu Biao's original crown prince, and is undoubtedly also a concubine.
The concubine of the stepfamily, and the concubine of the original match, whose inheritance rights are first?
Zhu Yuanzhang chose Zhu Yunjiang. Perhaps among them, there is also the consideration that Zhu Yunxi and Lan Yu are relatives.
Subsequently, Zhu Yuanzhang opened a killing ring and killed Lan Yu to consolidate Zhu Yunjiang's position. Many people in later generations felt that if Lan Yu did not die, Zhu Dijing would not be able to succeed.
Zhu Zhanji, on the other hand, was made the crown prince when the crown prince was still alive. Zhu Di appointed an heir early on from generation to generation.
Throughout ancient history, this situation was very rare. Because when the crown prince is alive, he will be made an imperial grandson, and the risk is too great: if the crown prince dies, can the crown prince stand up? If the crown prince is deposed, what will happen to the crown prince? If the crown prince is deposed, won't the crown prince be embarrassed?
After all, the crown prince is not the usual title of the eldest son of the crown prince. This is to be officially canonized and announced to the world, and it is a real prince.
When Zhu Zhanji was made crown prince, he was only 12 years old. His father Zhu Gaozhi did not like Zhu Di and was being suppressed by Zhu Di.
No matter from which point of view, the establishment of Zhu Zhanji as the crown prince has no realistic pressure or urgency, which is purely the embodiment of Zhu Di's personal will.
That is to say, from the moment Zhu Di established Zhu Zhanji as the crown prince, Zhu Di had already thought about it: Zhu Gaoxu's position would be as stable as Mount Tai, and Zhu Gaoxu would no longer have any hope of winning the throne; Even if Zhu Gaoxu died before him, it would only be Crown Prince Zhu Zhanji, not Zhu Gaoxu, who would succeed him.
Zhu Di believed that Zhu Zhanji was not Zhu Yunji, and he could keep his own rivers and mountains.
02, Zhu Zhanji's ability
Since confirming Zhu Zhanji as his heir, Zhu Di has carefully cultivated Zhu Zhanji.
When Zhu Zhanji was 9 years old, he went out of the cabinet to study with the gift of the prince. At the age of 11, he was assigned by Zhu Di to live in Beijing, assisted by ministers, to handle daily affairs. At the age of 12, he was officially made the crown prince, and he followed Zhu Di and accepted Zhu Di's words and deeds.
At that time, Zhu Di was working on moving the capital, and Zhu Zhanji often traveled between Nanjing and Beijing. In addition to traveling, Zhu Di would order the minister to take him to experience the life of the people, feel the hardships of the people's livelihood, and prepare for the future reign of the king.
When Zhu Zhanji was 16 years old, Zhu Di took him to the battlefield. Even in wartime, Zhu Di's education of Zhu Zhanji did not slacken, Zhu Zhanji had to follow the march during the day to learn how to manage the army, and at night in the big tent, the bachelors taught the history of the scriptures, it can be said that military and cultural courses did not fall behind.
Zhu Zhanji also went to the battlefield to fight a battle in a down-to-earth manner. Although the battle situation of this battle is not ideal, it is enough for him to open up the gap with other princes and grandsons who can only talk on paper.
For his educational achievements, Zhu Di is obviously very satisfied. He said to Zhu Gaochi several times: This child must be the son of Taiping in the future.
We can believe that Zhu Di's careful cultivation of Zhu Zhanji, especially taking such a big risk to bring him into battle, is to fully absorb the lesson of Zhu Yunjiang's ignorance of soldiers.
He was already prepared for the possible hardship that Zhu Zhanji might encounter in the future.
At the same time, Zhu Di is also constantly suppressing Zhu Gaoxu. Soon after he made Zhu Zhanji the crown prince, he imprisoned Zhu Gaoxu on the grounds that he had done dozens of illegal things, and threatened to depose him as a commoner.
Zhu Gaoxu interceded for Zhu Gaoxu, so Zhu Di cut off two of Zhu Gaoxu's guards, killed his cronies, and sent him to the Le'an domain.
According to the regulations of the early years of the Ming Dynasty, each clan king had 3 guards, each guarding ranging from a few thousand to more than ten thousand people. It is precisely because they have this powerful force in their hands that they have the confidence to fight with the imperial court.
Under the circumstance that Zhu Zhan's basic ability was superior and far superior to Zhu Yunjiang, and Zhu Gaoxu's ability was far inferior to Zhu Di, Zhu Di wantonly reduced Zhu Gaoxu's support force.
Under this trade-off, it is difficult for Zhu Gaoxu to compete with Zhu Zhanji. Zhu Di did not need to worry too much, if he established Zhu Zhanji, Zhu Gaoxu would threaten Zhu Zhanji's status.
03, Zhu Zhanji's supporter
Zhu Zhanji was the eldest son of the crown prince. The civil officials who attached importance to the primogeniture system and resolutely protected the prince despite the prince's repression naturally stood firmly on his side.
And Zhu Zhanji has been with Zhu Di since he was a child, and has also been on the battlefield, and there are also many supporters among military generals and nobles.
And Zhu Di made the crown prince early and drove Zhu Gaoxu to Le'an, all of which was sending a signal to the court: the crown prince is the orthodox and intelligent person of the Ming Dynasty, don't be too involved with Zhu Gaoxu.
As it turned out, Zhu Gaoxu's proud military experience did not help him win too many supporters. Even Zhang Fu, the son of Zhang Yu, the hero of Jing Dynasty, and the general that Zhu Di relied on the most at that time, resolutely sided with Zhu Zhanji and refused Zhu Gaoxu's wooing.
It can be said that almost all the Manchu dynasties and the armed forces are on Zhu Zhanji's side. Even if Zhu Di wants to abolish Zhu Zhanji and establish Zhu Gaoxu, I am afraid that he will have to weigh whether Zhu Gaoxu has the ability to keep the throne.
04. Write at the end
Whether it is Zhu Di's mentality of establishing the crown prince early to protect Zhu Zhanji's status and deliberately suppress Zhu Gaoxu, or the comparison of Zhu Zhanji's ability and strength with Zhu Gaoxu, it is difficult to find the possibility that Zhu Di will depose Zhu Zhanji and pass the throne to Zhu Gaoxu.
However, after all, history did not give Zhu Di such a big test. Although Zhu Gaojie was not in good health and was so fat that he could not even ride a horse, he still survived Zhu Di strongly, and his life expectancy was longer than that of his son, who had been healthy since childhood.
Therefore, Zhu Gaoxu's faint hope was also shattered. He could only watch his eldest brother and nephew ascend the throne one after another, and he was still a small Han king.
Unwillingly, Zhu Gaoxu finally chose to rebel after Zhu Zhanji ascended the throne. He hopes that he can repeat the success of Zhu Dijing.
But Zhu Zhanji is not Zhu Yunji after all. With little effort, he took Zhu Gaoxu and became the ultimate victor.
After all, in the entire ancient times, Zhu Di was the only one who rebelled from the fiefdom and successfully ascended the throne.
Not everyone has Zhu Di's ability and luck to win the throne.
Did you say so?