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——【·Preface·】——»
In 1402, dissatisfied with the Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunjiang's move to cut the domain, Zhu Di led his troops to attack Nanjing, and after a fire, Zhu Di found that his nephew Zhu Yunjiang was missing, and hurriedly sent people to find the traces of Emperor Jianwen, living to see people dead or corpses, but Zhu Yunjiang seemed to have dissolved in the fire, even if he searched for it, he could not find a trace.
This made Zhu Di, who had just declared himself emperor, feel very uneasy, not only because of his nephew's whereabouts, but also because Zhu Yunjiang could not find it one day and become orthodox, which made him settle his mind until he turned to a holy decree in the palace.
This iron-blooded man who had fought for half his life suddenly sobbed and shed tears, and locked himself in the hall for three whole days.
According to the guards waiting at the time, Zhu Di once collapsed in the hall and shouted:
"Father, you made me so bitter!"
All the courtiers were puzzled by what was going on, until Zhu Di made the contents of that holy decree public.
So what exactly was written on that holy decree that made Zhu Di, who had just sat on the throne of God King and was in the moment of the scenery, collapse so much? Let's take a look together.
——【·Nephew on the throne, not angry in his heart.】——»
I believe that many people who have seen this history have a question:
Zhu Yuanzhang obviously has so many sons, why did he finally let his grandson Zhu Yunjiang, who was obviously young and could not control the scene, take the throne? For this reason, he also killed a large number of ministers above the court to pave the way for his grandson, but he did not cut the domain, allowing his sons, especially Zhu Di's clan king, to become more and more powerful, didn't he know that disputes would break out in this way?
In fact, Lao Zhu also has his own considerations for this.
First of all, we have to mention Zhu Yuanzhang's idea of "family in the world".
We all know that Zhu Yuanzhang was decisive in killing things above the court, and he was even more suspicious and ruthless, killing heroes, ruthless officials and strict laws, and the means of ruling the country with iron and blood were controversial in later generations.
But it has to be mentioned that he has an extreme preference for his relatives, especially Empress Ma and Prince Zhu Biao, not only stuffing the world's strange people into him as teachers, but also contacting the imperial government early, and even the two of them even use a set of teams to govern the country, which belongs to stuffing everything that can be inherited into Zhu Biao.
Someone once asked such a question:
"If the prince was discovered by the emperor in history, what would the emperor do?"
The comment below is particularly curious when Zhu Biao is mentioned, saying:
"That old Zhu must not be happy to die"
"Hurry up and let people make a few more sets and put them on for Queen Ma to see."
"This must not pull the queen of the horse, sighing that her son is finally motivated"
.....
Although it is only a paragraph, it can also be seen in history that Zhu Yuanzhang is almost defenseless against Zhu Biao, and the two can be said to be a community of destiny.
If Zhu Biao is alive, there is no need to hand over the day the old Zhu Ka is gone, and Zhu Biao can change his clothes and take up his post directly, because the two even have the manpower in their hands.
And the source of this trust is mentioned because Zhu Biao is not only the eldest son, but also the same as Empress Ma, Zhu Yuanzhang came together from the days of the war, he single-handedly cultivated, and like Empress Ma, he is his closest person.
Once, because Zhu Yuanzhang opened a killing ring, the crown prince Zhu Biao did not approve of this practice, so he went to Zhu Yuanzhang to intercede, and Zhu Yuanzhang knew his intentions at a glance, and was directly happy, in layman's terms:
"Hey, you kid don't help me get rid of those ministers who question me openly, and help them intercede, it's still not my son."
This is to the other princes, how can they also kneel down and plead guilty, Zhu Biao not only did not, but also opened his mouth to his father:
"Dad, I'm not helping you, how can I blame my son for everything, you have to reflect on yourself."
Another time a concubine that Zhu Yuanzhang loved very much fell ill and died, and Zhu Yuanzhang was sad and asked all ministers, including the prince, to be mourned, but Zhu Biao was not accustomed to his old father, and questioned his father in the court:
"No matter how favored it is, it is only the identity of the mother-in-law, how can all the princes be mourned, let alone the ministers, this stubble has never been written in etiquette."
Zhu Yuanzhang was choked speechless, and after the death of his favored concubine, he couldn't care that this was the court drawing his sword and began to cut his son, and Zhu Biao also ran away when he saw this, leaving only the ministers to look at each other.
Zhu Yuanzhang was old after all, and he couldn't catch up with the young and vigorous Zhu Biao, and shouted angrily to his son:
"If you have the ability to resist Lao Tzu, don't run if you have the ability!"
Zhu Biao said: "I will definitely not run if you change the stick." ”
The most outrageous thing is that after this incident, Zhu Yuanzhang not only did not get angry with Zhu Biao, but also sighed to Empress Ma:
"The small rod is taken by the big rod, and I didn't teach this bastard in vain, it's still a little filial piety."
Zhu Biao and Zhu Yuanzhang get along almost not the emperor and the prince, and even sometimes see the old farmer who chases his son in the yard, and this mode of getting along is also unique, which shows Zhu Yuanzhang's trust in Zhu Biao.
On the other hand, Zhu Yuanzhang is undoubtedly a suspicious person, but this suspicion will not be placed on his own relatives.
For Zhu Yuanzhang, as the founding emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang believed that it was most important to keep the world of their old Zhu family than to guard against his son, so he vigorously attacked the heroes and educated the people, but he divided his son as the lord of the clan, giving them great power to guard the world for him.
He guarded this world as his "Zhu family", and from this point of view, it is understandable why he is so ruthless to the minister and others.
Because for him, those are "outsiders" who need to be vigorously guarded against, and no matter how his own people fight for power, in the end, they are still his Zhu family's, so there is no need to guard too much.
Secondly, because Zhu Biao died, the heir he trusted and expected the most was gone, and Zhu Yuanzhang did not mean to cultivate others too much before.
Therefore, after Zhu Biao's death, in fact, he had only two choices, Zhu Di, an excellent son who held military power, and Zhu Yunjiang, a grandson who was praised as naturally intelligent.
Choosing Zhu Yunjiang is an orthodox inheritance, that is, telling other clan kings, don't fight, simply let the juniors come, the main purpose is to stabilize the clan kings and prevent them from internal strife.
As the orthodox nephew to succeed to the throne, even if the other clan kings are dissatisfied in their hearts, they will not make much action on the bright side.
In this way, as long as the ministers who may threaten the merit of the imperial throne are slaughtered, Zhu Yunjiang can achieve a smooth transition to the throne, but Zhu Yunjiang does not have much power in his hands, and he cannot limit the group of powerful uncles, and it is easy to break out into civil strife if he does not handle it well.
But if Zhu Di is chosen, Zhu Di is indeed the most like him, and it is also after Zhu Biao's death that Zhu Yuanzhang considered a candidate who can inherit his great cause, but his name is not justified and easy to be opposed, not only the ministers, but also the clan king's side is prone to civil unrest.
The early stage of his election to the throne may cause a lot of turmoil and be more prone to civil unrest.
Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang finally chose a relatively stable Zhu Yunjiang to succeed to the throne, first ensuring that no one else would exploit the loophole when the imperial power was transferred.
——【··Insistence on cutting the clan, Zhu Di rebelled.】——»
And after Zhu Yunjiang succeeded to the throne, no one expected that his first thing was to cut the domain.
After implementing a series of court changes, Zhu Yunjiang raised the status of civil servants and changed some laws that were too strict.
He had a gentle personality, had little court experience, and was hesitant to do things, and at the suggestion of the civil officials, Zhu Yunjiang, who was already dissatisfied with the uncles who were looking at the tiger, chose to cut the domain, and this move naturally touched the interests of the clan kings, and the first was Zhu Di, who was the strongest at that time.
Zhu Di was originally very dissatisfied with this nephew who did not have his talent but relied on orthodoxy to ascend to the throne, and he could endure it when he heard the rumors of cutting the clan, but he did it very secretly when accumulating strength, discussing countermeasures with his henchmen, and secretly recruiting troops to prepare for the great cause in the future.
After discovering that Emperor Jianwen's hand began to reach out to his territory, Zhu Di knew that the time had come and raised the banner of resistance.
The two fought each other for several years, until four years later, when Zhu Di invaded Nanjing, and Emperor Jianwen also disappeared in a fire, known in history as the "Battle of Jingyan", and Zhu Di also successfully ascended the throne and became the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty, known as the "Yongle Emperor"
In fact, at the beginning, the year name discussed by the ministers was "Yongqing", but Zhu Di felt that this year name was too plain and tasteless, so he changed it to "Yongle", which is also appropriate for an emperor who fought between blood and fire.
After Zhu Di, the ancestor of the Ming Dynasty, succeeded to the throne, the Ming Dynasty quickly returned to the right track, but his only heart problem was that he never found his missing nephew Zhu Yunjiang, which made him extremely uneasy, until he found a holy decree left by Zhu Yuanzhang.
——【·Discovering the divine will, the heart is sad ·】——»
And after reading this holy decree, Zhu Di couldn't help himself from crying, and even collapsed and shouted, "Father, you have made me so miserable!" ”
For the decree proudly reads:
"If everything is stable after Yun Jiong succeeds to the throne, this will does not exist, but if the dynasty is abnormal, the fourth son Zhu Di wants to succeed to the throne, and he must not be obstructed, and he will obey the arrangement of King Yan, with him as the leader, purge the imperial court, and allow him to take the throne."
After making arrangements for rebellion, Zhu Diben was already mentally prepared to succeed to the throne with a strong name, and he even forced his nephew to disappear and never recovered, but this holy decree told him that he was originally qualified to succeed to the throne, but things had come to this point, and this holy decree only made him feel that everything was extremely ridiculous.
He lost his gentle kindness, no longer cared about his nephew's situation, and used all means to spell out a future for himself, but now he told him that he didn't have to be so, you are the righteous heir, how this makes Zhu Di not sad.
It turned out that he didn't have to bear the name of a traitor, originally he didn't have to fight that four-year battle, but his father, who could obviously pass the throne directly to him, went around such a big circle, which put him in a very embarrassing situation.
This is also why Zhu Di said that Zhu Yuanzhang hurt him so bitterly.
Of course, some people think that this holy decree may have been forged by Zhu Di to maintain his legitimacy, and his weakness in heart can be seen from the fact that he has been looking for his nephew Zhu Yunjiang everywhere for many years after that.
But if this holy decree is true, it was really written by Zhu Yuanzhang, I even suspect that all this is a bureau of Zhu Yuanzhang, as Laozi, where can he not know Zhu Di's ambition, but still did not cut the domain, and even did not take back Zhu Di's military power, isn't this forcing Zhu Yunjiang to oppose him?
Even if Zhu Yunjiang is gentle, he is the emperor after all, lying on the side of the bed, how can you allow others to sleep soundly, if you are the emperor, there is such an uncle next to you who holds great power and military power, can you sleep? So cutting the clan is almost inevitable.
Even I think that even Zhu Yunjiang's cutting of the clan was instructed by the old Zhu, after all, Zhu Yunjiang is soft and benevolent, and he is very different from the old Zhu who has always been iron-blooded, and such a neat preparation to cut the clan is indeed unprepared.
Before Zhu Yuanzhang died, he must have been worried about whether Zhu Yunjiang could sit on the throne, but the succession of Zhu Di, who was most in line with his heart, was somewhat unjustified, and Zhu Di's problem of the clan king after he seized the throne was solved, because Zhu Yunjiang did this for him, and the reduction of the clan caused Zhu Di's dissatisfaction at the same time, but also cleared the obstacles for the dynasty.
Then wait for Zhu Di to discover this holy decree, so that the imperial power is completely stable, and the successor is also his bloodline, which is no difference in Zhu Yuanzhang's opinion.
There are also rumors that Zhu Yuanzhang also left a holy will for Zhu Yunjiang to save his life, and relied on the holy decree Zhu Yunjiang to go to the people incognito to live a peaceful life.
But just like Zhu Di's holy decree, no one can prove the truth or falsehood, and we still don't know what happened in history.
But there is no doubt that Zhu Yuanzhang must have expected this result before he died, after all, where can Lao Tzu not understand his son.
Perhaps he had already thought of two endings before he died: either Zhu Yunjiang calmed down and removed Zhu Di a little bit after inheriting the throne and was stable, or Zhu Di kicked Zhu Yunjiang to succeed him.
But no matter what the result is the strengthening of imperial power, the end of their own descendants succeeding to the throne, so there is no need to care, as long as the external threat is removed, it can only be said that Zhu Yuanzhang is worthy of a generation of emperors, really calculated everything clearly, and then handed over to future generations.