During the reign of Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, he did a major event that affected the national fortunes of the Ming Dynasty, he moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing, and built a large-scale Forbidden City. However, many people do not know that shortly after Zhu Di's death, his son Akihito made a decision to move the capital back to Nanjing.
After winning the "Battle of Jingnan", Zhu Di finally ascended to the throne. In the second year of his reign as emperor, he announced that Peiping would be changed to Beijing, and in the fourth year of Yongle, he decreed the construction of the city of Beijing. To this end, Zhu Di underwent tremendous political and economic pressure, but he resolutely decided to move the capital to Beijing, even at the expense of killing the ministers who opposed the relocation. At the same time, Zhu Di set up six ministries in Beijing and gradually transferred government affairs to Beijing.
Seven years after Yongle, Zhu Di was stationed in Beijing for a long time, leaving the crown prince Zhu Gaozi in Nanjing. In September of the eighteenth year of Yongle, all the major projects in Beijing City were completed, and "the suburban shrines of the temple society, the palace of the altar field, and the gate que regulation were all like Nanjing, and the high and open were magnificent." Zhu Di formally issued an edict summoning the crown prince and the crown prince's grandson to Beijing, and at the same time announced to the world, "From the first day of the first month of the first month of next year, Beijing will be the teacher."
However, Zhu Di died of illness in the 22nd year of Yongle in the Northern Expeditionary Army, and the crown prince Zhu Gaozi succeeded to the throne. In April of the first year of Hong Xi's reign, Emperor Akihito, who had just been emperor for seven months, issued an edict deciding to move the capital back to Nanjing, "The capital will be returned to Nanjing, and the various divisions of Beijing will be declared to be alive, and the capital of Beijing will be restored." ”
At the same time, Akihito officials repaired the palace in Nanjing, and also stationed the crown prince Zhu Zhanji in Nanjing to support the preparations for the relocation of the capital. Moving the capital to Beijing was a major event made by Zhu Di in his life, and he had been busy for eighteen years since he took the throne. Now that it had only been four years since it had been the capital, why did Zhu Gaozi plan to move the capital back to Nanjing against his father's wishes?
First, the main ones are economic reasons. Since the Tang and Song dynasties, China's economic center of gravity has shifted south, and by the time of the Ming Dynasty, the south has become the country's economic center of gravity. After moving the capital to Beijing, it was necessary to transport a large amount of grain and materials from the south every year to provide for the expenses of the imperial court. This point is just as Zhu Gaozi said, "The north and south provide hundreds of millions of labor, the army and the people are in difficulty, the four directions look up, the salty look up to Nanjing, and si Yiwu's suxin."
Second, political factors are also important. Although Zhu Di moved the capital to Beijing, there were still some officials within the imperial court who opposed the relocation of the capital. In April of the nineteenth year of Yongle, four months after the capital was moved to Beijing, lightning struck the three halls of the Forbidden City, causing a fire and burning all three halls, which caused a shock to the government and the public. In order to calm public opinion, Zhu Di even killed the officials who wrote the letter and said things.
Although Zhu Gaozi did not express his position, he also expressed sympathy for those officials, and at the beginning of his reign, he reinstated the officials who had been degraded because of this matter. In addition, in this fire, because the Fengtian Temple was burned down, Zhu Gaozi's enthronement ceremony had to be held at the Fengtian Gate, for which Zhu Gaozi was very reluctant, but there was nothing he could do. When you move back to Nanjing, you don't have to rebuild the three halls, which can save financial expenses.
There is also a point that is also very important. Although Zhu Gaozi was Zhu Di's son, he had been living in Nanjing since he was a child and was familiar with the living environment in Nanjing. Although Beijing is the capital city, throughout Zhu Gaozi's life, he spent most of his time in Nanjing, and he was not very adaptable to life in Beijing. Combining the above factors, Akihito decided to return the capital to Nanjing. However, his plan did not succeed!
It turned out that more than a month later, Emperor Akihito Zhu Gaozi was terminally ill and died in the Forbidden City in Beijing, and he could not return to Nanjing until his death! Zhu Gaozi was succeeded by Emperor Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji, whose temperament was more like Zhu Di's, so he did not continue to carry out his plan to move back to Nanjing. Although Zhu Gaozi was obsessed with moving the capital in his will, Emperor Xuanzong of Ming did not carry it out, and eventually the Ming Dynasty remained in Beijing, but Nanjing still retained a complete administrative system.
References: 1. Records of Emperor Ming Taizong, 2. Records of Emperor Mingrenzong, 3 Records of Emperor Mingxuanzong, 4. History of Ming Dynasty