Preface
The death of Zhu Li, the king of Jin, is a gripping historical mystery. Zhu Yuanzhang's carefully laid out plan should have been won in the Battle of Jingyan, but it was broken at a critical moment. And the most remarkable thing is that what kind of far-reaching conspiracy is hidden in this force that hinders Zhu Di's martyrdom?
Every power struggle in history seems to be woven with inextricable plots, and the death of Zhu Li, the king of Jin, is even more incredible. Zhu Yuanzhang, as a wise ruler, actually lost the biggest obstacle in this seemingly equal battle of martyrdom. This makes people wonder, how did Zhu Di break through the predicament and finally complete the great cause of Jingjing?
1. Zhu Li's death, Zhu Yuanzhang was shocked to find that the situation was out of control
In March 1398, Zhu Yuanzhang's beloved third son, Zhu Li, the king of Jin, died of illness at the age of 41. The white-haired man sent the black-haired man, which made the 68-year-old old emperor grief-stricken. Zhu Li had a gentle temperament and treated all living beings well, which won the hearts of the people. Now that he died suddenly, the old emperor was so grief-stricken that he summoned the imperial physician to pour medicine to heal his wounds, and he was not at peace day and night.
However, what made Zhu Yuanzhang even more sad was that the situation in the north that he had spent five years carefully arranging had come to naught with Zhu Li's death. As the king of Jin guarding Shanxi, Zhu Li has always been evenly matched with his half-brother Zhu Di, the king of Yan, and the two have come and gone, checking and balancing each other.
Now that the balance that has been cultivated and formed has been broken, Zhu Yuanzhang does not have much time left, and he must be rearranged. But he was too old and frail to withstand such a powerful blow, and seeing that decades of hard work had been shattered, the old emperor regretted not being at the beginning, and sighed secretly.
Second, the talent of the king of Jin, Zhu Yuanzhang has a lot of tools
Zhu Li, who was born in 1358, may have a biological mother of Empress Ma or Concubine Li Shu. He was good-looking, talented but not discreet, knowledgeable but humble and cautious. At the age of 20, he was named the king of Jin, stationed in Taiyuan, and married the daughter of Xie Cheng.
Zhu Li has shown unusual intelligence and gentleness since he was a child, and he is deeply loved by his parents. He is well-read, knows ancient and modern allusions well, and is diligent in practicing martial arts and arching horses. Zhu Li was also employed by the great Confucian Song Lian at that time, studied diligently, and was both civil and military.
Zhu Yuanzhang attaches great importance to this son's talent and character. Once Zhu Li punished the cook for a trivial matter, contrary to his always gentle and benevolent character, Zhu Yuanzhang was shocked when he learned it, and immediately summoned him to severely admonish him to treat the villain well, the emperor himself is a model, and has been sympathetic to the old chef who has been following him for 35 years.
It can be seen that Zhu Yuanzhang has the same affection for Zhu Li, for fear that something will happen to this heart-warming baby, and he also sends his henchmen to Taiyuan from time to time to inquire about his current situation. Now that Zhu Li died suddenly, the old emperor was grief-stricken, wept bitterly, and summoned the imperial doctor to diagnose and treat him day and night, but he was never able to accept this reality.
Third, the king of Jin is in power, and he is the first to help the court
The military affairs of Shanxi, the fief of the King of Jin, must be reported to Zhu Li before the Ming court can be played. When dealing with the Lan Yu case, Zhu Li not only cooperated with Zhu Yuanzhang to clean up the Blue Party, but also took over a large number of related cases in the follow-up. Before the Lanyu case, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly summoned the kings and generals to Beijing, and mobilized the army to Shanxi in the name of defending the northern captives, and was controlled by the king of Jin. Take the opportunity to move at the same time in Nanjing and Shanxi to eliminate dissident forces. At this point, the military power gradually became in the hands of the King of Jin.
The power of the Jin Dynasty leaned towards the government and the opposition, which made Zhu Di, the king of Yan, jealous and jealous. The two have been fighting for a long time, because King Yan is arrogant, murderous, and has caused panic in the government and the opposition; The King of Jin won the hearts of the people with his benevolent government, and later attacked the henchmen of King Yan, arousing the hatred of King Yan.
King Yan also dared to openly compete with King Jin's retainers for territory. Obviously, Zhu Di did not dare to challenge King Jin head-on. Although he secretly tried his best to isolate the king of Jin, he was also faintly afraid. After all, King Jin has won the hearts of the people and the army, and he has a heavy army, so he is a character that is not easy to mess with.
Fourth, the king of Jin sought to seize the position of prince
Zhu Li, who was in power, began to covet the position of prince. He left his eldest son Zhu Jixi in Nanjing, let Empress Ma take care of him, and approached the emperor's grandson Zhu Yunwen as the eldest grandson.
After Zhu Biao passed away, Zhu Li refused to take Zhu Jixi back to Shanxi, taking the opportunity to show his power, causing Zhu Yuanzhang to be furious. The old emperor repeatedly ordered the king of Jin to take back his son, and he hated that Zhu Li had different intentions and must be severely punished.
Zhu Yuanzhang threatened that if he didn't take his son back, he would belittle Zhu Li to Yunnan! However, Zhu Li knew his importance in Zhu Yuanzhang's layout, and the emperor was helpless for the time being. So he angrily beheaded Zhu Li's two henchmen to weaken his power.
This was a heavy blow to King Jin, and he realized the fierceness of his father's counterattack, and his scheming heart had been seen through. He secretly regretted that if he had taken his son back as soon as possible and surrendered to his father, perhaps this disaster could be resolved. However, it was too late, and he could only watch the power he had built up crumble.
Fifth, the death of Zhu Li, King Yan is unscrupulous
In 1398, Zhu Li died in a hurry, disintegrating the originally fragile balance of power in the north. King Yan rose to become the strongest force and posed a major threat to the dynasty. Zhu Di, the king of Yan, was ambitious and had long been eyeing the throne. Now that his rival has died, he seems to have seen the light of day again, and his ambition is full of ambition. King Yan began to secretly win over people's hearts and expand his power, wanting to take advantage of the Central Plains.
In the remaining two months of Zhu Yuanzhang, he immediately mobilized Zhu Li's son Zhu Jixi and his henchman Yang Wen to check and balance and monitor King Yan. He realized that there was already a power vacuum in the north, and as the emperor, he had to act quickly to contain the Yan king.
But it was too late, and Zhu Yuanzhang drove west before he saw King Yan for the last time. Before he died, he kept chanting, what a Yan King, I am afraid that I will bring disaster to my Ming Dynasty!
Sixth, King Yan's attempt to enter Beijing was stopped
After King Yan missed the emperor's grandson in Huai'an, he immediately set off for the capital. However, is the purpose of this trip really pure? According to records, Zhu Di only took a few horses with him when he left Beiping, and it seems that he did not have the intention of hijacking. However, Sheng Yong, the prefect of Huai'an, falsely accused King Yan of misdeeds and forced him to return.
This time, King Yan went south in a big way, but was blocked in Huai'an again. The scholar Qi Tai forged a holy decree and sent Yang Rong to lead an army to intercept him, and he detained King Yan back to Beijing. King Yan was bent on entering Beijing to mourn his ancestors and meet the new monarch, but he was stopped twice. For a while, the indignation was unsettled, and this undoubtedly became the fuse for the future army.
Seventh, the king of Yan raised troops, and Qi Tai started to do it
King Yan was bent on entering Beijing to mourn his ancestors and meet the new monarch, but he was stopped twice. For a while, the indignation was unsettled, and this undoubtedly became the fuse for the future army. Qi Tai's move angered the ruthless Yan King. King Yan was furious and vowed to take revenge on this traitor. He gathered his henchmen to conspire, secretly expanded his power, and contacted the Mongol soldiers.
And the initiator is the university scholar Qitai. He used his power to keep King Yan away from the capital, so that Zhu Yunwen, the 13-year-old Jianwen Emperor, could sit firmly on the dragon chair. He also provoked the relationship between Emperor Jianwen and King Yan, which eventually led to the disaster of Jingjing.
Qi Tai's original intention was to grasp the real power, but it turned out to attract the rebellion of King Yan. He played too much of a good hand, which caused chaos in the court. As the first assistant of the DPRK and the Central Committee, Qi Tai cannot escape the blame.
Eighth, the old ministers seek personal gain, which invites martyrdom
The death of King Jin gave Zhu Di an opportunity, and the selfish calculations of the ministers accelerated the pace of King Yan's rebellion. The two were indispensable, and eventually led to the outbreak of the Jingjing Rebellion.
The source of this coup d'état that overthrew the Ming Dynasty was the selfishness of the older generation of meritorious ministers and the contradictions and disputes between the vassal brothers. The wheels of history were bent on the back of personal desires, which eventually led to the decline and downfall of this once-powerful dynasty.
9. Who is the source of the calamity of appeasement?
Who should bear greater responsibility for this calamity? Is it the power-hungry hero who is like his life and the hero of the eagle dog? Or is it the ambitious, arrogant and lascivious vassal king? Or is it the little emperor who is deceitful and nepotistic? Or is it the vast and fragile political system of the Ming Dynasty, which itself hides a deep fatal flaw?
There are all kinds of indications that both the minister and the vassal king are to blame. As Zhu Yuanzhang expected in his later years, the contradictions and conflicts between these two forces are destined to cause great disasters. And what really gave birth to this disaster was that the imperial power of the Ming Dynasty at the moment was weak and blind. Emperor Jianwen succeeded to the throne before he became an adult, and was deceived by traitorous ministers, which undoubtedly gave King Yan an opportunity.
10. The fate changes overnight, and the sky waits for the queen
In the fourth year of Jianwen, Jingjing broke out, the Yan army flew the eaves and walked the wall, and the Ming Dynasty overturned overnight. Emperor Jianwen ran away, was captured soon after, and died in the prison of Tangling. King Yan became the master of Jingshi, that is, the emperor's throne. He called it "sweeping away the traitors, and fighting the peace." Since then, the Ming Dynasty has officially entered the historical cycle of the world.
However, unexpectedly, just 8 years later, the lord of the martyrdom himself repeated the mistake of the past and died in another coup d'état. The sky waits for the queen, and the historical language seems to sigh lightly, the rise and fall of dynasties, and fate is difficult to violate.
Epilogue:
The death of the king of Jin and the calculations of the ministers made the rebellion of Zhu Di, the king of Yan. The inheritance of power is often full of crises. Only by observing the subtleties and curing them before they sprout, can we turn the danger into a disaster and keep the foundation evergreen!