In 1368 AD, Zhu Yuanzhang, who was born as a poor peasant, established the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty also became the last dynasty established by the Han people in the history of the mainland. After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang formulated a series of rules and regulations, one of which is the imperial succession system, that is, the primogeniture inheritance system, so how many of the sixteen emperors of the Ming Dynasty inherited the throne as the eldest son.
1, Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang
Comrade Lao Zhu was the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and it was precisely because of him that he had the Ming Dynasty, and the primogeniture inheritance system was also established by him, so Zhu Yuanzhang was naturally not included.
2, Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunwen
Zhu Yunwen is the grandson of Zhu Yuanzhang, the second emperor of the Ming Dynasty should be Zhu Yunwen's father Zhu Biao, Zhu Biao is Zhu Yuanzhang's eldest son, Zhu Yuanzhang is very clear that Zhu Biao will succeed him, and he is also dedicated to cultivating Zhu Biao. Zhu Biao also lived up to Lao Zhu's high expectations, and did a very good job in the 20 years he participated in the government and politics, and was deeply appreciated by Lao Zhu. If it is not surprising, Zhu Biao must be the second emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Yunwen
However, the accident still happened, Zhu Biao died of wind chill after returning from inspecting Shaanxi in the twenty-fifth year of Hongwu (1392), at the age of 37. Zhu Biao's death hit Zhu Yuanzhang very hard, the successor he tried his best to cultivate died one step ahead of himself, and the position of the prince was vacant.
Zhu Yunwen is Zhu Biao's second son, and Zhu Biao's eldest son, Zhu Xiongying, would not have been able to take Zhu Yunwen's turn if he was alive, but Zhu Xiongying died early, so the throne fell to Zhu Yunwen. In this way, after the death of Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Yunwen ascended the throne as the emperor and became the second emperor of the Ming Dynasty, but Zhu Yunwen did not inherit the throne as the eldest son, but succeeded to the throne as a grandson.
3, Ming Chengzu Yongle Emperor Zhu Di
Zhu Di is the fourth son of Zhu Yuanzhang, so he naturally did not succeed to the throne as the eldest son.
If Zhu Biao is alive, Zhu Di can only be a vassal king, but Zhu Biao's early death changed the direction of the Ming Dynasty, after Zhu Yuanzhang's death, Zhu Yunwen, who had just ascended the throne, began to cut the domain, which also led to Zhu Di to raise troops in the name of "Qing Jun's side", after four years of war, Zhu Di invaded the city of Nanjing, and ascended the throne in Nanjing as emperor. Although Zhu Di rebelled against the throne, the Yongle prosperous era he created during his reign was still very well received by later generations.
Zhu Di
4, Emperor Hongxi of Mingrenzong Zhu Gaochi
Zhu Gaochi is Zhu Di's eldest son, so he succeeded to the throne as the eldest son.
Zhu Gaochi was made a prince as early as when Zhu Di was still a vassal king, but Zhu Gaochi was obese and his personality was not like Zhu Di, and he was once not loved by Zhu Di. Zhu Di intended to let his second son Zhu Gaoxu inherit the future throne during the Battle of Jingjing.
After Zhu Di ascended the throne, he hesitated on the matter of establishing the prince, the eldest son Zhu Gaochi and the second son Zhu Gaochu couldn't make up their minds for a while, and the generals of Jingnan wrote to request Zhu Gaochi to be the prince, while the Wenchen group tended to make Zhu Gaochi the prince, and later at the insistence of the civil official group and Xie Jin's sentence "good holy grandson", Zhu Di made up his mind to make Zhu Gaochi the prince.
Zhu Gaochi
During Zhu Di's reign of more than 20 years, he often went out to fight Mongolia, during which Zhu Gaochi stayed in the capital to supervise state affairs, so he had a lot of experience in handling political affairs. After Zhu Di's death, Zhu Gaochi inherited the throne of the Ming Dynasty, but he died after only 10 months of reign, becoming the shortest reigning emperor since the founding of the Ming Dynasty.
5, Emperor Xuande of the Ming Dynasty Zhu Zhanji
Zhu Zhanji is Zhu Gaochi's eldest son, so he also inherited the throne as the eldest son.
Zhu Zhanji was deeply loved by his grandfather Zhu Di in his early years, and thus helped his father Zhu Gaochi become the crown prince, Zhu Gaochi succeeded to the throne and canonized Zhu Zhanji as the crown prince, Zhu Gaochi died after reigning for ten months, Zhu Zhanji succeeded to the throne and became the fifth emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Zhanji
During his reign of ten years, Zhu Zhanji rectified the administration of officials and finances, carried out a series of reforms, and alleviated social contradictions, so he and his father Ming Renzong ruled together as "the rule of Renxuan". However, this emperor likes to play with crickets, so he is also nicknamed "the son of cricket".
6, Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen and Ming Dynasty Zhu Qiyu
Zhu Qizhen is Zhu Zhanji's eldest son, so he also inherited the throne as the eldest son. And Zhu Qiyu is Zhu Zhanji's second son, so he is not inheriting the throne as the eldest son.
Zhu Zhanji died after ten years of reign, so according to the imperial throne system of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Qizhen, who was only 8 years old, should succeed to the throne. Because of the lack of his father's teaching since he was a child, Zhu Qizhen has always been accompanied by the great eunuch Wang Zhen during his growth, so he obeyed Wang Zhen's words.
In the fourteenth year of orthodoxy, Zhu Qizhen listened to Wang Zhen's words and led an army of 500,000 troops to fight against the Mongolian Warat, but the whole army was wiped out in Tumubao, and Zhu Qizhen himself was captured by Wara, becoming the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty to be captured.
Zhu Qizhen and Zhu Qiyu stills
In the face of such great changes, the Ming Dynasty did not have great turmoil, but quickly established Zhu Qiyu, the king of the Ming Dynasty, as the emperor, in order to stabilize the military and the people's hearts throughout the country. With the efforts of Yu Qian and others, the Ming Dynasty won the victory in the defense of Beijing, and Wara had to retreat to the grassland, and later Zhuqizhen was released by Wara.
As the saying goes, one mountain cannot tolerate two tigers, and the throne is even more so, Zhu Qizhen has the responsibility of losing the country, and it was Zhu Qiyu who commanded the troops to defeat Wara, so after Zhu Qizhen returned to the Ming Dynasty, he could only recognize Zhu Qiyu as the emperor and become the emperor himself. Zhu Qiyu was also worried that his elder brother would be reinstated one day, so he "imprisoned" him in Nangong. After several years of "captivity", Zhu Qizhen took advantage of Zhu Qiyu's serious illness to launch a change to seize the door and ascend to the throne again. He died at the age of 37 after eight years as emperor.
7, Emperor Chenghua of Ming Xianzong Zhu Jianshen
Zhu Jianshen is the eldest son of Zhu Qizhen of Ming Yingzong, and he also inherited the throne as the eldest son.
When Zhu Qizhen was captured by Wara, Zhu Jianshen was only two years old, in the face of such a great change, the Empress Dowager Sun chose to set up the elder Zhu Qiyu as the emperor, but Zhu Jianshen was still made the crown prince, two years later Zhu Qiyu wanted to set up his son Zhu Jianji as the crown prince, so he abolished Zhu Jianshen's position as the crown prince and demoted him to the king of Yi, but Zhu Jianji died in the second year, and Zhu Qiyu would rather the prince's position be empty than set up Zhu Jianshen as the prince again.
Ming Xianzong Zhu Jianshen
After the restoration of Ming Yingzong, Zhu Jianshen was once again established as the crown prince, and after the death of Ming Yingzong in the eighth year of Tianshun (1464), Zhu Jianshen succeeded to the throne and changed the Yuan to Chenghua. Zhu Jianshen was quite a Ming monarch in the early part of his reign, and the national strength of the Ming Dynasty was improved to a certain extent, but in the later period of his reign, he began to gradually neglect political affairs, learn magic techniques, and indulge in the harem, so that later all matters in the court were decided by Wan Guifei.
8. Emperor Zhu Yuzhao
Zhu Youzhu is the third son of Zhu Jianshen of Ming Xianzong, so he is not the eldest son of the emperor.
Zhu Youzhu has two elder brothers, the eldest brother only lived for ten months, and the second brother lived to be three years old. And Zhu Youzhang's childhood was also quite bumpy, when Wan Guifei was in the harem, and his eldest son born to Ming Xianzong died after only ten months, so he was very jealous of other concubines giving birth to sons. Zhu Youzhu was born in that environment at that time, and it was not until he was 6 years old that he was officially recognized by Ming Xianzong, and he was soon made the crown prince.
Zhu Youjiao
After the death of Ming Xianzong in the 23rd year of his reign, Zhu Youzhu succeeded to the throne and changed the era name to Hongzhi. Zhu Youzhu can be called one of the few Ming monarchs in the history of the Ming Dynasty, and he reused the virtuous ministers during his reign, which greatly improved the national strength of the Ming Dynasty, so it was called "Hongzhi Zhongxing" by later generations. In addition, Zhu Youzhu is also an infatuated emperor, and there is only one person in the harem, Xiaokangjing, Empress Zhang, who never accepts palace maids, nor concubines and beauties, and only lives with the queen every day. Therefore, historians of all dynasties generally have a higher evaluation of Zhu Youji, praising him as a virtuous monarch, compared to Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty and Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty.
9, Emperor Zhengde of Ming Wuzong Zhu Houzhao
Zhu Houzhao is the only son of Ming Xiaozong Zhu Youzhang, so he inherited the throne as the eldest son.
Zhu Houzhao's evaluation in history is not as good as his father Zhu Youjiao, he inherited the throne at the age of 15, and did some things that did not conform to the emperor's identity in the position of the emperor, he liked to play, opened a leopard room, reused the great eunuch Liu Jin, once alianed Zhu Shou, self-proclaimed governor of military affairs, mighty general, chief military officer, and in the twelfth year of Zhengde (1517) led the troops to resist the Mongol invasion, won the battle of Yingzhou, and became the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty who drove the expedition in person.
Ming Wuzong Zhu Houzhao
In the fifteenth year of Zhengde, Zhu Houzhao fell into the water in Qingjiangpu during the southern tour, and his health deteriorated after that, and he died in March of the following year at the age of 31. He did not leave any heirs during his lifetime, so the throne was transferred to the side line.
10, Ming Shizong Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi
Zhu Houyu is the second son of Zhu Youqi, the king of Xingxian, because Zhu Houzhao has no children, and Zhu Youzhu of Ming Xiaozong is in the same line, and the throne can only be inherited by one person from close relatives, and Zhu Houxi, who was 14 years old at the time, was selected to inherit the unification.
Zhu Houxi reigned for 45 years, and after 17 years of games with the ministers of the DPRK and China, he won the right to enter the Taimiao for his biological father Zhu Youqi, and later did not go to the court for more than 20 years, but he firmly controlled the direction of the court. Although there are people like Yan Song in the court, they are still under the control of Emperor Jiajing.
Emperor Jiajing
However, during the reign of Emperor Jiajing, the Japanese began to wreak havoc on the southeast coast, causing great losses to the local people.
11, Ming Muzong Longqing Emperor Zhu Zaiyuan
Zhu Zaiyuan is the third son of Emperor Jiajing of Ming Shizong, so he did not inherit the throne as the eldest son.
Zhu Zaiyuan also has two elder brothers, the eldest brother died two months after birth, and the second brother only lived to be 14 years old, so Zhu Zaiyuan became the eldest son of Emperor Jiajing alive.
In order, Zhu Zaizhen should be made the crown prince, but Emperor Jiajing has never established a prince, and his younger brother King Jing Zhu Zaizhen also coveted the throne, until Zhu Zaizhen died in the forty-fourth year of Jiajing, Zhu Zaiyuan's hanging heart was able to let go. After the death of Emperor Jiajing, Zhu Zaiyuan succeeded to the throne. However, Zhu Zaiyuan died after 6 years of reign at the age of 36.
Ming Muzong Zhu Zaiyuan
12, Mingshenzong Wanli Emperor Zhu Yijun
Mingshenzong Zhu Yijun is the third son of Mingmuzong Zhu Zaijun, so he is not the eldest son of the emperor.
Zhu Yijun's two elder brothers died when he was 5 years old and the other died before he was a year old, so he became the nominal eldest son of Ming Muzong.
Wanli Emperor Zhu Yijun
After the death of Mu Zong, Zhu Yijun, who was only 10 years old, succeeded to the throne, and he was assisted by Zhang Juzheng in the first ten years of his reign. But after that, Zhu Yijun learned from his grandfather Emperor Jiajing and did not go to the court, and he did not go to court for a longer time, as long as 30 years.
At this time, the Jurchen tribe outside the Guanxi began to rise, and the Ming Dynasty began to decline gradually under the helm of Zhu Yijun, and the national strength began to gradually weaken. Later generations commented on Zhu Yijun's "death of the Ming Dynasty is actually the death of the Divine Sect".
13, Ming Guangzong Taichang Emperor Zhu Changluo
Zhu Changluo is the eldest son of Emperor Wanli, so he succeeded to the throne as the eldest son.
When Zhu Changluo was born, his biological mother Wang's status was relatively low, so he was not loved by Emperor Wanli, and later fell into the problem of party struggle and the alternation of imperial power, and experienced major historical events such as "the dispute over the national capital" and "the attack case". For decades, he was ignored by Mingshenzong and bullied by Zheng Guifei and his party, and his trembling life made him form a cowardly and feminine personality, and until he succeeded to the throne as emperor, he was still under the influence and control of Concubine Zheng and Li Xuanzhi, which laid the groundwork for the later "Red Pill Case" and "Palace Removal Case". He died violently after only one month of reign, becoming the shortest-reigning emperor in the history of the Ming Dynasty.
Mingguangzong Zhu Changluo
14, Ming Xizong Tianqi Emperor Zhu Youxiao
Zhu Youxiao is the eldest son of Zhu Changluo of Mingguangzong, so he also inherited the throne as the eldest son.
After more than 200 years of development of the Ming Dynasty, it was already stormy when it came to Zhu Youxiao, Zhu Youxiao liked to do carpenter work when he was young, and after inheriting the throne, the Donglin Party and the Eunuch Party fought very fiercely, and he was naturally a young emperor who couldn't resist it, so he devoted himself to doing his carpenter work, and he didn't manage the government much.
Zhu Youxiao
At this time, the peasant uprisings in the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty began to break out one after another, and the Jurchen forces outside the gate became stronger and stronger, and Zhu Youxiao was obviously unable to resist. Later, he was even more indulged in the sound of dogs and horses, and died in the seventh year of his reign.
15, Ming Sizong Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youzhen
Ming Xizong left no heirs during his lifetime, and when he was dying, the oldest living brother was the fifth brother Zhu Youzhen, so Zhu Youzhen inherited the throne.
Zhu Youzhen is also the most serious one in the Ming Dynasty, he did not cultivate according to the emperor's standards, so after Zhu Youxiao's death, he hurriedly inherited the throne, although he had the intention to revitalize the Ming Dynasty, but the Ming Dynasty's national strength was already difficult to return, and the internal and external troubles were serious, which was not something he could solve. In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng invaded Beijing, Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself in the coal mountain, and the Ming Dynasty perished. Although Zhu Youzhen is the king of the fallen country, it is really unfair if he is asked to bear the responsibility of the fallen country.
Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youzhen
Brief summary:
Among the 16 emperors of the Ming Dynasty, in addition to Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor and Zhu Yunwen, the emperor who inherited the throne as a grandson, the other 14 emperors, who inherited the throne as the eldest son, were Ming Renzong Zhu Gaochi, Ming Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji, Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen, Ming Xianzong Zhu Jianshen, Ming Wuzong Zhu Houzhao, Ming Guangzong Zhu Changluo and Ming Xizong Zhu Youxiao 7 emperors.
The other 7 are emperors, Ming Chengzu Zhu Dijing is difficult to raise troops and successfully ascend to the throne, but he is the eldest of Zhu Yuanzhang's surviving sons at that time; Ming Dynasty Zong Zhu Qiyu ascended to the throne because of the change of Tumubao; Ming Shizong Jiajing Emperor inherited the unification as a foreign vassal; Ming Xiaozong Zhu Youjiao, Ming Muzong Zhu Zaiyuan, Mingshenzong Zhu Yijun and Mingsizong Zhu Youzhen were the oldest princes on the throne at that time, although the four of them did not succeed to the throne as the eldest son, but also succeeded to the throne as the oldest prince in the world, so in general, the Ming Dynasty implemented the primogeniture inheritance system to the letter.