"You go back and tell the emperor, let me go back quickly, and after I go back, I will be a little commoner." ”
"After I go back, I won't go back to the Forbidden City, and I can guard the tomb of the emperor in the emperor's tomb. ”
"After I go back, tell the emperor that he is willing to send me back first, not that he wants me to suffer here, if he doesn't agree to him, Wara's side will frequently invade Daming, and I am afraid that he will not stop within ten years. ”
In the face of the envoy sent by the imperial court, Zhu Qizhen, the sixth emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Ming Yingzong, said this. The location is outside the vast expanse, the base camp of Warat.
Why did the emperor of the Ming Dynasty go to the Mongols?
After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, the army of the Yuan Dynasty was not wiped out, and the remnants of the army ran into the northern desert and survived. There are two major remnant forces, some of which have reached Mobei and some of which are in Moxi. The armed forces of Mobei, the Ming Dynasty called them Tatars. The western one is called Warat.
Later, Warat unified the various tribes of Mobei and slowly rose. In the fourth year of orthodoxy (1439), he also became the leader of the Warat tribe first, and his military strength reached its peak. On the other hand, the Ming Dynasty has been established for nearly a hundred years, and the combat effectiveness of the army has greatly declined.
The ancient nomads, on the other hand, did not have to worry about the decline in combat effectiveness. This is because their way of life is nomadic, living by hunting and fighting wild animals. They must have excellent riding and archery skills, licking blood from the knife edge, in order to survive in the savannah.
The war horses of the steppe will not degenerate, and without explosiveness and stamina, they will be eaten by wolves. The children on the grassland grew up listening to the howl of wolves and smelling the smell of blood, and the blood flowing in their veins was full of fighting spirit.
When the Chinese atomic brothers saw the bloody scenes of the war, most of them would tremble. The reason is very simple, they live an agrarian life, and only during the New Year will they kill pigs and sheep and see blood.
Besides, the feudal rulers of the Central Plains in any dynasty wanted the common people to become docile sheep, and they were not allowed to have weapons, let alone train soldiers. On the other side of Warat, all the people are soldiers, and they fight every day. In the Ming Dynasty, horses were put into Nanshan, knives and guns were put into storage, and the common people "lived a life of two acres of land, a cow, and a hot kang head for wives and children".
In this context, as long as the Warat side suddenly fights, the victory or defeat of the two sides can be imagined.
However, Warat did not invade the south in a big way. Their leader, the Great Khan, did not have the ambition to enter the Central Plains like his predecessors, nor did he intend to invade the Ming Dynasty, occupy the city of Beijing, and restore the glory of the Great Yuan Empire.
Warat's foreign policy at that time was to maintain the status quo and the two sides to live in harmony.
The nomads are not good at producing daily necessities, and the Xiongnu, Turkic, Khitan, and Jin people in history waged wars against the Central Plains, mainly to grab living materials. Except for the Xianbei people and Genghis Khan, most of them did not have the idea of invading the Central Plains to establish a dynasty.
The same is true for Warat, the main thing is not that he can't beat it, but that he is not interested in going to the Central Plains to be the emperor.
By the Warat period, large-scale raiding of the border had largely stopped. So, how to solve the supplies they need?
Very simply, it is barter trade, taking cattle and sheep, war horses or cattle and sheep skins, bows and arrows, etc., to exchange food and other daily necessities with the Ming Dynasty government.
However, by the time of Yingzong, a war broke out. The fuse of the war was not that Warat wanted to invade the Ming Dynasty, but because of trade disputes.
Every year, Warat would send people to send horses to Beijing, and then let the Ming Dynasty give a reward to bring back.
However, in the process of trading, Ming Dynasty officials found that Wara had dishonest behaviors such as shoddy, falsely reporting the number of people (the Ming Dynasty was rewarded according to the head of the people who came over), and did not pay as agreed.
At this time, Warat people got angry and planned to invade Datong and teach the Ming Dynasty a lesson. After Yingzong obtained the information, he decided to fight-for-tat to defend the country.
In July of the 14th year of orthodoxy (1449), the Wara army invaded the Ming Dynasty in multiple ways. Among them, they also invaded Datong first, and the other route led the invasion of Liaodong led by Totobuhua.
As mentioned earlier, the Ming Dynasty army at this time had a strong fighting strength and could not defeat the Warat army, and suffered a lot of losses. But if the Warat army fights a fortified position, it will not be able to take advantage. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the siege of the Houjin army was basically useless, if it were not for the rebel generals who had brought the technology of making red-clothed cannons in the past, the Huang Taiji siege was still unsuccessful.
In other words, although the Warat army was aggressive, it would not cause much damage to the Ming Dynasty. What's more, they didn't plan to change the dynasty in the first place, they just vented their anger.
It stands to reason that Ming Yingzong doesn't have to drive in person and ask for hardships. However, the eunuch Wang Zhen tried his best to instigate it, saying that our emperor was wise and a genius military strategist, and if you went out as an old man, he would definitely scare the enemy into chaff and win without a fight.
Zhu Qizhen was 22 years old at the time, a hairy guy, stunned, and strong-blooded. As soon as Wang Zhen's ecstasy soup was poured, Yingzong was hot-headed and decided to drive the expedition in person.
On July 15, Zhu Qizhen ordered his half-brother Zhu Qiyu to stay in Beijing, and the next day he took an army of 500,000 to go out on the expedition.
This number may be a bit of an inflated number, and the ancients liked to "claim" to increase their momentum. But one thing is certain, and that is that the number of troops will not be less than 300,000. Also, the Ming Dynasty government army of these armies was the strongest in combat effectiveness among the Ming army. The reason is very simple, the emperor personally went out to fight, and there must be more and stronger troops.
In short, when Yingzong set out on the expedition, he brought all the elite troops in and outside Beijing and the surrounding areas.
As mentioned earlier, the army of the Ming Dynasty has not seen the shadow of swords and swords for many years, and has not smelled the smell of gunsmoke, and it is not the opponent of Warat at all. As a result, in the Battle of Tumubao that broke out in August, the Ming army was beaten all over the ground and annihilated, and Yingzong was also taken prisoner, which was for the change of civil engineering.
The emperor was captured, the whole country was shocked, Beijing was in chaos, and the people were panicked. In this context, Empress Dowager Sun and Yu Qian put Zhu Qiyu, the servant king of the prison state, on the throne.
At that time, Empress Dowager Sun put forward a condition, saying that you Zhu Qiyu can be the emperor, but in the future, I will let my grandson (Zhu Qizhen's son) Zhu Jianshen take over.
Zhu Qiyu thought, I'll become the emperor first, and then say, after taking power, let me not let it go, isn't it my word?
Of course, some people reminded Zhu Qiyu: "King Yu, this emperor can't be the emperor, what should I do when Yingzong comes back?"
Zhu Qiyu's eyes widened, and he said, "You are talking nonsense, people have fallen into the enemy camp, can they still return safely?
He said this because of historical experience. In the Song Dynasty, the Jin captured Emperor Taishang Huizong and Emperor Qinzong, and imprisoned them until death, not letting them go back, and I don't think Vara would do that.
This time, Zhu Qiyu was wrong. Because the strategic goal of the Jin people was to seize the Central Plains, Warat had no territorial claims to the Ming Dynasty.
Warat also sent troops to attack Beijing, but under the hard work of Yu Qian and others, the siege ended in vain.
In the spring of the first year of Jingtai (1450), he also made a sudden decision to return Zhu Qizhen.
Anyway, their strategic goal is not to seize the Central Plains, but also to coexist with the Ming Dynasty regime, and it makes no sense to continue to imprison Yingzong. In late June of that year, Warat sent a delegation to Beijing to discuss the improvement of relations between the "two countries" and said that we were willing to let Yingzong go back.
When Zhu Qiyu heard the Warat people say that they wanted to let Yingzong go back, his face changed at that time. There are no two days, there are no two kings in the country, my brother is back, what should I do?
Therefore, Zhu Qiyu was only interested in talking, and as soon as the other party mentioned the release of Zhu Qizhen, he would laugh haha, and talk about him left and right. The matter couldn't be dragged on forever, and in the end, Zhu Qiyu still sent envoys over to negotiate the return of Yingzong.
Why did Zhu Qiyu's attitude change 180 degrees? It was because of Yu Qian.
Because of the success of the defense of Beijing, Yu Qian's prestige greatly increased, and he was deeply used by Emperor Daizong Zhu Qiyu and held the power of the army. Yu Qian knew what Zhu Qiyu was worried about, so he told him, it's okay if you let Yingzong come back, you can't change the fait accompli.
The implication is that as long as there are ministers and others to help you support the field, even if Yingzong comes back and the throne has been decided, you can still be your emperor with peace of mind, and nothing will happen.
Yu Qian's words reassured Zhu Qiyu. Therefore, he sent a delegation of Li Shi, the right attendant of the Ministry of Rites, and others to Warat in mid-July to discuss the matter.
This is the scene at the beginning of the article, Yingzong said to the envoy, as long as I go back, I will be a common man, and I will never compete with my brother for the throne.
In early August, Yang Shan took Zhu Qizhen to the south.
After returning, Zhu Qiyu immediately sent his brother to the Chongzhi Hall of Nangong (Yan'an Palace), put him under house arrest, and isolated him from the outside world.
The reason is very simple, although Yingzong said that he would not fight for the throne, after all, there are still many original members of the imperial court, all of whom were cultivated and promoted by Yingzong. Zhu Qiyu was very good to these ministers, but Yu Qian "blocked" their light. If Yingzong is reinstated, these ministers will be the "Fathers of Restoration", and their status can be further improved.
Therefore, Zhu Qiyu did not let the minister contact Yingzong, for fear of causing trouble.
The reason why Zhu Qiyu wants to arrange it this way is the unique attribute of power, it is too tempting, and the feeling of being an emperor is too cool. The most difficult thing for a person to bear is the feeling of losing power, and he will not take the initiative to hand over power.
Zhu Qiyu is still too tender, as the saying goes, once a son of heaven is a courtier, if he wants the throne to be permanent, he must at least choose one of the two things to do.
Either there will be a big blood change, depriving the old ministers of their power and replacing them with new ones. Either let Yingzong die of eating, drinking, hiding and seeking, and come to the bottom of the kettle to draw salary, and completely eliminate hidden dangers.
But he still has the kindness of a woman, and he didn't do one of the two things, of course, if he really wants to do that, there will be resistance, not to mention the Queen Mother, even Yu Qian himself may not necessarily support it.
Yu Qian is a bright and upright person, he is loyal to the court, has no personal ambitions, and does not like to fight in the nest.
Anyway, Zhu Qiyu's indecisiveness hurt himself.
In the first month of the seventh year of Jingtai (1456), the ministers Shi Heng, Xu Youzhen and the eunuch Cao Jixiang staged a coup d'état, and Yingzong was successfully restored and ascended to the long-lost dragon chair.
Zhu Qizhen will not have the kindness of a woman like his younger brother, after the reset, he killed the ministers who supported Zhu Qiyu of Daizong, and the distribution of the distribution, none of them were spared, Zhu Qiyu's right-hand man Yu Qian, the head fell to the ground.
The political struggle in ancient times was dirty and bloody, but it was a pity that Zhu Qiyu didn't understand this, turned himself into a joke, and died half a month after the coup.
So, how did Yingzong deal with Zhu Qiyu's concubines and relatives?
Zhu Qiyu not only has one son, Zhu Jianji, after he became the emperor, he abolished the crown prince of Yingzong and made Zhu Jianji the crown prince. Unfortunately, the boy was short-lived and died soon after.
Zhu Qiyu is not very lustful, he only has five wives and concubines, in addition to Queen Wang and Queen Hang, there are also Tang Emperor Guifei, Li Xianfei and Li Xi'er.
Empress Wang herself did not have children, and when her husband wanted to make Zhu Jianji, the son of Empress Hang, the crown prince, she resolutely objected. The reason is that Empress Dowager Sun has spoken first, and Yingzong's son Zhu Jianshen is the crown prince and can't come nonsense.
Of course, the main reason is because she doesn't have a son, if Zhu Jianji was born to her, maybe she wouldn't have done it.
When Zhu Qiyu saw her opposition, he was furious and abolished her. Unexpectedly, Queen Wang was blessed by misfortune, and after the restoration of Yingzong, she was called Princess Yu, and later Zhu Jianshen of Ming Xianzong also respected her very much and treated her well. It was not until 1506 that the old lady died at the age of 79.
Queen Hang gave birth to a son Zhu Jianji for Zhu Qiyu, the mother is more expensive than the son, and the scenery is infinite. After Zhu Jianji's early death, Empress Hang was also depressed and sick, and died without waiting for the restoration of Yingzong.
Despite this, Zhu Qizhen did not let her go after the restoration, not only abolished her queen name, but even crossed the moral bottom line and dug her coffin and destroyed her body.
The three concubines who survived Zhu Qiyu were even more miserable, and they were all buried alive by Yingzong's order.
Zhu Qiyu also has two daughters, the eldest daughter was named Princess Gu'an by her father, and the second daughter was ominous. After Zhu Qizhen was reinstated, their title of princess was stripped away. Because they were born to Queen Wang, they escaped a catastrophe and died a good death.
In general, Daizong is still not as ruthless as Yingzong, and he has not played with his half-brother. If he could turn back the clock, God knows what he would do to Yingzong who came back from Warat.
Reference historical materials: "Records of Yingzong", "History of the Ming Dynasty, Benji Eleventh, Emperor Jing", "Ming History Chronicle, Volume 33"