Zhu Yuanzhang's ability to transform from a poor child to the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty is obviously a miracle that only the right time, place and people can have. And after sitting in the world, Zhu Yuanzhang also has a new huge anxiety, that is, "how to let the old Zhu family be passed on for generations".
In order to achieve this goal, Zhu Yuanzhang did not hesitate to abolish the prime minister system and increase his workload, just to be able to strengthen the imperial power. At the same time, he also asked famous Confucians to explain the Four Books and Five Classics to the princes, teach the way of governing the country, and let the heroes Xu Da and other generals teach the princes martial arts, so that they can grow into an excellent person under the condition of studying both literature and martial arts.
For example, Zhu Yuanzhang's eldest son, that is, the crown prince Zhu Biao, under such teaching, in addition to the lack of domineering decisiveness, basically meets Zhu Yuanzhang's standards for the prince of the Ming Dynasty in all aspects.
After that, Zhu Yuanzhang also killed most of the founding fathers in order to benefit his descendants and avoid the phenomenon of high merit covering the master. However, what he didn't expect was that the crown prince Zhu Biao would die earlier than him, and after his death, the battle for the throne of the Ming Dynasty was destined to never stop.
Among them, the succession of Zhu Zhanji, the fifth emperor of the Ming Dynasty, has gone through ups and downs, and there are 600 years of unsolved mysteries in him.
Zhu Biao died, and Zhu Di sought a position
Zhu Biao is the eldest son of Zhu Yuanzhang, and his mother is the Empress Ma of Xiaoci Gao. When Zhu Yuanzhang was not yet the emperor and was still the king of Wu, Zhu Biao was already regarded by Zhu Yuanzhang as the heir and was made the son.
Later, under Zhu Yuanzhang's arrangement, Zhu Biao began to study scriptures with Song Lian and was carefully taught. And Zhu Biao's benevolent character and outstanding talent also made Zhu Yuanzhang more recognized him. It can be said that Zhu Yuanzhang, whether he was in the period of King Wu or later became Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, never had the idea of abandoning Zhu Biao and finding another heir.

After Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, he immediately determined Zhu Biao's identity as the crown prince, and obviously, the signal he released was that Zhu Biao was the successor of the nails. At that time, Zhu Biao had a benevolent and generous personality, was very friendly to his younger brother, and had the highest prestige among the King of Qin, King Jin, King Yan, King of Zhou and others, and the latter did not have too many ideas to challenge his status.
And Zhu Biao has been familiar with Confucian classics since he was a child, and he is also supported by many civil servants in the court, and the military attache will not question Zhu Yuanzhang's decision, and he has good intentions towards Zhu Yuanzhang's chosen successor. This made Zhu Biao not suffer too much in the matter of succession to the throne.
However, no one could have imagined that such an ironclad heir would eventually die due to the cold, thus setting off changes in the succession to the throne of the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Biao was only 38 years old when he died, and Zhu Yuanzhang was 65 years old at this time. Personally sending off the crown prince who he had cultivated for many years was undoubtedly a heart-wrenching thing for Zhu Yuanzhang, and his efforts over the years have also come to naught.
After suffering this blow, Zhu Yuanzhang, who was in his twilight years, became less decisive in the past, and he was particularly conflicted and anxious about choosing an heir again. This also made Zhu Yuanzhang's fourth son, Zhu Di, have greater ambitions for the throne.
Zhu Di is the most outstanding of all Zhu Yuanzhang's sons, except for Zhu Biao. Since he was a child, he has been following his father to fight in the south and the north, and he has also shown outstanding ability in military affairs, and after being stationed in Beiping, he is invincible and famous on the battlefield, and has been valued by Zhu Yuanzhang.
When Zhu Biao was still alive, seeing Zhu Yuanzhang's strong determination, Zhu Di did not want to challenge his father and brother, but after Zhu Biao's death, Zhu Di could no longer hide his ambitions. It was precisely because Zhu Yuanzhang knew this that he set up Zhu Biao's eldest son Zhu Yunwen as the emperor's grandson after being entangled for a long time, and made an edict before his death: "All kings are in the country, and they do not have to go to Beijing".
However, just when Zhu Di was not convinced but planned to live in peace, Zhu Yunwen, who had already ascended the throne, became suspicious. His way of abolishing the King of Zhou, the King of Xiang, the King of Dai, the King of Qi, and the King of Min aroused Zhu Di's deep jealousy and resistance, so the royal uncle and nephew began a head-on confrontation, and finally ended with Zhu Di's victory and enthronement as emperor.
A new round of uncle and nephew rivalry
After Zhu Di became the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty, he worked hard to manage the world and achieved the great achievement of "Yongle Prosperous Age". Like his father Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Di also hopes that his bloodline can always sit firmly on the throne and continue to carry forward the glory of the old Zhu family. To this end, he also put a lot of effort into cultivating an heir.
However, what he didn't expect was that although his valued heir, the crown prince Zhu Gaochi, finally ascended the throne smoothly, he made the courtiers reproduce Zhu Yuanzhang's anxiety with the "achievement" of dying of illness in the year after ascending the throne.
Not to mention, Zhu Di could never have imagined that the events he had experienced before would reappear in his eldest grandson, Zhu Zhanji. It's just that Zhu Di was the imperial uncle in the uncle-nephew competition at that time, and Zhu Zhanji will be the imperial nephew in the new round of uncle-nephew competition.
When Zhu Di was still alive, he preferred the former among his eldest son Zhu Gaochi and second son Zhu Gaochu. Although Zhu Gaochi was not in good physical condition from the congenital condition, with an obese body and not very neat legs and feet, his "dignified and calm, recognizable words and deeds, and fond of reading" made Zhu Di very satisfied with him.
On the contrary, the second son Zhu Gaoxu was "cunning and ruthless by nature", which caused Zhu Di to be deeply worried about him, and even when Zhu Yuanzhang was alive, he did not give this emperor and grandson any good face.
However, although Zhu Gaoxu's character is not very good, he is very talented in leading troops to fight and has made many achievements. And it is precisely because of this that he has never hidden his true temperament, doing whatever he wants in Beijing, and frequently provoking his warm-hearted brother Zhu Gaochi.
It can be said that if it weren't for Zhu Di's suppression, and Zhu Gaochi was pushed to the throne before he died, it would not necessarily be Zhu Gaochi who finally sat on the throne.
And Zhu Gaochi has a benevolent temperament, and he didn't think anything else about many of his younger brother's behaviors, and even after Zhu Di's death, he treated this younger brother very well and rewarded him many times. This also made Zhu Gaochu mistakenly think that Zhu Gaochi was afraid of him, and acted more unscrupulously.
When Zhu Gaochi was still the crown prince, his physical health was not ideal. After becoming the emperor, he was even more overwhelmed by heavy affairs, and died of illness within a year of ascending the throne.
If you follow normal logic, the successor at this time will undoubtedly be the crown prince Zhu Zhanji. But there was an example of Zhu Di killing his nephew to seize the throne, and Zhu Gaoxu, who had strong ambitions, also decided to start a struggle for the throne with Zhu Zhanji.
Before Zhu Gaochi died, Zhu Zhanji was ordered by him to go to Nanjing to pay homage to Zhu Yuanzhang's imperial mausoleum. Therefore, after hearing the news of Zhu Gaochi's death, Zhu Zhanji had to return to the capital immediately, whether it was out of the need to mourn his father or the need to immediately ascend the throne and become emperor.
And Zhu Gaoxu planned to intercept Zhu Zhanji on his way back to Beijing, so as to naturally grab the throne.
However, although Zhu Gaochi never had a correct understanding of Zhu Gaochu's personality and ambitions, Zhu Zhanji still had a sufficient understanding of this uncle's character and behavior. He had a hunch that Zhu Gaoxu would not let go of such a good opportunity, and he also raised the greatest vigilance on the way back to Beijing.
According to normal procedures, Zhu Zhan should have accepted the edict after returning to Beijing, but in order to prevent things from falling into a worse situation, he took the edict when he arrived in Liangxiang halfway and became the fifth emperor with ironclad certainty.
On the way back to Beijing, he also successfully evaded the pursuit of his uncle Zhu Gaoxu through stratagem, and easily won the victory in this uncle-nephew dispute.
Obviously, Zhu Gaoxu, the imperial uncle, does not have the strength of Zhu Di, the former imperial uncle, and Zhu Zhanji's ability is far better than the previous Zhu Yunwen.
An unsolved mystery to this day
From the competition between Zhu Zhanji and Zhu Gaoxu, it is obvious that Zhu Zhanji has an absolute advantage, and his ability to become the final winner is also crucial to his successful evasion of Zhu Gaoxu's pursuit.
The question of how Zhu Zhanji received the edict in Liangxiang without returning to the capital, and how he knew about Zhu Gaochu's actions so that he escaped his pursuit, whether it was his ploy or the plan arranged for him by his father Zhu Gaochi in advance during this period have aroused people's deep curiosity.
However, after more than 600 years, this mystery has not yet been solved, and the trajectory of history has moved forward step by step, and there is no possibility of looking back.
Epilogue:
When facing the tough imperial uncle, Zhu Zhanji's approach was obviously more appropriate than Zhu Yunwen's. The latter took the initiative to die, and the former avoided his edge, first accepted the edict in Liangxiang, ascended the throne and became emperor, and then carefully analyzed Zhu Gaoxu's actions, skillfully avoided his pursuit and killing, and returned to Beijing with his life