Foreword: In the history of the Ming Dynasty, and even in the history of China, there is a famous "otaku emperor": Zhu Yijun, the Ming God Sect, who would rather stay in the palace for more than twenty years than go to the dynasty. Although his grandfather Emperor Mingshizong Zhu Houxi did not like the shang dynasty, his old man's means of controlling the group of courtiers were first-class, and until his death, he did not make his only remaining son the crown prince, and no minister dared to come out and say a word.
Compared with the Emperor's grandfather, the MingShen Sect's means of controlling the chancellor were indeed much weaker. Judging from the archaeological results of Zhu Yijun's Dingling Tomb after the founding of the People's Republic of China, this Emperor Shenzong suffered from a severe leg disability, which was certainly a factor in his reluctance to go to the dynasty, but another more important contradiction and conflict was the so-called "dispute over the origin of the country". Guo Ben was the crown prince, and at that time, the most qualified to compete for this position were the emperor's eldest son Zhu Changluo and the emperor's third son Zhu Changxun. Among the two, Zhu Changxun was the most favored, but Zhu Changluo was the eldest son, so the ministers argued on the basis of reason and resolutely opposed the emperor's attempt to depose Chang Liyou. In the end, Zhu Changluo was made crown prince, and Zhu Changxun was made the Prince of Fu.
So the question is, as the supreme Ninth Five-Year Supreme, can Zhu Yijun forcibly make King Fu the crown prince? Or, in other words, did he have a reasonable and legal means to bypass the emperor's eldest son, Zhu Changluo? Today's article will make a simple analysis of this.
Tomb of the Myōshin Sect
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="5" > the background of the second son's seizure</h1>
Emperor Mingshenzong had eight sons, the eldest son Zhu Changluo was born to a lowly royal palace girl, the second son Zhu Changxuan and the third son Zhu Changxun were all born to the emperor's own favorite Concubine Zheng Guifei. Zhu Changluo's birth was originally the product of the passion of His Majesty the Emperor's sperm worm. The Wanli Emperor was lucky for a moment, and he actually regretted it afterwards. It was not until the palace lady's belly was too big to cover it that she was crowned as a concubine, and Zhu Changluo was born two months later.
In February of the sixth year of the Wanli Calendar (1578 AD), the 15-year-old Wang Shi of Yuyao, Zhejiang, was crowned empress. Three years after the empress's wedding, Empress Wang gave birth to Emperor Shenzong's first child in December of the ninth year of the Wanli Calendar (1581 AD): Princess Zhu Xuanyuan of Rongchang, the eldest daughter of the Emperor. So when was the birth time of the emperor's eldest son, Zhu Changluo? In August of the tenth year of the Wanli Calendar (1582 AD), we can infer that the time of the palace maid's arrival was roughly in November of the ninth year of the Wanli Calendar. In other words, Shenzong was bored before the empress was pregnant and about to be born, which was the product of Zhu Changluo's passion, in fact, he did not have any feelings for the palace lady herself.
At the end of the twelfth year of the Wanli Calendar (1584 AD), Consort Zheng gave birth to the emperor's second son, Zhu Changpu. According to the gossip news sent by the Wanli Dynasty Household Department to the descendants of Jiang Yinglin (Wanli Eleventh Year Jinshi), due to the emperor's carelessness, Zheng Guifei's body was damaged, which led to Zhu Changpu's birth and death. In order to make up for his concubine, the Wanli Emperor privately vowed that if Concubine Zheng had another son, she would be made the crown prince of the Eastern Palace.
First of all, he was born to the Crown Prince in the middle of the year, and was born by Princess Gong of the Wang clan. When the Zheng clan favored the harem for three years, the first concubine mourned the king, and was injured by the drama with him, and was born infertile for three months, and Zheng Gong was even worse. Shang Pity, and private oath, that is, to raise the son of ruzi as the Eastern Palace. The third son of the Emperor was born, and the emperor was given a special thickness. - "Biography of the First Tai Chang Gong"
Here is a slight explanation, the King of Ying Ai is Zhu Changpu, after his death, the Ming Shen Sect posthumously named him the King of Ying, and gave him the title of King of Sorrow. The first Taichang Gong referred to Jiang Yinglin, because after his death, the imperial court posthumously gave him the title of Taichang Temple Secretary.
Empress Wang never became pregnant after giving birth to a princess, which meant that there were no righteous concubines in the imperial court. For Emperor Mingshenzong, if he wanted to fulfill his promise to Concubine Zheng Guifei, the only person who stood in the way was Zhu Changluo, the eldest son of the Emperor.
Myojin sect image
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="10" > the "Ancestral Precepts of the Emperor and Ming" and the current dynasty</h1>
Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding father of the Ming Dynasty, was an emperor with a very serious Virgo plot, and he formulated many rules and regulations, hoping that future generations would be able to abide by them. For the crucial succession to the throne, it is naturally the most important, so what are Zhu Yuanzhang's hard requirements for the crown prince? In the first year of Hongwu (1368 AD), when zhu Biao, the eldest son of the concubine, was crown prince, the change in the book showed the attitude of Lao Zhu himself: "The state is built as a reserve, the ceremony is from the concubine, and the foundation of the world is in Yan." In the ninth year of Hongwu, when Zhu Yuanzhang told the heavens and the earth to be on the circular hill, he once again clarified his requirements for the heir: the eldest son.
Jia Zi, the kingdom of kings and kings, told the heavens and the earth to be blessed with the lord of the billions." The sea is happy, and the children and grandchildren are prosperous. In the classics, the Son of Heaven has a son, and his elder keeps the state, and the heir to the throne. Each of the sons has a seal of thatch, a royal family of the feudal screen, with the surname of An Wan, and the system of this ancient emperor is also. —Ming Taizu Shilu Vol. 13
For Zhu Yuanzhang, who had five concubines, he might not have imagined that the empress of future generations would not be able to give birth to concubines. So if there are only shuzi, is it not also in the order of the eldest son and the second son of the shu to be crowned as a crown prince? For example, we now have such a summary of the order of succession in the "Ancestral Precepts of the Emperor and Ming" as follows: "The father dies and the son is replaced, the brother is the last brother, and there is a concubine and no concubine." However, Zhu Yuanzhang's own attitude toward Shuzi was not that of Li Chang, but of Li Xian. Speaking of this, many people may be surprised, but in fact, Lao Zhu has expressed this attitude many times.
Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang stills
Chang Yuchun, the second warlord of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, died before Hongwu's third year (1370 AD) before the Great Seal of Merit. For this old brother who worked hard and made great achievements, Zhu Yuanzhang naturally could not forget his descendants, so Chang Mao, the eldest son of Chang Yuchun, was given the title of Duke of Zheng. However, Chang Mao made a serious mistake during the Ming army's Northern Expedition to Jinshan, and was eventually exiled to Guangxi. In order to make up for the Chang family, Lao Zhu also enfeoffed Chang Yu Chunshu's second son Chang sheng to the founding duke, and there is such a sentence in the text:
The kings of the past who determined the world will be dissected to seal the meritorious servants, so that their descendants will be rehabilitated with the kingdom. The law of his son is to talk about concubines and not to be virtuous. Or if there is no concubine and there is no concubine, then the meritocracy is not long. Therefore, the meaning of the one who is careful is far away. —Ming Taizu Shilu Vol. 194
In other words, Emperor Mingshen could have taken out this sentence from the founding Emperor Taizu and then honorably crowned his third son, Zhu Changxun, as crown prince. Anyway, everyone is a son, I think the old third is more virtuous than the boss, and the civil servants should not raise objections. However, the reason why the Myōshin Sect did not dare to use this as an excuse was that it was likely to undermine the legitimacy of his own rule.
The first person in the Ming Dynasty to succeed to the throne as the eldest son of Shu was Emperor Mingshenzong's great-grandfather Emperor Mingxianzong Zhu Jianshen. After Zhu Mishen's death, he was succeeded by his third son, Emperor Mingxiaozong Zhu Youzong, the great-uncle of Emperor Shenzong. Although Emperor Xiaozong was the third son, Emperor Xianzong did not have a concubine, and his eldest and second sons had already died prematurely, and Emperor Xiaozong was actually the eldest son. If Emperor Myōshin dared to brave the great disobedience of the world and forcibly bypass the emperor's eldest son and establish the third son of the emperor as the crown prince, he would face two major doubts from the government and the public:
One of them, Zhu Yijun himself, was also the third son of Emperor Muzongzhuang of Zhu Zaikun, two older brothers died early, and there was also a younger brother Zhu Yijun the Prince of Lu below. If the emperor can make the third son of the emperor crown prince in the name of "Li Xian", can the empress dowager and even the civil officials also use the same excuse to depose you Zhu Yijun and establish King Lu as emperor?
Second, the reason why Ming Shizong was able to succeed to the throne was to put it bluntly because his father Xingxian Wang was the fourth son of Ming Xianzong. Later, in order to make King Xingxian call the Zongmiao Temple, Emperor Mingshizong did not offend the civilian official clique. In fact, Emperor Xianzong's sixth son, Zhu Youbin, the sixth son of Emperor Xianzong, was known as the "Virtuous King", and since he could "establish a sage", everyone might as well turn over the old accounts again and simply transfer the imperial lineage to the descendants of Yiwang.
Golden Silk Wing Good Crown
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="18" > two alternatives</h1>
Based on the above analysis, forcibly appointing Zhu Changxun as crown prince was an extremely risky transaction for Emperor Shenzong, and it was not cost-effective. So is there any other way to reach the purpose of saving the country from the curve? In fact, there are still some.
Plan 1: Abolish the Queen of the King, and establish Concubine Zheng Guifei
The reason why Zhu Changluo has an advantage over Zhu Changxun is because he is the eldest son. However, if Zhu Changxun's identity can be transformed into a concubine, then the identity of Zhu Changluoshu's eldest son is meaningless. In other words, if Empress Wang was willing to abdicate and Concubine Zheng guifei was able to become empress, Zhu Changxun would be the eldest son of Shu from the third son of Shu. The eldest son was the crown prince, which was not controversial in the Ming Dynasty. What's more, in the history of the Ming Dynasty, there is no such precedent.
On November 11, the second year of Xuande (1427 AD), Emperor Mingyingzong Zhu Qizhen (i.e., Emperor Xianzong's father) was born. It should be noted that at this time, the identity of her birth mother Empress Xiaogongzhang's Sun Clan was not an empress, but a noble concubine. The real empress was Empress Hu of Gongrangzhang, the original match of Emperor Xuanzong of Ming. When Yingzong was born, Xuanzong was already 29 years old, and he urgently needed to appoint a crown prince. However, Empress Hu had already given birth to two princesses for the emperor, indicating that she was not infertile, and if Empress Hu had to change her son after Emperor Yingzong was made crown prince, would she still have to change to prince? Therefore, after consulting with Empress Dowager Zhang (Empress Chengxiaozhao), Emperor Xuanzong first made Zhu Qizhen crown prince, then Empress Hu took the initiative to abdicate, and Sun Guifei took the throne.
Shang Sui Edict Ofe said: "Than Empress Hu's self-inflicted illness, she cannot bow down to sacrifice and recuperate." With childlessness, please be idle. Remembering the righteousness of the husband and wife, he refused to obey. And the rhetoric is repeated, and the benefits are added to the cut. From what I have done, I will leave the palace idle. Its titles, services, and attendants are as old as ever. Noble concubine Sun Shi, former Emperor Taizong Wen chose concubine Yu Yuan, for more than ten years. Tokuyoshi No Motoshige, crowned in the harem. He has grown a son and has been made crown prince. The group of courtiers is called the righteousness of spring and autumn, the mother is precious to the son, and it is advisable to be in the middle palace. Repeatedly, the Virgin Mary gave instructions, and ordered to obey the crowd. This book of noble concubines Sun Shi is the emperor, and the Erli Department has a date to hear. —Ming Xuanzong Records Volume 39
Stills of Sun Guifei and Empress Hu
With this precedent in the past, why didn't the Divine Sect learn from its ancestor Xuanzong? The author thinks there are two reasons:
First, Emperor Yingzong was first made crown prince, and then Sun Guifei became empress, paying attention to the mother and son. Now, if Zhu Changxun was made crown prince because Ofe Zheng Guifei ascended to the throne, and became a son and a mother, the civil officials who were good at biting and chewing words would definitely take advantage of this loophole to obstruct it.
At the same time, Emperor Xuanzong of that year started from the Emperor Taisun and was surrounded by an army of five times the strength of the ordinary Wei army, and once followed chengzu Zhu Di's Northern Expedition, and had a very high prestige and deep connections in the army. Therefore, after Emperor Xuanzong succeeded to the throne, he wanted to go out of the palace to pay homage to the mausoleum of Emperor Tianshoushan, not only out of the palace, but also with the empress, the empress, and the noble concubines, who dared to stop it? The emperor himself wants to personally march on the royal drive, and even dares to personally lead the elite charge, which of the future emperors dares? Emperor Wuzong ran to Xuanda to patrol the border, was sprayed by civilian officials from life to death, and finally fell to an unknown cause of death. Therefore, when Emperor Xuanzong deposed the empress, he received unanimous support from the civil officials. But now, if the Divine Sect dared to emulate the ancestors and abolish the Queen, he was afraid that his own dragon chair would be unstable.
Option two: Survive the empress, or kill the emperor's eldest son
In the era in which Shenzong lived, it was obviously difficult for him to be deposed like his ancestor Xuanzong, and even his grandfather Xianzong and grandfather Shizong. Therefore, this extremely clever emperor thought left and right, and adopted a passive method of purely bumping into the great luck, that is, to delay and wait for change.
Zhu Yijun ignored the repeated advice of hundreds of officials, but he always refused to make the crown prince. He was waiting, waiting for the empress or the emperor's eldest son to hang up. If the empress collapsed, then the Divine Sect could legitimately crown Concubine Zheng as her successor. Even if Empress Zheng could not enjoy the Taimiao Temple (only the original match could), Zhu Changxun, who was born to her, could still be recognized as a concubine after all. If the emperor's eldest son was Xue, it would be even simpler, Zhu Changxun directly became the eldest son of Shenzong, and the position of crown prince was none other than him.
Queen Phoenix Crown
However, it is a pity that although the eldest son of the emperor is the famous "January Emperor", after all, he has been in good health before the death of Shenzong. As for Empress Wang, she died only three months earlier than Shenzong himself, when the emperor's eldest son had been the crown prince for many years. At the same time, we must also point out that when Empress Wang collapsed in April of the forty-eighth year of the Wanli Calendar (1620 AD), Emperor Shenzong instructed the Ministry of Rites to appoint Emperor Zheng's concubine as empress in July. However, before the canonization ceremony was held, Zhu Yijun suddenly died, and it was a pity that when he opened the Dingling Tomb, he did not make a cause-of-death analysis for the Divine Sect. King Fu was later killed by Li Zicheng in the last year of Chongzhen, and according to the Ming Palace Dictionary, when the old man in the palace reported the bad news of the Chongzhen Emperor, he also mentioned that Shenzong still thought of King Fu at the time of his death.
The kou was in chaos, and many of the kings of Henan were killed. Thinking of flesh and bones, intermittent sorrow, the old palace maid can say what the past in the palace makes the words. Because of the words: "When the kingdom of the blessed king is blessed, the temple loves it." The king went out of the palace gate and summoned the three. He was about three years old when he entered the Dynasty. Shangqu Zhi day: 'Three years old and one thousand days, but I am afraid that the emperor's father will not wait for Ru, how?' When the elder was high, the queen was rarely seen. When the great gradually came, he still looked at the noble concubines and thought of Henan as his thoughts. "Rise up. - "Ming Palace Words"
In the end, Emperor Shenzong, who had no choice but to make his eldest son Zhu Changluo the crown prince and his third son Zhu Changxun the Prince of Fu in October of the twenty-ninth year of the Wanli Calendar (1601 AD). When the princes of the Ming Dynasty reached adulthood, they were to go to the feudal state to take the domain, and His Highness the Prince of Fu did not take the domain of Luoyang until the 42nd year of the Wanli Calendar (1614 AD) at the age of 29. During the years when King Fu was in the capital, I believed that the crown prince Zhu Changluo must have been afraid and frightened, like sitting on a needle felt.
Conclusion: From the comprehensive analysis of various historical materials, Zhu Yijun, the Ming Dynasty, was indeed fond of Zheng Guifei and Fu Wang. Unfortunately, he could not bypass the emperor's eldest son and make Zhu Changxun the crown prince on the grounds of "Li Xian", nor could he resolutely depose the original concubine like his ancestor Xuanzong. Since Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty, the emperors have lost direct control of the army, and they can only wrestle with the civilian officials in the court through procedural justice.
Emperor Myōshin had been unwilling to appoint a crown prince, and to put it bluntly, he was expecting a miracle to happen. But I am ashamed to say that as a husband, he is looking forward to the original destiny. As a father, he looked forward to the early death of his eldest son. Shenzong was not a heartless person, and his relationship with the original empress was not bad. As for the eldest son, what father would expect his son to die? As for whether the Divine Sect could not do whatever it wanted under the constraints of the civil officials, whether it was the blessing of the country or the misfortune of the country, it could only be seen in opinion.