On March 19, 1777, Li Zicheng's peasant army invaded the inner city of the Beijing Division, and the Chongzhen Emperor had no hope of breaking through and hanged himself at Coal Mountain.
Later, the three sons of the Chongzhen Emperor: the crown prince Zhu Cixi, the Dingwang Zhu Cijiong, and the Yongwang Zhu Cizhuo, were captured by the peasant army and their whereabouts are unknown.
The Dashun Dynasty did not unify the whole country, and it was still the territory of the Ming Dynasty in the Jiangnan area, so it was urgent to establish a spokesman.
Two months later, on May 15, The Fu King Zhu, with the support of Song Ma Shiying, announced that he would inherit the throne and change his name to Yuan Hongguang.
Hongguang dynasty existed for less than a year, but it was really noisy enough, and the three major mysteries in Nandu were rectified in one breath:
True and false prince case, great compassion monk case (true and false Qi wang case), true and false child concubine case.
In fact, the so-called three major cases are all centered on the word "true and false" of the royal family, which makes posterity see enough liveliness.
But have we ever thought about one question:
The three major cases are all Hongguang Emperor, questioning the identity of others is true or false, so is the identity of Hongguang Emperor true or false?
1. No one can prove that the Fu King is the Fu Wang
Zhu Yousong, emperor of the Southern Ming Dynasty, was born in the 35th year of the Wanli Dynasty in the residence of Zhu Changxun, the King of Jingshifu, and was the grandson of the Wanli Emperor.
He then followed Zhu Changxun to Luoyang, where he was created the Prince of Dechang at the age of thirteen and was made the Son of Prince Fu.
In the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng led a peasant army to attack Luoyang, and Zhu Changxun, the old Fu king, was captured and beheaded. Shizi Zhu Yousong escaped the disaster, fled Luoyang and went to Huaiqing for refuge, and was recognized by Chongzhen as the King of Fu for two years.
Soon after the peasant army captured Xianhuaiqing, Zhu Yousong had to leave Huaiqing and flee south, fleeing all the way to Huai'an with King Lu and King Zhou.
"In the change of the northern capital, all the kings moved south to avoid chaos." ("Hiromitsu Records Banknotes, Volume 1")
Since the Chongzhen Emperor had already hanged himself at this time, the ministers of Jiangnan began to discuss the establishment of a new emperor, after all, there were many clan kings who went south.
At that time, Shoshu Shi Kefa, who could still speak, gave his own proposal for deliberation:
Emperor Xian died, and the whereabouts of the crown prince, king Ding, and king Yong were unknown, so they could only find someone from the close relatives of The Divine Sect to succeed to the throne. Emperor Shenzong's sons Zhu Changhao, the King of Rui, and Zhu Changying, the King of Gui, were far away, and they would not be able to invite him for a while and a half; although his grandson Zhu Yousong, the Prince of Fu, was close to the side, this goods was as bad as his father; it was better that we bring Shenzong and his father, Zhu Changshu, the descendant of Emperor Mingmuzong, the King of Lu, and this product was of good character to be emperor.
"The crown prince, the two kings of Yong and Ding, are trapped in the midst of thieves, and the order is after the Divine Sect, while Rui and Gui Hui are far away." The Fu King is not allowed to do seven things (greed, fornication, alcoholism, filial piety, abuse, non-reading, and interference with Yousiye). King Wei Lu was known as a virtuous man. ("Hongguang Shilu Banknotes, Volume 1")
At that time, many ministers supported this proposal, but Ma Shiying, the governor of Fengyang, did not do it:
You are all the first to stand up for the Lu King here, and I can't even drink a soup? Then I have to start first.
"He who wants to do things for himself, then he can do it." ("Hiromitsu Records Banknotes, Volume 1")
So he took advantage of his proximity to Huai'an and sent people to Huai'an with an empty head note to find the kings of the various domains, and whoever wrote his name on it first, he Ma Shiying took the barrel of a gun to support the upper position.
"It is to make his personal yang Wenqi, holding an empty note, and order him not to ask King He, and to fill in the greeting of those who come first." ("Hongguang Shilu Banknotes Volume 1"
Come first, come first, be fair, and no one should be discouraged!
As a result, when Yang Wenqi came to Huai'an to pick up people, he just saw a broken ship coming, and there was just a king of the clan sitting inside.
"There is a broken boat under the river, and there is one person, or: Fu Wang ye." ("Hiromitsu Records Banknotes, Volume 1")
Pay attention to the word "or Yue", but some people say that inside this ship is Zhu Yousong, the Fu King.
As for whether it is really Zhu Yousong, you taste, you taste. The moisture in this is still quite large.
Yang Wenxiao did not do any verification, and hurriedly and panickedly brought this Fu Wang back, after all, Ma Shiying was waiting to take the head of the gong.
It was also from this time that regarding whether the person who Ma Shiying was standing was Zhu Yousong, the Fu King, or not, Nanming had a lot of internal lawsuits.
Because no one can prove the identity of this Fu Wang, the only person who can prove the identity of the Fu Wang is the Great Seal of the Fu King that he carries with him.
Qian Bingpi, a Southern Ming literary scholar who served in the Hongguang Dynasty, wrote the "Records of Knowledge" that recorded the historical facts of the Southern Ming Dynasty according to his own experience.
It specifically mentions the ascension of the Hongguang Emperor, and insists that the Hongguang Emperor is a fake, that is, a fake found by Ma Shiying.
During Ma Shiying's tenure as governor of Fengyang, he once seized a Fuwang Great Seal from the people, so he seized the people who hid the Great Seal and interrogated him.
"Ask his people, the cloud has negative bloggers, holding hostage money." Shi Ying was looking for it. (The Book of Knowledge)
The person who hid the seal actually said that there was a gambler who took the big seal in exchange for money, so he got it by chance.
It just so happened that Shi Kefa wanted to support King Lu, so Ma Shiying sacrificed this Great Seal of the Fu King and found a fake to impersonate Zhu Yousong.
So Qian Bing stirrup couldn't help but ask:
"Guo Dechang (King Dechang before Zhu Yousong attacked King Fu) Yes? Non-Dechanye? But according to the king's seal, it was thought that the ear of the world! ”
You can't prove this thing, Zhu Yousong holding the big seal is the Fu King, Zhang San and Li Si holding the seal are also the Fu King, how do you rectify this?
And Jin Bao, an official who was determined to resist the Qing soldiers and served under The Longwu Emperor and the Yongli Emperor successively, insisted that Zhu Yousong was a fake.
"Yu Wen Hiromitsu pseudo-Fukudai also." Fu Di had been killed, and his concubine had a brother and a servant with him, falsely claiming to be Fu Di. (The Collected Works of the Wandering Hall)
Jin Bao not only said that the Hongguang Emperor was a fake, but even pointed out who was fake, that is, Zhu Yousong's brother-in-law.
According to the news that Jin Bao heard, the real Fu King Zhu Yousong had actually been killed with his family.
However, Princess Fu's younger brother was taken away by an internal attendant, so Zhu Yousong's brother-in-law falsely claimed the title of King of Fu at the instigation of the internal servant.
In his book "Lotus Cong", He also talked about the ascension of King Fuku, who had ascended the throne, as an A-goods.
"Emperor Shi is not a true son, and Fu Fan has a trial of appearance, because of false recognition."
Lin Shi also insisted that Zhu Yousong was a fake, but on the question of who was counterfeiting, there was a discrepancy with Jin Bao's statement.
Lin Shi said that the original Fu Wang's subordinates, because they looked like Fu Wang, and knew Zhu Yousong very well, so they pretended to be.
2. The little girl who shakes Hongguang's identity
If the above records and statements of Hongguang Dynasty officials can only be regarded as a family talk of court secrets, then the Tong Concubine case directly pushes the questioning of Hongguang's identity to a new height.
The so-called child concubine case goes like this:
A woman of the Tong clan fled to Nanjing, claiming to be the Concubine of Zhu Yousongzhi of fu, but king Fu immediately denied it. He also declared Tong a fake, handed him over to Jinyiwei for trial, tortured him, and died in prison shortly after.
Because Tong's self-narrated experience with Zhu Yousong during the war and chaos years was too realistic and believable, many people believed that Tong Fei was real.
But he couldn't stop Hongguang from admitting it, he insisted that the tong concubine was fake, and he didn't want to recognize anything.
He even wrote an article to defend himself.
This confused many civil and military officers at that time, why did you abandon your daughter-in-law in the chaos of war? Don't you like it when she's raised in the harem?
Originally, this was just a criticism of Zhu Yousong's character, but soon another version spread:
Princess Tong did indeed live with Zhu Yousong, but zhu Yousong at that time was real, and the current Hongguang Emperor was fake.
Qian Bing stirrup thinks so:
"But the Tong clan knows that Dechang is on the throne, and asks for a meeting with the old concubines, but he does not know that today's Dechang is not the Dechang of the past." (The Book of Knowledge)
The Hongguang Emperor refused to meet with Concubine Tong from beginning to end, so why did he dare to confront the false prince of Chongzhen, but did not dare to confront a small concubine?
Because the false prince of Chongzhen had never seen Zhu Yousong, but Princess Tong had seen Zhu Yousong, and the two had also given birth to a son.
Once the two of them meet, won't they be in the mud? Princess Tong didn't know Zhu Yousong in front of her at all, so didn't she just wear the whole gang?
The Same view is shared by Golden Castle:
"Princess Tong, the false fu mansion is afraid of the reveal, so it will lead to death." (The Collected Works of the Wandering Hall)
Here directly into the fake Zhu Yousong killed people and destroyed the mouth.
In the "Records of the Huailing Liukou Always" compiled by the late Ming and early Qing dynasty literary scholar Dai Kasa, it is also insisted that The Tong Concubine is true Hongguang or false:
"Tong Concubine Gu Dechang Wang's Yuan Match, Hongguang Gu will not let him enter the palace, afraid of defeat."
Of course, in addition to the tong concubine who shook Zhu Yousong's identity, Zhu Yousong's mother, Empress Zhang, also "assisted" by the hand.
This is the less famous "Hongguang Steamer" incident.
In July of the first year of Hongguang, Ma Shiying sent Hongguang's mother, Empress Zhang, and the contact between the two was extremely strange.
Huang Zongxi, a famous scholar in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, said in his history book "Hongguang Shilu Banknote":
"The emperor did not establish the middle palace early, but chose the people who did not have themselves, and the empress dowager also did not have the reason."
Why didn't Hongguang make an empress, but he still kept choosing concubines among the people? In fact, it is because she has a leg with the empress.
Why does Hongguang dare to risk the world's great disobedience and corrupt Lunchang? Because he was not really Zhu Yousong at all, he was not Empress Zhang's own son at all.
The Huailing Liukou Always Record also states:
"Hongguang reigned for a year, and after he established himself, he slept with the empress dowager like a husband and wife."
Lin Shi also said to the "Lotus Cong Talk":
"After entering the palace, lie down with the emperor."
Empress Dowager Zhang knew that the Hongguang Emperor was a fake, so why didn't she expose him after meeting him, and was still willing to throw herself into the arms and give him a crush on Gang Chang?
There is also a reasonable explanation for this.
On the day of welcoming Empress Zhang into the palace, Hongguang deliberately asked the grand attendant to carry Empress Zhang to the inner temple for consultation, and after conspiring with her, a confidentiality agreement was reached.
"The emperor did not come out to greet him, and the courtiers served Feng Yu to the inner palace, and after the emperor went to the corner of the temple, the secret language shifted." ("Lotus Series Talk")
What was the content of the conspiracy between the two men?
In fact, it is also very simple, just six words:
"Don't be discouraged, share the riches." ("Lotus Series Talk")
The meaning of "false Hongguang" is simple:
We are both prosperous and damaged, which is a grasshopper on a rope.
Because it was my impersonating your son Zhu Yousong that you could become the empress dowager; if I was overthrown by this fake Hongguang, then you, the true empress, would not be able to continue.
You'll have to think about it.
Therefore, Hongguang chose to execute Concubine Tong, but he openly greeted Empress Zhang, and even got a little close to her.
3, why Hongguang will be questioned
In fact, from the existing data of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Zhu Yousong's identity is unquestionable, and he is the real Fu Wang.
Even the Italian missionary Wei Kuangguo knew that when Zhu Yousong was welcomed to Nanjing, Wei Kuangguo was an eyewitness to the grand scene.
"At that time, I was in the majestic City of Nanjing, and I saw chaos and panic, until the city guards calmed down and decided to elect Hongguang as emperor of the Ming Dynasty." (Chronicles of tatar Warfare)
If Hongguang's identity is really doubtful, even if Ma Shiying has a gun in his hand, the fake Zhu Yousong will not be easily carried into Nanjing, right? Not only some officials, who write articles with the pen in private, but should go out in groups to make trouble, right?
So why do many people question Hongguang's identity? In fact, in the final analysis, it is still a continuation of the party struggle at the end of the Ming Dynasty.
The three major cases of the Hongguang Dynasty, and even the suspicion of Hongguang himself, are actually to some extent a continuation of the three major cases of the late Ming Dynasty.
The three major cases at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Red Pill case, and the palace transfer case, actually revolved around Hongguang's father Lao Fu Wang, and his uncle Ming Guangzong's struggle for the throne.
To put it simply, the officials of the Donglin Party of the Shenzong Dynasty all supported the succession of the eldest son Zhu Changluo, while opposing the establishment of King Mingzong as crown prince.
This is also often referred to as "contending for the foundation of the country".
In the end, it is said that because of the establishment of the crown prince, Emperor Myeongjin was angry for twenty or thirty years, but in the end, Zhu Changluo ascended to the throne.
Barely enough, the Donglin Party won the victory.
As a result, I never imagined that the Mingguang Sect Zhu Changluo's branch would actually be completely destroyed in the end.
Zhu Changluo died a month after his reign, leaving only two sons behind: Zhu Youxiao, the Emperor of the Heavenly Revelation, and Zhu Youjian, the Chongzhen Emperor.
When Tianqi died, he had no sons, so Chongzhen, as a brother, succeeded to the throne; the Chongzhen Emperor had three sons, but later his whereabouts were unknown, and his life and death were uncertain.
This was very infuriating for the Donglin Party, and according to the blood lineage, Zhu Yousong's bloodline was outstanding; if he had been succeeded by King Fu, he would have been an undisputed prince; even if he was only a clan king, he was also the grandson of The Ming Dynasty.
However, when it comes to these things, the Officials of the Donglin Party in Jiangnan are still quite rejected.
Although the bloodline of Zhu Yousong, the King of Fu, was very superior, the Fu Family did not deal with the Donglin Party, mainly to let the son of the King of Fu ascend to the throne. Then didn't the Donglin predecessors work in vain? Even if the predecessors were busy in vain, what if Zhu Yousong succeeded to the throne and liquidated Donglin? These are very real problems.
Therefore, Shi Kefa resolutely opposed the ascension of King Fu to the throne, and even had the famous "seven ines" saying that zhu Yousong was personally attacked.
But in the end, Zhu Yousong was still helped up by Ma Shiying, and the Donglin Party officials were forced to accept the reality, but still did not give up "resistance".
Even if Zhu Yousong became emperor? It is still possible to attack from the identity, that is, to question your counterfeiting and inferiority, the unknown source, or to find a way to pull you off the throne.
The proposer and leader of the "Hongguang Counterfeit Theory" was actually the famous anti-Qing scholar Huang Zongxi, as well as students and officials close to him.
"And Yu Yao Huang Zongxi, Tongcheng Qian Bingcheng, and zhi (Hongguang) Emperor Fei Zhu's son, these two are also victims of the party disaster!" ("The Pseudo-Empress of the Hongguang Dynasty pseudo-Eastern Palace and the Chronicle of Party Disasters")
In the final analysis, it is the result of party strife.
Dai Mingshi, a famous scholar and historian of the early Qing Dynasty, summed up very profoundly in his historical study work, "The Pseudo-Empress of the Hongguang Dynasty and the Chronicle of The Party Disasters":
"One year after the founding of the country in the south, only the end of the party's calamity!" Most of the Donglin Fushe are self-sustaining in the style of the festival, but the discussion is high and the deeds are sparse, the good name is straight, and the excitement is a catastrophe, causing the collapse of the clan society and the collapse of the Central Plains. ”
Dai Mingshi believed that the collapse of the Nanming Hongguang regime was directly related to the Donglin Party's "fighting for the wind and jealousy", and even regarded the Donglin Party as the culprit.
Of course, the party struggle or party disaster here is not only the previous struggle for the country, but also involves the struggle between the former dynasty and the castration party.
Therefore, for Huang Zongxi, Jin Bao, Qian Bingcheng, etc., the claim that Hongguang is a fake, Dai Mingshi thinks it is very ridiculous:
"This is resentment and loss of reality!"
This is groundless framing and venting, in fact, it is no different from rumor-mongering, so the credibility is not high!
But we can't think that what they say is unreasonable, in case there is really someone Li Daitao who is stiff when Zhu Yousong is hiding from the chaos of the war.
Not necessarily.
(A word of family, seek common ground while reserving differences, thank you for reading)