In the spring of 1398 (the thirty-first year of Hongwu), this was the last spring in Zhu Yuanzhang's life, however, he did not feel the warmth of spring at all, because he got a bad news, his third son, Zhu Tang, the King of Jin, died at the age of 41.
Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang lived to be 71 years old, which was a high life expectancy among ancient emperors. He had 26 sons in his lifetime, and the old Zhu family was also considered to be prosperous, however, Zhu Yuanzhang's elder sons died one by one, allowing Zhu Yuanzhang to stage "white-haired people send black-haired people" again and again.
Twenty-five years after Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang's most valued eldest son, crown prince Zhu Biao, died, which dealt a great blow to Zhu Yuanzhang. Three years later, Zhu Yuanzhang's second son, Zhu Zhu, the Prince of Qin, died of illness, and Zhu Yuanzhang lost another son. Now, Zhu Yuanzhang's third son, Zhu Tang, the King of Jin, also went before him, and Zhu Yuanzhang looked around and Zhu Di, the King of Yan, who was far away in Beijing, had become his eldest son.
The face should still be faced, the King of Jin Zhu Tang died, the Jin King's lineage still needs to continue to inherit, Zhu Yuanzhang decreed that Zhu Jixi, the eldest son of Zhu Tang, would inherit the title of King of Jin. According to the Records of Emperor Ming Taizu, Zhu Yuanzhang gave Zhu Jixi a comment at that time:
"When you have a son, you should be like Li Yazi, and you will not die for it."
The meaning of this sentence will be explained later, first talk about Zhu Jixi. Zhu Jixi was the eldest son of Zhu Tang and the second eldest grandson among Zhu Yuanzhang's many grandchildren. In the fifteenth year of Hongwu, after the death of Zhu Xiongying, the eldest son of crown prince Zhu Biao, Zhu Jixi was actually Zhu Yuanzhang's titular eldest grandson. In the middle of the Hongwu period, Zhu Jixi, Zhu Yunjiao (Emperor Jianwen), Zhu Shangbing (Zhu Zhu's eldest son), and Zhu Gaozi (Emperor Mingrenzong) were all studying under Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes and were familiar with each other, and Zhu Yuanzhang also knew these older grandsons very well. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang's criticism of Zhu Jixi seems random, but in fact has a deep meaning.
In the above comments, two people are mentioned, namely "Li Yazi" and "Li Keyong". Li Yazi, also known as Li Cunxun, was the son of Li Keyong and the founder of the Later Tang Dynasty during the Five Dynasties period. In that year, Li Keyong, the King of Jin, died of illness in the army, and his son Li Cunxun succeeded to the throne of Jin and led his father's soldiers and horses to defeat Later Liang. When Zhu Wen, the later Liang monarch, heard this, he sighed and said, "When you have a son, you should be like Li Yazi." "Meaning, although Li Keyong is dead, there are people after him." It is similar to Cao Cao's lament that "having a son should be like Sun Zhongmou".
Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang's criticism is actually telling his grandson Zhu Jixi that although your father is dead, you have inherited the title of King of Jin and should complete your father's mission.
In fact, as early as the third year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang once sealed the nine great clan kings, not only to ask these clan kings to defend the capital division, but also to restrain each other. For example, the Jin king Zhu Tang and the Yan king Zhu Di did not have a good relationship, so Zhu Yuanzhang let them be adjacent to each other in order to achieve the purpose of mutual checks and balances and defending the imperial court. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang let Zhu Jixi inherit his father's mission, that is, to defend the imperial court and balance the King of Yan. However, Zhu Zhuo died early, and the young Zhu Jixi was his fourth uncle's opponent?
Three months after Zhu Tang's death, Zhu Yuanzhang also died, and the emperor's grandson Zhu Yunjiao took the throne and immediately began to cut the domain. In the first year of Jianwen, the Kings of Zhou, Dai, Qi, and Min were all cut down and reduced to commoners, and the King of Xiang was even more humiliated and set himself on fire. For a time, the kings were in cahoots, and everyone was in danger. Zhu Di, the King of Yan, who was far away in Beijing, raised an army south under the banner of "Qing Jun's Side", and the Battle of Jingnan broke out.
Zhu Yuanzhang hoped that Zhu Jixi would balance the King of Yan, but when the King of Yan raised an army to rebel, Zhu Jixi did not move, sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger fight. Zhu Jixi chose this for three reasons:
First, Emperor Jianwen cut the domain, harming the interests of the kings of the domain, and Zhu Jixi, the king of Jin, did not help Emperor Jianwen precisely because he was also the king of the domain.
Second, he had only been attacking the knight for one year, and he was not qualified or experienced, and even if he sent troops to attack Zhu Di, I am afraid that he would also hit the stone with an egg.
Third, not only did the King of Jin not take a stand, but even the King of Qin and many other clan kings did not take a stand, after all, no matter who won, the Son of Heaven was surnamed Zhu.
In the fourth year of Jianwen, Zhu Di invaded Nanjing, and Emperor Jianwen disappeared in a fire, and Zhu Jixi was disappointed, because Zhu Di kept beating Zhu Jixi after he ascended the throne. The reason was that Zhu Jixi's half-brother Zhu Jixi's father-in-law was the imperial court general Li Jinglong, and Zhu Jixi wanted to use this relationship to take away the title of King of Jin, and repeatedly entrusted people to say bad things about his brother in front of Zhu Di. Zhu Jixi was repeatedly beaten by Zhu Di, and in order to dispel Zhu Di's suspicions about himself, he even wrote to the imperial court to request that his guards be handed over to the imperial court.
In the twelfth year of Yongle, Zhu Di summoned his nephew Zhu Jixi to enter the dynasty, when Zhu Di happened to lead an army on the northern expedition, and the two met in the middle of the way. No one knows what the specifics of this encounter talked about, but before Zhu Jixi returned to Taiyuan, Zhu Di issued an edict deposing Zhu Jixi and his eldest son Zhu Meigui as shuren, and said in his will:
"Recite the righteousness of King Gong's brotherhood, and order Shou Gong Garden."
This means that Zhu Di remembers his brotherly love with your father, spares your life, and lets you guard the tomb for your father, and you are not allowed to leave the cemetery without a commandment.
After Zhu Jixi was imprisoned in Zhu Zhuo's mausoleum, the title of King of Jin fell to Zhu Jixi's head.
Zhu Jixi's heart was not correct, and he was soon opposed by other brothers, however, with Zhu Di's protection, Zhu Jixi seemed to see no hope. It was not until 10 years later, when Emperor Akihito ascended the throne, Zhu Gaozi knew his cousin Zhu Jixi better, and he issued an edict to improve Zhu Jixi's living environment, and Zhu Jixi wrote to Zhu Gaozi to state his grievances, unfortunately, Zhu Gaozi died after only 10 months on the throne, and did not have time to deal with this matter. Until Emperor Xuanzong ascended the throne, in the second year of Xuande, Emperor Xuanzong discovered that Zhu Jisheng had abused his mother-in-law and secretly participated in the rebellion of Zhu Gaoxu, the King of Han, so he ordered the abolition of Zhu Jisheng. After that, the title of King of Jin was vacant for 8 years. Until the tenth year of Xuande, Zhu Jixi died, and Emperor Xuanzong of Ming made Zhu Jixi's eldest son Zhu Meigui the King of Jin, and from then on, the title of King of Jin returned to Zhu Jixi's line. However, at this time, Zhu Jixi had already died.
In that year, Zhu Jixi inherited the title of King of Jin, and Zhu Yuanzhang compared Zhu Jixi to Li Cunxun, hoping that he could defend the capital and restrain the King of Yan. However, Zhu Jixi did not do both of these things, which can be said to have failed to live up to Zhu Yuanzhang's expectations.
Coincidentally, Li Cunxun eventually died in a rebellion, and his throne was forcibly taken away by his younger brother Li Siyuan. And Zhu Jixi also ended up depressed because his brother lost the prince, and the ending between the two was so similar.
Zhu Yuanzhang did not guess the beginning correctly, but unexpectedly guessed the ending correctly, although the ending occurred 37 years later.