In the fourth year of Daming Jianwen, in 1402 AD, a fire in the Nanjing Imperial Palace made the whereabouts of the Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunjiao a permanent mystery, and it ranked first in the Daming unsolved case. Where did Emperor Jianwen go? So far no one has been able to answer this question. Regarding the whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen, the differences at that time are still preserved in the surviving Qianlong Four-Year "Ming Shi Jianwen Ji".
The original words are like this, "The fire in the palace is up, and the emperor does not know the end." The King of Yan sent the empress dowager's body into the fire, and yue eight days to bury it. Or Emperor Yun died by the tunnel. This account reveals three pieces of information: when Zhu Di entered Nanjing, Emperor Jianwen was already missing; Zhu Di found the remains of Emperor Jianwen in the fire; and some people said that Emperor Jianwen fled from the tunnel.
The Reason for the Great Controversy over the Whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen was the Main Responsibility of the History of the Ming Dynasty, which was compiled by the Qing Dynasty, because the mystery of Emperor Jianwen's life and death was not concluded in the book, but directly recorded two outcomes (already mentioned earlier). However, if you look closely at the History of Ming, there is an intriguing record about Zhu Di's history.
The original text: "Yi Ugly, to the Jinchuan Gate, Gu Wang, Li Jinglong and other open doors to the king, the capital fell." On that day, the king ordered the generals to defend the city and the imperial city, and also stationed in Longjiang, and ordered the army and people to be pacified. The gist was that Zhu Di had already reached the Jinchuan Gate in Nanjing, at which time the Gu King Zhu Qi, Li Jinglong and others directly opened the city gate and surrendered, and the city of Nanjing was broken.
Zhu Di sent generals to defend the city, while he himself returned to Longjiang (Longjiangyi, 15 miles from Jinchuan Gate) and ordered the people of Nanjing to be appeased. This seemingly inconspicuous little detail has attracted the attention of historians, who believe that zhu Di deliberately let Emperor Jianwen escape or commit suicide.
Zhu Di's ascension to the throne as the king of the domain itself violated zhu Yuanzhang's principle of succession, and he was even more reluctant to bear the charge of killing the king and seizing the throne. After Zhu Di ascended the throne, he immediately began to make a so-called legal basis for his succession, and he immediately thought of re-editing and revising the Records of Ming Taizu.
Zhu Di was very clear that the legal way to make himself succeed to the throne was to tamper with the process of Zhu Yuanzhang's selection of an heir, "First Taizu Disease, sending the envoys to return to Beijing, to Huai'an, Yun Jiong and Qi Tai and other plots, and correcting the edict to return to China." Taizu did not know, but he was sick and asked, "Has the fourth son come?" "Whoever does not dare to respond, whoever asks three questions, does not reach him, and he collapses after the time." Yun Jiong corrected the will of the heir. ”
The gist is that Zhu Yuanzhang sent someone to Beijing before his death, so that Zhu Di could hurry south and return to Nanjing. Zhu Di quickly stepped up his whip, but when he arrived in Huai'an, Zhu Yunjiao and Qi Tai and others together must not allow Zhu Di to return to Nanjing, so he ordered Zhu Di to return to Beijing, and Zhu Yunjiao ascended to the throne.
In addition to tampering with Zhu Yuanzhang's will, Zhu Di also directly canceled the era name of Emperor Jianwen and replaced it with Hongwu Thirty-two to Thirty-five Years. After such an operation, Zhu Di ascended the throne in the first year of Yongle (1403), which was directly connected with the thirty-fifth year of Hongwu (1402).
All indications are that a series of practices during Zhu Di's reign are very much related to the search for Emperor Jianwen. Everyone is familiar with Zheng He's voyage to the West, and one of the important purposes was to find Emperor Jianwen. The "Biography of Zheng He of Ming Shi" bluntly points out, "Emperor Hui (referring to Emperor Jianwen) died overseas, wanted to trace it, and wanted to show off his army in a foreign land, showing China's wealth and strength." "Every time Zheng He went to the West, he took tens of thousands of people to the sea, where to engage in diplomacy, to the point of encircling and suppressing the armed forces organized by Emperor Jianwen overseas.
In addition to Zheng He's overseas search, Zhu Di also sent his close minister Hu Qian to search the world. Beginning in the fifth year of Yongle (1407), Zhu Di ordered Hu To search for temples large and small in the world, and did not return until July of the twenty-first year of Yongle Wu, which took 16 years. When Hu Xian returned to Beijing, it coincided with Zhu Di's fourth northern expedition, and he rushed north without stopping.
When Hu Xi arrived at Zhu Di's marching camp, it was already late at night, and Zhu Di had already fallen asleep. If it were not for the 100,000-hot military situation, once the emperor fell asleep, he would never be able to wake him up. Hu Qian's arrival was obviously not a major military situation, but Zhu Di actually made an exception to summon him, "The emperor has gone to bed, smelled it, and hurriedly summoned him." ”
The content of the conversation between the two has been impossible to verify, but the time is very long, and there are only two sentences in the "Biography of Ming Shi Hu", "Yu Xi is right to hear, and the four drums are missing." In the ming dynasty' history, a summary of the conversation between the two monarchs and courtiers is given, and Zhu Di's "doubts are the beginning of the interpretation", implying that the doubts in Zhu Di's heart have finally disappeared.
This point in time is very important, because Zheng He returned from the Western Ocean for the sixth time, and he never went to the Western Ocean again. At the same time, Zhu Di died in Yumuchuan (榆木川, in modern Wuzhu Muqin, Inner Mongolia) on his way back to the dynasty six months later.
Resources:
[Compiled by the Qing Dynasty] "Ming Shi Hu Zhuan", "Ming Taizu Shilu"
Li Jianxi: "The Restoration of Emperor Jianwen's Identity"
Tang Yunming: "Searching for Emperor Jianwen on the Lion Mountain in Yunnan"