Emperor Huizong of Ming, grandson of Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, nephew of Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, second king of Daming, reigned for 4 years, with the era name Jianwen. Zhu Yunjiao was perhaps the one with the lowest sense of existence among the 16 emperors of Daming.
Zhu Di's "Fengtian Jing Difficulty" dissipated not only Zhu Yunjiao's supreme imperial power, but also a large number of historical materials related to Zhu Yunjiao's own traces and the young emperor. This is an emperor who was deliberately hidden by Zhu Di and his descendants, and what was used to cover up was the bloody human life and various illusory wild history legends.
Zhu Yunjiao like
I want to talk about the young emperor and pay tribute to his Confucian ideals and courage.
The description of Zhu Yunjiao in the main history is really lackluster, and when you open the "Ming Shi Benji Fourth", the whole content about Zhu Yunjiao himself accounts for only about a quarter, and the rest is almost all the description of "Jing Difficulty". Then let's try to dig out some useful information from the few historical sources.
Zhu Yunjiao was the second son of the crown prince Zhu Biao, who was also the second grandson of Zhu Yuanzhang. After the early death of the eldest grandson, Zhu Yunjiao's birth mother Lü Shi was corrected, so Zhu Yunjiao became a grandson.
Zhu Yuanzhang like
When Zhu Biao was ill, Zhu Yunjiao was fourteen years old. Zhu Yunjiao took care of his father's sickbed for two years. At the age of sixteen, Zhu Biao died of illness, the year was the twenty-fifth year of Hongwu, and in the same year Zhu Yunjiao was made the emperor's grandson by his grandfather. Zhu Yuanzhang died in the thirty-first year of Hongwu Hongwu, that is to say, Zhu Yunjiao was only 6 years from being made the emperor's grandson to ascending the throne.
In 6 years, can a young man in his early twenties be trained to be a mature king? The answer is no. Because Zhu Yunjiao really lacked the experience of government affairs. This has nothing to do with whether Zhu Yuanzhang delegated power or not, but with the situation at that time.
A view of the Forbidden City
In the twenty-fifth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang had almost completed the transformation of Daming's high-rise buildings. The most typical case is the "Hu Weiyong Case" of Hongwu's thirteen years, which involved tens of thousands of officials, more than 30,000 people were killed, and a large number of founding heroes were dismissed.
In the twenty-sixth year of Hongwu, that is, a year after Zhu Yunjiao was made the emperor's grandson, Daming broke out the "Blue Jade Case", and more than 15,000 people were killed, and the meritorious class of Daming Wu was almost uprooted. And this year, Zhu Yunjiao was still sad for Zhu Biao's illness and death, grief-stricken, and even emaciated, and zhu Yuanzhang had to move out of his grandfather's identity to persuade him to reluctantly clean up his mind.
Ming Dynasty official
The "Hu Weiyong case" Zhu Yunjiao was young and had no identity, and did not catch up; and the "Blue Jade Case" Zhu Yunjiao did not learn anything from his grandfather because his mind was not studying to govern the country. But it is precisely these two major cases during the Hongwu years that embody Zhu Yuanzhang's extraordinary governing skills, fierce iron-blooded means, and far-sighted strategic vision.
After that? After that, you can see that Zhu Yuanzhang later even dismissed the "edict" of Jinyiwei, which shows that in Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes, Daming has entered the right track and does not need to worry more.
Therefore, although Zhu Yunjiao followed Zhu Yuanzhang for 6 years to learn how to govern the country, what Zhu Yunjiao really learned should be very limited, on the one hand, there is not so much opportunity to see his grandfather's means of dealing with extreme events, on the other hand, some things cannot be learned by just looking, Zhu Yuanzhang and later Zhu Di's years of golden iron horses, Zhu Yunjiao did not experience.
Ming Army Picture Scroll
There is also Zhu Yunjiao's learning experience since childhood. His father, Zhu Biao, was already slowly trained by Zhu Yuanzhang after finding a large number of famous Confucians, and Zhu Biao had a very heavy literary atmosphere and acted quite Confucian. When it comes to Zhu Yunjiao, it is even more blue than blue, Zhu Yunjiao is full of mouth "self-cultivation and family governance of the country and the world", a mouth must talk about the ancient, must say the way of Confucius and Mencius, Confucian benevolence.
Zhu Yuanzhang was still willing to adjust for his son Zhu Biao, feeling that his son had gone astray, and he could scold a few words or even hit a few times to pull back. But for the grandson, the next generation of relatives, there is really no way, plus this grandson died daddy, it is even more loved. So we can occasionally hear how Zhu Yuanzhang reprimanded Zhu Biao, but we never heard him blush at his grandson.
Zhu Biao image
Therefore, after the death of Zhu Yuanzhang in the thirty-first year of Hongwu, a young emperor who believed in Confucian beliefs appeared in front of the world. When those twinkling and elegant eyes scanned the group of courtiers kneeling at His Highness, many of the old courtiers who had followed Zhu Yuanzhang for many years could not help but sigh in their hearts that Daming's iron-blooded conquest was really about to dissipate.
As soon as we mentioned Jianwen's old minister, we could instantly come up with the names of three people: Huang Zicheng, Qi Tai, and Fang Xiaoru. These three people also represent Zhu Yunjiao's governing style.
As the first Shoucheng prince of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yunjiao set his era name as "Jianwen", which means "establishing Wenzhi", which is the opposite of Zhu Yuanzhang's "Hongwu". Therefore, as soon as Zhu Yunjiao came to power, a large number of civilian officials began to be reused, and the political status of civilian officials was deliberately elevated, at least to achieve the same position as military generals.
Let's take a look at the resumes of these three people.
Huang Zicheng, a native of Jiangxi, Hongwu eighteen years of keju tanhua, did the Hanlin Academy editing, and then became the companion of the Eastern Palace, counted as the earliest batch of princelings, Zhu Yunjiao's own people. Later, he became the secretary of the Taichang Temple, who managed the royal ritual ceremony. After Zhu Yunjiao ascended the throne, Huang Zicheng's water rose and he immediately entered the decision-making circle of daming core.
Qi Tai, a native of Nanjing, was also a jinshi of Hongwu for eighteen years. He served as the chief of the Military Department and the Ceremonial Department, and Zhu Yuanzhang became the Left Attendant of the Military Department before his death. After Zhu Yunjiao ascended the throne, Qi Taima rose to the rank of Bingbu Shangshu and became his right and left arm along with Huang Zicheng.
Fang Xiaoru statue
There was also Fang Xiaoru, a native of Ningbo, who was famous for his talents and learning, and met Zhu Yuanzhang several times during the Hongwu years, but he was not used by Zhu Yuanzhang, and he was called "reserve cadre". After Zhu Yunzhuo ascended the throne, Fang Xiaoru served as a Hanlin attendant, which was also his first time to eat official meals, and Fang Xiaoru soon became Zhu Yunjiao's confidential secretary and various temporary advisers.
The characteristics of the three people are obvious:
1. All three are well-educated people, Huang Zicheng and Qi Tai are all taking the imperial examination route, and Fang Xiaoru is even more used because of his talent;
2. None of the three had rich experience in governance, except for Qi Tai, who was a second-in-command of the military department for a short time, none of them had served in important posts for a long time, but they participated in the formulation of core national policies as soon as Zhu Yunjiao came to power.
3. The three of them are all southerners, deeply influenced by confucian classics, and even they are the antithesis of the old ministers who licked and fought out in the era of Zhu Yuanzhang.
Why is that? Quite simply, they and the emperor were the same kind of people, they met because of various opportunities, they attracted each other because they shared common cultural characteristics, and even because they knew each other because of the same Confucian ideal of "datong world", and such similar officials were promoted by a large number after Zhu Yunjiao ascended the throne.
They are young in political seniority, clean in foundation, and more importantly, they have momentum, and this impulse caters to Zhu Yunjiao's need for political change. This group of people is respectable and lovely, but equally naïve and whimsical.
When Zhu Yunzhang wanted to cut the domain, he asked Huang Zicheng what to do if the king of the domain reacted, and Huang Zicheng replied: The kings guard the soldiers, and they are enough to defend themselves. If there is a change, the Sixth Division, who can support it? The Seven Kingdoms of Han were not weak, and they perished at the end of the day. The size of the strong and weak is different, and the reason for the obedience is also different. ”
Huang Zicheng meant, Emperor, don't be afraid, these clan kings are not strong enough to rebel, if they dare to move, they will destroy them in minutes. And the truth is all in ours, and the so-called enlightened one will win!
Just listen to Huang Zicheng's words, how naïve it must be, a major national affair, Huang Zicheng used this kind of assumption to persuade the emperor, and Zhu Yunzhao actually accepted and listened to it all. And similar big words, Qi Tai also said.
Therefore, later, Zhu Yunjiao's various omissions and inattentions in dealing with the matter of cutting the domain were completely related to the ruling team around him.
The two major slashes of the Ming Dynasty occurred to Zhu Yunjiao and Zhu Di. We often say that Zhu Yunjiao lost the throne because of cutting the domain, but few people know how Zhu Yunjiao cut the domain. Moreover, the same is the cutting of the domain, why did Zhu Di finally succeed, but Zhu Yunjiao was discredited?
Let's take a look at Zhu Yunjiao's move to cut the domain.
Zhu Yunjiao's policy was to take the small ones first and then move the big ones, that is, to put Zhu Di at the end, and the weak soldiers to take the weak first.
Zhu Di like
The first was the King of Zhou. First there were reports that the King of Zhou in Kaifeng was plotting a rebellion, and then Li Jinglong set out from Beijing with an army and declared to go to the border. Passing through Kaifeng, he raided the king's palace and arrested the king of Zhou. After that, he exiled the King of Zhou, still uneasy, and was sent back to the capital under house arrest.
The second was the Xiang King of Jingzhou, or someone accused him of rebellion. So one day, a group of able and strong foot merchants pushed a few carts of firewood into Jingzhou City, and near the Xiang King's Mansion, the group took out hidden weapons from the cart and besieged the palace. Frightened, king Xiang set himself on fire and died.
Old photo Of the former site of the Fu King's Mansion
The third was the King of Qi in Qingzhou, or plotting against this matter, the King of Qi was directly ordered by Zhu Yunjiao to enter the capital to explain, and then never returned; there was also the DaiWang, the Min King, who was first placed under house arrest, and then found an excuse to abolish him as a Shuren, either issuing a distribution or going to prison.
Zhu Yunjiao did not send anyone to investigate and verify the rebellion of the above kings, so I will say it directly, and I seriously doubt that the news that these kings want to rebel was released by Zhu Yunjiao's people.
Alas, how many emperors in history, because of the matter of cutting the clan, finally caused internal divisions and soldiers, and Zhu Yunjiao actually did not even talk about the slightest strategy, and under the condition of not having absolute strength to crush these clan kings, he used the most direct and rude and stupid method to cut the clan, how to serve the people? How to win hearts and minds? Cutting the domain was originally a matter that benefited the country and the people, but in the end it was made into a "tyranny" by Zhu Yunjiao, only because of the Confucian bravery and self-confidence in Zhu Yunjiao's heart.
Confucian essence
On the other hand, after Zhu Di ascended the throne, on the one hand, he used various propaganda to stabilize the hearts and minds of the clan kings, restore many of the titles of the clan kings that had been deposed by Zhu Yunjiao, and weaken their power by mobilizing the fiefs of the clan kings. Even if someone had tipped off the king of the clan for rebellion, Zhu Di had done enough to make face, once, twice, and three times to let the eunuchs go to "education" with reprimands, until the public opinion was almost created, and then suddenly exerted force to take down the people. This is called maturity!
At the beginning of the chapter, he says that he wants to pay tribute to Zhu Yunjiao, but the whole article seems to talk about his naivety and immaturity. It's not really a contradiction. Zhu Yunjue's naivety is because as a generation of kings, he is too obsessed with Confucian scriptures, does not have the courage and flexibility that an emperor needs to govern the country, and is too idealistic; and it is precisely his Confucian label that makes me feel all kinds of respect.
The little-known "Jianwen New Deal" was a political innovation after Zhu Yunjiao came to power. He promoted the political status of the literati, commuted the punishment and prison, and tried to change the political atmosphere of the harsh xiao killings in the Hongwu period; he lightly reduced local taxes and restored the economy of Jiangnan, so that he won the hearts of the people in just one year after he came to power; he reformed the official system, merged prefectures and counties, and various retro effects, bringing a fresh vitality to Daming's political arena.
No matter how we finally implement all these measures and how effective they are, just the Confucian light of Zhu Yunjiao for the country and the people is enough for us to respect him.
Talk about the family, talk to relieve boredom.
Asahi Twilight, exclusive original.