Since ancient times, there have been very few people who rebelled and succeeded in seizing the throne. After all, using the soldiers, land, and objects of the vassal to fight against the powerful central court was a deal with no chance of winning. Moreover, the inheritance of the imperial throne in the feudal dynasty has had a moral shackle since ancient times - orthodoxy.
Therefore, if the vassal king rebels, even if he wins the battle for a while, it will be difficult to keep the throne. After all, the new emperor who rebels and takes the throne is not personally appointed by the old emperor. He will be besieged by the armies of various kings in turn. Under this cultural background, it is even more difficult for a vassal king to rebel and become an emperor.
But King Yan of Ming Dynasty Zhu Di created this legend. He not only won the throne, but also sat on it until his death, and passed the throne to his descendants. During his reign, the Ming Dynasty had a prosperous economy and strong national power, and was known as the "Yongle Shengshi ".
However, the reason why Ming Chengzu Zhu Di became a legend was largely due to the help of a monk, he was the monk Daoyan Yao Guangxiao .
Yao Guangxiao is not his real name. He was born in 1335 and his childhood name was Yao Tianxi. His family has been practicing medicine for generations. Yao Tianxi happened to be born in the era of great turmoil at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. The Yuan Dynasty was corrupt, levies and taxes were heavy, natural disasters continued, the people were in dire straits, and rebels and bandits were rising in various places.
The war continued and killings continued. Yao Tianxi's father witnessed the tragic world and said to his son: "When you grow up, if you want to survive, you must either become a monk or an official!"
Yao Tianxi thought hard about the options given by his father. Finally, at the age of 14, he chose to become a monk and take the Buddhist name Daoyan. From then on, there was the monk Daoyan.
At that time, becoming a monk was considered a good choice to save life. For example, when the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty Zhu Yuanzhang was desperate, he went to Huangjue Temple to become a monk to save his life. Zhu Yuanzhang originally wanted to be a monk and spend his whole life. But later, he was given a letter inviting him to join the rebel army. After being reported, Zhu Yuanzhang was forced to join the army and had no choice but to join the army. Unexpectedly, by chance, he actually sat on the throne.
Daoyan Yao Tianxi, who was also a monk, had great ambitions like Zhu Yuanzhang. Although he entered Buddhism, he had great ambitions. Soon after, he became a disciple of the famous Master Hongdao Xi Yingzhen .
Xi Yingzhen is the grandson of Xi Ruyan, the minister of the Song Dynasty, and the disciple of the Taoist priest Zhang Yingxuan. He is proficient in the essence of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. study. Surprisingly, Xi Yingzhen, who was 34 years older than Dao Yan, actually felt as if she had met Dao Yan too late and became "oblivious friends" with Yao Tianxi.
Xi Yingzhen and Dao Yan were both masters and disciples, and friends for many years. Xi Yingzhen naturally taught Dao Yan what he had learned in his life without reservation. Therefore, Dao Yan inherited Xi Yingzhen's mantle and became a monk who was proficient in Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, and was familiar with "Yi", Yin and Yang Shu, military strategy, and divination studies. Moreover, Dao Yan was good friends with famous Confucian scholars Gao Qi, Song Lian, Wang Bin, Yang Mengzai and others in the late Yuan and early Ming Dynasties.
With this ability and this social circle, how could Daoyan, who was already ambitious, be willing to eat food and worship Buddha in the temple with peace of mind, so he has been waiting for an opportunity to display his ambition. If there is no such opportunity, he will use his unique skills to create a chance.
1375, the eighth year of Zhu Yuanzhang's reign as emperor, he ordered monks who were proficient in Confucianism to take the exam in the Ministry of Rites. Although Monk Daoyan was summoned to the capital as a Confucian monk, Zhu Yuanzhang did not think highly of him and only gave him He wore a monk's robe and was not given a monk's official title.
htmlFifteen years later, on the recommendation of Zhu Yuanzhang's favorite monk Zongli, Daoyan entered Tianjie Temple and finally found a monk position and became a member of the establishment. Obviously, becoming a monk is not Daoyan's pursuit, his goal is greater.Two years later, Zhu Yuanzhang's Queen Ma suddenly died of illness. Zhu Yuanzhang was devastated and selected eminent monks to accompany the vassal kings to chant sutras and pray for Queen Ma. In many film and television dramas, the first acquaintance between Monk Dao Yan and Zhu Di was advanced to before Empress Ma died of illness, which is inconsistent with history.
In fact, in the official history, the first time monk Dao Yan met Zhu Di, the king of Yan, was after the death of Queen Ma and the king of Yan Zhu Di rushed from Beijing to Nanjing. Dao Yan only met Zhu Di on the recommendation of Zong Di .
It can be seen that before Daoyan met Zhu Di, he was deeply appreciated and recommended by the Buddhist Zong Li and Taoist Xi Yingzhen. These two people were the founders of Daoyan who later assisted Zhu Di in achieving his imperial career, and they were also Daoyan's Bole.
At that time, under the recommendation of Zong Di, when Dao Yan met King Zhu Di of Yan, they had a very happy conversation. Unexpectedly, when the two were talking about their happiness, Dao Yan suddenly said a beheading sentence: "The envoy of the king is here." Attendant, I wear a white hat with the king."
Zhu Di was originally the king of Yan. Adding "white" to "king" means "emperor". Zhu Di was so smart, how could he not know this meaning. Moreover, the royal family has been a common occurrence since ancient times, and there were several princes who did not want to be emperor, let alone a brave vassal king like Zhu Di.
Zhu Di and Daoyan had similar temperaments, so after Queen Ma's funeral, Zhu Di took Monk Daoyan to the fiefdom of Beijing as a reason for his mother's blessing. After arriving in Beijing, Dao Yan ostensibly served as the abbot of the Qingshou Temple, but he often went in and out of Prince Yan's palace and had secret conversations with Zhu Di until late at night. Dao Yan had one purpose - to persuade Zhu Di to rebel and seize the throne.
When Zhu Yuanzhang was in power, Yao Guangxiao recommended to Zhu Di the plan to seize the direct heir, which was to perform more military exploits, win the favor of his father, and let Zhu Yuanzhang grant him more privileges. If Zhu Yuanzhang could not personally pass the throne to Zhu Di, then for To pave the way for raising troops in the future.
Yao Guangxiao's plan did work. After the death of Prince Zhu Biao, Zhu Yuanzhang did have the idea of passing the throne to Zhu Di, but he was dispelled by Liu Sanwu's persistent persuasion. In the end, Zhu Yuanzhang passed the throne to Zhu Di. The target son Zhu Yunwen was established in order to establish a direct lineage system for the stable inheritance of the throne.
Hongwu31, Zhu Yuanzhang died, Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunwen succeeded to the throne. Zhu Di, his elder uncle, was not convinced when his nephew became emperor. At this time, Zhu Yunwen followed the suggestions of Huang Zicheng, Qitai and others, and quickly implemented the strategy of reducing the vassal, which intensified the contradiction between the imperial court and the vassal king.
Zhu Yunwen, the young emperor, had a mind similar to that of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty who had just ascended the throne in the Western Han Dynasty. Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng were also military advisors similar to Chao Cuo, so they took over the king of Zhou, the king of Xiang, and Dai in one breath. Many vassal states such as Wang, Qi, and Min were quickly eliminated. With his lips dying and his teeth cold, Zhu Di became more and more nervous day by day. He knew that Zhu Yunwen would attack him sooner or later, and he would either wait to be caught or give it a try.
Although the truth is clear, starting an army to rebel is easier said than done. Zhu Di was just a vassal king. Zhu Yunwen was rich in the world and was the orthodox emperor who was personally canonized by Zhu Yuanzhang. Although Zhu Di knew that he could only bite the bullet and fight to the death, he could not make up his mind.
Zhu Di was worried and asked Yan: "What can I do if the people's hearts are in this direction?" The common people support the imperial court and Zhu Yunwen, what should I do?
Dao Yan's reply was very domineering, saying: "I know the way of heaven, so what does it matter about the people's hearts?" Dao Yan means that I only know the ways of heaven and does not care about the people's hearts. "
The reason why Dao Yan is so confident and domineering has a lot to do with his proficiency in the art of yin and yang and his in-depth study of "Yi". In order to encourage Zhu Di, Dao Yan recommended his good friend Yuan Xiangshi to Zhu Di Gong, soothsayer Jin Zhong. Yuan Gong and Jin Zhong used fortune-telling and divination to tell Zhu Di that he had the face of the emperor, and told King Yan's generals that their master could be the emperor.
King Yan's None of the generals wanted to be a hero of the dragon, so they worked together to persuade and encourage Zhu Di to raise troops and fight to the death. Under Dao Yan's planning, Zhu Di gradually made up his mind, secretly attracted the generals around the fiefdom, bribed the eunuchs in the capital, and colluded Other vassal kings.
And Dao Yan was not idle either. He practiced it personally and used the military strategies he learned in his early years to personally train soldiers and horses in the backyard of Prince Yan's Mansion. He also built a crypt surrounded by thick walls, forged weapons, and cleverly used them to raise geese and ducks. method to cover up the sounds of military training and weapon building.
In June of the first year of Jianwen , Zhu Di killed Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng on the side of the Qing Dynasty, claiming that he would raise troops to Fengtian Jingnan. After raising his army, Zhu Di took away all the elite Yan troops, leaving Dao Yan, Princess Yan Xu Miaoyun , and Crown Prince Zhu Gaochi to stay in Beijing.
The commander of the Southern Army Li Jinglong wanted to attack the city while Zhu Di was away in Beijing. Unexpectedly, Dao Yan was proficient in military science and had already planned the defense of Beijing. As soon as Zhu Di left, he gave the defense map to Zhu Gaochi. In addition, Xu Miaoyun wore armor and formed a women's team as Princess Yan and went into battle to kill the enemy, which greatly boosted morale.
It was the severe winter at that time. With Dao Yan's advice, Xu Miaoyun and Zhu Gaochi asked their soldiers to pour water on the city wall at night, turning Beijing into a slippery ice city. As a result, although the only people left in Beijing were the old, weak, sick and disabled, the hundreds of thousands of troops with Daoyan's plan, Xu Miaoyun and Li Jinglong's military strength were helpless when looking at the "Ice City" in front of them.
However, this is all Dao Yan’s grand strategy. Because Dao Yan knew very well that when the Southern Army saw that Zhu Di was not in Beijing, they would definitely attack Beijing with all their strength. This gave Zhu Di time to go north to coerce Ning Wang , and created a fighter opportunity to attack the towns around Beijing. Sure enough, the main force of the Southern Army was only focused on Beijing, and the surrounding areas were disrupted by Zhu Di.
Zhu Yunwen saw that Zhu Di became more and more courageous as he fought, so he had to repeatedly mobilize his troops northward. As a result, all the troops around Nanjing, the capital city, were drained. At this time, Dao Yan seized the opportunity and advised Zhu Di: "Don't go to the city and rush to the capital. The capital is weak and must be attacked."
Dao Yan advised Zhu Di not to attack the city, but to bring cavalry and take advantage of the weakness. Quickly take the capital directly. Zhu Di adopted his suggestion and quickly attacked the city of Nanjing. With Li Jinglong's "cooperation", he easily entered Nanjing and ascended the throne as emperor, becoming the founder of the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Di used the power of Yandi to defeat the entire country's soldiers and horses, and finally won, which is unique in history, and this credit goes to Daoyan. In order to express his gratitude to Dao Yan, after Zhu Di became emperor, he worshiped Dao Yan as the prince's young master, named him Guangxiao, and gave him a mansion and beautiful women, so that he could return to secular life and become an official in the court.
But Yao Guangxiao knew very well that accompanying the emperor is like accompanying a tiger. High achievements will shock the master. He knew too many secrets of Zhu Di, and his ability was like Liu Bowen of Hongwu Dynasty. Zhu Di used him when he conquered the world, but after he conquered the world, he would definitely Will guard against him and doubt him.
Zhu Yuanzhang got rid of Liu Bowen with the help of Hu Weiyong because he was too worried about Liu Bowen's talent. Yao Guangxiao took history as a guide. After Zhu Di took the throne, he refused to return to secular life and returned the mansion and palace maids who were rewarded. He wore court clothes when he went to court during the day and wore monk clothes when he retired from court and returned to the temple. Therefore, he was called " Prime Minister in Black ".
Yao Guangxiao's ambition was fulfilled, so he chose to protect himself wisely and secluded himself from the court. He was able to retire without being jealous of Zhu Di, until his death at the age of 84. After his death, he was posthumously gifted to Duke Rong Guo, and he was entitled to enjoy the Royal Ancestral Temple, which was extremely honorable and favored and rare in history.
