Source of the article: Yan Chongnian's "The Six Hundred Years of the Forbidden City"
In the fourth year of Jianwen (1402) in June, after Zhu Di led his army into the Nanjing Imperial Palace, Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunxuan lived and died without seeing a person or a corpse. What happened? This has become a historical mystery in the six hundred years of Ming Palace. This starts with a mysterious "box".
Ming Cheng Zu Zhu Di
Mystery Box
After Zhu Di entered the Nanjing Imperial Palace, the first major event was to find the whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen. He sent troops to search around, and then sent someone to ask the eunuch, but he couldn't find Emperor Jianwen. Someone found a charred corpse from the ashes, and Zhu Di immediately stepped forward and said loudly: "The kid is ignorant, even so!" (Feng Tian Jing Nan Ji Volume 4), which means that Emperor Jianwen has been burned to death. At that time, there was no DNA test. How did you know and prove that this was the remains of Emperor Jianwen? The upright official revised the "Ming History·The Benji of Emperor Gongmin", but the record of this incident is vague:
The capital fell, the palace was on fire, and the emperor did not know where to end. The king of Yan sent the emperor's corpse into the fire, and he was buried in the eighth day. Or cloud: The emperor died from the tunnel.
Did the 26-year-old Emperor Jianwen died in the palace fire or escaped from the palace? If he escaped from the palace, what did he do after he went out? Where is the final destination?
At that time, there were rumors that Emperor Jianwen did not burn to death, but fled. Later, someone wrote the rumors into two books: "Essays from Death" and "Letters of Life". Gu Yingtai, a beginner from the Qing Dynasty, collected his great achievements and described it in detail in " Ming History Chronicle ".
When Emperor Jianwen learned that Jinchuan Gate had been lost, he panicked, sighed and walked around the palace, planning to commit suicide. At this time, Hanlin Academy edited Cheng Ji came up with an idea: "It's better to go out" and escape from the palace. How to escape? The young supervisor Wang Yue knelt in and said: "When the emperor was promoted to the sky, there was a legacy, saying:'In the face of catastrophe, when the issue.' I would like to save the left of the Fengxian Temple." The officials said in one voice: "Get out of here!" soon,Take a red tin box, two locks, filled with iron. "The emperor is so embarrassed when he sees it, and he is in a hurry to set fire to the inside."
Cheng Ji smashed the iron box and found three duobi, which is the monk's ID card: one should be written, one should be able, and one should be sage. The robes, hats, shoes, razor are available, ten platinum ingots. There is also a piece of Zhu Shu's paper: "The text should go out of the ghost door, and Yu will travel from the water gate to the ditch. In the evening, you will be in the west room of God's optimism." The "wen" of Du Di refers to Jianwen. The emperor said: "Such!" Cheng Ji is the emperor's wish (shaving); Professor Wu Wang Yang Yingneng (that is, Ying Neng) is also willing to shave his hair and die; the supervisory historian Ye Xixian resolutely said: "The minister is famous, and there is no doubt. ", also shaved. Each wears a cassock and flees separately.
After they escaped from the palace, they met with Taoist Wang Sheng. Wang Sheng kowtowed his head and said Long Live, saying: "Your Majesty is here!" He took a boat to the fire exit and waited. Boarding the boat and paddling, arrived at the Taoist temple, it was already dark.
The story of Zhu Yuanzhang left behind a mysterious box is really like a story in mythology.
Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunsuan
Fleeing Years
There were 22 officials who followed Jianwen to escape from the palace. In the direction of fleeing, Emperor Jianwen said: "I am going to the south of Yunnan, and Pinghou in the west." A man named Shi Bin said: "Where is my family from east to west, north and south, why not?" The emperor said: "Good is." Emperor Jianwen ran around, neither visiting the mountains and rivers to enjoy the eyes, nor visiting scenic spots or expressing nostalgia, but hiding in Tibet and fleeing to the north, leading a very difficult and precarious life.
Emperor Jianwen and his party rushed to Yunnan and Guizhou mountains and wild ridges, Liangyue gorges and rivers, western Sichuan plateau jungles, remote temples in Jiangsu, wilderness Taoist temples in Zhejiang, and Shaanxi and other places. They wore robes and held pottery bowls. They could not eat during the day or sleep at night, but their greatest enjoyment was occasionally taking refuge at the homes of their subordinates. For example, when we went to Shi Bin's house in Wujiang, Suzhou, the whole family was respectful and frightened, and received the fleeing Emperor Jianwen and his entourage. Emperor Jianwen renamed the small courtyard where he lived, Shuiyueguan, and wrote the seal script himself. After staying for a few days, the Ministry of Etiquette traveled to Wenzhou County to strictly investigate Jianwen's whereabouts. They scattered in a hurry and fled separately. The second time I went to Shi Bin's house, Jianwen's clothes and old shoes were torn.Thin and haggard, unsightly, staying for three days, hurried away. Once, the Ministry of Industry Shangshu Yan Zhen directly envoy Annan and met Emperor Jianwen in Yunnan Daozhong, and the two cried relative to each other. The emperor said: "Why do I take care of me?" He said to him: "The minister has his own way." Yan Zhenzhi "sorrowful, swallowing gold to death." ("Ming History·Zhang Ling Biography") There was another book saying that he "stayed in the post at night." Pavilion". Emperor Jianwen built a cao nunnery on Bailong Mountain in Yunnan, looking haggard, described as haggard and very embarrassed. When an old minister came to visit, he asked: "Do you have anything to do with you?" They offered each. Because Shi Bin was close to the ban at the time, he knew what the emperor liked and offered a lot. The emperor tasted it and said: "It has been three years without eating this!" Bin waited and went away. While on the run, Emperor Jianwen also wrote poems, learned some "Book of Changes", and fortune-telled himself. ("Ming History Chronicles" Volume 17)
In the 22nd year of Yongle (1424), Emperor Jianwen traveled east and met Shi Bin at the Luyi Station. He was a little bit happy when he said that Zhu Di died in Yumuchuan. Shi Bin asked about his daily life and replied: "Recently, I have a strong meal, and I am more refreshed." That is, he went to the south of the Yangtze River with Shi Bin and went to Shi Bin's house. Shi Bin has wine and delicacies in the Chongqing Hall where he lives. In May of the 9th year of Xuande (1434), Emperor Jianwen visited Shi Bin's house in Wujiang for the fourth time. Shi Bin was dead and the emperor mourned for a long time.
The old monk enters the palace
Jianwen The home of the emperor, Gu Yingtai wrote: By the fifth year of orthodoxy (1440), Emperor Jianwen had been in exile for 38 years, trembling, exiled everywhere, starving in the day and night. , Dealing with obstacles, from a 26-year-old youth to a 64-year-old old man. His uncle Yongle Emperor , and his son Hongxi Emperor , and his grandson Xuande Emperor have all passed away. At that time, the reigning emperor was the grand nephew of Emperor Jianwen, the Zhengtong Emperor. So he made up his mind to return to the palace.
On March 13th of this year, Emperor Jianwen said to his attendants: "I am determined to go east." So, I wrote a poem saying:
In the forty autumn of the southwest, Xiao Xiao’s white hair is full.
Where is the hatred of the universe? Jianghan flows ruthlessly.
Changle Palace The clouds are scattered, and the rain falls in the Chaoyuan Pavilion.
The willows in Xinpu are green every year, and Ye Lao swallows and cries endlessly.
Jianwen Emperor has the meaning of returning to the north, and Yushi secretly reports to the orthodox emperor. The eunuch Wu Liang once served Jianwen and ordered the spy. When Emperor Jianwen saw Liang, he said: "You are not Wu Liang?" Liang answered: "No." Emperor Jianwen said: "I used to be the Imperial Palace, you still eat, eat geese, discard a piece of meat on the ground, you hold it in your hand. The pot, the dog licks it according to the ground, isn't it?" He cried brightly. Emperor Jianwen has a sunspot on his left toe, he looks at it, holding his heel, crying again, can't look up, and hangs himself. So Yingjian Wendi entered the west (now southwest of Beihai Park). Everyone in the palace calls him the old Buddha, and ends his life; when he is buried in Xishan, he is not sealed or tree.
Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunsoil
The old monk entered the palace, and the "Ming History" also records: "In the five years of orthodox, there was a monk from Yunnan to Guangxi, who was called Jianwen Emperor. Cen Ying, the prefect of Sien, heard about the court. Press to ask. Yang Xingxiang, a native of Junzhou, was more than ninety years old. He was sent to prison and died in April. The twelve monks were accomplices, all of whom attacked Liaodong." But the old monk is Emperor Jianwen, and there is no record in Ming History.
During the 22 years of his reign, Zhu Di tried his best to find the whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen. One of his purposes for sending Zheng He to the West was to find Emperor Jianwen. "History of the Ming Dynasty" said: "It is rumored that Emperor Jianwen will go to the sea, and the emperor will send his ministers Zheng He for several generations, floating in the sea and going to the west." Hu Zhuomi visited the immortal Zhang Sanfeng in the case of Houhu Keshi. Observe that Emperor Jianwen is here". Later, Hu Su was sent to various places, mainly to Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Huguang, where he spent nine years outside. Then he went on tour for another seven years, and only returned to Beijing in the twenty-first year of Yongle (1423). When the emperor of Shi Yongle marched north, Hu Ye continued to Xuanfu (now Xuanhua District, Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province). Zhu Di had already gone to bed. Hearing that Hu Yan had arrived, he hurriedly got up and summoned, "If you miss the four drums, you will come out." ("The History of Ming Dynasty·Hu Yi Biography"). After Zhu Di came back from Beizheng, he no longer traced the whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen. Eight months later, Zhu Di died. Zhu Di reigned for 22 years, and also found Emperor Jianwen Zhu Yunshou for 22 years.
Historians say that it is very likely that Hu Xi has found Zhu Yunxi's whereabouts, saying that he is dead, or that he will not pose a threat to Zhu Di. And Zhu Di's persistent search for the whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen in secret also proved from the side that Emperor Jianwen might not have been burnt to death in the palace.
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