In May 1423, a palace coup was brewing in Beijing. Because at this time, the 63-year-old Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Di, had not gotten out of bed for half a month. His condition was getting worse day by day, and he was about to die. Whenever the emperor became seriou

1In May 2023, in Beijing, a palace coup was brewing.

Because at this time, the 63-year-old Ming Dynasty Yongle Emperor Zhu Di had not gotten out of bed for half a month. His condition was getting worse day by day, and he was about to die.

Whenever the emperor was seriously ill, the power struggle would become intense.

A soldier who doesn't want to be a general is not a good soldier, and a prince who doesn't want to be an emperor is naturally not a good prince. Ming Chengzu Zhu Di's third son, King Zhao Zhu Gaosui is an ambitious "good prince" who wants to be the emperor.

Soldiers can rely on hard work to perform meritorious service on the battlefield, rise step by step, and become a general. No matter how hard a prince works, as long as he is not the eldest son, it will be difficult for him to ascend to the throne.

Although Zhu Gaosui was a direct descendant, he was reincarnated five years later. The throne was prepared for his half-brother Zhu Gaochi, and he did not have a share.

rules are made for honest people, careerists never believe in rules, otherwise there would have been so many palace coups in history, and Li Shimin would not have become Tang Taizong .

The 40-year-old Zhu Gaosui is Zhu Di's third son. He wants to challenge the rules and make the impossible possible, just like Li Shimin.

Zhu Gaosui could only launch a coup without the emperor's approval.

The first thing to launch a coup is the barrel of a gun. Zhu Gaosui understands this. His gunman is the palace guard commander Meng Xian, who is responsible for the security of the palace.

Therefore, Zhu Gaosui patted Meng Xian on the shoulder and said: General Meng, do it well, we are on the same boat. If the coup succeeds, you will be the founding minister; if it fails, we will all be beheaded! "

" Don't worry, King Zhao, I will do my best! Meng Xian patted his chest and said. Then he changed the subject and said: "But the army alone is not enough. Our troops are unknown. If we want to control the situation as soon as possible, we must have an edict to pass the throne, even if it is fake." "

" Hey, if that thing really exists, do we still need to stage a coup? "Zhu Gaosui said, "I have already arranged for the imperial edict. Qin Tian Jian Wang Shecheng and the adopted son of the chamberlain Yang Qing will participate in the forgery of the imperial edict. , if the Qintian Supervisor cooperates, they can explain the natural phenomena that occurred during that period as God's arrangement, and it is only reasonable for Zhu Gaosui to be the emperor. The chamberlain is the staff around the emperor, and not only knows the emperor's health. , are also familiar with the emperor's handwriting, and are good at forging edicts and can pass them off as genuine.

The most important thing is that they know when the emperor kicks his legs and can show the forged edicts sooner or later.

If Zhu Di is not dead yet, you can reveal the edicts. That would be tantamount to asking for death. If the emperor had been dead for a long time and then issued a posthumous edict, I am afraid that the new emperor would have ascended the throne long ago and would still be dead.

Therefore, Zhu Gaosui thought that he had caught both the barrel of the gun and the hand of the chamberlain. With a pen, the probability of a successful coup is very high. However, Zhu Di survived and survived.

In this way, Zhu Gaosui's coup plan is about to fail, but ten thousand years is too long. , Seize the day, Zhu Gaosui didn't have the patience, and the nights were long and the dreams were long.

So, after discussing with his confidants, he came up with a brilliant idea: simply kill the old guy Zhu Di and then announce to the people of the country that according to Emperor Yongle was alive. Arrangements were made to depose the crown prince Zhu Gaochi and allow King Zhao to inherit the throne.

"History of the Ming Dynasty Volume 118" records: "When Yan Jia was planning to poison the emperor, he issued an edict to depose the prince and establish King Zhao. "

The translation is that King Zhao planned to poison Zhu Di, wait for the emperor's death, issue a forged edict, ascend the throne, and imprison the prince.

However, Zhu Gaosui had Li Shimin's ambition, but did not have Li Shimin's talent and organizational ability. Li Shimin His subordinates are all loyal and capable generals, and Zhu Gaosui's subordinates are all pig teammates who are greedy for life and afraid of death.

Sure enough, because Zhu Gaosui did not do a good job of keeping secrets, the plan was leaked before it was implemented.

It turned out that Gao Yizheng, a military general who participated in the rebellion, could not hide his words and told his nephew Wang Yu about the rebellion.

Wang Yu thought, if I inform, I will definitely be promoted, and the official assigned by the emperor will definitely be higher than the official assigned by Zhu Gaosui, so he informed Zhu Di. ——"The general bannerman Wang Yu's in-laws are highly upright, and they make plans for the virtuous and others. They plan to accuse Yu, and Yu will change" (Wang Yu, who informed the whistleblower, was later promoted to Qianhu).

In fact, Zhu Gaosui's coup has a low probability of success, because there are no high-ranking officials involved in the coup. They are all middle and lower-level officers, unknown figures, and the internal servants are not boss-level figures.

Despite this, Zhu Di still sent Jin Yiwei to investigate, and sure enough, he found a forged edict from the chamberlain.

Upon hearing the report, Zhu Di was furious and called his third son, Zhu Gaosui, for interrogation.

Under strong pressure, Zhu Gaosui gave in. This guy is not a person who does big things. He is so trembling in front of his father that he can't say anything. ——"Li cannot speak".

Zhu Di couldn't laugh or cry when he saw it, and thought to himself, "My mistress, you have disappointed me so much."

In fact, Zhu Di doted on his third son, Zhu Gaosui, the most, and he was so doting on him that he doted on him even more than he doted on his second son, Zhu Gaoxu..

It is said that the emperor loves the eldest son, the common people love the youngest, and parents all over the world care for their younger children. In fact, the emperor is no exception.

Zhu Gaosui originally had a fiefdom in Anyang, Henan, but Zhu Di allowed him to stay in Beijing and held important positions. ——Xunming lives in Beijing, has a minister, and all government affairs are carried out by the queen. "History of the Ming Dynasty"

means that Zhu Gaosui was not only in charge of vassal affairs but also government affairs in Beiping.

This shows that Zhu Di still trusts Zhu Gaosui very much.

But as the saying goes, spoiling a child is like killing a child. Zhu Di's doting made him arrogant, arrogant and domineering, not doing his job properly, and fantasizing all day long. In the end, he forged a posthumous edict, attempted to murder his father, and launched a coup.

In fact, this is not the first time that Zhu Gaosui has acted recklessly. He has a criminal record. "History of the Ming Dynasty" records that as early as the seventh year of Yongle, Zhu Gaosui had smeared the prince many times for his misbehavior, which angered Zhu Di.

Prince Zhu Gaochi instead interceded for him, and he was able to pass the danger.

Therefore, Zhu Di did not punish Zhu Gaosui, but just killed his horse chief Shi Gusheng.

Since then, Zhu Gaosui had to restrain himself. However, Zhu Gaosui did not sincerely repent. He just changed his strategy due to the situation, pretending to repent and make some superficial appearances.

The purpose is naturally to please and confuse Zhu Di and paralyze the prince Zhu Gaochi.

Zhu Gaoxu, who also had a strong interest in the throne, performed too well, but was ruthlessly suppressed by Zhu Di and demoted to Le'an Prefecture.

At this time, Zhu Gaosui had to learn a lesson and keep a low profile to avoid becoming a standout. However, he did not give up. Instead, he secretly won over the important officials in the court and was ready to attack, waiting for the opportunity.

Sure enough, when Zhu Di had health problems, Zhu Gaosui jumped out. This time, the mistress made another mistake, getting worse and worse, and actually wanted to murder her biological father. Which one is intolerable?

After arresting Zhu Gaosui, Zhu Di killed all his confidants (Meng Xian, Gao Yizheng and others were killed) and imprisoned Zhu Gaosui in his mansion.

Why did Zhu Di let the mistress go?

Historical records record it this way: "Prince Liwei explained it and said: "What this person does, Gao Sui will not know." "

The translation is: Prince Zhu Gaochi interceded for his third brother. This was done by his subordinates. The third brother did not know about it, and the father could not blame him.

Zhu Gaosui escaped from death again for two reasons. One is The prince Zhu Gaochi was too kind and interceded for his younger brother; secondly, Zhu Di still felt for his younger son and couldn't bear it, knowing that he was just a little loach who couldn't stir up big troubles.

As mentioned before, Zhu Gaosui's rebellion process was due to his lack of a strong team. A careful plan. In other words, without the support of important ministers and strong military backing, just a few small eunuchs and a few low-level military attachés, it was more of a play than a coup.

Therefore, Zhu Di did not. Taking it too seriously.

If Zhu Di wanted to kill his youngest son, he would definitely not ask for the prince's opinion. That would be a problem for the prince.

From Zhu Gaochi's perspective, if he advocated killing his third brother, it would make Zhu Di feel uncomfortable. The word "kill" must not come from Zhu Gaochi's mouth.

Zhu Gaochi is not only kind, but also very sophisticated and understands politics.

He knew in his heart that even though Zhu Gaosui had committed the crime of treason, his father still couldn't bear to let go of his youngest son, and he couldn't bear the heartache and killed him. Otherwise, he wouldn't have given him a chance to intercede, so he would have dragged him out and chopped him up.

Therefore, instead of stepping forward to add insult to injury and be jealous of Zhu Di, it is better to provide help in the snow, intercede for Zhu Gaosui, and bring him back from the gate of hell, which can also make him sincerely convinced.

At the same time, he can also appear generous, give his father a good impression, and make all officials admire him.

In any case, after the coup was shattered, Zhu Gaosui's dream of being emperor was completely shattered.

In the 22nd year of Yongle (1424), Zhu Di finally died, but Zhu Gaosui, who became a loner, no longer had the ability to launch a coup, and could only watch his brother Zhu Gaochi ascend the throne.

It is said that after Zhu Di's death, the powerful Zhu Gaochi ( Ming Renzong ) must settle the accounts after the fall, give his younger brother little shoes to wear, or simply kill him. However, Zhu Gaochi not only did not do that, but instead gave Zhu Gaosui an annual salary of 20,000 dan, and asked him to join the vassal Zhangde Prefecture on April 16, the first year of Hongxi (May 3, 1425).

Zhu Gaosui also acted very honestly at this time and expressed his support for Zhu Gaochi's leadership.

After careful observation, it is not difficult to find that he did this out of necessity.

Firstly, he no longer has military strength, and secondly, he is grateful to his elder brother for saving his life a few years ago.

Zhu Gaosui not only supported his eldest brother in name, but also took the initiative to reduce his military power and was willing to become a free vassal king. It can be seen that at this time, Zhu Gaosui completely gave up his illusions about the throne.

However, his elder brother Zhu Gaochi was ill-fated and died at the age of 47 after only ten months in office.

Zhu Gaochi's sudden death gave Zhu Gaosui a glimmer of hope, and his originally peaceful heart began to be restless again. However, after all, Zhu Gaosui has passed his forties, he is no longer a young man, and he is no longer so impulsive.

Moreover, he has handed over military power, leaving only untrained servants and no weapons and equipment. Therefore, at this time, Zhu Gaosui had the evil intention but not the courage. He just thought about it but did not take action.

Zhu Gaojiu, who was equally ambitious as him, could not remain calm. After his nephew Zhu Zhanji succeeded to the throne, Zhu Gaoxu secretly contacted Zhu Gaosui, hoping that the two would form a united front and rebel together.

Because of Zhu Gaosui's ambiguous attitude, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't wait and rashly launched an army and launched a rebellion.

At that time, Zhu Gaosui still held on to a glimmer of hope and planned to adopt a wait-and-see attitude so that he would have a way out if Zhu Gaoxu succeeded.

Therefore, he neither reported to Emperor Xuanzong nor raised troops to respond to Zhu Gaoxu.

Zhu Gaoxu was originally supposed to think that he was senior and had experience in leading troops, while his nephew Zhu Zhanji was a young man and was definitely no match for him. If he raised an army to rebel, he would definitely be able to copy the successful experience of his father Zhu Di The Battle of Jingnan , seizing the throne is like picking something out of a bag.

He underestimated this nephew. Although Zhu Zhanji had no combat experience, he was courageous and courageous, and even went so far as to lead the expedition himself.

As a result, Zhu Gaoxu did not have elite soldiers and generals, and the rebellion quickly failed. After being taken to Beijing, Zhu Gaojiu also confessed to Emperor Xuanzong that he had instigated a rebellion against Zhu Gaosui.

But after King of Han Zhu Gaoxu was killed, Zhu Zhanji let go of his third uncle who had tried to usurp the throne through false imperial edicts and kill his father and brother.

Not only that, in the first year of Hongxi (1425), after Ming Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji came to the throne, he treated the third uncle favorably and gave him eighty hectares of farmland.

The ministers did not understand Zhu Zhanji's actions.

For example, Chen Ping Shangshu, who was monitoring Zhu Gaosui, advised Zhu Zhanji, cited evidence that Zhu Gaoxu was plotting against Zhu Gaosui, and urged him to send troops to show his virtue, capture Zhu Gaosui, and get rid of his big trouble once and for all.

Cabinet Assistants Yang Rong and Xia Yuanji also advocated this.

Under this situation, Zhu Zhanji was persuaded and decided to kill his third uncle. At this time, Zhu Gaosui's life was hanging by a thread.

However, Yang Shiqi, an important minister of the three dynasties, stood up to oppose this matter. He said:

"The former emperor only had three sons, and His Majesty only had these two uncles. Now the Han King Zhu Gaosui was killed for the rebellion. He deserved it. However, the Zhao King Zhu Gaosui's rebellion is not clear, and there is no conclusive evidence. He must not be blamed. It attracted eternal infamy."

After reading Yang Shiqi's memorial, Zhu Zhanji suddenly realized that Zhu Gaosui escaped.

In fact, Zhu Zhanji also planned to let his rebellious second uncle Zhu Gaoxu go. The strange thing is that Zhu Gaoxu tripped his nephew when he was visiting, which completely angered Zhu Zhanji and put him in a vat and roasted him alive. .

After Zhu Gaosui died, Zhu Gaosui's lips were dead and his teeth were cold, making him even more frightened. Knowing that Zhu Zhanji's special envoy Yuan Rong was coming to Zhangde, Zhu Gaosui had trouble sleeping and eating, and had already begun to prepare for his funeral.

However, what Yuan Rong brought was a memorial for the impeachment of Zhu Gaosui by the minister of the DPRK, and a letter from Zhu Zhanji to comfort him.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaosui felt relieved. The stone hanging in his heart finally fell to the ground. He looked up to the sky and laughed and said, "I'm alive."

He never dreamed that he would overestimate his capabilities and conspire to launch a coup twice, and finally get a good death. He was pardoned by his nephew Zhu Zhanji.

After that, Zhu Gaosui finally kept his peace, stopped thinking wildly, and became a law-abiding vassal king.

1431, Zhu Gaosui died of illness at home at the age of 48.

Before he died, he called his descendants to him and specifically told them not to be arrogant and not to be greedy for power, so as not to bring disaster.