Speaking of those capable people in ancient times who used "the world as a chessboard" and finally became princes and prime ministers, judging from the five thousand years of history of our country, we can't even talk about it for days and nights. But when it comes to those who can "retreat unscathed" after assisting the emperor to achieve great achievements, there are very few .
Among those who were able to escape unscathed, a monk named "Dao Yan" was the most special.
has been a monk for thirty years and has made friends all over the world.
Many friends who know the history of the early Ming Dynasty should have been able to guess who this monk named Dao Yan is. Yes, he is Yao Guangxiao, who was later named "Guangxiao" by Emperor Yongle. There is no record of Yao Guangxiao's previous name. Whenever he is mentioned in later generations, the name Yao Guangxiao is always used.
Yao Guangxiao was born at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. If calculated according to "status and qualifications", Yao Guangxiao's ranking among monks is even higher than Zhu Yuanzhang who later became a monk.. At that time, due to the turmoil at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, people all over the world were in dire straits. Ming Taizu Didn’t Zhu Yuanzhang initially choose to become a monk because he couldn’t survive at home?
However, Yao Guangxiao and Zhu Yuanzhang had different reasons for becoming monks. Before Yao Guangxiao became a monk, his family was not only rich, but also one of the few "rich households" with a stable income at that time. It is precisely because of this that Yao Guangxiao received a good cultural upbringing since he was a child. If it weren't for the fact that when Yao Guangxiao was fourteen years old, his family asked him to follow his father to practice medicine to help the world, Yao Guangxiao would not have chosen to become a monk.
Yao Guangxiao, who became a monk, did not neglect his studies. Instead, he began to travel around the world while learning some "non-mainstream" skills, such as reading books about astronomy, astrology, etc., and following some people who were extremely skilled in a certain aspect. Outstanding people practice.
In addition to studying Buddhism, Yao Guangxiao also gradually became interested in the art of war and Taoism. In order to learn both of them at the same time, Yao Guangxiao even went to to worship Xi Yingzhen, the most famous Taoist at that time, as his teacher. Began specialized study. Of course, in addition to learning various skills, Yao Guangxiao has not given up his study of " Four Books and Five Classics ". During his studies, got to know Gao Qi, a famous litterateur in the early Ming Dynasty. They quarreled with Gao Qi's poems all day long and regarded each other as close friends.
This period of "seeking Buddha and asking questions" started when Yao Guangxiao was fourteen and lasted for thirty-one years.. When Zhu Yuanzhang exterminated Chen Youliang , Zhang Shicheng and others and established the Ming Dynasty, Yao Guangxiao was studying and making friends. It was not until the death of Zhu Yuanzhang's first wife Queen Ma that Yao Guangxiao really made his first appearance. But at this time, Yao Guangxiao was already over forty years old and became a famous "old monk".
Try the methods of King Yan, and change the world
Queen Ma I believe that many friends will not be unfamiliar with the " Bigfoot Queen" of the Ming Dynasty. The story of this queen "hiding cakes in her arms" can be It is said that it became a model for future generations of husband and wife. It was because of Empress Ma's deep affection for Zhu Yuanzhang that Zhu Yuanzhang summoned Yao Guangxiao, a famous monk with "the unique knowledge of the three religions", to perform rituals for Empress Ma in the year when Empress Ma died.
Of course, out of the importance of Empress Ma's funeral, Zhu Yuanzhang could not only invite a "distinguished monk" like Yao Guangxiao.In addition to Yao Guangxiao, there were also many monks and Taoist priests who performed and prayed for Queen Ma's funeral. In the process of doing this, Yao Guangxiao met Zhu Di, the King of Yan, who was known as the "Yongle Emperor".
However, Zhu Yuanzhang was still alive and well at this time. At that time, Zhu Di was still acting as King of Yan obediently, and did not show his desire to sit on the throne as he did after Zhu Yuanzhang's death. Until one day, Yao Guangxiao looked at Yan King Zhu Di and said to Zhu Di, "I serve the king with a white hat" .
This sentence directly touched the mind of King Yan Zhu Di.. After all, as early as the death of Prince Zhu Biao, Zhu Yuanzhang had also considered making Zhu Di the crown prince, but he had to suppress this idea because he was blocked by Liu Sanwu and other important ministers. , Zhu Biao's son Zhu Yunwen, the emperor's grandson, was changed to the crown prince .
Of course, this is a story for later. Because when Zhu Di and Yao Guangxiao met, Zhu Biao, as the prince, was still sitting firmly in the prince's position. There was no sign of "untimely death" at all. But even if King Yan Zhu Di had already thought of usurping the throne because of Zhu Yuanzhang's words, "The King of Yan is as brave as me", he had no intention of implementing it in front of Zhu Yuanzhang. In addition, at the very beginning, Zhu Yuanzhang directly sealed Zhu Di to the north as King of Yan in order to prevent Zhu Di from having time to fight in the court. Although this act directly gave Zhu Di the power to take charge of hundreds of thousands of troops, the existence of the remnants of the Mongolian and Yuan forces and tribes outside Shanhaiguan also allowed Zhu Yuanzhang to achieve the goal of internal and external stability.
But Zhu Yuanzhang, who came from a grassroots background, still underestimated the appeal of the position of "Nine-Fifth Supreme Lord" to the princes, and did not expect to give it to King Yan Zhu Di just because he wanted more monks to pray for Empress Ma. I went to a very ambitious "helper" .
Seventeen years of preparation, one dynasty brought disaster to the world
In 1399 AD, Zhu Yuanzhang, the ancestor who conquered the Ming Dynasty, passed away in Yingtian Mansion . As the emperor's grandson, Zhu Yunwen successfully succeeded to the throne with the support of many ministers. Of course, in his later years, Zhu Yuanzhang also realized that he, the "gentle and gentle" emperor's grandson, might not be able to suppress Zhu Di in the north. But by this time, even if Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to do something, it was already too late.
Because from the time Yao Guangxiao and Zhu Di met seventeen years ago, Zhu Di had already started manufacturing armor and weapons under the instigation of Yao Guangxiao. Seventeen years have passed, and the 200,000-strong army originally designed to resist the Mongolian and Yuan forces in the north has grown to the point where people can be scared at a glance.
Moreover, Zhu Di was not the kind of person who would give up his land for the sake of power. Long before sending out troops, he led the army to beat the various forces outside the pass into submission. As soon as he heard that Zhu Di brought the army again The point where they would just run away if they were beaten.
If Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Zhu Di to hand back the military power at this time, I am afraid Zhu Di would not even wait until Emperor Jianwen Zhu Yunwen succeeded to the throne. As a result, Zhu Yuanzhang could only watch his son steal the throne from his grandson until the end of the war. Although Zhu Di later created the famous "Yongle Rule" in the Ming Dynasty, his usurpation of the throne is an indelible fact. Among them, Yao Guangxiao's status is even more embarrassing..
Although Zhu Di gave Yao Guangxiao the title of "Prince's Young Master" after his successful usurpation, Yao Guangxiao's popular image fell from " an eminent monk " to "a traitor in the world." The point is .
It is recorded in the history books that when Yao Guangxiao followed Zhu Di and became famous, he returned to his hometown to visit friends and relatives, but his former friends and relatives were not even willing to see him. Indeed, after Zhu Yuanzhang conquered the country, the world was finally stable for decades. The people were not happy about living a good life for a long time. As a result, Yao Guangxiao picked up Zhu Di and sent troops.
The "Battle of Jingnan" started from the first year of Jianwen to the fourth year of Jianwen . In four years, all the wealth that the people had finally accumulated was expropriated. As one of the masterminds behind the scenes, Yao Guangxiao's ancestral graves were not dug up, which can be regarded as the common people's quality.
Conclusion
Yao Guangxiao's ambition is actually not wrong. His desire to become famous is also what literati and writers of all ages longed for most. But from a national level, it is really hard to understand that a few princes could seize the throne. Although Zhu Di later created Yongle Shengshi and healed the trauma caused by several years of war in the shortest possible time, the merits and demerits cannot be offset.
I think it was later that Yao Guangxiao understood this. Until his death, he did not accept the glory and wealth awarded to him by Zhu Di.
