Zhu Yuanzhang has a total of 26 sons, including many people with strong abilities, such as: the eldest son, the crown prince , Zhu Biao , the fourth son, the king of Yan , Zhu Di , and the fifth son, Zhou , Zhu Xi , etc., especially the kind-hearted and kind-hearted prince Zhu Biao and the fourth son, Yan lord and the all-round talent of civil and military, Zhu Di, are both the best candidates for the crown prince.
Then why did Zhu Yuanzhang rather pass the throne to his grandson Zhu Yunwen than to Zhu Di, who was outstanding among the princes in terms of literary talent and martial arts?
In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang had only two very helpless reasons. Next, Baiwei will explain it to you one by one:
First, Zhu Di is not a legitimate identity influence:
Although Zhu Di claimed to the public that his biological mother was Queen Ma , there has been controversy about Queen Ma's children in later generations.
According to " Ming History ", Empress Ma had five children and two adopted children, which means she and Zhu Yuanzhang had seven children in total.
The five biological children are: the eldest son, Prince Yiwen, Zhu Biao, the second son, King Qin Min, , Zhu Feng, , the third son, , King Gong of Jin, , Zhu Qi, the eldest daughter, , Princess Ningguo, and Princess Anqing, .
Empress Ma’s two adopted sons are: the fourth son, King Yan Zhu Di, and the fifth son, King Ding of Zhou, Zhu Xu.
Friends, there is another saying in other historical books: that is, Empress Ma married Zhu Yuanzhang at the age of 21. Although the two of them were loving and never separated, they had never had children.
But just after Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, Empress Ma suddenly had 5 sons, and the ages of these children were almost the same, but this matter was not suitable for time and was not trustworthy.
Therefore, many people think that Queen Ma has no ability to give birth at all.
But how many children did Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma have? We have no way to investigate, so Baiwei will not discuss it too much with everyone.
In fact, Zhu Di’s biological mother was not Empress Ma, but Shuo Concubine, a woman who was tributed by Goryeo and had a relatively low status.
And the information about "Zhu Di's biological mother is Empress Ma" in " Ming Shilu " is likely to be modified by Zhu Di to block the mouths of the crowd after usurping the throne, and it is justified in order to "rebellion".
Zhu Yuanzhang loved Zhu Di very much and valued him very much. He once praised his ministers without any concealment and said: Among all his sons, the one who looks the most like him is the fourth prince, King Yan Zhu Di.
Zhu Di once followed the general of the capture of the enemy and the captive forces and made many contributions.
Zhu Di did not disappoint Zhu Yuanzhang. During the period when he guarded the northern border, he led his soldiers to go through many battles and shocked the border, making Mongolia and Yuan dare not go south to invade the Ming Dynasty.
When Zhu Yuanzhang chose his own successor, he considered that his eldest grandson Zhu Yunwen was too young to control those unruly founding heroes.
"The kingdom is suspicious, but the ministers have not attached it." Zhu Yuanzhang was deeply afraid that people would be suspicious and uneasy. It would definitely be better to establish an adult monarch to be safe and ruin the Ming Dynasty's unification.
So Zhu Yuanzhang is still very optimistic about his fourth son Zhu Di, believing that after being tempered, he has rich experience in the enemy, is resourceful in governing the army, and his ability and prestige do not need to be questioned, and he is very suitable to be his successor.
But Zhu Yuanzhang felt very pity for Zhu Yunwen, who lost his father at a young age, so he was hesitant and confused about the establishment of the crown prince, which made him let go of the matter of releasing the crown prince again and again.
The matter of establishing a crown prince was delayed again and again, until Hongwu twenty-five years, Zhu Yuanzhang was already in his sixties, and the matter of establishing a crown prince was imminent.
Zhu Yuanzhang also after a long period of investigation of Zhu Di and Zhu Yunwen, he finally decided to make the prince of Yan Zhu Di, who is relatively outstanding in all aspects.
According to the "History of Ming Dynasty", in September of the 25th year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang summoned civil and military ministers to the palace to discuss matters, and the main content was to discuss the matter of enacting the crown prince.
Zhu Yuanzhang first expressed his opinion: "The country is unfortunate, and the prince died. In ancient times, it was said that the country had a eldest king, and it was enough to bless the people. I wanted to establish the King of Yan. What do you think?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the hall was filled with noisy sounds, and the ministers were in different expressions, whispering and talking.
After a while, Hanlin Bachelor Liu Sanwu was the first to come out to the class and said: "The emperor is rich and is born in the legitimate family. The grandson inherits the legitimate family. It is a common ritual from ancient and modern times. It is impossible to transcend!"
Immediately afterwards, the ministers also expressed: "The emperor should abide by etiquette and law. The father should die and the son should be inherited, and the legitimate family will be different."
Zhu Yuanzhang also argued based on reason and expressed his attitude, saying how excellent Zhu Di was and how suitable to succeed him in the Ming Dynasty.
But he could not say anything at all. Seeing that all the ministers disagreed with the appointment of King Yan as the crown prince, he could not convince everyone, and his ancestors did not dare to change the customizations without authorization.
In desperation, Zhu Yuanzhang, who had a strong personality, had to take back the proposal of making Zhu Di as the crown prince with tears in his eyes, and finally decided to make Zhu Yunwen the crown prince, and designated him as the second generation of crown prince of the Ming Dynasty.
Second, influence of Zhu Di’s own personality factors.
In fact, Zhu Di was not considered as the crown prince by Zhu Yuanzhang: it was Zhu Di's own personality problem, which also made Zhu Yuanzhang have some concerns and fears. Why do you say so? Because Zhu Di has been irritable and stubborn since childhood, this may have a lot to do with his participation in the war since he was seven years old.
The long-term military life also allowed Zhu Di to gradually inherit most of Zhu Yuanzhang's character: brave and violent, cruel, ruthless, sensitive and suspicious, and decisive.
After Zhu Di grew up and was named King of Yan, he had been guarding the border for a long time and often fought with the remnants of Mongolia and Yuan, and lived a life of blood licking from the knife.
In this environment, Zhu Di's tyrannical character not only did not restrain himself, but became even worse. His tyrannical character in his bones was completely released, and "killing for blood" was common for him.
, and Zhu Yuanzhang was worried that if Zhu Di was appointed as the crown prince, once he succeeded to the throne, the entire country would be shrouded under its high-pressure policies, which was also very unfavorable to the virtuous development of the Ming country.
It is also based on Zhu Di's personality that is completely inconsistent with Zhu Yuanzhang's image of the crown prince. He believes that Zhu Di's personality is not suitable to be a successful monarch.
From the perspective of a father, Zhu Yuanzhang did not choose Zhu Di, but let the kind-hearted Zhu Yunwen inherit his throne, which was such a helpless choice.
Zhu Di, who was far away in the border, was angry after hearing the news of the hopelessness of becoming the crown prince. He thought that after the Crown Prince Zhu Biao died of illness, the position of the crown prince was his, because in terms of ability, experience and military achievements, where can Zhu Yunwen compare with him?
In the 31st year of Hongwu (1398 AD), the Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang died of illness. The 22-year-old Zhu Yunwen succeeded to the throne and became the second emperor of the Ming Dynasty. The following year was the first year of Jianwen , so he was also called Jianwen Emperor .
With Zhu Yuanzhang's death and Zhu Yunwen's succession, a battle to consolidate and seize imperial power began in full swing between the two uncles and nephews.
In the first year of Jianwen, in July 1399, Zhu Di raised an army in his fiefdom, using the excuse of "clearing the king's side", and launched the " Jingnan Campaign" and pointed the finger at Emperor Jianwen Zhu Yunwen. In the fourth year of Jianwen, in 1402 AD, after four years of hard fighting, King Yan Zhu Di finally captured the then capital Nanjing. Emperor Jianwen Zhu Yunwen disappeared and his whereabouts were unknown.
Then, King Yan Zhu Di, under the slogan of civil servants and military generals, finally ascended the throne of emperors. He was Ming Chengzu , also known as Yongle Emperor .
Conclusion:
Some people say that if Zhu Yuanzhang had gone to the public after Zhu Biao's death, he should have opposed the opposition and directly passed the throne to Zhu Di. This would avoid the subsequent "Jingnan Campaign" and also avoid the tragic ending of uncle seizing the throne and killing each other.
Some people also say that if Zhu Yunwen was wise enough to adopt the "boiling frogs in warm water" style "shrinking the vassal" strategy, and at the same time, he was gentle and reconciled, pardoned the "participants", and adopted a differentiated and fragmented disintegration against the kings and waited, then the King of Yan Zhu Di could only surrender, and he could also avoid the tragedy of fighting with the same family.
However, history cannot be assumed and repeated, and it cannot be repeated. Everything that should happen will eventually happen!
