Emperor Longwu of Nanming, a wise monarch who was born untimely

Text: Ye Xiaozi (author of the column of reading history)

1644 AD, Li Zicheng’s Dashun Army After the capture of the capital of Daming, Beijing, Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself in Meishan. The six officials who stayed behind in the accompanying capital Nanjing supported Chongzhen's cousin, Fu Wang Zhu Yousong, as emperor, changed the name to Hongguang, and implemented an amnesty.

Among the many criminals pardoned, one of the princes of the Zhu family was named Zhu Yujian.

Zhu Yujian, who is it? What role does Nanming play in that chaotic history?

1. Half-Life Prison

Compared with those princes who have been pampered since childhood, Zhu Yujian was born in the house of princes and nobles, but he did not enjoy a few days of blessing.

Zhu Yujian’s father, Zhu Qiyan, did not invite his grandfather Zhu Shuoyi to see him. Even Zhu Yujian was imprisoned in the Department of Advocacy and did not provide food. Fortunately, there was a kid named Zhang Shutang. The official helped deliver some brown rice, but Zhu Yujian and his father starved to death in prison.

This kind of life has lasted for 16 years. During these 16 years, Zhu Yujian did not complain about himself, but studied diligently in prison, delving into Confucian classics, and thinking about the strategy of Anbang.

In 1629, Zhu Qizhen was poisoned to death due to the dispute between the elders and the sons. Not only did the king of Tang not punish the murderer, he also planned to abolish Zhu Yujian's status as the eldest son. In times of crisis, local official Chen Qiyu took the opportunity of condoning Zhu Qizhen to warn the old Tang king that the abolition of Zhu Yujian would inevitably arouse the imperial suspicion and even blame. The old Tang Wang, who was afraid of taking guilt, hurriedly named Zhu Yujian as the "grand grandson."

In 1632, the old Tang king Zhu Shuoyi died. Zhu Yujian succeeded to the throne of the Tang king. Zhu Yujian, who has always liked to study and study, built a high-rise building in his palace and invited literati and celebrities in the fief to live in it, so that he could consult at any time.

Zhu Yujian, who finally walked out of the prison, showed his sharp edge for a while. In order to avenge his father, he did not hesitate to fight against his clan family members and killed the king of Fukuyama Zhu Qiyu who had participated in the poisonous killing of his father.

In August 1636, the prince of the Qing Dynasty, Ajige, led his troops to attack Beizhili. When the soldiers and horses pointed directly at Beijing, Zhu Yujian went to Chongzhen and asked to enter the King Qin of Beijing. After being rejected, he ignored the Ming Dynasty's "kings". The strict order not to control soldiers, recruited soldiers and bought horses without authorization, and set off from the fief Nanyang to the king of Qin.

When Zhu Yujian's army reached Yuzhou, Chongzhen, who learned of the incident, strictly ordered him to return to the fief and not to go north, so Zhu Yujian had to retreat.

But no matter whether Zhu Yujian's purpose of leading troops northward is pure or not, he has already aroused the suspicion of Chongzhen and the ministers around him.

In November 1636, the suspicious Emperor Chongzhen ordered Zhu Yujian to be demoted as a general, and at the same time he was not allowed to go out, and he was confined in Fengyang prison. The title of King Tang was given to his brother. Take over.

During the prison, Zhu Yujian was tortured by the guards because he couldn't afford to bribe the guards. Although he was fortunate to have Fengyang governor Lu Zhenfei reported to the court, the guards were no longer bullied, but still Was imprisoned within the high wall, until the king of Fu Zhu Yousong became emperor in 1645.

2. The emperor and the puppet

In May 1645, Zhu Yujian followed the order of Emperor Hongguang to go to his new fief Guangxi Pinyuefu, but when he traveled to Suzhou, he received Nanjing With news of the fall, I had to take refuge in Jiaxing temporarily. In early June, after Zhu Yujian arrived in Hangzhou, he found the king of Lu Zhu Changchong, and asked him to serve as a superintendent to jointly resist the Qing army going south. But it was rejected by King Lu.

If being an emperor in the Wanli reign was a beautiful job, and being an emperor in the Chongzhen reign was a laborious job, then in Nanming, after Emperor Hongguang was captured in Nanjing City, being an emperor was definitely a laborious job. Great danger to life.

After the failure to persuade the king to enter Lu, Zhu Yujian went to Fujian under the protection of Zheng Hongkui, the Chief Military Officer of Zhenjiang. Lu Wang Zhu Changcun surrendered to the Qing Dynasty shortly after Zhu Yujian left.

At that time, Nan'anbo Zhengzhi was stationed in FujianLong. Although Zheng Zhilong was nominally an official of the Ming Dynasty, he had a huge army and warships that belonged to him. When Zhu Yujian arrived in Fujian, Zheng Zhilong discussed with the governor’s imperial envoy Zhang Kentang and Huang Daozhou, the official book of the Ministry of Rites. Li Zhu Yujian was appointed as the State Supervisor.

Although the goals are the same, the goals of the three are different. Compared with Zhang Kentang and Huang Daozhou who are dedicated to saving the country, Zheng Zhilong, who was born as a pirate, is more for his own industry and reputation. He hopes to support the decision-making merits. , To wash away the stains of his former generals, and hope to obtain the official award for his heirs.

In July 1645, with the support of Zheng Zhilong, Zhu Yujian proclaimed himself emperor in Jianning, Fujian. After July 1, the reign was changed to the first year of Longwu, and Fuzhou, Fujian was changed to Fujing as the capital.

In order to win over Zheng Zhilong and his subordinates, Zheng Zhilong was promoted to the Ping Lvhou, Zheng Hongkui as the Ding Lvhou, and Zheng Zhibao was named Cheng Ji Bo, Zheng Cai as Yong Sheng Bo, and those who came to Fujian with him Ministers were all appointed officials, and a court that seemed to belong to Zhu Yujian was established.

After taking the throne, Emperor Longwu immediately showed his prowess. In terms of military affairs, Zhu Yujian analyzed the lessons of the demise of the Hongguang Dynasty, and proposed to change the policy of "uniting the peasants" (uniting the Qing army to fight the peasant army) that had been pursued in the past, requesting the Nanming Army to join Li Zicheng's Dashun Army to resist the Qing army Go south.

In internal affairs, Zhu Yujian insisted on eliminating party disputes among officials, and at the same time vigorously rectified corruption, and put forward the requirement that "small greed must stick, big greed must kill". As for ordinary people, Zhu Yujian was more concerned. When he heard that many people in Jiangnan who had been forced to shave their hair by the Qing army had been slaughtered by the Nanming army, he immediately proposed that "those who have hair are subjects, those who do not The "refugees" policy prohibits the indiscriminate massacre by the Southern Ming Army.

However, it is a pity that whether it is his military strategy of "fighting the bandits against captives", ruling the court officials, and rectifying the policies of the people, they are all on paper. On the one hand, Zheng Zhilong, who only wanted to support a puppet, was completely uninterested in Emperor Longwu's Northern Expedition, and Emperor Longwu didn't have his own army to dispatch.

On the other hand, although Emperor Longwu proclaimed himself the emperor, he could not be recognized by the Zhu family's clan, so that Zhu Yihai, the king of Lu, who admitted to be a prison in Shaoxing, refused to call him in his letter to Zhu Yujian requesting reinforcements Your Majesty, but I just want to call him Uncle Emperor.

The reason is that the lineage of Emperor Longwu Zhu Yujian is too far away from the orthodoxy of the royal family.

Regarding succession to the throne, the Ming Dynasty had a set of rules set by Zhu Yuanzhang, called the eldest son succession system. According to the system, the first in the throne is the eldest son, the second is the eldest son, and the third is the emperor's brother. But even if it is a brother, it is necessary to establish a brother with the closest blood relationship to the emperor. This is why after Chongzhen's death, the faint and incompetent Fu Wang was the first to become the emperor.

And the relationship between Zhu Yujian and Emperor Chongzhen is not five clothes, but nine clothes. The only connection between the two is that Zhu Yujian’s ancestor Zhu Yan is the twenty-third son of Zhu Yuanzhang, and the old man of Chongzhen The ancestor Zhu Di is a brother, that is to say, if arranged according to the eldest son inheritance system, there are many people who are more qualified to be emperors than Zhu Yujian.

III. Weakness to return to the sky

1646, the Qing Dynasty army rate In Fujian, Zheng Zhilong, who had commanded the army to fend off the enemy, chose not to move. Emperor Long Wu had to order Huang Daozhou to go out to raise troops, but the refugees collected by Huang Daozhou were lost to the well-trained Qing army. In just one battle, Huang Daozhou's "Pole-Pole Army" was defeated and the entire army was wiped out.

The reason why Zheng Zhilong was reluctant to send troops was because Hong Chengchou, a member of the Qing Dynasty at the time, promised to give Zheng Zhilong the title of three provinces, and finally succeeded in instigating Zheng Zhilong.

Zhu Yujian, who did not want to sit still and left Fuzhou for Yanping, was about to venture to Hunan to contact the local Ming army, but his whereabouts were quickly exposed and blocked by Zheng Zhilong.

Soon after, Zheng Zhilong ignored the persuasion of his son Zheng Chenggong and his generals and took his black guard to the Qing army camp. Zheng ChenggongUnwilling to surrender, even breaking with his father, but unable to stop the offensive of the Qing army, he had to lead his troops south.

Longwu imperial court, who lost the Zheng Jiajun, opened the door in an instant, and the Qing army went straight to Fujian after crossing the Xianxia Mountains. Emperor Longwu could only flee in a hurry.

In August 1646, Emperor Longwu escaped from Yanping and went straight to Tingzhou City, but was overtaken by the Qing army outside the city and had to hide in a Guandi Temple. The Qing army in charge of the arrest shouted loudly outside the temple. Suddenly, a man rushed out of the temple door with a steel knife, while rushing towards the Qing army, shouting that he was Emperor Longwu, and was soon shot dead by the Qing army's random arrows.

Of course, this person is not Emperor Long Wu, but a young general named Zhou Zhifan. He wants to give up his life to cover Emperor Long Wu's escape. The Qing army naturally doubted the person's true identity, and found out that Emperor Longwu had escaped from the back door into Tingzhou City after entering the temple. The Qing army commander Nu Shan immediately ordered hundreds of Ming army soldiers who had surrendered to put on the Ming army uniforms again and head straight to Tingzhou City under the banner of the Ming army.

The soldier in charge of defending Tingzhou City saw his own uniform and banner. He thought it was a Ming army who had retreated from the front line. He opened the city gate without asking more questions. The Qing army, who had already been ambushing outside the city, swarmed in and captured Emperor Longwu and Empress Zeng who were just about to eat and rest, and they were going to Fuzhou to receive the reward.

When the Qing army escorting Emperor Longwu to the edge of Jiuxi, a tributary of the Minjiang River, Empress Zeng suddenly rushed out of the sedan chair and shouted, Your Majesty should die for the country, and the concubine went first, and then jumped down the cliff and died.

The distraught Emperor Long Wu tried several times to commit suicide, all of which were unsuccessful due to the strict care of the Qing army. However, after arriving in Fuzhou, he still refused to surrender and eventually died on a hunger strike in Fuzhou prison.

Looking at the three emperors and one king in the 18th year of Nanming's struggle, as well as a large number of prisoners, Longwu Emperor Zhu Yujian's overall talents are far above others, and half of his imprisonment has honed his tough character. And even when he was on the run, he still insisted on reading and studying.

This made him a great talent, but unfortunately, he chose the wrong force at the wrong time, so that his grand ambition can only be the moon in the water, the flower in the mirror!