In ancient times, it is not uncommon for people to use titles as national titles, such as Liu Bang in the Han Dynasty (won the title of King of Han), Cao Pi in the Wei Dynasty (inherited the Wei King), Sima Yan in the Jin Dynasty (inherited the King of Jin), and Li Yuan in the Tang Dynasty (inherited the Kingdom of Tang) public). So, why did Zhu Di, who won the "Battle of Jingnan", not use "Yan" as the national title?
Regarding this issue, the reason is actually very simple. The fundamental reason is that Zhu Di wants to succeed to the throne in a fair way. As the saying goes, "If the name is not correct, the words will not go well, and the words will not go well." After Zhu Di attacked Nanjing, although he had overthrown the rule of Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunqi, it was not easy for him to succeed to the throne in a righteous manner. It really took a lot of effort.
1. The ancestral training stipulates that after "the side of the Qing Dynasty", you must return to the fief. Zhu Di originally launched his army under the name of "Zhu Qi Huang, Qing Jun's side". The so-called "Qing Jun's side" is to remove cronies and bad guys from the monarch's side. Zhu Di here refers to Qi Tai, Huang Zicheng, and Fang Xiaoru who are next to Emperor Jianwen. And so on, and the basis is Zhu Yuanzhang’s "Emperor Ming Zu Xun" "If there is no righteous official in the court, and there is evil in the court, then the prince trains soldiers to stand by... You have submitted a letter to petition, please punish the traitor, and the young master is now a traitor. I am afraid that I will not answer, but I should wait for the evil of the Qing emperor...".
However, it should be noted that although Zhu Yuanzhang left his ancestors saying that the prince can "pure the emperor's side", but after the "purge the emperor's side" is completed, he has to "retreat to the old vassal" instead of letting you replace it. Since you, Zhu Di, were launched in accordance with the ancestral precepts to "pure the emperor's side", now that the traitorous minister is punishable, do you want to return to the fief in accordance with the ancestral precepts? For this reason, Zhu Di must be reluctant to retreat from the bottom of his heart, but if he blatantly defies the ancestral precepts, wouldn't it be his own face?
2, although Zhu Yunzhe is "dead", but he has children. Some people said that when the city of Nanjing was broken, Zhu Yun was not "closing the palace to self-immolate"? There is no doubt that Zhu Yunqi’s death is beneficial to Zhu Di’s ascent to the throne. After all, he does not need to return the throne to Zhu Yunqi in accordance with the ancestral instructions. The reason why Zhu Di did not find Zhu Yunqi’s body, but still declared that Zhu Yunqi was “dead”, was to The fact that Zhu Yunzhen and the prince Zhu Wenkui are dead.
However, according to the traditional "patriarchal clan system", Zhu Di was not the first heir to the throne after Zhu Yunxuan passed away. The reason is that Zhu Yunxuan originally had two grandchildren, Zhu Wenkui and Zhu Wengui, although Zhu Yunxuan and prince Zhu Wenkui were dead. But Zhu Wengui is Zhu Yunqi's first heir to the throne.
So how did Zhu Di inherit the throne? An interesting incident actually happened during this period.
After Zhu Di entered Nanjing, the civil and military officials and the kings of Beijing all came to see him. Among them, the editor of the Imperial Academy Yang Rong said to Zhu Di, "His Royal Highness? First ascend to the throne?" This move directly awakened Zhu Di. If Zhu Di ascended to the throne at this time, it would be completely "bad name and dissatisfaction", so Zhu Di finally chose to visit Xiaoling first.
Before Zhu Yuanzhang’s spirit, Zhu Di counted all the crimes committed by Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunqi, the core of which is that Zhu Yunqi did not follow the ancestral precepts and was not a qualified emperor, so he directly refused to recognize the Emperor Jianwen’s throne, and put the Jianwen first year ( 1399) to the fourth year of Jianwen (1392) changed from Hongwu thirty-two years to Hongwu thirty-five years, after which he inherited the throne.
In this way, Zhu Di is equivalent to directly inheriting the throne from Zhu Yuanzhang, and if it is discussed from Zhu Yuanzhang, since all three of Zhu Di’s elder brothers have died, Zhu Di is now the eldest son (in doubt) and thus became the throne. The first in line heir.
To sum up, although Zhu Di was difficult to succeed, his succession was not smooth. In order to ensure that he could succeed to the throne, Zhu Di worked hard. And it is precisely because he nominally inherited the throne from Zhu Yuanzhang, it is impossible to change the country name. If he changes the country name to "Yan", wouldn't he be convicted of treason? For us, Zhu Di is a true usurper, but he is totally unwilling to allow future generations to evaluate him as a usurper. If the country name is changed to "Yan", it will be both for his succession to the throne and for the stability of the world Extremely unfavorable.
