The analysis of Zhu Yuanzhang's succession problem, and the historical analysis of family emotion and political rationality
Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang set up his eldest son Zhu Biao as the crown prince, but Zhu Biao died early, and Zhu Yuanzhang made his half-grandfather Zhu Yunwen the emperor's grandson. After Zhu Yuanzhang's death, Zhu Yunwen ascended the throne as Emperor Jianwen, but his successor, Zhu Di, the king of Yan, led to the policy of cutting feudal domains"Battle of Junta"of the outbreak. Four years later, Zhu Di, the king of Yan, defeated Zhu Yunwen, who owned the world, and restored his nephew's throne. However, when Zhu Yunwen passed the throne to his grandson, didn't he expect his sons to rebel?
Despite Zhu Di's meritorious achievements, Zhu Yunwen's right to inherit the throne is still much higher than his.
Although the crown prince Zhu Biao died early, and Zhu Di was outstanding among Zhu Yuanzhang's sons, it is still unlikely that Zhu Yuanzhang will directly pass on the throne to him, and his hereditary status is much lower than that of his nephew Zhu Yunwen, for the following reasons.
1.The family motto of Ming Taizu stipulates that the grandson is higher than the second son. Regarding the succession to the throne of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang's "Records of Ming Taizu" in the sixth year of Hongwu (1373) clearly stipulates:"When the son of the emperor is not the emperor, it is appropriate to give birth to brothers and sisters, and those who have been born for a long time should have a mother, although they do not stand, they should also have a mother. If the traitor is left in the Shu people first, the Shu people will not move, send a letter first, and arrange for the first to ascend to the back of the palace and behead the traitorous ministers"。here"Brother to brother"One of the prerequisites is:"There is no prince in the palace", and the crown prince Zhu Biao and his great-grandson Zhu Xiongying died early, but the second son Zhu Yunwen is still alive, and because the prince of the Chang consortium died, the Lu family became the successor, which led to Zhu Yunwen and Zhu Yun? Zhu Yunbao, Zhu Yunjian, and Zhu Yun (or Zhu Yunwen) are all half grandchildren, so Zhu Di's inheritance rights are much lower than those of these four nephews. Although Zhu Yunwen is the second son, he is the eldest grandson and has the blood of a relative. Due to the early death of his mother, his competitiveness is not as good as Zhu Yunwen. Zhu Yunwen is also the eldest grandson and also has relatives.
2.Before Zhu Di, he had two older brothers. Zhu Yuanzhang and his little grandson couldn't sit on the throne, so they could only go"Brother to brother"of the road. Zhu Di's inheritance is still very low, because before him, there were also his second son Zhu Zaiyuan and his third son Zhu Youlang. Neither lived long, but Zhu Jizhi did not die until April of the 28th year of Hongwu (1395), Zhu Youzhen did not die until April of the 28th year of Hongwu (1395), and Zhu Yunwen did not die until March of the 31st year of Hongwu (1398). At the time of their death, Zhu Yunwen had already been designated as the emperor's grandson, and Zhu Yuanzhang was too old to arrange the succession at this time, so Zhu Di had little chance.
3.Queen Ma may have only one eldest son, named Zhu Di. Regarding Zhu Di's birth, "Ming Taizong Records" and "Ming History-Chengzu Benji" both clearly pointed out that Zhu Yuanzhang's first five sons were all born to Queen Ma, and there is still a lot of controversy, and their identities are all eldest sons. However, "Nanjing Taichang Temple Chronicles", "Jingzhi Song" and "Sandeng Fudi Ji" all record that Zhu Di and others were not the eldest sons, but were born to Zhu Yuanzhang's concubines, and Queen Ma only had one eldest son, Zhu Biao, which can even be proved by the order of the stone slabs of Xiaoling. In addition, books such as "Peeking into the History of the Heavens" and "The Origin of Mongolia" record that Zhu Di was born to Concubine Yuan, and "Guangyang Miscellaneous Records" records that Zhu Di was born to Concubine Gaoli. If Zhu Di and others are not descendants, and Queen Ma has only one descendant, then the possibility of Zhu Di and others inheriting the throne is even smaller.
In short, although Zhu Yunwen is only her adopted son, after winning the competition with Zhu Yunwen, he has a much better chance of inheriting the throne than Zhu Di. If Queen Ma only has one son named Zhu Biao, then Zhu Yunwen only has one chance to inherit the throne. If Queen Ma only has one concubine named Zhu Biao, then the only possibility for Zhu Yunwen to inherit the throne is Zhu Di.
Zhu Yuanzhang ignored the threats of the princes and kings, but Zhu Yunwen's self-destruction was regrettable.
Anyone who knows a little about the history of the Ming Dynasty knows that one of the important reasons why Zhu Yuanzhang killed the heroes was to pave the way for Zhu Yunwen to ascend the throne, that is, he really didn't think that his sons would threaten the throne of the imperial grandson?
According to the record of "History of the Ming Dynasty - Taizu Benji", Zhu Yuanzhang issued an edict before his death"The kings stayed in the country and did not go to Beijing", which means that after his death, all vassal kings were allowed to stay in the fiefdom without having to go to Beijing to pay a visit, which was very rare in the old era of filial piety. We can see that Zhu Yuanzhang is still very concerned about Zhu Yunwen's succession to the throne, which also reflects his concern for the vassal king.
Since Zhu Yuanzhang was dissatisfied with the vassal king, why didn't he take other precautions? In fact, although the vassal kings of the early Ming Dynasty were real vassal kings, with military power and fiefdoms, they were always in a state of mutual containment.
Taking Zhu Di, who lives in a corner of Yanjing, as an example, he wants to rebel, not only to face Zhu Yunwen, who owns the world, but also to endure the mutual containment of the Liao kings in the northeast, the king of Ning in the north, the king of Gu in the west, the king of Dai, the king of Jin, the king of Qi, the king of Lu, and the king of Xu, they not only sit on an equal footing with Zhu Di in the real power of the princes and kings, but also have rich battlefield experience when leading troops to fight.
If Emperor Jianwen decided to divide the princes and kings from Zhu Di, even if Zhu Di resisted, it was unlikely that he would succeed. However, Emperor Jianwen chose to start with the relatively weak kings of Zhou, Qi, Xiang, Dai, and Fujian. Coupled with the death of Zhu Di, the king of Jin, Zhu Di not only lost his dominance and gained more living space, but also made the other princes and kings lose confidence in Emperor Jianwen and lose their original dominance.
At the same time, in order to make people feel that the clan exists in name only, looking for evidence of guilt for each vassal king, Zhu Yunwen is most likely a rebel, etc., the world is not stupid, in the case of Zhu Yuanzhang's death for less than a year, are all the vassal kings who rebel? What's more, Zhu Di played"Qingjun side"Zhu Yunwen's reaction was really not good, and in the end, people's hearts were also biased towards Zhu Di's side.
In fact, under Zhu Yuanzhang's regime, Zhu Di almost never changed the course of events. Unfortunately, Zhu Yunwen self-destroyed the Great Wall, but allowed Zhu Di to ascend the throne, which eventually led to the loss of the country.