**Ten Thousand Fans Incentive Plan At the age of 65, Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang had successfully governed the Ming Empire and eliminated possible hidden dangers of the founding heroes. However, he did not expect that his crown prince Zhu Biao would die of illness at the age of 37 after returning from Shaanxi.
This makes the problem complex and tricky.
Zhu Biao's sudden death plunged Zhu Yuanzhang into deep grief, and all his political plans collapsed because of the blow. In just a few days, his hair and beard turned white.
For Zhu Yuanzhang, what he grieved was not only the loss of his beloved son, but more importantly, his uncertainty and fear for the future of the Ming Dynasty. Time was of the essence for him, as choosing the next prince was his biggest worry in his later years.
On this issue, there is not much historical experience for Zhu Yuanzhang to refer to. Judging from the situation at that time, he may choose three possibilities: first, brother to brother.
In ancient history, the Xia and Shang dynasties often practiced this system of succession to the throne, and its advantage was that it was a long monarchy, and on the surface, this inheritance could avoid the troubles of the powerful ministers and relatives brought about by the succession of the young lord.
But in fact, it's just as obvious, because usually the elder brother who becomes an emperor is not willing to pass on his throne to his younger brother, but wants to pass it on to his son, which often leads to a battle for the succession to the throne.
Zhu Yuanzhang faced Zhu Biao's sudden death, and he was most worried about the inheritance of the Ming Dynasty. During this period, some ministers suggested that he appoint a second or third son as his successor, but he vetoed them.
He believed that Lixian should not only look at the candidate's talents, but also the emperor's own preferences. On the third day of Zhu Biao's death, Zhu Yuanzhang convened his ministers to discuss this issue.
He said: "If the country has an elderly heir to the throne, it is a blessing for all people in the world." The fourth son, Zhu Di, is both talented and virtuous, brave and mighty, and is a very talented person.
I want to make him the crown prince, I don't know what you think? However, Liu Sanwu, a scholar of Hanlin, immediately retorted, saying: "Your Majesty is reasonable, but if King Yan is appointed as the crown prince, then how will the rights and interests of King Qin and King Jin be protected?" ”
Zhu Yuanzhang was unable to answer Liu Sanwu's question, and the matter of re-establishing the prince was stopped.
The meaning expressed by Liu Sanwu could not be clearer: if Zhu Yuanzhang chooses to skip the old.
Second, the third and fourth are the princes, so this is obviously not in line with the traditional principle of standing long, which may bring huge hidden dangers to the future of the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Yuanzhang is a very smart person, and he must understand this truth. You must know that the second King of Qin and the third King of Jin are not fuel-efficient lamps, if King Yan is really set up as the heir, then after a hundred years, these two people will definitely not give up.
Once this situation appears, it may evolve into the "Rebellion of the Eight Kings" in the last years of the Western Jin Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty that Zhu Yuanzhang worked so hard to establish will inevitably fall into a desperate situation, which he definitely does not want to see.
Therefore, it was the most reasonable choice to appoint the eldest son of the crown prince as the heir, at least it would not leave an excuse for other princes and vassal kings to rebel. Overall, it's a helpless choice.
The third system of succession to the throne, the primogeniture, has a long history and is also an alternative for the emperor in the absence of a concubine. The principle of this system is to choose the eldest of all the princes as the crown prince, and the advantage of this succession system is the certainty that whoever is born first will become the future monarch.
Therefore, compared with the law of succession to the throne, the primogeniture system can avoid the disasters and crises caused by the succession to the throne, and is very much in line with the power needs of traditional Chinese society.
Although a similar system has been practiced throughout history, not every dynasty has been able to strictly enforce it, and on the contrary, very few emperors and dynasties have been able to implement this system of succession.
But in the feudal ** era where the family and the country are integrated, it seems that there is no better law for succession to the throne than this for the time being. Therefore, among the many imperial succession systems, the most stable is still the primogeniture system.
Zhu Yuanzhang understands this very well.
In order to ensure that Zhu Yunwen could smoothly inherit the throne, Zhu Yuanzhang listed the primogeniture inheritance system as the ancestral system of the Ming Dynasty, and asked future generations to strictly implement it. During the Ming Dynasty, this system was well implemented and was not changed.