The dispute between Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di in the Ming Dynasty The entanglement of the inheritance of the throne and the choice of history
Ming Chengzu Zhu Di was supposed to be regarded as a Ming monarch, but the process of ascending the throne had a profound impact on his life. Is he fit to inherit the throne? Did Emperor Jianwen really force him to rebel?
Zhu Di ascended from the back and barely qualified.
For the succession to the throne of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang's "Records of Enlightening Zhenzong and Ming Taizu" has clear provisions:'The son of the court who is not the son of heaven must be a sibling, and he will be a mother-in-law, and if he has not established a long-term son, he will be born from his mother. If the traitor leaves the concubine, the concubine must not move, and the concubine must be written to the lord of the concubine, so as to get rid of the traitor and protect the lord"。According to this provision, Zhu Di's inheritance rights are obviously at a disadvantage.
1, Zhu Biao died early, but the four grandchildren are still alive.
2.Zhu Di has two brothers in front of him. Even if Zhu Yuanzhang intended to end his brother, Zhu Di was still not the first heir in line, but Zhu Jie and Zhu Youzhen were both in front of him, although both did not live long, but Zhu Jie died in April of the 28th year of Hongwu (1395), and Zhu Youzhen died in March of the 31st year of Hongwu (1398), and Zhu Yunwen became his great-grandson since then.
3, Zhu Di's background is suspicious, and he may be a concubine. Zhu Di's life history is still controversial, although the history books clearly record that he was born to Queen Ma, but "Nanjing Taichang Temple Chronicles", "Jingzhi Nine Poems" and "Three Living Notes" show that Zhu Di is likely not born to his wife, or even to Queen Ma, Zhu Biao, Zhu Yan, Zhu Youzhen, and Zhu Di were not born to Queen Ma. In any case, if Zhu Di was not born to Queen Ma, then according to the "Records of Ming Taizu", he is no longer the heir to the throne, and he is not even qualified to inherit the throne.
As mentioned above, Zhu Yunwen is not the eldest grandson, that is, Zhu Yunwen, but because Zhu Yunwen is the eldest grandson and has a family background, and Zhu Yunwen is extremely filial, kind, and generous (if so), and his mother is Zhu Biao's stepmother, so Zhu Yunwen's great-grandson status is established.
It is generally believed that Zhu Di, whether he is the eldest son or not, is relatively late in the order of succession, and if Zhu Yuanzhang did not die three months before his death (that is, after the death of Zhu Yan and Zhu Youzhen), he would not have the right to inherit the throne.
Given Zhu Di's rise, he was likely forced to resist.
Looking at the history of the period from Zhu Yuanzhang's death to Zhu Di's coming to power, I think it is more likely that Zhu Di was forced to rebel. If Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunwen did not break the domain, or if the way of breaking the domain was not so radical, Zhu Di was unlikely to rebel, because no matter from which point of view, Zhu Di's posture when he rebelled did not seem to have been planned for a long time.
1.Zhu Di's position is extremely passive. Less than a month after Zhu Yuanzhang's death, in July of the thirty-first year of Hongwu (1398), Zhu Di's younger brother Zhu Huyin, the king of Zhou"Rebellion"Beheaded. In December of the same year, Zhu Di's military power was seized, and the regime of Yanjing (present-day Beijing) was replaced. Zhu Di's reaction was to go to Beijing in person to discuss the law, and then send his son to Beijing as a hostage. However, in April of the first year of Jianwen (1399), Zhu Di, the king of Qi, Zhu Bai, the king of Xiang, and Zhu Gui, the acting king, were removed by the emperor as concubines. Zhu Di, the king of Qi, was placed under house arrest in Nanjing, Zhu Gui, the king of Dai, was placed under house arrest in Datong, and Zhu Bai, the king of Xiang, was humiliated and died in front of his family. In June of the same year, Wang Min, who was abdicated as a concubine, moved to Zhangzhou. Zhu Di saw that the situation was getting worse and worse, and even decided to stage a strange drama to save his life (he may have woken up at that time), until the strange drama was useless.
2. The process of setting up an army is extremely dangerous. After Zhu Di joined the army, almost all the army generals inside and outside Yanjing City were replaced, and Zhu Di not only had 800 special forces led by Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng, but also Zhang Bing and Xie Guibing. If Zhang Xin hadn't warned in advance, Zhu Di wouldn't have even had time to arm the 800 special forces. If Zhu Di really intends to raise troops, from the expulsion of Emperor Jianwen to the start of troops, it will only take more than a year before and after, and he can be more fully prepared, and he will not be so risky.
3.The situation was extremely unfavorable for Zhu Di. At that time, Zhu Di was sitting in a corner of Yanjing, and the feudal officials Zhu Yunwen and Zhu Yuanzhang were all over the country, and they were extremely restrained from each other. As shown in the figure above, there are Yan Wang Zhu Di and Liao Wang Zhu Di in the northeast, Ning Wang Zhu Di in the north, Gu Wang Zhu Di and Dai Wang Zhu Di in the north, Jin Wang Zhu Di in the west, Qi Wang Zhu Di and Lu Wang Zhu Di in the west, and Zhou Wang Zhu Di in the south. These princes not only have real power, but also have rich experience in leading troops to fight. If it weren't for Emperor Jianwen intercepting and killing King Xu, King Qi, King Xiang, King Dai and King Min in turn, and imprisoning King Gu, Zhu Di would have no room for maneuver at all.
Zhu Di is not stupid, if it weren't for Emperor Jianwen pressing too hard, he wouldn't be able to resist at all, because the probability of success is almost zero. However, Zhu Yunwen implemented such a fierce strategy of cutting the feudal domain, so that the feudal officials found themselves either controlled by the palace or frustrated, as a result, Zhu Di lost control and gained huge room for maneuver, plus many of these feudal officials have experience in governing the army, which also led to the rebellion of a large number of generals on the battlefield, and Zhu Di was finally able to ascend to the throne.