In the thirty-first year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang, the Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, died. On the occasion of his death, he left a testament:"The emperor's grandson Yunwen is filial piety, the world is in the heart, and it is appropriate to ascend to the throne. The civil and military ministers inside and outside the country work together to assist the government and reassure the people." In this way, the throne of the Ming Dynasty was passed on by Zhu Yuanzhang to Zhu Yunwen, the eldest grandson of the emperor, and more than 20 vassal kings were promoted to imperial uncles.
Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunwen took the title shortly after he succeeded to the throne, and finally forced Zhu Di, the king of Yan, to rebel, which is known as the "Battle of Jingyan" in history. In the "Battle of Jingyan", Zhu Di, the king of Yan, defeated the strong with the weak, and successfully ascended the throne as a vassal king, which can be called epic. The failure of Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunwen was caused by many factors, among which the famous sentence "Don't let me bear the name of killing my uncle" is often criticized by later generations. Many people think that it was this extremely stupid will that made Zhu Di escape death many times and gave Zhu Di a talisman. So, is Zhu Yunwen really so kind and filial that he can't bear to hurt his uncle before he deliberately made this will? Yueguan Liumeng believes that Zhu Yunwen's will is not simple, and he is by no means as filial as he seems.
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, in order to strengthen the long-term stability of the Ming Dynasty and strengthen the power of the royal family, Zhu Yuanzhang divided the feudal domains and defended the royal family. He made his 24 sons and one of his sons a vassal king and stationed them on the northern border and in strategic locations throughout the country. The feudal kings not only have their own palaces in their respective fiefs, but also can set up official subordinates, have military command, and receive a large amount of money and grain from the imperial court every year. Zhu Yuanzhang's feudal fiefdom was similar to the vassal states of the Han Dynasty, and the fundamental purpose was to screen the royal family and strengthen regional rule.
When Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunwen succeeded to the throne, the power of the vassal kings was very large, especially Zhu Di, the king of Yan who had the power of "controlling the horses along the border" in the north, and Zhu Quan, the king of Ning, who "had 80,000 armor and 6,000 leather cars". For these uncles of vassal kings who support the army and respect themselves, Zhu Yunwen is the first two big.
In terms of generation, these vassal kings were his own uncles; In terms of ability, whether it is the experience of leading troops to fight or the personal prestige in the imperial court, these feudal uncles have more weight than themselves. The reason why Zhu Yunwen was able to succeed to the throne was completely because of the light of his short-lived prince father. Zhu Yuanzhang's preference for Prince Zhu Biao made Zhu Yuanzhang insist on leaving the throne to Zhu Biao. If Zhu Yuanzhang is the only thing he is satisfied with Zhu Yunwen, I am afraid that he is "studious and filial".
Although Emperor Jianwen Zhu Yunwen succeeded to the throne, he was well aware of his weaknesses and the threats he faced. Although there is a legitimate inheritance of the throne, he does not have the control of the overall situation of the Ming Dynasty like Zhu Yuanzhang. And the biggest threat to Zhu Yunwen's control of power comes from those vassal kings who can't get rid of their tails. Among them, Zhu Di, the king of Yan, is the biggest threat, and it is also the biggest opponent that Zhu Yunwen needs to face. Therefore, it is imperative for Zhu Yunwen to cut the domain.
The object that Emperor Jianwen Zhu Yunwen wanted to cut the domain most was undoubtedly Zhu Di, the king of Yan. Zhu Di, the king of Yan, is not only the most powerful vassal king, but also the oldest, most prestigious, and most capable of Zhu Yunwen's many imperial uncles. But Zhu Yunwen listened to Huang Zicheng's suggestion to cut the domain, and first started with the vassal king who he thought was problematic.
And most of the so-called "problematic" vassal kings are chasing after the wind. For example, Emperor Jianwen's first king of Zhou, who was abolished, was directly abolished by Zhu Yunwen just because his ten-year-old second son Zhu Youjiao accused his father of rebellion. With just the words of a ten-year-old child, Emperor Jianwen directly abolished a vassal king, and the cattiness in this is obvious. Looking at the king of Xiang who died again, just because of Emperor Jianwen's suspicion of him, the king of Xiang was so scared that his family committed suicide and did not dare to resist. What does this mean? It shows that the king of Xiang has no intention of rebelling at all, but he was suspicious of Zhu Yunwen for no reason, obviously Zhu Yunwen was an excuse to deliberately do something to him. The other kings of Dai, Qi, and Min were all in a similar situation.
There will be lawbreakers who say that the king of Zhou will order Li Jinglong's handsome troops to attack him, and the words will be connected to Hunan and the mansions. So he abolished Su and Min Wang as a concubine; Wang Gui of the Youdai is in Datong; Imprisoned the king of Qi in the capital division. Xiang Wang Bai ** died.Five feudal lords were deposed one after another in just one year, and three of them were deposed within the same month. It's not onlyIt shows that Emperor Jianwen Zhu Yunwen is eager to cut the domain, and also shows Zhu Yunwen's ruthless side。These five vassal kings are all his own uncles, but the waste is wasted, and the dead are dead, Zhu Yunwen doesn't care about the so-called family affection at all.
Facing Zhu Yunwen, who was so decisive and ruthless, Zhu Di, the king of Yan, knew that he was the next target. The miserable fate of the five kings is a lesson from the past, and Zhu Di knows that he can't avoid it. Zhu Yunwen's ruthlessness strengthened the determination of Zhu Di, the king of Yan, to rebel. He first succeeded in repatriating his three sons who were detained in Beijing by pretending to be sick, removing his worries. Then he paralyzed Zhu Yunwen by pretending to be crazy, intending to gain more time to prepare for war.
From the beginning of Zhu Yunwen's determination to cut the domain, the spearhead was directed at Zhu Di, the king of Yan, and the cutting of the five kings was to remove the wings of King Yan, which was a precursor to Zhu Di's attack. Zhu Di revealed his desire for the throne after the death of Prince Zhu Biao, and tried his best to show it in front of Zhu Yuanzhang. Although Zhu Yuanzhang was unmoved, Zhu Yunwen saw it in his eyes. Therefore, for Zhu Di, who covets the throne, it is impossible for Zhu Yunwen to let him go easily. It sounds good to cut the feudal domain, but it is ** to take back the fiefdom, remove the military power of the feudal king, and make the feudal king an idler. In fact, according to Zhu Yunwen's reduction of the five kings, Zhu Di's acceptance of the reduction of the feudal domain must be a dead end. Therefore, Zhu Di faced Zhu Yunwen's strong cutting of the domain, and if he didn't want to sit still, he had to rebel.
After receiving the counter-letter from Zhu Di, the king of Yan, Zhu Yunwen, the emperor of Jianwen, first sacrificed to the Taimiao, cut the membership of Zhu Di's clan, abolished him as a concubine, and then raised troops to fight against Zhu Di. However,When Zhu Yunwen sent a large army to conquer the Yan army, he specially issued an edict, that is, the famous "Don't let me bear the name of killing my uncle". Many people understand it as Zhu Yunwen does not want his subordinates to kill Zhu Di, which reflects Zhu Yunwen's benevolent and filial piety. This is exactly the same as Zhu Yuanzhang's evaluation when he passed on the throne to Zhu Yunwen.
On the surface, this seems to be the case. However, combined with Zhu Yunwen's strength and ruthlessness when he abolished the Five Kings, is he so benevolent and filial to Zhu Di? The same uncle, and the five imperial uncles, Zhu Yunwen didn't consider family affection at all when he cut it. He even used some trumped-up charges to impose on them to achieve his goal of cutting the domain. For some small vassal kings are still so indifferent and ruthless, and Zhu Di, the king of Yan, who is the biggest goal of Emperor Jianwen's domain, will Zhu Yunwen really be benevolent to women?
Obviously, according to Zhu Yunwen's determination to cut the feudal domain and his ruthlessness when he abolished the five kings, his sentence "Don't let me bear the name of killing my uncle" would never want to really let Zhu Di go. On the contrary, Zhu Yunwen's will is nothing more than a hypocritical means to demonstrate his benevolence, filial piety, benevolence and righteousness, and its subtext is "I don't want to see the living Yan King". Because Zhu Yunwen convicted Zhu Di of rebellion, once Zhu Di was captured alive, Zhu Yunwen had only one way to execute him, but doing so obviously violated his image of benevolence, righteousness, kindness and filial piety. And if Zhu Di dies on the battlefield, or dies under random arrows, or is forced to commit suicide, then Zhu Yunwen will not bear the notoriety of killing his uncle.
After Zhu Yunwen decided to cut the domain, he basically announced the "death penalty" of Zhu Di, the king of Yan. And the rebellion of Zhu Di, the king of Yan, made Zhu Yunwen have a killing heart for him. The so-called benevolence, filial piety, benevolence and righteousness will become insignificant in the face of the crisis of imperial power. Zhu Yunwen was born in the emperor's family, and has a deep understanding of the "most ruthless emperor's family", and he will never be soft on Zhu Di at a critical moment. It's just that Zhu Yunwen cherished Zhu Yuanzhang's evaluation of his benevolence and filial piety too much, and did not directly reveal his true intentions, but finally fulfilled Zhu Di.
In the final analysis, the failure of Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunwen still lies in his own lack of strength, or his lack of self-confidence. Nephew Emperor and Uncle of the Vassal King, a weak scholar emperor and a strong commander of the army. Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunwen was able to inherit the throne thanks to his favored father and the so-called benevolence and filial piety. In order to preserve the advantages and image of the only shot that can be taken, Zhu Yunwen naively played a "word game" with a group of military generals, and as a result, he played himself to death. It is obviously false benevolence and righteousness, but it is regarded as true benevolence and filial piety by later generations! I have to say that Zhu Yunwen is really a tragic emperor.