At the beginning of his reign, Zhu Zhanji encountered the rebellion of his uncle Zhu Gaoxu, and then after his death, the two sons fought endlessly for the throne, and Zhu Qizhen even ascended the throne twice.
However, Zhu Zhanji's nine younger brothers have never coveted the throne. Whether it was during Zhu Zhanji's reign or during the period when his two nephews took turns ascending the throne, these princes behaved very low-key.
Zhu Zhanji's mother's Xiangwang Zhu Zhandong even took the initiative to resign from the throne in the "Tumubao Incident" after Ming Yingzong was captured by the Mongolian Warat Tribe. So, what is it that makes these princes have no desire for the throne?
Zhu Di's love for his grandson Zhu Zhanji began when he was still the king of Yan, and he personally cultivated it after becoming the emperor. When Zhu Zhanji was a child, whether Zhu Di went out on patrol or went out to fight, he would take him with him to increase his knowledge.
At the age of fourteen, Zhu Di made him the emperor's grandson, which is extremely rare in history. Generally, only when the emperor is alive and the crown prince dies, it is possible to make the eldest son of the crown prince the emperor's grandson.
However, Zhu Zhanji's father, Zhu Gaochi, is still alive and has not been deposed. In this case, Zhu Di's designation of the heir to the throne of his grandchildren undoubtedly shows his incomparable love for his grandson.
During the fourteen years that Zhu Zhanji became the emperor's grandson and eventually ascended the throne, his father Zhu Di not only taught him the art of war himself, but also sent Korean and Chinese scholars to accompany the Northern Expedition to impart knowledge to him.
At this time, his younger brothers were either unborn or ordinary imperial grandchildren, and it was too early to compete for power and establish power.
In"The Battle of Jingjing"And after Zhu Di succeeded to the throne, during the wars of many expeditions to the south and north, the prince (prince) has been staying in the rear and supervising the country for Zhu Di, while Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Gaosui followed him to fight everywhere.
During this period, Zhu Gaoxu won Zhu Di's deep love with his outstanding military exploits and many rescues of Zhu Di. In"The Battle of Jingjing"In the later period, Zhu Di once said to Zhu Gaoxu, who had made great contributions: "Your brother is not in good health and often gets sick, you need to work harder!" ”
Zhu Gaoxu felt the ** of the throne from the subtle hints in his words, which made him have a strong desire for the throne. Therefore, after Zhu Di ascended the throne, Zhu Gaochu has been persistently trying to challenge his brother Zhu Gaochi and compete for the position of prince.
And Zhu Di was hesitant about the competition between the two, which also made this battle for the prince more tense. In the end, Zhu Gaochi won the position of prince by virtue of Zhu Di's preference for his beloved son Zhu Zhanji.
Although Zhu Gaoxu was at a disadvantage in the early stage of the battle for the prince, he did not give up, but strengthened his determination.
During the reign of Emperor Yongle, Zhu Gaochu often accompanied him on expeditions, while Zhu Gaochi was in charge of supervising the state in Kyoto. Zhu Gaochu often spoke ill of Zhu Gaochi in front of Zhu Di, saying that he had formed a party in the DPRK and the Central Committee for personal gain, and deliberately let go of the people whom Zhu Di ordered to belittle.
Zhu Di was suspicious, and every time he returned from the expedition, he would find an excuse to punish or kill a few people who were close to the prince and said good things for the prince, so as to observe Zhu Gaochi's reaction.
But Zhu Gaochi never objected, so the position of the crown prince has always been stable.
In 1423, Zhu Di was seriously ill and could not handle the government affairs, and the prince took over the affairs of the government and the opposition. Zhu Gaoxu saw that the opportunity could not be missed, and co-opted his cronies and eunuchs, attempting to assassinate Zhu Di with poison and forge an edict in order to usurp the throne.
However, before he could succeed, the conspiracy was revealed, Zhu Di was furious, severely punished the people involved, and finally Zhu Gaoxu was expelled back to the fiefdom, away from the political center of the capital.
Zhu Di died of illness on the way back from the victory of the fifth northern expedition, and Zhu Gaoxu was ready to move after learning the news; However, before he could make up his mind, the successor of Akihito, Zhu Gaochi, died suddenly after only ten months in power.
Fortunately, the crown prince Zhu Zhanji at this time was not in Kyoto, but far away in Nanjing. Zhu Gaoxu immediately began to act, planning to assassinate Zhu Zhanji on his way back to Beijing.
However, Zhu Zhanji behaved very calmly, temporarily changed his route back to Beijing, and successfully avoided Zhu Gaoxu's assassination.
Zhu Gaoxu was bent on seizing the throne, and although the conspiracy failed, he still chose to revolt. However, his actions showed that he was "brave and unstrategic". When Zhu Zhanji personally led the army to come, Zhu Gaoxu was so frightened that he immediately surrendered, allowing Zhu Zhanji to easily quell the rebellion.
After the rebellion ended, Zhu Gaoxu's other uncle, Zhu Gaosui of Zhao, became very vigilant and voluntarily handed over his military power. Zhu Zhanji only took the army out once, and he successfully took away the military power of the two imperial uncles and vassal kings.
This method of cutting the feudal domain is ingenious and silent, and it is much more clever than the fanfare of Emperor Jianwen Zhu Yunwen when he cut the feudal domain.
Zhu Zhanji's ability to sit on the throne is related to the helplessness of his grandfather Zhu Di. At that time, Zhu Di seized the throne of his nephew through rebellion, making Zhu Zhanji's lineage orthodox.
However, Zhu Zhanji's son, Zhu Gaoxu, tried to emulate his father's behavior and also wanted to compete for his nephew's throne. However, his ability cannot be compared with Zhu Di, and the result is only to increase the incident, and there is no achievement.
Zhu Zhanji himself was in control during his reign, but his two sons were constantly fighting over this position.
Zhu Qizhen personally conquered Wara, but was captured by Wara, which became a shame in the history of the Ming Dynasty. Later generations even jokingly called him the "God of War Emperor". The reason behind this cannot fail to mention the early death of his father Zhu Zhanji.
During his reign, he allowed eunuchs to study, and arranged for the eunuchs around him to enlighten him to study when Zhu Qizhen was a child. Therefore, Zhu Qizhen was very afraid of and respected the learned eunuch Wang Zhen since he was a child, which caused him to be unable to avoid his trust and dependence on Wang Zhen after he became in power.
Zhu Zhanji and Zhu Gaochi jointly created the "rule of Renxuan", and although they advocated peace, they did not lack enthusiasm and ability. They all grew up under the rule of the battle maniac Zhu Di, especially Zhu Zhanji, who can be called a military genius.
He was not only able to complete the suppression of the rebellion and cut down the feudal domain without bloodshed, but also personally led the troops when patrolling the border, creating the feat of "3,000 men breaking 10,000 cavalry". However, after Zhu Zhanji's early death, his son Zhu Qizhen, although enthusiastic, did not get the opportunity to cultivate military combat ability.
These reasons made Zhu Qizhen excited, and personally led the army to the north to attack Warat, but unfortunately was captured. And his younger brother Zhu Qiyu of the Ming Dynasty did not take the initiative to compete for the throne, but was elected to the throne by the ministers of the court.
When the news of Zhu Qizhen's capture came, the Empress Dowager (Zhu Zhanji's mother) originally planned to let her youngest son Xiangwang Zhu Zhandong succeed to the emperor, but Zhu Zhandong refused.
He suggested that Zhu Jianshen, the eldest son of Zhu Qizhen, should be the crown prince, and his other nephew, Zhu Qiyu, would be in charge of supervising the country and temporarily managing the government.
At first, the Empress Dowager and her ministers had reservations about Zhu Qiyu's succession to the throne. However, with the letter of the ** part of the DPRK and the central government requesting that Jiangshan Sheji be the priority and liquidate Wang Zhen's henchmen, Zhu Qiyu, with the support of the Empress Dowager and many ministers of the DPRK and China, adapted to the situation and succeeded to the throne smoothly.
Unexpectedly, Warat captured Yingzong Zhu Qizhen, intending to trade with Ming**. With the emergence of the new emperor Zhu Qiyu, Yingzong Zhu Qizhen lost its use value. Warat didn't want to kill Emperor Ming, and finally released Zhu Qizhen.
When Zhu Qiyu learned the news, he was very confused. He has only been the emperor for a year, does he want to return the power to his brother? He was firmly opposed to this.
So, when he took Yingzong Zhu Qizhen, he put him under house arrest in a palace south of the palace, which was a full seven years. As time passed, Zhu Qiyu became more and more reluctant to return the throne to Yingzong, and he wanted to abolish Zhu Qizhen's son Zhu Jianshen as the crown prince and instead establish his son Zhu Jianji as the crown prince.
After his various efforts, he finally succeeded in changing the crown prince. However, what is unexpected is that the new crown prince died after just over a year on the throne, at the age of nine.
Zhu Qiyu unfortunately fell seriously ill, and some courtiers who were devoted to Yingzong took Zhu Qizhen out of Nangong and successfully restored him. However, only a month later, Zhu Qiyu died violently at the age of 30.
If we go back in history and assume that Zhu Qiyu could have wisely chosen not to accept the throne and only serve as the prince's auxiliary governor and superintendent of the country, like his uncle Zhu Zhandong, then his ending might have been better.
Even if he really wanted to become the emperor, he should only act after confirming the news of Zhu Qizhen's death, rather than being easily agitated by the courtiers.
Zhu Zhanji had already received 14 years of training as the heir of the emperor before he succeeded to the throne, and his political talent was fully reflected after he succeeded to the throne. He easily quelled the rebellion of the second uncle Zhu Gaoxu, and at the same time made the third uncle take the initiative to give up the military power.
This political maneuver made his younger brothers, even the oldest, have to feel awe and obedience. With the passage of time, Zhu Zhanji's series of policies further eliminated the possibility of rebellion among the vassal kings, and made his younger brothers completely lose the idea of rebellion.
After the two royal vassal kings lost their military power, the other kings with different surnames took the initiative to hand over their fiefs and personal soldiers in the palace to ensure their own safety. For the vassal kings who did not take the initiative to surrender their military power, Zhu Zhanji used the lack of troops on the border and the attrition of the army as an excuse to use their personal soldiers to replenish the border troops.
This kind of seems to be "borrowing", but in fact, who dares to ask the emperor for debts? As a result, the feudal kings did not have any formed troops in their hands, and the remaining troops could only be used as guardians or traveling honor guards.
Zhu Zhanji imposed a unique feudal system on his younger brothers, and he did not send any personal soldiers, nor did he allow them to raise soldiers privately. As a result, the vassal kings had no troops in their hands, and it became difficult to live even in their own fiefdoms, let alone the idea of usurping the throne.
Zhu Zhanji reigned for ten years, and his younger brothers were also suppressed for ten years. Such dull years are enough to kill any ambition. Therefore, his younger brothers not only did not think about grabbing his throne, but they did not even have the slightest interest in their own sons competing for the throne.
Regardless of the dynasty, rebellion is a felony. The reason why Zhu Gaoxu dared to challenge the throne was because of his father's ambiguous attitude during his lifetime, which brought him the nourishment of ambition; And Zhu Di's successful ascension to the throne also gave him a lot of confidence.
Zhu Qiyu was put on the throne by courtiers after the previous emperor was captured, and although his status was not orthodox, it was not a rebellion. However, he was unwilling to let go of the throne after the return of Yingzong Zhu Qizhen, which eventually led to his own tragic end.
In contrast, Zhu Zhanji's nine younger brothers cannot be compared with him in terms of mental strategy or military power and popularity. And Zhu Zhanji is also very kind to his younger brothers, and he is never short of money.
The life of the fief is also a good choice for the princes. Reference 1History of the Ming Dynasty 2"Ming Xuanzong Record" 3"Talking about the Three Hundred and Fifty Emperors of China, the Sixteen Emperors of the Ming Dynasty" 4"Records of Emperor Xuanzong Zhang of the Ming Dynasty".