Chapter 46 Lecture 36

Zhongcui Palace was built in the eighteenth year of Yongle in Ming Dynasty (1420), and it was originally named Xianyang Palace.In the 14th year of Jiajing in Ming Dynasty (1535), it was renamed Zhongcui Palace.In the fifth year of Longqing (1571), the front hall of Zhongcui Palace was renamed Xinglong Hall, and the back hall was named Shengzhe Hall. It was the residence of Crown Prince Zhu Yijun (Emperor Wanli).Zhu Cihong, the prince of the later Chongzhen Emperor, also lived in Zhongcui Palace.Here we focus on the unsolved case of the authenticity of Zhu Cihong, the crown prince of Chongzhen Emperor.

Zhu Cihong, the crown prince of Emperor Chongzhen, whose mother was Empress Zhou, was born in the second year of Chongzhen (1629).His fate is entangled with the word "war" - live in war, die in war. Zhu Cihong lived in Zhongcui Palace, and there are too few historical records. We only know that once her biological mother, Empress Zhou, sent maids to give him refreshments and fruit cakes. When the maids passed by the gate of Chengqian Palace, where Concubine Tian Gui lived, they laughed around the stone lions. Playing around and waking Concubine Tian Gui who was taking a nap almost caused trouble.

When Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself, four of his seven sons had died, and there were three more: Zhu Cihong (15 years old), the eldest son of the emperor, Zhu Cijiong (13 years old), the third son of the emperor, and Zhu Cixiong (12 years old), the fourth son of the imperial concubine Tian Guifei. age).In February of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen (1644), Li Banghua, the imperial envoy of Zuodu, and others asked to move the capital to Nanjing and invite the prince to Nanjing to supervise the country, but Emperor Chongzhen refused.On March 19th, the capital was in critical condition. Emperor Chongzhen Zhu ordered the cabinet: "It is said that Zhu Chunchen, the Duke of Cheng, supervised the internal and external military forces and assisted the East Palace." Returning on several cases in the cabinet lobby, Emperor Chongzhen thought it was delivered, and before he hanged himself, there was a last order that "all officials will go to the East Palace".

Dingwang Cijiong and Yongwang Cishao were "caught and do not know where they will end" after the death of the Ming Dynasty. ("History of Ming Dynasty: List of Kings" Volume 14) There are three versions of the crown prince's whereabouts: One is "Prince of Nanjing".After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, King Fu ascended the throne in Nanjing, known as Nanming in history.During the reign of King Fu of the Southern Ming Dynasty, someone played "The old prince is in Zhejiang" and ordered him to go to Nanjing and temporarily live in Xingshan Temple.King Fu ordered the eunuch Ma Chaojin, the supervisor of ceremonies, and Qiu Zhizhong, the accompanying reader of the East Palace, to identify them, but they all said they did not know each other.The assistant minister Ma Shiying played closely: "Pursuing the posthumous posthumous title of the old prince, as well as King Yong and King Ding is beyond all expectations, and King Fu accepts it."So the prince was imprisoned for a joint trial, and three doubts were raised: since he was a prince, he was lucky enough to escape from the tiger's mouth, and he did not go to be an official, but went to Shaoxing, which was the first doubt; He is currently supporting Zhou Kui's family, but he says he is dead, which is suspicious.The true and false of the Chongzhen prince staged two farces in Nanjing.

The first scene is: Some people think that Prince Chongzhen is a fake.After being interrogated and identified by Wang Duo, a university scholar, and Fang Gongqian, who had taught the prince, it is recorded: Where is the lecture?The second question is about the order of reading?The third question is what word should be written in imitation?How many times are the four questions difficult to explain and read?What is the five-question lecture?None of the answers are correct.The cabinet minister Wang Duo and others said that the prince is a fake. (Li Qing's "Chronicle of the False Prince") put the false prince in prison.The prince of Nanjing was actually pretended by Wang Zhiming, the grandson of Prince Consort Wang Bing.

The second scene is: Some people think that Prince Chongzhen is real.At that time, Nanjing scholars and people were in an uproar, thinking that he was the real prince.In the Southern Ming Dynasty, Zuo Liangyu, Marquis of Ningnan, raised his troops to Wuchang. In the name of saving the crown prince and the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, he led an army of 200,000 soldiers down the Yangtze River to the east. ("History of Ming Dynasty Zuo Liangyu Biography" volume 273) At that time, the Qing army went south and forced Nanjing, and King Fu fled.The next day, hundreds of people from Nanjing broke open the prison, rescued the prince, dressed him in costumes, and ascended the throne in the Hall of Wuying.Then, Duoduo, Prince of Qingyu, led his army into Nanjing, and the five-day emperor died under the knife, and the farce ended.

The second is "Prince of Beijing".Before Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself, he sent eunuchs to Prince Cihong, Prince Ding Cijiong, and Prince Yong Cishao to the homes of their grandfathers Zhou Kui and Tian Hongyu.The crown prince hastily knocked on the door of his grandfather Zhou Kui's house, but he was not allowed to enter. Then he went to the house of Uncle Li Guozhen in Xiangcheng, but there was no one in the house.Later, Zhou Kui said "I don't know" because he was afraid of hurting himself when he knew about it.At this time, the eunuch offered the prince to the peasant army. Li Zicheng named the prince the king of Song, but the prince refused.Li Zicheng handed over the prince to his subordinates for custody, and allowed him to mourn in front of the body of Empress Daxing outside the Donghua Gate in plain clothes.Li Zicheng was defeated and withdrew from Beijing, and the prince was taken to Tongguan.After Li Zicheng died, the prince was dedicated to the Qing Dynasty.Dorgon ordered Zhou Kui to take Princess Changping and the minister who had seen the prince to identify it, and Zhou Kui insisted that the prince was a fake.Princess Changping said it was true at first, but after being beaten by Zhou Kui, she dared not speak again.Dorgon brought a group of former Ming eunuchs to the Ministry of Punishments to identify him. They said he was the real prince, but he died violently that night.He also brought the palace guards to identify him, and all the guards knelt down to Zhu Cihong, but they were also killed.The ministers of the Ming Dynasty said that the prince was a fake.The prince's teacher, Xie Sheng, a cabinet scholar, also said that the prince is a fake.In April of the second year (1645), the "prince" in prison was executed on the charge of "false prince".

The above-mentioned two "prince cases" in the south and the north both identified "Chongzhen prince Zhu Cihong" as a "false prince".In fact, whether the prince is true or not is already a political issue.Zhu Cihong, the crown prince of the Chongzhen Emperor, is indeed difficult to distinguish between true and false, and has become an unsolved case in history. The third is "Prince Ming History".At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the whereabouts of the prince was aroused, and there was an uproar, and no one knew what to do.Official records are more cautious. "History of the Ming Dynasty" records: "The prince does not know where he ends up." ("History of the Ming Dynasty: Zhu Wang Zhuan" Volume 120) This is a more cautious official statement.Because of this, Prince Chongzhen has always been regarded as a banner of "anti-Qing and Ming Dynasty", until the case of "Third Prince Zhu" appeared in the Kangxi Dynasty.

In short, although Prince Chongzhen is a political doll, the truth, kindness and beauty of history are solemn.Distinguishing between the true and the false of the Chongzhen prince of the Ming Dynasty——Nanjing's falsehood is for the purpose of gaining unobtained power and wealth; Beijing's truth for the false is to maintain the acquired power and wealth; Truth, kindness and beauty. The unresolved case of the crown prince of Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty was unresolved, and the unsolved case of Emperor Daoguang's demotion of his concubine was raised again.