Chapter 6 Lecture 01 Yongle moved the capital

On the first day of the first lunar month in the nineteenth year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty (1421), Emperor Yongle wore a dragon robe and sat on the throne of Fengtian Hall (Taihe Hall) to receive congratulations from all officials and celebrate the arrival of the New Year and the newly completed The Imperial Palace - The Palace of the Forbidden City was officially opened.From this day on, Beijing was officially upgraded to the capital of the Ming Dynasty, and Nanjing became the accompanying capital.From this day on, the Daming Palace officially entered the stage of history and culture! Emperor Yongle's move of the capital to Beijing was an earth-shattering feat, and it was a decision that would affect thousands of years.

The Imperial Palace of the Ming and Qing Dynasties in Beijing is the quintessence of Chinese civilization, the treasure of human civilization, the largest existing palace complex, and a world-renowned cultural heritage. The Confucian classic "Great Learning" said: "Things have their origins and ends, and things have their beginnings and ends." To understand the "Great Forbidden City", one must first understand "Yongle's relocation of the capital", and to understand "Yongle's relocation of the capital", one must start with "Yan Wangzhuang". Crazy" said.

The majestic King Yan, why is he pretending to be crazy?There is a reason for everything, and I will explain it in detail. Zhu Yuanzhang raised troops, overthrew the Yuan Dynasty, and established the Ming Dynasty. The capital was Jinling (now Nanjing), the country was named Daming, and the reign was Hongwu.In the same year, most of the capital was changed to Beiping, which means the north is calm and peaceful.The Jin Dynasty established its capital in Beijing, called Zhongdu, which was the beginning of Beijing's official establishment of the capital.During the Yuan Dynasty, Beijing was called Yuan Dadu.In the early Ming Dynasty, the capital was Nanjing, and most of it was changed to Peiping.In the first year of Yongle (1403), Zhu Di changed Beiping to Beijing, which was the beginning of the place name Beijing.During the Republic of China, Beijing was renamed Beiping. In 1949, Beiping was renamed Beijing, which is still used today.For the sake of the country, he adopted a strategy of "strengthening the branches and consolidating the roots", that is, entrusting his sons and nephews as kings, stationing them in important places, strengthening the localities, and consolidating the central government.Zhu Yuanzhang had 26 sons. Except for the eldest son Zhu Biao who stayed in Nanjing, the 9th son Zhu Qi and the 26th son Zhu Nan died early, the other 23 sons were all named vassal kings and stationed in various places.In particular, Zhu Di, the king of Yan, should be mentioned here.

Zhu Di (1360-1424) was the fourth son of Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Di was only 8 years old when Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor.At the age of 11, he was named the King of Yan. At the age of 17, he married Xu, the eldest daughter of the founding father and general Xu Da, as his concubine. At the age of 21, he led 5,770 guards and soldiers to leave Nanjing and became a fan of Beiping.Yanwang Mansion is located in the Longfu Palace where the crown prince lived in the old capital of the Yuan Dynasty, and is located in Zhongnanhai today. At the age of 23, his father selected the eminent monk Daoyan (Yao Guangxiao) as the attendant of King Yan.

Lao Tzu said: "Blessings come, misfortunes come." The situation changed suddenly, and misfortunes came to the palace.In the thirty-first year of Hongwu (1398), Zhu Yuanzhang died.At this time, the crown prince Zhu Biao had died first, and Zhu Yunwen (wen), the son of Zhu Biao, succeeded the throne as the grandson of the emperor, and changed his year name to Jianwen, and was known as Emperor Jianwen in history.Zhu Yunwen was 22 years old when he succeeded to the throne (Zhu Di, king of Yan at the time, was 39 years old).He grew up in the palace. He was an intelligent young man who could read, understood etiquette, was obedient, and was a good boy, but he lacked social experience and even less political strategy.Emperor Jianwen felt that his prestige was not high and his throne was unstable, and he was worried that his uncle might be too powerful and threaten the imperial power, so he listened to the words of Qi Tai, Minister of the Ministry of War, and Huang Zicheng, the minister, and deprived the vassal kings to strengthen the imperial power.Where to start?As the saying goes: "When eating persimmons, pick the soft ones first." He first punished the five kings - attacked Kaifeng with soldiers, and deposed King Zhou as a commoner; self-immolation"; Qi Wang was cut down and became a commoner; Dai Wang was imprisoned and imprisoned by a high wall.He also tested Yan Wang Zhu Di.Originally, the mansion of King Yan was located in the old palace of the Yuan Dynasty, so it was naturally larger than other mansions, but now Emperor Jianwen turned up old accounts and accused the mansion of King Yan of being "over-divided".Zhu Di wrote a letter to defend, saying: "The "Ancestral Precepts Record · Yingxiu" states that Yan is old because of the Yuan Dynasty, and non-subjects dare to overstep." Zhu Di, the king of Yan, typed the "ancestral precepts" of the emperor's father to answer the accusation of the emperor's nephew Emperor Jianwen. , be regarded as dodged a catastrophe, but he still felt the danger of the political turmoil.In order to stabilize the court and find a better strategy, he had a plan - pretend to be crazy!

Mr. Mei Lanfang has a famous Peking Opera "Xiang Yu Feng".This play tells that Qin Zhao Gao has married his daughter Yanrong, and the second generation Hu Hai wants to accept her as a concubine, and Zhao Gao also presents his daughter to cater to her.One side is the king's order, and the other is the father's order, Zhao Yanrong was quick-witted, Jin Dian pretended to be crazy, and escaped the catastrophe.This play is also called "Golden Palace Pretends to Be Crazy".The stage where King Yan performed was not in the Golden Palace, but in the palace. It was simply a political farce of "the palace pretends to be crazy".The thing is like this: the imperial court sent officials from Nanjing to Beiping to check on the movements of Zhu Di, the king of Yan.As soon as he arrived at King Yan's mansion, the receptionist was no longer the majestic and mighty King Yan, but Zhu Di, a crazy and crazy man.Beiping was in the midst of the three volts, sweating profusely, but Yan Wang was wearing a ragged cotton jacket, surrounded by the stove, with unkempt hair, shivering, shouting: "It's cold, it's cold!" He was insane and full of nonsense.When the envoy saw it, he turned his head and left, and returned to Nanjing to report: "King Yan is crazy, there is nothing wrong with it!"But some ministers didn't believe it, thinking that Zhu Di was pretending to be crazy.So the imperial court sent officials to visit King Yan again.This time, King Yan simply performed his tricks outside the hall, yelling and walking in the street, snatching food and drink, talking wildly, lying on the muddy ground, his face covered with dirt.The envoy returned to Nanjing and reported: King Yan is really crazy!Now the court no longer doubted, and temporarily relaxed its vigilance against King Yan.Through Yan Wang's "the palace pretends to be crazy", it can be seen that Zhu Di is a politician with great wisdom and great strategy.In contrast, the young and energetic Emperor Jianwen was not at all a political opponent of the emperor's uncle Yan Wang Zhu Di.

After the court envoys left, Zhu Di went back to the palace and found Dao Yan to plan together. Daoyan (1335-1418), commonly known as Yao Guangxiao, was born in Changzhou, Jiangsu (now Yangchenghu Town, Xiangcheng District, Suzhou City).He became a monk at the age of 14, practiced Zen theory, had high comprehension, mastered Confucianism and Taoism, mastered strategy, learned military art, and worked on poetry and painting. He was appointed by Zhu Yuanzhang to serve Yan Wang Zhu Di.Yan Wang and Dao Yan jointly plan to raise troops, but it is an absolute secret, and they need to test each other to reveal their secret intentions. "Chang'an Guest Talk" records a story: One day it was extremely cold, Dao Yan accompanied King Yan to dinner.During the banquet, the two talked——

Zhu Di said: "It's freezing cold, every bit of water can be frozen!" Dao Yan replied: "The country is in chaos and the people are worried. If the king does not come out, whoever decides!" The literal meaning of Zhu Di’s words is: Although the sky is cold, but if the word “water” lacks a “dot”, it will not become the word “ice” (ice)——“bing” and “bing” are homophonic, and the implication is “how to raise troops "? The literal meaning of Daoyan's words is: the country is in chaos and the common people are in distress. At this time, if the word "wang" does not appear (add a little), how can it become the word "lord"!This is clearly to encourage Zhu Di, king of Yan, to raise troops to "stand out" and become the "lord" of the world.

Sitting opposite each other drinking tea, after being tested, the two of them secretly clasped their hands together as they thought.Therefore, the secret room planned to raise troops on a regular basis.When King Yan raised his army, there was a violent storm and the roof tiles fell to the ground.Zhu Di was shocked and his face changed suddenly.Dao Yan said: Great auspiciousness!When the flying dragon is in the sky, there will always be wind and rain; when gray tiles fall to the ground, they will be replaced by yellow tiles. ("History of the Ming Dynasty Yao Guangxiao Biography" Volume 145) The king of Yan turned his surprise into joy and went to Nanjing to fight for four years to seize the throne.Here is the story of Daoyan's later life.On rewards for meritorious deeds, Daoyan is rewarded heavily: bestowing hair, Daoyan’s firm resignation, is one; bestowing a mansion, Daoyan’s firm resignation, is two; bestowing land, Daoyan’s firm resignation, is three; bestowing beautiful women, Daoyan's firm resignation is for four; Daoyan's firm resignation for gold and silver is five; high-ranking officials, Daoyan's resignation is for six; generous salary, Daoyan's resignation is for seven; Dao Yan's firm resignation is for eight.Monk Daoyan refused the reward from Emperor Yongle, and only asked to go to Daqingshou Temple (in the north of today's West Chang'an Street, later called Shuangta Temple) for a green lantern to recite scriptures and practice.Daoyan wore official uniforms when he went to court, and cassocks when he retired.Monk Daoyan's writing is enough to stabilize the country, and his martial arts is enough to rule the country. He is indeed brilliant: when he conquers the world, he takes the lead alone.

Looking back, I still said Zhu Di.Zhu Di's challenge to the throne is about the country and the country, and more importantly, he must win the hearts of the people.He borrowed the historical experience of the Han Dynasty's "Qing Emperor's side and Zhu Chaocuo" to play the banner of "Jingnan", which means that the country is in trouble, and treacherous ministers Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng are in power, so he must lead troops to save the country and Jing'an society.In the first year of Jianwen (1399), Yan Wang Zhu Di raised troops in Beiping at the age of 40.The Battle of Jingnan, a bloody four-year battle, was extremely tragic.In the end, Zhu Di led his army into Nanjing, seized the throne from his nephew by force, and became the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty.According to "Ming Shilu", Emperor Jianwen burned himself to death after the city was destroyed. One said he fled from the tunnel and became a monk, and another said that he went into exile overseas, which has become a historical mystery.

Zhu Di took the throne and wanted to announce this great news to the world.However, things have yang, and there must be yin.There is always a bad side to things that go well.Emperor Yong Le was full of joy, but caused a storm of "Bloody Edict".