Chapter 6 Chapter Six: Who Is Qualified to Take Zhu Yuanzhang's Class

Talking about history, the "battle for succession" of the princes of all dynasties has attracted attention.To this day, among the dazzling variety of "official history" or "joking" historical dramas, the "eternal theme" has always been the "eternal theme", which is very exciting, but most of them are jokes and romances. In the era of Zhu Yuanzhang, the struggle among the princes for the heir apparent has attracted even more attention from later generations.Because of this decades-long power game, it eventually turned into a civil war that swept through northern China and lasted three years—the Battle of Jingnan.Because of this, there are many people who are familiar to us: the fourth son of the emperor who rebelled and became self-reliant, after a bitter battle and finally succeeded in usurping the throne, sitting in the world—later Emperor Yongle Zhu Di; Among the local princes, the emperor's grandson who lost his dragon throne and whose whereabouts are still unknown—Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunqi was defeated like a mountain.In contrast, the eldest son of Zhu Yuanzhang, the eldest son of Zhu Yuanzhang, who was first established as the "successor" in the Hongwu Dynasty and served as the crown prince for decades but died young at the end, Zhu Biao, the prince of Daming Yiwen, has long been a figure who has received little attention .

Putting aside the fiction of "joking", to interpret the ins and outs of the kings' seizure of the throne in the Hongwu era, we must start with the crown prince. Zhu Biao, the eldest son of Zhu Yuanzhang, was born in the fifteenth year of Yuan Zhizheng (AD 1355), and was established as the eldest son in the year of Yuan Zhizheng 27 (AD 1367). Became the crown prince and started a 24-year career as a crown prince. Hong Wu died of illness in 25 years at the age of 37.In the 31st year of Hongwu, his son Zhu Yunwen, the grandson of the emperor, came to the throne, and he was honored as Ming Xingzong, and he was buried in the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum in Nanjing.

The crown prince, who died young, had too many topics that caused controversy in his life, such as his origin. "History of the Ming Dynasty" records that he was born to Empress Ma. His biological mother was concubine Li Shu, Zhu Yuanzhang's concubine, and she still insists on her own opinion to this day. What did not cause much controversy in the world was the image of the prince. In most evaluations about him, Zhu Biao was a poor prince who was weak, sick, cowardly, well-educated, indecisive, and trembling all his life under the shadow of Zhu Yuanzhang.This image, on the one hand, comes from the fact that after Zhu Di usurped the throne, the "imperial literati" deliberately "smeared" him in the history books; As a gift, later generations summed up the lessons of Emperor Jianwen's failure, and naturally regarded Zhu Biao as his father as a class.

Is this really the case?Let us carefully sort out Zhu Biao's career as the crown prince. Zhu Biaochu established his son in the twenty-seventh year of Yuan Zhizheng (1367 A.D.), and Zhu Yuanzhang personally selected Liu Ji, Zhang Yi, Ye Chen, and Song Lian as his teachers.In the winter of the same year, Zhu Biao was ordered to return to his hometown in Fengyang as the eldest son to worship his ancestors.It can be seen that as early as before the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, who had a long-term vision, took advantage of various opportunities to cultivate him carefully and placed high hopes on him.

From the perspective of Zhu Yuanzhang's "cultivation" method, it is not difficult for us to understand what kind of heir Zhu Yuanzhang is looking forward to.Taiwanese scholar Li Guangtao's evaluation of this is the best: Zhu Yuanzhang's expectations for the heir are inseparable from his self-comparison with "Han Gaozu". Cultivation is no exception. He has been a soldier all his life, and he hopes to cultivate a qualified and successful king and create a peaceful and prosperous age belonging to the Ming Dynasty. And from the actual situation, it is true.Zhu Yuanzhang was the gentleman hired by Zhu Biao, and most of them were "great Confucianists" at that time. Later, after the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang went to great lengths to set up a "big Bentang" in the inner palace, painstakingly collected various books, and recruited famous Confucianists from all over the world to be Zhu Biao Teaching, selecting young talents to study with them.He also formulated a strict code of conduct for the prince, so that the prince should behave in accordance with Confucian etiquette and conduct in dealing with people and things.But Zhu Yuanzhang didn't want to train his son to be a "sour literati". He repeatedly admonished Song Lian and others to "instruct him with practical knowledge", and selected a group of capable ministers and officials with considerable political prestige to serve as guests of the prince and regularly explain the principles of governing the country. Among them is Han Yike we mentioned earlier.On weekdays, the education of "recalling bitterness and thinking about sweetness" is also firmly grasped. He often takes every opportunity to recall to his son the hardships of the entrepreneurial period. The bureaucrats of the Prince's East Palace are the two pillars of civil and military affairs in the founding period of the Ming Dynasty: Li Shanchang, the head of civil officials, and Li Shanchang, a general. The first is Xu Da.

From this we can also summarize Zhu Yuanzhang's basic requirements for "successors": be magnanimous and benevolent, respect virtuous ministers, but govern the country well, be wise and understanding, and be decent in behavior, understand the feelings of inferiors, deeply appreciate the people's livelihood, and rest with the people .Looking at it, this is really a model of the "benevolent emperor" in Confucianism. And how did Zhu Biao do? Since he was established as the prince, he has always respected Song Lian and other mentors. In public, he often respects him as "Master Song". A share was given to Song Lian. Later, Song Lian's grandson Song Shen was exposed as a "Hu party", and Zhu Biao tried his best to save him. The "Guo Heng case" and "Kongyin case" and other major corruption cases in the early Ming Dynasty were heavily involved. Zhu Biao advocated lenient treatment and argued with Zhu Yuanzhang for this.Zhu Yuanzhang beat Zhu Yuanzhang to beat Ru Taisu, Minister of the Household Department, because of his long-winded memorials. Zhu Biao interceded for him and sent gold sore medicine and supplements overnight.Even the younger brothers Qin Wang and Jin Wang were accused of "running the law" and "conspiring against the law", which aroused Zhu Yuanzhang's fury, but it was Zhu Biao who came forward to intercede and help the two younger brothers get off.Even when he went out with Zhu Yuanzhang to inspect, he often distributed his own food to the people who were short of food and clothing along the way, which was very popular among the people.Later, Fang Xiaoru, the important minister of Emperor Jianwen, praised him as "filial piety and benevolence, out of sincerity" and "friendship, benevolence and filial piety for babies", which is true.

This is a kind, tolerant, brotherly friendly, knowledgeable, respectful and virtuous prince of the Ming Dynasty.So is it true that many historical materials say that he is "cowardly and incompetent" and "lacks the ability to govern the country"? From the tenth year of Hongwu (AD 1377), the 22-year-old Zhu Biao began to be ordered to handle political affairs. Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the officials to "dispose of all political affairs by the prince, and then report to them", and taught Zhu Biao the four key points of handling state affairs - benevolence , Ming, Qin, and Duan.During this deliberate tempering, Zhu Biao did not disappoint Zhu Yuanzhang. He studied hard, was diligent in political affairs, and often suggested "leniency and easy governance" when encountering problems. Although Zhu Yuanzhang repeatedly denied it, he became increasingly satisfied with it.In the twenty-fourth year of Hongwu (AD 1391), Zhu Biao was ordered to go on a tour of Shaanxi and other places. He learned a lot along the way to investigate the people's conditions. After returning to Beijing, he tried his best to protect his younger brother Zhu Xi, the king of Qin who was imprisoned by Zhu Yuanzhang.Afterwards, he contracted a serious illness and died of illness the following year.

A prince who has been assisting his father in government affairs since he was 22 years old, has always maintained independent opinions, and has accumulated rich experience, it can be seen that he has considerable ability to govern the country.As for Zhu Biao's "weakness" that is endlessly documented in history, there are several contrasting examples: First, in the seventh year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang's favorite concubine Sun Guifei died, and Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the princes to lead the princes to wear filial piety. Zhu Biao thought it was inappropriate Zhu Yuanzhang was so angry that he almost swung his sword to chop him off.Second, at the end of Hongwu period, Zhu Yuanzhang massacred heroes. Zhu Biao interceded for this. Zhu Yuanzhang found a stick full of thorns and asked Zhu Biao to pull it out. Zhu Biao dared not do it. Pull out these thorns for you." Unexpectedly, Zhu Biao did not show any weakness, and retorted: "The emperor is the same emperor as Yao and Shun, and the ministers are the subjects who support Yao and Shun." Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and almost rushed. The son shook his fist violently.

Even when he understood his father's brutality and might even face danger to his life, he still did not back down and insisted on principles.To sum up, Zhu Biao's image is finally clear: a benevolent, benevolent, erudite, deeply influenced by Confucianism, tolerant in government, benevolent to brothers, rich in administrative experience and ability, soft on the outside and strong on the inside.The quality of each article fully conforms to Zhu Yuanzhang's requirements for "successors".This is not only due to Zhu Biao's own personality, but also the result of Zhu Yuanzhang's deliberate cultivation.If he hadn't died young, Zhu Biao, who succeeded him, would probably be a benevolent monarch comparable to Wenjing.

From Zhu Biao, it is not difficult to see why it is difficult for Zhu Di and others to get into Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes.The fourth prince Zhu Di, who has always coveted the throne and has outstanding military exploits, has a character that is almost a "copy" of Zhu Yuanzhang.Zhu Yuanzhang, who spent his entire life as a soldier, made up his mind to cultivate a "benevolent monarch" to succeed to the throne. Especially in his later years, when he realized the various ills caused by harsh governance throughout his life, he became more determined in this choice, thus passing on the baton of the throne without hesitation. In the hands of Zhu Yunwen, the grandson of the emperor whose temperament is closest to Zhu Biao.The reason why Zhu Di and other "uncle kings" cannot become the "legal heirs" to the throne is because of a saying: character determines destiny.

After talking about Zhu Biao, it is natural to talk about Zhu Biao's younger brothers, those vassal kings who have been coveting the throne for a long time.In the eleventh year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty (1378 A.D.), Zhu Yuanzhang formally established the feudal vassal as the king, and named his 24 sons as vassal kings, who were divided into various places. supply.When the edict was issued, the officials were in an uproar, and Ye Boju, Wang Pu, Ye Jusheng and other ministers wrote letters to oppose it, and they were all slaughtered. Some people accused Zhu Yuanzhang of "not learning the lessons of history" in this move, but judging from the time, the enfeoffment of feudal kings was obviously a preparation for "centralization of power".In the early Ming Dynasty, under the background of enfeoffing heroes and many heroes could not lose their tails, enfeoffing vassal kings was the best way to contain powerful officials and then gather military power.Zhu Yuanzhang also took "preventive measures" against the dangers of the feudal towns, compiled the "Emperor Ming Zu Xun", and ordered the princes to abide by it.Most vassals guard no more than 50,000 people, unable to fight against the central government.The exceptions are the nine vassal kings who are responsible for guarding the frontier, namely: the second son of the emperor, King Zhu Xun of Qin, stationed in Xi'an; the third son of the emperor, King Zhu Gang of Jin, who was stationed in Taiyuan; , in Datong; the fourteenth son of the emperor Zhu Ying, king of Su, in Ganzhou; the fifteenth son of the emperor, Zhu Zhi, king of Liao, in Guangning; the sixteenth son of the emperor, Zhu Wei, king of Qing, in Qingyang, Gansu; Wang Zhusui, stationed in Xuanhua.These nine vassal kings are all responsible for guarding the land. Although they cannot manage "civil affairs" according to the regulations, they have the right to mobilize the troops within their jurisdiction. The troops under their command are all more than 100,000. They are the biggest threat to the "central government" .According to the order of the "old and young in order" in the feudal country, there are three people who really pose a threat to the "heir": the second son of the emperor, King Zhu Xi of Qin, the third son of the emperor, King Zhu Gang of Jin, and the fourth son of the emperor, King Zhu Di of Yan. Zhu Yuanzhang also took pains to cultivate and strictly guard against these nine beloved sons who were responsible for guarding the land but were enough to threaten the central government.When they were young, they summoned Xu Da, Li Wenzhong, Guo Ying, Geng Bingwen and other veteran generals to explain the art of war to the princes, and strictly ordered "teach more practical skills, and don't stick to the rules of war".When there is a war in the country, the princes are often sent to fight with the army to experience the war for themselves.Several of the princes married the court generals under his arrangement. For example, King Zhu Di of Yan married the eldest daughter of Xu Da, King of Zhongshan, King Zhu Quan of Ning married the second daughter of Geng Bingwen, Marquis of Changning, and the two daughters of Marquis Guo Ying of Wuding. To Dai Wang Zhu Gui and Liao Wang Zhu Zhi.After the kings became feudal vassals, all relatives of their father-in-law's family were left in the capital to restrain them.The prince taught Ye Boju once advised Zhu Yuanzhang to "send famous teachers to teach more about the law of benevolence and righteousness to prevent two-heartedness" to the princes.Zhu Yuanzhang was angry with him for "dividing the royal family" and tortured him to death in anger, but he also accepted all his opinions.In the eighteenth year of Hongwu (AD 1385), Zhu Yuanzhang selected 10 "current eminent monks" from all over the country and assigned them to the prince and 9 border guards to give lectures, intending to let his sons understand "the way of benevolence and virtue". "The Heart of Compassion."At first, it was quite effective. The following year, the Minister of the Ministry of Justice (Minister of Justice) praised this move on the table, which made the princes "understand the heart of His Majesty's teaching, and made great progress in virtue, which is well-known among all the vassals."But what I never expected was that among the 10 "current eminent monks", the one who was assigned to Yanwang Mansion in Beiping was Zhu Di's confidant and the number one adviser who planned the "Battle of Jingnan"—Yao Guangxiao.The foreshadowing of the chaos is being planted from this moment. Zhu Yuanzhang, who is suspicious by nature, has always been wary of two people since he divided up feudalism and established feudal vassals: the second son of the emperor Zhu Xi, the king of Qin, and the third son of the emperor Zhu Gang, the king of Jin.Let’s talk about King Zhu of Qin first. His jurisdiction includes today’s entire province of Shaanxi, eastern Gansu, and northern Qinghai. It is exactly the “eight hundred miles of Qinchuan” that historians often say that “you can sit in the world if you embrace it.” , is actually the most of the kings of the nine borders.At first, Zhu Yuanzhang attached great importance to him. In the eleventh year of Hongwu (1378 A.D.), he issued an imperial edict ordering him to "rest with the people". Gained a lot.In the 22nd year of Hongwu (1389 A.D.), Zhu Yuanzhang ordered him to be the "Patriarch Order" to supervise the behavior of the princes.Because Zhu Yuanzhang has repeatedly hinted that Nanjing has no "wangqi" and intends to move the capital to Chang'an.With this insinuation, Zhu Xing worked hard to build a large number of buildings and did many illegal acts. He built palaces in the area under his jurisdiction, worked hard for the people, and his soldiers often blackmailed the local area and bullied the court officials.Lin Yun, magistrate of Doumen County, was beaten and injured for dissuading the generals of Zhu Xi's tribe from requisitioning timber. Shaanxi's supervisory censor, An Ran, reported that the generals of Zhu Xi's tribe used the name of the army to requisition land indiscriminately. die.At that time, Zhou Guanzheng, Han Yike, and Zhang Laisu, the censors of Shaanxi Province, all submitted their petitions for impeachment. Although they were severely punished by Zhu Yuanzhang, his disgust for Zhu Xi was growing day by day.What made Zhu Yuanzhang especially dissatisfied was that Zhu Xi had privately recruited "Fan clan strong men" in Qinghai, Gansu and other places, and instead of reporting to the court, turned them into his own army, which violated Zhu Yuanzhang's "big taboo".In the twenty-fourth year of Hongwu (AD 1391), Zhu Yu was called back to the capital for the crime of "repairing the palace without authorization and abusing people's power", and was immediately imprisoned in the clan's mansion.Zhu Yuanzhang ordered his prince Zhu Biao to inspect Shaanxi to investigate Zhu Xi's illegal activities.Fortunately, Zhu Biao was kind and tried his best to excuse his younger brother after returning from inspection, and eventually Zhu Xi was pardoned and released to Shaanxi.After this catastrophe, Zhu Xi was very grateful to the prince, and became a careful man from then on.In the twenty-eighth year of Hongwu (AD 1395), Zhu Yu died of illness. Before he died, he told his son Zhu Shangbing: "My family has received great kindness from the country, and the country has something to do. You should live well and protect the country, and don't have two hearts." Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao's father and son The "red face and white face" of his father, the combination of kindness and power, finally made the King of Qin loyal. In contrast, the third son of the emperor Zhu Gang, the king of Jin, had a worse reputation. Taiyuan, where he was based, was also a battleground for military strategists, with many elite soldiers and strong generals.In the 23rd year of Hongwu, Zhu Gang led the army to conquer Mongolia with Yan Wang Zhu Di. At the critical moment, he retreated before entering the desert and hurriedly withdrew his troops to return to the division. However, it also made Zhu Di Yan's army go deep into the desert alone and defeated the Mongolian cavalry reputation.Compared with his elder brother Zhu Xi and younger brother Zhu Di, his military ability is far behind, but his misdeeds are even worse.According to historical records, his appearance "refines his eyes and beautiful temples, and looks powerful", but his behavior is "faint".On the way to Taiyuan in the eleventh year of Hongwu (AD 1378), because he thought the food was too hot, he whipped Xu Xingzu, an old chef who had served Zhu Yuanzhang for 20 years, on the spot. For years, you have never been punished, how dare you insult him in public, if there is another similar thing, you will definitely be punished." Zhu Gang not only did not restrain himself, but intensified it.Although he didn't make a lot of construction projects like his second brother, Zhu Xing, he extorted money from the local area and plundered people's wealth.For example, farmers in Shanxi at that time, in addition to paying state taxes, had to pay "respect" for King Jin's birthday every year, which was three times the state tax.Passing business travelers, even the official caravans of the imperial court, had to pay him a "protection fee".His daily expenses are also staggering. As a vassal king, although the court has generous gifts every year, it is "only for more than a month" to him.Of course, it's not that he didn't do "good things". He presided over the reconstruction of Taiyuan City, which is now a "United Nations Cultural Heritage".For the fourth brother Zhu Di, Zhu Gang has been on guard all year round. Not only did he send spies to sneak into Beiping to monitor Zhu Di, but he also used the opportunity of going to Beijing to meet Zhu Yuanzhang to "make small reports".But his wrongdoing could not be concealed from Zhu Yuanzhang. In the 23rd year of Hongwu, shortly after Qin Wang Zhu Xi was imprisoned, Jin Yiwei sent to Shanxi experienced Yang Gan to expose Jin Wang Zhu Gang's nine major crimes, including looting places, extorting government offices, arrogance and lust, forming a party and arrogating power Wait, especially the last one, which is almost the same as treason. Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and wanted to punish him for a felony.At this time, Prince Zhu Biao, who was inspecting Shaanxi, was passing through Taiyuan. Zhu Gang took the opportunity to plead with Zhu Biao, and went to Beijing with Zhu Biao to see him.Zhu Gang, who survived the catastrophe, was like his second elder brother Zhu Xi. He behaved carefully from then on, but his will was depressed.In March of the thirty-first year of Hongwu (AD 1398), Zhu Biaoxian died before his father Zhu Yuanzhang, and he was given the posthumous title of "King Gong". Judging from what happened in the later "Battle of Jingnan", everything Zhu Yuanzhang did to these two sons was still effective.Zhu Shangbing, the son of Zhu Xi, and Zhu Jixi, the son of Zhu Gang, both sent troops to serve the king and fought bloody battles with the rebellious "uncle" Zhu Di for many years. Although they did not prevent Zhu Di from successfully usurping the rebellion, they can be said to be loyal to the "central government". From this, we can also see Zhu Yuanzhang’s knowledge of treating vassal kings, just as the famous Ming historian Meng Sen pointed out: “The central court and the local vassal kings scattered at the border are the two ends of the balance of national power. The balance of power between the two is the state. The balance of the political situation." In Zhu Yuanzhang's life, in order to maintain this balance, he and Zhu Biao "divided labor and cooperated" to help each other, which can be described as painstaking. But this "balance" was finally broken by Zhu Di, the fourth son of the emperor who rebelled after his death.As for the reason, we have to talk about Zhu Di himself. In many historical materials, Zhu Di is described as an ambitious man who has been scheming all year round in an attempt to seize the throne.But it is undeniable that at that time, he was the most reassuring person for Zhu Yuanzhang among the vassal kings. After Zhu Di succeeded in usurping the throne, he searched for "legality" for his usurpation, and falsified the historical materials, such as adding false plots such as "the grandson of the emperor" framed the king of Yan, and the "king of Yan" was repeatedly praised by the "Taizu".But there is one thing that is credible. Zhu Yuanzhang attached great importance to Zhu Di during his lifetime, second only to Prince Zhu Biao among the princes.For example, Zhu Yuanzhang's well-known words of praise for Zhu Di, "Di'er like me", actually came from the personal notes of Lu Sijun, Shangshu of the Ministry of War at the end of the Hongwu Dynasty.The specific plot is that in the 21st year of Hongwu (1390 A.D.), the Ming army marched northward to Mongolia. Zhu Di led the Yan army deep into the barren land, defeated the Mongolian army, forced to land the Northern Yuan general Naierbuhua, and recruited 50,000 people to surrender.When the good news spread to the capital, Zhu Yuanzhang was overjoyed, and praised Lu Sijun, Minister of the Ministry of War: "Di'er is like me." The grandson Zhu Yunqi's identity as a lecturer shows that the credibility of this record is extremely high.And Zhu Di made persistent efforts. In March two years later, Zhu Di was ordered to go to the north again. He first broke the Yuan general Suolin Timur's army, and then took advantage of the victory to pursue and defeat the Northern Yuan "pillar" Haciwu at that time.At that time, when the meritorious generals of the Ming Dynasty were slaughtered one after another, Zhu Di, who was born out of nowhere, was actually the most outstanding "general star" on the nine sides of the Ming Dynasty.The comment of "the King of Yan is good at fighting" by the people of the time is the truth. Zhu Di, who had the highest military exploits above all his brothers, had a very good reputation among the vassal kings at that time. He had neither the arrogance of King Qin nor the extravagance and corruption of King Jin.In the ninth year of Hongwu (1376 A.D.), when he accompanied Zhu Yuanzhang to inspect his hometown Fengyang, he paid attention to the sufferings of the people. According to historical records, "everything in the folk is well known."Since becoming a fan, he has cherished the power of the people in its territories, consolidated the military, and assisted local officials in the development of production. In the 18th year of Hongwu, the army was deployed twice in 20 years, and the local government was assisted in the construction of Baigou River and Luanhe River water conservancy. Visiting the construction site in person to "take the lead in demonstration" finally enabled the local area to "irrigate thousands of miles".During border drills, anyone who trampled on people's land and destroyed their property would be compensated heavily.When delineating the scope of the army's farmland, it emphasized "not to compete with the people for profit", and once gave up thousands of acres of fertile land near Huailai to nearby farmers, "choosing another low-lying and barren land for farming".He was also merciless in dealing with the corruption of his soldiers and local officials. He accepted complaints from villagers many times and wrote to Zhu Yuanzhang to expose the illegal behavior of the local government and punish many corrupt officials.He also showed no tolerance for the disturbing behaviors of the generals in his army, and successively punished several soldiers who had followed him through life and death.Especially in the 22nd year of Hongwu (AD 1389), Sigu (equivalent to the Minister of Logistics) Liu Tong, who was in charge of Beiping's military supplies and money, was corrupted by ink. In an instant, Liu Tong was chopped into meat sauce.Even before Zhu Di rebelled many years later and Emperor Jianwen sent a large army to confiscate, Duke Xu Huizu suggested that King Yan "has won the popularity of the people, has strict military discipline, and is crowned among the nine sides, so it should not be underestimated." In the Hongwu Dynasty, not only the officials and people in Zhu Di's territory praised Zhu Di, but even several "direct ministers" who were known for their "loyalty and outspokenness" in the court at that time were full of praise for him.Han Yike, the supervisory censor who dared to correct and impeach the powerful, exposed countless powerful and important ministers in his life, but he only admired Zhu Di. In his memorial to the impeachment of King Jin, he wrote: "If all kings take Yan Wang (Zhu Di) as a model, and do everything to calm the people Thrift is the first job, and it is really a blessing for Ming Dynasty." Prince Zhu Biao inspected the north, and when he returned, he absolved the kings of Jin and Qin, and at the same time praised Zhu Di for "the fourth younger brother is in the private border, with both benevolence and courage, and is also a pillar of the frontier."For Zhu Yuanzhang, who has always hated corrupt officials, advocated simplicity, and loved farmers and the people, all these naturally added a lot of "impression points" to Zhu Di. Zhu Di's goal is obviously not to be a "pillar". With great ambitions, he can completely reassure Zhu Yuanzhang because of his "indisputable".In the 21st and 23rd years of Hongwu, Zhu Di won the Northern Expedition twice, and for his outstanding military exploits, he was only rewarded by Zhu Yuanzhang with "100,000 Treasure Banknotes". After receiving the reward, he felt that it was not enough, and he was often full of complaints, but Zhu Di had no complaints. Instead, he repeatedly wrote letters, admitting that he was "not as good as the reward".Such "modesty and prudence" naturally tilted the balance in Zhu Yuanzhang's heart. In the 25th year of Hongwu (1392 A.D.), the prince Zhu Biao died of illness, and Zhu Yunwen, the son of Zhu Biao, was established as the grandson of the emperor. Zhu Di found out that Zhu Yuanzhang was dissatisfied with Lan Yu's daily life, so he said to Zhu Yuanzhang: Lan Yu is "a domineering general, and as time goes by, Don't lose the tail, I'm afraid it will harm the grandson (Zhu Yunwen)."This made Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly murderous, and the "Sapphire Case" was launched in the following year, involving tens of thousands of people.With this move, Zhu Di not only expressed his "stance" to Zhu Yuanzhang, completely dispelled Zhu Yuanzhang's suspicion of him, but also got rid of his main opponent who would rise up to seize power in the future (Lan Yu is the uncle of the prince Zhu Biao, that is, the future Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunwen Uncle), can be said to serve multiple purposes. Even though Zhu Di cleverly "performed", Zhu Yuanzhang also held him in high regard, but in Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes, Zhu Di was just a "pillar" and could not be an "emperor" because of the sentence "Di'er like me".Zhu Yuanzhang's requirement for his successor is a tolerant "benevolent monarch", not a replica of himself "ruling the world with fierceness". Zhu Di who is "like me" naturally does not meet the requirements.As far as strength is concerned, although Zhu Di has power over one side, he "won the popularity of the people" in the local area, and his army was also "valiant and brave". It is not difficult to see that beside Zhu Di, there are two elder brothers, King Qin and King Jin, who have been "subdued".Not to mention the central government's advantage of governing a corner of the country, the restraint of these two feudal towns that have been loyal to the imperial court alone makes it difficult for him to take any action.This "balance of power", if there is no accident, Zhu Di cannot break it. But an accident happened. In the twenty-eighth year of Hongwu (AD 1395), Qin Wang Zhu Yu died of illness, and in the thirty-first year of Hongwu, Jin Wang Zhu Gang died of illness. When Zhu Di, the "biggest threat" in the center, surfaced, Zhu Di was also wiped out. Obstacles to raising troops.The successors of Qin and Jin, Zhu Shangbing and Zhu Yanxi, were still young, and they were barely capable of defending Mongolia, but they were not opponents when they sent troops to compete with Zhu Di.The containment of Zhu Di by the two major feudal towns no longer existed, and finally there was a three-year "Battle of Jingnan".Zhao Yi in the Qing Dynasty once sighed with emotion for this: God bless King Yan, and disasters will harm the common people. For the common people, whether such "God's will" is a "blessing" or a "disaster". Qing Daru Gu Yingtai's view on this is: "Three years of Jingnan, although the killings were heavy, the troubles of the towns were finally resolved. If there is no such campaign Let the princes be at the tail end, and the separatist regime at the end of the Tang Dynasty may repeat itself." This statement is indeed reasonable, because the "Battle of Jingnan" caused by the struggle for the heir apparent in the last years of Hongwu, although the outcome caused Emperor Jianwen to lose his throne, he succeeded in usurping Since then, Zhu Di has strictly implemented the "cutting of the vassals" and continuously lifted the power of the vassals and towns, and finally established the "centralization" of the Ming Dynasty and maintained the stability of the country.Otherwise, after a few years, the Ming Dynasty is likely to evolve into the chaos of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms in the late Tang Dynasty.The end of Jing Nan's calamity is indeed "blessing depends on". There was another unexpected result of this incident. After the Battle of Jingnan, Zhu Di, who ascended the Dragon Throne, issued an edict to move the "vassal kings" from the nine sides one by one in order to prevent the vassal kings from "following the example", causing the northern The defense was slack, and the various "buffer zones" of the Ming Dynasty defending Mongolia to the south of the Great Wall gradually fell, and the Mongolian tribes increasingly moved southward, wreaking havoc on the border of the Ming Dynasty. The foreshadowing of the "defeat of Tumubao" was thus planted.It is particularly worth mentioning that Zhu Di moved all of Han Wang Zhu Song and his "30,000 elite guards" stationed in Kaiyuan south to Fujian, where he appointed the tribal leader Mengge Timur as the "Jianzhou Guard" of the Ming Dynasty. Commander", hereditary guardian. More than 200 years later, a gravedigger of the Ming Dynasty emerged from this hereditary guardian family—Nurhachi, the emperor of the Qing Dynasty.Fortunately, it is actually a disaster.