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Chapter 46 226 King Yan enters Nanjing

Ming Taizu killed some high-ranking ministers, and at the same time distributed his twenty-four sons to various places as kings.Some of the vassals also had armies.Ming Taizu thought that by doing so, he could consolidate the rule of the Ming Dynasty he established, but he didn't expect that it would cause a big chaos later. When Ming Taizu was in his sixties, the prince Zhu Biao died, and Zhu Biao's son Zhu Yunqi (sound wen) was established as the grandson of the emperor with the status of the eldest grandson.Most of the vassal kings in various places are Zhu Yunqi's uncle. Seeing that the succession to the throne has fallen into the hands of his nephew, he feels uncomfortable.Especially Ming Taizu's fourth son, Yan Wang Zhu Di (sound di), has always led troops to garrison Beiping (now Beijing), and has made many military exploits, and he is even more unconvinced by Zhu Yunqi.

Zhu Di is more shrewd and capable among the sons of Ming Taizu.It is said that once, Ming Taizu asked Zhu Yunqi to make a pair, and the first couplet he wrote was "The wind blows a thousand lines of the horse's tail", and the second couplet of Zhu Yunwen's pair was "Rain beats a piece of wool (sound shan)." Ming Taizu thought he was wrong Well, I immediately sank my face.Zhu Di happened to be next to him, so he said, "My boy also thought of a second couplet." Ming Taizu asked him to listen to it.Zhu Di said: "Dragon scales are ten thousand points of gold in the sunshine." It turns out that the dragon is the symbol of the emperor.Zhu Di's dialogue was nothing more than trying to please Ming Taizu.After hearing this, Ming Taizu repeatedly praised Zhu Di for being right.Zhu Di didn't pay much attention to Zhu Yunqi anymore.

Although Zhu Yunwen was honest, he looked down on Zhu Di, after all, he could see it.In the East Palace of the emperor's grandson, there is an official named Huang Zicheng, who is Zhu Yunqi's accompanying teacher.Once, Zhu Yunwen sat alone at the door of the east corner, frowning and sighing.Seeing that he was preoccupied, Huang Zicheng asked his grandson why he was worried.Zhu Yunwen said: "Now the uncles have military power in their hands, how can we manage them in the future." Huang Zicheng told Zhu Yunwen a story about the suppression of the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion in the Western Han Dynasty, and then said: "At that time, the princes of the Seven Kingdoms of Wu and Chu were so powerful, but when they launched a rebellion and Emperor Han Jing sent troops, they collapsed. Your Highness is the grandson of the emperor. In the future I'm not afraid of them rebelling." After hearing this, Zhu Yunqi finally relaxed a little.

In 1398 AD, Ming Taizu died, and the emperor's grandson Zhu Yunwen came to the throne. This is Ming Hui Emperor, also known as Jianwen Emperor (Jianwen is the year name) in history.At that time, rumors were heard in the capital that several vassal kings were colluding with each other and preparing to rebel.Emperor Jianwen became frightened when he heard the news, so he called Huang Zicheng and said, "Do you remember what you said at Dongjiaomen that time, sir?" Huang Zicheng said: "Don't worry, Your Majesty, how could I forget it!" Huang Zicheng withdrew from the palace, and consulted with Qi Tai, another trusted minister of Emperor Jianwen.Qi Tai believed that among the kings, King Yan had the strongest military force and great ambitions, so he should first cut off his power.Huang Zicheng disapproved of this approach. He believed that the King of Yan had been prepared for a long time, and it would be easy to startle the enemy by attacking him first. It is better to attack the princes around the King of Yan first.Zhou Wang Zhu Di (sound xiao) is the younger brother of Yan Wang, and his fief is in Kaifeng.If you get rid of King Zhou first, it's like cutting off the wings of King Yan, and it's not difficult to get rid of King Yan next.After the two discussed it, they played back to Emperor Jianwen.Emperor Jianwen was very happy when he heard this, so he found a reason to send troops to Henan to arrest Zhou Wang Zhu Di and take him to Nanjing, cut off the throne, and sent troops to Yunnan.Then, the three vassal kings were found to have illegal acts, and they were cut off from the throne one by one.

King Yan had been training his troops secretly for a long time, preparing to rebel.In order to paralyze Emperor Jianwen, he pretended to be mentally ill, talking nonsense all day long, sometimes lying on the ground and not getting up for several days.Emperor Jianwen sent envoys to visit the sick. It was a very hot day at that time, but King Yan sat by the stove to warm himself up, and kept crying about the cold.As soon as the envoy reported back, Emperor Jianwen also believed that King Yan was really ill. However, Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng suspected that King Yan was pretending to be sick. On the one hand, they sent people to Beiping to arrest the family members of King Yan, and on the other hand, they secretly ordered Zhang Xin, the commander of the capital of Peking, to lead troops to arrest King Yan. Internal response.Unexpectedly, Zhang Xin was on the side of King Yan, and turned against King Yan to inform him.

When the king of Yan got the news, he arrested all the officials in the palace who acted as the internal support of Emperor Jianwen and announced the uprising.King Yan was a shrewd man. Knowing that Emperor Jianwen was the legal emperor after all, open rebellion was not good for him, so he found a reason to raise troops, saying that he wanted to help Emperor Jianwen get rid of the treacherous officials Huang Zicheng and Qi Tai.Historically, this civil war was called the "Jingnan Incident" (Jingnan means pacifying civil strife). King Yan originally had experience in leading troops to fight, and he had a well-trained army under his command.He raised his troops to the south and quickly captured some strongholds, and officials in many states and counties surrendered one after another.Emperor Jianwen became frightened, dismissed Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng, and wanted King Yan to retreat.King Yan is not willing to give up.

This civil war lasted for almost three years. In 1402 AD, the Yan army encountered resistance from the southern army sent by the imperial court in Huaibei, and fought fiercely.Some generals of the Yan army advocated temporarily withdrawing their troops. The king of Yan said: "This time, we can only advance, not retreat!" Not long after, the Yan army cut off the channel for the southern army to transport grain and launched a surprise attack.The Confederate Army was defeated. The Yan army was as powerful as a broken bamboo, and marched to the city of Yingtian.Seeing the urgency of the situation, Emperor Jianwen wanted the soldiers to defend the city desperately, and at the same time sent people to ask the King of Yan for peace, willing to cede the land, and asked the King of Yan to withdraw his troops, but the King of Yan refused.

A few days later, Li Jinglong, the general guarding the capital, opened the city gate and surrendered, and the capital was finally captured by the Yan army. King Yan led his troops into the city, only to see that the palace was on fire and was burning.The king of Yan quickly sent troops to put out the fire, and many people had been burned to death.He inquired about the whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen, and someone reported that before the Yan soldiers entered the city, Emperor Jianwen ordered the palace to be set on fire, and both Emperor Jianwen and the empress committed suicide by jumping into the fire.

Yan Wang Zhu Di came to the throne, this is Ming Chengzu.In 1421 AD, Ming Chengzu moved his capital to Beijing.Since then, Beijing has been the capital of the Ming Dynasty.
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