During the feudal period, the rulers attached great importance to power, especially in the imperial palace, in order to compete for the highest throne, the flesh and blood brothers and sisters did not hesitate to fight each other, and many people were killed by mistake. Many emperors of the Ming Dynasty died at a young age, although the struggle for the throne was not as fierce as it was when the Ninth Son seized the throne.
However, once involved, it is still difficult to retreat from the whole body. There was a prince in the Ming Dynasty who almost succeeded to the throne three times, went through six emperors of the Seven Dynasties, and died at the age of 73.
For the first time, he almost succeeded to the throne
After Zhu Di got the throne, he could not be sure of his heir for a long time, because the eldest son of the emperor was fat and not good at riding and shooting, he did not like it very much, and at that time, there were still courtiers in the court who mentioned "good imperial grandson", which made him make up his mind to make the eldest son Zhu Gaozi crown prince, and the good emperor mentioned by the courtiers was the later Ming Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji.
Zhu Zhanyuan was his third brother, who was also a concubine, and also had a certain reputation at that time, and he was also very smart, because his grandfather and father attached great importance to his brother, and his brother was named the emperor's grandson by his grandfather early on, so he did not have the intention of competing for the throne when he was young, and he grew up honestly and was ready to come to the local domain.
In 1425, Emperor Xuanzong ascended the throne, and after he ascended to the throne, he exerted his ambitions and implemented a series of measures that were of great significance to the development of the country, but he died at the age of 36 and passed the throne to his 9-year-old son Ming Yingzong.
Zhu Zhancheng had already gone to Changsha in 1439 to serve as the king of the domain, and he was also a little sad to learn of his brother's death. Because the crown prince was young, the affairs of the court were all taken care of by the empress dowager and her courtiers. At that time, some courtiers wrote to the emperor, thinking that the crown prince was too young and hoped that Zhu Zhanyuan would inherit the throne.
Later, it was Empress Zhang who came forward to confirm the identity of the 9-year-old Ming Yingzong as emperor, and the rumors in the court were completely quelled, and Zhu Zhanyuan missed the throne for the first time.
second
When Zhu Zhanyuan learned that there were courtiers in the court who wanted to replace Ming Yingzong, he was very anxious and worried, and personally wrote a letter to his mother, Empress Zhang, indicating that he did not covet the throne and supported Ming Yingzong's accession to the throne. Empress Zhang later showed the letter to Emperor Mingyingzong and instructed him to be kind to her uncle.
When Emperor Ming Yingzong grew up, he began to pro-government him and reused eunuchs, and later the imperial conquest, hoping to exert revenge on the battlefield, but was captured by Wa La, the king of a country was captured by other countries, the capital was in danger, and the Ming dynasty regime was in jeopardy. There was much discussion among Korean and Chinese officials, with some suggesting moving the capital to Nanjing, and some courtiers proposing the election of a new emperor.
Ming Yingzong had a crown prince at that time, but at this time he was only two years old, too young to convince the public, when a courtier mentioned Zhu Zhanyuan, Ming Yingzong's mother, Empress Sun, sent someone to contact Zhu Zhanyuan, hoping that he could come to the capital to preside over the overall situation. But Zhu Zhanyuan did not come, but wrote a letter.
It was hoped that the sister-in-law would allow the two-year-old crown prince to ascend the throne, and let Ming Yingzong's half-brother Zhu Qiyu oversee the country and ensure the tranquility of the capital. Later, the courtiers directly elected Zhu Qiyu as the new emperor, that is, the Jingtai Emperor.
Third time
After Emperor Jingtai ascended the throne, he implemented a series of measures to stabilize the regime of the Ming Dynasty, and later Ming Yingzong was released by Wa Lai, and it is said that when Emperor Yingzong had just returned to the capital, Zhu Zhanyuan also wrote to Emperor Jingtai, hoping that he could treat Emperor Yingzong kindly, but Emperor Jingtai did not listen, and directly imprisoned Emperor Yingzong, which was 8 years.
It was not until eight years later that Emperor Jingtai became ill and was unable to preside over the imperial government, and the chancellor of the court, with the acquiescence of Empress Sun, launched a coup d'état to rescue Emperor Mingyingzong, and he became emperor again. It is said that these ministers also considered Zhu Zhanyuan when they launched the coup. It is also possible to think that he is from a concubine family and has a virtuous name, and it is also okay for him to be the emperor.
However, later, considering that Zhu Zhanyuan was far away in the Changsha area, it was more convenient for Ming Yingzong, who was imprisoned in Beijing, to act more conveniently, so he pushed Ming Yingzong to the throne again. After ascending the throne, Emperor Mingying also began to exclude dissidents and liquidate the courtiers who supported Jingtaidi at that time.
He died at the age of 73
After Emperor Mingyingzong took charge of the court again, he had repeatedly suppressed the courtiers who had threatened his rule, and those who supported Emperor Jingtai did not have good results, and he also had doubts about Zhu Zhanyuan, especially remembering that the other party had three opportunities to inherit the throne, and if he succeeded once, he could not take charge of the court at all.
However, after all, the other party was also relatively high in the rank of emperor and uncle, and did not dare to directly attack him, so he sent a Jinyi guard to monitor Zhu Zhanyuan, hoping to find a handle to eliminate him. Later, the empress dowager came forward to hand over several letters written by Zhu Zhancheng to Emperor Yingzong, and Ming Yingzong saw it and realized that he was in distress.
This uncle has been speaking for himself. So he summoned Zhu Zhanyuan to Beijing and thanked the other party in person. Later, many rewards were given to him, and in 1478, Zhu Zhanyuan died of illness at the age of 72.
epilogue
When Emperor Mingxianzong learned of Zhu Zhanyuan's death, he was very sad and ordered the whole country to mourn, and later generations also had a high evaluation of the Ming dynasty prince, although he missed the throne three times, but his life went through seven dynasties (Yongle, Hongxi, Xuande, Zhengtong, Jingtai, Tianshun, Chenghua).
The six emperors (Zhu Di, Zhu Gaozi, Zhu Zhanji, Zhu Qizhen, Zhu Qiyu, and Zhu Jianshen) were able to finally get a good death, and it was also very good to be able to do this.