Zhu Di has lived in the anxiety of a usurper for the rest of his life.
In 1402, after three years of rebellion, the 42-year-old Zhu Di finally led his army to attack the city of Nanjing. But Zhu Di's nephew Emperor Jianwen mysteriously disappeared in the Miyagi fire, which became Zhu Di's lifelong heart disease. He was suspicious and anxious, in order to explore the whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen, from the fifth year of Yongle (1407), he sent Emperor Jianwen's former minister Hu Hu for 16 consecutive years, in the name of visiting the immortal Zhang Sloppy (Zhang Sanfeng), "traveled all over the prefectures and counties of the world, and concealed the presence of Emperor Jianwen".
Previously, in the first year of Yongle (1403), Zhu Di had sent the eunuch Ma Bin to Java and other countries to secretly visit whether Emperor Jianwen had drifted to the sea. In the third year of Yongle (1405), he simply sent Zheng He to lead a huge fleet of more than 27,000 people to officially send to the Western Ocean. From the third year of Yongle (1405) to the nineteenth year of Yongle (1421), Zheng He sailed to the West six times, and each time he led a huge army of nearly 30,000 men.
01
An emperor who started a rebellion is most afraid of other people's doubts, and he needs to block the mouths of others.
After Zhu Di invaded Nanjing, he first summoned Fang Xiaoru, who was known as the leader of Shilin and the "seed of reading in the world", according to Yao Guangxiao's suggestion, and asked Fang Xiaoru to draft an edict for himself.
Fang Xiaoru was the main advisor under Emperor Jianwen. After he was brought into the palace, he wept bitterly for Emperor Jianwen in public, resounding throughout the palace.
Zhu Di couldn't bear his displeasure and said: "I am the Duke of Zhou and the king of the king." ”
Fang Xiaoru questioned: "Where is King Cheng?" ”
Zhu Di reluctantly responded: "Yi burned himself to death." ”
Fang Xiaoru asked again: "Why don't you become the son of the king?" ”
The impatient Zhu Di had no choice but to say: "The country depends on Changjun." ”
Fang Xiaoru asked again: "Why don't you become the king's brother?" ”
Facing the upright and rigid Fang Xiaoru, Zhu Dili had no choice but to get up and leave the couch, and walked forward to say to Fang Xiaoru: "This is my family matter, Mr. does not have to work hard. ”
Then, Zhu Di forcibly stuffed Fang Xiaoru with pen and paper, asking him to draft an edict on the throne as the leader of the world's corporal forest. Zhu Di also said specially: "Zhao Tianxia, it must be Mr. ”
Unexpectedly, Fang Xiaoru was still upright and unyielding: "Death is death, and the edict cannot be grassed." ”
Zhu Di was angry, this tyrant who seized the throne by rebelling believed in ruling the world with cruelty and violence, and was never afraid of killing, at this moment, the viciousness of the yin owl inherited to him by his father Zhu Yuanzhang broke out. He threatened Fang Xiaoru that if he was disobedient, he would punish the Nine Clans. Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Fang Xiaoru angrily reprimanded: "Then punish the ten clans!" ”
Zhu Di, who was furious, ordered to "cut his mouth to his ears", and then killed a total of 873 relatives and friends of Fang Xiaoru's ten clans, which is rare in the history of Zhulian.
Beginning with Fang Xiaoru, the ministers who spoke for Emperor Jianwen succeeded one after another. Emperor Jianwen reigned for only 4 years, but he was so popular that he even risked the danger of the ten clans and willingly spoke for Emperor Jianwen. This kind of spiritual power made Zhu Di's heart extremely uneasy, so he went on a killing spree in Nanjing.
In order to exterminate Emperor Jianwen's loyal ministers and sworn friends, Zhu Di successively killed and exiled thousands of courtiers and their relatives and friends.
Tie Xuan, the secretary of the military department, was loyal to Emperor Jianwen and was unwilling to give in. Zhu Di ordered his ears and nose to be cut off and roasted on the fire, then forced into his mouth, and asked him, "Are you willing?" Tie Xuan said: "Why is the meat of loyal ministers and filial sons unwilling! "I cursed to death.
Zhu Di also killed Chen Di, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites who was loyal to Emperor Jianwen. He first captured Chen Di's son and killed him, cut off his nose and tongue, and forced Chen Di to eat. Chen Di spat on the murderer, scolded endlessly, and was finally executed by Ling Chi, and there were more than 180 exiles in the clan.
Zhu Di ordered people to "remove their teeth first, and then cut off their hands and feet", and Violent Zhao "scolded endlessly, until he broke his neck and died".
The history of the Ming Dynasty retains many quotations from Zhu Di when he ordered the torture and killing of Emperor Jianwen's courtiers. When ordering the disposal of more than 500 people in the right deputy capital Yu Shi Lian Zining and his family, Zhu Di said: "Those who are close to them are picked out, and it is too late, and those who are far relatives are scattered to fill the army." If the distant relatives refuse to speak out about those who are close to them, they are all too late. ”
When ordering the killing of Emperor Jianwen's military secretary Qi Tai and Hanlin scholar Huang Zicheng, Zhu Di even ordered people to gang rape all their female dependents, even 10-year-old girls, and then turned them all into official prostitutes.
In the brutal liquidation of the ministers of Emperor Jianwen, Zhu Di did everything he could, but externally, he boasted that he said to his ministers: "Punishment as a last resort is appropriate for the time being...... It is reinstated as the descendants of the ancestors, and the ink sword palace is not forbidden...... I take the field and inherit the unification...... Benevolence and loyalty. ”
After a brutal torture of the rebels, Zhu Di, who believed in the prosperity of those who obeyed me, and tried to brutally humiliate the rebels physically and spiritually, finally embarked on the same path as his father Zhu Yuanzhang and established a bloody empire. The killing of two generations of their fathers and sons will have an impact on future generations.
In 1644, when Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself and the Ming Dynasty fell, there were not even many martyrs in Beijing who were martyred for Emperor Jianwen. In this regard, Li Qing, a historian in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, wrote in "Nandu Lu" that when Li Zicheng and the Qing army entered Beijing successively, the courtiers had no morality and backbone, and "righteousness gradually weakened, so today's cunning people bent their knees and worshiped hypocrisy."
02
In the brutal slaughter, Zhu Di occasionally had a trace of uneasiness in his heart.
Because his father Zhu Yuanzhang used to be a monk, Zhu Di also believed in Buddhism, and he liked to visit Buddhist temples and pray for the protection of the Buddha. The apparent piety of a person who does great evil, although it does not bring him some compassion, can give the illusion of tolerance. As an emperor, Zhu Di needs this kind of disguise.
Once, Zhu Di went to the Linggu Temple in Nanjing's Purple Mountain to worship and found a bug crawling on his clothes. He first brushed the insects to the ground with his hands, and then ordered the small insects to be placed on the trees left and right, and said, "Although these small things are physiological, they should not be slightly harmed." ”
Zhu Di admired Li Shimin, who also seized the throne through a coup d'état, and praised himself everywhere as Tang Taizong. Although he treated his political opponents cruelly and bloodily, and was prone to exterminate those who resisted, in order to establish a reputation of "benevolent government", Zhu Di demanded "five repetitions" for the death sentence, that is, he could sentence someone to death after repeated examination five times, so as to put a reputation for prudence on himself.
Compared with the sluggish princes and grandsons of later generations, Zhu Di has superhuman physical strength and amazing will. According to historical records, in the early years of Yongle, Zhu Di "sat quietly with four drums" every day, and then "thought about the things of the Quartet, and it was appropriate to slow down the urgency". After dealing with the morning court, Zhu Di had to start the evening court in the afternoon. After the affairs of the foreign dynasty are handled, he also has to deal with the affairs of the palace, "in his spare time, he learns from the scriptures and reads the history, and he does not dare to be at ease."
Zhu Di was naturally energetic, and after seizing the throne through a coup d'état, the pressure of public opinion and self-anxiety about winning the throne also prompted him to redouble his efforts and dedication to establish the image of a great monarch. On the one hand, this is manifested in the killing and humiliation of the rebels from individuals to families, from bodies to minds, and on the other hand, it is manifested in alleviating the doubts of the outside world and the pressure of public opinion through making meritorious contributions, and at the same time establishing personal absolute authority while deterring the government and the opposition. To this end, he ordered Zheng He to go to the West six times, and also personally conquered Mongolia five times, ordered the conquest of Annan (now Viet Nam), and planned to move the capital to Beijing...... Although there are many reasons for this, it is one of them to wash away reputation and deter internal and external deterrence.
When Zhu Di was still a vassal king, he was stationed in Beiping (later Beijing) at that time, and often confronted the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty, the Northern Yuan.
After ascending the throne, in the fourth year of Yongle (1406), Zhu Di ordered the army to conquer and subdue Annan, changed Annan to Jiaozhi, and governed 181 counties in 15 prefectures and 36 prefectures, and set up guards in each prefecture and county to strengthen control.
Also in the fourth year of Yongle (1406), Zhu Di also ordered the construction of the Beijing Palace. Since then, he has toured the north several times and lived in Beijing for a long time. In the eighteenth year of Yongle (1420), the Beijing Palace was completed, and he ordered the official relocation of the capital to Beijing, which established Beijing's solid position as the capital of China.
In the eighth year of Yongle (1410), Zhu Di drove the Northern Expedition for the first time, personally conquered the Mongolia Tatar region, and destroyed the army of the 22nd Mongolia Great Khan Benyasuri on the banks of the Troubled River, causing Benyasuri to flee west with only seven horses. In the 10 years from the twelfth year of Yongle (1414) to the twenty-second year of Yongle (1424), Zhu Di personally conquered Mongolia four times.
By establishing a series of achievements, Zhu Di is convinced that his authority is enough to eliminate the doubts of the people of the world about his usurpation of power. This routine of establishing authority through meritorious service was learned by his predecessors - Li Shimin, Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, who seized the throne through the Xuanwumen Change, and Zhao Guangyi, Taizong of the Song Dynasty, who ascended to the throne through the "Axe Sound and Candle Shadow" incident. He regarded these two previous emperors as idols, and therefore, after his death, his descendants revered his temple name as "Taizong", and it was not until the time of Emperor Jiajing that his temple name was changed to "Chengzu".
03
But anxiety has always plagued Zhu Di.
Previously, when the army was raised in the Battle of Jingyan, Zhu Di coerced his younger brother Zhu Quan, the king of Ning, to rebel together, and promised to "divide the world in the middle" after the deed. But after attacking Nanjing in 1402, Zhu Di quickly turned his face and did not recognize people. Not only that, when Zhu Quan, the king of Ning, asked for Suzhou and Qiantang to be his fiefdoms, he also refused them all, and instead divided the king of Ning in Nanchang.
The move was not only aimed at King Ning. After the successful rebellion in the name of opposing Emperor Jianwen's reduction of the domain, Zhu Di himself began a non-stop action to reduce the domain. The number of guards of the acting king, the king of Min, and the king of Qi was cut one after another, and even the guards of the younger brother of the king of Zhou, who was a fellow of Zhu Di's mother, were forced to be cut.
Without the hidden worries of the vassal king, Zhu Di finally eased his anxiety after seizing power, but this was not enough.
Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunwen ascended the throne after Zhu Yuanzhang's death in 1398, and because he felt that the "Da Ming Law" established by Zhu Yuanzhang during his lifetime was too harsh, he began to relax his punishment. After Zhu Di seized the throne, he began to strictly enforce the "Da Ming Law", and even under his control, the punishment was even more severe than that of Zhu Yuanzhang.
In his later years, Zhu Yuanzhang expressed repentance for his establishment of Jinyiwei, and ordered the burning of Jinyiwei's torture equipment, announcing that Jinyiwei would no longer be allowed to set up a private prison, and all cases would be reviewed by the judicial organs. After Zhu Di came to power, he restored the old system, he allowed Jinyiwei to bypass the judiciary and set up private prisons, and the patterns of punishment continued to innovate. In order to clamp down on hundreds of officials, Zhu Di also appointed eunuchs to set up the East Factory, and through the union of factories and guards, he created a terrifying spy network in the Ming Dynasty.
In order to advocate the rule of culture, Zhu Di ordered the compilation of books such as "The Complete Book of the Four Books", "The Complete Book of the Five Classics", "The Facts of Filial Piety", "The Biography of Ancient and Modern Women", and the compilation of the "Yongle Canon" made his so-called martial arts and cultural rule reach its peak. But soon, he tortured Xie Jin, the chief editor of the "Yongle Canon" and the famous minister, so that Xie Jin suddenly changed from a favorite minister to a prisoner. Five years later, he instructed Jinyiwei to execute Xie Jin.
Only in the severe punishment can Zhu Di, as a king, find a trace of security. However, the heavens seemed to be giving him some kind of warning.
On the Gengzi day of April in the nineteenth year of Yongle (1421), Beijing had just become the capital of the Ming Dynasty for three months, and then, it took more than 10 years to build the Fengtian Palace, the Huagai Palace, and the Jinshen Palace, which were struck by lightning and caught fire, and finally all turned into ashes.
The Forbidden City took millions of workers and more than 10 years to build, and the three halls exhausted Zhu Di's hard work, but he didn't expect them to turn to ashes in one day. In the eyes of the ancients who believed in the induction of heaven and man, this may be a warning from God to Zhu Di to kill innocents indiscriminately. Zhu Di was also very shocked in his heart, and said in the promulgated "Edict of Guilt": "Heaven has a precept, I am very frightened, and I am not at ease." ”
Unfortunately, this "uneasiness" lasted only a few days. Due to the discovery of the palace maid's fornication with the eunuch when retrying a previous false accusation case, Zhu Di went on a killing spree again shortly after promulgating the "Guilty Edict", killing more than 2,800 people in the palace. At the time of the execution, Zhu Di even went to the execution ground to see with his own eyes how the palace people would be executed by Ling Chi. In this regard, some palace people scolded Zhu Di in front of him when he was about to be executed: "Your own family is in decline, so people have fornicated with eunuchs, what is the crime?" ”
04
Zhu Di is old. Despite his great talent and countless achievements, the suspicious, impatient, fierce and cruel emperor finally came to the state of physical and mental "yang decay" as he was scolded by the palace maid.
In his later years, Zhu Di liked to eat the "elixir" offered by Fang Shijin. Once, Zhu Di was unwell, and after the diagnosis of the imperial doctor, he said, "Recently, the emperor has been deficient in phlegm and fire, which is estimated to be caused by taking the pills of Taoist priests." Zhu Di was furious and said: "If you don't take the immortal medicine, take the ordinary medicine?" ”
Like every monarch who tries to establish immortality, Zhu Di aspires to overcome everything, including death. And this is the "Achilles' heel" of every monarch.
After being seriously ill in his later years, Zhu Di took a lot of "immortal medicine", but it has no effect. Perhaps because he was lonely and lonely in his heart, he also asked the palace people to accompany him during the meal, which was a very special case in the Ming Dynasty. A few months before his death, Zhu Di, who was already 65 years old, asked North Korea to offer beautiful women to "serve" him.
In other aspects, Zhu Di still loves to toss. He personally conquered Mobei for the fifth time, but there was no trace of Mongolia. On the way back in vain, he said with emotion to his close ministers Yang Rong and Jin Youzi: "I had a dream last night on the third watch, and a person who looks like a god in the painting told me: 'God is so good. Is it the intention of God to protect them (the Mongolians)?' On the way, Zhu Di also saw the white bones of the soldiers who died outside the plug when he used the army in previous years, and couldn't help but feel sorry, so he ordered someone to clean up the remains on the road, and personally wrote a memorial to mourn the soldiers who died in the Northern Expedition over the years.
A year before his death, in the twenty-first year of Yongle (1423), Zhu Di refused to admit defeat and once again personally conquered the Tatar part of Mongolia. When he walked to Xuanfu Town (now Xuanhua, Hebei), Hu Hu, who was secretly visited by Zhu Di on the order of Emperor Jianwen, suddenly visited in the middle of the night. At that time, Hu Hu, who had been out on secret visits many times, had been away for 16 years.
It seems that some kind of information brought by Hu Hu has greatly alleviated the anxiety that has plagued Zhu Di for many years, and it is likely to be the whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen. The heaviest stone hanging in Zhu Di's heart fell quietly, and his life was nearing the end.
In the twenty-second year of Yongle (1424), Zhu Di once again embarked on the Northern Expedition to Mongolia. On Gengyin Day in July of that year, the Ming army, which had not captured any trace of the Mongolian, returned without success. The army marched to Yumuchuan (northwest of present-day Duolun, Inner Mongolia), and the invincible Yongle Emperor Zhu Di finally came to the end of his life.
After Zhu Di's death, the accompanying minister Ma Yun and the university scholars Yang Rong and Jin Youzi secretly discussed, using the tin in the army to melt and cast a coffin to decorate Zhu Di, and then kill the tinsmith, and let people eat as usual, creating the illusion that Zhu Di is still alive, and sent someone to report to the prince Zhu Gaochi. Subsequently, Zhu Gaochi ascended the throne as Mingrenzong, and Zhu Di was buried in the Changling Tomb of Tianshou Mountain in Beijing.
According to Zhu Di's last wishes, more than 30 palace people were asked to be martyred. His favorite concubine Han Shi kept calling out to his nurse before she was forced to hang herself, saying, "Mother, I'm going!" Mother, I'm going! Before she could finish speaking, the eunuchs removed the small wooden bench from her feet, leaving Han to struggle on the rope for a while, and finally died of exhaustion.
We know from history textbooks that the Yongle Dynasty was "strong and prosperous", but in fact, due to the continuous use of troops and six trips to the West, the Ming Dynasty's treasury has long been empty, and the financial crisis is serious. During Zhu Di's reign, there were as many as 40 civil unrest across the country; In the last years of Zhu Di's reign in the last years of Yongle, there were even batches of robbers and exiles in Suzhou, Changzhou, Jiaxing, Huzhou and other places in the Ming Dynasty, which had always been known as wealthy; By the time Zhu Di died, the Ming Dynasty was already "the people were displaced, starving and surging, taxes and grain were burdened, and salt thieves were rampant".
If it weren't for Zhu Di's son Zhu Gaochi and grandson Zhu Zhanji to restore governance and turn the tide, perhaps, Zhu Di would also be an Emperor Yang of Sui who died in the country.
Between meritorious achievements and anxiety and mania, between saints and tyrants, Zhu Di sometimes shows side A and sometimes side B. History repeats itself, and he is fortunate to be an entrepreneur, not a destroyer.
(Excerpted from "300 Years of the Ming Dynasty", Ai Gongzi/Author, Liaoning People's Publishing House/Publishing)