Chapter 67: Ascends the throne as emperor, reign title Yongle

Tang Dynasty, the ninth year of Wude.

Li Yuan felt a little uncomfortable when he saw this scene. After all, he had done the same thing before, and was more straightforward - he directly told his second son that he wanted to make him the crown prince! (This matter is questionable. The history books record that Li Yuan promised twice, but some people think that both were false. For the sake of the plot, this article takes the view that the second time was true)

Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng rarely reached a consensus: they were full of resentment.

[On the second day, Zhu Di offered sacrifices to the Yangtze River. On the third day, the Yan army crossed the Yangtze River from Guazhou and defeated Sheng Yong who had retreated to Gaozi Lane.

This place is only one step away from the capital. But Zhu Di still remained calm. He did not follow the advice of the generals to attack the capital directly, but first ensured the smooth transportation of his army.

On the sixth day, he led his troops to Zhenjiang, and the defending general Tong Jun opened the city and surrendered.

On the eighth day of the first lunar month, the Yan army stationed in Longtan. The people of the capital were in a panic, and everyone was worried about their own safety. At this time, there were 200,000 soldiers guarding the capital; outside the city, Wang Shuying recruited soldiers in Guangde, Yao Shan recruited soldiers in Suzhou, Lian Zining recruited soldiers in Hangzhou, and Huang Guan recruited soldiers in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

But Zhu Di was too fast. Emperor Jianwen did not expect his uncle to be so good at fighting, nor did he expect his generals and troops to be defeated so quickly. He had only one choice: to hold on as long as possible and wait for the ministers who recruited soldiers to return with troops to defend the king.

But will Zhu Di give him this time? Of course not.

Moreover, he overestimated the confidence and loyalty of some of his subordinates and underestimated Zhu Di's deterrent power. 】

Ming Dynasty, the 13th year of Hongwu.

Everyone first admired Zhu Di's calmness, and then sighed at Zhu Yunwen's defeat.

Even the princes did not say anything. If it were them, they would not think of attacking Zhenjiang after crossing the Yangtze River and reaching the capital. By then, they would probably have been thinking about conquering the capital and ascending the throne!
"I'm afraid these 200,000 defenders are a mistake." Geng Bingwen said. As a famous general with a talent for defending the city, he has seen the difficulty of Emperor Jianwen defending Nanjing. For the defenders, confidence, morale, determination and loyalty are all important. But obviously, under the confrontation between Emperor Jianwen and Prince of Yan in the past few years, and Zhu Di's high-level performance in the south this time to reach the capital at a lightning speed, the people in the capital have long been unstable. I'm afraid that there may not be many generals willing to hold on until the last moment, and as long as one or two city gates are opened, the Jingnan Campaign can come to an end.

Others also understood this. Xu Da and Li Wenzhong were thinking frantically in their hearts: Could it be my son who opened the city gate? Could it be my son?

Han Dynasty, the first year of Yuanshuo.

Liu Che pointed out: "The problem with Emperor Jianwen is that he underestimated his opponents, but his opponents were much better than him; and he overestimated himself, but his ability was actually mediocre."

[Zhu Yunwen ordered Xu Huizu to divide his troops for defense and let Prince Gu Zhu Tan, Li Jinglong and others guard the Jinchuan Gate.

Zhu Di's other brother-in-law Xu Zengshou wanted to be Zhu Di's accomplice and planned to surrender, but was beaten by the censor Wei Mian, the Dali Temple official Zou Jin and other officials, and reported to Emperor Jianwen, but Emperor Jianwen did nothing. However, after Zhu Di started to attack the capital, he still wanted to be Zhu Di's accomplice and was stabbed to death by Emperor Jianwen at Zuoshun Gate.

On the 13th, the Yan army began to approach Jinchuan Gate. Zhu Di was still cautious and first sent Liu Bao and a dozen cavalrymen to investigate. When they arrived at Chaoyang Gate, they found that the court was not prepared at all and hurried to report. Zhu Di then led his army forward, while Prince Gu Zhu Tan and Li Jinglong opened the city gate to welcome the Yan army.

Finally, after nearly four years of fighting, Zhu Di finally succeeded completely and became the only local prince in history to successfully rebel. He entered the capital and was about to reap the greatest fruit - the throne. And the twenty-second year of Yongle's rule was about to begin. 】

The picture on the sky curtain changed into a scene where Zhu Di, wearing armor, led the Yan army into the capital through Jinchuan Gate, which was solemn and high-spirited.

Ming Dynasty, the 13th year of Hongwu.

Li Wenzhong sighed. Sure enough, it was his son who opened the city gate. Although he had a premonition before, when he really saw this scene, he could only stand up and salute Zhu Yuanzhang again. But before he could speak, Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand and asked him to stand up. He only said: "Jiujiang's choice was not wrong. Even if no one opened the city gate for our grandson, he might not be able to hold on for long." He looked at Xu Da and sighed: "It's a pity for Zengshou." Xu Da shook his head: "That was also caused by his own choice. Thank you for your magnanimity."

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Di again and said, "Fourth Brother, let's not talk about those hypocritical people. When you entered the capital, how did you treat your nephew? How did you treat those ministers?"

Zhu Di remained silent. Facing the gazes coming at him, he remained silent. After a while, he looked at Zhu Yuanzhang and said, "As long as my nephews are well, I will definitely treat them well, and the same goes for the ministers."

"What if they take any action?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked immediately.

"My nephew can still be treated well. Minister, I only know how to cut the weeds at their roots." Zhu Di still gave his own answer.

The ministers in the hall were silent. They could already foresee that when Zhu Di entered the city and ascended the throne, there would be a bloody storm.

Han Dynasty, the first year of Yuanshuo.

Liu An, the King of Huainan, was stunned: The only local prince in history who successfully rebelled? The only one? Does that mean he failed?
The opposite mood was that of Emperor Wu of Han. After seeing this sentence, his mood index immediately rose by several percentage points. Great! Doesn't Tianmu mean that the other vassal kings have failed? This shows that God does not support these restless vassal kings of the Han Dynasty! Then, wouldn't the Han Dynasty have no worries about the vassal kings?

How should Zhu Di treat his good nephew? Zhu Yunwen did not give him the choice. After Zhu Di entered Beijing, a fire broke out in the palace, and Emperor Jianwen disappeared. In the following years, Zhu Di secretly sent people to investigate his whereabouts.

The ministers of Emperor Jianwen were subjected to a great purge. Qi Tai, Huang Zicheng, and Fang Xiaoru were not to be mentioned. Other ministers who helped Emperor Jianwen recruit soldiers, those who were unwilling to acknowledge Zhu Di's accession to the throne, and those who still regarded Emperor Jianwen as the orthodox, some chose to commit suicide, and some were imprisoned and executed by Zhu Di.

A person who deserves special mention here is Fang Xiaoru.

There is a saying in later generations that Zhu Di killed all ten of Fang Xiaoru's clans because Fang Xiaoru refused to pledge allegiance until his death and confronted him in the palace.

In fact, this statement is inaccurate. The earliest record of the extermination of ten clans appeared in the book "Ye Ji" by Zhu Zhishan, a scholar from Jiangnan during the mid-Ming Dynasty. This book mainly records folk essays, unofficial history and ghost stories.

It was not recorded in the History of Ming Dynasty, Ming Shilu and Ming Chulu.

In the Veritable Records of Emperor Shenzong of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Shenzong pardoned a total of 1,403 people who were implicated by Fang Xiaoru. If they were executed at the time, how could they be pardoned? Zhu Di did kill Fang Xiaoru, and many others, 847 or 873 people, but most of these people were directly related to those who proposed to reduce the power of the feudal lords, opposed the Jingnan Campaign, and did not recognize Zhu Di. In other words, they were political enemies and Fang Xiaoru's accomplices, rather than some kind of venting of Zhu Di's anger.

After Fang Xiaoru's death, his body was still that of his students.

So, how did the saying that Fang Xiaoru executed ten clans come about? 】

Ming Dynasty, the 13th year of Hongwu.

Seeing the palace on fire and Emperor Jianwen missing, Zhu Di and others were relieved. As for Zhu Di's actions against those old ministers of Jianwen, everyone felt good and did not think there was anything wrong.

but……

"Ten clans?" Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Di, and Zhu Biao disagreed. The princes winked and looked at Zhu Di.

"???" Zhu Di didn't understand. He wouldn't become like this. He would be crazy to kill ten clans for no reason. Even if Fang Xiaoru was the leader of the Jiangnan literati and a student of Song Lian, so what? Was it worth him killing ten clans? When his father killed Hu Weiyong, he only killed him and three clans!
Everyone turned around and looked at the sky curtain. It happened to be talking about the untrue part about Fang Xiaoru's execution of ten clans.

Zhu Di said confidently: "I told you I could not do this!" There were only more than 800 people!

The ministers were also relieved. They thought Zhu Di was even more powerful than the current Wansui! Now it seems that it is not so bad. Moreover, they are also confident that their children, as descendants of the founding heroes, will not become part of the first wave of the purge even if they do not stand on Zhu Di's side; even if they still have to die in the end, they will die more decently.

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded. That was right. As for the accomplices, of course they should be killed. Now he had only experienced the early stage of the Hu Weiyong case, and many people were implicated, but later the Hu Weiyong case implicated 30,000 people.

"However," Zhu Yuanzhang frowned, "it was later reported that you had implicated ten clans. It seems that you had not yet cleaned up those rebellious people at that time!"

The other princes also thought so: This must be the case! Otherwise, how could they put such a hat on the fourth prince?
Although Zhu Biao was kind and did not agree with killing too many people, he did not think there was much problem with Zhu Di's behavior of clearing out political enemies. He just felt that Zhu Di might be a little too hasty and did not do a good job, which led to all kinds of speculation and fabrication about his behavior in later generations.

Ming Dynasty, the 16th year of Yongle.

Zhu Di sat up straight and sneered: "Spreading rumors that I killed Fang Xiaoru's ten clans? It seems that these Confucian scholars and Jiangnan literati are very dissatisfied with me! Even if I really killed his ten clans, why don't I write it in the history books?" He has already determined that it was the result of the Confucian scholars, who else could it be? By then, his good nephew will be the benevolent and holy king, and he will be the cruel and rebellious tyrant! Because I don't conform to their ideas and am not influenced by them?

"He still killed too few people!" Zhu Di came to the conclusion. Otherwise, why would people come and spread rumors about his father when his father had killed so many people?
The emperors of other dynasties had basically the same reaction. To them, killing more than 800 people was nothing, not to mention Zhu Di's situation. They were more interested in how this statement was formed and spread widely. This was the key!
[In fact, the formation of this statement is mainly because it has certain rationality and there is demand.

The first is rationality.

For ordinary people and lower-level Confucian scholars, the killing of more than 800 people at once was still very shocking. However, these 800 people were Fang Xiaoru's ten clans, which seemed reasonable.

On the other hand, this saying first appeared in conjunction with karma, and society is very fond of all kinds of karma stories. When people hear them, they think, wow, it makes more sense! Especially since this story involves the secrets of the royal family, which is of most interest to ordinary people, people are more willing to listen to and spread this saying.

Ming Dynasty, Hongwu Years.

The young Zhu Di's temper was more obvious. He almost yelled, "What does this have to do with me? Just because the people in the market like to listen to stories, do I have to make them up?"

Zhu Yuanzhang was also unhappy. He also didn't like the royal family's own affairs being edited by everyone outside the royal family, especially this kind of content that was obviously inconsistent with the facts and would have a negative impact on the reputation of the Ming royal family. He was already suspicious, and now his suspicion of Confucian scholars and Jiangnan literati continued to rise.

Next comes demand.

The main people here are not ordinary people, but Confucian scholars.

On the one hand, in their hearts, Fang Xiaoru was wronged. No matter how many people Zhu Di killed, it was wrong for him to kill Fang Xiaoru. In their eyes, Fang Xiaoru's behavior perfectly conformed to the Confucian "loyalty and righteousness", and also conformed to their ideal image of upholding justice in the face of imperial power. They naturally had to speak for Fang Xiaoru. With the rise of scholar-official politics, Fang Xiaoru was gradually rehabilitated, which in turn made Fang Xiaoru's story richer.

On the other hand, it was a political need. The literati used Fang Xiaoru as a banner to carry out political propaganda and political struggle.

Finally, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, ministers were needed to be loyal and righteous, so Fang Xiaoru was used as an example for propaganda. 】

Zhu Yuanzhang felt the political confrontation of that period from this narrative. On one side were the literati, and on the other side, it could be their rival party or the emperor... By portraying Fang Xiaoru as a loyal and righteous man and putting the blame on the fourth brother, wouldn't that also be an accusation against the emperor?
"Humph," Zhu Yuanzhang's suspicion and anger grew stronger and stronger, "It seems that we are so busy dealing with corruption that we have forgotten about these people who talk nonsense all day long!" He did not forget to warn Zhu Biao and his other sons, "You have seen that these people will throw dirty water on our heads whenever they get the chance. We must not let our guard down and we must not be soft-hearted!"

Zhu Biao, Zhu Di and others learned from his teachings seriously.

The civil and military officials in the hall all shrank their necks, knowing that in a few days, new policies and storms would come, and it was very likely that another group of people would lose their heads. But soon, they began to exchange glances quietly, after all, this matter basically had nothing to do with them. Not to mention these founding generals, even the civil officials present were basically not the same as the literati pointed out in the sky.

And then a big thunder struck.

Late Ming Dynasty? Late Ming Dynasty!
Zhu Yuanzhang's face tensed up: "The end of the Ming Dynasty?" Although he knew that all dynasties would eventually come to an end, this did not stop him from always imagining that the Ming Dynasty would last forever! As a result, he now knew that the Ming Dynasty would perish in the future. How could he not be depressed and angry? When did the Ming Dynasty perish? How long did it last? Was it five hundred years? Why did it perish? Which dynasty would come after it? ... A series of questions swirled in his mind.

Zhu Di pursed his lips tightly, he was in a bad mood. After all, according to the miracle, his descendants should inherit the throne in the future, so the demise of the Ming Dynasty was obviously related to his descendants.

Zhu Biao, who was standing by, noticed his worry and anger, and patted his shoulder soothingly.

(End of this chapter)