Zhu Chao accompanied me to watch short videos

Chapter 160: Yongle Emperor

Zhu Yuanzhang used all his national strength to attack Hongdu in an attempt to recapture Jiangxi, but was once again strongly blocked by Zhu Yuanzhang's nephew Zhu Wenzheng. Three months later, after sufficient preparation, Zhu Yuanzhang led a fleet to rescue Nanchang and fought a decisive battle with Chen Youliang on Poyang Lake.

The Battle of Poyang Lake was the largest naval battle in the Middle Ages. The 36-year-old Zhu Yuanzhang led 20 troops against Chen Youliang's 60 troops, and fought a war of attrition using the advantage of fire attack.

At the beginning, the battle was very tense, but as the wind direction changed, the whole situation changed. A northeast wind suddenly blew over Poyang Lake, and Zhu Yuanzhang seized the opportunity to send a death squad into the enemy camp to set fire. For a time, Poyang Lake was full of flames, and the lake water turned red. Chen Youliang was shot by a stray arrow at low tide, and a generation of heroes came to an end.

Soon after, Zhu Yuanzhang captured Wuchang, the capital of Chen Youliang, and Chen Li, the son of Chen Youliang, surrendered. A year later, Zhu Yuanzhang proclaimed himself the King of Wu. To distinguish him from Zhang Shicheng, we call Zhang Shicheng the Eastern Wu and Zhu Yuanzhang the Western Wu.

Zhang Shicheng was a man of calculations. Sometimes he would pay tribute to the Yuan Dynasty, and sometimes he would declare himself king. The Yuan Dynasty had no way to deal with him and could only allow him to occupy the most prosperous Jiangnan area and establish his own regime. However, Zhang Shicheng was short-sighted and only wanted to be a local emperor in Jiangnan.

Many of Zhu Yuanzhang's generals were killed by Zhang Shicheng, and even Zhu Yuanzhang's nephew Zhu Wenzheng wanted to defect to Zhang Shicheng. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang hated Zhang Shicheng to the core.

Five years after the destruction of Chen Youliang, Zhu Yuanzhang sent troops to destroy the Eastern Wu and captured Suzhou, the capital of Zhang Shicheng. On the ship that was escorting Zhang Shicheng to Yingtian, Zhang Shicheng committed suicide.

In 1368, the 41-year-old Zhu Yuanzhang proclaimed himself emperor in the southern suburbs of Yingtian, named the country Ming, and changed the reign to Hongwu. In August of the same year, the Ming army conquered the Yuan Dynasty's capital Dadu, and Emperor Shun of the Yuan Dynasty fled north with his clan members. The arrogant Golden Family was driven out of the Central Plains.

After several northern expeditions, the Ming army successively eliminated the remnants of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty in the north and the separatist regimes in the south, thus completing the unification of the country.

However, as the Ming Dynasty's rule became more and more perfect, political struggles became more and more intense. The Huaixi heroes were too prestigious in the army and did whatever they wanted in the local area, which made Zhu Yuanzhang very angry. Zhu Yuanzhang, who came from a poor family, also hated the grassroots officials for deceiving their superiors and being corrupt.

Zhu Yuanzhang learned from the previous dynasty that the prime minister had too much power, and gradually weakened the power of the Secretariat. When Zhu Yuanzhang was 53 years old, the Hu Weiyong case occurred, which made him completely abolish the prime minister system.

Although the functions of the Cabinet Grand Secretary in later generations were similar to those of the Prime Minister, their power was far from comparable to that of the Prime Minister.

In order to rectify the administrative atmosphere, Zhu Yuanzhang launched the Empty Seal Case and the Guo Huan Case successively, in which tens of thousands of officials were implicated and the court was emptied.

Because there were too many officials involved, the court could not quickly replenish them, so they had to let some people with less serious crimes go to work in shackles. However, compared with the subsequent Li Shanchang case, Lan Yu case and Guo Huan case, these can only be regarded as minor incidents.

After the Ming Dynasty completed the unification of the country, the Huaixi heroes became the targets of Zhu Yuanzhang's purge. The first to bear the brunt was the old Tai Shi Li Shanchang. Ten years after the Hu Weiyong case, the 10-year-old Zhu Yuanzhang issued an order to investigate the Hu Weiyong case again, and 63 Huaixi heroes headed by Li Shanchang were involved.

Two years later, the crown prince Zhu Biao died. Zhu Yuanzhang was heartbroken and appointed Zhu Biao's son Zhu Yunwen as the crown prince. In order to pave the way for his grandson, Zhu Yuanzhang launched the Lan Yu case the following year and arrested all the Huaixi heroes. In addition, many middle and low-level officers in the army were also accused of being Lan Yu's rebels. Their families were either killed or exiled, and were put on a separate list and could not stand up.

After such a bloody purge, the Zhu family's rule was stabilized, but Zhu Yunwen's throne was far from stable, because many of Zhu Yuanzhang's sons were still eyeing the throne. But Zhu Yuanzhang was too late to take care of these.

In 1398, Zhu Yuanzhang died at the age of 71. He was posthumously named Taizu and buried in the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum. Zhu Yuanzhang's life was extremely controversial. He was born in a humble family and became an orphan at the age of 17. With his talents, he swept away the heroes in the troubled times, unified the country, and ushered in a new era. In the 5000-year history of China, only Liu Bang can be compared with him.

At the same time, he was extremely cruel and ruthless. He launched the four major crimes of Hongwu, killing people in rivers of blood and countless heads. One general's success is the result of the sacrifice of thousands of people, and a project takes more than eternity. What will happen to the Ming Dynasty after Zhu Yuanzhang's death? We will see in the next issue.

——"How can it be cruel? They killed corrupt officials, but they didn't cause any harm to the people. How cruel!"

——"Maybe many people envy his scripts, but he lost his parents in childhood, his wife in middle age, and his son in old age."

——"Zhu Yuanzhang was the only one who admitted that he came from the lower class. This alone is amazing."

——"Well, actually he wanted to acknowledge Zhu Xi as his ancestor, but he was too close to him and his family tree recorded him very clearly, so he simply stopped acknowledging anyone."

——"It is no shame to be born in a humble family. It is the one who can bend and stretch himself that is a real man."

[The founder of the emperor guarding the national gate, understand the Ming Dynasty Emperor Zhu Di Zhu Di Ming Dynasty history in one breath]

He led five expeditions to the northern desert and six voyages to the West. He spent his whole life in military service and created the tradition of Ming Dynasty emperors guarding the country's borders. He moved the capital to Beijing, built the "Yongle Encyclopedia", and his prestige and virtue spread far and wide, making people from all over the world submit to him.

However, the brutal fighting left countless controversies for later generations. In this video, let us walk into the life of Emperor Yongle Zhu Di in chronological order and take a look at the Yongle era, the most prosperous period of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Di was born in Yingtian Prefecture, Nanjing. According to official records of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Di was the fourth son of Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma. However, there is much controversy over who Zhu Di's biological mother was.

Some say his biological mother was a concubine of Emperor Shun of Yuan, while others say his biological mother was a Goryeo woman. But no matter what, the official history of later generations generally recognizes that Zhu Di was the legitimate son born to Empress Ma. When Zhu Di was 8 years old, Zhu Yuanzhang proclaimed himself emperor and established the country. He made his eldest son Zhu Biao the crown prince and named his sons.

At this time, Zhu Di had his own name like his brothers. Zhu Yuanzhang not only named his son, but also formulated the rules for naming his descendants. Each branch had a 20-character generation number. The generation number of Zhu Di's branch was "高瞻戚见佑，厚载翊常由". Because Zhu Yuanzhang had lived a hard life since childhood, he paid great attention to the education of his sons.

Not only did he hire famous teachers to teach his sons to study well, he also sent his sons to his hometown Fengyang to understand the people's sentiments and recall the past.

Among the 26 brothers, Prince of Yan Zhu Di was an outlier. He was neither gentle and respectful nor arrogant and domineering. On the contrary, he paid great attention to cultivating his own reputation and had a great influence in the army.

But when Zhu Yuanzhang was still pleased that his fourth son had saved him from worry, he could not have imagined how big a storm this son would stir up in the future. At the age of 16, Zhu Di married the eldest daughter of General Xu Da under the arrangement of his father. Six years later, he took his wife and children to Beijing to be enfeoffed. Beijing was once the capital of the Yuan Dynasty, Dadu.

In 1368, after General Xu Da of Zenglu conquered Dadu, Zhu Yuanzhang renamed it Beiping. The capital city of Beijing that we are familiar with today was rebuilt by Zhu Di after he overthrew the old city of the Yuan Dynasty.

After the wars at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the north was in ruins, with a sparse population and barren land. The Mongols also harassed the south from time to time, trying to make a comeback. In order to more effectively control the north and defend the frontier, Zhu Yuanzhang, who was in Nanjing, appointed his nine sons to important towns in the northern frontier, known as the Nine Frontier Kings.

As one of the nine great kings of the frontier, Zhu Di led his troops on many expeditions since 1390, and made repeated military achievements, which earned him the high regard of Zhu Yuanzhang. He also accumulated rich combat experience, which laid the foundation for his future rebellion.

Zhu Yuanzhang had also considered the possibility that the princes might have ulterior motives, so he restricted the power of the princes in many ways, while at the same time allowing the princes of the various border regions to be linked together and restrain each other.

If one person rebelled, the other princes would rise up and attack him. But man proposes, God disposes. In 1392, Crown Prince Zhu Biao died. Three years later, Prince of Qin Zhu Chong died. Three years later, Prince of Jin Zhu Gang died. Prince of Yan Zhu Di had become the most powerful prince at that time, without a doubt.

At the age of 39, Zhu Yuanzhang passed away, and the 22-year-old grandson Zhu Yunwen ascended the throne and changed the reign title to Jianwen, known in history as Emperor Jianwen. Emperor Jianwen was very afraid of King Zhou, and soon after he ascended the throne, he could not wait to issue an order to depose Zhu Di's cousin King Zhou as a commoner and exile him to Yunnan. Then he also deposed and surrendered the four kings of Qi, Xiang, Dai, and Min. Among them, King Xiang did not want to be humiliated by Emperor Jianwen, so he set himself on fire.

Emperor Jianwen was furious and gave King Xiang a bad posthumous title. Emperor Wen of Jin's actions chilled the hearts of the princes of the royal family. Zhu Yuanzhang's idea of ​​the nine kings of the frontier restraining each other also failed.

The 40-year-old Prince of Yan, Zhu Di, started a rebellion in the name of clearing the court of corrupt officials, which was known in history as the Jingnan Campaign. All the other princes watched from the sidelines, waiting for the final winner of this royal internal war. Facing the battle-hardened Zhu Di, the Emperor Jianwen, who had been reading the books of sages, obviously had no military experience. The famous generals who founded the Ming Dynasty had long been purged by Zhu Yuanzhang, leaving only a few.

Emperor Jianwen first found the veteran general Geng Bingwen to attack the Prince of Yan. Unexpectedly, he was defeated by Zhu Di in Zhending. Geng Bingwen switched from offense to defense, but Emperor Jianwen could not wait to order Geng Bingwen back to the court and sent Cao Guogong Li Jinglong to lead 50 troops to attack.

Li Jinglong had a great background. His father, Li Wenzhong, was Zhu Yuanzhang's nephew and a famous general in the founding of the country, second only to Xu Da and Chang Yuchun. As a descendant of a general, Li Jinglong was highly regarded by Zhu Yuanzhang in his later years and was a rising star at that time.

However, Li Jinglong lost face in the Jingnan Campaign and became a laughing stock of the world.

When Zhu Di learned that Li Jinglong led an army of 50 to the north, he handed over Beiping to the princess and the prince, and he led his troops to borrow troops from Prince Ning. The princess of Yan was indeed a daughter of a general, and she mobilized the old and young in the city to pour water on the city wall while the weather was very cold, turning Beiping into an ice city.

The imperial army was composed of southerners. Because they were not used to the climate and lacked warm clothing, they could not capture Peking, and many of them died of frostbite. When Zhu Di returned with the troops he borrowed, the 50-strong imperial army was already exhausted. Li Jinglong hurriedly deployed his troops, but was defeated by Zhu Di as expected. His entire army was wiped out, leaving behind countless food and supplies.

After this great victory, Zhu Di was very proud and thought he was invincible and the throne was within reach. Unexpectedly, when he went south to attack Jinan, he was blocked by Tie Xuan and Sheng Yong. In the Battle of Dongchang, he suffered the biggest defeat of his life. General Zhang Yu was killed in the battle and Zhu Di burst into tears.

After this, Zhu Di and the imperial court fought over Shandong, and the war became tense. After all, Zhu Di only had a small area around Peking. If he fought a protracted war, it would be difficult for him to outlast Emperor Jianwen, who controlled the entire country.

What no one expected was that when Emperor Jianwen was about to capture Lingbi, he completely defeated the imperial army in the Battle of Lingbi and captured Ping An and others. The imperial court no longer had the strength to fight, and the defenders along the way no longer resisted and surrendered one after another. The Yan army successfully crossed the Yangtze River and arrived at the city of Nanjing.

At this time, Emperor Jianwen was still holding on and waiting for help. As long as the Yan army could not take Nanjing for a long time and the reinforcements arrived in time, the siege of Nanjing would be lifted. However, the royal family members in Nanjing had already had their own plans. Tiger Prince Zhu Hui and Cao Guogong Li Jinglong opened the Jinchuan Gate to welcome the Yan army into the city. In desperation, Emperor Jianwen set a raging fire in the palace and disappeared from then on.

Zhu Di carried out a bloody purge of civil officials who were more important than Emperor Jianwen. Although he said he would not punish the surrendered military officials and even rewarded them, he still forced them to death after his throne was consolidated.

In 1402, the 43-year-old Zhu Di officially ascended the throne and changed the reign title to Yongle, abolished the Jianwen era name, and restored all government orders to the Hongwu period. Zhu Di's first priority after ascending the throne was to appease the royal family and give them more rewards, while gradually reducing the military power of the princes, making them wealthy and idle, and unable to pose a threat to the throne.

Although this allowed the throne to be passed down among his descendants, it also left the Ming Dynasty with a huge financial burden.

Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang had the idea of ​​moving the capital to the north, but due to various reasons, it was never implemented. The capital of the Ming Dynasty was still Nanjing.

By the time of Zhu Di, after 30 years of recuperation and restoration of production, the Ming Dynasty had reached its peak. Zhu Di ordered the upgrading of Beiping to BJ and began preparations for the relocation of the capital. In order to expand tribute trade and promote the prestige of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Di sent Zheng He to the West six times since he was 46 years old, passing through more than 30 countries and regions, and as far as East Africa and the Red Sea.

This was the largest sea voyage in ancient China and the peak of ancient tribute trade. The vastness of the floating clouds far surpassed that of the Han and Tang dynasties. The success of the training of Hu Shengyi, in the year after Zheng He's first voyage to the West, Zhu Di ordered the compilation of the "Yongle Encyclopedia", which is the first large-scale book in ancient China.

The book has a total of 7,000 to 8,000 volumes, but due to wars and other reasons, only a few hundred volumes have been preserved to this day.

After making remarkable achievements in the cultural and diplomatic fields, Zhu Di began to think about how to further expand the territory of the Ming Dynasty. He sent a large army to conquer Annan and successfully incorporated it into the territory of the Ming Dynasty. However, due to constant rebellions, the Ming army was exhausted and eventually had to withdraw during the Xuande period.

——"What a pity for the Yongle Encyclopedia. This is much better than Whip's broken Siku Quanshu."

——"It's a pity indeed. It's the most amazing book in history."

——"It is necessary to conquer Annan, because it will pave the way for the expedition to the West."