The rolling Yangtze River flows eastward, the waves wash away heroes, and success and failure turn into nothingness. Today, the history encyclopedia editor will tell the story of Zhu Yujian.
After Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, he learned from the lessons of the chaos caused by the succession of the imperial throne in history, and established the imperial throne inheritance method for the Ming Dynasty, which was’ having a legitimate heir to establish a legitimate heir, having no legitimate heir to establish a leader, and having a brother to brother relationship ‘. And it is stipulated that the succession to the throne of each fiefdom shall also be carried out in accordance with this.
Although Zhu Yuanzhang’s original intention in adopting this approach was to avoid sibling conflicts caused by disputes over the throne and the throne. Unfortunately, there are always people who try to undermine this approach due to various considerations. For example, Emperor Yongle did not like his eldest son Zhu Gaochi, which led to a fierce struggle between Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Gaoxu for the position of crown prince during the Yongle reign; For example, Emperor Wanli also did not like his eldest son Zhu Changluo, which led to a more intense struggle for the foundation of the country.
The selection of the heir is crucial to the foundation of the imperial court, and is constrained by the ancestral tradition. No matter how intense the struggle for the throne may be, it is still difficult to shake the traditional way that has been followed. Compared to others, although the succession to the throne of feudal lords does not fundamentally affect it, it is precisely because of this that more embarrassing scenes are unfolding here.
In the forty fourth year of the Wanli reign (1616), the old Tang king Zhu Shuoyun wanted to replace his previous crown prince with the son of his beloved concubine. Just as a feudal lord, if he really does this, then the outcome waiting for him is being imprisoned in the Fengyang Imperial Prison. So it seems difficult to balance how to maintain one’s throne while also achieving one’s goals. But surprisingly, he employed an extremely sinister method to achieve his goal. He secretly ordered someone to imprison his eldest son Zhu Zhirong and his eldest son Zhu Yujian in the flatterers’ office, hoping to starve them to death. Fortunately, a kind official from the royal palace kept secretly delivering food to them, so Zhu Yujian did not die tragically with his father. This is the first time Zhu Yujian has been imprisoned.
This situation was broken thirteen years later. Due to the serious illness of the old Tang king Zhu Shuoyun at this time, the son of the Tang king’s beloved concubine, who had always coveted the throne, was eager to poison Zhu Yujian’s father to death. Fortunately, this time luck sided with Zhu Yujian, as the appearance of someone ultimately saved him.
After the mysterious and sudden death of Tang Shizi, local Ming Dynasty official Chen Qiyu came to offer condolences. Although he did not know the truth about the cause of Tang Shizi’s death, he also understood that there must be something suspicious involved. So, taking advantage of this condolence, he warned the old Tang king that if the cause of the Crown Prince’s death is not yet determined and he rashly changes the Crown Prince, he will not be afraid of future court investigations. Old Tang Wang was afraid that Chen Qiyu would report this matter to the court, so he could only helplessly make Zhu Yujian his’ grandson ‘.
In the fifth year of Chongzhen (1632), Zhu Yujian succeeded as the King of Tang. Due to his tragic experiences, he did not live and dream like other feudal lords in the late Ming Dynasty. On the contrary, the increasingly critical situation in the late Ming Dynasty often made him worried.
In the ninth year of the Chongzhen reign, Ajige led his troops to invade Beizhili, with the vanguard advancing towards Beijing, and the capital was under martial law. Zhu Yujian was eager and submitted a memorial requesting to lead troops to serve the king, but was sternly refused by Emperor Chongzhen. In a moment of desperation, he completely disregarded the taboo of ‘feudal lords are not allowed to lead troops’ after Yongle, scattered the accumulated troops and horses in the palace, and then led them north to serve the king. Marching to Yuzhou, Governor Yang Shengwu reported this matter to Chongzhen. Although Zhu Yujian’s motive was pure, this action still angered Emperor Chongzhen greatly. In November of that year, Chongzhen ordered Zhu Yujian to be deposed as a commoner, and his younger brother was appointed as the Prince of Tang. He also sent the Jinyiwei to escort him to the Fengyang Imperial Prison. This time, luck still stood on his side. If he hadn’t been imprisoned at this time, the historical record of Zhu Yujian would have ended six years later.
In the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng defeated Sun Chuanting in Nanyang. After the defeat, Sun Chuanting led his troops to flee back to Shaanxi. Subsequently, Li Zicheng captured Nanyang and the younger brother of Zhu Yujian, who succeeded as the Tang king, was martyred. And Zhu Yujian escaped unharmed because he was imprisoned in Fengyang. Two years later, Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself in Meishan, and a few months later, Zhu Yousong of the Fu clan succeeded to the throne in Nanjing as Emperor Hongguang.
After the establishment of the Hongguang Dynasty, at the request of Liu Liangzuo, Zhu Yujian was released and granted the title of Prince of Nanyang, with his fiefdom changed to Pingle Prefecture in Guangxi. But at this time, Zhu Yujian had been imprisoned for many years and was already poor and sick, unable to travel far, so he was stranded in Suzhou. However, the Hongguang Dynasty, which had many inherent shortcomings upon its establishment, was terminated after only one year. After experiencing two imprisonments and having his throne deposed once, Zhu Yujian accidentally became the new Emperor of Southern Ming.
After the fall of the Hongguang Dynasty, Zhu Yujian, who was stranded in Suzhou, was taken to Fujian by Zheng Zhilong and enthroned as emperor by Zheng Zhilong and the Ming Dynasty civil and military forces who fled to this place.
The experience of numerous disasters and hardships has tempered his tenacious will, increased his experience, and at this time, his long-standing concern for the country and the people has also found a place to apply. After ascending to the throne, he immediately issued an edict stating that he would personally lead the Sixth Division to restore lost territory. Just based on this, he deserves our respect because he is the only Southern Ming Emperor who dared to publicly express his intention to personally requisition and restore lost land.
What was even more surprising was that, given the lessons learned from the downfall of the Hongguang Dynasty, he took advantage of the situation and proposed the strategy of ‘resisting invaders’ and the slogan of’ abandoning party strife and jointly safeguarding the Ming Dynasty ‘. If it weren’t for Zheng Zhilong’s constraints, I believe he would be enough to revive the Ming Dynasty.
Zheng Zhilong’s selfish intentions only allowed Zhu Yujian, although the Emperor of Southern Ming, to have no power to mobilize a single soldier. In this regard, he did not choose to sit idly by. He decided to take a risk and go to Hunan to find the remaining members of Li Zicheng who had already surrendered to the Ming Dynasty. It seems that his luck has been exhausted from the previous two attempts to turn misfortune into good fortune, and this time he failed to create a miracle again.
Faced with a strong enemy’s pressure, although the Governor General of Minghu Guang, He Tengjiao, gave up the illusion of ‘uniting with the enemy to pacify them’, he still attempted to gain profits through the dispute between the ‘enemy and the enemy’. As the highest military and political commander of the Ming Dynasty in Huguang, his idea ultimately led to the disastrous defeat of Li Zicheng’s remaining troops and the fall of most of Hunan. Subsequently, Zhu Yujian’s plan to go to Hunan had to be abandoned.
Nevertheless, Zhu Yujian did not give up on his final effort. If he couldn’t go to Hunan, he decided to go to Jiangxi. He hoped to reorganize the remaining troops of Li Zicheng in Jiangxi as his own personal army, in order to force Zheng Zhilong’s forces to obey, and then rely on the financial resources of Guangdong and Guangxi as a guarantee to launch the Northern Expedition. If that’s the case, he still has a chance to revive Daming. But at this moment, he was a bit unlucky. When he arrived in Tingzhou, he was caught up and captured by the enemy. A month later, he died of hunger strike.
In my opinion, Zhu Yujian is the most capable emperor of Southern Ming. If he does not die, Southern Ming will not perish. Although he accidentally became the Emperor of Southern Ming after being imprisoned twice due to luck, he was later captured in Tingzhou due to a little bit of bad luck and ultimately had no achievements.
