In many historical materials, Zhu Di is described as a careerist who has been deliberately trying to seize the throne for many years. But what is undeniable is that at that time, he was the person who reassured Zhu Yuanzhang the most among the vassal kings.
After Zhu Di succeeded in usurping the throne, he sought "legitimacy" for his usurpation and greatly tampered with historical data. For example, he added that the "Emperor Taisun" framed King Yan, and "King Yan" was repeatedly criticized by "Taizu". Testimonials" and other false plots. But one thing is credible. Zhu Yuanzhang did hold Zhu Di in high regard during his lifetime. Among the princes, he was second only to Prince Zhu Biao. For example, Zhu Yuanzhang’s famous words praising Zhu Di, “Di’er is like me” actually came from Lu, the Minister of War at the end of the Hongwu Dynasty. Sijun's personal notes.
The specific plot is that in the 21st year of Hongwu (AD 1390), the Ming army conquered Mongolia in the north. Zhu Di led the Yan army into the barren land and defeated the Mongolian army. He forced the Northern Yuan general Naierbuhua to surrender and surrendered 50,000 people. people. When the good news reached the capital, Zhu Yuanzhang was overjoyed and praised Lu Sijun, Minister of War, "Di'er is like me." This allusion was included in Lu Sijun's personal collection "Xiziconghua". During the Battle of Jingnan, Lu Sijun had already passed away. Considering his status as a lecturer to the prince Zhu Biao and the emperor's grandson Zhu Yunwen, it can be seen that the credibility of this record is extremely high. Zhu Di also continued his efforts. Two years later in March, Zhu Di was once again ordered to set out for the Northern Expedition. He first defeated the Yuan general Suolin Timur's army, and then pursued the victory and defeated Haciwu, the "pillar stone" of the Northern Yuan Dynasty at that time. At that time, when the meritorious generals of the Ming Dynasty were being massacred one after another, Zhu Di, who emerged from the sky, was actually the most outstanding "general star" in the nine sides of the Ming Dynasty. The comment of people at that time that "the King of Yan was good at fighting" was sincerely true.
Zhu Di, who had the most outstanding military achievements among his brothers, had a good reputation among the vassal kings at that time. He had neither the arrogance of King Qin nor the extravagance and corruption of King Jin. As early as In the ninth year of Hongwu (AD 1376), when he accompanied Zhu Yuanzhang on an inspection tour of his hometown Fengyang, he paid attention to the suffering of the people. It is recorded in history that "all the details of the people are investigated and known".
Since the establishment of the vassal state, it has cherished the people's strength in its territory, consolidated military camps, and assisted local officials in developing production. In the 18th and 20th years of Hongwu, the army was mobilized twice to assist the local government in building the Baigou River. , Luanhe Water Conservancy, visited the construction site many times to "take the lead in demonstration", and finally enabled the local area to "irrigate thousands of miles". When the city of Beiping was built, tens of thousands of civilians were mobilized, and "the compensation was generous." During military drills on the border, anyone who tramples on people's land or destroys people's property will be compensated heavily. When demarcating the scope of the army's farmland, they emphasized "not competing with the people for profit." They once gave away thousands of acres of fertile land near Huailai to nearby farmers and "choose other low-lying and barren land for farming." He was also merciless in dealing with the corruption of his soldiers, generals and local officials. He accepted complaints from villagers many times, wrote to Zhu Yuanzhang to expose the illegal behavior of the local government, and punished many corrupt officials. He also showed no tolerance for the disturbing behavior of his generals, and punished several of his soldiers who had followed him through life and death.
Especially in the 22nd year of Hongwu (1391), Liu Tong, the Minister of Logistics who was in charge of the arms, money and food of Peking, was embezzled. Zhu Di ordered Liu Tong to hold a knife and fight with the thirty-year-old who was detained under his command. The soldiers fought each other, and Liu Tong was chopped into meat paste in an instant. Even many years later, when Zhu Di rebelled and Emperor Jianwen sent a large army to conquer the country, Duke Xu Huizu advised him: King Yan "is deeply popular, has strict military discipline, and is the leader of nine countries. He should not be underestimated."
During the Hongwu Dynasty, not only the officials and people in Zhu Di's territory praised Zhu Di highly, but even several "direct ministers" who were known for their "loyalty and outspokenness" in the court at that time also spoke highly of him. Han Yike, the supervisory censor who dared to impeach the powerful, exposed countless powerful officials throughout his life, but he only admired Zhu Di. In his memorial to impeach the king of Jin, he wrote: "If the kings take King Yan (Zhu Di) as a model, they will do everything with peace of mind and frugality." Being the first one is truly a blessing to the Ming Dynasty." Prince Zhu Biao visited the north and became the king of Jin after his return. The King of Qin, while excusing himself, also praised Zhu Di as "the fourth brother (Zhu Di) was at the border of the civilian camp. He was both benevolent and courageous, and was a pillar of the border." For Zhu Yuanzhang, who always hated corrupt officials, advocated simplicity, valued agriculture and loved the people, all this naturally added a lot of "impression points".
But Zhu Di's goal is obviously not to be a "pillar", and what makes Zhu Yuanzhang completely reassured is his "indisputable". In the 21st and 23rd years of Hongwu, Zhu Di won two northern expeditions. He had outstanding military exploits, but he only received a reward of "one hundred thousand coins" from Zhu Yuanzhang, which was no different from his third brother, the King of Jin, who escaped in battle. However, After the King of Jin received the reward, he felt that it was not enough and often complained. However, Zhu Di had no complaints. On the contrary, he repeatedly wrote letters, frankly admitting that his "reward was not worth the merit." Such "modesty and prudence" naturally tipped the balance in Zhu Yuanzhang's heart.
In the twenty-fifth year of Hongwu (1392), Prince Zhu Biao died of illness, and Zhu Biao’s son Zhu Yunwen was established as the emperor’s grandson. Zhu Di discovered that Zhu Yuanzhang was dissatisfied with Lan Yu, so he advised Zhu Yuanzhang: Lan Yu is the "A domineering general will not lose his tail for a long time, and he may harm his grandson (Zhu Yunwen)." In the end, Zhu Yuanzhang became murderous, and the following year the "Sapphire Case" broke out, implicating tens of thousands of people. But with this move, Zhu Di expressed his "position" to Zhu Yuanzhang and completely dispelled Zhu Yuanzhang's suspicion of him. He also got rid of his main opponent who would later launch an army to seize power (Lanyu was the uncle of Prince Zhu Biao and the uncle of future Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunwen). It can be said that he achieved multiple things with one stone.
But even though Zhu Di "performed" skillfully, Zhu Yuanzhang also thought highly of him. However, in Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes, Zhu Di was only a "pillar" in the end, but could not be the "Emperor". The reason was that "Di'er was like In the words "I", Zhu Yuanzhang's requirement for his successor is to be a tolerant "benevolent king". Rather than being a replica of his own "violent rule of the world". Zhu Di, who is "like me", naturally does not meet the requirements. In terms of strength, although Zhu Di dominated one side, he was "well-popular" in the local area, and his army was "the bravest of all nine sides." But if we compare Meng Sen's previous discussion on the relationship between Zhu Yuanzhang's central government and the vassal kings, we can easily see that beside Zhu Di were his two elder brothers, King Qin and King Jin, who had been "ruled and obeyed". Not to mention the central government's advantage of governing one corner of the country, the constraints imposed on him by these two vassal towns that were already loyal to the imperial court made it difficult for him to make any move. This "balance of power" cannot be broken by Zhu Di unless there is an accident.
But an accident happened. In the 28th year of Hongwu (1395 AD), King Zhu Jing of Qin and King Zhu Gang of Jin died of illness in the 31st year of Hongwu. Ling Zhu Di, the "biggest threat" in the center, was helped out of the water. At the same time, it also cleared the obstacles for Zhu Di to raise troops. The successors of the kings of Qin and Jin, Zhu Shangbing and Zhu Yanxi, were still young and barely capable of defending Mongolia, but they were no match for sending troops to compete with Zhu Di. The restraint of Zhu Di by the two major vassal towns no longer existed, and finally there was the "Battle of Jingnan", which lasted for three years. Zhao Yi of the Qing Dynasty once lamented this: God bless King Yan, but harm to the common people.
But for the common people, whether such "God's will" is a "blessing" or a "disaster", Gu Yingtai, a great scholar in the Qing Dynasty, had an alternative view: "Three years of peace, although the killings were heavy, the vassal town But the trouble was finally resolved. Without this battle, the feudal lords would have been left behind, and the separatist regime in the late Tang Dynasty might have happened again." This statement is indeed reasonable. Although the "Battle of Jingnan" caused by the struggle for the right to inherit the throne in the last years of Hongwu ended. Emperor Jianwen lost his throne, but Zhu Di, who succeeded in usurping the throne, then strictly implemented "cutting down the vassals" and continuously removed the power of the vassal towns. Finally, the "centralization of power" of the Ming Dynasty was established and the stability of the country was maintained. Otherwise, a few years later, the Ming Dynasty is likely to evolve into the chaos of the late Tang, Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. The outcome of Jingnan's disaster is indeed "blessings depend on".
But this incident also had an unexpected result. After the Battle of Jingnan, Zhu Di, who ascended to the Dragon Throne, issued an edict to prevent the other vassal kings from "imitating the same". The kings moved inward one by one, causing great damage to the defense of the north. The various "buffer zones" used by the Ming Dynasty to defend Mongolia south of the Great Wall gradually fell. Mongolian tribes increasingly moved southward and wreaked havoc on the Ming border. The foreshadowing of "The Defeat of Tumubao" was thus sown. It is particularly worth mentioning that Zhu Di moved all the Korean king Zhu Song and his "30,000 elite guards" stationed in Kaiyuan south to Fujian, where he appointed the tribal leader Meng Ge Timur as the "Jianzhou Guard" of the Ming Dynasty. "Commander", hereditary guard. More than two hundred years later, in this hereditary guarding family, a gravedigger of the Ming Dynasty emerged: Nurhaci, the ancestor of the Qing Dynasty. Fortunately, we are actually doomed by disaster.