Emperor Jianwen was in control of the world and had strong soldiers and horses. Why did he let King Zhu Di of Yan win the battle?

Article | Feiyu Tells History

Are there any friends like me who were confused about the posthumous names, temple names, and reign names of ancient emperors?

When you think about it, the name is just a code name, and these emperors suddenly have such code names, which makes people confused about east, west, north and south, which is really troublesome.

If you have read "Those Things in the Ming Dynasty", you will have some understanding of these "numbers".

The posthumous title refers to the evaluation given to the emperor or monarch by his descendants after his death. The names we give to the monarchs during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, such as King Wu of Qin, King Wuling of Zhao, King Wei of Qi, etc., are these monarchs. posthumous title.

From the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, during this period, we were more accustomed to calling the emperor by his temple name. The temple name refers to the special name given to the emperor when he established a house in the Ancestral Temple after his death.

In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, new names for emperors appeared. Posthumous names and temple names were not used much, and reign names became popular again.

The reign name is a name used by the Chinese feudal dynasty to commemorate the year. The succession of the new emperor is a new beginning. The emperor will give a reign name, and the first year of using this reign name will be Call it the first year.

The reign name was first created by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and the reign name was Jianyuan.

However, before the Ming and Qing Dynasties, an emperor had many reign names. Emperors during the Ming and Qing Dynasties did not change their reign names very much, so future generations would call their reign names according to custom.

The founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, we are accustomed to call him Ming Taizu, and some people call him Emperor Hongwu. The former is his temple name, and the latter is his reign name.

And his posthumous title is Emperor Kaitian Xingdao Zhaoji Li, the Great Sage, the Supreme God, Benevolence, Justice, Wu Junde, Success and Gao.

Sorry, I have trouble even reading it, let alone remembering it.

Generally, in terms of temple names, the founding emperor is called "Zong", the second emperor is called "Zong", and the same is true for the rest. However, the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Di, was called Ming Chengzu. Why is this?

Because he snatched the throne from his nephew Emperor Jianwen, then the question arises: Emperor Jianwen was in control of the world, and his army was strong and had sufficient food and grass. Why did he let Zhu Di, the king of Yan, win the battle?

We will analyze the reasons behind this incident through "Those Things in the Ming Dynasty". Ming Taizu: My grandson, I will leave the country to you

As an emperor with a grassroots background, Zhu Yuanzhang’s ability to establish the Ming Dynasty has to be said to be a miracle. His desire for power is very strong and does not belong to history at all. Qin Shihuang, the first emperor in history.

After Zhu Yuanzhang became the emperor, he purged and governed the heroes who assisted him in conquering the world, so that it was a luxury to hope that the heroes in the early Ming Dynasty would have a good death.

However, it has to be said that Zhu Yuanzhang is a very qualified father, especially for his eldest son Zhu Biao. Zhu Yuanzhang is an out-and-out good father. After Zhu Yuanzhang succeeded to the throne, he couldn't wait to put him Zhu Biao was established as the prince and made it clear to the world that his empire was to be left to Zhu Biao.

No matter how capable Zhu Yuanzhang's sons are, such as Zhu Di and others, they have to stop coveting the throne.

But Zhu Biao was so unsatisfied that he went to report to the Lord of Hell at a young age, which made Zhu Yuanzhang very sad. Fortunately, Zhu Biao also left Zhu Yunwen, the eldest grandson of the emperor, for Zhu Yuanzhang, so Zhu Yuanzhang Give all your love to Zhu Biao to Zhu Yunwen.

Of course, this also includes the throne that should belong to Zhu Biao.

With his grandfather's favoritism and affirmation, Zhu Yunwen's life was pretty good. In order to let Zhu Yunwen become a free emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang also enfeoffed his other sons to other places to become vassal kings. The intention is for them to defend the capital.

Zhu Yuanzhang’s plan was actually not bad, and he did almost everything he could do for Zhu Yunwen. In this way, Zhu Yuanzhang reluctantly said goodbye to the beauty of the world, and Zhu Yunwen became the second in the Ming Dynasty. The emperor is Emperor Jianwen.

Emperor Jianwen: Thank you, Grandpa, but I think my uncles are unhappy

When Emperor Jianwen became emperor, he also got a good hand left to him by his grandfather. It can be said that when he came to the throne, he dominated the world and had a strong army. , with enough food and grass, he could crush any uncle-level vassal king he chose at that time.

Yan Wang Zhu Di is naturally no match.

But Emperor Jianwen played this good hand of cards to pieces. This is like playing a straight in the card game of Landlords, but Emperor Jianwen turned it into a single card. He could use King Explosion to achieve a decisive kill, but Emperor Jianwen only exploded a single three.

But Emperor Jianwen was too impatient, especially when he saw his uncles occupying the mountains and becoming kings outside, he felt as if he had eaten a blowfly and was extremely sick.

So in the second month after he became emperor, he made a decision that was unacceptable to his uncles - to reduce the vassal status.

Originally, the places where these vassal kings lived were not as prosperous as the capital, but they could still enjoy the hot food and drink spicy food there. Cutting down the vassal would be equivalent to killing them, but Emperor Jianwen did not consider this at all. I feel that as long as I want these uncles to beg for food, they can only go and beg for food.

In order to test the movements of the vassal kings from various places, Emperor Jianwen used the weakest King of Zhou, Zhu Xi, to perform an operation. The result was not much response. This made Emperor Jianwen feel that it was okay to cut down the vassal, so he solved it one after another. King Zhu Gui of Dai, King Zhu Bai of Xiang, King Zhu Su of Qi, and King Zhu Ming of Min.

Five vassal kings fell one after another, and other vassal kings were on pins and needles, especially the most powerful Yan King Zhu Di. He knew that Emperor Jianwen would touch his own cheese next, so he had to resist. Ming Chengzu: What the hell, don’t leave a way for your uncle to survive

The war between Emperor Jianwen and King Yan inevitably broke out. At the beginning of the rebellion, King Yan was not superior in military strength. With only 100,000 people, he was unable to control any territory other than his fiefdom of Beijing.

On the other hand, Emperor Jianwen had a standing army that was three times the size of King Yan's army, and owned the country's economy. He also abolished several vassal states. His power was so powerful that King Yan trembled.

With the early stage of the rebellion, King Yan suffered several boring losses, and Emperor Jianwen also won several small victories, which made Emperor Jianwen completely dizzy.

Dear readers, please note that if Emperor Jianwen wanted to rely on sufficient food and grass to fight a protracted war with Zhu Di at this time, he still had hope of victory.

But he was too eager to take over the territory of his uncles, and under the advice of counselors Huang Zicheng, Qi Tai, Fang Xiaoru and others, Emperor Jianwen decided to go hard with Zhu Di.

Who is Zhu Di? He is a person who has been fighting at the border all year round. Not only are his soldiers strong, he also has a clear understanding of war. At least in terms of experience and foresight, he is better than Emperor Jianwen and Emperor Jianwen. His useless Confucian counselor is much higher.

Zhu Di chose a quick battle plan. His goal was to go straight to Huanglong, capture Nanjing, and deal with Emperor Jianwen. Naturally, everything would be over.

Not to mention, King Yan's dangerous move was really successful. When King Yan arrived at the gate of Nanjing, King Zhu Su and Duke Cao Li Jinglong opened the door to welcome the surrender, and the capital was defeated in this way. .

Emperor Jianwen was completely defeated. After King Yan's army entered Kyoto, a fire broke out in Emperor Jianwen's palace. After the fire was extinguished, only a few unidentifiable remains were found. The eunuch of the palace said that among them There was Emperor Jianwen.

It can be seen that Emperor Jianwen dominated the world, had a strong army, and sufficient food and grass, but in the end, King Zhu Di of Yan won the country. This was not accidental, but inevitable. Emperor Jianwen was too anxious to cut down the vassalage. If If he could wait, things would be different.

After the war started, if Emperor Jianwen could formulate correct combat strategies and give full play to his economic advantages, the situation would be different.