The capital of the Ming Dynasty was first in Nanjing and then in Beijing. Why is there a Ming Emperor Mausoleum in Zhongxiang, Hubei Province, and who is buried there?
When Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, the capital was Nanjing. However, there were two situations in the history of the Ming Dynasty when a local vassal king became the emperor. One was when King Yan Zhu Di took away Emperor Jianwen in the Battle of Jingnan. Zhu Yunwen ascended the throne. Since Zhu Di's fiefdom was in Beijing, after Zhu Di ascended the throne, he gradually made Beijing the official capital, while Nanjing gradually became the companion capital.
Another time was when the tenth emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Ming Wuzong Zhu Houzhao, died at the age of 31. He had no sons or living brothers, so before his death, he and his ministers selected his cousin Zhu Houzhao as his successor. The first emperor, Zhu Houcong, was the son of Zhu Youtang, the Xingxian King who was enfeoffed in Zhongxiang, Hubei Province. Zhu Youzhao was the cousin of Zhu Houzhao of Ming Wuzong, and the half-brother of Ming Wuzong's father, Ming Xiaozong Zhu Youtang. In the end, Zhu Houcong became the vassal king. Entering the capital was the eleventh emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Ming Shizong.
Zhu Houcong's father, Zhu Youyi, was the first Xingxian king. He was born in Beijing and was granted the title of Zhongxiang in Hubei Province when he became an adult. He was also the third Ming Dynasty vassal king to be granted the title of Zhongxiang in Hubei Province before him. There are also two vassal kings, one is the 23rd son of Zhu Yuanzhang, King Zhu Dong of Ying, and the other is the 9th son of Ming Renzong Zhu Gaochi, King of Liang Zhu Zhanbian.
Zhu Youqi had two sons and four daughters. The eldest son died early, and Zhu Houcong was the second son. When Zhu Houcong was 12 years old, Zhu Youqi died of illness, so Zhu Houcong inherited his father's title of King Xing and took over Xing. He stayed in the royal palace for three years and kept mourning for his father for three years. Zhu Youhuang was just buried in a pine forest northeast of Zhongxiang, Hubei Province with the courtesy of a vassal king. This is the tomb of King Xingxian. It is the mausoleum where Zhu Houhuang's parents are buried together, and it is also the later Mingming Mausoleum. , the only Ming emperor’s mausoleum in Zhongxiang City.
At that time, it was not called Zhongxiang, but Anlu Mansion. A few years after Zhu Youqi's death, Ming Wuzong Zhu Houzhao also died of illness, and then the new Xingwang Zhu Houcong was welcomed by a delegation from Beijing. When he became emperor in Beijing, there were two main reasons why Zhu Houcong was established as emperor:
First, Zhu Houzhao had no biological brothers. Zhu Houcong was the closest cousin to Zhu Houzhao, and the two had the closest blood relationship. , their fathers are brothers from the same father and mother.
The second is that Zhu Houcong is young and does not look strong. Ministers generally prefer to choose a weaker emperor when choosing an emperor. After all, ministers do not like a strong emperor.
At that time, Zhu Houcong was only 15 years old and a minor. The ministers thought that it was easier to control and he could act according to the wishes of the ministers. However, what the ministers did not expect was that they would soon be separated from the 15-year-old Zhu Houcong. There was a conflict between the young emperors. The first conflict was: Which gate did Zhu Houcong enter through when entering Beijing? Where to live?
The first auxiliary court during the Wuzong period of the Ming Dynasty arranged for Zhu Houcong to enter through the Donghua Gate and stay in the Wenhua Hall. Donghua Gate is the east gate of the Forbidden City, and Wenhua Hall is the place where the prince lives. This is equivalent to Zhu Houcong was treated as Zhu Houzhao's prince. However, Zhu Houcong was Zhu Houzhao's cousin. How could he live in the prince's mansion? Therefore, Zhu Houcong disagreed. Not only did he disagree, but he also had a very tough attitude and refused to enter through the Donghua Gate. The court ministers and Zhu Houcong refused to give in to each other, and there was a stalemate.
In the end, the Empress Dowager intervened and made the court ministers give in. They asked the courtiers to persuade them to enter in the suburbs, and then entered through Daming Gate, and then entered Fengtian Hall, where the emperor sits. Daming Gate is the main entrance of the palace, Fengtian Hall. It is the main hall of the palace, where the emperor ascended the throne. This result was the victory of the 15-year-old Zhu Houcong, and it also allowed the courtiers to experience for the first time the power of the young emperor. He was by no means an emperor who was easily controlled at such a young age. Tough, but at this time there is no regrets, the emperor has ascended the throne.
Not long after Zhu Houcong ascended the throne, he changed the Yuan Dynasty to Jiajing. Zhu Houcong was the Jiajing Emperor. Then a second conflict broke out between the Jiajing Emperor and his courtiers. The content was: Who is respected as the patriarchal father of the Jiajing Emperor?
The ancients said: There are three types of unfilial piety, the greatest of which is not having offspring. It is a shame to not have a son to continue the tradition of incense. Zhu Houzhao, Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty, did not have a son, and Zhu Houcong inherited Zhu Houzhao's emperorship, so the courtiers asked Zhu Houcong to respect Zhu Houzhao as his father in the patriarchal sense, although in fact they both They were cousins, but legally the court officials believed that they should be father and son in order to continue Zhu Houzhao's legacy, but Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houcong disagreed.
Emperor Jiajing and his courtiers argued over this matter for three and a half years. In the end, Emperor Jiajing insisted on being alone and won. Think about it, a large group of elderly ministers and a young man of seventeen or eighteen years old. What was the scene like in the dispute between emperors, but Emperor Jiajing won in the end. Regardless of the objections of his courtiers, he still respected his father Zhu Youqi as the Xian Emperor and his biological mother as the Xingguo Empress Dowager. He not only recognized his biological parents as , and posthumously named his biological parents the emperor and the empress dowager, and only respected Ming Wuzong Zhu Houzhao as the emperor Bokao. The so-called Bokao means uncle.
Zhu Youqi was originally a vassal king. Now that his son became the emperor, he was renamed Emperor Xian. Therefore, the Xingxian King's Curtain originally buried in Zhongxiang, Hubei was also upgraded to a Xianling Mausoleum. You must know that at that time, there were only The emperor's mausoleum can be called a mausoleum, but the tomb of your vassal prince cannot be called a mausoleum, but a tomb. Therefore, Zhongxiang City, Hubei Province has the only imperial mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty. This imperial mausoleum is the mausoleum of Zhu Youqi, which was upgraded from the prince's tomb to a mausoleum. Of the imperial mausoleum.
Zhu Houcong was a very special emperor in the Ming Dynasty. He was born in Zhongxiang City, Hubei Province today, and was then welcomed from Zhongxiang to Beijing as emperor. He lived in Zhongxiang for 15 years, so Zhongxiang is In his hometown, not long after he became emperor, he changed Anlu Prefecture to Chengtian Prefecture. As one of the three direct-controlled prefectures of the Ming Dynasty, it is equivalent to today's direct-controlled municipality. Chengtian Prefecture where Zhongxiang is located, Yingtian Prefecture where Nanjing is located, and Beijing where Beijing is located Together, Shuntian Prefecture is known as the three major prefectures of the Ming Dynasty, and its status is very high. You must know that all the emperors in the Ming Dynasty since Ming Shizong Zhu Houcong were descendants of Zhu Houcong. If they want to find their ancestral home, they have to go to Chengtian Prefecture, so Chengtian Prefecture was at that time has a high status.
In addition, Emperor Jiajing also named the seat of Chengtian Mansion Zhongxiang. The meaning of these two words is "a geomantic treasure place and an auspicious place." The name Zhongxiang has been around since the Jiajing Dynasty. Still in use today. The Xianling Mausoleum of Zhu Youqi has become the only Ming Dynasty imperial mausoleum in the six provinces of Central China. In fact, in addition to the Xianling Mausoleum, Zhongxiang also has the tomb of Zhu Dong, King of Ying, and the tomb of Zhu Zhan, King of Liang. Therefore, Zhongxiang City, Hubei Province has a profound Ming Dynasty heritage. Dynasty culture, many cultural relics from the Ming Dynasty have also been unearthed.
Today's Zhongxiang City is only a county-level city, subordinate to the prefecture-level city of Jingmen City, Hubei Province. It is located in the middle of Hubei Province, south of Xiangyang, north of Jingzhou, east of Yichang, and Wuhan Xianling Mausoleum is located to the west of Zhongxiang City, and is located on Chunde Mountain, five kilometers northeast of Zhongxiang City. .