Prince Yan claimed that he was dying of illness, but he had a dream that his soul was on the way to the underworld. His biological father, Emperor Gaozu, along with his father-in-law, Xu Da, Prince of Zhongshan, Chang Yuchun, Prince of Kaiping, Mu Ying, Prince of Zhaojing and other founding generals of the Ming Dynasty who were enshrined in the Taimiao, rushed over and rescued him.
Emperor Gaozu appeared in a dream to Prince Yan, saying that the Ming Dynasty court was misled by treacherous ministers, Emperor Jianwen was deceived by treacherous ministers, the treacherous ministers framed him, imprisoned five uncles, and forced Prince Xiang's family to death. The Ming Dynasty royal family was full of complaints, and the country was in turmoil, so he wanted him to go back to eliminate the treacherous ministers and uphold justice.
The ethical concept of ruler-ruler, subject-minister, father-father, son-son is the mainstream in feudal society. If Prince of Yan wants to rebel, he cannot point his sword at Emperor Jianwen, but he has to target the people around Emperor Jianwen.
The Prince of Yan claimed that after waking up from the dream, his waist pain, leg limp, mouth and nose were no longer crooked, and he could even eat three bowls of dry rice in one breath!
Who were the treacherous officials? The first of course was Huang Zicheng and Fang Xiaoru, the civil officials who waved the flag and shouted that the feudal lords must be reduced. The second was Li Jinglong, the Duke of Cao, who fabricated charges, imprisoned the emperor's uncle, and forced the family of the Prince of Xiang to death.
Therefore, the slogan raised by Prince Yan was to clear the emperor's side, eliminate the treacherous ministers around the emperor, and rescue his deceived nephew Emperor Jianwen, so it was called "Fengtian Jingnan".
Emperor Jianwen: Thank you!
On the sixth day of July in the first year of Jianwen, an uprising began in the Prince of Yan's Mansion. First, Ge Cheng, the accomplice of Emperor Jianwen, was beheaded. Then, Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng, two generals under the Prince of Yan, suddenly attacked the nine gates of Peking in the middle of the night. The vassal cities were guarded by the imperial army, and the soldiers of the Prince of Yan's Mansion were only responsible for protecting the palace.
At dawn, soldiers from Prince Yan's mansion captured eight city gates, but Dongzhimen was still resisting stubbornly.
When the situation was at a stalemate, the veteran general Tang Yun took off his sword and armor, entered the city gate alone, and said to the guards of Dongzhimen: "The emperor has allowed the princes to rule their own territories. You should retreat immediately!"
Seeing that all the old generals had surrendered to the Prince of Yan's Palace, the defending general felt that they were at their wit's end and there was no hope for rescue, so they went down the stairs, laid down their weapons, surrendered, and returned to the Prince of Yan's Palace.
So, at dawn, all nine gates of Peking were controlled by Prince Yan's Mansion. The people of Peking woke up one night to find that this ancient city, which was once the capital of the previous dynasty, had changed its owner.
However, for the people of Beiping, the emperor was far away and the Prince of Yan had been working in the north for many years. They paid taxes to the emperor, but they gave their hearts to the Prince of Yan's Palace.
The next morning, a breakfast stall was set up at the entrance of the alley. The first pot of fried dough sticks was fried, the first basket of buns was steamed, and the first pot of tofu pudding was cooked with brine. People got up, emptied their chamber pots, and bought breakfast, which was no different from their usual life.
Why
Because the Prince of Yan's Palace has unparalleled prestige in Yan.
Although Peking was the capital of the Yuan Dynasty, and when Kaiping King Xu Da, the father of Princess Xu of Yan, launched the first northern expedition to attack the city, the Yuan Dynasty emperor was so frightened by the reputation of the ever-victorious general Xu Da that he did not even build defenses for the capital. He simply abandoned the city and fled to the grassland with his concubines, civil and military officials. He really came from where he went.
Moreover, he lost the prince's riba during his escape and was captured by the Ming Dynasty. It was not until the death of Emperor Yuan in the 11th year of Hongwu that Emperor Hongwu released the prince of Northern Yuan to compete with a group of uncles for the throne. Emperor Hongwu was really good at teaching people. The returning prince fought for his life and fought back against his uncles. He actually broke through the siege and won the throne to become the emperor of Northern Yuan. Until the internal strife of Northern Yuan, he was killed by his compatriots. The famous Golden Family established by Genghis Khan lost its ruling power. It took less than a hundred years from its rise to its decline.
Of course, these are all later stories. When Xu Da attacked the city, the Yuan emperor abandoned the city and fled. Xu Da captured the capital of the Yuan Dynasty without a single soldier. The Yuan Dynasty was destroyed in Xu Da's hands. The capital Dadu was thus spared from the war and remained as it was.
Moreover, when Xu Da entered the city, he made three laws, three disciplines and eight principles that must be remembered. His Northern Expedition troops did not harm anyone, and those who disobeyed his orders were executed. He cared about the people, and thus was deeply loved by the people of Peking.
Xu Da truly achieved the highest level of military strategy—conquering the enemy without fighting.
In the 13th year of Hongwu, the Prince of Yan and his wife were enfeoffed in Beiping, and were welcomed by the people of Beiping. The main reason was that the wife of the Prince of Yan, Xu, was the eldest daughter of Xu Da. Her father had treated the city well, and the people believed that Xu Da's daughter would also benefit the city.
However, when the Prince of Yan and his wife arrived at this former capital, this former capital was already in ruins and had long lost its former glory.
The capital of every country is the economic, political and cultural center, and of course the center of wealth. Since the capital of the Ming Dynasty was located in Yingtian Prefecture in the south, the capital of the previous dynasty suddenly lost its natural advantages, and the city's GDP took a sharp decline. In addition, the Northern Yuan Dynasty was always causing unrest, harassing the people, and plundering the population and property. The wealth was not protected, and a large number of wealthy people moved south. The city was on the verge of collapse.
The people of Peking eagerly hoped that the Prince of Yan's Mansion could bring the city back to life.
As the saying goes, a hungry orange cat will still be fat after three days, and a rotten boat will still have three pounds of nails. The Prince of Yan's Mansion did not disappoint the people's expectations and restored the vitality of the city of Beiping.
The King of Yan first trained his troops, guarded the Great Wall on the border, and prevented the Northern Yuan from crossing the border to harass and rob wealth.
Like his father-in-law Xu Da, the Prince of Yan had strict military discipline and strictly prohibited harassment of the people. If the fields were damaged during the training of the soldiers, double compensation would be given.
How strict was the military discipline of the King of Yan? Once, a superior officer embezzled the military pay of the soldiers. After being reported, the King of Yan threw a knife to each of the ordinary soldiers who were embezzled, and then gave a knife to the corrupt superior officer, asking them to "fight fairly" and use their strength to take back their military pay.
The ending, of course, was that Shangguan was killed by the angry soldiers, with his stomach ripped open. The scene was very shocking. With the support of the lower-level soldiers, the soldiers of the Prince of Yan's mansion were like an ironclad group. They fought wherever the Prince of Yan pointed, and they only had eyes for the Prince of Yan, not for the court.
When the army was short of food, the King of Yan did not increase taxes, but shifted the food problem to the people. He took off his armor, rolled up his trousers, and worked with the army to reclaim wasteland and cultivate land to be self-sufficient. If he found fertile land, he would give it to the people around him and take the army to reclaim the wasteland, not competing with the people for profit.
The soldiers of the Prince of Yan's palace became an iron army. The Prince of Yan led his army to the north several times, turning defense into offense, and finally won the "Battle of Jinshan" in the 20th year of Hongwu, forcing the Northern Yuan general Nahachu who was entrenched in the northeast to surrender. From then on, the border of Yan was peaceful. The people who had previously fled to escape the war also returned to their homeland and started their lives again.
With peace, the GDP of Yan area began to recover and increased year by year. Combined with the previous foundation, this northeastern area, which was regarded as a bitter and cold place by the south, has become as prosperous as the south of the Yangtze River.
Incompetent kings are different, but wise rulers are similar. For example, they are all good at water conservancy construction. When Muchun governed Yunnan, he built a lot of water conservancy, built bridges, roads and canals. These achievements made him live on even after his death. The people of Yunnan built a temple for him and worshipped him as a god.
Like King Yan and Muchun, the Luan River, the most important river in Yan, had a narrow channel and poor water storage. In the dry season, it was so dry that it smoked and no crops were harvested. In the rainy season, it became a sea, submerging crops and houses. The people on both sides of the strait depended on the Luan River for their survival and also suffered greatly from it. This mother river was like a madman. When it was in good condition, it doted on its children, but once it went crazy, it would either cause drought or floods and let its children starve to death.
The King of Yan prescribed the right medicine for this mother river and controlled the Luan River, starting with widening the river channel.
The King of Yan took the initiative to establish military farms and reclaim wasteland. He once again led the troops by stepping into the mud of the Luan River with bare legs and starting to dig with a shovel. The mud at the bottom of the river was the best fertilizer. After the army dug the silt ashore, the people spontaneously pulled it to their own fields. Many people even brought their own dry food and went down to the river to help the army widen the river.
With the concerted efforts of the military and civilians, the "mad mother" Luan River was cured and became gentle, the banks of the river became fertile land, and many people benefited.
In this way, the Prince of Yan's Mansion did not disappoint the expectations of the people of Yan. It worked for the welfare of Yan and guarded the nine vassal states on the border of the Ming Dynasty. Yan was the most powerful in terms of economic, financial, military strength, cohesion and centripetal force.
What’s more, what’s even more terrible is that there is a hidden figure who is like a powerful weapon in the Prince of Yan’s Mansion: Master Daoyan, a monk.
This monk was also a poet whom Hu Shanwei had always admired. Hu Shanwei could recite his poems in "Du'an Collection" by heart. When Chang Yuchun massacred Suzhou City, thousands of refugees fled to the Reclining Buddha Temple. Only this monk went against the flow and opened the temple gate to rescue the people. It was also this monk who helped Hu Rong, who had fallen to the ground with his daughter on his back, and asked him to take shelter in the temple.
History records: "On the day when Suzhou was captured, Chang Yuchun entered Qi Gate and slaughtered everyone he passed. Xu Da entered Chang Gate and did not kill anyone. When they arrived at the Reclining Buddha Temple, the two generals met, and Da warned Yuchun not to kill anyone."
It was because of this monk that seven-year-old Hu Shanwei was able to survive.
Do you remember that when Empress Xiaoci was buried in the Xiaoling Mausoleum, there was a sudden severe storm, making the road difficult to travel. The auspicious time for the burial was about to be missed. Emperor Gaozu was so angry that he wanted to kill someone. The eminent monk Zong Le in the funeral procession suddenly had an idea and uttered four verses of verse: "The sky sheds tears when the rain falls, and the earth mourns when the thunder roars. All the Buddhas' disciples in the West, come together to send off Ma Tathagata"
After the verse, Zong Le led his eight great monks to chant sutras and pray for blessings. It was also magical that after the sutras were chanted, the rain stopped and the clouds cleared, and the funeral procession continued to move forward.
Emperor Gaozu calmed down his anger and felt that his wife was blessed by God. He assigned the eight monks who were chanting sutras to eight princes respectively, asking them to follow the princes back to their fiefdoms, build temples, and pray for Empress Xiaoci.
Among them was Zen Master Daoyan, who was assigned to King Yan... What a wonderful fate.
Zen Master Daoyan thus began his miraculous political career. When he followed the King of Yan to Yan, he was full of confidence and wrote a poem, "On October 1st, the Ship Set out from Jinling to Beiping":
The water is vast under the Stone City, I board the official ship alone and go far away. I feel sorry for myself for eating and sleeping with the guards, who will laugh at my clothes and bowl mixed with military uniforms
Deep in the night, the sound of oars shakes the moon, in the cold morning, the shadow of the solitary mast is covered with frost. After going through all the hardships, I have no worries just for the sake of my guest.
Zen Master Daoyan was treated with courtesy by Prince Yan. This monk seldom discussed scriptures with Prince Yan. He was better at politics. Prince Yan admired him very much and named Zen Master Daoyan as a guest of honor. He was the core figure of the think tank of Prince Yan's palace.
On the seventh day of the seventh month in the first year of Jianwen, Prince of Yan Zhu Di convened a rally to "Fengtian Jingnan" and passionately read the punitive manifesto written by Zen Master Daoyan:
"I am the son of Emperor Gao and Empress Xiaoci Gao, a close relative of the state. Since I was enthroned, I have only known to abide by the law. Now the young ruler has succeeded to the throne and trusted treacherous ministers, causing great disasters. My family was slaughtered, and my father and mother had a hard time starting their business. The feudal sons protected the world and passed on their legacy. If they are destroyed, the heavens and the earth will bear witness to it."
The Prince of Yan suddenly said that he was the son of Empress Xiaoci, which was not wrong. After all, according to etiquette and law, all sons were the sons of Empress Xiaoci.
This means that the establishment of vassal states by enfeoffment of the sons was a rule established by Emperor Gaozu, but now the treacherous ministers want to reduce the vassal states, which is against the will of Emperor Gaozu. The emperor was deceived by the treacherous ministers.
"The ancestral teachings say that if there are no loyal ministers in the court, there will be treacherous people inside. We must train troops to fight against them and eliminate the evil around the emperor..."
Zen Master Daoyan brought out the Imperial Ming Ancestor Instructions, and the rebellion was justified. From an ethical point of view, the rebellion was suddenly transformed into a crusade against treacherous officials.
After the declaration of war was read, the three armies waved their weapons and cheered, the sound of swords and spears shook the sky, the joy turned into sorrow, and the tiles above their heads shook. With a clang, the tiles fell to the ground and hit the King of Yan at his feet!
This... This is an inauspicious astronomical phenomenon!
Just when the Prince of Yan was embarrassed, Zen Master Daoyan came out and applauded, "What a good omen! I know from the Heavenly Dao that it is God who wants His Royal Highness the Prince of Yan to replace the green tiles that symbolize the prince with the yellow tiles that symbolize the emperor!"
According to the regulations of the Ming Dynasty, green tiles were used in the Prince's Palace and the Prince's Palace, and only yellow glazed tiles could be used where the emperor lived.
When Zen Master Daoyan said this, it made a lot of sense. The shocked three armies regained their spirits and began to cheer again, shouting "We must win! We must win!"
However, after the cheers, a gust of wind suddenly blew up, and the originally sunny weather suddenly became dark clouds and it looked like it was going to rain heavily!
King Yan: You are kidding me!
The morale that had just been boosted suddenly fell again. Zen Master Daoyan waved his hands and laughed loudly, "Auspicious sign! A great auspicious sign! A flying dragon in the sky! A real dragon is about to be born!"
It was amazing. As soon as he finished speaking, the clouds parted and the sun came out again.
The author has something to say: Hahahaha, I finally connected all the previous threads.
Have a nice weekend everyone, 100 red envelopes will be sent tonight