Rebirth of Zhu Di's son

Chapter 386 Extra: Counterattack by Zhu Zhanxu, the concubine of the King of Zhao, and Zhu Zhanxu, the third son of the King of Han
[-]. Counterattack by Zhao Huan Wang Zhu Gaosui and his concubine Zhu Zhanyao
Although the general trend of history has undergone tremendous changes under the influence of the time traveler Zhu Gaoxu, the fate of some historical figures still maintains its inertia.

Just like Zhu Di's third son, Zhu Gaosui, was still named King of Zhao in the early years of Yongle.

Basically the same as in history, although King Zhao Zhu Gaosui only had three sons in his life, he had three concubines of Zhao throughout his life, and these three sons were all from his third concubine.

The first Princess Zhao, the Xu family, was the daughter of Xu Zhang, the governor of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion in the early Yongle year. She was granted the title of Princess Zhao in April of the sixth year of Yongle.

Xu Zhang's wife, He, had a brother. It was He Fu who was in the prime of life at that time and was ordered to lead the fleet to destroy Majapayi Kingdom and was awarded the title of Marquis of Ningyuan for his merits.

In other words, Zhu Gaosui's first marriage was a political marriage used by Zhu Di to win over He Fu.

It was a pity that in August of the [-]th year of Yongle, when He Fu followed Zhu Di in the northern expedition to the desert, he underestimated the enemy, resulting in the death of three thousand Ming troops. Zhu Di punished him, expelled him, and demoted him to a commoner. Not long after, he died in depression.

Although He Fu died, how innocent were the three thousand Ming troops who died because he underestimated the enemy?

In order to appease the relatives of the Ming army soldiers who died because of underestimating the enemy, Zhu Di abolished Princess Zhao's wife in March of the 11th year of Yongle's reign on the grounds that Princess Zhao's wife "had no children and had been cheating on her for a long time". As a princess, King Zhao allowed her to live in the palace and take good care of her throughout her life.

The second Princess Zhao, Mu, was the daughter of Mu Sheng, Duke of Guizhou. In comparison, her status was more noble than that of Princess Xu. She was named Princess Zhao in October of the 11th year of Yongle.

Because Mu Sheng's father, Mu Ying, was the adopted son of Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang and was the same generation as Zhu Di, while Mu Sheng, Duke of Guizhou, was the same generation as Zhu Gaosui, so there was a generation gap between this Mu family and Zhu Gaosui.

However, in the original history, Zhao Wang Zhu Gaosui did marry Mu Sheng's daughter.

Not only that, as in history, Zhu Di also married his daughter Princess Chang Ning to Mu Sheng's brother Mu Xin.

Unfortunately, in the 15th year of Yongle, only a few months after Zhao Wang Zhu Gaosui established the Peacock Peninsula, Concubine Mu suddenly became seriously ill due to acclimatization. Although she was later rescued by a medical officer, the root cause of the disease fell on her body.

Five years later, in February of the 20th year of Yongle, Concubine Mu passed away. Zhu Di gave her a posthumous title of "Gonghui". It is rare in history for a concubine to be given a posthumous title.

Since Zhu Gaosui's first princess, Xu, had no children, his second princess, Mu, also had no children.

In other words, Zhu Gaosui did not have any legitimate sons at this time. His only two sons, Zhu Zhannu (fa, pronounced the same as "F") and Zhu Zhanyao (que, pronounced the same as "Que"), were both born to his concubine Weng. , plus his third son died in infancy.

After the founding of the Peacock Peninsula, he worked hard to govern and did not spend too much effort on the harem. Therefore, his descendants were not prosperous compared with the Han Dynasty King Zhu Gaochi, and even less prosperous than the Qianxi Emperor Zhu Gaoxu.

In order for the Kingdom of Zhao to continue its reign and pass the throne from generation to generation, Zhao Wang Zhu Gaosui needed a legitimate heir.

Therefore, he proposed to the court that his concubine Weng be canonized as a princess.

Although Weng was just the daughter of Weng Lu, the guard and governor of Changshan, Zhu Dini had raised two sons for Zhao Wang Zhu Gaosui in Weng, and had accompanied and served Zhu Gaosui for many years, so he agreed to Zhu Gaosui's request.

In this way, in October of the 21st year of Yongle, Weng was granted the title of Princess Zhao.

Subsequently, the eldest son of King Zhao, Zhu Zhan'an, was successfully granted the title of Prince of Zhao, while the second son, Zhu Zhan'ao, was granted the title of King of Anyang.

The reason why Zhu Gaosui went to such great lengths was, of course, to give Zhu Zhannuo the status of the eldest son of King Zhao, so that he could be ennobled as the crown prince.

In October of the fifth year of Qianxi, the 16-year-old Anyang King Zhu Zhanyao left the capital of the Zhao Kingdom and officially went to his fiefdom, Anyang Mansion - this was the first mansion that Zhao King Zhu Gaosui conquered on the Peacock Peninsula.

In May of the sixth year of Qianxi, the 19-year-old Zhao Shizi Zhu Zhan'an was hit by a poisoned enemy arrow when he followed Zhao Wang Zhu Gaosui to attack the indigenous people, and died a month later.

The death of Zhao Shizi Zhu Zhan'an was not a trivial matter. After Zhu Gaoxu, Emperor Qianxi of the Ming Dynasty, learned of the news, he ordered the Ministry of Rites to pursue a posthumous title.

The posthumous title originally proposed by the Ministry of Rites was to choose one of "Huai" or "Mourning", but Zhu Gaoxu asked: "The Prince of Zhao conquered foreign tribes and died on the battlefield. Isn't it chilling to just use the word 'Mourning'?"

Therefore, the Ministry of Rites discussed again and came up with "Mourning Wu" as the posthumous title of Zhao Shizi Zhu Zhan'an.

Zhu Gaoxu expressed his approval.

"Mourning" is similar to "mourning", "mei", "huai", "mourning", etc., and they are all posthumous titles expressing sympathy.

Among them, the posthumous title is "Mourning", which is a flat posthumous title. During the Warring States Period, the king of Chu State, King Chu Mourning, Xiong Yi, had the posthumous title "Mourning". There was also the Duke of Jin Mourning, who was called the King of Zhongxing. Unfortunately, he did not live to live until the end of the year. year.

As for the posthumous title "武", there is no need to say more, it is definitely a top-notch posthumous title.

Zhu Gaoxu gave Zhao Shizi Zhu Zhanyu the posthumous title "Mourning Wu", which not only expressed his sympathy for Zhu Zhanyu, but also summarized Zhu Zhanyu's heroic life, which was a kind of consolation for his spirit in heaven.

When the officials from the Ministry of Rites sent by the imperial court arrived at the Kingdom of Zhao with the edict and escorted by the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty Navy, Zhu Gaosui shed tears of gratitude when he learned that the posthumous title of Prince Zhao Zhu Zhan was given.

He originally didn't have high hopes for Zhu Zhan'an's posthumous title. After all, there were so many princes and vassal states in the Ming Dynasty. Although there were not many princes and princes who died young, it was not none. It would be good to receive a posthumous title from the imperial court. , I dare not ask for a beautiful posthumous title at all.

However, Emperor Qianxi Zhu Gaoxu gave Zhu Zhan'an a beautiful posthumous title. The reason was that the death of Zhu Zhan'an, the prince of Zhao, was caused by fighting for the country and he should be buried with the rites of a prince.

Not only that, Zhu Gaoxu also stipulated in the edict that the tablet of the god of Zhu Zhan'an, the prince of Zhao Daowu, must be placed in the temple of Zhao Kingdom to accept the worship of future generations of Zhao Kingdom's heirs.

When Zhu Gaosui saw that his eldest son had received this honor after his death, he was moved to tears and bowed to the east sincerely to express his gratitude to Emperor Qianxi Zhu Gaoxu.

In fact, the reason why Zhu Gaoxu treated Prince Zhao like this was not only thinking about the close friendship between the royal family, but also had another purpose.

That is to tell the princes of the Ming Dynasty who were enfeoffed and established their country overseas and their descendants that the imperial court would never be stingy with rewards and rewards for meritorious kings.

That is the so-called "horse bones worth a thousand pieces of gold"!
After the burial of Prince Zhao Wuwu, Zhao Wang Zhu Gaosui had no intention of expanding the territory, but only wanted to pass on the throne.

He originally wanted to petition Zhu Gaoxu, hoping that the court could appoint his second son Zhu Zhanyao as the new crown prince of Prince Zhao. However, considering that his eldest son passed away less than a year ago, he finally gave up this plan after much hesitation.

In March of the following year, Zhao Wang Zhu Gaosui was ordered to go to Beijing to attend the ceremony of Queen Renxiao Xu, and was summoned by Emperor Qianxi Zhu Gaoxu.

Zhu Gaoxu said that he decided to canonize Anyang King Zhu Zhanyao as the Crown Prince of Zhao in order to stabilize the hearts of the soldiers and people of the Zhao Kingdom.

Zhao Wang Zhu Gaosui was overjoyed and bowed down to Zhu Gaoxu with great respect.

Two months later, Wu Jing, the Marquis of Anlu Township, and Li Ke appointed Zhang Jujie as envoys and deputy envoys. They went to the Kingdom of Zhao with a festival and conferred the title of Crown Prince of Zhao, King Zhu Zhanyao of Anyang.

Zhao Wang Zhu Gaosui fell ill after finishing his son's canonization ceremony.

In the same year, Emperor Qianxi Zhu Gaoxu sent his lieutenants and imperial doctors to the palace of King Zhao twice to visit King Zhao Zhu Gaosui.

In August of the eighth year of Qianxi's reign, the third son of Emperor Yongle and the third younger brother of Emperor Qianxi, King Zhao Zhu Gaosui, passed away at the age of 50. He was given the posthumous title "Huan".

Zhu Gaosui, King Huan of Zhao, established the Prince of Ming Dynasty Zhao Kingdom on the Peacock Peninsula in the 15th year of Yongle.

After he arrived in the fiefdom, he commanded the three guards of the royal palace to conquer the east and west, and laid several counties as the foundation of the country. Then he worked hard to govern, turned the barbarians into Xia, and established the camp step by step. It lasted 18 years and laid the foundation for the Kingdom of Zhao. In the county, 110 million soldiers and civilians were left behind, including more than [-] naturalized citizens.

He conquered the land and conquered far distances, and conquered all directions with force. Such achievements are indeed consistent with his posthumous title "Huan".

However, Zhu Gaosui's achievements are still a little behind compared with Zhu Chun, King of Shu Xian (who died in the first year of Qianxi), who also settled in the Peacock Peninsula.

Although Zhu Chun, the king of Shu Xian, was not as successful in pioneering as Zhu Gaosui, and only two prefectures and twelve counties were left behind after his death, his civil administration was particularly strong, and the number of naturalized people under his rule was the largest among the Ming princes and vassal states on the Peacock Peninsula. , about six hundred thousand!
As the saying goes, "A country cannot live without a king for a day." Although the Zhao Kingdom only has three prefectures and is legally equivalent to the Ming Dynasty, it is still a princely vassal state with a population of over one million.

Therefore, Emperor Qianxi Zhu Gaoxu issued an edict to confer Zhao Shizi Zhu Zhanyao, who had been promoted from concubine to legitimate son, to succeed to the throne according to the "Ancestor Instructions of the Emperor Ming Dynasty".

In July of the ninth year of Emperor Qianxi's reign, Duke Xu Qin of Wei County and Li Kezhong Yu Xiang served as the chief and deputy envoys. They traveled across the ocean and went to the Kingdom of Zhao to formally confer the crown prince Zhu Zhanyao as the King of Zhao.

At this point, Zhu Zhanyao completed his counterattack from the concubine of King Zhao to King Zhao and became the second King Zhao of the Ming Dynasty!
[-]. Counterattack by Zhu Zhanxing, the third son of King Zhu Gaochi of Han Dynasty
Under the influence of the time traveler Zhu Gaoxu, Zhu Gaochi, the eldest son of Zhu Di, who was renamed the King of Han, lived four years longer than in history.

But the same as in history, he still died suddenly in his palace, but it was the Han Palace instead of the Ming Palace in history.

In the 15th year of Yongle's reign, King Zhu Gaochi of Han Dynasty settled on the Peacock Peninsula.

According to the rules, before every prince of the Ming Dynasty established a vassal state, the imperial court would send a guard to secure a piece of land for the prince who established a vassal state.

In most cases, this kind of pioneering guards were originally the guards of the prince, such as the kings of Chu and Shu who were canonized during the Hongwu period.

Or after the prince becomes a vassal, he will be directly assigned as the prince's bodyguard.

However, there are exceptions to everything, such as the southwest and southeast parts of the Peacock Peninsula, as well as the west and east coasts of Wozhou. The imperial court intends to place military strongholds there, so it is natural that the elite guard posts will not be classified as owned by the prince.

When any prince of the Ming Dynasty first established a feudal state, he needed to conquer the indigenous people, expand the territory, and open up prefectures and counties.

After Zhu Gaochi arrived in the fiefdom, he captured more than 50 small indigenous towns in just one year.

There are two main reasons for his achievement. One is that the firearms of the Ming Dynasty are too advanced and cannot be resisted by the local indigenous people. The other reason is that most of these small towns are similar to the rural towns and towns in the Ming Dynasty, but slightly larger. It is only equivalent to the county seat of Ming Dynasty.

If it were not for the limited number of troops available under Zhu Gaochi's command, I am afraid that his development achievements in one year would definitely exceed more than 50 small towns.

The Peacock Peninsula is not the homeland of China. Most of the Ming people who came here following the Han King Zhu Gaochi did not understand the local indigenous language.

If Zhu Gaochi wants to gain a foothold in the fiefdom and establish a foundation that can be passed on to his descendants, he must turn barbarians into summer and build a camp every step of the way.

Therefore, he spent far more thought, energy, and time on managing the indigenous people than on developing them.

This does not mean that Zhu Gaochi has stopped pioneering.

He reorganized the areas conquered in the first year into two counties for governance. From the second year on, he slowed down the pace of development, focused on training new grassroots officers, and worked hard to turn barbarians into summer.

A few years later, in the 20th year of Yongle, Zhu Zhanji, the eldest son of the Han Dynasty, showed his powerful military talent in an attack on a large indigenous city.

Calculated in fictitious years, in this year, Zhu Gaochi's eldest son Zhu Zhanji was 16 years old, his second son Zhu Zhanyong was ten years old, and his third son Zhu Zhanyong was nine years old.

Under the influence of the time-travelers, Zhu Zhanji was born four years later than in history, and was one year younger than Zhu Gaoxu's eldest son Zhu Zhanyu.

From this year onwards, the Han Crown Prince Zhu Zhanji gradually replaced the Han King Zhu Gaochi, and three years later, he became the de facto military commander of the Han Kingdom.

During these three years, Han King Zhu Gaochi gradually handed over military power to Zhu Zhanji.

Zhu Zhanji lived up to Zhu Gaochi's expectations and became the "general" of the Ming and Han Dynasties. He led troops to conquer the north and south, conquered the east and west, and conquered large indigenous cities one after another.

By the 25th year of Yongle, the Han Kingdom already had two prefectures and sixteen counties.

Among them, except for the three counties that were conquered by the troops led by Zhu Gaochi, the king of Han Dynasty in the early years, and the Fucheng area where the capital of the Han Kingdom is located, the remaining thirteen counties are all due to Zhu Zhanji's achievements!
In this year, Zhu Zhanji, the crown prince of the Han Dynasty, was 21 years old, Zhu Zhanyong, the second son of the King of Han, who was named the King of Fengyue County, was 15 years old, and Zhu Zhanyong, the third son of the King of Han, who was named the King of Xiangcheng County, was 14 years old.

On the first day of the first lunar month of the first year of Qianxi, the imperial court held a grand Zen ceremony.

King Zhu Gaochi of Han witnessed the smooth handover of the Ming Dynasty. His second brother, Prince Zhu Gaoxu of the Ming Dynasty, successfully became the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

In order to imitate Zhu Di and hand over the throne to the Han prince Zhu Zhanji smoothly in the future, after Zhu Gaochi returned to China, he immediately began to train his second son Zhu Zhanyong and his third son Zhu Zhanyong.

He only has three legitimate sons. Since his eldest son Zhu Zhanji has long been able to take charge of his own affairs, what he needs to do is to train the remaining two legitimate sons to become his right-hand assistants and assist him in governing the Han Kingdom.

In this way, Zhu Zhanji will be able to share the pressure of governing the country in the future, and continue to contribute to the rise and growth of the Han Kingdom.After all, Zhu Gaochi didn't know that Zhu Zhanji in history did not live past 40 years old.

In his view, with Zhu Zhanji's military talents, the Han Kingdom would never have less than a hundred counties under its rule in the future.

In this way, under Zhu Gaochi's personal training, the political abilities of Zhu Zhanyong and Zhu Zhanyong increased day by day and improved by leaps and bounds.

Therefore, in the third year of Qianxi's reign, Zhu Gaochi became the treasurer, obsessed with beauty and unable to extricate himself. All major affairs of the Han Kingdom were handed over to his three legitimate sons.

In order to better enjoy the "harem beauties", Zhu Gaochi rejected the suggestions of his subordinates to let his second son Zhu Zhanyong and third legitimate son Zhu Zhanyong go to the prince's fiefdom.

He also creatively established two official positions, namely Zuo Pingzhang Ling and You Ping Zhang Ling, who were awarded to Zhu Zhanyong and Zhu Zhanyong respectively. He also informed the ministers with Wang Ling: "All state affairs of this vassal state are handled by Zuo Pingzhang Ling and the Crown Prince." We will decide it together. If the prince leads the troops and goes outside, he will be decided by the left and right Pingzhang orders."

Only one year later, in the fourth year of Qianxi's reign, Zhu Gaochi's second son, Zhu Zhanyong, fell ill due to overwork and lay in bed for a whole month.

Although he was eventually rescued by a medical officer, he suffered from the disease and became very weak.

So much so that when Queen Renxiao Xu passed away, he was unable to attend the funeral in the Ming Dynasty capital because of his frailty.

In the midsummer of the fifth year of Qianxi's reign, the climate in the Peacock Peninsula was extremely hot. Zhu Zhanyong, the king of Fengyue County in the Ming Dynasty who was hiding in the summer resort, still suffered from sunstroke due to his weak body. In the end, he could not be rescued and died.

Because of his lack of merit during his lifetime and his unknown status, the imperial court did not grant him a posthumous title.

In the autumn of the sixth year of Qianxi, King Zhu Gaochi of Han Dynasty died suddenly in his palace at the age of 52.

In the three days before his death, he was still "taking care of everything". From feeling unwell to dying, it only took two short days.

Because Zhu Gaochi died unexpectedly and quickly, and Zhu Zhanji, who was leading the troops outside, needed time to get to the capital, the capital of Han was suddenly leaderless.

At this time, Princess Zhang of the Han Dynasty stood up. She concealed the death of King Zhu Gaochi of Han Dynasty, and then issued a royal order in the name of the King of Han: "I am seriously ill. I ordered You Pingzhang to order Zhu Zhanyu to act as agent for the vassal affairs."

During the period when Zhu Zhanji was desperately rushing to the capital of the Han Dynasty from other places, the situation in the capital of the Han Dynasty gradually stabilized because Zhu Zhanyi acted as agent for the vassal affairs.

After Zhu Zhanji returned to the capital of the Han Dynasty, Princess Zhang of the Han Dynasty and Zhu Zhanyi took out the last words of Han King Zhu Gaochi: "I order the prince Zhanji to succeed to the throne and take charge of the state affairs of the Han vassal."

Zhu Zhanji was very satisfied with the performance of his younger brother Zhu Zhanyi during the period when he was acting as an agent for the vassal state. Therefore, in the early days of his succession, he relied heavily on and trusted Zhu Zhanyi and asked him to continue to stay in the royal capital.

After the news of the death of King Zhu Gaochi of Han reached the capital, the imperial court gave him the posthumous title "Xiang", and he was known as King Xiang of Han in history.

"Posthumous Law" says: "The land created with virtue is called Xiang."

Zhu Gaoxu chose "Xiang" as Zhu Gaochi's posthumous title to express his recognition of his eldest brother's achievements during his lifetime.

Although most of the territory that the Han Kingdom expanded during Zhu Gaochi's reign was due to the Han prince Zhu Zhanji, Zhu Gaochi was the founding king of the Han Kingdom in the Ming Dynasty after all. It was precisely because of him sitting in the capital to govern the country that Zhu Zhanji was able to obtain Sufficient military supplies and logistics to conquer the indigenous people.

The following year, which was the seventh year of Qianxi, the imperial court officially conferred the title of Prince Zhu Zhanji on the throne of the Han Dynasty as King of Han, making him the second King of Han in the Ming Dynasty.

In October of the same year, more than a dozen indigenous chiefs who had originally submitted to the Han Kingdom united and summoned tens of thousands of indigenous people to rebel. Zhu Zhanji decided to lead the army and conquer it himself.

However, if he leads troops to go on an expedition, who will handle the affairs of the Han Kingdom?

Zhu Zhanji thought of his younger brother Zhu Zhanzhen.

In this way, Zhu Zhanyi once again acted as an agent for the Han vassal state affairs and stayed in the royal capital.

Not only did he complete the important task of acting as state affairs, but he also immediately handed over the power after Zhu Zhanji returned to the capital, and took the initiative to apply for his own fiefdom in Xiangcheng County, just to reunite with his wife and children as soon as possible.

To this, Zhu Zhanji agreed.

Therefore, Zhu Zhanyi returned to his prince's residence in Xiangcheng County within the Han Kingdom.

In April of the 12th year of Emperor Qianxi's reign, Zhu Zhanji, the second king of Han Dynasty in the Ming Dynasty, was on his way to inspect the frontier. Due to the fatigue of traveling and traveling, an old abdominal injury recurred. He returned to the palace to recuperate for three months, but it did not heal, and his condition became more serious.

He was worried that he would not be able to resist this time, so he hurriedly sent a letter for [-] miles to ask Emperor Qianxi Zhu Gaoxu to canonize his eldest son Zhu Qizhen as the heir apparent of the Han Dynasty. If he died unfortunately, Zhu Qizhen would succeed him and give him the title of Xiang. Zhu Zhanyang, the king of the city and county, was the Pingzhang Order of the Han Kingdom and assisted the new king Zhu Qizhen.

Unfortunately, 20 days later, when Zhu Gaoxu received this urgent memorial, Zhu Zhanji died of illness first.

When the news reached the capital of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Gaoxu felt deeply sorry for Zhu Zhanji's passing and ordered the Ministry of Rites to draft a posthumous title for him.

The Ministry of Rites suggested choosing one of "Huan" or "Wei" as the posthumous title.

"Wuding the four directions is called Huan; conquering the enemy from far away is called Huan."

"Submitting rebellion to Huaiyuan is called prestige; leading barbarians to submit is called prestige."

The reason is that Zhu Zhanji's contribution to the expansion of territory was several times that of his father Zhu Gaochi, King of Xiang of Han Dynasty. Although he only reigned for five years, he held the power of the Han Kingdom for 14 years. During his reign, he "annihilated hundreds of enemy chiefs. There are fifty-six of the Bingman tribes."

However, Zhu Gaoxu believed that "Huan" or "Wei" placed too much emphasis on "defeating the enemy and subduing the distance" and could not highlight Zhu Zhanji's personal characteristics.

After much thought, he chose "Xian" as Zhu Zhanji's posthumous title.

Don't think that "Xian" is a bad posthumous title because Liu Xie, Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty in history, was the king of the country's subjugation. In fact, "Xian" is a beautiful posthumous title, such as Qin Xian Gong and Jin Xian Gong.

During the reign of Duke Xiang of Qin, he defeated Han and Wei and re-improved Qin's status among the vassal states. He also implemented effective reforms such as abolishing human sacrifice, moving the capital, expanding commercial activities, compiling household registration and promoting the county system. Qin State laid the foundation for Shang Yang's later reform.

During the reign of Duke Xian of Jin, he pursued the policy of respecting the king, increased his prestige, attacked Li Rong, Geng, Huo, Wei and other countries, defeated Di Rong, and adopted Xun Xi's plan of falsely attacking Guo, and destroyed the powerful enemies Yu and Guo. "Incorporate the country seventeenth, subdue the country thirty-eight".

When Zhu Zhanji passed away, the Han Kingdom already owned 25 counties in four prefectures!
Except for one prefecture and three counties which were conquered by Zhu Gaochi, King of Xiang of Han Dynasty, the remaining three prefectures and 22 counties were all developed by Zhu Zhanji.

In the eighth year of Qianxi reign, Zhao Wang Zhu Gaosui passed away, leaving behind the territory of three prefectures and nineteen counties, and was given the posthumous title "Huan" by the imperial court.

Today, King Zhu Zhanji of Han conquered a territory far larger than King Huan of Zhao, but he was awarded "Xian". It can be seen that Zhu Gaoxu used "Xian" as his posthumous title, emphasizing not Zhu Zhanji's pioneering achievements, but It is his wisdom and sage.

According to the "Posthumous Law", there are two interpretations of "Xian", namely, "The wise and wise person is called Xian, which has the wisdom of informing; the intellectual and quality person is called Xian by the sage, which is open and unobstructed."

Therefore, using the word "Xian" as a posthumous title means to say that this person is smart and wise, which is a very good posthumous title.

Duke Xian of Jin defeated the Rong and Di, and destroyed Guo in a false way. He "merged seventeen states and subjugated thirty-eight states." Naturally, he can be called a sage.

Zhu Zhanji suppressed the rebellions of the indigenous chiefs many times. He paid equal attention to kindness and power, and used barbarians to control barbarians. During his reign, he "destroyed hundreds of enemy chiefs and conquered fifty-six barbarians." Therefore, his posthumous title of King Xian of Han was no problem.

In fact, there is another reason why Zhu Gaoxu chose "Xian" as the posthumous title for Zhu Zhanji, and that is the content of the memorial that Zhu Zhanji rushed to send before his death, which perfectly reflects his intelligence.

why?
Because after Zhu Zhanji passed away, both the imperial court and the officials of the Han Kingdom had to face an imminent practical problem - who will be the third King of Han?
Zhu Zhanji spent many years in the army, spending little time with his wives and concubines, so throughout his life he had only one legitimate son named Zhu Qizhen, who was the eldest son, and his concubine named Zhu Qiyu, who was the second son.

In the year when he passed away, his eldest son Zhu Qizhen was only eight years old. He had not yet reached the age to be crowned a prince, so he was not a prince.

According to the "Huang Ming Ancestor Instructions" revised for the last time during Zhu Yuanzhang's lifetime, the eldest son of the prince can only be conferred the title of prince son after he reaches the age of ten.

Therefore, King Zhu Zhanji of Han Dynasty, knowing that his time was running out, asked Emperor Zhu Gaoxu of Ming Dynasty to canonize his eldest son Zhu Qizhen as the crown prince of Han Dynasty.

If he unfortunately dies, then the prince Zhu Qizhen will be the first heir to the throne of Han Dynasty.

On the contrary, Zhu Qizhen would have no chance of becoming the King of Han.

Because according to the "Ancestor Instructions of the Ming Dynasty", when selecting the successor to the throne of the Ming vassal kings and the successor to the throne of the Ming Dynasty, the method is the same. Two basic criteria must be followed, and the successor must be selected according to the seven major sequences.

One criterion is "If there is a direct descendant, there will be a direct descendant, but if there is no direct descendant, there will be an elder; if there is no direct descendant, there will be no elder."

Another principle is that "a long-term king in a country is a blessing to the country."

As for the seven major sequences of heirs, from front to back they are legitimate son and grandson, concubine and concubine, legitimate brother and concubine, cousin and nephew, cousin, cousin, and side nephew and cousin.

Therefore, after the death of King Zhu Zhanji of the Han Dynasty, if there is no living heir to the throne of the Han Dynasty, the oldest of Zhu Zhanji's legitimate sons and grandsons who has been crowned and crowned must be the crown prince or king's grandson. Although it is alive, it cannot stand when it grows up.

Although Zhu Qizhen was the eldest son of Zhu Zhanji, he was still young and had not yet been crowned, and he was not granted the title of Crown Prince. According to the provisions of the "Huang Ming Ancestor Instructions", he could not succeed to the throne as King of Han.

The "young and not crowned" here refers to the age of less than twelve years old. In ancient times, "King Wen was crowned at the age of twelve."

If Zhu Gaoxu had agreed to the urgent memorial sent by Zhu Zhanji during his lifetime, then Zhu Qizhen would have transformed into the heir apparent of the Han Dynasty.

However, the "Huang Ming Ancestor Instructions" stipulates that the eldest son of the prince can only be conferred the title of prince after he reaches the age of ten.

If Zhu Gaoxu agrees, it will be tantamount to violating the "Huang Ming Ancestor Instructions". If he does not agree, it will violate the royal friendship. After all, this is the last wish of a Ming prince.

So he took the matter to the court for discussion.

After a heated discussion, the courtiers were divided into two groups.

One group believes that "human feelings cannot be greater than the law" and "there is no rule without rules." Even the last wish of the Prince of Ming Dynasty cannot override the laws of the court, let alone the ancestral precepts of Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, Zhu Qizhen, the eldest son of King Xian of the Han Dynasty, was young. Not only could he not be canonized as the crown prince of the King of Han, but he should also be selected to succeed the King of Han, in accordance with the "Huang Ming Ancestor Instructions", the younger brother of King Xian of the Han Dynasty, Zhu Zhanxuan, who was a compatriot of his mother.

This is because according to the order of succession to the throne of the vassal kings of the Ming Dynasty, the legitimate sons and grandsons are in the first line, the concubines and concubines are in the second line, and the legitimate brothers and concubines are in the third line.

The legitimate sons and concubines of King Xian of the Han Dynasty were all young, so naturally he had no legitimate grandchildren, so he could only find a suitable heir to the throne from his legitimate brothers and concubines.

Although King Zhu Gaochi of Xiang County of the Han Dynasty had more than a dozen sons in his life, he only had three legitimate sons. The eldest son was Zhu Zhanji, the king of Han Xian, the second legitimate son was Zhu Zhanyong, the king of Fengyue County, and the third legitimate son was Zhu Zhan, the king of Xiangcheng County.塡.

Now Zhu Zhanyong has long since passed away, but Zhu Zhanyong is still young and powerful. According to the "Huang Ming Ancestor Instructions", Zhu Zhanyong should succeed the throne of Han Dynasty.

In this case, the Han Kingdom's "state-owned eldest king" can continue to develop and grow.

The other school believes that "the father dies and the son succeeds" is the eternal law. When the ancestral law and the eternal law conflict with each other, the eternal law should be chosen.

After all, King Xian of the Han Dynasty had his eldest son Zhu Qizhen alive, but he was still young.

The imperial court could first let Zhu Zhanyang, the king of Xiangcheng County, act as the agent of the Han Dynasty in state affairs, and then officially canonize Zhu Qizhen as the crown prince of the Han Dynasty when he turns ten.

After that, Zhu Qizhen inherited the throne of the Han Dynasty as the eldest son of the Han Dynasty. Wouldn't it be the best of both worlds?
In this way, it can also set an example for other pro-vassal kingdoms.

Facing the courtiers who were divided into two factions, Zhu Gaoxu chose silence.

The next day, he issued a decree and conferred the title of King of Han on Zhu Zhanzhen, Prince of Xiangcheng County.

At the same time, it was emphasized that the selection of the successor to the throne of the Ming dynasty and the successor to the Ming throne must be strictly in accordance with the "Huang Ming Ancestor Instructions". No one may violate this principle with any excuse or reason, otherwise he will be punished with the crime of disrespect.

At this point, Zhu Gaochi's third legitimate son, Zhu Zhanyi, became the third King of Han of the Ming Dynasty!
(End of this chapter)