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Chapter 236: The First Generation of Heroes

Yelu Abaoji became a tall, strong, handsome young man with strong martial arts skills. It is said that Yelu Abaoji could shoot a 300-jin hard bow and was highly regarded by his uncle.

Not only did he take him to fight in many battles, but he also allowed him to form a personal guard.

It was with the help of this army that Yelu Abaoji made a name for himself. He subdued the Xiaohuang Guards, Yuewuwugu, and Liuxi tribes, and was elected as the highest military commander by the alliance due to his military exploits, specializing in conquests.

At the same time, the Tang Dynasty, which had lasted for more than 280 years, began to fall apart, and the Central Plains region gradually entered the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Yelu Abaoji took advantage of the chaos in the Central Plains and led his troops to attack the Jurchens, the Black Car Guards, and Hedong Daibei in the north many times.

He plundered a large number of people and livestock. During this period, he also swore brotherhood with Li Keyong, the King of Jin. Under his leadership, the Khitan seemed to be dominating the north.

In 906 AD, the Khitan Khan election, which was held every three years, took place. Khan Han Dejing, who had hoped to be re-elected, tactfully passed away.

Yelu Abaoji was officially elected as the new Khitan Khan. As the supreme ruler of the grassland nomadic regime, Yelu Abaoji's vision began to become more long-term. While continuing to expand his territory, he also wanted to gain benefits from the frequent changes of the Central Plains regime.

In the second year after he ascended the throne, Zhu Wen usurped the Tang Dynasty and established the Later Liang Dynasty. Yelü Abaoji immediately sent an envoy to request the title, and directly forgot the alliance he had made with Li Keyong. Li Keyong was so upset about this matter that he even told his son Li Cunxu to take revenge on him before his death.

While conquering foreign countries, Yelu Abaoji also did not forget to strengthen the centralization of power internally. He not only set up officials to manage the affairs of the royal family, but also built many fortresses in the occupied territories to magnify his merits and establish his personal authority.

At first, the Khitan nobles did not realize what Yelu Abaoji was trying to do. It was not until the once-in-three-years election for the Khan came and Yelu Abaoji deliberately delayed the election on the grounds of being busy with official duties that everyone realized what was going on.

It turned out that Yelu Abaoji did not want to give up the Khan throne and wanted to become the emperor himself. So an internal rebellion among the Khitan nobles, known as the "Zhou Emperor Rebellion", broke out.

On the surface, the civil strife was caused by Yelu Abaoji's younger brothers being dissatisfied with his long-term lack of treatment. In reality, it was the various aristocratic forces headed by his uncle Yelu Xiadi who were backing him up behind the scenes, and three rebellions occurred in succession within three years.

Although the rebellion was eventually quelled by Yelu Abaoji, it was at a heavy price. Abaoji later said with emotion: "In the past, when the army went to war, the baggage stretched for miles, and the people had tens of thousands of horses.

Now they can only walk, and eight out of ten livestock have died. In the past, there was plenty of food and meat, but now the nobles can only feed their horses and pick wild vegetables. "Abaoji naturally knew very well how much his younger brother weighed.

Therefore, after quelling the rebellion, he let off all his brothers who participated in the rebellion, but executed the masterminds behind the rebellion, such as Yelu Xia, and formally announced that he would give up the position of Khan, waiting for his Han people to go to Mount Tai to establish Hancheng.

After the Hancheng was built, Yelu Abaoji held a banquet and invited the leaders of various tribes to attend the banquet. The leaders were unaware of the situation and went to the banquet happily. As a result, they were all captured by Abaoji. From then on, the opposition forces within the Khitan were wiped out. Abaoji became the master of the grassland again.

In 916 AD, Yelu Abaoji officially proclaimed himself emperor and established the Khitan Kingdom. The Khitan Khan election system became history. As early as when he was Khan, Abaoji attached great importance to Han culture and valued Han officials.

After he founded the country, he recruited a large number of Han generals and people, established systems and etiquette based on the Central Plains dynasties, and also created his own writing system for the Khitans - Khitan large and small characters.

With the country unified and the country united, Abaoji had the strength to covet the Central Plains. At this time, the Jin Wang Li Keyong, whom he feared the most, had died. The three regimes of Qianjin, Jieyan and Houliang were each separatist and attacked and defended each other. It was the best time for him to take action.

So he took advantage of the war between Li Cunxu and Houliang to suddenly send troops to attack Youzhou, but he failed to gain anything and was defeated by Li Cunxu twice in a row, with heavy casualties. From then on, he never dared to touch the Central Plains again.

Failing to force his way south, Abaoji decided to continue expanding his power to the east and west wings first. When his power was strong enough, he would go south to compete for the Central Plains. So he set two plans for himself. One was to march into the Western Regions and conquer Yuhun and Zhubu in the west;

The second is to march into Longheijiang and eliminate the Bohai Kingdom, the largest force in the Northeast.

In the following years, Yelu Abaoji personally led the army to fight against the Dangxiang people and other tribes, and expanded the Khitan's sphere of influence in the west to a vast area from the Lu River in the north to the Altai Mountains in the west. The Liaoxi, Liaodong and Greater Khingan Range regions in the northeast were also taken into his possession.

During this period, in order to prove that he was destined to be king, he also claimed that he personally shot and killed a black dragon several dozen meters long, and he also kept the dragon bones in the palace.

In 924 AD, Yelu Abaoji suddenly issued a strange decree: "Three years later, in the year of Bingxu, which is early autumn, I must return. However, due to two events in Wei, I will go to the city, the sun and the moon will fly, and martial law will be enforced."

This means that the autumn of three years from now will be my death date. Now I have only one wish left, which is to quickly plan the conquest of Bohai State, otherwise it will be too late.

After nearly a year of preparation, Yelu Abaoji mobilized the entire country to attack Bohai. It took him only 4 days to conquer Buyeo Prefecture, an important town in the west of Bohai, and another 9 days to capture Hukhan City, the capital of Bohai. Abaoji then changed Bohai into the Eastern Khitan Kingdom.

It took another half a year to eliminate the remaining forces in Bohai. At this point, the Khitan's power expanded to the coast of Bohai, eliminating the worries of the Khitan's future attack on the Central Plains. Abaoji's wish was finally fulfilled.

In the autumn of 926 AD, Yelu Abaoji died on his way back to Shangjing at the age of 55.

[An inventory of the imperial family of the Ming Dynasty, history of Zhu Biao's lineage, and some knowledge about Zhu Biao]

The Ming Dynasty lasted for 276 years, from the time Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne in Nanjing to the time Li Zicheng invaded Beijing and Zhu Youjian hanged himself. It produced 16 emperors and countless princes and grandchildren.

Among them are Zhu Yuanzhang, who created the Hongwu reign, Zhu Di, who led the Yongle prosperity, and Zhu Biao, the most regrettable crown prince in history. So what was the fate of their descendants? In this issue, let us take stock of the lineage of the Ming Dynasty royal family.

Zhu Yuanzhang had 26 sons in total, and the eldest son was Zhu Biao, who was not satisfied with everyone. Zhu Biao's mother was Empress Xiaocigao Ma. Zhu Yuanzhang had high hopes for him and taught him carefully since he was a child.

When Zhu Biao was 5 years old, Zhu Yuanzhang asked the top scholar Song Lian to be Zhu Biao's enlightenment teacher. When Zhu Yuanzhang proclaimed himself King of Wu, he made Zhu Biao the crown prince. When Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, he made Zhu Biao the crown prince and arranged a group of top tutors for him:

The left prime minister Li Shanchang was the prince's junior teacher, the right prime minister Xu Da was the prince's junior tutor, and the minister of state affairs Chang Yuchun was the prince's junior protector. They were all civil and military officials who had followed Zhu Yuanzhang for many years and were the backbone of the Ming Dynasty.

Other officials of the Eastern Palace were also held concurrently by officials of dukes such as Feng Sheng. Later, when Zhu Biao married Chang Yuchun's daughter and gave birth to his eldest son Zhu Xiongying and second son Zhu Yunwen, Zhu Yuanzhang felt that the time was right and directly let him participate in government affairs.

When he was an imperial envoy, all matters, big or small, were reported to Zhu Biao first, and then to Zhu Yuanzhang. In this way, Zhu Biao's professional level continued to improve, and his prestige gradually increased. Moreover, Zhu Biao was kind-hearted.

When his teacher Song Lian's family was involved in the Hu Weiyong case and Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to execute Song Lian, Zhu Biao tried his best to save Song Lian and spared his life. He also loved his younger brothers very much. When his younger brothers, such as Prince of Qi Zhu Gui, Prince of Jin Zhu Gang, Prince of Yan Zhu Di, and Prince of Zhou Zhu Su, made mistakes, Zhu Biao would mediate and plead for them to avoid punishment.

As a result, civil officials and military generals all followed his lead, and his brothers also respected him very much. But unfortunately, God was jealous of talented people. In 1391, Zhu Yuanzhang intended to move the capital, so he sent Zhu Biao to inspect Guanzhong and Luoyang. Zhu Biao died of illness shortly after returning to Beijing after the inspection.

After Zhu Biao's death, Zhu Yuanzhang cried bitterly and buried him on the east side of the Xiaoling Mausoleum as Prince Yiwen. Zhu Biao had five sons, and his eldest son Zhu Xiongying was born to him and Princess Jingyi Chang.

Zhu Xiongying was the eldest grandson of Zhu Yuanzhang and the grandson of Chang Yuchun, the Prince of Kaiping. According to the provisions of the "Huang Ming Zu Xun", Zhu Xiongying, who had a pure bloodline, was to be canonized as the crown prince. However, before he was canonized, Zhu Xiongying died at the age of 8. After his death, he was posthumously named Prince of Yi.

He was posthumously named Huai and buried in Purple Mountain in Nanjing. He was later known as King Yi Huai. If Zhu Biao and Zhu Xiongying had not died young, the history of the Ming Dynasty might have been rewritten again. Zhu Biao's second son, Zhu Yunwen,

He was also the second emperor of the Ming Dynasty. After Empress Xiaokang died in 1378, Zhu Yunwen's biological mother, Lu, became the Crown Princess. Later, his brother Zhu Xiongying died early, so Zhu Yunwen became the eldest grandson of Zhu Yuanzhang. When Zhu Yunwen was 14 years old, his father Zhu Biao was seriously ill. Zhu Yunwen stayed with him day and night, but his father still died of illness.

Zhu Yunwen was very sad, lost his appetite, and became thinner day by day. Zhu Yuanzhang was moved by his grandson's filial piety, so he soon appointed Zhu Yunwen as the crown prince. His father Zhu Biao was kind-hearted and his sentences on criminal cases were mostly lenient. Zhu Yunwen also continued his father's political style. In 1396, Zhu Yunwen asked Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty to revise the "Great Ming Law".

He revised 73 overly harsh articles in the "Great Ming Code" with reference to the criminal laws of previous dynasties, and gained countless fans, becoming an Internet celebrity harvester. Zhu Biao was Zhu Yuanzhang's favorite son. After Zhu Biao's death, Zhu Yuanzhang placed his feelings on Zhu Yunwen, loved this grandson very much, and eventually passed the throne to him.

In 1398, Zhu Yuanzhang died and Zhu Yunwen succeeded him. He was kind-hearted and issued an edict to pardon the guilty, exempt the people from arrears of taxes, cut redundant officials, and changed some of his grandfather Zhu Yuanzhang's harsh policies, which was known as the Jianwen New Deal. At the same time, Zhu Yunwen began to reduce the power of the princes. After Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne, he enfeoffed his sons as princes.

Leading troops to garrison the frontier, his ambition and strength grew, and he gradually broke away from the control of the court. When Zhu Yunwen was the grandson of the emperor, he had the awareness of reducing the power of the vassal states. At that time, the most powerful person was the Prince of Yan, Zhu Di.

Prince of Zhou Zhu Su and Prince of Yan were brothers from the same mother and had committed illegal acts, so Zhu Yunwen started with Prince of Zhou, demoting him to a commoner and exiling him to Yunnan. Later, Prince of Qi Zhu Gui, Prince of Dai Zhu Gui, and Prince of Min Zhu Xun were all demoted to commoners, and Prince of Xiang Zhu Bo burned himself to death. Feeling threatened, Zhu Di decided to fight back.

In 1399, he launched an army to quell the rebellion under the banner of clearing the court of corrupt officials, which is known in history as the Jingnan Campaign. In the early modern period, the Prince of Yan actually started out weak and had no advantage in terms of military strength. His army had only 10 soldiers, and apart from his fiefdom BJ,

He was also unable to control any other territories, but the leadership ability and high-quality army of the Prince of Yan were not comparable to Zhu Yunwen. As the war lasted longer, the court's decision-making was offline.

The internal slackness was like a bronze operation, and eventually the army was defeated step by step, and many generals surrendered to the King of Yan. In 1402, Zhu Di attacked Nanjing. During a melee, a fire broke out in the imperial palace in Nanjing. When the fire was extinguished, several burnt remains were found in the ashes.

The eunuch only admitted that the bodies were those of the emperor, the empress, and his eldest son Zhu Wenkui. Although the truth of the eunuch's testimony could not be verified, Emperor Jianwen was no longer on the stage of history. Zhu Yunwen had two sons. When Zhu Yunwen was still the crown prince, his eldest son Zhu Wenkui was born.

He was born on the last day of October in the twenty-eighth year of the Hongwu reign (1395), which was the last day of the month, a day when the sun and the moon were both at their end. Zhu Yuanzhang felt that both the sun and the moon were in a very bad state, so he did not like his great-grandson. However, this did not affect Zhu Wenkui being made the crown prince in 1399 and Zhu Di's invasion of Nanjing in 1402.

He and his father Zhu Yunwen disappeared in the fire in the palace. Many years later, Zhu Yousong, the first emperor of the Southern Ming Dynasty, rehabilitated Zhu Wenkui.

Zhu Yunwen's second son, Zhu Wengui, was born during the Jingnan Campaign. The following year, Zhu Di replaced Zhu Yunwen as emperor. From then on, Zhu Wengui was imprisoned in Guang'an Palace and was forced to live a life of a stay-at-home. As time went by, the Ming Dynasty was passed to Zhu Di's great-grandson.

Originally, Zhu Di's great-grandson Zhu Qizhen was appointed as the crown prince in his early years. However, under the instigation of Wang Zhen, he led his army to the north and ended up being captured by the Oirat Mongols. When he was released, his brother Zhu Qiuyu was appointed emperor. After returning to the palace, Zhu Qizhen was imprisoned in the Nan Palace by Zhu Qiuyu.

It was not until 1457 that the minister Xu Youzhen and others took advantage of Zhu Qiyu's serious illness to launch the coup d'état, releasing Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen, who was imprisoned in the Nan Palace, and supported Zhu Qizhen's restoration. Perhaps because he had tasted the pain of being imprisoned, Zhu Qizhen felt compassion and released Zhu Wengui, who was over 50 years old at that time. Zhu Wengui could not even distinguish between cows and horses.

However, Zhu Wengui did not enjoy his freedom for long. He died a year later. There were no clear descendants of Zhu Wengui and Zhu Wengui. The line of Emperor Jianwen Zhu Yunwen also disappeared in the long river of history. Zhu Biao's third son was Zhu Yunhuan. His mother, Empress Xiaokang Chang, died shortly after giving birth to him.

When he was 14 years old, his father also passed away. Later, his half brother Zhu Yunwen inherited the throne. He was canonized as the King of Wu. Just as he was about to leave for his fiefdom Hangzhou, the Jingnan Campaign occurred.

After Zhu Di obtained the throne, Zhu Yunwen was first demoted from a prince to a county prince. Later, Zhu Di's uncle was still worried, so he simply demoted his nephew Zhu Yunhuan to a commoner and imprisoned him in Fengyang, Anhui, on the grounds that he could not properly assist his brother Zhu Yunwen.

1417 years.

Zhu Yuanzhang's 19th son, Prince of Gu, Zhu Hui, attempted to join forces with his 39th son, Prince of Shu, Zhu Chun, to usurp the throne. Zhu Yuntao was implicated in the conspiracy for no reason and soon died suddenly in his residence in Fengyang at the age of . Zhu Yuntao left behind a son named Zhu Wenkun.