Yongle Emperor: Encyclopedia II - Yongle Emperor - Journey to power

Yongle Emperor - Journey to power

Hongwu died on June 24, 1398, and Zhu Yunwen was crowned Emperor Jianwen. Almost immediately Zhu Di and Jianwen began their deadly feud. When Zhu Di traveled with his guard unit to pay tribute to his father, Jianwen took his actions as a threat and sent forces to turn him around. Zhu Di was forced to leave in humiliation. Jianwen persisted in refusing to let Zhu Di see his father's tomb and Zhu Di challenged the emperor's judgment. Zhu Di quickly became the biggest threat to the imperial court. Jianwen's policy tried to avoid direct contact as much as possible. To achieve this, he abolished the lesser princedoms to undermine Zhu Di's power and create room in which to plant his own loyal generals. Zhu Di was soon surrounded by Jianwen's generals, and cautiously reacted to the political gridlock in which he found himself. His rebellion slowly began to take shape.

Zhu Di's leading rebellion slogan was self defense and was enough to earn him strong support from the populace and many supporting generals. He was a great military commander and studied Sun Zi's Art of War extensively. He used surprise, deception, and caution and even questionable tactics such as enlisting several Mongolian regiments to aid him in fighting Jianwen. He defeated Li Jinglong, a loyalist general, several times, deceiving him and overwhelming him in many decisive battles. On January 15, 1402 Zhu Di made the bold decision to march his army straight to Nanjing, encountering stiff resistance. But his decision proved successful, forcing an imperial retreat to defend the defenseless residence of Jianwen. When Zhu Di reached the capital city, the frustrated and disgraced General Li Jinglong opened the doors and permitted Zhu Di's army to freely enter. In the wide spread panic caused by the sudden entry, the emperor's palace caught fire and Jianwen and his wife disappeared, most likely falling victim to the fire.

Zhu Di had ended Jianwen's reign. Zhu Di and his administration spent the latter part of 1402 brutally purging China of Jianwen's supporters. Such an action was believed to be required to pacify China and maintain his rule.

Zhu Di has been credited with ordering perhaps the only case of "extermination of the ten agnates" (誅十族) in the history of China. For nearly 1500 years of feudal China, the "extermination of nine agnates" (誅九族) is considered one of the most severe punishments found in traditional Chinese law enforced until the end of Qing. The practice of exterminating the kins had been established since Qin when Emperor Qin Shi Huang (reigned 247 BC–221 BC) declared "Those who critize the present with that of the past: Zu" (以古非今者族). Zu (族) refered to the "extermination of three agnates" (三族): father, son and grandson. The extermination was to ensure the elimination of challenges to the throne and political enemies. Emperor Yang (reigned 604–617 extended it to the nine agnates. The nine agnates are the four senior generations to the great-great-grandfather and four junior generations to the great-great-grandson. The definition also included siblings and cousins related to each of the nine agnates.

Just before the accession of Emperor Yongle, prominent historian Fāng Xìao-rú (方孝孺) elicited the offense worthy of the "extermination of nine agnates" for refusing to write the inaugural address and for insulting the Emperor. He was recorded as saying in defiant to the would-be Emperor: "莫說九族，十族何妨！" ("Nevermind nine agnates, go ahead with ten!"). Thus he was granted his wish with perhaps the only and infamous case of "extermination of ten agnates" in the history of China. In addition to the blood relations from his nine-agnates family hierachy, his students and peers were added to be the 10th group. Altogether 873 people was said to have been executed.

Regardless, on July 17, 1402, after a brief visit to his father's tomb, Zhu Di was crowned Emperor Yongle at the age of 42. He would spend most of his early years suppressing rumors, stopping bandits, and healing the wounds of the land scarred by rebellion.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Journey to power", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki