What sentence did Chu Doan Van say that made Chu Nguyen Chuong insist on passing the throne?

Zhou Yuanzhang is considered one of the most famous emperors in Chinese history with great merits. Chu Nguyen Chuong came from a poor background, was born in a poor family, had to work for others.

In 1344, when Chu Nguyen Chuong was 16 years old, due to a raging epidemic, his family members all died one after another. Since then, Chu Nguyen Chuong has also wandered around, even going to Hoang Giac pagoda to ask for help and begging for alms for 3 years.

After that, when he joined the Hong Can Army (i.e. the Red Riding Hood army), Chu Nguyen Chuong gradually established many merits, became the leader and finally succeeded in the Northern punishment, overthrowing the Yuan dynasty and ascending the throne. Emperor and founded the Ming Dynasty.

Why did Chu Nguyen Chuong abuse the public god?

Thanks to his great merits, Zhou Yuanzhang is considered one of the greatest emperors in Chinese history. However, he was also an emperor who was criticized for his harshness and abuse of many founding gods during his reign.

After becoming emperor, Zhou Yuanzhang, due to his hardships, lost faith in the mandarins under his command. Therefore, he murdered many public servants during his time in power.

But Zhou Yuanzhang’s eldest son, Zhou Tieu, was different from him. Chu Tieu is a benevolent and kind person. This crown prince even risked his life to beg Chu Nguyen Chuong to spare the lives of public servants, including Tong Liem, the crown prince’s teacher. Because his son was involved in Ho Duy Dung’s treason case, Tong Liem was also convicted by Chu Nguyen Chuong. Seeing that the teacher was about to be executed, Prince Chu Tieu tried his best to beg his father to spare him.

However, Chu Tieu was not so lucky. Although he was soon chosen by Zhou Yuanzhang as his successor to the throne, he died of illness at the age of 38.

After Chu Tieu’s death, Chu Nguyen Chuong established Chu Tieu’s eldest son, Chu Doan Van, as Emperor Thai Ton. Despite having many sons, Emperor Zhou Yuanzhang still insisted on the principle of making the eldest son the successor for the purpose of ensuring order in the royal family, and at the same time letting the other sons cut off their fantasies with the emperor. royal throne, preventing future bloodshed.

Chu Nguyen Chuong slaughtered the public servants to prepare the way to become emperor for Chu Doan Van later. This is also the thing that he did before for Chu Tieu because he was afraid that the public servants would rely on public works.

What did Chu Nguyen Chuong ask respectfully?

However, putting aside his worries about the public, Chu Nguyen Chuong was still concerned about the princes holding military power in the land. Previously, after ascending the throne, in order to strengthen the royal family, Minh Thai To Chu Nguyen Chuong appointed his descendants as kings, granted land and had his own army to protect. Therefore, the power of the princes is very great. Naturally, this also became a threat to the throne.

Before Chu Nguyen Chuong could solve this problem, he fell ill. He called for his name Chu Doan Van to come and ask his grandson how to solve the problems of the princes.

Zhou Yunwen replied to Zhou Yuanzhang that, if the uncles (kings) rebelled in the future, he himself would first restrain their behavior with ritual. Then he will influence them with affection and finally resort to confrontation in battle. This answer seems perfect but doesn’t seem to be a practical solution to the problem of future rebellious princes.

However, after hearing the answer, Chu Nguyen Chuong was very satisfied. The reason Zhou Yuanzhang asked this was because he was afraid that his second son, Zhu Di, might rebel in the future. However, Chu Di is also Chu Doan Van’s biological uncle. Therefore, when there is a rebellion, they do not have the heart to kill each other.

Moreover, at that time, although Chu Di was one of the strongest princes, compared to the power in the court, it was still too disparate. Meanwhile, Chu Nguyen Chuong also heard the wise answer of the god Chu Doan Van, so he also eased his worries.

In May 1398, Minh Thai To Chu Nguyen Chuong died. The real title is Chu Doan Van ascended the throne, the name is Emperor Minh Hue. However, after becoming emperor, Chu Doan Van seems to have forgotten what he once told his grandfather. Chu Doan Van changed the policy of his grandfather, although he reduced harsh punishments and spared many prisoners, he directly applied the policy of radicalization to centralize power.

As a result, in 1399, Chu Doan Van’s uncle, Chu Di, rebelled. Although the imperial army was dominant at first, because Chu Nguyen Chuong had previously abused public servants, besides Chu Doan Van, there were not many people capable of leading the army.

Therefore, the confrontation quickly turned to Chu Di, a man who was seasoned on the battlefield.

In the end, the imperial army lost the battle, and Chu Doan Van was also usurped by his uncle after 4 years as emperor.