Ming emperor yongle biography of george

Gaoxu became infuriated and refused to give up jockeying for his father's favor or to move to Yunnan province of which he was Prince. He attacked Xie Jin's reputation and eventually killed him. After Yongle's overthrow of Jianwen, China's countryside was devastated. Low production and depopulation threatened the fragile new economy.

Yongle created an extensive plan to strengthen and stabilize the new economy, but first he had to silence dissension. He created an elaborate system of censors to remove corrupt officials from office, and dispatched some of his most trusted officers to reveal and destroy secret societies, Jianwen loyalists, and even bandits. He fought population decline and strengthened the economy by reclaiming uncultivated land for agriculture, utilizing the labor of the Chinese people as efficiently as possible, and maximizing textile and agricultural production.

He also worked to reclaim production rich regions such as the Lower Yangtze Delta and organized a massive rebuilding of the Grand Canal of China. The Grand Canals were almost completely restored and were eventually moving goods from all over the world. Yongle ambitiously moved China's capital from Nanjing to Beijing. According to a popular legend, the capital was moved when the emperor's advisors brought the emperor to the hills surrounding Nanjing and pointed out the emperor's palace showing the vulnerability of the palace to artillery attack.

Yongle planned a massive network of structures to house government offices, officials, and the residence of the imperial family itself. After a painfully long period of construction, the Forbidden City was finally completed and became the political capital of China for the next five hundred years. Yongle sponsored and created many cultural traditions in China.

He promoted Confucianism and kept traditional ritual ceremonies with a rich cultural theme. He commissioned his Grand Secretary, Xie Jin, to write a compilation of every subject and every known Chinese book. The massive project was intended to preserve Chinese culture and literature in writing. The initial copy consisted of eleven thousand volumes and took seventeen months to transcribe; another copy was transcribed in Emulating the Mongol khans, Yongle summoned a Tibetan lama to his court, and the strongest intellectual influence on him may have been that of a favorite personal advisor, the Daoist priest Tao-yen.

Yongle's tolerance of Chinese ideas that did not agree with his own philosophies was well-known. Though he favored Confucianism, he treated Daoism , Confucianism , and Buddhism equally. Strict Confucianists considered this hypocrisy, but his open-minded approach helped him win the support of the people and unify China. Yongle went to great lengths to eradicate the Mongolian culture of the preceding Yuan dynasty, forbidding the use of popular Mongolian names, habits, language, and clothing.

At the beginning of his insurrection in , Yongle had enlisted the support of the Urianghad Mongol tribes in northeastern China, and he repaid them by withdrawing his command posts south of the Great Wall , giving them autonomy, and sending regular gifts to their chieftains. The Eastern Mongols Tatars and Western Mongols were too disorganized to present a threat, and Timurlane died in the west in , before he was able to launch a campaign against China.

After his death, Yongle maintained friendly relations with his heirs in Samarkand and Herat, and kept the Silk Road Central Asian trade routes open. Between and , Yongle personally led five expeditions into Mongolia to crush the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty that had fled north after being defeated by Emperor Hongwu. He repaired the northern defenses and forged buffer alliances to keep the Mongols at bay in order to build an army.

His strategy was to force the Mongols into economic dependence on the Chinese, gather national support against them, and to launch periodic initiatives into Mongolia to cripple their offensive power. He attempted to compel Mongolia to become a Chinese tributary, with all the tribes submitting and proclaiming themselves vassals of the Ming, and established nominal authority over the Jurchen in the far northeast.

Through fighting, Yongle learned to appreciate the importance of cavalry in battle and eventually began using a substantial portion of his resources to keep horses in good supply. In , the Tran Dynasty, heir to the Annamite throne in Vietnam the former Chinese province of Annam , had been deposed and a new dynasty proclaimed. Tran loyalists formally petitioned Yongle several times to intervene and restore legitimate rule, and in , he sent envoys to Vietnam.

However, when they arrived in Vietnam, both the Tran prince and the accompanying Chinese ambassador were ambushed and killed. In response to this insult, the Yongle Emperor sent a huge army of , south to conquer Vietnam. This encyclopedia surpassed all previous ones, including the Four Great Books of Song from the 11th century. He also ordered the texts of the Neo-Confucians to be organized and used as textbooks for training future officials.

The civil service examinations , held in a three-year cycle, produced qualified graduates who filled positions in the state apparatus. The emperor was known for his strict punishments for failures, but also for quickly promoting successful servants. As a result, ministers held their posts for longer periods of time, leading to a more professional and stable state administration.

He ruled the empire primarily "from horseback", traveling between the two capitals, similar to the Yuan emperors, and also frequently led military campaigns into Mongolia. These groups relied on imperial favor for their power. The emperor also made significant efforts to strengthen and consolidate the empire's hegemonic position in East Asia through foreign policy.

Diplomatic messages and military expeditions were sent to "all four corners of the world". A major threat to the security of the empire was posed by the Mongols, who were divided into three groups—the Uriankhai in the southeast were mostly loyal, while the eastern Mongols and western Oirats were problematic. Ming China alternately supported and opposed them.

The Yongle Emperor personally led five campaigns into Mongolia, and the decision to move the capital from Nanjing to Beijing was motivated by the need to keep a close eye on the restless northern neighbors. The Yongle Emperor was a skilled military leader and placed great emphasis on the strength of his army, but his wars were ultimately unsuccessful.

The war in Jiaozhi present-day northern Vietnam , which began with an invasion in , lasted until the end of his reign. Four years after his death, the Ming army was forced to retreat back to China. Despite his efforts, the Yongle Emperor's Mongol campaigns did not significantly alter the balance of power or ensure the security of the northern border.

The Yongle Emperor died in and was buried in the Chang Mausoleum, the largest of the Ming imperial tombs located near Beijing. Zhu Di was born on 2 May , as the fourth son of Zhu Yuanzhang. This dynasty was one of the states formed during the Red Turban Rebellion , which was a rebellion against the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty that controlled China.

In the s, Zhu Yuanzhang conquered China, established the Ming dynasty , and declared himself emperor. He is commonly known by his era name as the Hongwu Emperor. After taking the throne, Zhu Di claimed to be the son of Zhu Yuanzhang's primary wife, Lady Ma , who had been empress since , but other sources suggest that his real mother was a concubine of the Hongwu Emperor with the title Consort Gong, who was either Mongolian from the Khongirad tribe [ 9 ] or possibly Korean.

This was clearly absurd, as it was unlikely that a son of the empress would not be named as successor during the Hongwu Emperor's lifetime. Therefore, in the later version of , all five of the Hongwu Emperor's sons were recognized as her descendants. Zhu Di spent his childhood in Nanjing, where he was raised with a strong emphasis on discipline and modesty, along with the other children of Zhu Yuanzhang.

Despite their contrasting personalities, Zhu Di and Zhu Su became the closest of friends. While Zhu Di enjoyed activities such as archery and horseback riding, Zhu Su preferred studying literature and tending to plants. The emperor took great care in the education of his sons, enlisting the help of prominent scholars from the empire.

Initially, Song Lian was appointed as the teacher for the crown prince, and also gave lectures to the other princes. Zhu Di's favorite subject was the history of the Han dynasty , particularly the emperors Gaozu and Wudi. In fact, he often referenced examples from the life of Qin Shi Huang in his decrees. On 22 April , the emperor's sons, with the exception of the crown prince, were granted princely titles.

Zhu Di was bestowed with the title of Prince of Yan. During the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty , Beiping served as the capital of China. After being conquered by the Ming dynasty in , it became a crucial stronghold for the troops guarding the northern border of China and was also designated as the capital of the province with the same name. Gao Xian spent the next four to five years lecturing him on Confucian classics, history, agriculture, and irrigation.

He also trained the prince in poetry and prose writing, and explained the rules of governance and the selection of subordinates. In early , he married Lady Xu , the daughter of Xu Da , who was ranked first among all of the early Ming generals. She was two years younger than him. The couple welcomed their first son, Zhu Gaochi , on 16 August , followed by their second son, Zhu Gaoxu , in A few weeks after the wedding, he traveled to Fengyang then known as Zhongdu—the Central Capital where he underwent seven months of military training alongside his elder brothers, Zhu Shuang and Zhu Gang.

Two years later, he returned to Fengyang with his younger brothers, Zhu Su, Zhu Zhen, and Zhu Fu, and stayed for an additional two years. During this time, he not only trained in command and combat, but also gained knowledge in logistics and the acquisition and transportation of materials and supplies for warfare. It was during this period that his organizational skills began to emerge, which he later utilized effectively in his battles.

He also took the opportunity to disguise himself as a regular soldier and immerse himself in the lives of ordinary people. Looking back, he considered his time in Fengyang to be the happiest days of his life. In , Li Wenzhong, the nephew and adopted son of the Hongwu Emperor, who was responsible for defending the north, was given the responsibility of preparing the prince's palace in Beijing.

He utilized the former palaces of the Yuan emperors, providing Zhu Di with a larger and more fortified residence compared to his brothers, some of whom resided in converted temples or county offices. General Li also focused on fortifying the city, a decision that would have consequences during the civil war when his son, Li Jinglong , unsuccessfully attempted to besiege Beiping in In April , [ 21 ] at the age of twenty, he moved to Beiping.

He encountered a strong Mongolian influence, which the government tried to suppress by banning Mongolian customs, clothing, and names. Along with the hundreds of thousands of soldiers stationed in the region, the city was also home to officials administering the province, as well as artisans and laborers from all over the country. The main concern of the local authorities was providing enough food for the population.

Peasants were relocated to the north, soldiers and convicts were sent to cultivate the land, and merchants were granted licenses to trade salt in exchange for bringing grain to the region. Zhu Di's interest in the military was put into practice when he personally trained his own guard. Meanwhile, the prince had the freedom to train and deploy his own guard.

In the s, Zhu Di served in border defense under the leadership of his father-in-law, Xu Da. After Su's death in , Fu Youde , Xu's deputy, took over leadership. In January , the emperor entrusted his sons with independent command for the first time. Zhu Di demonstrated excellent command skills when he defeated and captured both Mongol commanders in battle.

They then served under him with their troops. Zhu Di continued to lead armies into battle against the Mongols repeatedly and with great success. In , the emperor's eldest son and crown prince, Zhu Biao , died. The court then discussed who would succeed him, and ultimately, the primogeniture viewpoint, advocated by scholars from the Hanlin Academy and high officials, prevailed.

As a result, Zhu Biao's son, Zhu Yunwen , was appointed as the new successor. Generals Feng Sheng, Fu Youde, and Lan Yu who were related to the successor by blood were chosen as his tutors and teachers, [ 29 ] but due to a recommendation from Zhu Di, the Hongwu Emperor began to suspect the three generals of treason. The other two generals also died under unclear circumstances at the turn of and In their place, princes were appointed.

For example, in , the Prince of Jin was given command of all the troops in Shanxi province, and the Prince of Yan was given command in Beiping province. The Hongwu Emperor, who was deeply affected by the death of his two eldest sons and the strained relations between his remaining sons and the heir, made the decision to revise the rules governing the imperial family for the fourth time.

He also exercised caution in diplomatic relations, such as when he welcomed Korean delegations passing through Beiping, to avoid any indication of disrespect towards the emperor's authority. Out of the six princes [ vii ] responsible for guarding the northern border, Zhu Di was the second oldest but also the most capable. He had operated in a vast territory, stretching from Liaodong to the bend of the Yellow River.

His closest advisers immediately began reviewing the Hongwu Emperor's reforms, with the most significant change being an attempt to limit and eventually eliminate the princes who were the sons of the Hongwu Emperor and served as the emperor's support and controlled a significant portion of the military power during his reign. The government employed various methods to remove the five princes, including exile, house arrest, and even driving them to suicide.

Zhu Di was considered the most dangerous of all the princes. Due to this, the government treated him with caution and limited his power. They replaced military commanders in the northeast with generals loyal to the Jianwen Emperor and transferred Zhu Di's personal guard outside of Beiping. He even asked for mercy for his friend Zhu Su [ 38 ] and begged for permission to return his sons, who had been staying in Nanjing since the funeral of the Hongwu Emperor.

This was done by the government as a precaution, effectively holding them as hostages. In early August , Zhu Di used the arrest of two of his officials as a pretext for rebellion. With the support of Beijing dignitaries, [ ix ] he gained control of the city's garrison and occupied the surrounding prefectures and counties. In his letters and statements, he repeatedly asserted that he had no desire for the throne, but as the eldest living son of the deceased emperor, he felt a duty to restore the laws and order that had been dismantled by the new government.

He explained that this was out of respect for his late father. He also accused the current emperor and his advisors of withholding information about his father's illness and preventing him from attending the funeral. Furthermore, he condemned their unjust treatment of the emperor's uncles, who were his own younger brothers. He justified his actions as necessary self-defense, not against the emperor himself, but against his corrupt ministers.

He referred to these actions as the Jingnan campaign , a campaign to clear away disorders. At the start of the war, Zhu Di commanded a force of , soldiers and only held control over the immediate area surrounding Beiping. Despite the Nanjing government's larger number of armies and greater material resources, Zhu Di's soldiers were of higher quality and he possessed a strong Mongol cavalry.

Most importantly, his military leadership skills were superior to the indecisiveness and lack of coordination displayed by the government's generals. In September , a government army of , soldiers, led by the experienced veteran general Geng Bingwen , marched towards Zhending , a city located southwest of Beiping, but by the end of the month, they were defeated.

In response, the court appointed a new commander, Li Jinglong , who then led a new army to besiege Beiping on 12 November. The soldiers from the south, who were not accustomed to the cold weather, were forced to retreat to Dezhou in Shandong. In , there were battles in the southern part of Beiping province and northwestern Shandong , with varying levels of success.

However, due to concerns about potential enemy reinforcements, Zhu Di ended the siege of Jinan in September and retreated to Beiping. Li Jinglong's lackluster performance led the government to appoint Sheng Yong as the new commander of the counterinsurgency army. In , Zhu Di attempted to weaken the enemy by attacking smaller units, which disrupted the supply of government troops.

Both sides then focused on breaking through along the Grand Canal. The front continued to move back and forth for the rest of the year. In , instead of launching another attack along the Grand Canal, Zhu Di advanced further west and bypassed Dezhou. He then conquered Xuzhou in early March. The government troops retreated south to Zhili and were repeatedly defeated.

Ming emperor yongle biography of george

In July, the rebels reached the north bank of the Yangtze River. The commander of the government fleet defected to Zhu Di's side, allowing the rebel army to cross the river without resistance and advance on Nanjing. During the clashes, the palace was set on fire, resulting in the deaths of the emperor, his empress, and his son. Even as late as the summer of , the new emperor was still dealing with the followers of the Jianwen Emperor.

These followers denied the legitimacy of Zhu Di's rule and he responded by erasing the Jianwen Emperor's reign from history. This included abolishing the Jianwen era and extending the Hongwu era until the end of Many others were imprisoned or deported to the border, resulting in a purge that affected tens of thousands of people. The original version, created in at the court of the Jianwen Emperor, was deemed unacceptable by the new regime.

In late , the authors of the original version began to revise their work, completing it in July , but the emperor was dissatisfied with the revised version and in , he ordered a new version to be prepared. This new version was completed in June , and changes focused primarily on Zhu Di's claim to the throne. It included claims that he was the son of Empress Ma, that the Hongwu Emperor had considered appointing him as successor, that he was to be the regent of the Jianwen Emperor, and that he was an exceptionally talented military leader who was highly favored by his father.

In contrast to the frequent changes in offices during the Hongwu Emperor's reign, the high levels of the Yongle Emperor's administration remained stable. The most significant political matters were overseen by eunuchs and generals, while officials were responsible for managing finances, the judiciary, and routine tasks. As a result, the atomization of administration that was characteristic of the Hongwu Emperor's rule diminished, allowing the emperor to focus less on routine details.

The political influence of the bureaucratic apparatus gradually increased, and under the Yongle Emperor's rule, ministers were able to challenge the emperor, even at the cost of their freedom or lives. The most significant change was the emergence of the Grand Secretariat , which played a crucial role in the politics of the Yongle Emperor's successors.

Led by the Grand Secretaries, officials gained control of the government. The emperor restored the titles of the princes of Zhou, Qi, and Min, which had been abolished by the Jianwen Emperor, but these titles did not come with the same power and authority as before. Interestingly, he had previously condemned the same actions when they were carried out by the Jianwen Emperor.

One of the Yongle Emperor's first actions upon assuming the throne was to reorganize the military command. He promoted loyal generals and granted them titles and ranks. In June , an additional nine generals from the civil war were appointed as marquises or counts. In the following years, meritorious military leaders from the campaign against the Mongols were also granted titles of dukes, marquises, and counts, including those of Mongolian origin.

The emperor established a new hereditary military nobility. While their income from the state treasury — shi of grain for dukes, — for marquises, and for counts; with 1 shi being equivalent to liters was not particularly high, the prestige associated with their titles was more significant. They commanded armies in the emperor's name, without competition from the princes who had been stripped of their influence.

The nobility also held immunity from punishment by local authorities, but there were notable differences from the Hongwu era. During that time, the generals, who were former comrades-in-arms of the emperor, held a higher status, had their own followers, and wielded considerable power in their assigned areas. This eventually posed a threat to the emperor, leading to their elimination.

Under the Yongle Emperor, members of the nobility did not participate in regional or civil administration, nor were they assigned permanent military units. Instead, they were given ad hoc assembled armies. Additionally, the emperor often personally led campaigns accompanied by the nobility, strengthening their personal relationships.

There was no need for purges, and any isolated cases of punishment were due to the failures and shortcomings of those involved. Overall, the nobility elevated the emperor's prestige and contributed to the military successes of his reign. Grand Secretaries during the reign of the Yongle Emperor, from — The first two were appointed in August , while the rest were appointed a month later:.

The emperor reorganized the civilian administration, gaining the support of officials who had often served under the previous government. He restored the administrative structure of the Hongwu era, while also making some changes. First and foremost, in , the Grand Secretariat was created to act as an intermediary between the emperor and the government, partially replacing the Central Secretariat that had been abolished in Despite their informal position, the Grand Secretaries quickly gained dominance in the civil administration.

The Grand Secretariat was established in August , when the emperor began to address current administrative issues during a working dinner with Huang Huai and Xie Jin after the evening audience. In September , he appointed five additional Grand Secretaries. Despite their relatively low status at most fifth rank , they were given high titles in the crown prince's household.

Over time, they evolved from subordinate assistants responsible for organizing correspondence and formulating responses to becoming influential politicians who proposed solutions to problems. Their close proximity to the emperor gave them an advantage over the ministers. The emperor kept his Grand Secretaries with him, and some even accompanied him on his Mongol campaigns.

During this period, the empire was governed by the crown prince with the assistance of other Grand Secretaries and selected ministers. The Yongle Emperor was meticulous in his selection of the top officials for the state apparatus, including the members of the Grand Secretariat and the ministers. Among them, Minister of Revenue Xia Yuanji was the most trusted by the emperor.

Xia advocated for moderation in spending and using resources for the benefit of the population, which earned him the respect of the Yongle Emperor for his honesty and transparency. Despite their objections, the emperor ultimately prevailed and Fang Bin committed suicide, while Wu Zhong and Xia Yuanji were imprisoned. After the Yongle Emperor's death, they were exonerated and returned to their positions of authority.

During most of the Yongle Emperor's reign, four out of the six ministries Personnel , Revenue , Rites , and Works were headed by the same minister. The Yongle Emperor Sent an army of half a million men to avenge the insult conquering the country in Vietnam thereafter revolted in under the leadership of Le Loi and china had lost control of nearly all Vietnamese territory by The Yongle Emperor was the only ruler in the Chinese history to be acknowledged suzerain by the Japanese under the Ashikanga shogun Yoshimitsu.

Immediately after claiming the throne Yongle Emperor officially named Beijing as the new capital of the empire; ruling in Nanjing after setting fire to that Palace was profoundly troublesome for his efforts to build a sense of legitimacy. Once the Imperial Court, along with the army, had relocated to Beijing, the city grew and became the largest city in the world.

In , he commissioned the production of a definitive edition of four Books; the four classical texts identified by Zhu Xi as the core of the Neo Confucian curriculum, restoring the full length Mencius into use. He constructed nine- story, more than foot tall octagonal porcelain pagoda in Nanjing. The Yongle Emperor worked to reclaim the productions rich regions such as the lower Yangtze Delta and called for massive reconstruction of the Grand Canal.

The Grand Canal was almost completely rebuilt and was eventually moving imported goods from all over the world during his reign. His short term goal was to revitalize northern urban centers especially his new capital at Beijing. His original idea for the memorial was to erect an unprecedented stele 73 metres tall. He is regarded as the second founder of the Ming dynasty because of his numerous accomplishments and the expansion of the empire under his rule.

He was a professional soldier and took great interest in military affairs. He is considered as one of the greatest Chinese emperors and one of the most influential rulers in Chinese history. He is also regarded as an architect and preserver of Chinese culture due to his efforts to remove all Mongol influence and his sponsorship of cultural activities.

Several major landmarks were achieved during his reign. This includes the design and the construction of the Forbidden City in Beijing; the completion of the monumental Yongle Encyclopedia, the erections of monuments like the porcelain Tower of Nanjing and the exploratory sea voyages of Zheng He. He has military accomplishments and leadership in establishment of political relationships with the surrounding states and tribes that are only rivaled by a handful of people in the world history.

He executed many of his own generals and advisors in order to prevent them from usurping his power. He was domineering and relied on eunuchs and young officials who were personally loyal to him rather than on experienced and more independent bureaucrats. He executed ten generations of the family of the historian Fang Xiao- ru for refusing to write his inaugural address.

His usurping of the throne is often called the Second Founding of the Ming. He treated Daoism, Confucian and Buddhism equally although he favored Confucianism to an extent. Strict Confucians considered him hypocritical but his even handed approach helped him win the support of the people and unify China. His love of Chinese religions sparked a sincere hatred for the Mongol culture.

Amid the continuing struggle against the Mongols, Zhu Di consolidated his own power and eliminated rivals such as the successful general Lan Yu. He initially accepted his father's appointment of his elder brother Zhu Biao and then his teen-aged nephew Zhu Yunwen as crown prince, but when Zhu Yunwen ascended the throne as the Jianwen Emperor and began executing and demoting his powerful uncles, Zhu Di found pretext for rising in rebellion against him.

Assisted in large part by eunuchs mistreated by the Hongwu and Jianwen Emperors, who both favored the Confucian scholar-bureaucrats, Zhu Di survived the initial attacks on his fief and drove south, sacking Nanjing in and declaring his new era the Yongle or the time of "Perpetual Happiness". Anxious to establish his own legitimacy, Zhu Di voided the entire reign of his young nephew and established a wide-ranging effort to destroy or falsify records concerning his childhood and rebellion.

This included a massive purge of the Confucian scholars in Nanjing and grants of extraordinary extralegal authority to the eunuch secret police. One favorite was Zheng He, who employed his authority to launch major voyages of exploration into the South Pacific and Indian Oceans. He repaired and reopened the Grand Canal and, between and , directed the construction of the Forbidden City.