Yongle
It’s early in the morning on February the 23rd, 1424. Up rises the great and accomplished emperor of the Ming dynasty as a team of eunuchs enter into his sleeping quarters, ready to wait on his every beck and call. As he ponders what he will accomplish this day, his eunuchs are giving him his manicure, bathing him, and dressing him. After he is dressed, he exits his palace into a slowly awakening city and steps into his sedan to do his morning rounds.
His first stop is at the decorative and heavily guarded Respect Heaven Gate where he holds a morning audience. As the audience dissipates, he does his inspections and enters his chariot to make his next stop. The emperor’s entourage comes to a halt at the Great Sacrifice alter where a huge crowd of people - made up of both important people and simple peasants - gather to get a look at their emperor as he does his rituals. When his rituals are over, he finds himself tired and weary, a condition that has worsened in his old age and a by mysterious disease he had when he was younger. To ease their emperor’s ailments, Yongle’s transport takes him to the Literary Flower Hall’s pharmacy where he lunches and takes a nap.
When he arises from his refreshing nap, it is now time to take council from his various ministers. The process is tiring, but Yongle’s quick rest helps him get through the task. After he discusses the latest issues with his ministers, he heads to the Eastern Depot to make sure none of his prisoners are being tortured. His concern is due to his own hot-tempered nature - some of the local prisoners are members of his own staff that will be rejoining after they have served their time. After the quick inspection of the prison, Yongle then carries on his inspection duties around the city.
After his long and tiring inspection routines, Yongle goes back to the pharmacy to have a cup of green tea and then proceeds to check on his heir’s schooling. After administering a quick oral quiz to his heir apparent, Yongle prepares to hear various petitions from all around China. By the time he finishes hearing petitions, it is dark and Yongle still has to meet with more officials and dukes. As he meets with the select few, Yongle’s eunuchs serve food and drink to help Yongle maintain his energy and save time. Though it is exhausting, Yongle is satisfied at all of the accomplishments that came of his meeting.
It is now nearing the end of the long day as Yongle chokes down another bowl of green tea. He decides to spend some leisure time with his concubines after the tiring day, needing something warm and soft to clear his mind of the day-to-day troubles of the empire. He reads and contemplates in the comfort of his chamber before he slowly drifts off to a deep sleep, satisfied by this day’s accomplishments.
Emperor Yongle was born Zhu Di on May 2nd, 1360 (mother unknown) to a monk and future emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Di grew up as a son to the emperor during the Ming Dynasty in a loving, caring environment. His father, Emperor Hongwu supplied nothing but the best education for his sons and eventually entitled them their own princedoms. Zhu Di was entitled as the Prince of Yan, the area around Beiping (present day Beijing).
When Zhu Di moved to Beiping, the city had been devastated by famine and disease and was under threat of invasion from Mongolians from the north. Zhu Di, with help from his father-in-law, General Xu Da, secured the northern borders and became an excellent field marshal in the process. As he ruthlessly battled Mongols in Northern China, Zhu Di’s supposed mother, Empress Ma, passed away, only to be followed by General Xu Da three years later.
Zhu Di had been very successful against the Mongols and impressed his father with his energy, risk taking ability, and leadership. Even Zhu Di’s troops praised his effectiveness - especially when Hongwu rewarded them for their service. But Zhu Di was not the oldest brother, forcing his father to name the Prince of Jin the crown prince. When the Prince of Jin died of illness in 1392, worries of imperial succession ensued. Zhu Di was hopeful his father would choose him to be heir apparent, but to the surprise of few Hongwu complied with imperial law and named his grandson, Zhu Yunwen, crown prince. Zhu Di didn’t trust his nephew who would eventually become Zhu Di’s biggest obstacle.
Hongwu died on June 24th, 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 - enough to earn him strong support from the populace and many supporting generals. He was a great military commander and studied Sunzi’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 the loyalist General Li Jinglong several times, deceiving him and overwhelming him in many decisive battles. On January 15, 1402 Zhu Di made the gutsy 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 capitol 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 and barbarically purging China of Jianwen’s supporters. Such an action was believed to be required to pacify China and maintain his rule. 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.
Yongle followed traditional rituals closely and remained superstitious. He didn’t overindulge in the luxuries of palace life, but still used Buddhism and Buddhist festivals to overcome some of the backwardness of the Chinese frontier and to help calm civil unrest. He stopped the warring between the various Chinese tribes and reorganized the provinces to best provide peace within China.
Due to the stress and thinking involved in running a post-rebellion empire, Yongle searched for scholars to join his staff. He had many of the best scholars chosen as candidates and took great care in choosing them, even creating terms by which he hired people.
When it was time for him to choose an heir, Yongle very much wanted to choose his second son, Gaoxu. Gaoxu was an athletic warrior type that contrasted sharply with his older brother’s intellectual and humanitarian nature. Despite much council from his advisors, Yongle chose his older son, Gaozhi, as his heir apparent mainly due to advising from Xie Jin. As a result, Gaoxu became infuriated and refused to give up jockeying for his father’s favor and refusing to move to the Yunnan province (of which he was the prince). He even went so far as to undermine Xie Jin’s council and eventually killed him.
After Yongle’s overthrow of Jianwen, China’s countryside was devastated. The fragile new economy had to deal with low production and depopulation. Yongle laid out a long and extensive plan to strengthen and stabilize the new economy, but first he had silence rumors of dissention. He created an elaborate system of censors to remove corrupt officials from office that spread such rumors. Yongle dispatched some of his most trusted officers to reveal or destroy secret societies, Jianwen loyalists, and even bandits. To strengthen the economy, he was forced to fight population decline by reclaiming land, utilizing the most he could from the Chinese people, and maximizing textile and agricultural production. He also worked to reclaim production rich regions such as the Lower Yangzi Delta and called for a massive rebuilding of the Grand Canal. The Grand Canals were almost completely rebuilt and were eventually moving goods from all over the world. A capitolist society was beginning to emerging in China.
Yongle ambitiously planned to move China’s capitol to Beijing. He planned to build a massive network of structures in which government offices, officials, and the impartial family itself resided. After a painfully long construction time, the Forbidden City was finally completed and became the political capitol of China for the next 500 years.
Yongle sponsored and created many cultural traditions in China. He promoted Confucianism and kept traditional ritual ceremonies with a rich cultural theme. His respect for Chinese culture was apparent. He commissioned his grand secretary, Xie Jin, to write a compilation of every subject and every known book of the Chinese. The massive project’s goal was to preserve Chinese culture and literature in writing. The initial copy took 17 months to transcribe and another copy was transcribed in 1557. The book, named Yongle’s Encyclopedia, is still considered one of the most marvelous human achievements in history, despite it being lost by time.
Yongle’s tolerance of Chinese ideas that didn’t agree with his own philosophies was well-known. He treated Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism equally (though he favored Confucianism). Strict Confucianists considered him hypocritical, but his even handed approach helped him win the support of the people and unify China. His love for Chinese culture sparked a sincere hatred for Mongolian culture. He considered it rotten and forbade the use of popular Mongolian names, habits, language, and clothing. Great lengths were taken by Yongle to ensure Mongolian culture would be forever cleansed from China.
Mongolian invaders were still causing many problems for the Ming Dynasty. Traditionally, the Ming rarely went on the offensive against the Mongols. But Yongle prepared to change this less-than-prideful tradition. He repaired the northern defenses and forged buffer alliances to keep Mongolians at bay in order to build an army. His strategy was to force the Mongols into economic dependence on the Chinese, get national support against them, and to launch periodic initiatives into Mongolia to cripple their offensive power. He desired to contain and isolate the Mongols. Through fighting, Yongle learned of the importance of horsemen in battle and eventually began spending much of his resources to keep horses in good supply. Yongle spent his entire life fighting the Mongolians. Failures and successes came and went, but it should be pointed out that after Yongle’s second personal campaign against the Mongolians, the Northern Ming Dynasty was at peace for over 7 years.
Annam (modern day Vietnam) was also a point of interest during Yongle’s reign. A minor border war quickly escalated into a full scale war perhaps provoked by Yongle’s desire for expansion. It took much diplomatic and military struggle before Yongle was able to sinicize the resistant Annamese. After capturing the region, Yongle began massive reforms on the Annamese way of life. He built schools, medical clinics, and registrars and hired Annamese scholars to attend universities or work for his administration. His reforms didn’t come without a price, though, as he spent much of his time undermining and attempting to abolish Annamese culture.
On April 1st, 1424, Yongle launched a large campaign into the Gobi Desert to chase a nuisance army of fleeting Tartars. Yongle became frustrated at his inability to catch up with his swift opponents and fell into a deep depression and then into illness. On August 8th, 1424, the Ming Emperor Yongle died.
Yongle (Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan) was in a life-long pursuit of power, prestige, and glory. He respected and worked hard to preserve Chinese culture while undermining and cleansing Chinese society of foreign cultures. He deeply admired and wished to save his father’s accomplishments and spent a lot of time proving his claim to the throne. His military accomplishments and leadership are scantly rivaled by any other person in world history. His reign was a mixed blessing for the Chinese populace. Yongle’s economic, educational, and military reforms provided unrivaled benefits for the people, but his despotic style of government gave them no room to breathe. Despite these negatives, he is considered the main architect and keeper of Chinese culture, history, and statecraft and is unrivaled by all but the chosen few in Chinese history.
(Source: Perpetual Happiness, by Shih-Shan Henry Tsai - Written by Ryan Poe)