In addition, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, is also a very interesting person. Although he has made great achievements in the future, he is still human, and people make mistakes.
Zhu Yuanzhang was a monk and a beggar. He really grew up in the market, which enabled him to pay attention to people's livelihood at all times, but it also enabled him to accumulate disadvantages for the later development of the Ming Dynasty. The decline of the Ming dynasty did not begin in the middle and late period, but appeared at the beginning.
Lao Zhu is a very suspicious and controlling person, which makes him unable to stop dealing with the founding heroes who fought the world with him, creating the "four major cases in the early Ming Dynasty" and killing tens of thousands of people; He also established a privileged institution, factory guards, to supervise officials and people. The particularity of the factory guard made it independent from the imperial court, and later developed into one of the reasons for the collapse of the Ming Dynasty.
How strong is Lao Zhu's desire for control? He even wants to name his descendants early.
We all know that ancient families have genealogies, especially the royal family. Genealogy not only records the information of all family members, but also arranges the generations of family children. For example, it shows that the British emperors Zhu Qizhen and Ming Daizong Zhu Qiyu, as two brothers, belong to the same generation.
Under normal circumstances, the generation of the family will only rank in the second word, that is to say, there is no need to name it with the third word; However, observing the names of 16 emperors in the Ming Dynasty, we can find a strange phenomenon. Zhu Yuanzhang even has plans for the third word in the names of future generations.
Except Zhu Yuanzhang, the other 15 emperors of the Ming Dynasty are as follows: Zhu Yunwen, Judy, Zhu Gaochi, Zhu Zhanji, Zhu Qizhen, Ming Yingzong, Zhu Qiyu, Ming Daizong, Zhu Jianshen, Zhu Mianzhu, Zhu Houzhao, Zhu Houtang and Ming Renzong.
In addition to their generational names, their real names are Yang, Di, Chi, Ji, Zhen, Yu, Shen, Min, Zhao, Yang, Jun, Luo, Jiao and Jian, all of which are five elements! What are the five elements? Jin Mu's fire, water and soil are the five most basic substances in nature, and the concept of five elements has always been linked with China's geomantic theory.
This is not a coincidence, because it is obvious that the five elements of the last word of the same generation of emperors all use the same one. For example, Zhu Yunwen was actually the grandson of Zhu Yuanzhang, and the throne fell to him only because of the death of the former Prince Zhu Biao, while Judy, the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty, was Zhu Yunwen's elder, and Zhu Gaochi, the fourth emperor, was Zhu Yunwen's contemporaries.
Zhu Biao and Judy are both "wood", while Zhu Yunwen and Zhu Gaochi are both "fire". For example, Zhu Qizhen in Ming Yingzong and Zhu Qiyu in Ming Daizong are both "gold", while Zhu Youxiao, the last brother of the Ming Dynasty, and Zhu Youjian, the emperor of Chongzhen, both have the word "wood".
So why did Zhu make such an arrangement for the names of future generations? In fact, it has been mentioned above, because the theory of five elements has penetrated into all aspects of ancient times, whether it is medical treatment, funeral or architecture, it is inseparable from the five elements. Zhu Yuanzhang held a vague expectation that as long as the names of later generations contained five elements, the mountains and rivers of the Ming Dynasty would continue to be passed down.
However, no name can change this country. Otherwise, the rule of the Ming Dynasty will not be replaced by the Qing Dynasty in less than 300 years, and the Nanming Dynasty will be destroyed by Wu Sangui after the last struggle.