Prince Yan publicly claimed he was so ill he was near death, but had a dream where his soul had already reached the road to the netherworld. His father Emperor Gaozhu, together with his father-in-law Duke Zhongshan Xu Da, Prince Kaiping Chang Yuchun, Prince Zhaojing Mu Ying, and other founding generals of the Ming who were honored in the imperial temple, charged forth and rescued him.
Emperor Gaozhu appeared to Prince Yan in the dream, saying that the Ming court was now misled by treacherous ministers, Emperor Jianwen was deceived by these ministers who fabricated charges, imprisoned five imperial uncles, and drove Prince Xiang’s entire family to suicide. The Ming imperial family was full of grievances, the realm was shaking, and he must return to eliminate the treacherous ministers and uphold justice.
The ethical concepts of “ruler as ruler, minister as minister, father as father, son as son” were mainstream in feudal society. For Prince Yan to rebel, he couldn’t point his sword at Emperor Jianwen directly—he had to target those around Emperor Jianwen.
Prince Yan claimed that after awakening from the dream, his back immediately stopped aching, his legs were no longer lame, his mouth and nose were no longer crooked, and he could eat three large bowls of rice in one breath!
Who were the treacherous ministers? First, naturally, were the civil officials like Huang Zicheng and Fang Xiaoru who waved flags and shouted that feudal power must be reduced. Second was Duke Cao Li Jinlong, who fabricated charges, imprisoned imperial uncles, and drove Prince Xiang’s family to death.
Therefore, Prince Yan raised the banner of “clearing the ruler’s side,” eliminating treacherous ministers around the sovereign, rescuing his deceived nephew Emperor Jianwen—thus called “Serving Heaven and Pacifying Difficulties.”
Emperor Jianwen: Thank you very much!
On the sixth day of the seventh month in Jianwen Year One, Prince Yan’s mansion began the uprising. First, they executed Emperor Jianwen’s inside agent Ge Cheng, then Prince Yan’s generals Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng suddenly attacked Beiping’s nine city gates at midnight—feudal cities were guarded by court troops, while princely mansion forces only protected the mansion itself.
By daybreak, Prince Yan’s mansion forces had captured eight city gates, with only Dongzhi Gate still stubbornly resisting.
Just as the situation was deadlocked, veteran general Tang Yun removed his sword and armor, entered the gate single-handedly, and told Dongzhi Gate’s defenders: “His Majesty has already permitted the feudal princes to control their regions—you all should withdraw immediately!”
Seeing even the veteran general had surrendered to Prince Yan’s mansion, with resources exhausted and the emperor far away with no rescue, the defenders took the opportunity to step down gracefully, all laying down their weapons and surrendering to Prince Yan’s mansion.
Thus, by daybreak, all nine gates of Beiping were controlled by Prince Yan’s mansion. The people of Beiping awoke to find this ancient city, once the capital of the previous dynasty, had changed masters overnight.
However, for Beiping’s citizens, with the emperor far away, Prince Yan had cultivated the north for many years. They paid taxes to the emperor, but they gave their hearts to Prince Yan’s mansion.
The next morning, breakfast stalls were set up at street corners, frying the first batch of fried dough sticks, steaming the first basket of steamed buns, using brine to make the first pot of tofu pudding. People got up to empty chamber pots and buy breakfast—life was no different from usual.
Why?
Because Prince Yan’s mansion had unparalleled prestige in the Yan region.
Although Beiping was the Yuan Dynasty’s capital, when Duke Kaiping Xu Da—father of Princess Yan née Xu—first attacked the city during the Northern Expedition, the Yuan emperor was so terrified of the ever-victorious General Xu Da’s reputation that he didn’t even fortify the capital. He directly fled with his rear palace consorts and civil and military officials, heading for the grasslands—going back to where they came from.
Moreover, during the escape, they lost Crown Prince Mailaiba, who was captured by the Ming and held until the eleventh year of Hongwu when Emperor Hongwu finally released the Northern Yuan crown prince after the Yuan emperor’s death, allowing him to compete with various imperial uncles for the throne. Emperor Hongwu truly knew how to train people—this returning crown prince survived desperately, counterattacked all the imperial uncles step by step, actually fought his way out, seized the throne, and became the Northern Yuan emperor. Until Northern Yuan’s internal strife when he was killed by his own people, Genghis Khan’s famous Golden Family lost ruling power—from rise to decline took less than a century.
Of course, these are later stories. Speaking of Xu Da’s attack, when the Yuan emperor abandoned the city and fled, Xu Da captured the Yuan capital without losing a single soldier, and the Yuan Dynasty perished in Xu Da’s hands. The capital Dadu was thus spared from warfare and maintained its original state.
Moreover, when Xu Da entered the city, he established three rules and required strict discipline—his Northern Expedition army committed no offenses, with violators executed. He cherished the people, thus winning the deep love of Beiping’s citizens.
Xu Da truly achieved the highest realm in military strategy—subduing the enemy without fighting.
In the thirteenth year of Hongwu, Prince Yan and Princess Yan established their fiefdom in Beiping, receiving warm welcome from Beiping’s citizens. The main reason was that Princess Yan née Xu was Xu Da’s legitimate eldest daughter. Her father had once treated this city kindly, so the people believed Xu Da’s daughter would also seek prosperity for the city.
However, when the princely couple arrived at this former capital, the once-glorious city had already become dilapidated, no longer possessing its former grandeur.
Every nation’s capital is the economic, political, and cultural center, naturally also the center of wealth. Since the Ming capital was established in southern Yingtian Prefecture, the former capital immediately lost its natural advantages. The city’s GDP plummeted, and with Northern Yuan’s constant harassment, pillaging people and property, wealth couldn’t be secured. The wealthy migrated south in large numbers, bringing the city to the brink of collapse.
Beiping’s citizens urgently hoped Prince Yan’s mansion could bring this city back to life.
As they say, even a cat that’s been hungry for three days is still fat, and even a rotten boat still has three pounds of nails. Prince Yan’s mansion didn’t disappoint the people’s expectations and restored vitality to Beiping.
Prince Yan first trained troops, guarded the border Great Wall, and blocked Northern Yuan from crossing the border to harass and plunder wealth.
Like his father-in-law Xu Da, Prince Yan maintained strict military discipline, strictly forbidding harassment of civilians. If training mansion forces damaged fields, double compensation was provided.
How strict was Prince Yan’s military discipline? Once, when a superior officer embezzled soldiers’ pay and was reported, Prince Yan gave each affected common soldier a knife, then gave the corrupt officer a knife, telling them to have a “fair duel” and use their strength to reclaim their pay.
The outcome was naturally the officer dying under the angry soldiers’ blades, disemboweled—quite a shocking scene. With bottom-level soldiers’ support, Prince Yan’s mansion forces became solid as iron. Prince Yan pointed where they struck, seeing only Prince Yan and not knowing what the court was.
When military rations were insufficient, Prince Yan didn’t increase taxes or transfer the grain problem to the people. He personally removed his armor, rolled up his trouser legs, wielded a hoe, and opened wasteland with the army for military farming and self-sufficiency. When they cultivated fertile land, he would give the good fields to surrounding people and lead the army to cultivate wasteland elsewhere, not competing with the people for profit.
Prince Yan’s mansion forces thus became an iron army. Prince Yan led the army in several northern campaigns, changing from defense to offense, finally achieving victory in the “Battle of Jinshan” in the twentieth year of Hongwu, forcing the Northern Yuan general Nahachu, who occupied the northeast, to surrender. The Yan region’s borders thus gained peace, and people who had previously fled warfare returned to their homeland to restart their lives.
With peace, the Yan region’s GDP began recovering and rising annually. Combined with its previous foundation, this northeastern region, considered a bitter cold land by the south, possessed prosperity rivaling Jiangnan.
Incompetent rulers each fail differently, finding various ways to squander wealth, but wise rulers are all similar—for instance, they all excel at water conservancy projects. When Mu Chun governed Yunnan, he greatly developed water conservancy, building bridges, roads, and canals. These achievements made him immortal even in death—Yunnan people built shrines for him and worshipped him as a deity.
Like Mu Chun, Prince Yan addressed the Yan region’s most important river, the Luan River, which had a narrow channel and poor water storage. During dry seasons, it dried to smoking, yielding no harvest. During rainy seasons, it became a sea, flooding crops and houses. People on both banks lived by the Luan River but also suffered from it. This mother river seemed mentally disturbed—when good, it pampered its children lovingly, but when mad, it brought either drought or flood, letting its children starve to death.
Prince Yan treated this mother river “according to symptoms,” governing the Luan River starting with widening the channel.
Prince Yan adopted the same approach as military farming and wasteland cultivation, again leading by example. He went barefooted into the Luan River’s mud, wielding an iron shovel to dig. The riverbed mud was the best fertilizer—after the army dug up the mud, people spontaneously hauled it to their fields. Many people even brought their own food to help the army widen the river channel.
With military-civilian unity, the Luan River’s “mad mother” was cured and became gentle. Both banks became fertile fields, benefiting countless people.
Thus, Prince Yan’s mansion didn’t disappoint the Yan region people’s expectations, seeking prosperity for the region. Among the nine feudal regions guarding Ming’s borders, the Yan region was strongest in economic resources, military strength, cohesion, and loyalty.
Moreover, most fatally, Prince Yan’s mansion had a secret weapon—a hidden figure: Master Dao Yan, a monk.
This monk was also a poet Hu Shanwei had always admired. She knew the poems in his “Solitary Hermitage Collection” by heart. When Chang Yuchun massacred Suzhou City, thousands of refugees fled toward Wofo Temple, but only this monk went against the flow, opening the temple gates to rescue people. It was also this monk who helped up Hu Rong, who had fallen while carrying his daughter, telling him to take shelter in the temple.
Historical records state: “On the day Suzhou fell, Chang Yuchun entered Qi Gate and massacred almost everyone he encountered. Xu Da entered Chang Gate without killing a single person. At Wofo Temple, the two commanders met, and only then did Da warn Yuchun against killing.”
Because of this monk, seven-year-old Hu Shanwei was able to survive.
Dear readers, do you remember when Empress Xiaoci was buried at Xiaoling, sudden wind and rain made travel difficult, threatening to miss the auspicious burial time? Emperor Gaozhu was furious and about to kill someone when the high monk Zong Li in the funeral procession had a sudden inspiration and recited four verses: “Rain falls as Heaven weeps tears, Thunder sounds as Earth mourns. Western Buddha’s disciples all escort Ma Tathagata.”
After the verses, Zong Li led eight great monks in chanting sutras for blessings. Miraculously, after the sutras, the rain stopped and clouds parted, allowing the funeral procession to continue.
Emperor Gaozhu thus calmed his anger, feeling his wife had Heaven’s protection. He assigned the eight sutra-chanting monks to eight feudal princes, having them follow the princes to their fiefdoms to build temples and pray for Empress Xiaoci’s blessings.
Among them was Master Dao Yan, who was assigned to Prince Yan… fate is truly wondrous.
Master Dao Yan thus began his miraculous political career. When departing for the Yan region with Prince Yan, Master Dao Yan was full of ambition and wrote a poem “Departing Jinling by Ship for Beiping on October First”:
“Below Stone City, waters vast and wide,
Alone I board the official ship to distant lands.
Food and lodging, I pity myself among the guards,
Robes and bowl, who laughs at mixing with military gear?
Deep in night, many oars sound shake the moon,
Dawn’s cold, lone mast shadow bears frost.
Having weathered countless storms and hardships,
Worry-free should only be for serving the prince.”
Master Dao Yan received Prince Yan’s courtesy. This monk rarely discussed sutras with Prince Yan—he was better at politics. Prince Yan admired him completely, making Master Dao Yan an honored guest and core figure of Prince Yan’s think tank.
On the seventh day of the seventh month in Jianwen Year One, Prince Yan Zhu Di convened the “Serving Heaven and Pacifying Difficulties” oath ceremony, passionately reading the denunciation proclamation written by Master Dao Yan:
“I am the son of Emperor Taizu Gao and Empress Xiaoci Gao, the nation’s closest relative. Since receiving my fiefdom, I have only known to follow rules and observe law. Now the young ruler has succeeded to the throne, trusting treacherous ministers and causing great disaster. They slaughter my family. My imperial father and mother endured hardships to establish the dynasty, enfeoffing various sons as feudal screens for the realm, continuing forever. Suddenly they face destruction—yellow Heaven and brown Earth truly witness this.”
Prince Yan immediately claimed to be Empress Xiaoci’s son, which wasn’t wrong—according to ritual law, all sons were Empress Xiaoci’s sons.
The meaning was that enfeoffing various sons and establishing feudal states was Emperor Gaozhu’s established rule, but now treacherous ministers wanted to reduce feudal power—this violated Emperor Gaozhu’s will! His Majesty was deceived by treacherous ministers.
“The ‘Ancestral Instructions’ say: when the court lacks upright ministers and has internal treachery, troops must be trained to attack them, clearing the evil at the ruler’s side…”
Master Dao Yan even brought out the “Imperial Ming Ancestral Instructions,” making rebellion reasonable and well-founded, immediately transforming rebellion ethically into attacking treacherous ministers.
After reading the denunciation proclamation, the three armies cheered while waving weapons. Swords, spears, and halberds shook the heavens. In extreme joy leading to sorrow, they shook the roof tiles above. With a crash, a tile fell, landing right at Prince Yan’s feet!
This… this was an inauspicious celestial sign!
Just as Prince Yan felt embarrassed, Master Dao Yan ran out clapping: “Auspicious sign! Auspicious sign! I understand Heaven’s Way—Heaven wants Prince Yan to replace the green tiles symbolizing a prince with yellow tiles used by the Son of Heaven!”
According to Ming regulations, both the Crown Prince’s residence and princes’ residences used green tiles—only the emperor’s residence could use yellow glazed tiles.
Master Dao Yan’s words made perfect sense. The three armies, who had been shocked moments before, regained their spirits and began cheering again, shouting “Victory! Victory!”
However, after the cheering, a strange wind suddenly arose. The previously clear weather immediately turned to dark clouds pressing down on the city! It looked like heavy rain was coming!
Prince Yan: Damn Heaven! You’re playing with me!
The just-raised morale immediately plummeted again. Master Dao Yan again waved his hands and laughed heartily: “Auspicious sign! Great auspicious sign! Flying dragon in the sky! The true dragon is about to emerge!”
Miraculously, as soon as he finished speaking, the dark clouds parted and the sun emerged again.