The process of Yongle moving the capital

Since the capital of the unified dynasty was mostly in the Central Plains, Ming Taizu planned to move the capital to the north in the early Ming Dynasty. In the first year of Hongwu, the capital of song dynasty was Beijing and Jinling was Nanjing, imitating the stories of Zhou and Tang dynasties. In the second year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang established his capital in Fengyang, his hometown, and ordered Jiangnan immigrants. However, Kaifeng and Fengyang are both war-torn and dilapidated places, and it is difficult to shoulder the heavy responsibility of the capital. Zhu Yuanzhang gave up the plan to move the capital to these two places. In the eleventh year of Hongwu, he stopped in Beijing and changed Nanjing to be the capital.

As a result, Nanjing once again became the political, economic and cultural center of China, and ushered in the peak of development in history. In the early Ming Dynasty, the capital (Nanjing) had a total population of nearly one million, which was the largest and most populous city in China at that time, and also the largest city in the world. Nanjing Ming City Wall, which lasted for 27 years, is the largest city wall in the world. There are nearly 10,000 students in imperial academy at the foot of Jilong Mountain, and there are also students from Japan, North Korea and other countries studying here. After the war of Jingnan, in the first year of Yongle (1403), Li Zhigang, an official of the Ministry of Rites, said that Yanjing Beiping was the emperor's "land of Longxing" and should follow the example of Fengyang in Ming Taizu and become its capital. Therefore, Ming Taizu Chengzu vigorously promoted the position of Beiping House in Yanjing, taking Beiping as Beijing and changing Beiping House into Shuntianfu, which is called "in the line". At the same time, it began to resettle the population and enrich Beijing; The people who were forced to move to Beijing were refugees from all over the country, rich children in Jiangnan and businessmen in Shanxi.

In the fourth year of Yongle, the next imperial edict was based on Nanjing Palace (Nanjing Forbidden City) to build Beijing Palace and city walls.

In the seventh year of Yongle, Ming Chengzu took Beijing as the northern expedition base, and at the same time began to build Changling in Changping near Beijing. Building the mausoleum in Beijing instead of Nanjing proves that Ming Chengzu has made up his mind to move the capital.

In the eighth year of Yongle, the Ming Dynasty made an expedition to Empress Li, and ordered a decision to pass the river and get through the north-south grain transportation. When Yongle was completed in the 13th year, the materials needed by Beijing could be transported relatively economically.

In the fourteenth year of Yongle, Ming Chengzu called ministers to formally discuss the move to Beijing. For the ministers who raised objections, Ming Chengzu dismissed or severely punished them one by one, and no one dared to oppose moving the capital again. The following year, the Forbidden City in Beijing, modeled after the Forbidden City in Nanjing, was officially started.

In the eighteenth year of Yongle, Beijing Palace and Beijing City were built. Beijing Palace, based on Nanjing Palace, is slightly larger. The newly-built Beijing City, with a circumference of 45 miles, is a regular square, which conforms to the ideal capital shape of Zhou Li and Gong Ji. Ming Chengzu officially moved the capital by imperial decree, and changed Yingtianfu in Jinling to Nanjing and Shuntianfu in Beijing to be the capital. However, there are still six central institutions in Nanjing, which are called Nanjing Ministry and Nanjing is the capital. In the early summer of the 19th year of Yongle, which just moved its capital for a few months, the three halls of Fengtian, Gai Hua and Jinsheng in the Forbidden City were all struck by lightning and burned down. There are many discussions in the ruling and opposition parties. Xiao Yi, an official of the Ministry of Rites, thinks that it is against God's will to abandon the Huangmai and Xiaoling Mausoleum after moving the capital. Cheng Zu was furious and immediately executed Xiao Yi, and suppressed the North Korean minister with his power.

After the death of Ming Chengzu, Ming Renzong acceded to the throne. As a prince, Emperor Renzong of Ming Dynasty has been supervising the country in Nanjing for a long time. After he ascended the throne, facing the dilapidated Beijing Palace, he immediately planned to return the capital to Nanjing and ordered the restoration of Nanjing Palace. Immediately, the original six seals in Beijing were taken back, and the new seal was printed with "Hangzai", which was equivalent to abolishing Beijing's capital status. However, Renzong enjoyed the country soon and died in less than a year. At this time, the actual action of capital has not yet begun. Although Renzong's testamentary edict strongly indicated that he wanted to return the capital, Ming Xuanzong, who succeeded to the throne, suspended his plan to return the capital. After Ming Yingzong, the son of Xuanzong of Ming Dynasty, succeeded to the throne, Beijing was officially recognized as the capital of Ming Dynasty, and it was no longer called Hangzai. Since then, the Ming Dynasty has never changed.