In May 1378, Zhu Quan was born in Jinling, which later became Nanjing. He is the seventeenth son of Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Quan's mother was Concubine Yang. Her teachings greatly benefited Zhu Quan, who was smart and studious since childhood.
After Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, he summed up the lessons from the demise of the Yuan Dynasty and believed that a fatal weakness of the Yuan Dynasty was the lack of strong vassal guards in various places, which created a situation where they could not respond to each other in war. Therefore, soon after Zhu Yuanzhang proclaimed himself emperor, he assigned more than 20 of his sons to be stationed in various places. Among them were Zhu Quan and Zhu Di, the king of Yan who later became the emperor.
Zhu Yuanzhang believed that enfeoffing the kings would allow many sons to monitor the country on his behalf, and the country would be forever consolidated. Therefore, he stipulated that if a treacherous official took power, the vassal king could denounce the treacherous official, or even send troops to "clear the emperor's side". The purpose of this practice is to use royal relatives to maintain imperial power.
According to historical records, in 1391, Zhu Quan was canonized as Prince Ning, and the Palace of Prince Ning was built in Daming Town, Ningcheng. Among the many vassal kings at that time, the most powerful were King Zhu Di of Yan and King Zhu Quan of Ning who were granted the title of Ningcheng.
The vassal kings who were granted the title at that time had bodyguards ranging from thousands to tens of thousands, but Ning Wang Zhu Quan had a strong military force that other vassal kings could not match. Ancient books describe this incident and say that Zhu Quan:
He was armed with 80,000 men in armor and 6,000 leather chariots, and the three Duoyan cavalrymen he belonged to were all brave and good at fighting.
Among Zhu Quan's 80,000 elite troops were the cavalrymen of Taining, Fuyu and Duoyan from the Mongolian Uliangha tribe who had surrendered during the Yuan Dynasty. These Mongolian cavalry are known to be brave and good at fighting, and they are a very powerful armed force.
In addition, vassal kings like King Ning who were stationed in important border towns not only commanded troops, but also held local administrative power. When necessary, they could also control the senior local generals sent by the court and mobilize a large number of regular troops.
At the same time, Ningcheng, where Zhu Quan was entrusted, was also a strategically important location.
"History of Ming Dynasty? Biography of Kings" records Ningcheng:
Ning is located outside Xifengkou, in the ancient Huizhou area, connected to Liaozuo in the east and Xuanfu in the west. It is a huge city. town.
In addition to Ningcheng, Zhu Quan also "unified more than ninety cities." In other words, Zhu Quan at that time had jurisdiction over a large area of ??Ming Dynasty territory stretching from what was later Shenyang in the east, to what was later Xuanhua, Hebei, in the west, to the Great Wall in the south, and across the Xilamulun River in the north. In addition, as Prince Ning with a large number of troops, Zhu Quan was also known as the "Wise King and Wonderful Man", a prince with many strategies. According to the Ming Dynasty chronicle
"Ming Tongjian" records:
Those of Taizu, King Yan was good at fighting, and King Ning was good at planning.
Zhu Yuanzhang ordered his son, who was both resourceful and resourceful, to control powerful soldiers and generals, and also asked him to guard the military fortress in the north in order to guard against the comeback of the Yuan Dynasty royal family. In 1398, Zhu Yuanzhang died, and his grandson Zhu Yunwen ascended the throne, later becoming Emperor Jianwen.
Not long after Emperor Jianwen came to the throne, he began to reduce the vassal status of the princes and regain military power. In less than a year, Emperor Jianwen first deprived King Zhou of his military power, and then deposed the vassal kings such as King Xiang, King Qi, and King Min, and deprived five vassal kings of their power.
Immediately, Emperor Jianwen issued an order asking King Ning, who was far away from the Great Wall, to come to Beijing to report on his work. Faced with Emperor Jianwen's imperial edict to go to Beijing, King Ning immediately summoned his counselors to discuss countermeasures. The counselors all believed that entering Beijing at this time was like a sheep entering the tiger's mouth, with more danger than good.
As a result, King Ning resisted the imperial edict and did not go to Beijing. As a result, he was punished by the court and removed the three guards of the Mongolian Uuliangha tribe who were in charge. However, Emperor Jianwen did not transfer the three guards of the Mongolian Uuliangha tribe away from Ning. king.
Because although Zhu Quan was a prince at that time, he was also a famous Taoist scholar in the Ming Dynasty. He was extremely well-educated and acted like a hermit, with no intention of fighting for power and gain. In ordinary times, Zhu Quan always liked to interact with literati and bachelors, and devoted himself to opera, entertainment, writings, and Taoism. Later, King Zhu Di of Yan proclaimed himself emperor, and was known as Ming Chengzu in history, also known as "Emperor Yongle". Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty transferred Zhu Quan's title to Nanchang, Jiangxi Province. Later, Zhu Quan, a versatile man, built a monastery in Nanchang, played the piano and played the harp all day long, and often interacted with literary figures, calling himself the "wonderful scholar of the Ming Dynasty". Historically known as Zhu Quan:
He has a beautiful appearance, a wise heart and a wise mind, and he can read everything in books.
Zhu Quan devoted his life to studying writings, and eventually became a famous dramatist, drama theorist, guqin player, historian, and Taoist theorist in the early Ming Dynasty. He was a very influential figure in the history of drama development. .
In addition to completing many operas and historical treatises, Zhu Quan, who was good at playing the guqin, also collected a wide range of ancient qin music, explained it, and wrote a collection of guqin music "Magical Secret Music" and a monograph on northern music music and commentary. "Taihe Zhengyin Pu". "Taihe Zhengyin Pu" is my country's earliest Zaju score and an important theoretical work in the history of opera.
Zhu Quan also made the "Zhonghe" Qin, which is known as "Flying Waterfall with Pearls" and signed "Yun'an Taoist". "Flying Waterfall and Lianzhu" is a rare treasure recorded in the history of our country. Only one has been handed down from generation to generation, and it is known as the No. 1 Qin in the Ming Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, there was a saying of "Four Kings Qin", and the first one was Ning Wang Zhu Quan.