Some books say that Emperor Jianwen was ready to commit suicide when the city was about to be breached by his uncle Zhu Di. But then, a miracle happened.

Wang Yue, who was the young eunuch of Qintianjian at the time, stopped Emperor Jianwen and said: "Your Majesty should not be killed, in the past, when Taizu ascended, there was a box, and I was told to treat my descendants in great difficulty, but I can open the box and look at it, and have my own way."

In other words, this iron box was left by Zhu Yuanzhang, and told Wang Yue: "My descendants, if one day encounters a great disaster, you can open this iron box and take a look, you can save his life."

Soon, there were four eunuchs, carrying an iron box. The perimeter of the box was wrapped in iron sheets, and the interlocking heart was also filled with pig iron.

Wang Yue hurriedly took the iron cone, knocked the box open, and there were three pieces of Du Mu hidden inside, which were written "Ying Wen", "Ying Neng", and "Ying Xian", and there were robes, monks' hats, monks' shoes, razors, and ten silver ingots.

The first "Ying Wen" is written: "Ying Wen went out of the ghost gate, and the rest of the people walked from the water gate and the royal ditch, and met in the optimistic west room of God at dusk." ”

Emperor Jianwen's side of a minister named Cheng Ji, immediately shaved off Emperor Jianwen's hair, put on a robe, monk's hat, monk shoes, after this disguise, but from the outside, Emperor Jianwen became an authentic monk. Another minister, Yang Yingneng, expressed his willingness to shave his degree and went into exile with Emperor Jianwen, and there was a word "Neng" in his name, which corresponded to the "Yingneng" in the three degrees; Ye Xixian, the superintendent of the imperial history, also resolutely said: "The minister's name is sage, it should be the 'Yingxian' in the three degrees, which is also a fate, therefore, the minister is also willing to follow His Majesty and never leave until death." Also shaved modified retinue.

At that time, there were fifty or sixty people in the palace, all of whom wept bitterly and expressed their willingness to flee with Emperor Jianwen. Emperor Jianwen felt that it would be easy to attract attention if so many people walked together, so he decided to take nine people to the Ghost Gate first, and take a boat to the Taiping Gate in Shen Optimism.

Thirteen people, including Yang Yingneng and Ye Xixian, also arrived. Thus, these twenty-two people began their fugitive life. Emperor Jianwen confessed that in the future, they would call each other brothers and sisters, and they would no longer have to stick to the courtesy of monarchs and ministers. One of the ministers built yì, the entourage does not have to be many, let alone many, and the people are too talkative, which increases the chance of exposure. Everyone thought that he was very good, so they only selected five people who were physically strong and did not have the burden of family, and the rest were dismissed.

and decided that Yang Yingneng and Ye Xixian would dress up as monks, and Cheng Ji would become Taoists, and these three people would personally protect Emperor Jianwen and not leave him; The other six were responsible for finding the way, transporting food and clothing, etc. The first stop was Shi Bin's house in Wujiang County. On August 16 of that year, Emperor Jianwen was accompanied by three ministers dressed as monks and Taoists, and the rest of the people slowly dispersed. In October, he came to Liao Ping's house in Xiangyang. But soon, Zhu Di's spies got the news, and then followed, and after a brief discussion between Emperor Jianwen and the three ministers, he decided to go to Yunnan.

The escape of Emperor Jianwen made Zhu Di, who had already become the emperor, restless. He spread eyeliner everywhere, mobilized people from all walks of life, desperately searched for the whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen, and secretly sent a group of people, ostensibly claiming to be visiting Zhang Sanfeng, the founder of Taoism, but in fact, he still had the power to search for the whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen. After Emperor Jianwen got the news, he decided to hide in the mountains, because it was still a relatively safe place in the mountains.

In March of the eighth year of Yongle, Zhu Di asked Yan Zhen, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, to secretly visit the traces of Emperor Jianwen in Yunnan in the name of sending an envoy to Annam (now Vietnam). Coincidentally, after Yan Zhen's continuous efforts, he slowly approached Emperor Jianwen's hiding place. Coincidentally, one day, Yan Zhen accidentally bumped into Emperor Jianwen on the mountain road, and the two cried opposite each other. Emperor Jianwen asked him, "What are you going to do with me?" Yan Zhen replied: "The emperor invites you, and the ministers have their own methods." So just like that, Yan Zhen let Emperor Jianwen go. At night, Yan Zhen hanged himself in the post station. Emperor Jianwen saw that his whereabouts had been exposed, so he hid in Bailong Mountain again.

The long-term life in the wild has made him physically and mentally exhausted, and his face is haggard and withered. In the summer, he suffered from dysentery again, but for fear of being discovered, he did not dare to go out of the mountains to find something to eat, let alone seek medical treatment. At this time, it happened that three people, including the former minister Shi Bin, rushed to take care of him, and the situation improved. A few days later, Shi Bin and the three were leaving, and Emperor Jianwen hugged them and cried. Emperor Jianwen also specially explained to the three people that there is no need to come again in the future, one because of the difficult and dangerous road, and the other is that the Guanjin inventory is particularly strict, and it is easy to expose the identity.

In March and April of the tenth year of Yongle, Yang Yingneng and Ye Xixian, who had been following Emperor Jianwen, also died of illness one after another, and Emperor Jianwen accepted a disciple and gave him the name "Ying Hui".

In June of the fourteenth year of Yongle, Emperor Jianwen had a foot disease, and at this time, Cheng Ji, the only minister who fled with him, risked his life to go into the city to sell medicine and come back, and treated Emperor Jianwen, and Emperor Jianwen recovered.

The more and more difficult life in exile made Emperor Jianwen feel that he would die at any time, in order to be his own experience, not to be annihilated by history, he dictated the process of exile, recorded by Cheng Ji, written as "From the Dead", Emperor Jianwen also wrote a preface, and then let Cheng Ji hide in the rocks. In the following years, Emperor Jianwen traveled between Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan.

In October of the eighteenth year of Yongle, accompanied by Cheng Ji, Emperor Jianwen climbed Mount Emei and wrote a poem, two of which were: "Ascending does not wait for the east to look forward, but sees the clouds flying from the homeland." "How can this emperor, who once owned the world, fall to such a point, not be full of emotion.

In February of the twenty-second year of Yongle, with the passage of time, the search and arrest of Emperor Jianwen was also a little more relaxed. So Emperor Jianwen began to travel eastward. In October, he met Shi Bin, who had come to visit him at the hotel. Shi Bin also asked about Emperor Jianwen's physical condition with concern, and Emperor Jianwen said that he "has been strong lately, and he is refreshed and refreshed", which means that he has a good appetite and good spirits.

Then, Emperor Jianwen followed Shi Bin to the south of the Yangtze River and came to Shi Bin's house in Wujiang, but what followed was an accident that almost caused a catastrophe.

Just when Emperor Jianwen was in Shi Bin's house and lived with peace of mind, Shi Bin's cousin Shi Hong, without any greetings in advance, suddenly came from Jiaxing, and when he entered his nephew Shi Bin's house, he found an old monk sitting in the lobby of the house, and this old monk made him feel very familiar.

Then he asked Shi Bin, who was standing on the side, a little panicked: "Where did the master come from?" ”

Shi Bin was in a panic, and he didn't know how to answer for a while. Shi Hong didn't ask again, but pulled Shi Bin out, and then quietly said something that made Shi Bin frightened: "This Jianwen Emperor is also." Shi Bin hurriedly stammered and denied it, Shi Hong firmly said that he had seen Emperor Jianwen in the East Palace, and Emperor Jianwen had saved his life, which was his life-saving benefactor.

Shi Bin couldn't hide it, so he had to tell the truth. But he knew that he harbored Emperor Jianwen, but the crime of destroying the nine clans, if his cousin went to denounce it, the consequences would be unimaginable. Unexpectedly, this Shi Hong is also a righteous gentleman with affection and righteousness, and he is also a loyal minister, after hearing this, he hurriedly came to Emperor Jianwen, bowed his head, and cried bitterly to ask Emperor Jianwen about the current situation. Emperor Jianwen's heart was as calm as ashes and said: "Thanks to the care of these ministers who went into exile with me and provided me with food and clothing, I was able to maneuver between dangers and obstacles. For 20 years, I have been trembling, and now I think about it, I can end my old age! Subsequently, accompanied by Shi Hong, we visited Tiantai Mountain and went to Ningbo to cross the Lotus Ocean.

Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, decades have passed. In these decades, Chengzu Zhu Di died, Renzong ascended the throne, less than a year, Renzong died, Xuanzong ascended the throne, and ten years later Yingzong ascended the throne. The emperor has changed several times, and for Emperor Jianwen, the political environment has become more and more relaxed, and it is time for him to reappear in his true body. In the fifth year of orthodoxy (1430), Emperor Jianwen, who was in Guangxi, said to Cheng Ji, I am determined to go east.

Because Emperor Jianwen was born in the royal family, Zhu Yuanzhang, the Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, also attached great importance to the education of this imperial grandson, and found a first-class Confucian at that time for him to give him lessons. Emperor Jianwen himself also loves to read, and his literary talent is outstanding, and from the supreme emperor in the world, he has become a fugitive from the end of the world, the gap and pain, ordinary people can hardly imagine, this special experience, often let Emperor Jianwen suffer this huge psychological torment, and poetry is the most common way for him to express this extreme pain, so he has a lot of poems, one of which is:

Forty autumns in the southwest, Xiao Xiao's white hair has been full.

Qiankun has hatred, where is the family? Jianghan is ruthless and artesian.

The clouds in the Changle Palace dispersed, and the sound of rain on the Chaoyuan Pavilion was collected.

The new pampas and willows are green every year, and the wild old ones are crying endlessly.

The desolation and helplessness of escaping, the sorrow and helplessness of life, and the ups and downs of fate are all vividly expressed in the poem. But unexpectedly, it was these poems that made his fate take a great turn again.

Living with Emperor Jianwen, there is an old monk in his nineties, although this old monk is in his nineties, he is still in very good health, and he still has some knowledge. For some reason, after stealing Emperor Jianwen's poems, this old monk actually ran to Cen Ying in Si'en Zhizhou and said unashamedly that he was Emperor Jianwen!

This is an earth-shattering event, Cen Ying was shocked, how dare she delay in the slightest, and immediately report to the feudal department. The feudal secretary ordered the monk to be arrested with Emperor Jianwen and reported to the court with a fast horse. The emperor of the dynasty quickly issued an edict: "Escort back to Beijing".

The emperor ordered Yushi to conduct an interrogation in the court, and Nahe claimed that he was over ninety years old and only wanted to die quickly, and he only had one request, that he wanted to be buried next to the mausoleum of his grandfather Zhu Yuanzhang after death. It seems that this ninety-year-old monk, pursuing the glory after death, may feel that he is more than ninety years old and will not live long, so he wants to be vain after death, and wants to be buried as Emperor Jianwen to satisfy his deformed vanity.

But this old monk is obviously a little confused, and he underestimated the IQ of Yushi.

Yushi said: "Jianwenjun was born in the tenth year of Hongwu, and now it is the fifth year of orthodoxy, when he is sixty-four years old, how can he be ninety years old?" All of a sudden, the old monk was speechless, and later, after interrogation, I learned that the monk's name was Yang Yingxiang, a native of Baishali, Junzhou. After reporting to the emperor, the monk was sentenced to be beheaded and imprisoned in Jinyiwei Prison.

And the real Emperor Jianwen, who was arrested together, also told the truth to the imperial history at this time, and the imperial history immediately secretly played the emperor, and the emperor sent Wu Liang, an old eunuch who had served Emperor Jianwen, to visit the virtual and real to see if this Emperor Jianwen was true or false.

As soon as Emperor Jianwen saw Wu Liang, he blurted out: "Aren't you the Wu Liang who once served me?" ”

Wu Liang hurriedly replied deliberately: "No."

Emperor Jianwen said with great certainty: "I remember that one day I was having dinner in the palace, eating a goose, a piece of meat fell to the ground, you held a pot in your hand, lay on the ground and ate it." Have you forgotten? Dare to say it's not you! ”

After Wu Liang heard this, he fell to the ground and cried, he judged that this should be Emperor Jianwen, but after all, decades have passed, and after so many years of fugitive life, Emperor Jianwen's appearance is very different from when he was the emperor before. In order to be further sure, he asked to see Emperor Jianwen's left foot, because as a personal eunuch, he knew that there was a black mole on Emperor Jianwen's left toe. Wu Liang never dreamed that decades later, he would be able to meet the former emperor on such an occasion and in this way, crying bitterly for a while, and he couldn't look up.

After confirming his identity, the emperor ordered Emperor Jianwen to be welcomed into the palace to retire, and the people in the palace called him "Old Buddha". After Emperor Jianwen died, he was buried in Xishan, not sealed or tree. Because it is difficult to give him a name, the tomb of Emperor Jianwen has become a nameless tomb.

However, in the process of Emperor Jianwen's escape, there were some special experiences that were not known.