A novice or servant
(_sacrificulus_) in a Buddhist monastery, Chu Yuen Chang felt
called to deliver his people from oppression. At first regarded as
a robber chief, one of many, his rivals submitted to his leadership
and the people accepted his protection. Securing possession of
Nanking, a city of illustrious memories and strong natural defences,
he boldly proclaimed his purpose. After twenty years of blood and
strategy, he succeeded in placing the Great Wall between him and
the retreating Mongols. Proud of his victory he assumed for the
title of his reign _Hungwu_, "Great Warrior," and chose
_Ming_, "Luminous," for that of his dynasty.
Leaving his son, the Prince of Yen, at Peking, to hold the Tartars
in check, Hungwu spent the remaining
[Page 136]
years of his reign at his original capital, and then left the sceptre
to his grandson. The Prince of Yen, uncle of the youthful emperor,
feeling the slight implied in his father's choice, raised an army
and captured Nanking. A charred corpse being shown to him as that
of the emperor, he caused it to be interred with becoming rites,
and at once assumed the imperial dignity, choosing for his reigning
title _Yungloh_, "Perpetual Joy." He also removed the seat of
government to Peking, where it has remained for five centuries. The
"Thesaurus of Yungloh," a digest of Chinese literature so extensive
as to form a library in itself, remains a monument to his patronage
of letters.
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