永乐末年的反迁都风波及其意义

The Protest against the Capital Moving Northward in Late Yongle's Reign and Its Significance

永乐末年明太宗朱棣迁都不久的火灾之后,群臣应诏直言之举迅速演变为一场反对迁都的风波,不仅暴露出了迁都带来的一系列弊端,也暴露出了朱棣与群臣在开创和守成问题上的严重分歧。虽然群臣因直言超过了朱棣划定的范围而受到镇压,但严酷的现实迫使朱棣停止了下西洋等部分消耗巨大的活动,减免了百姓的一些负担。反迁都风波表明,在永乐后期已逐渐形成了一个坚持守成、反对开创的政治派别,并开始扭转国力透支的局面。因此,这场风波实际上是后来"仁宣之治"的前奏,客观上为明代前期开拓向稳定的历史转折做了一定的准备,具有非常重大的意义。

A severe conflagration shortly after the Ming Emperor Taizong(太宗) Zhu Di gave order to move the capital up to Beijing was followed by a political storm from the ministers who blamed the fire on the capital removal policy,but which in reality exposed the problems arising from the moving event and the idea conflicts between the emperor and the ministers regarding innovation or adherence to the old rules.While cracking down upon those for their sharp remarks beyond the given subjects for discussion,Emperor Zhu Di ordered to suspend some costly projects including the voyage to the west and cut down the burden on the people.The disturbance indicates that one political sect had been formed by the late Yongle(永乐) reign that would insist on conservatism rather than reform,but it came out to reverse the overdraft trend of national resources.Therefore it is actually the prelude to the coming 'Rule of Ren and Xuan,during which the nation became steady and powerful through implementation of benevolent policies like treasuring talented people and giving priority to the development of agriculture and so on.