As for the historical account about “The Prince of Yan Plots the Overthrow of Daning” with respect to the actual events of the overthrow there are many doubtful points that undermine its credibility. This particular story was constructed gradually over a period of time. In the early Jiajing reign (1522-1566) the rudiments of the story appeared in Jiangshi mishi (The Inside History [of the Jianwen Reign]) and in Gechao zhi (A Chronicle of Dynastic Reform). The first complete account of the incident was written at the end of the Jiajing reign in Wuxue bian (My Learning). During the Wanli reign, a second different account was published in Huangming shu (History of the August Ming). These two later accounts of this incident were inherited by later generations of scholars. In fact, the development of the conquest of Daning was related to three centers of power, the imperial court, the Prince of Yan’s forces, and the Prince of Ning’s forces. After Emperor Jianwen ascended the throne, the imperial court tried to control the Daning army, but this was badly mishandled and only created distrust between the forces of the Prince of Ning, the imperial court, and the Daning army. The Prince of Yan took the opportunity to attack Daning, which forced the Prince of Ning’s army to surrender to him and thus he easily conquered the Daning area. Later, in order to control the army of Daning, the Prince of Yan forced the Prince of Ning to flee to the south while he reorganized the army by integrating the forces Yan and Ning, thus laying the foundation for the Yongle Emperor’s achievements.
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