Why were only 13 emperors buried here?

The Ming Tombs house the burial sites for 13 of the 16 Emporors of the Ming Dynasty. Construction of the Tombs was began by the third Emperor Zhu Di. Why are only 13 of the 16 emperors buried here? Take a few minutes to read the fascinating story.

The first emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, who. founded the Ming Dynasty, made Nanjing the capital and as a result he was buried in Nanjing after his death. The mausoleum of the first Ming Emperor and his empress is not as impressive those located near Beijing. It is still worth a visit.

The second emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang's grandson, had no known mausoleum. He was overthrown by the third Emporer but later again tried to subvert his uncle, the Prince of Yan ( the fourth son of the first emperor). He was met with strong counter-attacks and was ousted and no one knows the whereabouts of his remains. His uncle became the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty and moved the capital to Beijing.

The seventh emperor Jingtai was buried in the Hill of Gold, the west suburb of Beijing. Why was his mausoleum built in the Hill of Gold? This is the story.

When the Sixth Emperor, Yingzong, was in his 14th year of reign, Mongols from the north invaded the country. Yingzong personally led the expedition to conquer the Mongols. He was persuaded to lead the expediation by his palace advisors.

The advice was very ill-conceived advice from this group of emminent eunucks who waged a very poor campaign against the mongels invasion. Unfortunately, Yinzong was captured by those mongols in 1450, and his brother took over the throne.

Several years later, Yingzong was set free by the Mongols and managed to return to Beijing in 1457. When he returned, he found his throne had been seized by his brother. Coincidently, his brother soon became very sick. Yingzong took advantage of his sickness and overthrew him and reproclaimed himself as the emperor. His brother Emperor Jingtai subsequently died. Yingzong refused to honour him with an imperial burial. That is why Emperor Jingtai was only buried as a prince in the Hill of Gold.