”Two other officials at the Jianwen court had the reputation for integrity and high public reputation that could give the prince’s usurpation respectability. They were Fang Xiaoru and Lian Zining. When they were brought before him he tried to induce their cooperation. Lian, in chains, stood before him and refused to listen to his self-justification. Zhu Di told Lian he had come to protect his nephew, coparing himself to the venerated Duke of Zhou, of high antiquity, whom Confucius had lauded as the greatest man of all time. The duke had gone from his fief to the Zhou capital to protect his nephew, the young King Cheng, on the deatg of the Zhou founder (the duke’s older brother King Wu). This exemplary deed by an uncle who might have usurped but instead protected the rightful heir is traditionally dated to 1116 B.C.E.
Lian Zining [...] sneered at the Prince of Yan’s self-serving comparison. He was struck down. He continued to berate Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan, who ordered the guards to cut out his tongue to silence him. Lian, prostrate, used his finger to write on the floor, using the blood streaming from is mouth: ‘And where is King Cheng?’ He was taken away to be executed by dismemberment.”
- F.W. Mote – Imperial China 900 – 1800, p.588
King Chen in the analogy would be the second Ming emperor, who, during Zhu Di’s attack on Nanjing, died under strange circumstances. That is to say, Zhu Di was in no way in Nanjing to protect his nephew.
