Zhu Qiyao

Yongfeng Gonghe Wang Zhu Qiyue, born in 1435 and died in 1475, was the third illegitimate son of Ming Dynasty Prince Huai Jing Zhu Zhanhao. His mother was Lady An, and he was a grandson of Ming Emperor Ren. He was the first Ming Yongfeng King. In the eighth year of the Zhengtong era (1443), on the third month, Jiazi day, he was conferred the title of Yongfeng King. In the same year, he was granted an annual stipend of 2,000 shi of rice and half of the rice tax in cash.

In the second year of the Jingtai era (1451), in July, Emperor Jingtai dispatched Yong'an Marquis Zheng Hong and Longping Marquis Zhang Fu as chief envoys, along with Youshi of the military department Gai Mao and Youshi of the criminal department Liu Lian as deputies, to Raoyang Prefecture to bestow Zhu Qiue’s daughter as the queen consort of Yongfeng King Zhu Qiyue. Records indicate that in the second year of the Tianshun era (1458), in February, Zhu Qiyue proposed to the Ministry of Rites to purchase women from the families of the qianhu troops stationed in Raoyang as palace maids. However, because the Raoyang qianhu was not under the administration of the Huai Wang Residence, the matter was not successful. Later, the Ministry of Rites advised him to prepare bride gifts himself and to select willing women from the Household Department and Military Academy of the Huai Wang Residence for entry into the palace.

In December of the eleventh year of the Chenghua era (1475), Zhu Qiyue passed away at the age of 41 and was posthumously awarded the temple name Gonghe. According to the Records of Poyang County, he was buried on Wutong Mountain (now Huzhao Village, Baishazhou Township, Poyang County, Jiangxi Province) in the west of Raoyang Prefecture. Two years later, his eldest legitimate son Zhu Jianjing inherited the title of Yongfeng King.