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How was the Yongle emperor related to the Hongwu emperor?

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The Yongle emperor, detail of a portrait; in the National Palace Museum, Taipei.
Yongle The Yongle emperor, detail of a portrait; in the National Palace Museum, Taipei.

The Yongle emperor (born Zhu Di) was the son of the Hongwu emperor, the founder of the Ming dynasty.1

Zhu Di was born as the fourth son of the Hongwu emperor. While modern scholarship suggests he was born to a secondary consort of Korean origin, he was raised treating the Hongwu emperor’s principal consort, Empress Ma, as his legal mother. As a prince, Zhu Di was his father's favorite and grew up to mirror his father's vigorous and temperamental nature. Following the death of the Hongwu emperor in 1398, Zhu Di eventually rose in rebellion against his nephew, the Jianwen emperor, and seized the throne to become the Yongle emperor.12