Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 602: The Underworld: Spring and Autumn Writing Style Zhu Yunwen

"Chongba... Chongba?"

"Dad, wake up!"

"Um……"

"Is this my...sister's voice?"

In the chaos, Zhu Yuanzhang, who was still lying on the sickbed a second ago, slowly opened his eyes.

The chaos in front of his eyes gradually faded as his consciousness became clearer, from pitch black to gradually brighter...

He slowly opened his eyes and found himself in a familiar mansion.

Compared to the magnificent Daming Palace, this mansion brought him more.

"Chongpachi?"

"father!"

Two figures slowly emerged, and Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes instantly became clear.

One figure was wearing a simple and plain coat, while the other was wearing a yellow and white round-necked robe, with a slightly fat body.

The former was a pretty woman with a round face and black hair, while the latter was a man in his thirties with thick eyebrows, big eyes and a gentle look.

"Sister...Biao'er?"

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't believe what he saw, and he subconsciously touched his throat.

His voice got louder, with some vigor in its majesty.

"Dad, look at what you look like now!"

Zhu Biao happily pushed Zhu Yuanzhang in front of a bronze mirror, and Zhu Yuanzhang stared blankly at himself in the mirror.

Although his facial features were not so clear, Zhu Yuanzhang could still tell that his appearance seemed to have remained in his forties.

"Sister... Biao'er, where am I... where am I?"

Zhu Yuanzhang looked back at the two familiar yet unfamiliar faces. Empress Ma kindly stepped forward and straightened his clothes:

"This is the place where the underworld uses to trap you emperors to prevent you from causing chaos."

"Although this is where you are trapped, the area inside is also very large. Just your mansion and the area outside are over 800 miles. It is said that this land is given based on merit."

"In this underworld, the only people who can own more than 300 li of land are the founding emperors of other layers and the later emperors such as Emperor Wu of Han and Emperor Taizong of Tang. In total, there are no more than ten people who can own more than 300 li of land."

Having said this, Ma Xiuying said awkwardly: "But Chongba, you should not go out for the time being, outside..."

"Zhu Chongba! If you're brave enough, come out here!"

"Zhu Chongba! Get out here!"

"Zhu Chongba..."

Suddenly, Zhu Yuanzhang heard many familiar voices.

"Humph!"

Zhu Yuanzhang recognized who was shouting, and he snorted coldly and was about to walk out. Empress Ma and Zhu Biao could not stop him, so they could only say as they walked:
"Your civil officials and military officers and their descendants have all come in, but civil officials must have posthumous titles to come in, and military officers must have noble titles to come in, so..."

Amid Empress Ma's awkward explanation, Zhu Yuanzhang walked to the door of his mansion, and standing at the door was a figure that Zhu Yuanzhang was very familiar with.

"Lan Yu! Shut your stinky mouth! You think you have the right to rebel!"

"Liao Yongzhong, if you have the guts, challenge me in a duel!"

"Boren, your son did something so nasty, why are you standing outside and not saying anything?"

Li Wenzhong, Mu Ying, Xu Da, Deng Yu, Tang He and hundreds of others are now in the mansion, quarreling with a group of people outside.

"Lan Yu! How dare you yell at me?!"

Zhu Yuanzhang's majestic voice rang out, and everyone immediately turned around to look at him.

"His Majesty!"

Xu Da and others bowed to Zhu Yuanzhang one after another. Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and walked past them and went directly to the door lintel, scanning the group of people in front of him with sharp eyes...

Li Shanchang, Lan Yu, Chang Mao, Hu Weiyong, Tang Shengzong, Lu Zhongheng, Zhou Dexing, Zheng Yuchun, Fei Ju, Yu Tongyuan, Zhu Liangzu, Hu Mei, Huang Bin, Mei Sizu, Lu Ju, Xie Cheng, Cao Xing, Ye Sheng, Cao Zhen, Zhang Wen, Li Xin, Chen Huan, Zhang Yi, Zhu Shou, Sun Ke, Wang Bi, Liao Yongzhong...

This group of people were basically those who were sentenced to death or exile by themselves, and they were all meritorious officials during their lifetime.

During his lifetime, he conferred the title of duke on 25 people, of whom 5 died a natural death, 1 did not die a natural death, 4 were killed, and the remaining 15 died in battle or of illness before the third year of Hongwu.

Seventy-nine people were conferred the title of marquis, of whom twenty-nine died a natural death, three did not, twenty-eight were killed, and the remaining nineteen died early.

Twelve people were conferred the title of earl, one of whom was sentenced to death. There were eleven viscounts and twenty-three barons.

In total, Zhu Yuanzhang conferred titles on 150 people, of whom 43 were killed by him.

Facing the fifty or so well-known civil and military officials in front of him, Zhu Yuanzhang did not hesitate to curse directly:
"I can control you when I am alive, and I can control you after I die!"

"The Ming dynasty will last for thousands of years. You can cause trouble anytime you want. Once the successor emperor and his civil and military officials come, I will slowly settle accounts with you..."

Zhu Yuanzhang spoke in a slow but majestic tone, and everyone looked at each other in surprise.

"Old Duke, are you going to make trouble too?"

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Li Shanchang. He loved Li Shanchang deeply and hated him deeply.

He repeatedly tried to prevent people from implicating Li Shanchang, but Li Shanchang's actions made him very disappointed.

"I just came to see Your Majesty. Now that I see Your Majesty, I am leaving now..."

Li Shanchang's appearance remained at around fifty years old, but his mind was much clearer than when he was in his sixties or seventies.

He knew that he and his group were all dependent on Zhu Yuanzhang, otherwise they would have been sent to reincarnation long ago. So after meeting Zhu Yuanzhang, he bowed and explained, then turned and left.

"Old Duke, you..."

Lan Yu and others looked at Li Shanchang's actions and immediately felt the taste of "betrayal".

Under Zhu Yuanzhang's fierce gaze and the escort of Xu Da and others, they could only turn around and leave unwillingly.

Watching them leave, Zhu Yuanzhang retracted his gaze and looked at Xu Da and the others with a smile.

"Biao'er, where is your elder brother?"

Zhu Yuanzhang did not greet his old brothers immediately, but instead asked about Zhu Biao.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang did not confer titles on that man, he conferred titles on that man's father and his own brothers, so he knew that his nephew should have also come to this place.

"Big brother and the others are all in the backyard, but grandpa and the others have already been reincarnated..."

Zhu Biao smiled brightly. Zhu Yuanzhang nodded when he heard that. He felt a little regretful in his heart, but after thinking about it, he sighed.

He looked up at the sky. He had not noticed anything because he was busy dealing with Lan Yu and the others. But now he saw hundreds of floating islands of all sizes and dozens of continents floating in the sky. This made him curious.

"Girl, what is that?"

Zhu Yuanzhang asked, and Empress Ma smiled and said, "Let Tiande and the others tell you these things. You haven't seen each other for so many years. Take this opportunity to chat and reminisce about the past."

"Although the dead don't need to eat, this place can still be used to cook. I'll go make you a bowl of noodles."

"Okay..." Zhu Yuanzhang was very moved, thinking that his sister was still the same as before and he had made her wait too long.

Empress Ma turned and left, and Xu Da and others came up to explain for Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Your Majesty, those in the sky are all dynasties from past dynasties. The small ones are small countries like the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, and the big ones are big countries like the Qin, Han, Sui and Tang dynasties."

"Every time a king dies and comes to this place, the dynasty's land will grow according to the achievements of the king."

"The largest land area is the Mongolian land, which is more than 3,300 li in total. The second largest land area is the Tang Dynasty, which is 1,200 li in total. The third largest land area is the Ming Dynasty, which is more than 800 li in total. The third largest land area is the Han Dynasty, which is more than 700 li in total."

Xu Da was a little embarrassed when he said this, and Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but sigh: "In such a big country like China, the Hu people are ranked first. This is really... Alas!"

"It's indeed a pity." Upon hearing this, Xu Da looked at Zhu Biao. He thought that Zhu Biao would successfully ascend the throne, but he never expected that Zhu Biao would arrive before Zhu.

Looking at Zhu Yuanzhang's current posture, it is obvious that Zhu Biao's son Zhu Yunwen is not a pioneering leader. It may be difficult for the Ming Dynasty to surpass Mongolia.

"Dad, we are all sons..."

"It goes without saying that Yunwen might be able to do a good job. Even if Yunwen can't do it, there might be a promising ruler in the future."

Zhu Yuanzhang comforted Zhu Biao, but he knew very well in his heart that with Zhu Yunwen's character, he would not be able to cultivate a capable monarch.

When thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but think of Zhu Gaoxu.

"If it's this kid... that's it, there's no point in saying more."

Zhu Yuanzhang drove this impossible thought out of his mind, and then took Xu Da and the others out for a walk.

The Ming Dynasty's 800-li land does not mean only 800 li, but rather 800 li around the Ming Dynasty, which includes deserts, lakes, rivers, mountains, snow-capped mountains... and other natural geography and landscapes.

To be honest, it still takes a lot of time to complete the journey.

Fortunately, there are many uninhabited towns of all sizes on this land, and there are also many animals living there.

Zhu Yuanzhang and Xu Da tamed some wild horses, and then spent more than half a month traveling around, discovering three cities of varying sizes and sixty towns.

This vast area is large enough to accommodate nearly one million people.

Of course, there is no need to eat in the underworld, so more people will be able to survive.

There is no spring, summer, autumn or winter here, and the trees and stones are inexhaustible.

Although it is the underworld, it feels more comfortable than the human world.

After all, there is no hunger, famine or war here, so there is no need to worry about survival.

It can be said that the underworld has put a lot of effort into making emperors of successive dynasties feel at ease staying there.

Unfortunately, there are less than 5,000 people living on this land, so it seems a bit deserted.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang didn't care too much. As time went by, there would be more and more "people" here.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang basically spent the following days reminiscing about the past with his old brothers, and with the help of his eldest brother Zhu Xinglong, he repaired his relationship with his eldest nephew Zhu Wenzhen.

Time passed little by little, and two years went by in the blink of an eye.

One day, Zhu Yuanzhang was planting vegetables with Xu Da and others outside the city of Nanjing, but he did not expect that a colorful light suddenly appeared in the sky.

"Ah?" Zhu Biao's hoe fell to the ground. Zhu Yuanzhang looked up and asked in confusion: "Biao'er, what is this scene?"

"Dad...this...Dad..." Zhu Biao stammered and couldn't speak. Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and looked at Xu Da.

"Your Majesty... this... this seems to be the glorious light that is sent to the new emperor and his subjects..."

Xu Da was ashamed, and Zhu Yuanzhang was also stunned when he heard it. Then he subconsciously threw the hoe aside, ran directly to the stable not far away, jumped on his horse and rushed to Nanjing City.

"Dad! Wait for us!"

Zhu Biao also reacted, dropped his hoe and followed Zhu Yuanzhang to Nanjing City, and Xu Da and others followed.

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't believe it. Now he already knew the rules of the underworld.

In the eighteen levels of hell, one day on earth is equivalent to ten thousand years in hell.

But the time where the emperors lived was basically the same as that on earth, which means that his grandson was emperor for only about two years before he died!

Zhu Yuanzhang hurried back and when he arrived at the gate of his former residence as "Duke of Wu", he saw a group of people gloating over his misfortune.

Needless to say, it's Li Shanchang, Lan Yu and the others again.

Ignoring them, Zhu Yuanzhang strode towards the main hall in a hurry.

"Yun Wen! Yun Wen!"

Zhu Yuanzhang hurried on his way while shouting at Zhu Yunwen.

"Zhu Yunwen! You little bastard!"

"Uncle Twelve! Listen to my explanation!"

"Eat my punch!"

"Old Twelve! What are you doing?!"

"Auntie, let's talk about this later. I'll beat this guy up first to vent my anger!"

"Come over here and break up the fight!"

Before he even reached the main hall, Zhu Yuanzhang heard the noise of chaos.

When he rushed to the main hall, he saw Zhu Bo, dressed in prince's clothes, chasing Zhu Yunwen with a bow and arrow.

Zhu Yunwen fled in panic. When he saw Zhu Yuanzhang, who was in his forties, he was stunned for a moment and then was caught up by Zhu Bo, who pinned him down and beat him up.

"stop!"

Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned for a moment, and when he came to his senses, he immediately reached out and grabbed Zhu Bo, sternly yelling at him to stop.

Zhu Bai hadn't reacted to the arrival of Lao Zhu yet, and subconsciously tried to break free, until he felt the force, then he turned around and saw Lao Zhu.

"Father!"

After Zhu Bai reacted, he quickly stood up from Zhu Yunwen and bowed to Zhu Yuanzhang.

"what happened?"

"What happened?!"

Zhu Yuanzhang questioned loudly, and Zhu Biao also hurried over with his men, while Zhu Gang, Zhu Chong and others in the backyard also rushed over after hearing the commotion.

"Grandpa... your grandson is incompetent!"

Zhu Yunwen, supported by Empress Ma, cried and complained:

"My grandson was instigated by Huang Zicheng and others to reduce the power of the feudal lords. For a time, he even forced his twelfth uncle to burn himself to death. After my grandson found out... I regretted it so much!"

Zhu Yunwen was crying and snotting, which made Zhu Bai stunned.

Zhu Yuanzhang's face turned pale when he heard this, and Zhu Biao looked at Zhu Bo with an apologetic look on his face: "Twelfth brother... you beat him well, this kid... I... ah!"

For a moment, Zhu Biao didn't know what to say, and could only bow to Zhu Bo. Zhu Bo said to Zhu Yunwen with a dark face:

"You dare to humiliate me by calling a few servants. How dare you say you know nothing?!"

"Uncle Twelve, I really didn't know about it, but it was me that caused it. If you still feel unsatisfied, just kill me!"

Zhu Yunwen felt it. If he were a living person, he would have been strangled to death by Zhu Bai's bowstring just now. However, apart from the pain, he did not seem to feel anything else, which meant that he could not die.

In that case, there is no need to worry, since you won’t die anyway.

"Father, look at this kid!"

Zhu Bai's face turned red with anger, Zhu Yuanzhang's face turned blue, and Zhu Biao and Empress Ma looked ugly.

At this critical moment, Zhu Gang quickly came up and asked expectantly, "Nephew, how did you get down here?"

"Hmph!" Zhu Yuanzhang saw through Zhu Gang's thoughts and snorted coldly, causing Zhu Gang to shrink his neck involuntarily.

Seeing that Zhu Gang was honest, Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Yunwen and said, "Tell me, what's going on?"

"Yes..." When Zhu Yunwen heard Zhu Yuanzhang's words, the figure of Zhu Gaoxu immediately appeared in his mind, and jealousy and hatred flashed in his eyes.

After calming down, he slowly began to explain.

But his explanation undoubtedly made everyone's brain crash.

"After my twelfth uncle died, I continued to reduce the power of the feudal lords under the instigation of Huang Zicheng and others. I never expected that my fourth uncle and Gao Xu had already made preparations. They used my grandfather's "Imperial Ming Ancestor Instructions" as an excuse to lead an army south, defeat the imperial army, and then besiege Nanjing. I didn't want to be humiliated, so I burned myself to death..."

Zhu Yunwen began to shed tears as he spoke, but Zhu Gang and others were stunned.

No, a million-strong army was wiped out in just a few words?

"Good old Fourth!"

Upon learning that the throne was not for his son, Zhu Gang immediately jumped up and started to curse:
"Dad, big brother! I told you long ago that this guy with thick eyebrows and big eyes is not a good person, and it turns out to be true!"

"Nephew, tell me, did he rebel with the hundreds of thousands of troops left to him by his father, and that's why you were powerless to stop him?"

After Zhu Yuanzhang came to this place, he explained his last arrangements to Zhu Biao, Xu Da and others. They naturally knew that when Zhu Yuanzhang died, Zhu Di was in control of the three military governorates of Beiping, Daning and Liaodong, as well as the guards of five royal palaces and one prince's palace.

All together, there are at least 200,000 troops.

If Zhu Laosi led his army south, maybe...

"It would be great if Fourth Brother really had so many soldiers and horses!"

Zhu Bo looked at Zhu Yunwen in a weird way, while the others all looked at him.

Seeing this, Zhu Bo said sarcastically: "What? Nephew, you are embarrassed to say it? Then let me say it for you!"

Zhu Bo did not miss any opportunity to play tricks on Zhu Yunwen, and explained directly to Zhu Yuanzhang and the others who were confused:

"Father, after you left, that little bastard Zhu Yunwen sent someone to ask my fourth brother for military power!"

"Then the fourth brother definitely didn't give it to him!" Zhu Gang said confidently, but was slapped in the face the next second.

"Fourth brother gave it to him. He handed back the military power of the three commanders, and also received an imperial decree and returned to Beijing with his guards."

"If it were up to me, Fourth Brother should have just rebelled and kicked this little bastard off, so that he wouldn't have done so many things that would have caused his loved ones pain and his enemies joy!"

"Father, Big Brother? You don't know..."

"After this little bastard took back the fourth brother's military power, less than three months after your father passed away, he falsely accused the fifth brother of treason and had Li Jinglong raid Kaifeng, seize the fifth brother's military power, and bring him to the capital for his crime."

"This little bastard even asked us to submit a petition to impeach our fifth brother. Our fourth brother asked him to forgive our fifth brother, but he ended up stripping our fifth brother of his title and demoting him to a commoner, and exiling him to Yunnan!"

After hearing Zhu Bo's words, Zhu Yuanzhang felt a black screen before his eyes and he was swaying a little bit, fortunately Empress Ma supported him.

"You! You! You rebellious son!"

Even Zhu Biao, who also felt that the power of the princes should be reduced, could not help but call Zhu Yunwen a rebellious son. Zhu Gang and Zhu Chong felt as uncomfortable as if they had eaten shit.

They were not stupid and naturally knew that according to Zhu Yunwen's thinking, their two families would probably not have an easy time.

Apart from them, Zhu Yuanzhang's other descendants looked at each other in confusion, and it could only be said that it was difficult to judge.

"Grandpa Emperor... Father... I was also deceived by Huang Zicheng and others..."

Zhu Yunwen said this shamelessly, and Zhu Bo continued to add fuel to the fire:

"Father, elder brother, if you don't believe me, you can ask the Marquis of Changxing."

"Anyway, after this little bastard abolished my fifth brother, he sent someone to frame me for treason within ten months. I didn't want to be humiliated by a slave, so I burned myself. I don't know what happened afterwards, but the Marquis of Changxing should know!"

After Zhu Bo finished speaking, Zhu Yuanzhang woke up slowly and looked eagerly at Geng Bingwen, who had been standing in the corner without speaking for a long time.

Geng Bingwen was hesitant to speak when he saw this, but in the end he did not exaggerate and just sighed and said, "Your Majesty, you should ask the Crown Prince."

"Yunwen..." Zhu Yuanzhang's voice was hoarse, and Zhu Yunwen hurriedly said:

"After that, I reduced the power of Qi, Dai, Min, and Xiang, and was about to reduce the power of my fourth uncle. Then my fourth uncle and Gao Xu rebelled together, led an army of 300,000 to the south and surrounded the capital, and I burned myself to death for my country."

Geng Bingwen's mouth twitched when he heard Zhu Yunwen's words. He could only secretly admire Zhu Yunwen's Spring and Autumn style of writing.

Zhu Yunwen looked at Geng Bingwen, obviously worried that he would tell the truth, but Geng Bingwen kept his mouth shut.

Since the Jianwen Dynasty was too short, Huaguang only brought Zhu Yunwen, Zhu Bo, Geng Bingwen, his eldest son Geng Lin who died for his country, and several other earls who had titles but died in the Jingnan Campaign.

They were all ashamed to talk about the fact that they were defeated by Zhu Di when they were outnumbered, so they kept silent about it.

Seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang slowly stood up, put his hand on his leather belt, and said in a heavy tone:
"Yun Wen, come in with me..."

On this day, even Lan Yu and others who were eavesdropping outside the Wu Guogong Mansion seemed to have heard Zhu Yunwen's screams.

Zhu Yuanzhang, who had never beaten Zhu Yunwen, seemed to want to beat him to death.

Fortunately, it was Zhu Gaoxu who attacked Nanjing, otherwise Zhu Yuanzhang would have broken his leather belt.

Zhu Yuanzhang's heart bleeds when he thinks of the demise of the second emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

However, when Zhu Yuanzhang thought that it was Zhu Gaoxu who led the troops to attack Nanjing, he felt better for some reason.

However, in order to save face, he didn't treat anyone kindly for most of the next six months.

After Geng Bingwen and his companions walked out of the Wu Guogong Mansion, Lan Yu and his group hurried over to watch the show, eager to hear the news of the second generation of the Zhu family's death.

Fortunately, Geng Bingwen and his men kept their mouths shut, otherwise Zhu Yunwen would have been punished again...

(End of this chapter)