King Luhuang of the Ming Dynasty: My father, Ming Taizu

Zhu Biao knew very well that his father was angry and further explanation would only backfire.

He took a deep breath, suppressed his desire to protect Zhu Tan, put on a fearful expression, bowed and said:
"Your Majesty, what your father is saying is that it was because of your failure to supervise me that my tenth brother got into such a disaster. Your Majesty, I am willing to accept the punishment, and I hope your Majesty will calm down."

Zhu Yuanzhang's expression eased when he saw Zhu Biao was so tactful. However, he was still furious when he thought of Zhu Tan's audacious behavior. He snorted coldly and said,

"As the crown prince, you do not think about how to be a king, but instead indulge your brothers in doing wrong things. I am really disappointed! Someone, come here, the crown prince failed to supervise properly, and you are punished by being confined to the East Palace for two days to reflect on your mistakes!"

"Father..."

Zhu Biao wanted to say something else but was stopped by Zhu Yuanzhang's sharp eyes.

He could only swallow back the words in his heart, lowered his head and replied: "Your son obeys your order."

Zhu Yuanzhang turned his gaze to Zhu Tan, who was still stiff-necked and unconvinced, and his anger surged up again. He pointed at his nose and cursed:

"Rebellious son! How dare you stand here? Come, take Prince Lu back to the palace. No one is allowed to visit him without my order!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the guards on both sides stepped forward and firmly controlled Zhu Tan.

Zhu Tan struggled desperately and shouted towards Zhu Biao:
"Brother! We haven't finished talking about the laboratory yet! Don't listen to father, I..."

His unwilling roar echoed in the hall, but no one dared to say a word for him.

Zhu Biao felt uncomfortable when he saw Zhu Tan being dragged away.

He understood that although his father was angry, he still loved Zhu Tan.

Otherwise, he would not just be confined to his home but would be directly punished severely.

However, Zhu Tan’s actions this time were indeed a bit too extreme.

He sighed, turned around, knelt down towards Zhu Yuanzhang, and said in a deep voice:
"Father, I know I was wrong. I will reflect on it and will never let you down again."

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at his son who had always been sensible and obedient, and his anger subsided a lot.

He waved his hand and said in a tired tone:
"Forget it, you should go down too and think about where you went wrong."

"My son, please retire."

Zhu Biao kowtowed again, stood up and left the imperial study.

The door of the imperial study slowly closed, blocking out Zhu Biao's back.

……

It was late at night and the Japanese school on the outskirts of the city was silent.

In the dormitory, the dim candlelight cast swaying shadows on the wall, and a dozen Japanese teenagers were crowded in one room.

The sounds of breathing came and went, and most of them had fallen asleep.

Only in the corner, two young men were talking in low voices, with their heads close together, in the dim candlelight.

"Taro, are you telling the truth? His Highness, he... is he still alive?"

The boy who spoke was called Inoue, and his round face turned red with excitement.

His eyes widened, as if he couldn't believe what he heard.

"Absolutely true!"

The boy called Taro lowered his voice, but his tone was unusually firm:

"I paid off the eunuch in the palace, and he told me the news himself, so it can't be wrong!"

"But...but at that time, the Ming Dynasty's Prince Lu was not..."

Inoue paused halfway through his speech, as if realizing something. He quickly looked around and then lowered his voice to ask, "At that time, wasn't the Ming Lu Wang..."

"Shh!"

Taro quickly made a gesture to keep quiet and looked nervously at his sleeping companions around him.

After making sure no one was woken up, he lowered his voice and said:

"For things like this, it's better to understand them in your heart. If you speak them out, you'll lose your head!"

Inoue took a deep breath, tried to calm his excitement, and asked in a low voice:

"Then...where is His Highness now? When can we see him again?"

Taro shook his head, a hint of bitterness in his tone.

"My brother doesn't know either. He just said that His Highness is safe now and asked us not to act rashly and wait for the right opportunity."

"Waiting for the opportunity?"

Inoue clenched his fists, his tone full of unwillingness.

"How long do we have to wait? It has been a year since Japan fell to the Ming Dynasty! One year, do we have to be obedient subjects of the Ming Dynasty for the rest of our lives?"

Taro was silent, he knew that what Inoue said was true.

These descendants of the Japanese royal family and children of the nobility were brought to the Ming Dynasty under the pretext of "learning Ming culture", but in fact they were just slaves!
For a year, they have been missing their homeland and their families all the time.

They missed their young and promising prince even more.

"But what can we do now?"

Taro sighed, his tone full of powerlessness, "We are unarmed now, and there are spies from the Ming Dynasty all around us. Even if we want to do something, we can't do anything!"

"No! We can!"

Inoue suddenly stood up, with a determined light in his eyes:
"Taro, think about it, since His Highness is still alive, he must be planning to restore the country! What we need to do now is to accumulate strength and wait for His Highness's call!"

"But...how do we accumulate strength?"

Taro looked at Inoue in confusion.

A cold light flashed in Inoue's eyes, and he said in a cold tone:
"Assassinate Zhu Yuanzhang!"

Taro was immediately startled by Inoue's words, and quickly covered his mouth, saying in horror:

"You're crazy! Can you just say something like that?"

Inoue shook off Taro's hand and said firmly:

"I'm not crazy! Think about it, Zhu Yuanzhang is the emperor of the entire Ming Dynasty. As long as he dies, the entire Ming Dynasty will fall into chaos. That will be the best time for us to restore our country in Japan!"

Taro stared at Inoue blankly, not knowing what to say for a moment.

He knew that what Inoue said was right, but how easy was it to assassinate the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty?

"I know what you're worried about,"

Inoue seemed to see through Taro's thoughts and his tone softened.

"Of course we can't act rashly, but we can take a long-term view. Think about it, we are now in the capital of the Ming Dynasty, and there are so many Ming Dynasty officials around us. As long as we use them properly..."

Inoue leaned close to Taro's ear and whispered his plan.

As Taro listened, his originally confused eyes gradually became determined.

Finally, he nodded heavily, with a determined light in his eyes.

"Okay! Just do as you say!"

Outside the window, a bright moon hangs high in the night sky, and the cold moonlight shines on the earth.

……

The next day, warm sunlight shone through the window into the classroom of Dongying Academy.

Shining on those young faces that are full of complex emotions.

On the podium, a Ming Dynasty scholar with a goatee and wearing a green gown was explaining the "Analects of Confucius" with his head shaking.

"The Master said, 'To learn with a view to applying what one has learned from time to time, is it not a pleasure? To have friends come from afar, is it not a pleasure? To be not angry when others do not know one, is it not the behavior of a gentleman?'..."

The Master's voice was rhythmic and sounded like a lullaby.

It made the Japanese teenagers in the audience drowsy.

Some of them were lying on the table, some were yawning secretly, and some had empty eyes, not knowing what they were thinking.

Inoue suppressed his boredom and pretended to flip through the "Analects of Confucius" in his hand.

When he thought of the agreement Taro made with him last night, he felt that this boring class was as unbearable as purgatory.

"Mr. Inoue, can you tell me what this sentence means?" The teacher suddenly stopped explaining, scanned the classroom with a sharp gaze, and finally fell on Inoue.

Inoue's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly stood up, hesitatingly saying, "This...this sentence means...learning..."

"Humph! You can't even explain the meaning of this sentence. It's obvious that you don't study hard at all!"

The Master glared at him with a look of dismay and continued:

"'Isn't it a pleasure to learn and practice it from time to time?' It means that after learning, it is very pleasant to review it frequently. You Japanese barbarians, when you come to my Great Ming, you must study my Great Ming culture well, so that you can better serve my Great Ming in the future. Do you understand?"

Inoue lowered his head, not daring to refute, but his heart was already in turmoil.

Serve the Ming Dynasty?
He sneered and said that after killing Zhu Yuanzhang and restoring Japan, he would make all the Ming people their slaves!

"Inoue-kun, what's wrong with you? Are you feeling unwell?"

The teacher saw that Inoue looked pale and asked with concern.

"Ah... I... my stomach hurts, I want to... I want to go to the toilet!"

Inoue quickly covered his stomach and pretended to be in pain.

"go Go!"

The Master waved his hand, indicating that he could leave.

Inoue felt as if he had been pardoned and stumbled out of the classroom.

He ran all the way to the toilet behind the school, his heart pounding.

"Inoue-kun, you are here!"

A deep voice suddenly came from behind.

Inoue was startled and turned around quickly, only to see a short middle-aged man standing behind him.

There was a meaningful smile on his face.

"Who are you...who are you?" Inoue asked warily.

"I'm here to help you."

The middle-aged man said as he took out a set of clothes from his arms, "Put it on and wait for me at the Meridian Gate of the Imperial Palace tonight."

Inoue took the clothes, unfolded them and saw that it was actually a set of eunuch's clothes.

He suddenly understood something and a gleam of light flashed in his eyes.

"You...you are..."

"Don't ask if you don't have to."

The middle-aged man interrupted him, turned and left, leaving only one sentence echoing in the air:

"Remember, you only have one chance, success or failure depends on it."

As night fell, the bustling capital city gradually quieted down, only the direction of the imperial palace was still brightly lit.

Inoue changed into eunuch's clothes, took a deep breath, and followed the middle-aged man's instructions to come to the Meridian Gate of the Imperial Palace.

"Stop! Who is it?"

Two armored guards blocked his way.

Inoue tried to keep himself calm and whispered, "I'm new here, and I've been ordered to be on duty."

"newcomer?"

The guard looked him up and down and asked suspiciously:
"How come I've never seen you before? What's your name?"

"My name is..." Inoue faltered and made up a name, "I was working outside the palace before, and was transferred to the palace today."

The guard wanted to ask more questions, but at this moment, a group of eunuchs came from a distance, led by the middle-aged man who met Inoue outside the toilet.

"Old Li, what's going on?"

The middle-aged man walked up to the guard and pointed at Inoue and asked.

"This eunuch said he was new, but I've never seen him before, so..."

"New here? Oh, I remember now,"

The middle-aged man slapped his forehead and said with a smile:

"This boy is a distant relative of mine. He had been serving an old concubine outside the palace. But the old concubine passed away a few days ago, so I transferred him into the palace."

Upon hearing this, the guard nodded, asked no more questions, and let Inoue enter the Meridian Gate.

Inoue followed the middle-aged man, mixed into the eunuchs' team, and arrived outside the imperial study without any obstruction.

"See that lighted room? That's the imperial study. The emperor is reviewing memorials in there right now."

The middle-aged man pointed to a room in the distance and whispered:

"Remember, you only have less than an incense stick of time. Whether you can succeed depends on you."

Inoue nodded, took a deep breath, and walked towards the imperial study.

He came to the door of the imperial study and gently pushed it open. In the spacious and bright room, he saw an old man wearing a dragon robe and a crown on his head writing quickly at his desk.

It’s Zhu Yuanzhang!

A cold light flashed in Inoue's eyes, and he clenched the dagger hidden in his sleeve.

He held his breath and approached Zhu Yuanzhang step by step.

The dim candlelight cast a flickering shadow on his face, like a wild beast waiting for its opportunity.

closer, closer...

Inoue could almost feel Zhu Yuanzhang's old yet still majestic aura.

He seemed to see that bloody night when his parents died tragically under the sword, and the young himself could only hide in the corner, shivering, and helplessly listening to the wailing of his relatives.

"Go to hell, Zhu Yuanzhang!"

Inoue roared, pulled out a dagger and stabbed at Zhu Yuanzhang.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang was an emperor who had been on many battlefields after all, and even in his old age, his reactions were still quick.

He grabbed the inkstone on the table and smashed it hard towards the well.

"boom!"

Inoue was unable to dodge and was hit on the head. He groaned, his eyes went dark, and the dagger in his hand fell to the ground.

He covered his head in pain, staggered back, and fell heavily to the ground.

Seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang was furious. He grabbed the sword on the table, pointed it at Jing Shang, and shouted:
"How dare you, you idiot, to assassinate me! Tell me, who sent you?!"

Inoue struggled to raise his head, blood flowing down his forehead, blurring his vision.

He glared at Zhu Yuanzhang with gnashing teeth, his eyes filled with flames of hatred:

"I want you to pay with blood!"

"Humph, you are about to die, and you still dare to be stubborn!"

Zhu Yuanzhang raised his sword and was about to kill Inoue with one blow.

But his years of experience as an emperor made him calm down at the last moment.

He wanted to know who wanted to kill him and why they sent such a greenhorn to die.

"Someone is coming!"

Zhu Yuanzhang retracted his sword and shouted loudly to the outside of the door.

Just as he finished speaking, the door of the imperial study was slammed open.

A group of guards wearing armor and holding spears rushed in and surrounded Inoue.

Each of them had murderous intent on their faces, with spears in their hands pointing directly at Inoue, as if they were going to pierce him into a sieve in the next second.

Inoue gasped in pain, and he felt his consciousness gradually blurring.

But those eyes full of hatred were always fixed on Zhu Yuanzhang. (End of this chapter)