Ming Dynasty: A hundred-year-old immortal cultivator, Zhu Yuanzhang’s biological father

"I didn't understand it at first, until one day I saw someone eating a corpse in the mountains, and then I knew..."

Zhu Xiongying trembled all over.

Although he had never seen the Huaibei Road in the fourth year of Zhizheng, Zhu Yuanzhang's simple words seemed to have described the extremely tragic scene at that time.

Outline it.

This is enough to show how corrupt the Yuan Dynasty was at that time!
Zhu Yuanzhang grinned and said with a bitter smile: "My family is very poor. We farm for the tenants. At the beginning, we had some food, but there were many people in my family."

"Your great grandfather, great grandmother, your three great grandfathers, great grandmothers, plus us, there are eight people in total."

"That little bit of food lasted for a month, and then there was nothing left to eat."

Zhu Xiongying did not stop Zhu Yuanzhang from speaking. Although he could see Zhu Yuanzhang's pain and unwillingness to face the past, Zhu Xiongying still did not stop him.

Because he knew that the old man was determined to tell him about his past bit by bit.

"What should we do if we don't have food? We can only borrow it."

"But the tenants had already started eating wild vegetables, so we knew we couldn't borrow any food."

"Oh, by the way, when I was little, I was herding cattle. Before I was six, I was pulling cattle all over the ground."

Zhu Xiongying's heart skipped a beat again.

Zhu Yuanzhang ignored Zhu Xiongying and said, "You also know what a cow means to a farmer. It is like a member of our family. It is no longer just a livestock. We all have feelings for it."

"Because of its existence, it supports our family of eight."

"But I'm so hungry."

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes had already begun to blur. "We have depended on each other for more than three years, and I watched your great grandfather die before my eyes."

"We cried and yelled, we cursed the injustice of heaven, we cursed your great grandfather's incompetence, we cursed the court, but we were just children at that time."

"At that time, rituals and music had not yet collapsed, order had not yet collapsed, and people still had a sense of shame."

"The cow has been killed. Your great grandmother is preparing the beef with tears in her eyes. She is trying hard to hide it. You can eat it slowly and live slowly in the future. You still have a long time to live. You can't just not eat anything."

"But I am stubborn and I will never eat that old cow! It is my family, how can I do something to an animal?"

"Have you ever seen an old cow cry? When that cow was slaughtered, it shed tears and knelt in front of us, begging us not to kill it. It has spirituality and understands human nature."

"We, we are not human, but we ate it anyway!!!"

Zhu Yuanzhang burst into tears.

There are no outsiders here, and he is not some iron-blooded emperor. He has flesh and blood, and he will cry when he sees something touching, and he cannot control his emotions.

Zhu Xiongying pinched Zhu Yuanzhang's shoulder, feeling a little uncomfortable. He wanted to stop Zhu Yuanzhang from speaking further, but Zhu Xiongying knew that this day would come sooner or later.

Zhu Yuanzhang took a deep breath, wiped away his turbid tears, and continued: "I just told you that at that time, rituals and music had not collapsed, order had not been disrupted, and people still had a sense of shame."

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled bitterly and said, "But when you have no food to eat, when you are really hungry, what order? What rituals and music, what sense of shame, and human instincts will all be exposed at that moment."

"Several people from other villages found our house and beat up your three great-grandfathers. Then the only beef jerky we had was looted."

"We hit their heads with rocks until they bled, but they were only busy gnawing on the only beef they had."

"I can't take care of it anymore."

"Rites and music have completely collapsed. Nothing can restrain them anymore. Honesty, morality, and laws have all become so fragile in the face of hunger!"

Zhu Xiongying felt and empathized with the scene. He had never experienced such a situation in the prosperous times, and it was hard for him to imagine what he would do if he lived in such a world!
Why do we say heroes emerge in troubled times? People are forced to do things. The energy that every ordinary person bursts out when facing desperate situations should not be underestimated.

People are great. In the face of despair, some people are willing to kneel down, but more people choose to stand up and resist!
The invasion of the Japanese slaves in later generations all proved the unity and strength of our Han nation!
Or maybe we live in a later world, we should be grateful, grateful to the heroes of each generation, the heroes who knew how to resist from generation to generation!
We are the descendants of Yan and Huang. We have a civilization inherited for thousands of years. In the end, we are the only nation that can be passed down and thrive forever.

It is always difficult to imagine how powerful our nation is. Every Han Chinese should be proud to be a descendant of Yan and Huang.

We should not worship foreigners, nor should we be complacent just because we met a few foreigners, or even brag to our comrades about knowing foreigners.

You shouldn't be proud of meeting them, you should be proud of them meeting you!
Without any modesty, we are the only ones who can pass down a civilization that has lasted for five thousand years or even longer in the long river of history!
Zhu Xiongying secretly clenched his fists, looking at the old man's lonely expression, and felt very empathetic.

A man is not without tears or wine when he partes.

The man did not shed tears, but he did not go to the sad place.

Zhu Xiongying squeezed Zhu Yuanzhang's shoulders hard.

Zhu Yuanzhang took a deep breath, pulled his thoughts back, and continued: "Your grandfather and I have seen too many tragic scenes."

"We saw a family of three, a father holding two children, walking on the fish-cracked ground, and their strength had reached its limit."

"We saw the father looking at his little daughter with greedy eyes."

"We saw the father."

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't say anything else. Zhu Xiongying could imagine how miserable the status of women was in that chaotic era. He knew what the old man wanted to say.

He knew that the father might eventually turn his knife on his young daughter to satisfy his and his son's hunger.

Why did our nation begin to evolve towards primitiveness? Why?
At that time,
This generation of heroes may have set a grand ambition in their hearts!
Some people always say that Zhu Yuanzhang sympathized with and loved the people, but no one knows all of Zhu Yuanzhang's experiences.

But when you understand him, you will also understand how humble the Han people were under the rule of foreign races, and you will be more certain of how profound the meaning of the two words "Da Ming" is!
Break through the darkness and create light!
Perhaps this is the meaning of the Great Ming Dynasty, to find a bright and smooth road for the great Chinese people in the darkness!
“However, worse things are happening all the time.”

Zhu Yuanzhang continued with tears in his eyes, "In less than a month, your great grandfather, great grandmother, and your great grandfather, all three grandfathers, fell ill one after another."

Zhu Xiongying always felt that he was treated unfairly, but after hearing about the old man's life story, he realized that his experience was so insignificant compared to the old man's.

A six-year-old child had to face these darkest moments alone. Zhu Xiongying could even feel the old man's despair at that time!
"What I fear most is not that someone in my family has died, but that people will know that someone in my family has died."

After these two sentences were spoken, Zhu Xiongying instantly felt his scalp going numb, his whole body began to shiver, and his vision gradually became blurred.

Death and separation are the most terrifying things in life. However, at that time, death was not so scary, because what was more terrifying was human nature.
Zhu Yuanzhang said, "We can't afford a coffin, and we can't find a straw mat, so we can only secretly go to the Liu family next door with your second grandfather."

In the darkest moment, we saw the warmth of human nature. "He allocated a piece of land for us, gave us some straw mats, and secretly dug a few graves for us. That's how your great-grandfather, great-grandmother, and your grandmother and grandfather could be buried."

Zhu Yuanzhang took a deep breath and said, "Then, I left, uprooted my hometown, and went my separate ways with your second grandfather. From that moment on, my life began to change completely."

Zhu Xiongying already had goosebumps.

It was difficult for him to describe how he felt right now.

Bitterness? Pain? Sympathy?
Maybe both.

Maybe I've become numb.

Perhaps it has been integrated into the old man's past.

Only then did I realize that this old man, who usually doted on me and was usually extremely strong, actually had such a fragile side and had actually experienced such unbearable years.

Adults will never know what happened in the past and how low a person's lows can be.

Those who are depressed all day long, if they knew the old man's life experience, I wonder if they would feel differently!
Do you feel that in such a dark time, there are still people who ride the waves, break through everything, do not bow to fate, and do not blame God?
remember!
Everything in life is created by yourself.

Whether it is the lows or the highs, as long as you have hope in your heart, there is always hope in the world!

Zhu Xiongying silently brought tea to Zhu Yuanzhang, and felt the old man's sobs, and said to the old man: "Grandpa, don't worry, drink some tea."

Zhu Yuanzhang took it with a heroic spirit, raised his head and drank it all in one gulp, "Great!"

Under Zhu Xiongying's dissuasion, the old man seldom drinks, which is exactly what he loves most. However, his strong self-control has overcome the thing he loves most.

The power of human nature is fully demonstrated in Zhu Yuanzhang's tenacious character. It is hard to think of any reason why a person who can control his desires could not succeed.

"Let's part ways. Be well."

"Since we parted in Haozhou, I have never seen my relatives again. Maybe they have died in that fucked up world."

The old man looked helpless, but still said firmly, "I just told you that after that separation, our lives have become completely different."

"We fled to a desperate place and went to a temple, where we became monks."

A slight thud.

Zhu Xiongying's heart was beating violently, his eyes were wide open in shock, his whole body was frozen, and his thoughts were solidified.

Looking at the old man with intense shock.

Listening to his calm words.

"This period is undoubtedly the happiest time for us. We don't have to face hunger. Every day in the temple, we sweep the floor, burn incense, ring bells and drums, cook and wash clothes. As long as we finish all these, we will have a bowl of fragrant rice to eat."

"I thought that I could live a happy life like this for the rest of my life."

"Although the old monks often bully me, and although I do the hardest and most tiring work in the whole temple, as long as I can fill my stomach, what else can I be dissatisfied with?"

Zhu Yuanzhang's face became somewhat ferocious.

"Damn it, God always seems to like playing jokes on us!"

"I burn incense and sweep the floor quietly, and get scolded in various ways every day. Every lonely night, I can only sit alone in the woodshed, looking at the sky outside the window, missing my parents who have only been with me for more than ten years. I am already very content. I can have enough food to eat, that's enough, isn't it?"

"But after fifty days, the famine became so severe that the fire spread to the temple."

"The temple is no longer able to support so many people, so the abbot can only send us out to beg for alms."

"But where to go?"

The locations assigned to us are Huaixi and Henan.

Damn, these two places are the ones that are suffering from severe famine.

Can we get it?
Zhu Yuanzhang said with a hint of contempt, "It's called begging, but it's actually begging."

"You've been with Grandpa for so long, do you know what the most similar thing between you and Grandpa is?"

Without waiting for Zhu Xiongying to answer, Zhu Yuanzhang said to himself: "Dignity!"

"We have lost everything. The most precious thing we have is our dignity."

"However, this time, the alms-gathering has completely pushed our most precious things to the ground and started to be ruthlessly trampled on."

"Either beg or starve to death, dignity or life. We have to make a choice."

The old man's face was filled with pain again.

He doesn't want to recall many past events, and every time he does, he suffers tremendous pain.

Zhu Yuanzhang seemed not to hear and continued: "We walked and begged, passing through cities and villages, door to door, sleeping in the mountains, and knocking on every door. It was a test for us, because we were often met with contempt, sarcasm and ridicule. For us, knocking on that door might mean an insult, but not knocking on that door would mean starvation."

Zhu Xiongying looked at Zhu Yuanzhang infatuatedly, thinking of the old man who had always been so stubborn and strong from the past to the present!
"You are right. Only when you lose everything will you discover how great your power is."

"I am not willing to be manipulated by fate. When I was begging for food, I was different from others. I studied the geography, mountains, customs and people of Huaixi. It broadened my horizons, enriched my knowledge and made me meet many people."

"This begging experience has completely transformed me into a warrior who can face all difficulties with strength, a warrior armed to the core!"

"At that time, various sects emerged one after another, such as Maitreya Sect and White Lotus Sect. I believe in Maitreya Sect, but I tell you, at that time, I was certain that Maitreya was myself!"

This is a hero with extremely strong self-confidence!
From this time on, Zhu Yuanzhang changed and became a powerful man. This kind of transformation is something that many people cannot achieve in their lifetime!
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Xiongying and continued, "However, it was not these things that opened the door to my heart, but the uprising of Han Shantong and Liu Futong in the eleventh year of Zhizheng!"

Zhu Xiongying looked at the old man in shock. His whole body began to tremble slightly and his mouth opened slightly, as if there was something stuck in his throat.

My throat feels extremely dry.

(End of this chapter)