Daming: Dad, you are really not good at governing the country

Chapter 323: Chongba, do you want the future crown princes of the Ming Dynasty to be unable to find a teacher?
Zhu Yuanzhang said indignantly: "Just for Song Lian, who was almost half buried in the earth, your elder brother jumped into the water and killed himself.

My sister protested to us by fasting in order to save Song Lian, and later my father just demoted him to Maozhou in Shu, which was already a favor beyond the law.

If it were someone else who forced me to change my mind, Song Lian’s son and grandson would be in danger!

Now the third brother wants to ask for an official position for them. What does he regard the reputation of the court as?

The emperor's words are as good as gold, but he can easily take back his orders. How can we command the officials in the future?"

Zhu Gang still feels guilty about his elder brother committing suicide by jumping into the water.

Because it was he who instigated Zhu Biao to implement the "first cry, then make a fuss, and then hang himself" strategy.

Zhu Biao cried and said to Zhu Yuanzhang: "Under the guidance of my teacher, I have read a lot of Confucian classics and official history.

He knew that as a kind-hearted successor, he had to plead with the teacher so as to show his respect for the teacher.

Besides, I am stupid and have no other teacher.

I beg Your Majesty to have mercy on our old master and spare his death sentence!"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang was very angry and said to Zhu Biao: "Then you can forgive Jing Lian after you become the emperor."

What Zhu Yuanzhang meant by this sentence was that you can rehabilitate Song Lian after I die.

His words carried great weight. On the one hand, they told Zhu Biao that his decision to execute Song Lian would not change.

On the other hand, he warned Zhu Biao to do his duty as the crown prince and regent and not to interfere in his affairs.

Unexpectedly, after Zhu Biao said goodbye to his father, he ran out and jumped into the imperial garden and committed suicide.

Fortunately, his followers rescued him in time, thus avoiding tragedy.

Afterwards, Zhu Yuanzhang was both happy and angry, "Silly son, what does it have to do with you if I ordered someone to be killed?"

Then he was reading Romance of the Three Kingdoms in his study, and suddenly thought, "The prince's suicide this time is a good way to see whether the people around him are loyal or not!"

Zhu Yuanzhang then ordered the Embroidered Uniform Guard to search everywhere for the prince's attendant who jumped into the water to save Zhu Biao that day.

Anyone who entered the water with clothes on to save Zhu Biao would be promoted three levels.

Anyone who took off his clothes before entering the water to save the prince would be beheaded regardless of the reason.

Before the execution, Zhu Yuanzhang asked Zhu Gang to say these words to them.

"Our prince is already drowning, do we still have to wait for you to take off your clothes before saving him?"

It was not until then that Zhu Gang suddenly realized that this allusion was exactly the same as the "Geng Ji's Rebellion" in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

During the Three Kingdoms period, Geng Ji rebelled. Cao Cao later asked, "Who will go to fight the rebels, and who will stay indoors?"

Anyone who stays indoors will be rewarded and sent home.

Anyone who goes out to fight the bandits will be beheaded.

Cao Cao explained, "You are all weak civil officials. I have the brave warriors of the Tiger Guards to suppress the rebellion. Who asked you to fight the enemy?
You are not fighting the bandits, you are actually helping them and causing more trouble!"

Zhu Gang now only regrets that he did not pay attention to that saying.

If you are old, you should read Romance of the Three Kingdoms; if you are young, you should read Water Margin!
He used to think that this was because "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" described a large number of intrigues and complex political struggles.

After reading this book, the elderly may recall their past experiences and encounters, and feel that the hero is old.

Who would have thought that when it came to Zhu Yuanzhang, he would put his knowledge into practice right away.

He used the political schemes described in Romance of the Three Kingdoms to retaliate against the attendants around the prince.

This was something Zhu Gang had never expected. It can only be said that the Ming royal family’s way of thinking was different.

Of course, after Zhu Yuanzhang killed the prince's attendant who was slow to save Zhu Biao, he also felt regret for threatening his son with death. So he ordered Song Lian to be pardoned and allowed him to enter the palace to thank him.

It happened to be lunch time, and Zhu Yuanzhang saw that Empress Ma was eating only vegetarian dishes.

When he asked the reason, Empress Ma explained: "I heard that Mr. Jinglian was guilty, so I simply fasted for him and begged for his blessing."

Zhu Yuanzhang, still furious, threw his chopsticks on the ground and left.

Before leaving, he left a message, "Song Lian's life is very precious, right?
Well, it doesn’t matter if they’re all dead!
As long as our Zhu family father and son are still here, the world will continue to function normally without anyone else! "

At this time, Song Lian was about to go to the palace to express his gratitude, but Zhu Yuanzhang ordered him not to meet him.

Afterwards, he put Song Lian, who was nearly 70 years old, in shackles and banished him to Maozhou in Shu.

If Zhu Yuanzhang had not been worried about Zhu Biao committing suicide again, he would have wanted to kill both Song Lian's son and grandson.

Now, hearing Zhu Yuanzhang bring up the old matter again, Empress Ma became furious.

"Master Liu devoted all his life to the Ming Dynasty, but after his death, his descendants were unable to survive.

Now Mr. Jinglian has been exiled to Shu, and you are not even willing to let his son and grandson go!
Once this gets out, people will say that being an imperial tutor to the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty is a dead end!
Chongba, I don't care if you want to be alone, but do you want the future crown princes of the Ming Dynasty to never find a teacher again?"

Looking at Empress Ma with tears in her eyes, Zhu Yuanzhang scratched his head helplessly.

“We didn’t say we wanted to harm Song Lian’s son and grandson, but the court has its own laws.

Whether to let them take the imperial examination requires discussion with the Crown Prince and ministers.

Third brother, you just said that Empress Dowager Dou of the Han Dynasty can only be ranked tenth among the 'Ten Greatest Empresses in History', then who are the other seven people?"

As the saying goes, every failure makes you wiser. Zhu Gang knew that haste makes waste in some things.

If Mr. Zhu is pushed into a corner, innocent people might be implicated.

So he could only temporarily follow Zhu Yuanzhang's meaning and change the subject, saying, "Ninth place, Yin Lihua, the original wife of Emperor Wu of the Later Han Dynasty, Liu Xiu, and also his second empress."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded in approval, and then began to show off the knowledge he had learned from Song Lian.

"We have also heard about Yin Lihua's deeds from someone in Song...

It is said that she was a descendant of Guan Zhong, a famous prime minister of Qi during the Spring and Autumn Period. When Liu Xiu was still a member of a declining royal family, he admired Yin Lihua's beauty very much.

He also said a famous saying: "The wife I want to marry is Yin Lihua."

As a result, the two did get married, but the ambitious Liu Xiu married Guo Shengtong for his own future.

After Liu Xiu became emperor, he wanted to make Yin Lihua the queen.

Unexpectedly, Yin Lihua was concerned about the situation in the court and was afraid that the country that had just been stabilized would be stirred up by turmoil again.

She took the initiative to refuse the position of queen and asked Liu Xiu to make Guo Shengtong the queen.

That’s why the story of Yin Lihua becoming the second empress despite being the original wife came about.”

Zhu Gang smiled and said, “It is also recorded in history books that Queen Yin was dignified and virtuous when she was in power.

She doesn't like to talk or laugh, but has the beauty of a mother.

As a queen, she was respectful and frugal, and respected foreigners, so she was called a virtuous queen.

In the 7th year of Yongping, Yin Lihua died at the age of 60.

Liu Xiu gave her the posthumous title of Empress Guanglie, making her the first person in history to enjoy the posthumous title of Empress.

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't know what he was thinking, and suddenly said, "After my sister dies, I will give you a posthumous title. How about calling you 'Empress Xiaoci'?"

(End of this chapter)