My father Yongle, building a five-good family

Chapter 148 Geng Bingwen's Direct Advice

When Prince of Yan attacked Zunhua and Miyun, the imperial court was too far away to receive the secret report in time.

But on the other hand, Prince Ning, who was staying in Daning City, received the secret report early because the distance was not far.

Prince Ning frowned and looked at the words in the official newspaper. For a long time, he was unable to come back to his senses.

Prince Yan... rebelled!
Although he had such a premonition before, when the moment finally came, King Ning still found it a little hard to believe.

At this moment, he was even more confused.

Prince Ning was the seventeenth son of the late emperor. Although his mother was of low status, she was "tall and handsome, and wise and resourceful". Even the late emperor was somewhat fond of this son.

When Prince Ning was enfeoffed in Daning, the relationship between Prince Ning and his brother Prince Yan was quite good, one could even say that "Ning and Yan get along well with each other."

Since he was naturally standing on the side of Prince Yan, when Prince Ning saw Prince Yan's efforts to quell the rebellion, he could not help but feel a sense of grief for the other party.

Now that the Prince of Yan is like this, if he is defeated...what will be the fate of these vassal kings?

Without much thought, Prince Ning knew that if Zhu Yunwen really took action, he would either rebel or be imprisoned in the house in Yingtian Prefecture for the rest of his life like Zhu Gui, never seeing the sun all year round.

Even because Prince Ning has the Three Guards of Doyan under his command, his fate may not be as bad as Zhu Gui's...

When he thought of this, King Ning couldn't help but frowning even tighter, so that a deep "川" character mark formed between his eyebrows.

……

the other side.

Ying Tianfu.

With Zhu Yunwen's approval, the two tasks of reforming the system and reducing the power of the feudal lords were carried out in full swing.

As the person in charge of the reform, Fang Xiaoru has become a thorn in the eyes of the nobles in Yingtian Prefecture in recent days.

You, Fang Xiaoru, have three things to do as a new official. You can do whatever you want. But why do you have to direct this fire at the nobles?
The most important thing is that after stepping on the nobles, they also have to praise the civil servants highly.

On the way to the morning court, Zhang Mingcheng, a descendant of Duke Cai, frowned and muttered to his colleagues beside him.

"I've been feeling a little uneasy lately. Our new ruler seems to be a little too hasty in his actions."

"Right now, we are reducing the power of the vassal states and suppressing the nobles. But if spring comes and the Tartars attack us, and all the vassal states in the north are gone, who will deal with it? Should we let the vassal states who have been demoted to commoners go, or should we let the suppressed military generals go?"

Standing next to Zhang Mingcheng was Hu Jicheng, Marquis of Dongchuan. Hu Jicheng’s father was Hu Deji.

This name may be unfamiliar to most people, but if we trace it back further, the name Hu Dahai can be said to be ranked high in the list of meritorious officials in the early Ming Dynasty.

As Hu Dahai's nephew, Hu Deji naturally inherited Hu Dahai's title of Duke of Yue, but now, Hu Deji has already passed away due to illness.

As for Hu Dahai's sons, some of them died in the battlefield, and the only surviving eldest son was a reckless person.

The eldest son was executed by Zhu Yuanzhang for violating the ban on alcohol.

It was for this reason that the title fell on Hu Deji.

At this moment, Hu Jicheng listened to the words of the son of Duke Cai beside him, and his nerves suddenly tensed up. He looked around like a guilty thief, and then he spoke:

"You really dare to say anything! If others hear this..."

Zhang Mingcheng was also furious, but at least he still remembered where he was, and lowered his voice a little, but he still felt depressed:

"You don't know, my heart is always beating fast. The Tatars just came south not long ago, and now Fang Xiaoru and his scholars have caused dissension between the emperor and his ministers. I was thinking, after the morning court session is over, why not go visit the Duke of Wei..."

Hu Jicheng and Zhang Mingcheng walked towards the direction of Fengtian Gate while talking in low voices.

But when they were halfway there, they suddenly stopped and their eyes were fixed on Geng Bingwen not far ahead.

Although Geng Bingwen is old, perhaps because he is a military general, he still walks with a sonorous air.

At the moment, his expression was solemn, and seemed a little different from his usual appearance...

Hu Jicheng and Zhang Mingcheng looked at each other and saw a hint of doubt in each other's eyes.

The situation of Marquis Changxing... could something have happened?

Early morning today.

The civil servants in the camps of Huang Zicheng, Fang Xiaoru, Qi Tai and others kept talking about the so-called reduction of the power of the feudal lords and reform of the system.

If looks could kill, these people led by Fang Xiaoru, especially Fang Xiaoru himself, would have been tortured to death eight hundred times by the eyes of the nobles.

After hearing about the so-called "cutting down of vassal states" and the topic of "Dai Wang Zhu Gui" again, Geng Bingwen finally stood up:
"Your Majesty, I have this memorial."

During these days, the task of reducing the power of the princes was going quite smoothly for Emperor Zhu Yunwen.

Zhu Gui was just a fool who only knew how to eat, drink and have fun. Li Jinglong just went to Datong in the name of "patrolling the border" and easily captured Zhu Gui.

As for the reform on the other side, although there was some turmoil in the court, Zhu Yunwen did not feel insecure.

As the saying goes, the ruler is the ruler, the minister is the minister, the father is the father, the son is the son.

In Confucianism, the most important thing for a subject is loyalty.

As the highest level of the ruling class, the monarch has absolute ruling power.

If a minister and the emperor arm wrestle, is it possible for him to beat the emperor?
Not to mention that Zhu Yunwen now has his own advisers, as well as Mei Yin and others who were entrusted by his grandfather the emperor.

In fact, Geng Bingwen can be considered a loyal old minister...

Thinking of this, Zhu Yunwen's attitude became more gentle: "Marquis Changxing, please feel free to speak."

"All the kings are Taizu's biological sons, and all the ministers are Taizu's close ministers. Your Majesty is now reducing the power of the vassal states and reforming the system. Do you want to turn the world that Taizu once conquered into a slaughterhouse and slaughter us, the noble and old ministers, like pigs and dogs?"

Geng Bingwen's voice was not very loud, but it was loud enough for everyone inside Fengtian Gate to hear clearly.

Even after Geng Bingwen finished speaking, the place was still dead silent.

It was not until a moment later that Zhu Yunwen reacted and his whole face turned purple like pig liver.

Geng Bingwen was once a staunch royalist.

Even when his father passed away and his grandfather the emperor wanted to make Zhu Di the crown prince, Geng Bingwen did not change his position.

But right now... Zhu Yunwen had just sat on the throne, but Geng Bingwen said such heart-breaking words as "Taizu's empire is turned into a killing field" and "Old ministers are slaughtered like pigs and dogs."

For Zhu Yunwen, this was like a big slap in the face.

He raised his hand as if he wanted to smash something, but there was nothing around to smash.

In a rage, Zhu Yunwen snatched the whisk from the eunuch beside him and threw it forward.

As luck would have it, the whisk fell on Geng Bingwen's head.

There was only a muffled "bang" sound, and a faint stream of bright red blood slowly flowed down from his head.

This time, everyone was shocked.

If it was Zhu Yuanzhang who did this at this moment, everyone would not be so surprised, and might even feel a little relieved.

Fortunately, fortunately, it was just a hit on the head and some blood.

At least the head is still there.

But the one who did this right now was Zhu Yunwen...

This man has always been known for his magnanimity and kindness, but now with this blow, in the eyes of many civil and military officials, his so-called personality has basically collapsed by half.

Huang Zicheng and Qi Tai were extremely anxious and wanted to step forward and say something, but Zhu Yunwen was already very angry.

He propped his hands on his knees, panting heavily, looking at Geng Bingwen, and sneered several times:

"You regard ministers as pigs and dogs? Geng Bingwen, if I were really such a person, believe it or not, I would kill you first!"

After these words were spoken, Qi Tai and other close ministers were all stunned.

Geng Bingwen had already made plans for the worst-case scenario after saying this before he arrived.

But when I hear it now, I still can’t help but feel a little cold.

But on the surface, Geng Bingwen still looked calm.

"In the Tang Dynasty, there was Wei Zheng, who was very outspoken and made many direct and frank comments. His lifetime of admonitions amounted to 'hundreds of thousands of words'. In the Han Dynasty, there was Zheng Su, who made so many direct and frank comments that Emperor Ai could tell that he was Zheng Su just by walking in wearing leather boots."

"In addition, Zhu Yun's story of breaking the fence and crying for his loyal minister are both famous stories that will be passed down through the ages..."

Zhu Yunwen's face looked unhappy, and he said coldly:

"According to what Marquis Changxing said, if I don't accept your advice, I will be a tyrant and a weak ruler."

Geng Bingwen remained silent.

But in Zhu Yunwen's eyes, his behavior was actually a kind of silent consent.

Zhu Yunwen felt as if his heart was on fire, burning his chest and throat dry. He wanted to burst out with anger, but due to his image, he could not express it.

Finally, Zhu Yunwen set his sights on Geng Bingwen, looked at him deeply for several times, and then said:
"Marquis Changxing, you are old now. It is better not to worry about some things. Just enjoy your old age at home!"

After saying this, Zhu Yunwen waved his sleeves and left, returning to his original state of silence.

The people in Fengtian Gate were shocked when they saw this.

What did Emperor Jianwen mean by this?
Is Geng Bingwen old?

Enjoy your old age?

Huang Zicheng and Qi Tai looked at each other and saw bitter smiles and sighs in each other's eyes.

Your Majesty is still too young.

Since he ascended the throne, except for some so-called "grievances" he suffered before the death of the previous emperor, everything else can be said to be smooth sailing.

It was precisely because of the smooth sailing along the way that Zhu Yunwen did not make significant progress in his heart.

When it comes to so-called cunning, he can't even compare with those older uncle princes.

Not to mention comparing with King Yan.

If the Prince of Yan were here today, he would probably just laugh and ignore what Geng Bingwen said because of his status and ability.

After all... that was the old man left behind by the late emperor.

Zhu Yunwen was neither extremely cruel nor kind-hearted. His mediocre character would only do bad things sometimes!

The original classical Chinese text in Geng Bingwen's article was written after his defeat in history. Here, the plot requires it, so it is put in the front~
Six thousand words today, I feel much better, thank you for your concern, I still have a little cough, I took Tylenol and the headache is gone. I was still a little weak in the morning, but I went out for a walk and basked in the sun, and I was energetic in the evening.

See you all tomorrow!
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(End of this chapter)