Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 249 It's only lively with you guys around.
"It's snowing here in Hongwu too."

It rains every year.

"It seems that from the Yuan Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty, we were in the Little Ice Age."

"Did it last that long?"

"Yes, but it was most severe during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, with a major outbreak from the Wanli to the Chongzhen period. At other times, the situation was much better, with the temperature dropping by a few degrees. Unlike the period from the Wanli to the Chongzhen period, when there were blizzards even in summer."

Back at the underground palace of the Hongwu era, it was already December of the nineteenth year of Hongwu. Outside, the weather was freezing cold, and Zhu Yunfeng and Ji He couldn't help but sigh as they looked at the heavy snow.

Nanjing, located in the Jiangnan region, has a subtropical monsoon climate, so it doesn't really snow very often in winter in later generations.

Even when it snows, the amount is very small. Often, the people of Nanjing feel that the winter has passed by in the blink of an eye, and they don't feel the bitter cold of winter at all.

However, winters in Nanjing during the Ming Dynasty were different. During the Little Ice Age, even a temperature drop of only four or five degrees Celsius could make a difference between snowfall and no snowfall.

As Zhu Yunfeng and his group returned to the underground palace, they were immediately greeted by the cold air outside.

There was snow on the steps near the entrance to the underground palace.

However, it is clear that someone has been cleaning it regularly, so the entrance to the underground palace has not been frozen.

The group went up the stairs.

Sure enough, it was already a world of ice and snow outside. The square outside the Qianqing Palace was covered with a thick layer of snow, about ankle-deep, which made a "crunching" sound when stepped on.

The steps of the underground palace should have been scalded with boiling water, so that there is no thin layer of ice and people would not be able to slip.

However, the large steps connecting the outer square of Qianqing Palace to Qianqing Palace cannot be scalded with boiling water. Even if boiling water were used, it would freeze again in a short time with the snowfall, so it is covered with snow.

The group carefully stepped onto the marble platform. The guards at the entrance of the Qianqing Palace saw them emerge and mistook them for Ji He.

Just as he was about to pay his respects to the Duke of Chu, he looked closely and realized it was Old Zhu. He immediately knelt down on one knee and said, "Greetings, Your Majesty."

"Get up. Where are the Empress and the Crown Prince?"

Old Zhu asked.

"Your Majesty, the Empress should be in the inner palace, and the Crown Prince is handling state affairs in the Fengtian Hall."

"Ah."

Old Zhu nodded, then turned to the three children and said, "I'm going to the inner palace first. You all go and have a chat with the Crown Prince."

"okay."

The three little ones agreed.

Old Zhu then entered the Qianqing Palace, and went through the palace path on the right. He could go all the way to the rear hall of the Qianqing Palace, and then through the palace path to the Jiaotai Hall, and then directly to the Kunning Palace.

Watching Old Zhu leave, Zhu Yunfeng said to Ji He, "Do you think Old Zhu will be able to return to Qianqing Palace today after his trip to the inner palace?"

"That's hard to say. Our ancestors must have been feeling really stifled for the past six months."

"That's true, there are so many concubines in the harem waiting for him."

"Ah, being an emperor is so great, with three palaces, six courtyards, and seventy-two concubines."

"You can do it too, Chisang. Just take more concubines here in the Ming Dynasty. And I heard you've been flirting with Zou Ting lately?"

"Where did you hear this rumor? Don't talk nonsense, or I'll sue you for spreading rumors."

"I understand, it seems to be true."

"Hey, are you two pretending I don't exist? You're cricketing my dad in front of me?"

Seeing the two of them whispering to each other, Zhu Di put his hands on his hips and said unhappily.

"You son of a bitch, did you cricket your father less than us back then?"

Zhu Yunfeng gave him the middle finger.

Zhu Di had long been led astray by them, and they had been spreading rumors about him behind his back.

"Yes, I have a recording. Do you want to play it for your dad?"

Jihe pulled out his phone and gave a helpful assist.

Zhu Di was dumbfounded, then angrily said, "Zhuo, I'm on the same page with you two, and you're trying to play tricks on me?"

Zhu Yunfeng chuckled and said, "Being brothers is all about what's in your heart. What good brother doesn't have a few embarrassing photos or a dark history? Let's go find Grandpa Taibo."

As they spoke, they shoved Zhu Di out of the Qianqing Palace.

Their Mercedes-Benz G-Class was parked in the square. After such a long trip to Chongzhen, almost a year, the battery of the G-Class must have been dead by now, and it wouldn't start.

However, Ji He would occasionally return to Hongwu, and each time he would start both cars and drive them around to charge them, so there was no problem with that.

They first cleared the snow off the windshield, then got back in the car to warm it up, and drove straight to Fengtian Hall.

Through the window, Zhu Yunfeng saw that the palace architecture of the Forbidden City in Nanjing during the Hongwu reign had not changed much, and still maintained its solemn and dignified style.

However, wires have now been erected over the glazed tiles on the palace walls, and electrical wires are placed on the wires to keep the entire palace powered.

Light bulbs were also hung under the eaves of each palace, so that the palace would be brightly lit at night.

The situation outside the palace was even more remarkable.

Although Zhu Biao had already designated the area within two li of the palace as a restricted zone and built wide roads, prohibiting real estate development in the surrounding area.

But skyscrapers have been built in more distant places.

Many of the wooden houses in the city have been demolished and replaced with concrete houses, and not just single-story concrete houses, but multi-story buildings.

Clearly, cement plants, brick factories, and steel plants have already been put into operation on a large scale.

The blueprints, technology, and equipment all originated from modern times. With electricity, they could even directly obtain modern equipment such as cranes, elevators, cement mixers, and bulldozers for their operations.

The only thing lacking might be skilled workers, but these skills can be learned through instructional videos.

Secondly, the Ming Dynasty has no shortage of manpower and resources, and can conduct continuous research and experimentation in the suburbs, carry out production and construction outside the city, and continue until the houses pass inspection and a group of skilled technical workers are trained.

After all, when a large number of migrant workers entered the city in the new era, they actually had no construction experience. It was only after decades of exploration that we have the large number of high-rise buildings that have sprung up since the millennium.

Looking at the high-rise buildings in the city, some even more than ten stories high, all equipped with elevators, Zhu Yunfeng couldn't help but admire Zhu Biao's foresight.

They initially seized his land as state-owned and carried out urban planning, which has already yielded initial results. Now they are carrying out large-scale demolition and construction.

Urbanization-scale transformation is now underway in the city.

Compared to the large amount of compensation needed for demolition in later generations, Zhu Biao had already made plans for the situation in Nanjing during the early Hongwu period, where there were few local residents and a lot of wasteland.

This meant that he had almost no cost to reclaim the land, and after the buildings were completed, he would probably make a fortune just by selling the residential and commercial areas. It is likely that the development of Nanjing land alone would make the Ming Dynasty's finances prosperous year after year.

The car soon arrived outside the Fengtian Hall.

The roar of the car engine interrupted Zhu Biao's meeting in the palace with many scholars from the cabinet, ministers of various departments, and heads of the three ministries.

Contrary to the imagined scenario where Zhu Biao sat on the dragon throne while ministers such as Qian Tang, Xue Xiang, Shao Zhi, Song Ne, Wu Chen, Wu Bozong, Liu Song, Han Yike, Xie Si, Zheng Jiucheng, Xu Duo, and Zeng Bingzheng stood and held a meeting, the reality was quite different.

Tables and chairs were arranged on both sides of the main hall. The Grand Secretaries of the Cabinet, the Ministers of the various ministries, and the heads of the Three Departments sat in two rows, with official documents in front of them. Ru Taisu, the head of the Finance Department, was presenting his report to Zhu Biao.

This department was separated from the Household Department, emulating the Northern Song Dynasty's practice of separating finances. In this way, Zhu Biao held the reins of finance and controlled the flow of every penny of the court's money, ensuring that every penny was spent wisely.

In fact, Zhu Biao did just that.

It was the end of the year, and during the annual summary, the fiscal surplus had reached more than 80 million silver dollars, equivalent to more than 80 million taels of silver, something that the Ming Dynasty could not have imagined before.

The car engine stopped, and Zhu Biao guessed that Zhu Yunfeng had returned, because Ji He would not come over without permission, only Zhu Yunfeng did so without any scruples.

So he stood up and said, "Let's end the meeting here for today. You should all return to your respective offices and recalculate the data. Once you've confirmed that everything is correct, we'll hold court again tomorrow to present our reports."

"Yes."

Everyone stood up one after another.

In fact, these data have been checked countless times by various departments. After all, when compiling statistics in various dynasties, even if there were errors, the most severe punishment was simply losing one's official position.

In the Hongwu reign, that meant losing your head.

The Crown Prince personally handled the Hu Weiyong case, and thousands of lives were lost at his hands. Who would dare to be careless?

However, since the Crown Prince said so, everyone naturally went back to check again.

It's simply a matter of having subordinates handle it. They are the bigwigs in their respective departments, and it's impossible for them to personally go over the accounts one by one to check the data.

As everyone left Fengtian Hall, they happened to run into the three little ones coming up. They bowed and greeted them, saying, "Greetings, Your Highness Prince Yan, Your Highness Prince Wu, and Duke of Chu."

"Hello, hello."

Seeing that they were all familiar faces, Zhu Yunfeng was filled with emotion, realizing that they hadn't been beheaded by the Crown Prince all these years. He said, "You've all worked hard for the Crown Prince. It's not easy to be alive."

"???"

Many ministers from this period in history, whose graves were overgrown with weeds due to the Hu Weiyong case, the Guo Heng case, and the Empty Seal case, were completely baffled.

But they had long known that Zhu Yunfeng, the Prince of Wu, was always eccentric and unrestrained in his actions, so they were not surprised and bowed, saying, "Your subjects take their leave."

"go Go."

Zhu Yunfeng waved his hand and stepped into the Fengtian Hall.

Zhu Biao was sitting on a chair in the hall, with only Du Andao, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Seal, beside him.

Seeing the three enter, he suppressed his joy and smiled, saying, "You're back?"

"Big brother."

Zhu Di rushed over and plopped down in the chair next to him, saying, "I'm exhausted."

"You go out first."

Zhu Biao waved to Du Andao.

"Yes, I will retire."

Du Andao walked backwards out the door.

"Great-Grandfather."

Zhu Yunfeng also walked over and plopped down next to him, saying, "I'm exhausted too."

"Hard."

Zhu Biao smiled and said, "Now that you're back, how did things go?"

"Then everything must be taken care of."

Zhu Yunfeng gestured exaggeratedly, "You didn't see it. When our ancestor went to the late Ming Dynasty, he never stopped fighting. He fought all the way from Nanjing to Beijing, back and forth for three days and three nights. Blood flowed like rivers. But our ancestor just kept wielding his knife without blinking an eye."

Zhu Di asked curiously, "Won't your eyes get dry after cutting for three days and three nights?"

"Go to hell! I'm saying here that our ancestors were ruthless and killed without blinking an eye, what are you doing making that joke?"

Zhu Yunfeng nudged Zhu Di.

"My uncle? You'd better think this through. My uncle is my father's older brother. What if my father finds out about this?"

Zhu Di chuckled.

Ji He silently turned on the recording, and Zhu Di's drunken voice came through: "What is my father? I'm far away from the emperor here now, how can he control me? Keep playing the music, keep dancing. Come on, have a drink."

"What? When did you record this? When we went to karaoke two years ago? Are you even human?"

Zhu Di was shocked and immediately snatched the phone away.

Ji He chuckled and said, "Go ahead and grab whatever you want, I have plenty on my cloud drive."

"you"

Zhu Di was just about to pounce on Zhu Yunfeng and Ji He and teach them a lesson.

"Fourth brother, you've gotten quite bold."

He heard Zhu Biao's voice from behind. Turning around, he saw Zhu Biao looking at him with a half-smile and saying, "How dare you be so disrespectful to your father."

Zhu Di gave a smile that looked more like a grimace and said, "Brother, this isn't real, it's all fake, it's AI-generated."

As he spoke, he glared at Zhu Yunfeng and Ji He and said, "You two have a limit to your jokes, don't go too far."

"Oh, what's there to be afraid of?"

Zhu Yunfeng said cheerfully, "We must dare to challenge the old system and break the shackles of feudalism. We should respect our ancestors, but not obey them in everything. Times are changing, and traditional thinking must also change. Are our ancestors always right?"

"Okay, delete it."

Zhu Biao waved his hand and said, "The traditional ideas must change, but the basic respect that should be maintained must be maintained. We can't be disrespectful. You have been too presumptuous these past few years. You should restrain yourselves."

Zhu Yunfeng was taken aback, but upon closer inspection, it seemed to make sense.

Over the years, he has indeed been somewhat disrespectful to Zhu Yuanzhang and the others. Although Zhu and the others did not hold it against him, it is still necessary to respect one's ancestors, and he has become somewhat arrogant.

"Deleted, deleted."

While instructing Ji He, Zhu Yunfeng also quickly took out his phone and deleted the videos and audio recordings he had taken of Zhu Di.

"its not right."

After deleting it, Ji He suddenly realized and said, "We occasionally talk about our ancestors behind their backs, but we have never disrespected them. At most, we say that they are old-fashioned or have a feudal patriarchal style, but we have never cursed them behind their backs. Those were just things that the fourth brother said when he was drunk. It has nothing to do with us."

"Yeah, damn it, these are all the fourth brother's dark history. Why should we delete them? Grandfather, you set us up."

Zhu Yunfeng also realized what was happening.

It's true that they occasionally gossip about Lao Zhu behind his back, but they always manage to keep things in line.

I've never called Zhu De an old codger or anything like that. At most, I've said that he has a bad temper, or that his messy policies have brought disaster to the country and its people.

The one who truly spoke ill of Zhu Ming was Zhu Di.

Like Zhu Shuang and his ilk, they were subjected to high-pressure education by Zhu Yuanzhang for many years, and once they arrived in their fiefdoms, they unleashed their true nature and acted recklessly.

Back when the fourth son was living a carefree life in modern times, following Zhu Yunfeng and Ji He everywhere, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't control him anymore, and he, like Zhu Shuang and the others, let his true nature shine through.

He would often curse his father for being inhuman, saying that his father had subjected them to military-style management when they were young and even beat them frequently, making their childhood miserable.

This part was recorded by Zhu Yunfeng and his team as part of their embarrassing history.

After all, what good brothers don't have embarrassing photos or videos of themselves behaving inappropriately while drunk?

But it was all done by the fourth brother; it had nothing to do with them.

"Hey Hey."

Zhu Di chuckled and rubbed his hands together, saying, "You've got nothing to threaten me with now, huh? Watch me beat you up."

Having said that, he leaped forward.

Zhu Yunfeng dodged away in a flash, shouting, "Chi Sang, hold on!"

Although Ji He had lost a lot of weight, he was still fat. He couldn't dodge in time and was caught by Zhu Di and pinned down. He took several punches to the waist and shouted, "Damn it, Fengzi, you're not loyal!"

Chaos erupted inside the hall.

Zhu Biao smiled but remained silent.

It had been a very long time since Zhu Yunfeng and the others left that the palace had been this lively.

(End of this chapter)