Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 30: Negotiations with the Ming Dynasty

There is a saying that goes, on every page of history book we turn, there may be hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of people who are mentioned briefly.

Mr. Fang Jitang is not from Hunan, but from Nanjing, Jiangsu.

In 1937, the Nanjing Massacre took place. The old man was only 11 years old. He witnessed the Japanese invaders rampant and his parents and family members died in the war.

His mother put him in a large wooden basin and pushed him into the Qinhuai River. He hid in the basin and went north along the river, then flowed into the Yangtze River and finally drifted to Lao Pukou.

During the evacuation of Nanjing, many soldiers had no boats to cross the river and had to use wooden planks to make rafts to cross the river. As a result, countless people drowned. It was a miracle that Mr. Fang, a child, managed to cross the river safely.

Later, Mr. Fang was adopted by an old soldier of the Kuomintang as his godson. He became a Kuomintang soldier in a daze. In 1943, when he was 17 years old, he fought in the Battle of West Hubei. In 44, he fought in the Fourth Battle of Changsha. He also killed several Japanese soldiers, which was considered revenge for his parents.

In 1949, Hunan was liberated and Mr. Fang's troops revolted. Since he had stayed in Hunan for some time and there was no one left in his hometown, he finally chose to settle down there, get married and have children. From then on, he lived in anonymity and stopped caring about worldly affairs.

It was not until more than ten years ago that the old man was designated as a target of targeted poverty alleviation by the local government, as he lost his son in his early years and his wife in his middle age, leaving him alone and helpless. Only then did he slowly uncover many past events.

Because of this, Mr. Fang was treated like a veteran of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. Not only did the Poverty Alleviation Office provide him with support, but the local government also visited him frequently to ensure that he had enough food and clothing.

Zhu Yunfeng had never met the old man, but their town was a red town, and it had produced a founding general and many patriotic patriots during the Republic of China period. Therefore, the town would erect a biography of the heroes who had resisted the Japanese invaders at the entrance of the town.

Old Man Fang was among them. He would see him every time he passed through the town. Therefore, although Zhu Yunfeng had never visited the old man, he was full of respect for him in his heart.

I didn’t expect that such a veteran of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and a survivor of the Nanjing Massacre would pass away today. It is also very touching.

A white light flickered, and Zhu Yunfeng's originally complicated mood slowly calmed down.

Zhu Biao came once in the morning and the two sides agreed on a time. It was his first time traveling through time and space. He felt a little dizzy, and then his eyes flashed and he appeared in another place.

This is the underground palace built by Zhu Yuanzhang. Lanterns on both sides are lit, illuminating the entire palace.

Although the underground palace is not large, it is decorated quite exquisitely, giving Zhu Yunfeng a sense of the beauty of a lower tomb chamber.

He raised his head and saw that the underground palace was about five or six meters away from the stone tablet. Zhu Biao was sitting quietly in a chair reading a book.

As if he had sensed the person coming, he looked up and saw Zhu Yunfeng, and a strange expression suddenly appeared on his face - after all, Zhu Yunfeng was now fully armed, with a bow on his back, a chainsaw in his hand, a helmet and a tactical vest on his body, and he looked very defensive.

"Zhu Yunfeng?"

Zhu Biao asked tentatively. He couldn't see Zhu Yunfeng's face clearly because of the mask he was wearing. If he hadn't been sure that no one else could use the stone tablet, and considering their similar body shapes, he would have even suspected that Zhu Yunfeng had been exposed.

Zhu Yunfeng nodded and said, "It's me."

"What are you doing?"

Zhu Biao looked him up and down and thought that the heavily armored soldiers in the army were probably no more than this.

"Isn't it winter recently? It's cold in the mountains and it might snow soon, so it's reasonable for me to wear something thicker."

Zhu Yunfeng patted the tactical vest on his chest.

Tactical vests are actually not worth much. A good tactical vest only costs two or three hundred yuan. The most important thing is that you have to wear a stab-proof jacket and stab-proof pants inside, and then put on long clothes and autumn clothes, so the body looks bloated.

"Yes, it's snowing in the north now. People are having a hard time this winter. Is this what you have in your hand?"

Zhu Biao had no doubts. After all, what Zhu Yunfeng was wearing was a bit thick, but it was not steel armor. Only the electric saw in his hand and the sharp chain looked very lethal, which made him full of doubts.

Are you sure this is something you can bring when you visit?

At this moment, Zhu Di also teleported over, and his shadow quickly solidified. Zhu Yunfeng turned his head to look at him and said, "As I said to the Second Ancestor before, I am a farmer, and it is reasonable for me to carry a chainsaw with me."

"Brother, this guy is just afraid that Dad will harm him. I am also a warrior who has been in the army all my life. Later, I also conquered the Northern Yuan Dynasty many times. How could I give birth to such a cowardly descendant?"

As soon as Zhu Di returned to the Ming Dynasty, the confidence that he had lost in the modern times suddenly reappeared, and he spoke sarcastically.

He really had to be very careful in the modern era, not daring to offend Zhu Yunfeng, for fear that something unexpected would happen and he would be unable to return to the modern era and would have to rely on Zhu Yunfeng for food.

But things were different after he returned to the Ming Dynasty. He was the high and mighty Prince of Yan and the fourth son of the Ming Emperor. Naturally, his heart was filled with pride.

Zhu Yunfeng raised his hand and said, "Grandpa Biao, I want to report that after the Second Ancestor drove your son Zhu Yunwen off the throne, he also revoked the throne that Zhu Yunwen had posthumously bestowed on you, and also demoted your other sons to commoners and imprisoned them."

Damn it!
Zhu Di couldn't hold it in any longer, his eyes widened, and he couldn't help but step forward and hold Zhu Yunfeng's shoulders to hit him: "Zhu Yunfeng, I'm going to fuck your grandmother!"

"Humph!"

Zhu Biao snorted coldly, and the temperature in the underground palace seemed to drop by several degrees.

"Brother, don't listen to this kid's nonsense."

Zhu Di shrank his neck, he was full of fear of his elder brother.

"Well, don't let future generations laugh at you."

Zhu Biao swung his sleeves and said, "Yunfeng, follow me."

After saying that, he took the lead and stepped onto the stairs.

Zhu Yunfeng turned his head and looked at Zhu Di with a smug smile.

My ancestor still wants to control me after arriving in the Ming Dynasty?

That's too fantastic.

I have so much dirty secrets about you, don't you have any idea?

"You are really not worthy of being a descendant of a human being."

Zhu Di came over and twisted Zhu Yunfeng's lower back to strangle him, but found that he couldn't do it at all. His tactical vest was tied stiffly, and he couldn't help but grin and said, "I really doubt whether you are my great ...

"Second Ancestor, please don't blame me. It will be very difficult for you to become an emperor in the future, but I have found a way out for you. We have to stand on the same front. How can you be so tactful? Who is your grandson?"

"What do you mean by turning your elbow outward? You don't even know how many generations of my descendants you are. One of you is my biological father, and the other is my biological elder brother. Who do you think is the outsider?"

"Then when you rebelled against your nephew, revoked your elder brother's posthumous honor, and wrote a short essay to discredit your elder brother, why didn't you think that he was your biological elder brother?"

"Humph, who knows whether what you said is true or not? Even if it is true, that is a matter for the future. My eldest brother will always be my eldest brother."

"Okay, okay, I'm an outsider, okay."

Zhu Yunfeng and Zhu Di were arguing in low voices, and while they were talking they walked out of the underground palace and came to the outside.

As soon as I came out, the first thing that greeted me was the howling cold north wind.

The wind at the top of Shangfeng Mountain is stronger and colder than this. In previous years, there was often no snow at the foot of the mountain, but the top of the mountain was already covered with white snow and frozen everywhere.

But the wind on Shangfeng Mountain is not as open as this wind.

The rolling hills and dense jungles in the mountains make the cold wind as strong as an arrow, which can almost make a person's bones fall apart.

The wind here was particularly strong, like surging waves, giving people a feeling of overwhelming power. Zhu Yunfeng narrowed his eyes and looked around.

It was dusk in the afternoon, just before nightfall, and the sky was a little gloomy with fog, leaving only a brilliant sunset glow in the west.

He was in a huge square paved with stone bricks that extended all the way south.

The autumn wind was bleak and the surroundings were extremely empty, except for a small platform made of white marble on the north side. The railings around the platform were carved with dragons and phoenixes like those in the Forbidden City in Beijing. Going down the stairs from the platform, there was a palace gate about a hundred meters to the south.

Above the platform, one could vaguely see the majestic glazed tile roof of the palace and the flying eaves of the four corners. Although it was evening and the light was dim, it was still solemn and luxurious.

'Is this the Ming Palace?'

Looking at this huge palace at first glance, Zhu Yunfeng couldn't help but feel a sense of solemnity in his heart.

This is a sentiment that cannot be felt in the Forbidden City in modern Beijing.

Because the Forbidden City has now become a famous scenic spot, Chinese and foreign tourists can enter and exit freely, and the royal family and palace are no longer there.

The current Nanjing Palace Museum is a genuine imperial palace of the Ming Dynasty. Even though there are no sentries every three steps or five steps around it and it is heavily guarded everywhere, the towering walls and the ancient people around it all indicate one thing - this is ancient times!

"Yunfeng, how is it?"

Zhu Biao stood beside him and said to him with a smile: "Is our Ming Dynasty majestic?"

"Well, it's really impressive."

The solemnity that arose in Zhu Yunfeng's heart quickly faded away, replaced by a sense of pride.

So what if it was a feudal dynasty?

In the eyes of modern people who are well-informed, it is nothing more than a bigger cage.

No matter how brilliant the ancient civilization was, compared with the New China period led by great men, it was ultimately just a flash in the pan. Compared with today, the gap is far greater than that.
Therefore, it is precisely because we have seen the brilliance of ancient civilization that we can realize how hard it is to have today, and we no longer have any fear of the ancient times in our hearts.

"Let's go. I'll take you to the Palace of Heavenly Purity."

Zhu Biao walked in front.

Zhu Yunfeng followed behind him and looked around.

Because the underground palace involved confidential information, Zhu Yuanzhang had dismissed everyone.

So when he got on the white marble platform, the surroundings were empty and there was no one in sight.

A huge palace appeared in front of them. Zhu Biao introduced it, "This is my father's bedroom, the Palace of Heavenly Purity."

As he said this, he took Zhu Yunfeng into the palace.

The first thing that catches the eye is a hall similar to the one used for morning court sessions. There is spacious space on both sides, which can accommodate at least twenty or thirty civil and military officials standing.

Opposite the main gate of the hall there is a high platform with a golden dragon throne placed on it. There are screens on both sides and a side door for entry and exit.

Zhu Yunfeng looked at the magnificent palace curiously and said, "This must be the Golden Throne Hall."

"What throne room?"

Zhu Biao was puzzled.

"It's a customary name. The official name should be the Hall of Supreme Harmony. It seems to be the place where the emperor holds court in the morning."

Zhu Yunfeng said casually.

"Attending the morning court?"

Zhu Biao was even more puzzled and said, "Father did not hold the morning court in the Qianqing Palace, nor in the Taihe Hall, but at the Fengtian Gate."

Zhu Yunfeng thought for a moment and said, "I remember now. The Hall of Supreme Harmony is the renamed Hall of Heaven, and the Gate of Supreme Harmony should be the Gate of Heaven."

"If that's the case, then you should be talking about Fengtian Palace. However, my father doesn't hold court in the palace because it's too narrow."

As Zhu Biao spoke, he pointed to the south outside the palace and said, "The Fengtian Palace is inside the Fengtian Gate. When you come out of the Fengtian Palace, you will see the Fengtian Gate."

"Uh, I'm ignorant."

Zhu Yunfeng scratched his head.

Since he does not write historical novels about the Ming Dynasty, he only knows the history of the Ming Dynasty but does not know much about the details.

After all, checking these details will not be of much significance to your writing of the novel about the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms, so you did not study the specific architectural data, but ended up making a joke.

In fact, all fourteen emperors of the Ming Dynasty used the Qianqing Palace as their sleeping palace, including Shunzhi and Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty. It was not until the Yongzheng period that the sleeping palace was moved to the Yangxin Palace, which ended the political significance of the Qianqing Palace.

But this place is not just the emperor's bedroom. In front of the Qianqing Palace is a large hall that can accommodate senior officials above the rank of minister of six ministries for small morning court sessions. There are side halls and warm rooms on the left and right sides, and the back hall is the bedroom, study, and passageway.

The Golden Throne Hall, also known as the Hall of Supreme Harmony, is actually the place where grand events are held.

For example, sacrifices, the emperor's enthronement, the emperor's wedding, the empress's appointment, the ordering of generals to go to war, etc. In addition, the emperor accepted congratulations from civil and military officials on the three major festivals of the Emperor's Birthday, New Year's Day, and Winter Solstice every year.

The Fengtian Gate outside the Fengtian Hall is where Zhu Yuanzhang held early morning court sessions. He was basically the only one who was so diligent and conscientious that he had been tormenting officials of all ranks in the capital city for decades, and had hundreds of middle and high-level officials come to meetings at four or five o'clock in the morning every day, rain or shine.

After the meeting, Zhu Yuanzhang would continue to summon senior officials to the Qianqing Palace for another small meeting.

Basically, Fengtian Gate is where Zhu Yuanzhang understands what is happening all over the country, while the Qianqing Palace Hall is where major policy decisions are made. Both places are important hubs for Zhu Yuanzhang to firmly control the power of the Ming Dynasty, and neither is dispensable.

"Come this way."

Zhu Biao took Zhu Yunfeng in through the side door to the right of the dragon throne.

On the right hand side of the entrance and on the left hand side of the dragon throne was Zhu Yuanzhang's bedroom, and on the left hand side of the entrance and on the right hand side of the dragon throne was the west side hall.

Passing through the west side hall is the west warm pavilion, and then the study.

However, Zhu Biao did not take Zhu Yunfeng to the study, but to the west warm pavilion, which was also where the emperor rested and occasionally summoned his ministers.

This has been shown in many TV dramas from the Ming and Qing dynasties in later generations. The warm room is not big, estimated to be only about ten square meters. It is on the left side of the entrance, and there is a bed similar to a kang against the wall.

The bed was covered with a fur blanket and feather-filled pillows, sewn with gold thread and silk, and was very luxurious. There was a coffee table in the middle, and if all the utensils were not made of precious materials, the whole situation would look like a Northeast kang.

Going straight after the entrance is a corridor separated by a bead curtain. Looking along the curtain, you can vaguely see that the room is full of bookshelves. There is a table near the bookshelf, and there seems to be a hazy figure sitting behind the table.

Obviously.

This negotiation will be held by Zhu Biao and Zhu Yunfeng in the West Warm Pavilion, and in the study room just separated from the West Warm Pavilion by a wall, there is naturally another pair of ears listening to their voices!

(End of this chapter)