Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 39 When in doubt, ask Yunfeng

After watching Zhu Yunfeng and Zhu Di leave, Zhu Biao did not choose to return to his Chengqian Palace, but turned from Jingyang Palace to Jiaotai Hall behind the Qianqing Palace.

Then he walked along the palace road from Jiaotai Hall and entered Zhu Yuanzhang's study from the back hall of Qianqing Palace.

Zhu Yuanzhang had just returned from the front hall and saw Zhu Biao already sitting on the chair in front of his study. He did not say anything and went back to sit at his desk.

"Father."

After Zhu Yuanzhang sat down, Zhu Biao said, "They have already gone back."

"Ah."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said, "What do you think?"

"Modern people really don't have much respect for our ancients. Yunfeng, that kid, even sat on his father's throne."

Zhu Biao said with a smile.

"These are all external things. The real thing is to ensure the stability of our Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't care.

If a minister wanted to sit on his throne, his entire clan would be in danger.

But Zhu Yunfeng didn't care.

Because Zhu Yunfeng is not a person of this era. He has no influence and no large army. His rule cannot be shaken, so naturally he is not a threat.

So it is better to do him a favor and fulfill his little wish. This is something a wise emperor can understand clearly.

Zhu Yuanzhang continued, "What I'm asking is how much do you think Yunfeng's words can be trusted?"

"100 percent. I don't think he's lying."

Zhu Biao probably guessed what Zhu Yuanzhang was thinking.

After all, Zhu Yuanzhang had already implemented many of the systems that Zhu Yunfeng mentioned. But when someone told him that these were policies that would lead to the country's destruction, he certainly felt uncomfortable.

"But I, your father, am unwilling to accept this. Besides, whatever he says is the truth. I don't believe it unless I see it with my own eyes."

Zhu Yuanzhang looked sullen. He was a man who cared about his reputation. So many of the policies he had formulated were criticized by Zhu Yunfeng as useless, so he was naturally very annoyed.

"In that case, why not go and take a look? At the beginning, I also hoped that my father would know more about the situation there, such as the prices, and their historical records of the Ming Dynasty, which could also be used as a reference."

Zhu Biao said.

He didn't know what practice was the only criterion for testing truth, but he was very clear that what his father said was right and that he couldn't just assume that whatever Zhu Yunfeng said was the truth.

In this way, the right to speak is completely in Zhu Yunfeng's hands.

So they must go there often to see the world and broaden their knowledge.

Even learning something new is good.

Otherwise, if Zhu Yunfeng said a few modern terms, they would just look at each other like fools. Wouldn't that be embarrassing?

"This is inevitable. I have already told your fourth brother to come pick me up tomorrow."

Zhu Yuanzhang said.

He had actually asked to read the History of Ming Dynasty before, but Zhu Yunfeng said that he did not have it and needed to buy it online, which would take time to deliver.

However, there is a history of Ming Dynasty available on the computer, but the computer cannot be operated, and Zhu Yuanzhang has to return to the Ming Dynasty to sit in the court.

After that, we discussed cooperation together. It was not appropriate to make any demands before the discussion was completed.

That's different now.

Now that the basis for cooperation has been established, it is natural to visit the modern world and learn about the modern world and history.

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned again and said, "But we can't neglect the affairs of state. Starting tomorrow, you will supervise the country as the crown prince and handle state affairs for your father. If they ask, just say I'm sick. When I come back in the evening, you can give me the memorials you approved today, and you can go there again the day after tomorrow. We, father and son, will take turns to go to the future to learn new things."

"Yes, father."

Zhu Biao bowed seriously. He was quite good at being the regent. After all, Zhu Yuanzhang often gave him memorials to review in order to train him.

It's just that he doesn't have the final say.

He would often review memorials and confirm his opinions, and then hand them over to Zhu Yuanzhang, who would change them beyond recognition.

So in the past this method was still relatively formal.

Although it is now a formality, after approving the memorial, one still has to wait for Zhu Yuanzhang to come back in the afternoon and hand it to him, and the content of one's approval will be greatly revised.

But when Zhu Yuanzhang was away, he had the highest temporary decision-making power and the power to transfer personnel.

If you encounter an emergency, you may be able to make a decision.

Therefore, he is in power.

Zhu Yuanzhang was naturally aware of this, but there was nothing he could do about it.

The Ming Dynasty needs someone to guard it, and it is not reliable to just let Zhu Biao and Zhu Di go to study abroad in modern times. After all, he is the current emperor, and being an emperor also requires learning knowledge.

Therefore, he had no choice but to take turns being emperor with his son. If each of them studied for one day, the handling of state affairs would not be delayed.

"You go down first."

Zhu Yuanzhang said.

Zhu Biao was about to accept the offer when he suddenly noticed a list on the table and asked in surprise, "Father, what is this?"

"Well"

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and forgot to put the list away.

But you've seen it, so you've seen it.

Anyway, Zhu Biao also has to go to the future to learn knowledge, and Ming history must be a part of his studies. Besides, he has not made a complete decision yet.

"This is a list of descendants of those meritorious people who betrayed their masters for fame and fortune in the late Ming Dynasty. I originally wanted to kill their ancestors first to prevent such scum from coming out in the future and bringing disaster to our Ming Dynasty, but..."

Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head and said, "But Yunfeng said that this has nothing to do with them. The general trend is that even if their ancestors are killed, there will still be others who betray our Ming Dynasty. Therefore, as a father, I am thinking whether to do this."

As he spoke, his eyes slightly blank, he said: "They are all my brothers who fought with me to establish my kingdom. If we really have to kill them, I will always feel reluctant to do so, not to mention that some of them are descendants of Wen Zhong."

Zhu Yunfeng's list included not only those who were later conferred titles by Zhu Di after he quelled the rebellion, but also many descendants of founding heroes.

For example, the descendants of the old brother Xu Da, Xu Wenjue and Xu Yunzhen, the descendant of the nephew Li Wenzhong, Li Zushu, the descendant of Tang He, Tang Guozuo, and so on.

The rest are easier to deal with. Among these three, there are two good brothers and one nephew. It would be painful to kill any of them.

Therefore, although Zhu Yuanzhang obtained the list of nobles who surrendered to the Qing Dynasty and Li Zicheng in the late Ming Dynasty, he did not make up his mind to kill them, but repeatedly considered and thought about countermeasures.

Now that Zhu Biao asked, it was also a good idea to ask him for some advice.

But although it is just an opinion, it actually has a lot to do with the fact that he himself is reluctant to really kill.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang later started a massacre, it was partly because he wanted to maintain Zhu Yunwen's power and stabilize his country. Another part was that those nobles deserved to die.

Except for those nobles who were implicated in the Hu Weiyong and Lan Yu cases, the rest were caught by Zhu Yuanzhang for committing crimes themselves.

For example, Zhou Dexing's son committed adultery in the harem, Zhu Liangzu was corrupt and accepted bribes and arbitrarily beat and humiliated local officials, Hu Mei also committed adultery in the palace, and Liao Yongzhong usurped the throne and committed crimes. Basically, they all got what they deserved.

Therefore, when there was no need to kill people in large numbers to maintain his rule, Zhu Yuanzhang still had some affection for his old subordinates.

of course.

There is affection, but not much.

Once these old subordinates threatened the Ming Dynasty or stood in the way of Zhu Yuanzhang's centralization of power, Zhu Yuanzhang would kill even his nephew Li Wenzhong.

The most typical example is the Hu Weiyong case. Zhu Yuanzhang needed to deal with Hu Weiyong and many officials in the court to achieve his goal of centralization.

However, Li Wenzhong was very uneasy when he saw Zhu Yuanzhang killing many innocent people by taking advantage of the Hu Weiyong case, so he submitted three memorials to Zhu Yuanzhang, angering Zhu Yuanzhang and almost getting himself executed. However, there was no sign that his old subordinates were threatening his kingdom. The crown prince Zhu Biao was not dead, and Zhu Yunwen would not take the throne. Lan Yu was not arrogant and domineering, threatening the ruling status of the crown prince.

Therefore, it was actually unwise to start a massacre for no reason when the Ming Dynasty had just been established and the regime was not yet stable.

At least when Zhu Yuanzhang started the killing later, he first executed Hu Weiyong. Then, when his descendants and princes replaced the local nobles and took control of the military power, he slowly used Hu Weiyong as an excuse to launch a purge.

So we can see that Zhu Yuanzhang executed Hu Weiyong in the 13th year of Hongwu, but ten years later, in the 23rd year of Hongwu, he used the Hu Weiyong case as an excuse to kill a group of nobles.

Therefore, whether from a personal perspective or from the actual needs of the regime, it is not a good time to take action now, at least not a good time to start a massacre.

"Father, you must not do that!"

When Zhu Biao heard that Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to kill the nobles and ancestors who surrendered and betrayed the country in the late Ming Dynasty, he was shocked and said, "Yunfeng said that it was my father's wanton killing that led to the separation of the nobles and officials, making them feel that the Ming Dynasty had nothing to do with them, and even led to the rampant corruption in the later Ming Dynasty, and the officials sold out the country unscrupulously. Since we know this will happen later, why do we repeat the same mistakes?"

"Humph!"

Zhu Yuanzhang just snorted coldly and said nothing.

"Father."

Zhu Biao wanted to persuade him again.

"Okay, I see."

Zhu Yuanzhang said impatiently: "I didn't say I wanted to kill him. Let's discuss this matter later. I will consider this matter again after I go to the future to study history."

"Then I hope that father will fulfill his promise to Yunfeng. If you really want to kill him, please inform him and the child."

Zhu Biao knew clearly that it would be difficult for him to persuade Zhu Yuanzhang. He had long experienced Zhu Yuanzhang's stubbornness and willfulness, so he used Zhu Yunfeng as a banner and said, "I am afraid that if I don't tell him, I will anger Zhu Yunfeng and cut off the connection with the Ming Dynasty, which will affect the future of the Ming Dynasty..."

"."

Zhu Yuanzhang was silent for a moment, then shook his head and said, "I understand. I will agree to this. Since you are already involved in government affairs, let's talk about another matter. Do you remember the Jianzhou Jurchens?"

"remember."

Zhu Biao recalled that Zhu Yuanzhang had said he wanted to destroy the Jianzhou Jurchens, but as he had been regent for some time, he had not noticed that his father had mobilized the army.

"I learned that the Jiannu had taken over the Ming Dynasty, and I was furious. I wanted to send troops to slaughter them all, but I had no reason to do so. If I slaughtered them rashly, I was afraid that the surrounding vassal states would be frightened and fall into the arms of the remnant Yuan Dynasty, so I did not act immediately."

Zhu Yuanzhang pondered and said, "My son, do you think there is any way to find a reason to get rid of the Jiannu?"

This is what he has been thinking about recently.

Although he was very angry at first when he learned that the Ming Dynasty was later taken away by the Jianzhou Jurchens, and even wanted to send troops immediately, he gradually calmed down after returning from his second trip to the modern world.

It is true that Zhu is violent and bloodthirsty, but as a political being, he cannot kill people for no reason. Even if he wants to kill people, he must have a purpose.

The most fundamental purpose of his wanton killing was to protect the Ming Dynasty of his Zhu family.

The Hu Weiyong case was for the purpose of centralizing power, and its essence was to maintain his rule.

The Lan Yu case was to pave the way for his grandson to ascend to the throne. He was afraid that the Crown Prince Zhu Yunwen would not be able to suppress the group of nobles and generals headed by Lan Yu. The underlying logic was still to maintain the rule of his Zhu family.

As for the other cases, the Empty Seal Case and the Guo Huan Case, except that the Guo Huan Case was indeed anti-corruption, even the Empty Seal Case was because Zhu believed that those officials had offended his power.

Because the essence of the Empty Seal Case is that he first played the same game himself, that is, first stamped a blank piece of paper, and then used it directly when needed. But he could do this, but he did not allow his officials to do the same.

Therefore, maintaining power and maintaining the rule of the Zhu family's Ming Dynasty was Zhu Yuanzhang's top priority. It was also the first thing he considered when formulating many policies after becoming emperor.

So are the Jianzhou Jurchens related to maintaining Zhu Yuanzhang’s regime?

It really does.

In fact, the Ming Dynasty at this time had not yet been completely unified.

Yunnan is still in the hands of the remnant Yuan forces.

The Northern Yuan regime still existed, and not only were the two sides in a state of war, clashing repeatedly on the border, but they were also trying to win over allies.

For example, there were strong political and economic ties between the Ming Dynasty, the Northern Yuan Dynasty and Goryeo.

There were also the Tibetan tribes on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Annan countries in the southwest, the Eastern Chagatai Khanate in the northwest, and the Jurchen tribes in the northeast, all of which were targets of their competition.

Including the Jianzhou Jurchens, they were repeatedly harassed by the Northern Yuan forces on the Mongolian grasslands. Unable to bear the humiliation, they went south to surrender to the Ming Dynasty.

In other words, the Jianzhou Jurchens during this period really wanted to follow the Ming Dynasty as their big brother.

However, in the following two hundred years of history, the Jianzhou Jurchens gradually became famous, and finally turned against their big brother in the late Ming Dynasty and seized the Han country for themselves.

If Zhu Yuanzhang massacred the Jianzhou Jurchen tribe for no reason, it would cause great shock to the surrounding countries and tribes.

When they saw that the Ming Dynasty even attacked its own brothers, they naturally felt worried and uneasy.

In simple terms, it will affect the united front.

Originally, the Ming Dynasty was trying to win them over and bring them into the Ming Dynasty camp to fight against the Northern Yuan Dynasty together.

As a result, if the Ming Dynasty played this trick, it would easily scare the surrounding forces to the Northern Yuan Dynasty, making the Ming Dynasty surrounded by enemies, which is not conducive to the Ming Dynasty's current situation.

So Zhu Yuanzhang had to take this into consideration and could not just do whatever he wanted.

This is also the quality that an emperor should have.

'How can we reasonably eliminate the Jianzhou Jurchens?'

After hearing Zhu Yuanzhang's words, Zhu Biao fell into deep thought.

He just had different political views from Zhu Yuanzhang, but that didn't mean he was a fool and would not sympathize with a barbarian force that would seize the Han world in the future.

So he had no objection to dealing with the Jianzhou Jurchens.

But what Lao Zhu said is right.

You must have a legitimate reason to be a teacher.

If you massacre an entire tribe without any righteous cause, it will inevitably lead to gossip and cause fear in neighboring countries.

But Zhu Biao thought for a long time and still couldn't think of anything, so he shook his head and said, "Father, I am stupid and can't think of any good solution."

"Well, let me think about it and find another reason. But it can't be too perfunctory. It must be a legitimate reason."

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't expect Zhu Biao to come up with any good ideas, but he was not too disappointed.

"Father, although I don't have any good ideas, Yunfeng doesn't mean he doesn't have any. He comes from the future, so maybe he has some ideas."

Zhu Biao suddenly said.

"Oh?"

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned.

Zhu Biao added: "Father can ask him about this tomorrow. This matter can perhaps be regarded as a test from father to him, to prove that he is really capable of helping father govern the country."

"rational."

Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly understood and said with a smile: "My son is smart. Although he didn't think of a solution, he knows how to use people well. This is the way to control subordinates. A ruler may not know everything, but he must know how to use people."

He then pondered for a moment and said, "Although Yunfeng is disrespectful to me, he is still the bloodline of our Zhu family and needs to rely on us for wealth, so he won't harm us. If you encounter something you don't understand in the future, you can ask him more."

"Yes, father."

Zhu Biao was slightly happy.

My father has the final say in the Ming Dynasty.

Apart from his mother who could persuade him a little, even he found it difficult to make his father change his mind.

But now that I have Zhu Yunfeng, if I can unite with him, perhaps I can prevent my father from being confused about many important matters.

(End of this chapter)