Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 81 The Chaotic Ming Dynasty
At the end of the twelfth year of Hongwu, the city of Jinling finally became lively.

The imperial court allocated money from the national treasury to hold a small grand event, inviting various folk acrobats to perform on the streets.

On the evening of the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, the city was decorated with lights and people took to the streets to celebrate the festival.

Even for the military camps that were not allowed to be changed at will, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince allocated silver and bought a lot of livestock, slaughtering pigs and sheep to provide meat and food for the soldiers in Yingtian Prefecture.

For a time, Crown Prince Zhu Biao's reputation reached its peak.

In the eyes of civil and military officials, he was a man of great skill, who eliminated a major cancer in the court without causing any fuss.

In the hearts of ordinary people and soldiers in the military camp, he is gentle, kind, compassionate to the military and civilians, and is loved by people and soldiers all over the world.

It can be said that in just a few months, Zhu Biao's already good reputation became even better, and he was even called Prince Ren by the people.

Inside the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Yuanzhang, who had just returned from modern times more than an hour ago, sat on the dragon throne, looking at the news that Mao Xiang had recently collected from the people.

Thanks to Zhu Yunfeng's order to Mao Xiang to send Yiluanwei soldiers to infiltrate the civilian population, the prototype of Jinyiwei was finally formed, and any disturbance among the people could be quickly reported to Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Prince Jin?"

Zhu Yuanzhang took a quick glance, without any fear in his eyes, but instead a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

My child has grown up after all.

"Chongpachi!"

At this moment, Queen Ma came in and asked, "What have you decided on for the banquets tomorrow night and the day after tomorrow?"

After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, etiquette for court banquets and festival banquets was established.

The first banquet in the first year of Hongwu was held in Fengtian Hall. After that, it was customary to hold banquets in Jinshen Hall on New Year's Day, the emperor's birthday, the winter solstice or other auspicious banquets.

Banquets are divided into morning banquets and family banquets. The morning banquet is held on the first day of the first lunar month, with grand sacrificial activities during the day and a grand banquet for ministers in the evening.

The family dinner is on the night of the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month. The Zhu family, like ordinary people, stay up all night to celebrate the festival.

Moreover, the family banquet would not only invite Zhu's family members, but also some ministers who had a close relationship with Zhu Yuanzhang, such as Xu Da, Li Wenzhong, Li Shanchang, Chang Yuchun, Mu Ying, etc.

Now Xu Da is guarding Beiping, Chang Yuchun has passed away, and Mu Ying is guarding Gansu. In previous years, Li Wenzhong and Li Shanchang were invited to the family banquet to show honor and favor.

Hearing what Empress Ma said, Zhu Yuanzhang was about to say that it was the same as in previous years, but suddenly his expression changed slightly, and he said lightly: "Li Shanchang is old and confused, so let's not let him come."

The political turmoil in the Ming Dynasty court did not affect Li Shanchang.

Because although Li Shanchang nominally led the Secretariat, the Grand Marshal's Office, and the Censorate together with Cao Guogong Li Wenzhong, and discussed military and national affairs together.

But in fact, he had retired as early as the fourth year of Hongwu. Zhu Yuanzhang was just worried that his power in Haozhou was too great, so he re-employed him. Usually, he did not attend the morning court and was only summoned when the inner court needed him.

Zhu Biao actually also found the connection between Hu Weiyong and Li Shanchang in the case.

After all, Hu Weiyong relied on bribing Li Shanchang to get promoted in his early years. The two had close contacts and were also related by marriage, so naturally there was a lot of money and gifts between the two sides.

However, Li Shanchang's status was too high. Later generations thought that Liu Bowen was Zhu Yuanzhang's most important adviser, but in fact Li Shanchang was. Zhu Yuanzhang once commented that Li Shanchang was his Xiao He, which shows his status.

Therefore, Zhu Biao did not dare to do anything to Li Shanchang. After the Hu Weiyong case, he had to ask Li Shanchang to come and help handle state affairs many times to appease the people.

Now that the Zhu family did not invite Li Shanchang to the banquet, it was naturally a warning to him.

"Well, okay."

Empress Ma naturally understood this, but after thinking about it, she said, "Give him something in my name."

"You're afraid of hurting him too much."

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled bitterly and said, "This old dog gets more confused as he gets older. He should be hit on the head to teach him a lesson."

"Calm down. Duke Hanguo risked his life for us back then. Things are different now. People's hearts have changed. But we can't burn bridges after crossing them. We should still reward him."

Empress Ma walked up to Zhu Yuanzhang and rubbed his temples with her hands coated with hand cream.

"Well, so be it."

Zhu Yuanzhang touched Empress Ma's hand, stood up from the dragon throne, and took her to the outside of the Qianqing Palace.

In the evening, as night was about to fall, the sound of firecrackers could be heard in the distant city of Jinling.

Look up, the moonlight is bright tonight.

Just at this moment, cheers suddenly came from the platform at the entrance of the Qianqing Palace, which is near the underground palace.

"Brother Yunfeng, Brother Yunfeng, let me play, let me play."

"I want it too, I want it too."

"Don't worry, don't worry, we have everything."

"Fourth brother, please, let me play."

"What are you playing with, little brat? It's very dangerous. Let me do it."

Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma walked over in confusion, and when they looked down, they saw more than a dozen children below.

Men and women, ranging from six or seven years old to over ten years old, surrounded the two young men.

The two young men were holding some handheld fireworks in their hands, swinging them around and around, emitting brilliant golden light.

The children looked at them in amazement and jumped around them.

There were also a few children hugging the golden retriever.

A group of eunuchs and palace maids hurried over from a distance, knelt down in front of Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma and said, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, Prince Yan forced the princes and princesses to come over, we..."

"It doesn't matter."

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand.

He designated the square outside the Qianqing Palace as a forbidden area.

Zhu Di took his younger brothers and sisters out to play and went directly to the square outside the Qianqing Palace.

The eunuchs and palace maids who were in charge of taking care of the princes and princesses did not have the courage to stop them, nor did they dare to enter the Qianqing Palace Square. They could only take a long detour. It was no wonder they did that.

"Father, mother."

At this moment, the fifth brother Zhu Su, who was standing aside and wanted to play but was too embarrassed to do so, noticed someone coming up on the stage behind him, so he hurried up the steps and bowed to Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma.

"what happened?"

Zhu Yuanzhang asked.

Zhu Su said, "It was Brother Four and Brother Yunfeng who asked us to come out and play with the fireworks. I think these fireworks are really new and I have never seen them before."

Queen Ma frowned and asked, "Are these fireworks too dangerous?"

"It's okay. This is an open space in the square. It's all stone, and there's no wood. Besides, Yunfeng and Lao Si are here. Let them have fun."

Zhu Yuanzhang then said to Zhu Su: "Go ahead, just be careful."

"Thank you father."

Zhu Su went back and couldn't help but join in the fight.

He was the fifth child, tall and strong. He got a bundle of fireworks from Zhu Di and learned how to light them with a lighter like Zhu Di. In an instant, fireworks burst into the air and everyone applauded happily.

Zhu Yuanzhang and his wife looked at the joy below, and they also looked at each other, revealing a long-lost relaxed smile.

"It looks good, Brother Wu, give me one."

"for you."

"Remember, don't bump into anyone, just have fun by yourself, stand away."

Zhu Yunfeng shouted.

He bought a lot of fireworks. Since he had money now, he decided to have some fun.

But since we are coming to Daming to celebrate the New Year, naturally everything will be moved here.

Zhu Di suggested that sharing happiness with others is worse than enjoying it alone, so he went to Chunhe Palace and called all his brothers and sisters.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the princesses and daughters of the imperial family were raised by their mothers when they were young, but were basically brought up by wet nurses. When they were five or six years old, they would be sent to other palaces for centralized upbringing.

Among them, the fifth son Zhu Su is now 18 years old and was conferred the title of King of Zhou. Zhu Yuanzhang abolished Zhu Su's title of King of Qin and changed his title to King of Han. He imprisoned him in Fengyang and changed Zhu Su's title to King of Qin. After the New Year, he will go to Shaanxi to be enfeoffed.

Then in order came Zhu Zhen, Prince of Chu, Zhu Gui, Prince of Qi, Zhu Zi, Prince of Tan, Zhu Tan, Prince of Lu, Zhu Chun, Prince of Shu, Zhu Bai, Prince of Xiang, and several princesses.

The youngest, Princess Nankang Zhu Yuhua, was only 7 years old, followed by Prince Xiang Zhu Bo, who was 8 years old. No princes or princesses under the age of 6 came over, as it was too dangerous to let them play with fireworks.

And even they are not allowed to play with particularly dangerous fireworks, such as handheld cold light fireworks, also commonly known as fairy wands, which have a low ignition point and are relatively safe, and do not fall into the category of fireworks that are expressly banned by the state.

"Hahahahahaha."

The children were jumping around holding cold light fireworks and having a lot of fun.

As for Zhu Yunfeng and Zhu Di.

Of course it is
"Here comes the Gatling Gun!"

Zhu Di laughed loudly, holding up a cannon that was thicker than his arm, and lit the fuse with a lighter.

"Shhhhhh!"

In an instant, the drum spun rapidly, and countless fireworks burst out, lighting up the night sky.

"Wow!"

"Fourth brother is so awesome."

"I want to play too."

"Children are not allowed to play."

When many children saw Zhu Di’s cool machine gun, the fairy wands in their hands suddenly lost their appeal.

Zhu Bo, with snot bubbles coming out of his nose, hugged Zhu Di's thigh and cried. Zhu Di raised the machine gun to the sky with one hand and held him down with the other hand and said, "What if you burn down my father's palace with such a dangerous thing?"

"Haha."

Zhu Yuanzhang put his hands behind his back, looking down at the happy children below. He couldn't help but recall his own childhood and couldn't help laughing.

At least before the drought that year, he had gone to the river to catch fish and climbed trees to catch birds.

Perhaps it would be nice to let the children feel happy once in a while, instead of imprisoning them like criminals in this deep palace.

"This time when we went to Changsha, we also accompanied Xiongying to the children's park. Why not build one for the children as well?"

Queen Ma also saw the situation below and said with a smile.

"Well, I'll tell Yunfeng about this later. I think it shouldn't be difficult if I have money." Zhu Yuanzhang said with a smile.

"Bang bang bang bang bang!"

Fireworks filled the sky again.

Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma looked up and smiled.

The children below cheered.

The palace is splendid and dazzling, even more beautiful than the fireworks and firecrackers in Jinling City.

The city is bustling with people putting up peach charms to celebrate the New Year, and people coming out to watch dragon dances and golden flowers on the iron tree. The city is bustling with noise.

The next morning, New Year’s Eve.

Ordinary families would be more grand on this day, slaughtering pigs, making dumplings, and preparing for the New Year's feast tonight.

But it was deserted in the palace.

Because this day is the annual holiday.

All the major government offices of the court were located around the imperial palace, and officials often had to go in and out of the palace to do their work. In addition, Zhu Yuanzhang would often summon officials to handle state affairs, so there were quite a few officials coming and going on weekdays.

However, today is a holiday, no officials come in or out, and Zhu Yuanzhang is not handling government affairs, so naturally he is not as popular as before.

However, after noon, the Qianqing Palace was in chaos.

In the morning, Zhu Yunfeng returned to the modern world, went down the mountain to the town and bought a bunch of children's toys, such as gyroscopes, sound guns, four-wheel drive cars, rainbow lights, Barbie dolls and the like.

After lunch, some toys were distributed to each of these little ancestors, which caused chaos in the Qianqing Palace and the eunuchs and palace maids were sweating profusely.

"Sixth Princess, run slower."

"Fifth Prince, don't be like this. Be careful."

“This spinning top is so fun.”

"Come on, let's bump into each other."

"Look at my car."

Children were running around inside and outside the Qianqing Palace.

Zhu Di was lying on the sofa in the back hall, holding a lollipop in his mouth and playing a single-player game on a tablet in his hand. He said lazily, "These guys are so noisy."

The rear hall of the Qianqing Palace is very large. Zhu Yunfeng placed an order these days and promised to buy a lot of sofas for Zhu Biao, and now they are all thrown here.

There are also several large round tables with electric ovens in the center, which use diesel generators for heating in winter.

As the year draws to a close, Zhu Yunfeng has sent a lot of things over here. They were all ordered online after he returned from Daming, and they happened to arrive in the past two days. I have to go up and down the mountain every day to pick up the express deliveries.

"This is how the New Year is celebrated. Even our ancestors don't object. What are you complaining about?"

Zhu Yunfeng was also lying on the sofa playing with his mobile phone. Pippi dog was squatting at his feet. Dandan cat was locked in a cat cage by him. When he heard Zhu Di's words, he replied with a smile.

The Chinese New Year must have a festive atmosphere.

Originally, Zhu Yuanzhang felt that the palace was quite chaotic and wanted to get angry and ask them to quiet down for a while, but a look from Empress Ma stopped Zhu Yuanzhang in his tracks.

"Zhu Yunfeng!"

At this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang, wearing old man's pajamas and holding a tablet in his right hand, walked over angrily from the side corridor of the East Warm Pavilion.

"What's wrong?"

Zhu Yunfeng was confused.

Zhu Yuanzhang came over with a tablet and pointed at it, angrily saying, "Look for yourself, look, what is this?"

When Zhu Yunfeng took a look, he realized that it was actually the stupid animation he downloaded.

As one of the protagonists of the animation, Old Zhu is holding the body of Queen Ma and crying loudly: "Sister, our sister!"

"Flowers bloom and fade, and the sky is full of them. It is you who appear and disappear."

"Morning and evening, it is difficult to describe your face."

The BGM started, and the tense expression on Lao Zhu's face could hardly be suppressed any longer.

"I'm Chao, it was played by Old Four, this is his happy song."

Zhu Yunfeng immediately pointed the finger at Zhu Di and framed him.

"Ok?"

Zhu Yuanzhang turned his head and looked at Zhu Di who was lying on the sofa.

Zhu Di's eyes widened and he said hurriedly: "I Zhuo, Dad, he is talking nonsense, I can't play at all, Zhu Yunfeng is going to run away."

Zhu Yuanzhang turned around hurriedly and saw Zhu Yunfeng had stood up from the sofa, jumped behind the sofa, and started running.

"I'm going to beat you to death, you little bastard!"

Zhu Yuanzhang dropped the tablet in his hand and chased after him fiercely.

Pippi Dog also quickly got up, thinking it was a game, and chased after him happily.

Zhu Yunfeng shouted, "Old Four instructed me to do this. Why would I do that if I had nothing else to do?"

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Di again and said angrily: "No matter who did it, you two are birds of a feather. Kill them both!"

As he said this, he roared and pounced on Zhu Di. Zhu Di saw that the situation was not good and the old man had turned against his relatives, so he hurriedly tried to imitate Zhu Yunfeng and flip over the sofa.

But it may be because I have been eating, drinking, sleeping, playing with my phone and computer every day recently, and neglected my training, so I actually fell behind.

As a result, Zhu Yuanzhang grabbed one of his legs and pulled him back.

"Dad, it's really not me!"

Zhu Di shouted in despair and turned back to explain, but was met with a fist as big as a casserole.

"Hahahahahaha."

Zhu Yunfeng ran a few steps, turned around and saw Zhu Di being beaten, and was overjoyed.

"Mao Xiang, catch that bastard for me!"

Zhu Yuanzhang roared.

Mao Xiang, who was on duty at the door, was dumbfounded.

Damn it.

Is this something you can do?
To be honest.

Mao Xiang can be said to have had a lot of eye-openings in recent times.

Since Zhu Yunfeng brought a lot of things from the modern times, there were too many things to hide, so as the commander of the personal army, Mao Xiang naturally saw these strange things.

But His Majesty did not tell them what it was, so they naturally did not dare to ask.

However, even so, they are not stupid and they must understand the origins of these things and that the recent changes in His Majesty and the Queen are related to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wu.

After all, these changes only occurred after the appearance of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wu.

So we can understand why His Royal Highness the Prince of Wu is so special. He dares to be disrespectful to the Crown Prince and the Prince of Yan, and even beats people when the Prince of Qin tells him to.

But now His Majesty wants to capture His Royal Highness the King of Wu himself? What if His Royal Highness the King of Wu retaliates in the future?
"What are you still doing? Why don't you go quickly!"

Just as I was stunned, His Majesty's voice came from the hall again.

Mao Xiang could only bite the bullet and shout, "Capture His Royal Highness the King of Wu, and do not hurt him."

"I boil it!"

Seeing that the situation was not good, Zhu Yunfeng hurriedly ran towards the study in the west warm pavilion. Now perhaps only Zhu Biao and Queen Ma could save him.

As the year draws to a close, the emperor would also write something to give his ministers some rewards.

This was originally done by Zhu Yuanzhang, but since he had just killed so many officials from Hu Weiyong's party, one had to play the good cop and the other had to play the bad cop, so Zhu Biao and Empress Ma were writing some conciliatory letters and playing the bad cop.

However, what he didn't expect was that when he stopped to watch the show just now, Pipi Dog had followed him and stood at his feet.

When he turned around, he didn't notice Pippi under his feet and was tripped by her.

It was at this moment that he was caught by Mao Xiang!

"Pizi, you rebellious son!"

"No! Mao Xiang, let me go!"

Zhu Yunfeng was knocked to the ground by Mao Xiang and one of his feet was grabbed by Mao Xiang. He hurriedly kicked Mao Xiang's shoulder with his other foot, trying to break free.

Originally, the best way would be to kick Mao Xiang in the face, but Mao Xiang was also following orders and it had nothing to do with him, so he certainly couldn't kill him.

As a result, his heart softened and the other guards rushed forward and brought him before Zhu Yuanzhang.

Pipi Dog didn't know what was going on, so he came over with a silly smile on his face.

"My Pipi is such a good dog."

Zhu Yuanzhang had already beaten Zhu Di so badly that his face was bruised and swollen. When he saw Zhu Yunfeng being arrested, he first touched his skin, then smiled and said, "I finally have a reason to beat you up."

"Uncle, please don't, uncle, I was wrong. I won't dare to do it again next time. I'm afraid, Lao Deng, you're serious."

Zhu Yunfeng screamed.

Zhu Yuanzhang asked someone for a bamboo stick, and ordered them to press Zhu Yunfeng to the ground and beat his butt hard!

“Ohhhhhhhhhhh!”

"very painful."

"I'm Zhuo, Lao Deng, just wait for me, I have more jokes to tell you about the Ming Dynasty."

"Come on, tell me, and I'll beat you up every time you tell me!"

"Wow, look, Brother Yunfeng was beaten by the father."

"Brother Yunfeng, this is too tragic."

In the Qianqing Palace.

Full of a happy atmosphere.

(End of this chapter)