Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 95 Dad, you are not dead.

On June 13, the 13th year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang was preparing for the Northern Expedition.

He had given an order yesterday, asking Li Wenzhong to reorganize all the soldiers in the Grand Marshal's Office, and then select the best soldiers and generals to follow him north to Shaanxi.

Currently, the fighting areas on the Ming-Yuan border are mainly concentrated in the northwest and northeast directions.

The Mongols did not choose Shanxi in the middle as an attack location because of its complex terrain and too many mountains.

Historically, the Ming army and the Yuan army fought many battles in Shaanxi, Peking, Liaodong and other places, and defeated the Yuan army in Helin, Gubeikou, Jinshan, Buyuerhai, Yidu and other places.

Through nine northern expeditions during the Hongwu period, Zhu Yuanzhang greatly stabilized the Ming border, laying a solid foundation for Zhu Di's five expeditions to Mongolia and the pacification of the northern desert in the future.

Now is the time of the Fourth Northern Expedition.

The Duke of Beiyuan, Tuohuochi, and the Privy Councilor Ai Zu were invading, and Mu Ying should have gone to war. But Zhu had recently watched the TV series about his son's five expeditions to the north of the desert, and he felt a little itchy.

After all, he also saw the evaluation of him by later generations.

Although he was a man of great talent and strategy, he was ultimately criticized for killing meritorious officials, officials, and civilians.

On the other hand, his son.

to be frank.

Zhu Yuanzhang read about Zhu Di's deeds.

This guy killed no less people than I did. During the Renwu Persecution, more than 600 court officials in Nanjing were almost all executed, and their families were also wiped out.

When it comes to killing officials and exterminating their nine clans, Zhu Yuanzhang feels that the fourth brother went even further than himself.

However, even with such a product, it has received very high reviews.

Although he is not as good as himself, who has been in the top five for many years, he can still be ranked among the top ten emperors in history.

It's incredible.

Zhu Yuanzhang summarized the reasons.

It was nothing more than his seven voyages to the West and five expeditions to Mongolia that elevated his historical status.

Zhu Yunfeng once said that the seven voyages to the West filled the national treasury but depleted national and people's strength. Zhu Yuanzhang also studied this.

This is true.

To put it simply, Zhu Di used the taxes collected by the people across the country to support his mission of sending people to the West, exchanging the Ming Dynasty's grain, silk and porcelain for large quantities of spices, gold, silver and timber.

Looks like a good profit.

In fact, not only did all of the money go into Zhu Di's pocket, but spices were also luxury goods.

So much so that starting from the 20th year of Yongle, Zhu Di simply used spices such as pepper and sumac as salaries for officials.

But if there are too many spices, the value will definitely depreciate.

The result was serious inflation, and all officials suffered terribly.

However, the income earned did not go into the Ministry of Revenue or the national treasury at all, but was used by Zhu Di to fight wars.

As a result, the national treasury was out of money, and local governments were short on expenditures, which depleted the court's national strength. In addition, tens of thousands of civilians were mobilized for labor service in the voyage to the West, which also consumed a lot of people's energy.

Then there must be some results from the war.

When Zhu Yuanzhang studied his five expeditions to Mongolia in depth, he found them eye-catching.

It was my first trip and I hardly met any Mongolians along the way. I mainly went hunting and sightseeing.

The second time he led an army of 500,000 on an expedition, well, this time there was finally some results - hundreds of enemies were killed.

The third, fourth, and fifth times, not even the shadow of the Mongolian army was seen.

Zhu Yuanzhang felt dizzy when he saw this record.

Can this be considered an outstanding achievement?

Not only did he not use the money earned from his seven voyages to the West to develop the country, but he also won only these results in the wars. And then he relied on these two things to raise his historical status?

Even Zhu Yuanzhang thought it was a bit outrageous.

"Old Four can squeeze into the top ten in history just by relying on these. If I can double the food grains, make the people live and work in peace and contentment, make the people rich by exchanging gold and silver, and then send troops to the north to wipe out the Northern Yuan Dynasty, and bring Liaodong and the desert under the rule of the Ming Dynasty, how will future generations evaluate me?"

Old Zhu put down the research materials in his hand and thought happily.

At his age and status, he actually doesn’t care about most things anymore and what he pursues more is a sense of accomplishment.

This effect is called Maslow's needs.

Now that he already knew the future history, Zhu Yuanzhang had to consider how to surpass his historical self and reach a new height, not just limited to the present and historical achievements.

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang made up his mind that during this Northern Expedition, he must severely defeat the Northern Yuan Dynasty, and when the Ming Dynasty had more money and food, he would simply send troops to sweep the northern desert.

Make all the historical achievements of Lan Yu and Zhu Di your own, so that you can break through and surpass yourself.

"The drone Xiao Ji sent me is pretty good. It can overlook the battlefield from high altitude. Unfortunately, I haven't learned how to use it yet. I need to learn it quickly before I go out on the expedition."

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at a drone placed on the desk next to him.

When Lao Zhu was watching the fireworks in Changsha, he mentioned this to Ji He, and Ji He patted his chest and said that he would take care of it.

Not long after that, he indeed brought a lot of drones over, and also prepared solar charging panels for convenient charging in places outside the palace where there were no diesel generators.

Unfortunately, Zhu Yuanzhang has been busy with state affairs every day for the past six months and has no time to study this.

Now he plans to leave all state affairs to Zhu Biao and focus on military affairs, so he must learn how to operate this drone immediately.

Fortunately, we are still in the preparation stage and it will take some time before the army sets out. It is estimated that we will set off next month, so there is still enough time.

Just as he was thinking this, Zhu Yunfeng's voice suddenly came from outside, accompanied by a running figure, and someone was running in the palace.

"uncle!"

Zhu Yunfeng shouted outside, and after entering the study, he lowered his voice and quickly came to Zhu Yuanzhang and said, "Ancestor, something big has happened."

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned slightly. He was somewhat displeased with Zhu Yunfeng's clumsy movements and running around in the palace.

But when he heard about the big news, he couldn't help but say, "What big news could be more important than my upcoming Northern Expedition?"

"No time to explain, just follow me!"

Zhu Yunfeng pulled Zhu Yuanzhang and was about to leave.

"What's going on?"

Zhu Yuanzhang hated being led by the nose by others the most, and he was very unhappy.

At this moment, Ji He and Zhu Di also ran in, and Zhu Di complained: "Yunfeng, you run so fast."

"Hurry up, hurry up, or you'll miss it."

Zhu Yunfeng urged.

"Fengzi, what happened? Tell us."

Ji Hyuk gasped for air.

Although it wasn't far from the cellar to the Qianqing Palace, no more than a hundred meters at most, but the short-distance sprint was still too much for a fat man like him.

"I have to keep it a secret for now, I promise you'll have fun."

Zhu Yunfeng pulled Zhu Yuanzhang up from the desk, then smiled and said, "Ancestor, something big has happened. We have gone to the second world. Guess what happened?"

"What's wrong?"

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard that it was about the second world, he became interested. His original resistance relaxed and he followed Zhu Yunfeng out of the study.

Zhu Yunfeng walked away and said, "You'll know when you get there anyway. I don't want to talk about it now."

"It's really unnecessary to take off your pants to fart."

Old Zhu said dissatisfiedly.

But having said that, he still followed Zhu Yunfeng.

The group then arrived in the modern era.

Zhu Yunfeng hurried up again to take his equipment.

Stab-proof suits and pants were given to Zhu Di. Zhu Di carried a crossbow, Ji Heti carried a chainsaw, and he took a bunch of pepper spray himself.

We don’t know what Zhu Di’s situation is over there, so we should be safe.

It would be troublesome if hundreds of soldiers came to attack us.

Bows, crossbows, and electric saws probably won't have much effect, but pepper spray is a real magic weapon, as the Americans can prove.

High-purity pepper water is used against those who have never been exposed to pepper. The spray will make them cry, drool and have snot, and they will be unable to open their eyes.

After making full preparations, Zhu Yunfeng took Zhu Yuanzhang, Ji He and Zhu Di to the second world.

And this moment.

On June 13, the fourth year of Jianwen, at the beginning of the morning at 9:00 p.m., shouts of killing were heard outside the Nanjing Imperial Palace.

As Prince Gu Zhu Tan and Li Jinglong opened the Jinchuan Gate, groups of Yan soldiers poured into the city, quickly surrounded the imperial city, and killed people everywhere.

The eunuchs, palace maids, and guards in the palace were in chaos and tried to flee, but the palace gates were guarded and they were killed as soon as they left the palace.

For a time, there were corpses everywhere outside the Xuanwu Gate, Xihua Gate, Donghua Gate, and Chengtian Gate of the Nanjing Imperial Palace.

Zhu Di, 42 years old this year, rode on horseback and swaggered into Chengtian Gate slowly, followed by the commander-in-chief Zhang Xin and the deputy general of the right army Xu Li.

After Li Jinglong opened the Jinchuan Gate, they were the first to rush into the city and the first to send people to surround the imperial palace.

Surrounded by them, Zhu Di, full of high spirits, headed towards the palace.

"Prince Yan, we have surrounded the palace."

“Everyone who came out was dead.”

"Where's my nephew?"

"The army attacked the Meridian Gate, and they retreated from the Fengtian Hall to the Qianqing Palace."

"Surround the Qianqing Palace. I will deal with him personally."

"Yes."

Zhang Xin then waved his hand, and countless Yan army soldiers followed him inside.

Zhu Di rode in the middle, and the soldiers automatically passed by him on both sides like a torrent encountering a pillar.

He enjoyed this moment so much that he couldn't help but slow down his riding speed.

And just when Zhu Di was about to break into the Qianqing Palace.

Inside the Qianqing Palace, hundreds of civil servants surrounded the 25-year-old Zhu Yunwen.

Every official had a look of panic on their faces.

There was chaos and war outside, palace maids, eunuchs and guards were fleeing everywhere, and the officials were as anxious as ants on a hot pan.

Many people were watching outside the palace, and someone shouted, "The Yan army is coming in."

Zhu Yunwen shouted anxiously, "Where is Guo Ying?"

"He surrendered to Yan and rebelled."

"How many guards are there in the palace?"

"There are still 5,000 guards in the palace." "Where are they?"

"Your Majesty, they have retreated outside the Qianqing Palace, but many of them have already scattered."

"How to do how to do."

Upon hearing the current predicament, Zhu Yunwen was completely at a loss and sat dejectedly in his chair.

The emperor handed the country into his hands, but he lost it.

I won't be able to face the Emperor even after I die.

At this moment, someone suddenly opened the floor tiles outside the Qianqing Palace and crawled out.

"What kind of fun is this that requires all this trouble?"

After Zhu Yuanzhang came out from underground, he was very dissatisfied, but as soon as he finished speaking, he stood there in a daze.

Isn’t this your own Palace of Heavenly Purity?
How did you get here?

Zhu Yunfeng then smiled and said, "Do you know where this is?"

"My Palace of Heavenly Purity?"

Zhu Yuanzhang wondered, "Why did the second ball come here?"

"Look at them, do you recognize them?"

Zhu Yunfeng pointed upwards again.

There is a large platform outside the Qianqing Palace, and there is a long stone staircase leading down from the platform.

Many officials were standing on the platform outside the palace, looking at the Qianqing Gate in the distance, terrified that Zhu Di's army was approaching.

Suddenly, several people appeared from under the platform, which surprised all the officials.

"do not know."

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and looked at him carefully. Suddenly, his pupils shrank and he couldn't help but ask, "Zhang Xun?"

This Zhang Xun was promoted to Left Counselor of the Ministry of Public Administration last year. He was Zeng Bingzheng's right-hand man. Zhu Yuanzhang relied heavily on the Ministry of Public Administration, so Zhang Xun often had to make reports to him in person and was naturally familiar with him.

But the photo in front of him seemed much older than what he remembered, at least twenty years older.

Zhang Xun on the stage was trembling all over, and then he rolled down the jade steps, knelt down in front of Zhu Yuanzhang, and shouted in disbelief: "Your Majesty!"

This alarmed the other officials above, and for a moment many of them were horrified and looked incredulous.

"Oh my god, it's Emperor Taizu Gao, and he looks much younger now."

"Quick, come and pay respect to Emperor Taizu, the Emperor has appeared."

"There's help, there's help!"

The officials on the platform went from being terrified at first to being shocked just now, and finally ecstatic. They all ran to the stage and knelt in front of Zhu Yuanzhang and shouted: "Taizu, Yan Ni is rebelling, Taizu, please save your majesty!"

What the hell?

Zhu Yuanzhang was also very surprised for a moment.

He actually knew a few of these people. In addition to Zhang Gong, there were also Chen Di, the Left Counselor of Shandong, and Cheng Benli, the ritual official of King Qin.

The reason he remembered was because he had just met them some time ago. Zhang Xun was from the Tongzhengsi and he saw them every day.

Chen Di was originally just an instructor at the provincial school. Some time ago, he wrote a letter to the emperor titled "Congratulations on the Emperor's Birthday" praising Zhu's achievements, which made Zhu Di very satisfied. So he summoned him and transferred him to Shandong.

Needless to say, Cheng Benli was originally the Yinli Sheren in Zhu Chong's mansion. Since Zhu Chong was deposed, he followed Zhu Su.

Before Zhu Su went to Shaanxi to be enfeoffed, Zhu Yuanzhang summoned him to meet at Fengtian Gate, and gave him paper money, a saddle horse, and asked him to follow Zhu Su to Shaanxi and persuade Zhu Su well to avoid following Zhu Chong's footsteps.

How come these people appeared here again in the blink of an eye, and each of them looked much older.

"Didn't you expect this, ancestor? This is the Jianwen Dynasty."

Zhu Yunfeng whispered to Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Jianwen Dynasty?"

Zhu Di beside him was stunned.

Yan Ni rebelled?

This shit.

Something seems wrong.

"Grandpa Emperor, Grandpa Emperor!"

At this moment, Zhu Yunwen inside had received the news from the officials, and ran out of the gate of Qianqing Palace in a hurry, and also crawled to the jade steps.

When he saw Zhu Yuanzhang, he was also shocked, then ecstatic, crawled to Zhu Yuanzhang's feet and cried, "Grandpa Emperor!"

Zhu Yuanzhang stood there without saying a word, but he had already digested the current situation and had a general understanding of the current situation.

It seems that this kid is the grown-up Zhu Yunwen.

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes flashed with disgust, and he threw his sleeves and shouted, "Get out!"

Zhu Yunwen was stunned.

In the past, the Emperor loved him the most. Why? That's right, it must be the current situation.
Thinking of this, Zhu Yunwen felt ashamed.

The emperor had handed over such a huge kingdom to him, but now...
"Where's the fourth one?"

Zhu Yuanzhang shouted.

"Replying to Taizu, Prince Yanyan has entered the palace."

The Minister of Justice Bao Zhao wanted to say that Yan was a traitor, but when he saw Zhu Yuanzhang's sharp and cold eyes sweeping over him, he had to swallow his saliva and said, "The palace has been surrounded."

"Is there anyone who can fight?"

"Gone."

"Humph, gather the remaining guards here. I want to see how this little bastard, Old Four, can rise up."

Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly, then slowly walked up to the platform.

Young Zhu Di had just turned 20 years old at this time, and older Zhu Di stayed in Peking all year round, so not many central officials in Nanjing knew him.

The few people who knew him only thought he looked slightly similar, but after all, the gap of more than 20 years was too big, so no one recognized that this was what Zhu Di looked like as a teenager.

At this moment, young Zhu Di followed Zhu Yuanzhang with a confused look on his face. Zhu Yunfeng and Ji He were also his left and right guards, standing on the stage with Zhu Yuanzhang in a majestic manner.

With the sudden appearance of Zhu Yuanzhang, the Qianqing Palace, which was originally in chaos, finally slowly returned to order.

The remaining thousand or so soldiers of the palace vanguard hurried to the stage and took up their posts.

All the officials below, including Zhu Yunwen, knelt down.

Zhu Yuanzhang stood with his hands behind his back.

"Kill!"

Less than half a quarter of an hour later, the main door of the Qianqing Palace was knocked open by a wooden beam.

A large number of Yan army soldiers rushed in.

Zhang Xin and Xu Li led the way, holding their swords high in their hands, and shouted, "Surround the Qianqing Palace, surround the Qianqing Palace."

However, when they crossed the square and arrived outside the Qianqing Palace, they saw a strange scene.

All the officials knelt down at the jade steps outside the Qianqing Palace, and the surrounding soldiers were waiting in solemn anticipation.

Even above all the officials, in front of them, one could see a man with disheveled hair and wearing a dragon robe, also kneeling.

And above the direction where they were kneeling, a strong figure stood there, with an imposing pressure as big as a mountain, making it hard to breathe.

"This"

Zhang Xin and Xu Li hurriedly stopped their horses, then waved to the soldiers behind them, signaling them to stop.

The soldiers ran slower and gradually stopped.

The Yan army was less than twenty feet, or less than sixty meters, away from where the officials were kneeling, and the two sides were in a stalemate for a while.

All the officials were watching how Zhu Yuanzhang would deal with the situation, Zhu Yuanzhang was waiting for Zhu Di, and the Yan army soldiers were also waiting for Zhu Di after seeing this scene.

Because no matter what the current situation is, they don't dare to really go up and kill people, especially to hurt Zhu Yunwen.

After all, killing an emperor would definitely be a great achievement if it was the emperor of an enemy country, but Zhu Yunwen and Zhu Di were nephew and uncle.

Even if Zhu Di wanted to usurp the throne, it was up to him to decide how Zhu Yunwen should deal with him. If the soldiers killed them rashly and Zhu Di turned against them and used them as scapegoats, it would not be just a matter of losing their heads, but their entire families would be destroyed.

So we have to wait until Prince Yan comes down.

soon.

Just a few minutes later, Zhu Di, surrounded by his army, slowly arrived at the square outside the Qianqing Palace.

He looked around and said with a smile, "Why, is my nephew planning to lead all the officials to kneel down before me and hand over the throne to me?"

As he was speaking, he realized something was wrong and wondered, "Why are these people kneeling to the Qianqing Palace but not to me?"

"Your Highness, look up!"

Zhang Xin pointed at the figures on the stairs and said, "They are kneeling down to that man."

"Ok?"

Zhu Di raised his head and noticed someone standing outside the Qianqing Palace.

The man's back looks familiar.

He rode his horse slowly closer, and the soldiers behind him pressed towards the officials, causing the vanguard soldiers guarding the palace to retreat in fear.

"Let them in! Make way for King Yan!"

When Zhu Yunfeng heard what Zhu Yuanzhang whispered to him, he stepped forward and shouted loudly.

The vanguard soldiers of the palace moved aside as if they had been pardoned.

All the officials then crawled a little to the left and right, leaving the middle passage to Zhu Di.

Under the protection of his guards, Zhu Di slowly came to the bottom of the stairs. He rode out on his horse and stood to the left of Zhu Yunwen. He lowered his head to glance at the emperor kneeling on the ground, then raised his head and looked at the people above.

Just now he was far away, and as he was older, Zhu Di's eyesight was not very good, so he did not see clearly. Only now did he notice that the man above was also wearing a dragon robe.

And the more you look at this back view, the more familiar it becomes, reminding you of a face that has been dead for four years.

"Who are you? How dare you wear a dragon robe?"

Zhu Di frowned.

Zhu Yuanzhang slowly turned around, his cold eyes swept over him, looking down at him and said, "Old Four, you have made it!"

"when!"

Zhu Di slowly opened his mouth, an expression of disbelief appeared in his eyes, and the knife in his hand fell to the ground with a loud noise.

At that moment, he felt as if someone was grabbing his heart and his heartbeat seemed to have stopped.

"Dad, you're not dead."

Zhu Di sat on his horse in a daze, his whole body shaking like a sieve.

(End of this chapter)