Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 96 What I give you is yours

June 13th, the fourth year of Jianwen in the Ming Dynasty.

It was midsummer, the sun was blazing, and everyone's face was covered with heat and sweat.

However, outside the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Di, who had just been full of vigor and vitality, felt as if he had fallen into an icy cave.

Zhu Yunwen, who was originally frightened and uneasy, instead showed a smug expression.

Although he was kneeling there, he raised his head and looked at Zhu Di.

The Emperor is back.

There will always be someone in the Ming Dynasty who can punish you.

With the emperor in charge, no one would dare to bully him anymore.

"Yan Ni!"

Seeing that he had Zhu Yuanzhang's support, one official suddenly became daring and stood up, pointed at Zhu Di and cursed: "How dare you ride on your horse in front of the Emperor Taizu? Why don't you get off your horse and kneel to greet him!"

Zhu Di was terrified for a moment. He quickly got off his horse, knelt down with trembling legs, and kowtowed his head heavily on the ground.

At the moment he dismounted from his horse, he even had the thought of ordering everyone to be slaughtered.

But this thought was immediately extinguished by him as soon as it came to his mind.

Firstly, Zhu Yuanzhang’s prestige in his heart was too high, and he was too afraid of his father. Otherwise, if Tie Xuan had hung his father’s portrait on the top of the city wall, he would not have dared to order an artillery attack.

Secondly, too many people saw it, and his first thought when he saw his father was to kneel down, which was equivalent to admitting in front of everyone that that was his father.

If he ordered a massacre, with his father's prestige.

The best outcome is that after the killing, the news gets out and the world is in chaos.

The worst outcome would be that the surrounding soldiers mutinied and arrested him.

Unless he could kill all the nearly 10,000 Yan army soldiers who had already rushed into Qianqingmen Square and silence them, otherwise, this matter would definitely be known to everyone in the world.

Emperor Taizu was resurrected, but Prince Yan killed his father. Such behavior might cause his other brothers who commanded large armies to rebel immediately.

So Zhu Di had to kneel, and he could only kneel.

"Somebody come!"

Zhu Yuanzhang slowly walked down the jade steps and walked towards Zhu Di.

Zhu Di only felt like a mountain pressing down on him, his body was shaking wildly, cold sweat kept dripping from his forehead, and he wanted to say something, but the words were stuck in his chest and he couldn't utter them.

Finally, his body trembled for a long time, and it was as if his chest was hit hard. He suddenly spit out a mouthful of blood and felt a little relieved. Then he could speak again, wailing in a hoarse voice: "Father, it was Zhu Yunwen who forced me to do this. He forced me to do this!"

"I said someone is coming, didn't you hear me?"

Zhu Yuanzhang's cold eyes flashed around, but his gaze was directed at Zhang Xin and Xu Li brought by Zhu Di.

The two men had already been frightened out of their wits. When they saw Zhu Yuanzhang looking at them, they also stepped forward tremblingly, knelt on one knee, and said with a stiff upper lip: "Generals Zhang Xin and Xu Li pay their respects to His Majesty the Great Ancestor."

"Get him!"

Zhu Yuanzhang slowly extended a finger.

The ministers around were overjoyed and looked up, waiting for Emperor Taizu to deal with Zhu Di.

But he was shocked to find that the person Zhu Yuanzhang was referring to was actually the official who had just stood up and cursed at Zhu Di.

For a moment, all the officials were dumbfounded. They had never expected this to be the case.

Even Zhang Xin and Xu Li didn't expect this.

They thought that Taizu wanted them to arrest Prince Yan, and they were very conflicted.

Fortunately, they did not arrest Prince Yan, which made them feel relieved. They then hurried forward and held the official down.

The official was shocked and asked, "Your Majesty, why did you arrest me?"

"Push him out of the Meridian Gate and behead him!"

Zhu Yuanzhang said calmly: "Only I can teach my son a lesson. Who are you to teach my son a lesson?"

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty!"

the officer shouted in panic.

But Zhang Xin and Xu Li had already dragged him out, and soon a scream ended the life of this loyal minister.

Zhu Yunfeng and Ji He, who were following behind Zhu Yuanzhang, turned pale and were frightened.

To be honest, this was the first time they witnessed a murder.

Although Zhu Yunfeng had handled the Hu Weiyong case, he had the Dali Temple try and execute those officials just by hearing about their crimes.

As for personally supervising the execution, as a modern person, we certainly cannot accept such a bloody scene.

Who would have thought that he would suddenly appear at this moment? Only then did he remember that his ancestor was an emperor who killed people without blinking an eye and killed officials like slaughtering pigs and dogs.

The two men looked at each other.

For a moment, they were thankful that they had the advantage of geographical location when Lao Zhu came over, otherwise they would have been killed long ago.

After dealing with the audacious official, Zhu Yuanzhang lowered his head and looked down at Zhu Di.

Zhu Di's face was pale, with blood on his forehead and mouth. He lay on the ground and trembled, "Daddy, Daddy."

"Old Four, you are great."

Zhu Yuanzhang said calmly: "I already know the cause and effect of the matter. I don't blame you in this matter."

'You don't blame me?'

Zhu Di looked up in surprise, his eyes filled with ecstasy.

Has my father forgiven me?
"Grandpa Huang."

Zhu Yunwen was stunned and said, "Fourth Uncle Yan is plotting treason, how come!"

"Snapped!"

Zhu Yuanzhang raised his head and slapped Zhu Yunwen in the face. Seeing Zhu Yunwen covering his face and looking at him in disbelief, he said coldly, "How dare you say that? It's only been a few years since I handed over the country to you."

"But, but if we don't reduce the power of the feudal lords, won't the power of the feudal lords be..."

"Cutting down the vassal vassal."

Zhu Yuanzhang murmured a few words.

If it were in the past, he would have definitely scolded Zhu Yunwen.

This vassal policy is the national policy set by him, how can he change it without authorization?
Moreover, even if it threatened the central government, Zhu Yuanzhang would never think of reducing the power of the vassal states.

The reason is that he is old and can no longer be cruel.

By the time he was old, his three sons, the eldest, the second and the third, had all died.

The fourth and fifth sons were the only two left by him and Queen Ma.

How could I bear to do anything to them?

But now we know how great the harm caused by the vassal kings is.

In the end, he could only sigh and say, "Do you know what the stupidest thing about you is?"

Zhu Yunwen raised his head and looked at his royal grandfather blankly.

However, at this moment, the Emperor not only seemed to be twenty years younger, but even the warm look in his eyes had turned cold.

"The stupidest thing you did was to act indecisively. If you want to reduce the power of the feudal lords, you must act immediately. Secretly send people to capture the feudal lords with the most powerful troops and bring them to the capital to be imprisoned, and then order the generals to take over their armies."

Zhu Yuanzhang said indifferently: "But you are hesitant and hesitant. You first attacked some weak princes to alert those princes with heavy troops. Then you made a big fuss to arrest people and even released the hostages in the capital. You are as stupid as a pig. How could I choose you to be the emperor? Liu Sanwu, this old man, has really harmed me a lot!"

"Grandpa Emperor, I."

Zhu Yunwen's face was dull, and the smugness he had when he first saw Zhu Di in distress was gone. Being scolded by his grandfather, he could already imagine that his throne might no longer be secure.

"Humph!"

Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly, then looked at Zhu Di, squatted down, and began to look up and down at the middle-aged Zhu Di in front of him. When Zhu Di heard that his father did not blame him and scolded Zhu Yunwen, his mood had calmed down a little. He raised his head and looked at Zhu Yuanzhang, then quickly lowered his head.

But Zhu Yuanzhang held his head down, touched his face, felt the vicissitudes of the middle-aged Zhu Di's face, and sighed for a moment: "Old Four."

"Father."

Zhu Di began to tremble again. This familiar feeling of oppression always made him breathless.

"I don't blame you for this. I didn't teach Yunwen well, and he was corrupted by others and instigated some bad things. You have been wronged."

"Thank you, father, for your understanding."

At this moment, Zhu Di felt that all his grievances were released, and tears kept flowing out.

It was obviously Zhu Yunwen who bullied them.

He sent his two children to the capital as hostages, hoping to gain the trust of the court.

But the court ignored it.

He chose to pretend to be crazy and stupid, just to be let off by the court.

But the court had no intention of giving him a chance to live.

So he could only fight back.

Have to resist.

Now that his father affirms his actions, this is the best sound of nature.

It feels more comfortable to let out the anger in my heart than to go to the capital.

"but."

Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly patted his face, changed the subject, and said softly: "You must always remember one thing, what your father gives you is yours. If your father doesn't give it to you, you can't take it away, understand?"

"Yes, yes, father."

Zhu Di's eyes were filled with fear and his voice trembled.

This sentence is telling him.

Although he was forced to rebel by Zhu Yunwen.

But he gave the throne to Zhu Yunwen, not you Zhu Di.

Then you can’t reach out and take it.

It seems a bit contradictory.

There is no contradiction.

Zhu Di understood what his father wanted to express.

Zhu Yuanzhang stood up and looked around. All the ministers knelt on the ground. The soldiers around him stared at each other and slowly knelt on the ground one after another.

In a short while, a glance around showed that countless people were kneeling in the square inside Qianqing Gate.

"You guys were supposed to be the ministers I selected to assist the Crown Prince. I want my son to guard the border and protect their nephew, King Qing."

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at his ministers and said coldly: "After I died, you instigated my grandson to kill my son, making them kill each other and alienate our family. This is truly an unforgivable crime!"

Qi Tai cried out in the crowd, "Your Majesty, I want to ask, the kings and their relatives have a lot of troops and are lawless, what can we do? Don't they respect the laws of the court, act recklessly, and may start a rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms of Han at any time? Do you want Your Majesty to sit and wait for death?"

"Ah."

Zhu Yuanzhang sneered, "You guys are reducing the power of the princes, who among the princes would not sit and wait for death? Even the Prince of Yan almost died, which is enough to show that the princes have always obeyed the laws of the court. If you hadn't pushed them too hard, how could this have happened?"

This sentence left everyone speechless.

In the final analysis, the power of the vassal kings was indeed very strong, but Zhu Yuanzhang had actually realized this in his later years and had repeatedly weakened the power of the vassal kings.

For example, they could not directly control the military power, but it was controlled by generals sent by the court.

You can lead troops only when you encounter a border war.

Zhu Di had only 800 men at the beginning, and it was purely relying on his prestige in Peking for so many years that he was able to gather all his old subordinates together.

Otherwise, his actual guard force was only 800, and it would be impossible for him to compete with the imperial court.

After all, it was because Zhu Yunwen pushed the issue too far, and Zhu Di's old subordinates could no longer stand it, so they joined Zhu Di in rebellion.

Otherwise, if Zhu Di dared to win over his old subordinates to rebel without Zhu Yunwen's coercion, the only outcome would be that he would be reported to the court by those old subordinates and then tied up and sent to Nanjing.

Therefore, Emperor Jianwen's reduction of the power of the princes was an act of seeking death. He was obviously much younger than many of the princes, and it would not be too late to reduce the power of the princes after waiting for those uncles to die.

Or even if they had to take action, they would use drastic measures and send people to Beijing secretly to arrest people, arresting the strong first and then dealing with the weak.

But he just kept procrastinating, making all kinds of stupid moves, which led to his current situation.

The Zhu Yuanzhang in the 13th year of Hongwu was not the Zhu Yuanzhang of his later years. At that time, Zhu Yunwen was only three years old, and their feelings were not as deep as later.

Having learned the whole story, Zhu Yuanzhang did not want to sympathize with Zhu Yunwen at all.

This is all your own fault.

Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly and said, "Everything that happened today is enough to prove that I was wrong to pass the throne to Zhu Yunwen. Although Liu Sanwu is dead, his grave should be dug up and his corpse whipped, Lao Si!"

Zhu Di hurriedly said, "Father, I'm here."

"Pass on my decree, exterminate the Liu clan! Grant the Lü clan death!"

"Yes!"

Zhu Di was very happy.

If Lu was to be sentenced to death, then Zhu Yunwen would definitely be deposed.

Even if my father were to be resurrected and continue to be the emperor, since the eldest, second and third brothers are all dead, wouldn't the throne be his after a hundred years?

Hearing Zhu Yuanzhang's words, Zhu Yunwen beside him said in astonishment: "Grandpa Emperor, no, Grandpa Emperor!"

He crawled over crying and hugged Zhu Yuanzhang's thighs and said, "Grandpa Emperor, don't you love me the most? Please don't kill my mother. I am willing to issue an imperial edict to abdicate. Please don't kill my mother!"

However, Zhu Yuanzhang had a heart of stone and remained unmoved.

It was the young Zhu Di who was moved with sympathy. He came over and whispered, "Father, the story of Lu's murder of Zhu Xiongying is a conspiracy theory of later generations. Under your watch, with so many Jinyiwei, Lu had no chance to do it. Yunwen has already lost his throne and his mother."

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at him with a little surprise, and after a little thought, he understood his thoughts, and said in a deep voice: "In that case, imprison their whole family in Fengyang."

"Father, what about the other sons of my eldest brother?"

Although Zhu Di didn't know what the young man, who looked very much like himself when he was young but was fatter than himself when he was young, said to his father, he knew what he should ask, so he hurriedly asked tentatively.

Although Zhu Yunwen is dead, Zhu Yunhuan, Zhu Yunhuan and Zhu Yunxi are still alive.

Especially Zhu Yunhuan, who was the second legitimate son.

In case of father
"Ah."

Zhu Yuanzhang sneered.

You can guess what the fourth child is thinking with your toes.

He said, "Don't worry, I will give you the throne this time. But I have only one request, all the civil and military officials in the court should be dealt with, and if you don't treat your eldest brother's other sons well."

After that, Old Zhu sneered again and again, shocking Big Zhu Di with both joy and fear. He kowtowed repeatedly and said, "Please rest assured, father. I will definitely treat them well."

"it is good."

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his sleeves and said, "I will be waiting for you in the Qianqing Palace. You must immediately control all the soldiers in the city and gather all the civil and military officials to come to see me. I will announce this to the world and let you inherit the throne legitimately!"

The joy in Zhu Di's heart was almost impossible to suppress.

The coveted throne.

It actually fell on me in such an unexpected way.

This moment.

Zhu Di felt as if he was dreaming.

(End of this chapter)