Ming Dynasty: Ask Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 143: Killing Qin Wang Zhu Chong! Reducing the power of the feudal lords?
Zhu Yunhuan's body stiffened slightly.

Old Zhu continued, "We are old, sick, and unable to handle state affairs."

"From now on, all matters concerning the imperial court will be handed over to you."

"We know you are a very opinionated person and you must make some drastic changes."

"I asked you to come here today so that you can talk about these things."

"By the way, I'll tell you some ways to be a king."

"From now on, the Ming Dynasty will be handed over to you. Let's live out our lives in peace and contentment."

Zhu Yunhuan called out softly, "Grandpa Emperor!"

He wanted to say something, but for a moment, he felt that he had thousands of words in his heart and didn't know where to start.

There was a hint of last words in Old Zhu's words.

"My health is getting worse and worse. Maybe one day I will never wake up again."

"But now we are worried."

"Few of your uncles are truly law-abiding."

"We originally thought that if we let them guard the Ming Dynasty and the border, the future successor would have a stable world."

"But what if the kings are restless?"

The affairs of his sons have always been Mr. Zhu's top concern.

Although he became an emperor, he still had the simplest mentality of a small peasant.

I hope my sons can live well and that future generations can share the prosperity and wealth.

Let us work together to ensure that the Ming Dynasty will last for thousands of years.

It’s a pity that the idea is beautiful but the reality is cruel.

How could his children and grandchildren act the way he wants?

It is normal for brothers to fight against each other.

Zhu Yunhuan smiled and said, "After all, all the kings are my uncles. We are a family."

"When dealing with them, try to influence them with virtue."

"Secondly, we must convince others with courtesy."

"If they still remain unruly, their fiefdoms will be reduced."

"If you continue to disobey the imperial court's orders, I will replace all the officials in the palace to control the other kings and force them to obey."

"If the kings resist even this, then the court will have no choice but to raise an army to attack them."

Zhu Yuanzhang stroked his beard and said with a smile: "Your method is good, but this is the only way."

He paused, and then continued, "The King of Qin first ordered someone to assassinate you, and then framed you. How are you going to deal with this?"

"He is my second uncle after all, and this matter..." Zhu Yunheng was interrupted by Old Zhu before he could finish his words.

"You are confused!" Old Zhu scolded with a stern face, "You treat him as your second uncle, but he doesn't treat you as his own nephew."

"Last year, he committed a crime in his fiefdom, and we brought him to the capital to interrogate him. We wanted to punish him severely."

"It was because your father pleaded for him many times that we let him go."

"Isn't your father kind to him?"

"If he had any gratitude or brotherhood in his heart, he shouldn't have treated you like this."

Old Zhu became angrier as he spoke.

"On the day you were assassinated, we suspected he was the one who did it."

"So I found an excuse and beat him up."

"He knows exactly why he was beaten."

"I thought he would come to his senses and change his ways, so that's all."

"But what did he do?"

Old Zhu panted heavily, "Not only does he not have the slightest intention of repenting, he even thinks he is smart enough to continue to instruct Nie Huan'er to accuse you and frame you."

"What a vicious heart!"

"We can't just let him go like this."

Old Zhu closed his eyes, his expression showing pain and determination.

"How many wrong things has he done since he was a child?"

"How many times have we punished him?"

"Why can't you teach him well?"

"A rotten tree cannot be carved. A rotten tree cannot be carved."

Old Zhu was trembling all over.

"If you do evil by God, you can still forgive it; if you do evil by yourself, you will not live!"

"If our sons think they can do whatever they want by relying on their status, and even try to assassinate the crown prince again and again without being punished, then the Ming Dynasty will never have peace."

"No matter how reluctant we are or how sad we are, we can only kill a chicken to scare the monkeys."

"We can't keep him here any longer!"

Zhu Yunhuan was stunned.

I didn't expect that Lao Zhu would make such a decision.

Do you really want to kill your son?
And he even killed the son he had with Queen Ma?

You know, given Lao Zhu's ingrained idea of protecting his children as an old farmer, achieving this is extremely difficult!

Zhu Yunhuan never expected it.

In his opinion, the only way to take action against the kings is to wait until Zhu Yuanzhang dies.

Otherwise, they would lock him up in solitary confinement like they did to Zhu Yunwen.

That's the most.

It is impossible to kill.

Old Zhu would not allow anyone to kill his son.

Unexpectedly, Zhu Yuanzhang actually planned to kill the King of Qin.

I'm afraid this is the real reason why he burst into tears just now.

At this time, Old Zhu murmured again: "He is not the only son we have. Only by killing him can we save the others."

Zhu Yunhuan understood instantly.

If we do not serve as a warning to those who come after us, other kings will continue to plot and act.

For example, King Jin.

He was the one behind this matter.

He is the real murderer.

Of course, the King of Qin was not wronged.

After all, everything the King of Qin did was done on his own initiative, and he was not forced by the King of Jin.

The King of Jin is only better than the King of Qin in terms of strategy.

Old Zhu did not expose the truth and saved the Prince of Jin.

But it is not necessary to give a stern warning to King Jin and other kings.

The King of Qin must sacrifice himself!

Old Zhu was reluctant to let the King of Qin die, but he was more afraid that the kings would have no fear and act without taboos. Finally, Zhu Yunhuan could no longer tolerate it and had to wield the butcher knife.

By then, it would not just be the King of Qin who died.

Especially after his death, how would the kings, who were left without anyone to supervise them, get along with the emperor who would come after them?
Zhu Yunhuan asked softly, "How does the Emperor plan to deal with my second uncle?"

"Don't let family disgrace be aired in public!" Old Zhu said in a deep voice, "You can't use the charge of assassinating you or framing you when you deal with him."

"We can't do too much damage to the reputation and prestige of the royal family."

"But we must also make sure that the other kings are fully aware of this and can learn from it."

He seemed to have already thought of a solution.

"The King of Qin has always been cruel and merciless, and has committed many evil deeds."

"The servants in the palace were often abused, and they even took pleasure in torturing them."

"Ignorant of human affairs and as stupid as an animal!"

"Let him die in the hands of a villain."

Old Zhu turned to look at Zhu Yunhuan:

"This is also a deterrent to the kings!"

"Let them all know that they should behave themselves from now on."

"You take care of this."

"Remember, be calm and don't leave any traces."

Zhu Yunhuan was stunned.

He never expected that after going around in circles, Zhu Yuanzhang would actually ask him to kill the King of Qin.

But in a flash I understood.

The King of Qin first arranged for people from the Pu family to assassinate him, and then asked Nie Huan'er to accuse him in front of the emperor.

Twice in a row, they wanted to kill him.

If he said that he had no resentment towards the King of Qin at all, I'm afraid Zhu Yuanzhang would not believe it at all.

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang handed the King of Qin over to him and asked him to take revenge personally.

This was a kind of compensation from Zhu Yuanzhang for not pursuing the crime of Prince Jin.

In Old Zhu's opinion, this could at least allow Zhu Yunhuan to vent most of his anger.

On the other hand, this is also an assessment of his abilities by Lao Zhu.

Even King Qin Zhu Chong could arrange assassins to kill him, so what about him?

Could he deal with a vassal king without anyone noticing without using the court's public power or publicly punishing him?

If he could do it, it would mean that he was very skilled and could kill a vassal king without using any soldiers.

The other kings will also be frightened by this and dare not act recklessly anymore.

According to historical records, Prince of Qin Zhu Chong would die at the hands of servants in the palace.

It will not be recorded that he secretly murdered his nephew.

But all the kings must know clearly why King Qin Zhu Chong died, so that they will be in awe of him from then on.

"Yes!" Zhu Yunhuan nodded and said, "Grandpa Emperor, I understand. I will do it."

He suddenly remembered that the Qin King Zhu Chong in history seemed to have died at the hands of servants in his palace.

Could it be that it was actually Lao Zhu who took action?
That might indeed be the case.

Otherwise, how could the dignified King of Qin die so easily at the hands of a few women?
However, Lao Zhu covered up the matter very cleverly.

People in later generations naturally have no way of knowing the hidden truth.

After a long series of twists and turns, the King of Qin's fate remained the same.

Is this due to historical inertia?

Old Zhu pondered again and said, "He is not the only one who is ready to make a move."

"We need to give the other kings a good beating as well."

He frowned and thought for a while, then said, "When we first divided the vassal kings, many people opposed it."

"Even Liu Bowen disapproved."

"Until today, there are still people in the court who are constantly proposing to reduce the power of the feudal lords. What do you think of this?"

In fact, few ministers in the court supported Zhu Yuanzhang's policy of granting fiefs to vassal kings on a large scale.

The ministers were well aware of the hidden dangers posed by the princes.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang insisted on his own way and even killed several ministers who openly and strongly opposed the enfeoffment, which made everyone keep silent.

Even Liu Bowen, who had originally strongly opposed it, later became a bystander.

The ministers still believe that if Zhu Yuanzhang dies and the new emperor ascends the throne, the reduction of power among the feudal lords is inevitable.

This is also true.

No matter who is the emperor, he will not allow the power of the vassal kings to continue to grow.

But when Old Zhu asked this question at this time, Zhu Yunhuan suddenly became alert.

This conversation with Zhu Yuanzhang might be his last before he was appointed crown prince.

Although he and Lao Zhu are grandfather and grandson, Lao Zhu actually doesn't know much about him.

It was not until Zhu Yunhuan stepped forward to compete for the position of crown prince that Zhu Yuanzhang really came into his sight.

In Lao Zhu's eyes, his previous incarnation was probably not much better than a invisible man.

Naturally, Mr. Zhu now wants to get to know him better.

After a brief thought, Zhu Yunhuan said, "The vassal kings play a huge role in stabilizing the borders of the Ming Dynasty."

"Even if you want to reduce the power of the feudal lords, there is no need to rush."

"However, Grandfather Emperor, our Ming Dynasty's system of enfeoffment of royal family members has great problems, and I'm afraid it must be changed."

He deliberately avoided the issue of vassal kings and only talked about the royal family system.

On the one hand, this is in line with Lao Zhu's temperament.

On the other hand, in Zhu Yunhuan's view, the vassal kings with heavy troops posed no threat to him at all.

His current goal is to lead the Ming Dynasty to industrialization.

The Ming Manufacturing Bureau is continuously producing new industrial products.

The production line for flintlock rifles is already under construction, and the army will soon be equipped with them in large quantities.

What is the army of the vassal kings compared to the new army armed with guns and new cannons?

Therefore, Zhu Yunhuan was not in a hurry to reduce the power of the princes.

On the contrary, once the clan system is formed, it is difficult to change.

So many disciples of the royal family will inevitably become a serious burden to the imperial court in the future.

The Ming Dynasty simply could not afford to support so many royal family members.

It would be a wise move to reverse the clan system while Zhu Yuanzhang is still alive.

What's more, the vassal system itself is a part of the royal family system.

Changing the system of royal families might solve the problem of vassal kings as well.

"The clan system?" Old Zhu asked in confusion.

"Yes!" Zhu Yunxun said, "Grandpa Emperor, I have read the historical records and found that the Han Dynasty lasted for more than 400 years. By the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the population of the royal family was about 200,000 people."

He did not analyze anything, but directly took the Han Dynasty as an example.

"What? The royal family has a population of over 200,000?"

Old Zhu's face changed drastically and he blurted out!
……

(End of this chapter)