Ming Dynasty: Ask Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 336: The true meaning of the honey trap! Old Zhu, who values love and friendship!

There are always people who naively believe that the beauty trap is nothing more than finding a graceful and beautiful woman who is stunningly beautiful.

With her alluring appearance and graceful figure, she can use sex as bait to bewitch people's hearts, making them dizzy and infatuated.

But this is actually an extremely superficial misunderstanding.

Just imagine, the simple and crude method of seducing people with sex may have some effect on those men who are at the bottom of society and have extremely scarce sexual resources.

They struggle in hardship and toil throughout their lives and rarely have the opportunity to get close to women.

Once you are faced with beauty, it is inevitable that your heart will be moved.

However, for people with a little status, beauties are just ordinary toys to them.

They are surrounded by beautiful girls, so how could they be easily deceived by such superficial seduction techniques?
Even if you are facing a man who has not been close to women for more than ten years and is extremely eager for women, but has a strong mind, simple sex appeal may not be able to truly capture him and make him obey you.

Although the desire exists, the defense line of rationality cannot be broken so easily.

It is simply a fantasy to want to control a person with a firm mind just by relying on beauty.

The essence of a true beauty trap is not sex, but love.

The word "love" is as heavy as a thousand pounds. It can hit the softest part of people's hearts and make people willing to sink.

The Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang has now become an emperor who controls the world and has a heart as strong as iron.

In his eyes, even if all the most beautiful women in the world were gathered together and placed in front of him, how could they compare to the one and only "Empress Ma" in his heart?
Queen Ma was his white moonlight when he was young and down and out.

She is his wife who has accompanied him through countless hardships and dangers and supported him throughout his life.

At this moment, the years have left deep marks on Lao Zhu's face.

But when the woman who looked very similar to Empress Ma, Shang Xingyu, appeared before him, memories of the past instantly overwhelmed him like a surging tide.

In an instant, the eyes of this usually dignified and stern old man turned red and tears burst out and fell.

He completely forgot that the person in front of him was just a substitute, and his mind and eyes were filled with the time he spent with Empress Ma in the past.

Shang Xingyu only felt that her hands were being tightly grasped by a pair of strong and slightly trembling hands. The force seemed to want to embed her into the palm of the hand, and she was afraid that if she let go, she would disappear like a dream.

Shang Xingyu's heart was beating violently in his chest, like dense drum beats, as if it was about to jump out of his throat at the next moment.

She knew very well that she was walking on a tightrope with cliffs on both sides.

If you are not careful, you will fall into the endless hell.

As deep as the old emperor's love for Queen Ma was, his hatred would be intense once he realized he had been deceived.

She knew this very well.

But at this point, the arrow has been shot and there is no turning back, so we have no choice but to continue.

"Chongba, how come you have become so old?"

Shang Xingyu tried his best to calm himself, and spoke again in the most gentle and natural tone possible, following the "lines" he had recited thousands of times in Prince Zhou's Mansion.

Although she was extremely nervous at the moment, her palms were sweating and her eyes were filled with tears.

The tone of his voice was as if he was really reuniting with his lover after a long separation.

As expected, these words were like a key that opened the floodgates of Lao Zhu's emotions, and he cried even harder.

The suppressed sob squeezed out from the depths of her throat: "Sister, please don't leave me again, okay?"

The choked voices, filled with attachment and pleading, touched the heart.

"Okay, okay, okay... I won't leave again. Have you eaten? I'll go make you some pancakes."

Shang Xingyu responded softly while struggling to break free from Lao Zhu's tight grip.

She walked lightly, picked up the apron that had been prepared on the stove next to her, tied it around her waist skillfully, and then began to get busy.

"The Empress of the East Palace makes pancakes, and the Empress of the West Palace peels scallions." This line, which is widely sung in folk dramas, fully expresses the lower-class people's imagination of the simple yet down-to-earth life in the palace.

For the poor masses who struggle with hunger and cold all year round, pancakes and green onions are the most beautiful things in the world that they can imagine.

In their simple and pure understanding, the Queen must have endless amounts of cake to eat.

As for the more luxurious and exquisite delicacies, they were beyond the limits of their poor imagination.

After all, human cognition is limited to their own experience, and poverty is like a shackle that firmly imprisons their imagination of the luxurious life of the upper class.

How can the poor people at the bottom of society imagine how extravagant the lives of the upper class and the wealthy are?
In the eyes of the powerful, pancakes, a food that ordinary people dream of, may not even be acceptable to them, and may even be despised and looked down upon.

However, Queen Ma was completely different.

Looking back to those days, Old Zhu was down and out, trapped in prison, and couldn’t even get a hot meal.

Queen Ma was extremely anxious and baked two large pancakes herself in her simple residence.

At that time, the fire was burning brightly and the pancakes were sizzling in the pan, steaming hot.

Empress Ma was so anxious that she didn't care about anything else. As soon as the pancake came out of the pan, she hurriedly hid it in her arms and rushed all the way to the prison.

The scalding hot pancake pressed tightly against her skin, and the scorching temperature instantly burned her chest.

But she didn't feel any pain at all, and her only thought was to get the food to Lao Zhu as quickly as possible.

Old Zhu took the pancake that was warm from her body temperature and even stained with a little blood. He looked at the red and swollen skin on her chest that was burned, and tears flowed uncontrollably.

At that moment, the friendship between Lao Zhu and her became as solid as a rock under the hardships.

Later, Zhu Yuanzhang put on the dragon robe and ascended the throne, but he remained true to his original feelings for Empress Ma.

Whenever Zhu Yuanzhang got angry and wanted to kill someone, he could be stopped as long as Empress Ma advised him.

The name "Zhongba" has been taboo since Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor.

Who dares to call the emperor by his name?
But Queen Ma can shout as she pleases!
What's more, when there were no outsiders present, Empress Ma even dared to pull Zhu's ears!

All the civil and military officials in the court knew that if they offended the Emperor, they might still have a way out.

After all, there was Queen Ma pleading for mercy.

If you offend Queen Ma, you will definitely be dead!

Although she was in the harem and was the queen, enjoying all the honors, Empress Ma would still go into the kitchen filled with smoke and make a few pancakes for Emperor Zhu in her spare time.

The familiar aroma permeated the palace. To them, it was not just a meal, but also a sweet memory that belonged only to them as a couple.

It carries the deep affection of the years and witnesses the ups and downs along the way.

How can such true love be compared with ordinary beauty traps?
Therefore, when King Zhu Su of Zhou was carefully training Shang Xingyu, he specially arranged for a capable craftsman to teach her a unique skill - making pancakes.

Shang Xingyu was born in a commoner's family. Since childhood, he has been shuttling around the kitchen full of smoke and smoke, doing all kinds of housework. Therefore, when he learned to make pancakes, he got the hang of it very quickly, as if it was a natural talent.

In just a few days, she had mastered the movements of kneading dough, rolling out the pancakes, sprinkling salt and turning them over so smoothly that she could do them all in one go.

At this moment, Shang Xingyu stood in front of the steaming stove, skillfully fiddling with the dough with her slender hands.

I saw her rolling the dough into a round pan of even thickness, and then gently tossing it, the pancake fell obediently onto the hot pan, instantly making an enticing "sizzling" sound.

After a while, the air was filled with the rich aroma of wheat, which went straight into people's hearts and aroused their appetite.

Old Zhu, who was standing aside, kept his eyes glued to Shang Xingyu from beginning to end. The majestic, cold and powerful aura of an emperor that he usually had disappeared without a trace.

At this moment, he was like an honest and simple country old man, his eyes full of obsession and tenderness, the corners of his mouth unconsciously raised, revealing an almost silly smile.

The vicissitudes of life have carved deep and shallow grooves on his face.

But at this moment, those wrinkles seemed to be filled with joy, as if he was immersed in a beautiful dream and didn't want to wake up.

Yoshigaki watched this scene silently from the side, but his heart was surging like a stormy sea.

While Shang Xingyu was busy and Lao Zhu was intoxicated, he quietly pulled several eunuchs in the kitchen to the corner, lowered his voice, and asked them again about the ins and outs of the matter.

However, the young eunuchs were so frightened that they trembled and shook their heads like rattles, and they couldn't come up with any new clues.

"Could it be that the new emperor saw that the old emperor was lonely and helpless within the walls of the harem, so he specially found someone from outside the palace who looked like Empress Ma to comfort the old emperor's loneliness?"

Yoshigaki pondered in his heart, but as soon as the thought came to his mind, he quickly suppressed it.

Although the inner palace is not completely isolated from the outside world, news can still be transmitted in.

If it is such a big deal, there is no reason for the new emperor to hide it.

After all, due to his advanced age, Mr. Zhu's eyesight is not as good as before, and it is extremely difficult for him to read the words on the newspaper.

Yoshigaki read out to him word for word all the secret reports submitted by the outside world.

If the new emperor really did this, how could I be unaware of it?
Furthermore, looking at the old emperor's extremely shocked expression when he first heard the news, it was clear that he did not look like he knew the inside story in advance.

Moreover, if it was really arranged for the new emperor, why would they go to the extra mile to hide the person in a basket and send him in secretly?

Although the harem is closed, there is still a narrow passage that is only suitable for one person to pass through.

Although this passage has to pass through three heavily guarded gates with iron locks hanging high, but with just an order from the new emperor, opening the passage is just a piece of cake.

Didn't the imperial physician who previously treated Old Zhu and the palace maid who helped the fake body bathe enter the palace in this way?
Once you enter the palace, you are allowed to go in but not leave, and it does not affect the restrictions of the harem at all.

In this case, it must not be the new emperor who sent the people in the basket.

But the more he analyzed it, the more uneasy Yoshigaki felt.

Who on earth could have the audacity to secretly send a woman who looked very similar to Empress Ma into the forbidden harem where the old emperor lived without the knowledge of the new emperor?

Could it be that the old emperor was really bewitched by this woman?
Yoshigaki had served Zhu for many years and knew that the old emperor was meticulous and determined, and was not someone who could be easily bewitched.

In his heart, the old emperor's mind was like an unfathomable abyss. It was difficult for ordinary people to even get close to it, let alone set foot in it.

But what happened today caused his faith to waver a little.

After all, that person is "Queen Ma"!

Over the years, Yoshigaki witnessed with his own eyes how Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma supported each other and went through countless years of ups and downs hand in hand.

He knew very well how important Empress Ma was in Zhu Yuanzhang's heart.

It is an existence that is more important than Mount Tai and irreplaceable.

Even the once beloved former crown prince Zhu Biao, by comparison, had a much inferior status in Zhu's heart.

Zhu Yunhuan successfully seized the position of crown prince simply by crying to Zhu Biao in front of Zhu Lao and relying on a few "last words" of Zhu Biao before his death.

This shows that Mr. Zhu's deep affection for his deceased son has permeated into his decisions on all matters.

What about Queen Ma?
Now, Shang Xingyu has obviously been carefully trained, and his every word, action, and gesture all hit the spot right on Lao Zhu's heart.

Her trick of cooking pancakes hit the softest corner of Lao Zhu's heart.

Looking back, Lao Zhu was still staring at Shang Xingyu infatuatedly, his smile full of attachment and doting.

It was as if everything in the world had ceased to exist, and only the woman in front of him could catch his eyes and warm his heart.

Seeing this, Yoshigaki sighed in his heart.

In the eyes of some scheming people, a mature emperor should be a ruthless political machine.

Everything he thinks, does, and does should serve political power and the empire.

As for personal feelings and desires, they should have been discarded the moment he ascended the throne.

However, humans are not plants or trees, so who can be heartless?
This is especially true for those founding emperors who started from scratch and built their empire.

Back then, they were just a group of passionate heroes from humble origins!

Without that utmost affection and loyalty, how could one gather the people's hearts and make a group of brothers follow him wholeheartedly, willing to charge into battle for him, sacrifice their lives, and cut through thorns and brambles to conquer this vast territory?
Which of the generals and counselors who fought for the country was not a shrewd man with a keen eye and golden pupil?
How can such true feelings be faked?
If you show any falseness, you will be seen through by everyone and end up being alone.

Therefore, all founding emperors, especially those who rose from the grassroots, are men of temperament.

Although after they ascended the throne, as time passed and the situation changed, the friendship with their former brothers might quietly change, but this is also human nature.

After all, with different identities and statuses, the difficulties and choices faced are also very different.

But at least, at the beginning of their business, their loyal and righteous character was unquestionable.

The fact that Zhu Yuanzhang was able to win the heartfelt support of many brothers in troubled times and make them willing to work for him and help him ascend to the throne is enough to prove his character.

Those who are heartless and ungrateful are destined to be despised by everyone and become wandering ghosts. How could there be so many heroes willing to go through fire and water for them?
However, at this moment Yoshigaki knew very well that the old emperor's loyal and righteous character might become his fatal weakness.

This "Empress Ma" who appeared out of nowhere was undoubtedly a sharp sword hanging over the old emperor's head.

What kind of sinister intentions did the person who secretly offered this woman to you have?

Could it be that the old emperor has fallen into a carefully planned trap?

The more Yoshigaki thought about it, the more he felt a chill down his spine.

In a flash, cold sweat soaked his clothes.

After weighing the pros and cons, he moved quietly, like a nimble civet cat, and slowly hid his figure behind the other eunuchs.

Taking advantage of everyone's unpreparedness, he turned around and ran quickly, heading straight for the mechanism room connecting the harem with the outside world.

This matter is of great importance and must be reported to the new emperor as soon as possible!
……

(End of this chapter)