Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 197: Brotherly Friendship and Respect, the Change of Seizing the Gate! [Please Subscribe]

Just when Zhu Di thought he was going to get a good beating, the jade ruler broke.

Seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang stopped, but in the end he couldn't help but kick Zhu Di in the butt.

"Stand still and listen to Liu Kuan tell you about the future of your great-grandson!"

"That's also father's great-great-grandson." Zhu Di couldn't help but reply.

"You little bastard, you still want to be beaten, right?" Zhu Yuanzhang pretended to kick Zhu Di's butt again.

Zhu Di ran away quickly - although Zhu Yuanzhang's kick didn't hurt much, it was embarrassing.

Zhu Yuanzhang did not chase after Zhu Di, but returned to the dragon throne and said, "Liu Kuan, continue."

"Yes," Liu Kuan replied, "When Yesen abducted Zhu Qizhen and led the Oirat army south, in Beijing, Yu Qian, after taking office as Minister of War, first captured and killed Wang Zhen's followers and their relatives."

"When the news of Yesen holding Zhu Qizhen hostage and knocking at the door reached Beijing, Yu Qian invited Zhu Qiyu to ascend the throne and proclaim himself emperor, and remotely honored Zhu Qizhen as the Supreme Emperor."

"To calm people's hearts and resolve to defend the city, Empress Dowager Sun agreed. Zhu Qiyu then ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, changing the reign to Jingtai. He is known in history as the Jingtai Emperor."

"When Yesen heard that Zhu Qiyu had ascended the throne, he headed south under the pretext of escorting Zhu Qizhen back to the capital to re-assume the throne. He again requested that the cities along the way open their gates to welcome him, but still no city did."

"Seeing this, Yesen led his army and Zhu Qizhen straight to Beijing, hoping to take advantage of Beijing's lack of military strength to capture it."

"It's rare for the Ming Dynasty to have such unity between the emperor and his subjects. Even the people of Beijing actively assisted in defending the city. Furthermore, Ming Dynasty firearms held a significant advantage in defending the city. Therefore, even with insufficient manpower, they still held off the Oirat army's fierce attacks for several days, waiting for the arrival of the reinforcements to support the emperor."

"When Yesen saw that he could not capture Beijing, and that his troops attacking Juyongguan and other places had also failed, he withdrew from the pass."

Liu Kuan stopped after saying this.

Zhu Yuanzhang asked, "What about that brat Zhu Qizhen? He couldn't even open a city gate, and he became the emperor emeritus. His usefulness has greatly decreased. How did the Oirat treat him?"

Liu Kuan said, "Yesen treated Zhu Qizhen with the same courtesy as always, supporting him like a grassland noble. He even wanted to marry his sister to Zhu Qizhen, but Zhu Qizhen refused."

"Speaking of this, I do recall some historical records, whose authenticity I'm not sure - it says that when Zhu Qizhen was abducted by Yesen and marched south, he met privately with Ming spies several times. On the one hand, he instructed the city garrisons not to surrender their cities because of him, and on the other hand, he informed the Ming army of the strength of the Oirat army."

"His behavior was clearly very different from his foolishness, ignorance, and incompetence in the years before the Battle of Tumu, so many people in later generations suspected that this part of the historical material was fabricated by him later."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and commented, "You're right. Judging from Zhu Qizhen's previous performance, it's possible that he privately met with spies and instructed the guards not to open the city gates. But to say he was trying to detect the strength of the Wala army... huh, how can one detect the strength of an army so easily?"

Zhu Biao and Zhu Di also nodded.

Anyone who has some understanding of military affairs knows that unless it is the general in charge of command, the middle and low-level soldiers may not understand the strengths and weaknesses of their own army, not to mention that Zhu Qizhen was an important prisoner of the Oirat at the time, and his movements would inevitably be restricted and even closely monitored.

It was difficult for him to meet with Ming army spies and detect the strength of the Wala army, which was not in line with his abilities.

Zhu Yuanzhang, however, seized upon another suspicious point in Liu Kuan's words and asked, "You're saying that Zhu Qizhen had this story fabricated later? He was already a captive, yet he was still able to control the Ming historians?"

Liu Kuan smiled and said, "Your Majesty, please listen to me and you will understand."

Zhu Yuanzhang felt that Liu Kuan's smile was malicious, but he still gestured for him to continue speaking.

"Zhu Qiyu ascended the throne in a time of crisis and won the Battle of Beijing, which earned him a certain amount of prestige."

"Afterwards, with the assistance of Yu Qian, he continued to purge the remnants of Wang Zhen's followers while appointing talented people and working hard to stabilize the government that had become chaotic due to the Battle of Tumu."

"However, in August of the following year, Zhu Qizhen was escorted to Beijing by Yesen..."

"What?!" Zhu Biao and Zhu Di both exclaimed in surprise.

Zhu Di widened his eyes with an expression of disbelief, obviously not expecting things to develop in this way.

Zhu Yuanzhang was only slightly stunned, and then a cold light flashed in his eyes, and he said coldly: "Yesen is indeed a great man of the grassland. He really has some political strategies."

"He's held Zhu Qizhen captive for a year, so he must have realized that the bastard is a loser and a jerk. Meanwhile, Zhu Qiyu, who ascended the Ming throne, seems to be a capable ruler. So, holding onto Zhu Qizhen is of little use to him."

"Killing Zhu Qizhen would only slightly increase the prestige of the Oirat Mongols, and would have no other effect. But if Zhu Qizhen were sent to the capital, the Ming Dynasty would have an extra emperor."

"As the saying goes, there can be no two suns under the sky, and no country can have two rulers. Zhu Qizhen has returned. Even if he made mistakes, Zhu Qiyu still has his biological mother, Empress Dowager Sun, above him. Should the Ming court listen to the new emperor, Zhu Qiyu, or to Zhu Qizhen or Empress Dowager Sun?"

"Yesen's move is extremely vicious."

At the end of his speech, the murderous intent in Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes disappeared, and instead a hint of worry appeared.

He didn't know how Zhu Qiyu would handle this situation in later history, so he was naturally worried. After all, they were all descendants of Zhu Zhanji, so why were Zhu Qizhen and Zhu Qiyu so different?
After listening to Zhu Yuanzhang's analysis, Zhu Biao and Zhu Di realized how dangerous the situation Zhu Qiyu was facing, and they couldn't help but worry about it.

Zhu Biao asked anxiously, "Brother-in-law, how did Zhu Qiyu deal with this? He wouldn't return the throne to Zhu Qizhen again, would he?"

Liu Kuan was speechless after hearing this and thought to himself: Can the throne be given away?

He didn't say this, but continued to tell the history.

"Your Highness, upon meeting, Zhu Qizhen and Zhu Qiyu behaved respectfully in front of the court officials, even pushing each other for the throne. But then Zhu Qiyu locked Zhu Qizhen up in the Southern Palace and assigned guards to keep him under strict observation. He remained locked up for seven years."

"During these seven years, Zhu Qiyu, with the assistance of ministers such as Yu Qian, stabilized the government, provided disaster relief, comforted refugees, and developed the economy, gradually restoring some of the Ming Dynasty's vitality."

"During this period, the Ming army repeatedly repelled the Oirat invaders and quelled some internal rebellions."

"In terms of literature, he commissioned the compilation of the 'Universal Records', the general local chronicle of the Ming Dynasty, and further revised the 'Unified Records of the Ming Dynasty'. In terms of Ming craftsmanship, the superb technique of 'copper-based cloisonné enamel' emerged."

"Just judging by Zhu Qiyu's performance in both civil and military affairs over the past few years, he can be considered a wise and capable ruler among the dozen or so Ming emperors of later generations."

"But he had a concern - when Empress Dowager Sun agreed to his ascension to the throne, she put forward a condition in exchange, which was to make Zhu Qizhen's son Zhu Jianshen the crown prince."

"In other words, Zhu Qiyu is actually just an acting emperor. When he dies, the throne of the Ming Dynasty will return to Zhu Qizhen's lineage."

"Zhu Qiyu was unwilling to accept this. He wanted to make his own son, Zhu Jianji, the crown prince, and even bribed the ministers and even the eunuchs in the palace to do so."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao and Zhu Di all frowned, realizing that something bad was about to happen.

But this time no one interrupted Liu Kuan because they were eager to hear what was to come.

"The ministers accepted bribes from Zhu Qiyu in various ways. The eunuchs in the palace seemed to have mostly sided with him, and Empress Dowager Sun seemed to have tacitly approved of this."

"However, Empress Wang disagreed and instead urged Zhu Qiyu not to break his promise. Zhu Qiyu believed that Empress Wang disagreed because she had no children, so he deposed her."

"In the third year of the Jingtai reign, Zhu Qiyu deposed his nephew Zhu Jianshen from the throne, named him Prince of Yi, and appointed Zhu Jianji as the crown prince instead. However, in the fourth year of the Jingtai reign, Zhu Jianji died of illness."

"Zhu Qiyu was deeply shocked by this. An imperial censor came to his rescue, saying that Zhu Jianji's death was a warning from heaven, and asked him to reinstate Zhu Jianshen as the crown prince. Zhu Qiyu ordered the execution."

"Zhu Qiyu was less than 30 years old at the time. Although he was childless after Zhu Jianji's death, it didn't mean he would never have one in the future. So he didn't rush into it and didn't appoint a crown prince."

"Who would have thought that in the eighth year of the Jingtai reign, he suddenly fell seriously ill and his health never recovered."

"A minister, upon seeing this, secretly obtained the Empress Dowager Sun's decree and led the army to bring Zhu Qizhen out from his house arrest in the Southern Palace. He then ascended the throne in public while all the officials waited for Zhu Qiyu to come to court."

"Although the ministers and officials were stunned, they were forced to come to the court to pay their respects under the urging of the ministers who planned this incident and the army."

Zhu Qizhen was thus restored to the throne, becoming the Ming Emperor for the second time, and changing the reign title to Tianshun. Later generations of historians referred to this event as the 'Duomen Incident'!

Zhu Biao, Zhu Di, and even Old Zhu were all stunned once again.

They never expected that Zhu Qizhen could become emperor again!
Zhu Di couldn't help but think: Could it be that my bastard great-grandson really has a destiny?
Zhu Biao couldn't help but ask, "Sister-in-law, what about Zhu Qiyu? How did it end?"

Liu Kuan said, "After Zhu Qizhen ascended the throne, he first deposed Zhu Qiyu as the Prince of Qin and placed him under house arrest in the palace. Less than a month later, news of Zhu Qiyu's death spread."

"Official history does not record the cause of his death, so some say Zhu Qiyu died of illness, while others say he was executed by Zhu Qizhen."

"However, after Zhu Qiyu's death, Zhu Qizhen abolished the imperial title on the grounds that he was 'unfilial, unfraternal, unkind, unrighteous, and his vile virtues were known to the world, condemning both humans and gods.' He bestowed the posthumous title of 'Li' on him, and named him King Liqing."

After hearing about Zhu Qiyu's ending, Zhu Yuanzhang behaved calmly and even showed an expression that said "it was as expected".

The young Zhu Biao and Zhu Di both widened their eyes with expressions of disbelief.

Zhu Di even couldn't help but say, "How could Zhu Qizhen be so shameless? His filthy behavior is so well-known that it is condemned by both humans and gods. Doesn't he think that this word should be attributed to himself?!"

To be honest, Zhu Di now wants to travel through time - to go back a few decades and beat Zhu Qizhen up to vent his anger.

After all, Zhu Qizhen and Zhu Qiyu were both his great-grandsons, so he naturally liked Zhu Qiyu more.

After hearing what Zhu Di said, Liu Kuan couldn't help but say, "What's this? Zhu Qizhen actually executed Yu Qian and others who had supported Zhu Qiyu on charges of treason before Zhu Qiyu's death, or to be more precise, on the day after he ascended the throne."

After saying this, Liu Kuan saw that only Zhu Biao frowned slightly, while Old Zhu and Zhu Di did not seem to care much, and he could not help but sigh.

I thought to myself: Okay, Old Zhu and Zhu Di, you don't care about Yu Qian's unjust death, right? I have to tell you, I have to make you unhappy!
　Second update.

　　Good night~
　　
　　
　
(End of this chapter)