Bringing the Railway to Daming

Seeing this, Zhu Biao also advised, "Father, perhaps it was one of my fourth brother's descendants who changed it, it may not be him."

Zhu Yuanzhang scoffed, "Even if it was changed by his descendants, isn't that his fault?!"

Zhu Di was speechless and on the verge of tears upon hearing this.

Fortunately, Zhu Yuanzhang did not actually come down to beat him.

After Zhu Yuanzhang finished reprimanding him, Liu Kuan continued, "Because Wanli disliked Zhu Changluo, he kept making various excuses to avoid finding a teacher to teach Zhu Changluo. It wasn't until Zhu Changluo was thirteen years old that Wanli, under pressure from his ministers, found a teacher to teach him to read and write."

Although Zhu Changluo was not favored by Emperor Wanli, he was protected by Empress Dowager Li, so he did not live too badly.

"But his birth mother, Lady Wang, was not so lucky. After being made a concubine, she was as if she had been banished to the cold palace. She could neither see Wanli nor her son. She spent her days in tears and eventually went blind from crying. She passed away in the thirty-ninth year of Wanli's reign."

"Although Zhu Changluo was made crown prince in the twenty-third year of Wanli's reign, his position was not secure. Firstly, Wanli still favored Consort Zheng, and secondly, although Zhu Changxun was made Prince of Fu, he delayed going to his fiefdom and lingered in the capital."

"Because Consort Zheng was secretly plotting to depose Zhu Changluo from his position as crown prince and install her son Zhu Changxun on the throne. There were even rumors that Consort Zheng had been plotting to kill the crown prince, so Zhu Changluo was actually living in fear."

Whether Consort Zheng really plotted to murder Zhu Changluo is unknown to later generations, but a strange case occurred in history, namely the "Clubbing Case", one of the three major unsolved cases in the late Ming Dynasty.

Clubbing case?
Zhu Biao, Zhu Di, and Zhu Laozhu were all intrigued when they heard this, thinking to themselves: Could it be that Wanli Emperor punished Crown Prince Zhu Changluo with a cane in court?

"Around the 43rd year of the Wanli reign, a man named Zhang Cha, armed with a jujube wood stick, broke into the Cining Palace where Zhu Changluo resided. He attacked anyone he saw, injuring many guards and eunuchs. He fought all the way to the eaves of the main hall before being captured by several eunuchs."

"Later, this person confessed that he was instructed by two eunuchs under Consort Zheng. The ministers demanded that the matter be investigated, but Consort Zheng cried to Emperor Wanli and knelt to Zhu Changluo to beg for forgiveness. In the end, the result was that Zhang Cha was judged to be crazy and only Zhang Cha was killed in the vegetable market."

"A month later, Wanli ordered the eunuchs to kill the two eunuchs accused by Zhang Cha, and the case could not be investigated."

Upon hearing this, Old Zhu did not get angry, but his face turned gloomy.

Zhu Biao and Zhu Di were dumbfounded.

Perhaps fearing further criticism, Zhu Di remarked, "How could someone manage to enter the Crown Prince's palace with just a jujube wood stick and nearly injure him? Is the Wanli Emperor's palace a joke?"

"With such a relaxed atmosphere, if there were an elite squadron, wouldn't they be able to easily storm the palace and assassinate the emperor?!"

Zhu Biao said, "Fourth brother, perhaps someone deliberately let that person into the palace."

"Zheng?" Zhu Di seemed even angrier. "A concubine in the harem not only interferes in politics, but also dares to murder the Crown Prince? What does she want to do? Become Wu Zetian?!"

"Alright, stop pretending to shout," Zhu Yuanzhang said. "In my opinion, there are only two possibilities. Either Zheng, relying on Wanli's favor, is not smart enough and has secretly instructed her eunuchs to find someone to assassinate Zhu Changluo."

"Either the officials of the outer court, in order to bring down the Zheng family, found someone like Zhang Cha, bribed the person in charge of the palace, or even bribed the two eunuchs under the Zheng family, and that's how this 'club attack case' came about."

After hearing Zhu Yuanzhang's analysis, Zhu Biao and Zhu Di both felt a chill run down their spines.

Then Zhu Di couldn't help but mutter, "Did the power of the officials outside the capital during the Wanli era really reach this level? How dare they be so audacious?"

Zhu Yuanzhang snorted, "If it is the second possibility, those civil officials and the gentry are indeed very bold, but it would be laughable to say that they are so powerful—if they were really powerful, they would not have resorted to such intrigues, but would have directly raised an army in rebellion."

"Of course, that Zheng family member is no good either. She's both stupid and wicked. If she and Prince Fu really took over the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty might fall even faster."

Zhu Biao and Zhu Di both fell into deep thought.

At this moment, Liu Kuan said, "In fact, later generations have also made speculations about the 'Clubbing Case,' which are roughly similar to Your Majesty's analysis just now. As for the truth—unless we travel back in time to investigate thoroughly, it will remain a mystery."

"A few years later, Emperor Wanli died, and Zhu Changluo, who was thirty-nine years old, was finally able to ascend the throne."

"Although he was in office for only one month, and even less than one month excluding the time he spent in office due to illness, he introduced quite a few policies."

"The main measures were to abolish mining taxes based on the advice of court officials, exempt local taxes, withdraw the mining tax eunuchs sent by Wanli to various places, add cabinet ministers, and allocate one million taels of silver from the imperial treasury to reward the soldiers in Liaodong and other border towns, which moved the court and the public."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Biao and Zhu Di were not moved; instead, their hearts sank.

At this moment, all three of them had the same thought: It's over, this Zhu Changluo has probably been swayed into stupidity by the civil officials.

Liu Kuan continued, “According to relatively reliable historical records from the Ming Dynasty, such as Guo Que and Zui Wei Lu, about ten days after Zhu Changlu ascended the throne, Consort Zheng presented him with eight concubines. After that, Emperor Taichang became obsessed with women, and there were even rumors that he ‘slept with eight phoenixes at night.’”

Nighttime Empress Eight Phoenixes?!
Moreover, what kind of bizarre thing is it for Consort Zheng, a mere imperial concubine, to present a maidservant to the new emperor?

To the bewilderment and dismay of Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao, and Zhu Di, Zhu Changluo actually dared to accept it!

Didn't he know that Consort Zheng had always wanted to get rid of him?

Or perhaps he thought that after he ascended the throne, Consort Zheng would no longer pose a threat to him? Or that she would no longer be able to harm him?

"A few days after Zheng presented the concubine, Zhu Changluo fell ill. Then Cui Wensheng, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Pharmacy and the Director of the Directorate of Ceremonial, presented Zhu Changluo with rhubarb, which was roughly equivalent to a laxative."

"Then, over the next day and night, Zhu Changluo suffered from diarrhea thirty or forty times, to the point of being critically ill. At this time, Zhu Changluo's birth mother, Lady Wang, and the Crown Princess's relative, Lady Guo, learned of this and cried to the court officials, saying, 'The Emperor's critical illness is all because Cui Wensheng gave him the wrong medicine.' " "Zhu Changluo also felt that he was dying, so he summoned the nobles, cabinet ministers, and others to the palace to make his final arrangements.

"What puzzles later generations is that the ministers also believed that the medicine presented by Cui Wensheng was problematic—Zhu Changluo was suffering from illness due to overwork and needed tonics; however, Cui Wensheng presented laxatives instead, which was obviously malicious and could be considered a deliberate attempt to murder the emperor."

"However, according to those historical records, Zhu Changluo actually believed that Cui Wensheng was ignorant of pharmacology and that it was an unintentional mistake. During his final days, he had Cui Wensheng demoted to Nanjing."

???

A series of question marks appeared on the foreheads of Zhu Biao, Zhu Di, and Zhu Laozhu, and they were all dumbfounded, clearly stunned by the matter.

Zhu Di couldn't help but exclaim, "Has Zhu Changluo gone mad? How could he just let go of the murderer who is highly suspected of killing him?!"

Zhu Biao came to his senses and looked equally puzzled.

At this moment, Liu Kuan couldn't help but smile and said, "Your Highness, are you aware that there is an even stranger thing involved?"

"What's the matter?"

Liu Kuan: "Cui Wensheng was originally a eunuch serving Consort Zheng, and a trusted confidant. However, after Zhu Changluo ascended the throne, he promoted Cui Wensheng to the position of Grand Secretary and placed him by his side, showing him great trust. Isn't that strange, Your Highness?"

Zhu Di felt his mind was going blank; he couldn't understand the situation at all.

At this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang said in a deep voice: "Either this Zhu Changluo is really simple and stupid, thinking that he has reconciled with Consort Zheng and no longer has any conflict of interest, and that he promoted Cui Wensheng to an important position in order to show his trust."

"But if that's the case, and he was critically ill and dying after taking Cui Wensheng's medicine, he should know that this person intended to harm him, and it might be at the behest of Consort Zheng."

“Normally speaking, he couldn’t have simply sent Cui Wensheng to Nanjing—a eunuch, whom the emperor could kill with a single word, without even needing a reason.”

"He was not isolated from the outside world by the palace servants, which can be proven by the fact that he was able to contact his maternal relatives and summon his ministers to the palace to make arrangements for his death."

"Therefore, another possibility is more likely—this Cui Wensheng is ostensibly Zheng's confidant, but in reality he is Zhu Changluo's man, or rather, one of the gentry who supported Zhu Changluo as crown prince in the past."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Biao couldn't help but ask, "Father, if Cui Wensheng is on Zhu Changluo's side and the court officials' side, then why would he want to murder Zhu Changluo?"

"Didn't Zhu Changluo show great trust in his court officials after he ascended the throne, and even promulgate a series of policies that benefited the gentry according to their ideas?"

Things like abolishing mining taxes and monopoly taxes were clearly beneficial to the gentry class—who in the local area could mine or run monopolistic businesses? Aren't they the gentry and big landowners?
Otherwise, why would the court and the public be so grateful after Zhu Changluo issued this policy?
All four people present understood this principle.

Zhu Biao's meaning was also clear: Isn't such an emperor exactly what the gentry needed? Why kill him?
At this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang's old eyes became exceptionally bright. He narrowed them slightly, a cold glint flashing in them, and calmly said, "What Liu Kuan said was all obtained from later historical records, but historical records are written by people, so the events they record may not be true."

"Not to mention, there are some things that are certainly not recorded in history books—what if Zhu Changluo only used the support of the gentry to ascend the throne, and first granted their requests by promulgating a series of policies that benefited the gentry, but in reality he wanted to re-enact the tax policies of the Wanli era after he truly took power, or even make them more severe?"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Biao and Zhu Di couldn't help but imagine the political situation at the end of the Wanli era and during the Taichang era, and for a moment they felt that the situation was turbulent and extremely dangerous.

Then, Zhu Biao couldn't help but ask, "If Zhu Changluo really has the kind of thinking that Father Emperor said, and is somewhat clever, then how did the gentry know his true thoughts?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "It's because of one person."

"Cui Wensheng?!" Zhu Biao and Zhu Di exclaimed in unison.

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded.

This made even Liu Kuan, who was standing to the side, feel a chill run down his spine.

He truly hadn't expected that, based on just a few paragraphs in the history book, Old Zhu would be able to deduce such a turbulent political situation and point out Cui Wensheng as the key figure.

Zhu Yuanzhang snorted and said, "Then Zheng believed that Cui Wensheng was her man, while Zhu Changluo thought that Cui Wensheng was a mole he had placed by Zheng's side—it is possible that before he became the crown prince, and during his time as crown prince, Cui Wensheng really provided him with a lot of information about Zheng's side, allowing him to avoid Zheng's repeated attempts to harm him."

"Therefore, Zhu Changluo trusted Cui Wensheng greatly, which is why he promoted him to the position of Grand Eunuch in charge of the Imperial Pharmacy after ascending the throne, regarding him as an absolute confidant and having no doubt about the medicines he presented."

"But in reality, Cui Wensheng was always a member of the gentry—most likely someone from the gentry chose Cui Wensheng, controlled his family, sent Cui Wensheng to the palace, helped him gain Zhu Changluo's trust, then sent him to Zheng's side, and helped him become Zheng's confidant."

"It was precisely because Zhu Changluo had absolute trust in Cui Wensheng that he was very likely to reveal his true thoughts on governing the country to him."

"Of course, it's also possible that some of the gentry already suspected Zhu Changluo, and Cui Wensheng was able to find out by testing him."

"If that's the case, then in the eyes of the gentry, Zhu Changluo will be more difficult to deal with than Wanli after he truly takes control of the imperial power. He will be at least a second Wanli, or even a second Jiajing."

"They did not want to see a second Wanli Emperor, much less a second Jiajing Emperor. So, eliminating Zhu Changluo before he truly grasped imperial power was the best solution."

"Not to mention, there's also that stupid woman Zheng who can be used, so it's like killing two birds with one stone."

Upon hearing Zhu Yuanzhang's "reconstruction" of the "true" political situation in the Taichang court, Liu Kuan, Zhu Biao, and Zhu Di felt their hair stand on end, and even their throats became dry. (End of Chapter)