Bringing the Railway to Daming

Zhu Biao felt that Zhu Yuanzhang had overestimated the dark side and power of the gentry group—could the so-called gentry group really have such chilling schemes?
Thinking of this, Zhu Biao recalled another point of doubt regarding the Taichang matter that Liu Kuan had mentioned earlier.

He then said, "If Cui Wensheng is truly, as Father Emperor says, a member of the gentry and was instigated by them to murder Zhu Changluo, then how does Zhu Changluo explain his final treatment of this man?"

"Surely Zhu Changluo wouldn't still trust Cui Wensheng even after taking his medicine and becoming critically ill, believing it was an unintentional mistake?"

Although in the original history, the demotion of a high-ranking eunuch to Nanjing was a relatively serious punishment, considering the crimes he committed, the punishment was very minor, almost like no punishment at all.

If Zhu Changluo had known to utilize the gentry groups, stabilize them first, and then realize his true political ambitions after gaining power, how could he not have suspected Cui Wensheng even when he was seriously ill?
Faced with Zhu Biao's doubts, Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and said, "Biao'er, have you forgotten what we said before? History books are written by people, how do you know that the records in them are necessarily true?"

"At that time, Zhu Changluo was seriously ill, and there was also the great enemy Zheng in the palace. The ministers deceived him, saying that they had killed Cui Wensheng, but in reality they falsely issued an imperial edict to release him. What then?"

"Of course, we tend to think of another possibility—that is, for the sake of future generations, Zhu Changluo saw through Cui Wensheng's true colors and guessed that it was the gentry who were plotting against him, but he deliberately did not say it."

“Because once he reveals this matter, or even exposes the true faces of some court officials who represent the interests of the gentry, the situation will probably get completely out of control—his son will not only fail to ascend the throne smoothly, but may even have difficulty surviving.”

"He simply pretended to be confused and released Cui Wensheng, so that the court officials who represented the interests of the gentry could rest assured to support his son's ascension to the throne."

"Of course, it is also possible that Zhu Changluo was unsure whether it was Zheng who harmed him, or whether the gentry knew about his ambitions and plotted against him."

“Under these circumstances, releasing Cui Wensheng and avoiding a complete breakdown in relations with the other side is still the best option for ensuring his son's stable ascension to the throne.”

Zhu Di scratched his head as he listened, never expecting that there could be so many considerations involved in just one matter.

He secretly compared himself to his brothers and finally realized that although he was much better at strategy than his brothers, he was still far behind his father—which made him a little discouraged.

At this point, Zhu Yuanzhang added, "There is one last possibility—the historical Zhu Changluo was indeed that muddle-headed, and those court officials were also muddle-headed in their actions, which is why the unreasonable things Liu Kuan mentioned occurred."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Biao and Zhu Di were still considering the possibility of this situation.

Liu Kuan laughed and said, "Your Majesty's last speculation is indeed quite possible—there is a saying in later generations, 'The world is a huge makeshift operation.'"

"Some things seem illogical, but they still happen. Some people may do things that seem confused, but that's what they think and do. It's incomprehensible."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded slightly, which was taken as agreement.

Then he gestured for Liu Kuan to continue speaking.

Liu Kuan said, "Although Zhu Changluo was nearly killed by a large yellow herb presented by Cui Wensheng and was so frightened that he even made his last arrangements, he did not die immediately."

"At this time, Li Kezhuo, the Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonies, said that he wanted to present an elixir of immortality to Zhu Changluo."

???

The three of them, including Lao Zhu, had question marks appearing above their heads again.

Although they have just accepted Liu Kuan's statement that "the world is a huge makeshift operation," you can't just do something so unreliable right away, can you?

They could understand if eunuchs or Taoist priests and alchemists from outside the palace offered them elixirs of immortality.

But you are a Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial, a proper official. Why would you suddenly appear at this time to offer an elixir of immortality?

What picture?

They don't really believe that the so-called elixir can cure the emperor and then they can gain the great merit of saving the emperor, do they?

If this kind of thing fails, it's easy for the whole clan to be eliminated. Taking such a big risk to gamble on an almost impossible result—is this something a normal person would do?
While Zhu Biao and Zhu Di were filled with questions, Liu Kuan continued talking.

"According to some historical records from later generations, it is unknown what this medicine was made of, only that it was red, hence it was called the Red Pill."

"The seriously ill Zhu Changlu somehow learned about this matter, summoned Li Kezhuo to the palace and asked him a few questions. He took the medicine with the idea of ​​giving it a try and felt much better that day."

"By evening, he had Li Kezhuo present him with another red pill, and that very night he died."

"This is another major case among the three great unsolved mysteries of the late Ming Dynasty—the Red Pill Case."

"Afterwards, some court officials believed that the red pill was the cause of Zhu Changluo's sudden death, otherwise Zhu Changluo would have had a chance to be saved. Therefore, they held Li Kezhuo accountable, and this incident implicated Fang Congzhe, the chief minister who recommended Li Kezhuo."

"During this process, someone analyzed the ingredients of the red pill and discovered that it was similar to the 'elixir' that Emperor Jiajing had refined, and was made from menstrual water, cinnabar, autumn fruit, human milk and other ingredients."

"It is said that the Red Pill is a highly nourishing and drying substance, which is the exact opposite of the properties of rhubarb. That's why just two pills were enough to kill Zhu Changluo."

Interestingly, Li Kezhuo was later only sent to Guizhou as a garrison soldier, while Fang Congzhe, despite being impeached repeatedly, simply resigned due to illness.

"In the fifth year of the Tianqi reign, the eunuch faction led by Wei Zhongxian, in order to strike at the Donglin Party members who had agreed to the 'Red Pill Case' years earlier, exempted Li Kezhuo from the punishment of being sent to the border and appointed Cui Wensheng to supervise the grain transport. They even allowed the Tianqi Emperor to reinstate Fang Congzhe, although Fang Congzhe was already old and unwilling to serve in office."

The Tianqi Emperor's handling of the key figures in the "Red Pill Case" was undoubtedly unreasonable.

But by this time, whether it was Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao, or Zhu Di, they had all adapted, even become numb. They were thinking: perhaps in the final days of a dynasty, there would be so many irrational things, even things that seem bizarre to normal people?

Otherwise, how could such a great dynasty have collapsed?
Despite his numbness, out of curiosity, Zhu Biao still asked, "Brother-in-law, why is this happening? Could it be that the Tianqi Emperor did not actually hold power, and the court was actually controlled by the eunuch faction?"

Liu Kuan smiled and said, "Your Highness, please don't be in a hurry. This involves the next emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Changluo's son, the Tianqi Emperor Zhu Youxiao."

"Didn't I say before that Zhu Changluo is a complicated person, both pitiful and infuriating? Do you know why?"

Zhu Yuanzhang glared at him, "Stop keeping me in suspense!"

Liu Kuandao said, "Because Zhu Changluo's birth mother, Wang, was a palace maid of low status and was not favored by Wanli, he not only suffered from Wanli's neglect when he was young, but was also suppressed and even humiliated by Zheng's faction."

"Logically speaking, given how miserable he was as a child, he should know how miserable it would be for a prince to live in the palace without a father's love. He shouldn't have allowed such a tragedy to happen to his son."

"But in fact, Zhu Changluo eventually became much like Wanli in terms of 'family' – Wanli favored Zheng, while Zhu Changluo eventually favored Consort Li."

"Well, because Zhu Changluo had two concubines named Li at the time, the one who was favored by him was called Xi Li in history."

"After Zhu Changluo became the crown prince, his crown princess was Lady Guo, but Lady Guo had no children for a long time. After that, there were several women who were selected as concubines."

"Zhu Youxiao's birth mother, Lady Wang, was originally one of the selected concubines. Because she was the first to give birth to a son, Zhu Youxiao, she was promoted to the rank of Lady Cai, second only to the Crown Princess."

"Later, when the Crown Princess Guo passed away, Consort Wang became the highest-ranking woman in Cining Palace."

"However, for the Cining Palace at that time, rank was not important; what mattered was whether the Crown Prince favored the concubines, just as the Emperor favored the concubines in the harem."

"Xi Li was not only the most beautiful among the women in Cining Palace, but she was also particularly good at pleasing Zhu Changluo, thus becoming the woman with the most actual power in Cining Palace."

"After Guo's death, Xi Li became even more arrogant and domineering, and regarded Wang, who held the highest rank, as a thorn in his side. He would often humiliate and beat her, and finally beat Wang to death when Zhu Youxiao was 14 years old."

"It is said that before Wang Cairen died, she was beaten and screamed in agony, 'I have a grudge against Xi Li, and I have no way to avenge it!' She died with resentment."

"After Zhu Changluo learned of this, he simply ordered Wang Cairen to be buried hastily. He not only did not punish Xi Li in the slightest, but even made Xi Li Zhu Youxiao's foster mother."

? ? ? !
Hearing this, even though Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao, and Zhu Di were already numb, they were still shocked by Zhu Changluo's actions.

"Let the son's mother's killer become his adoptive mother? What's wrong with Zhu Changluo's brain?!" Zhu Di asked incredulously.

Zhu Biao frowned and said, "If Zhu Changluo really handled this matter in this way, and there is no other reason behind it, then I am somewhat inclined to believe the account of the Red Pill Case recorded in the historical records as told by my brother-in-law."

Old Zhu was speechless.

He also realized that he had overestimated Zhu Changluo before—perhaps this descendant of the fourth son was a complete idiot!
Liu Kuan continued, "Speaking of which, the later Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youjian also had a similar experience."

"His birth mother, Lady Liu, was only a lady in the Cining Palace. She gave birth to Zhu Youjian late in life, so her status in the Cining Palace was very low. Later, for some unknown reason, she angered Zhu Changluo, who reportedly ordered her to be beaten to death with a cane."

"At that time, Zhu Youjian was only five years old, so he was also entrusted to Xi Li for upbringing by Zhu Changluo. That is to say, Xi Li was also the foster mother of the later Chongzhen Emperor."

Hearing this, even Zhu Biao, who was relatively mild-mannered, couldn't hold back and angrily said, "How can Zhu Changluo be a father and a husband? He let Xi Li beat that Consort Wang to death before, and now he has beaten this Lady Liu to death—why are he and Xi Li so cruel?"

Zhu Di felt quite ashamed upon hearing this.

After all, Zhu Changluo was his descendant.

Then he cursed, "I wish I could travel back in time and beat this bastard to death!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Kuan said, "In fact, later generations have made some speculations about the formation of Zhu Changluo's personality—believing that it was mainly due to Wanli's dislike and the pressure from Zheng and the Prince of Fu that Zhu Changluo developed a distorted personality that was weak in front of outsiders and cold and tyrannical to his family."

"Some people believe that Zhu Changluo cares about no one but himself and Xi Li."

"In fact, although Zhu Changluo died at the age of thirty-nine, he had seven sons and ten daughters. However, only the brothers Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Youjian grew up to adulthood."

"Of the ten daughters, only three grew to adulthood. As for the stillborns that were not recorded in history books, and those who died shortly after birth, there were probably several as well."

"This infant mortality rate was quite high, not to mention in the royal family, even among ordinary people at that time."

"Later generations believe that this was certainly related to the fact that Cining Palace had a low actual status in the palace and was suppressed by the Zheng family, but it was also related to the father Zhu Changluo's indifference and ruthlessness towards his children."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Biao and Zhu Di were once again surprised, and even felt regret and resentment.

Of the seventeen children, only five survived. Even in ordinary households, children don't die so young.

Many of these children died young due to palace intrigues and Zhu Changluo's indifference—how innocent they were! (End of Chapter)