Zhu Di: My fourth son is a great emperor of all time?

Chapter 6: Was Zhu Zhanji's ascension to the throne the beginning of the Ming Dynasty's decline?
"Zhanji, what exactly have you done?"

Zhu Di glared angrily at Zhu Zhanji.

He hadn't believed his eldest grandson would do anything foolish like Jianwen, but now it seemed that wasn't the case.

Zhu Zhanji was also dumbfounded and quickly used Zhu Gaoshuo's words to defend himself.

"Grandpa, that's me from the future, it doesn't count."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Di glared at Zhu Gaoshuo in anger.

He really can't handle this kid right now.

The people of the world now know that Zhu Gaoshuo is the future wise ruler. If we take action against him now, the people will surely complain, and the Ming Dynasty will surely fall into internal strife.

"Fourth brother, you, Ming Zhongzu, are really capable!"

"Father taught me well!"

Zhu Gaoshuo didn't believe it. He waited to see if the old man could still speak of the three generations of the sage Sun Wang after witnessing the Tumu Crisis.

"The successor chosen by the Yongle Emperor was actually not a problem. From beginning to end, he only wanted his eldest son, Zhu Gaochi, to be emperor. Although he often said to the Prince of Han, 'The heir is often sick, you should encourage him,' everyone knows that he was just trying to fool his second son."

"As a result, only the second son, the Prince of Han, took it seriously and has worked so hard to help Zhu Di fight wars all these years."

"The King of Han is indeed a military general. Doesn't he realize that although Fatty is in poor health, he has a good grandson? On the other hand, the King of Han's son can be said to have no successor?"

"Zhu Gaochi was an emperor with considerable political talent. During his reign, he implemented a series of reforms beneficial to the country's development, laying the foundation for the Ming Dynasty's economic prosperity and cultural flourishing, thus deserving the title of Emperor Renzong!"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Di's gloomy expression gradually improved, and he looked at Zhu Gaochi with a satisfied smile.

Finally, something satisfied him.

At this moment, he was absolutely certain that the people in the sky were from the future.

Because what he just said was exactly what Zhu Di was thinking.

Zhu Gaochi was his and Xu Miaoyun's eldest son, and he was very much loved when he was born.

However, as Zhu Gaochi grew older, he became frail and sickly. Zhu Di, an emperor who rose to power through military force, was naturally disappointed that his son was so weak.

However, Zhu Gaochi was indeed very capable in governing the country, and he was also benevolent and virtuous, just like his elder brother Zhu Biao. Zhu Di had long seen that he was suitable to be emperor.

Thinking of this, Zhu Di was somewhat satisfied.

Although Tianmu said that Zhu Zhanji would regret it after ascending the throne.

However, his first in line to succeed him was still Zhu Gaochi.

As long as Zhu Gaochi is capable, that's fine.

As for Zhu Zhanji's incompetence, it's not his fault. The blame lies with that fat man for not having more sons.

But while Zhu Di was satisfied, the second son, Zhu Gaoxu, looked extremely grim.

Zhu Gaoxu had actually considered that Zhu Di's words were a lie.

But he was very concerned about his reputation, and he couldn't accept that these words had been said in public as false. He immediately asked, "Father, what do you mean by this?"

The third brother chimed in, "Yes, Father, why can our eldest brother sit in this position, but we two brothers can't?"

The third son's words reignited Zhu Di's anger.

Zhu Di stood up from the dragon throne, walked down the steps expressionlessly, and stood step by step in front of his second son.

The ministers present dared not breathe, for they could all see that Zhu Di was now furious.

Zhu Di glared at his second son, Zhu Gaoxu, and put his hands on his hips, saying, "Today, in front of all the ministers of the world, tell me, when did I ever tell you that the heir apparent is often ill and you should encourage him?"

Zhu Gaoxu clenched his fists, lowered his head, and his breathing became increasingly rapid.

However, he did not answer Zhu Di's question immediately.

"Speak!" Zhu Di said.

Zhu Gaoxu's expression shifted repeatedly, and finally, gritting his teeth, he said unwillingly:

"The emperor never said that!"

"The Emperor didn't hear me!" Zhu Di glared at him angrily.

"The emperor never said that, I'm just talking nonsense!" Zhu Gaoxu shouted with all his might.

Zhu Di was satisfied and walked back to sit on the dragon throne.

Zhu Gaoxu was not punished.

After all, he did say those words.

In the twenty-second year of the Yongle Emperor's reign, he died of illness on his way back to Beijing from a northern expedition. Zhu Gaochi eventually ascended the throne, becoming the fourth emperor of the Ming Dynasty!

Zhu Di was stunned.

Am I going to die in the twenty-second year of Yongle's reign?
Eight more years?

Zhu Di, however, took it in stride, believing that everyone must die eventually.

Who can live forever?

But he was not willing to give up.

Zhu Di's lifelong wish was to make his achievements in both civil and military affairs immortal and to ensure the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty under his rule.

But now it seems he simply can't do it.

Zhu Di continued to look up at the sky.

Thinking that the eldest brother was a kind and benevolent person, the fate of the Ming Dynasty should be better after he ascended the throne.

"But unfortunately, Zhu Gaochi's health was not much better than Zhu Di's; obesity had already worn his body down."

"Zhu Gaochi died after reigning for ten months, and then passed the throne to Crown Prince Zhu Zhanji."

"Zhu Zhanji's ascension to the throne foreshadowed the impending internal strife within the Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Di's smile froze instantly.

He died in less than a year. What a joke!

Could things get any more hasty?
It was thought that Zhu Gaochi could bring prosperity to the Ming Dynasty.

Can bear fruit.

It ended in less than a year.

In other words, Zhu Zhanji will soon ascend the throne.

At that time, internal strife will begin in the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Di was extremely agitated. He regretted it; he should have known better than to extinguish his second son's hopes earlier. He now felt that passing the throne to Zhu Gaochi was a mistake.

But the eldest son cannot succeed to the throne.

The second son is also incapable of shouldering great responsibilities.

He knew this kid's character all too well; he was utterly incapable of governing a country and might even be thinking of surpassing his achievements, waging war and expanding the territory year after year. How could the Ming Dynasty possibly withstand two emperors who expanded the territory in succession?

As for the third son?

Not to mention.

Zhu Di rejected it without even thinking about it.

He originally placed his hopes on a good grandson, Zhu Zhanji, and Zhu Zhanji's performance has indeed been outstanding.

At least all the civil and military officials agreed, and Zhu Di was also very satisfied.

But what the people of later generations in the heavens said...

Zhu Zhanji's ascension to the throne marked the beginning of the collapse of the Ming Dynasty; he was unsuitable to be emperor.

"Among my successors, there really is no one who can uphold the Ming Dynasty!" Zhu Di was somewhat disappointed.

Looking at it now, it seems that only the fourth brother is capable of taking on this important task.

But Zhu Di couldn't see any potential in Zhu Gaoshuo to become a great emperor for all time.

Listening to music in a brothel, completely illiterate—was this the emperor of all ages?
Zhu Di suddenly remembered that back then, in order to lull that brat Jianwen into a false sense of security, he had also pretended to be stupid, living in a pigsty and eating pig excrement.

Could it be that the fourth brother is also hiding his true abilities?
They're always pretending.

If that's really the case, then it's terrifying.

Hidden for over a decade.

Zhu Di had to admit that his fourth son, Zhu Gaoshuo, was more outstanding than himself.

"Fourth brother, why do you insist on rebelling? If you could honestly assist Zhanji, the Ming Dynasty would surely prosper!"

Amidst Zhu Di's puzzled gaze, Zhu Gaoshuo, the person involved, secretly rejoiced. As someone from later generations, he was well aware of the terror of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

They understand that their every word and action is being monitored.

Zhu Gaoshuo had never shown any rebellious intentions under normal circumstances; otherwise, the old man would definitely have taken action by now.

Although the Prince of Han wept bitterly after Zhu Gaochi's death, he was completely dissatisfied with Zhu Zhanji's ascension to the throne and immediately raised an army in rebellion.

Ok?
Upon hearing that Zhu Gaoxu had rebelled, Zhu Di was stunned for a moment, and then felt extremely helpless.

It was common knowledge that the second son wanted to become emperor.

This is indeed his fault.

At the time, the eldest son was in poor health, and the second son was brave and skilled in battle, most like him, so we did have that idea at the time.

But the second brother is too arrogant.

Long ago, Zhu Di had already become utterly disappointed in him and had completely given up on the idea of ​​passing the throne to him.

But unexpectedly, this guy was so obsessed with the throne.

Since they were not in line to inherit the throne, they might as well take the path of rebellion.

Zhu Di glared at Zhu Gaoxu, who was standing not far away and looked completely indifferent.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoshuo immediately felt less pressured.

Fortunately, the second son liked to rebel.

Although both were rebellions, he was still considered one of the greatest emperors in history.

The second child is different.

He failed in his rebellion.

At least now the old man won't target only him.

Zhu Di also knew that his second son had failed in his rebellion, so his anger was not as intense.

To be honest, if the King of Han wanted to rebel, his prestige within the army was indeed very high.

Zhu Di was certain that if he died, his second son would be able to rally most of the army to rebel.

Even he didn't know how Zhu Zhanji was going to win.

But the grandson of the saint did just that.

This also rekindled hope in Zhu Di's heart.

Perhaps the good grandson was not actually a foolish ruler.

The fourth one is just too amazing!
But in the end, Zhu Zhanji's throne was taken away by that scoundrel fourth son.

So he continued to wait for Tianmu to tell the story of Zhu Zhanji's later experiences, to see exactly how he lost to the fourth prince.

After waiting for a long time, the sky continued to fall, but he couldn't be happy.

"Alright, everyone, that's all for this episode. Thank you for watching. In the next episode, we'll talk about the story of Emperor Xuanzong of Ming, Zhu Zhanji, and his uncles."

I know everyone wants to hear stories about our ancestors, but stories should be told slowly, so please be patient. The story between Zhu Zhanji and our ancestors is equally fascinating.

Seeing the sky come to an abrupt end, Zhu Di almost collapsed.

It stopped at the most crucial point, the thing he most wanted to know; it felt like the sky was playing tricks on him.

He just wanted to see how his unfilial descendants would fight for the throne after his death.

And did the fourth prince have anyone behind him? How exactly did he defeat Zhu Zhanji?

But obviously, the answers to these questions will have to wait for the subsequent events to unfold.

Suppressing his inner turmoil, Zhu Di looked towards the imperial court.

At this point, the ministers had stopped discussing national policies and were whispering among themselves; all their attention was focused on his sons and Zhu Zhanji.

The group seemed to have many ideas.

Previously, they obeyed his orders and acted as brothers, but now the Heavenly Curtain has completely shattered this facade of hypocrisy.

Frustrated, Zhu Di didn't want to keep looking at these people's faces, so he just rambled on for a few unimportant words and ended the court session.

Of course, his sons couldn't leave so soon.

Zhu Di ordered the eunuchs to summon all his sons to his bedchamber.

(End of this chapter)