The First Prince of the Ming Dynasty

"Brother Zhu, we can begin."

When the sound came from the main hall, it meant that preparations were complete outside, and it was going to be a meeting.

This time was different from the past, as Prince Ning was present as an observer.

Prince Ning was already seated in the back hall, which was separated from the front hall not only by a door curtain but also by a gauze curtain and a screen.

Before him stood only a dull, deaf-mute old servant, responsible for passing notes to him. Apart from that, there wasn't even a guard left, all to keep it a secret from outsiders.

"How many questions are there this time?" came the voice of his son, Zhu Yi.

The voice sounded somewhat unfamiliar to Prince Ning. Although the father and son had never shied away from each other's identities before, Prince Ning was focused on his grand plans and rarely saw his son more than twice a year, with even fewer opportunities to speak with him alone.

The son does not recognize his father, and the father knows very little about his son's current situation.

Gongsun Jin said, "Let's ask questions one step at a time. After all, there are countless historical records and volumes; we can't possibly ask them all. What do you think?"

This was to appease Zhu Yi, so that he wouldn't have to worry about being discarded after his usefulness was over.

"Ask away," Zhu Yi said coldly.

"Your Highness..." Just then, Liu Yangzheng lifted the curtain and came in.

He seemed unwilling to confront Zhu Yi directly, leaving only Gongsun Jin to preside over the proceedings. Gongsun Jin, with his high self-esteem, insisted on sitting with Prince Ning.

I want to be the one in charge, not the one executing the plan.

Prince Ning made no comment.

Liu Yangzheng sat sullenly to one side. He seemed to sense that ever since Zhu Yi said that the Prince of Ning's rebellion failed after 42 days, the Prince of Ning's attitude towards him had become much colder.

They used to treat him as a strategist and advisor, as their right-hand man, but now they say the rebellion will fail quickly. Doesn't that just prove that these advisors are incompetent?

Liu Yangzheng would be indignant.

He thought to himself, "Trust that kid? With you here, I don't need to give him any face. Watch how I expose him for you."

……

"Brother Zhu, tell me about the events at the end of the Ming Dynasty."

Gongsun Jin began by asking, "You said the Ming Dynasty had sixteen emperors before its demise, and was ultimately destroyed by bandits. Who was that bandit, Li Zicheng? Could you elaborate on the details?"

Zhu Yi said, "Didn't you want to ask about the generations after Chenghua? Why are you suddenly bringing up the late Ming Dynasty? According to you, that's more than a hundred years from now. Is there any need to take precautions right now?"

Gongsun Jin laughed and said, "It's always good to nip problems in the bud. If we record everything and leave it to future generations, perhaps we can defy fate and extend the Ming Dynasty's golden age for another few hundred years?"

"hehe."

Zhu Yi scoffed at this, saying, "Whether the Ming Dynasty is prosperous or not has nothing to do with you or me?"

Gongsun Jin just smiled.

Whether the Ming Dynasty prospers or not has little to do with me. Under any dynasty, I'm just a subject. But for you... this member of the royal family, it matters a lot! Why are you so stubborn?

"Li Zicheng was originally a shepherd boy from Mizhi County, Shaanxi Province. Later, he enlisted as a postman at the Yinchuan Post Station. When the imperial court abolished the Guanzhong Post Station, he lost official documents and was dismissed, leaving him without a livelihood. Unable to repay his debts, he killed his creditor in a fit of rage, incurring a murder charge. He then joined the army. Later, when the Jurchens of Liaodong invaded, the Guanzhong Army was urgently dispatched to defend the region. Due to delays in military pay, a mutiny broke out, and Li Zicheng joined the rebel leader Gao Yingxiang..."

Zhu Yi recounted the entire history of Li Zicheng's rise to power.

In addition to historical materials, he also added some of his own interpretations. In general, he was an ambitious, incredibly lucky man who escaped death several times and was able to make a comeback.

Gongsun Jin held a pen in his hand, seemingly taking notes, but it wasn't a comprehensive record; he was only picking out the key points.

Only after someone passed a note from behind the curtain did he interrupt Zhu Yi, saying, "Brother Zhu, you said that Li Zicheng's rebellion was clearly just a local banditry, and the imperial court sent a large army to suppress it. Why couldn't it be eradicated in one fell swoop? Why was he allowed to grow stronger?"

Zhu Yi said, "With the world in chaos and people suffering, even without Li Zicheng, there would have been Zhang Zicheng or Hu Zicheng. It's just that Li Zicheng was luckier, and the Ming Dynasty was also preoccupied with the Liaodong war and could not devote all its military forces to suppressing the rebellion. Even so, in the first few years of Li Zicheng's rebellion, the court was basically able to suppress him and force him to roam around..."

"Bang!"

A strange sound came from behind, like someone banging on the table.

Zhu Yi also paused for a moment.

What happened?

So, the person listening in the back is very angry? This happened more than a hundred years later, why are you angry?

Or perhaps... Your Excellency has become so engrossed in the story that you are indignant about what happened four hundred years ago?

"Brother Zhu," Gongsun Jin turned back, a polite but slightly embarrassed smile on his face, "tell me about Liaodong. The Jurchens have always been peaceful, so why did they rise to the point of threatening the imperial court at the end of the Ming Dynasty? The Jurchen tribes lived in the wilderness, unable to pay their annual tribute, and their population was only a few hundred. Was it really possible for them to shake the Ming Dynasty?"

Zhu Yi nodded and said, "I once heard a saying that the Jurchens are invincible if they number less than ten thousand, but if they number ten thousand. Because they live in the wilderness and cannot engage in agricultural production, they are quite skilled in archery and horsemanship. In addition, the Ming Dynasty court was corrupt in the mid-to-late period and made major mistakes in its policies on border affairs, which gave the Jurchens a window to rebel."

Especially in 1619, the 47th year of the Wanli reign, the Ming Dynasty and the Jurchens fought the Battle of Sarhu. The Ming army's five expeditionary forces were almost completely wiped out, which led to the collapse of the imperial court's Liaodong strategy. Subsequently, cities such as Shenyang and Liaoyang fell one after another. However, because the Jurchens' troops were limited in number and the Ming Dynasty introduced advanced firearms such as the Hongyi cannon in the later period, it was able to stabilize the situation. However, it could only deal with the Jurchens in cities such as Shanhaiguan and Ningjin, gradually retreating until finally retreating to Shanhaiguan...

……

……

The back room.

Zhu Chenhao was furious when he heard this.

What good things did Zhu Di's pig-like descendants do?

The mighty Ming Dynasty, the Celestial Empire, was actually tormented to the point of near death by a group of Jurchen Tartars and local bandits.

And ultimately, this led to the destruction of the country?

Originally, my Ningfan was located in Liaodong, with the aim of containing the northern Mongols. However, after we moved inland, the Jurchens, who were like shrimp soldiers and crab generals, took advantage of us.

I want to raise an army. Is that rebellion? No, it's restoring order and restoring the glory of the Ming Dynasty!

Seeing this, Liu Yangzheng, who was standing nearby, was also feeling uneasy.

How can you believe everything your son says? Haven't you considered that the people behind him are just fabricating these lies to legitimize the Ning family's rebellion? Saying it failed in forty-two days is just to scare you into seeking advice from the people behind him? Ultimately, isn't it just that the people behind your son are engaging in speculation and profiteering?

Soon, Prince Ning wrote another note and had his deaf-mute servant deliver it.

After reading it, Gongsun Jin carefully considered the wording before saying, "The bandits have captured the capital, why doesn't the emperor move south? Even if he wanted to hold out, shouldn't he have first sent the crown prince and others south to plan for the future?"

Zhu Yi shrugged and said with a mocking tone, "Emperor Chongzhen did intend to move the capital south, but his ministers had different opinions. At that time, because Emperor Chongzhen was suspicious by nature and killed ministers at will, the relationship between the emperor and his ministers became estranged. Perhaps those ministers were already prepared to become subjects of the new dynasty? As for the crown prince, although he was escorted out of the city, he eventually fell into the hands of bandits. The outcome was predictable."

"Cough cough..." Gongsun Jin couldn't help but cough when he heard this.

Listen to this, is this even human language?

Where is the Confucian education of rites and music? Where is the orthodox tradition?

Are ministers not serving their ruler, but instead waiting to betray their country and surrender to the traitors, becoming obedient subjects of a rebel dynasty? Is this what a country is like? All sorts of strange things are happening here! Are all sorts of demons and monsters running rampant?