Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 920 King An
Zhu Shencui admired Zhu Youjian very much. Although there were many royal family members in the Ming Dynasty, they were all pleasure-seeking and good-for-nothings, and there were only a handful of truly capable ones. However, Zhu Youjian, as the former King of Tang, was different. He could have ignored the situation and taken no risks, and lived a leisurely life in his fiefdom like other princes, but he made that move because he was worried about the country. Although his move was too reckless and useless in Zhu Shencui's view, his passion and persistence alone made Zhu Shencui look at him with admiration.

Moreover, Zhu Shenzui was very satisfied with what Zhu Youjian said and the attitude he showed after the meeting. Originally, Zhu Shenzui thought that since Zhu Youjian was willing to lead the guards to defend the king, he was a young and reckless person. In addition, he had been imprisoned in Fengyang for so many years, and his temper might have been smoothed out after being imprisoned for so long. However, he did not expect that although Zhu Youjian's words were cautious, he still maintained his original persistence, but he was not as sharp as he was at the beginning.

It seems that he has changed a lot in Fengyang over the years. This change cannot be said to be wrong. Instead, it has made the King of Tang much more mature.

After laughing, Zhu Shenzhui continued the previous topic. Zhu Youjian asked about Zhu Youjian's situation in Fengyang. Zhu Youjian gave a general account and expressed his gratitude for the emperor's concern. In addition, the two also talked about some things about the royal family. Zhu Youjian did not hide or conceal many things. Basically, he answered whatever the emperor asked. The two had a good chat. At noon, Zhu Shenzhui specially asked him to have a meal together. After a simple meal, Zhu Shenzhui asked him what his plans were for the future.

Zhu Youjian didn't know what to say for a moment. He had naturally considered this problem. Logically, he should go back to Nanyang, but now he is no longer the King of Tang. Ever since he was punished and demoted to a commoner by Emperor Chongzhen, his title of King of Tang was taken away from him. Now the title of King of Tang has been inherited by his younger brother Zhu Youjian.

As a commoner, how could he have the qualifications to return to Nanyang? Nanyang was the fief of the King of Tang, but he was no longer the King of Tang. Moreover, Zhu Youjian had a good relationship with his younger brother Zhu Youluo. Since the throne of the King of Tang was already in Zhu Youluo's possession, he, as the elder brother, could not take away his younger brother's title of king, right? Moreover, Zhu Youjian's character was not capable of doing such a thing.

On the way to Beijing, Zhu Youjian thought that the emperor might relocate him, and when he was released from Fengyang, Gu Guozhen told him privately that it was possible to restore his title, but this was not realistic in Zhu Youjian's view. How could the title of prince be restored so easily? In addition, there was already someone to inherit the title of King of Tang, so Zhu Youjian no longer had any extravagant hopes for this. The only thing he wanted was to be an ordinary person. In his view, the throne was no longer important. What was important was to completely regain his freedom and be with his wife.

"Your Majesty, I have been longing for freedom. I dare not ask for too much." Zhu Youjian answered carefully.

"Don't you want to go back to Nanyang?" Zhu Shenzhui asked back.

Zhu Youjian smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Nanyang is the fief of the King of Tang. I am just a commoner now. Why should I go back?"

"So what do you think of the prince?"

"I have never thought about this. In fact, in my opinion, being a commoner is not a bad thing. Although the position of King of Tang is good, I am no longer suitable to be the King of Tang. If your majesty allows, you can place me to live anywhere you like. I will be an ordinary person in the future."

Zhu Shenzhui nodded, looked at him thoughtfully, and then said: "Since you don't want to go back to Nanyang, then you can live in the capital. You are now living in the former Prince Xin's mansion, which is not suitable for long-term residence. I will grant you a new house in the next few days."

"In addition, the title of King of Tang will be granted according to your wish. Zhu Youluo will still be the King of Tang. Your previous crime of being a commoner will be forgiven. The clan office will restore your clan membership. I will give you the title of King of An, but this title will no longer be a real title. You will only receive a salary from afar. How do you think?"

Zhu Youjian was stunned. He never thought that the emperor would arrange him like this. Although he lost the title of King of Tang, he now has the title of King of An. Although Zhu Shenzhu made it clear that he, the King of An, was different from other vassal kings of the Ming Dynasty because he had no real title but was only a remote ruler, the title of a prince was still a prince. This was a great favor from the emperor to him, a former criminal who was even demoted to a commoner.

After coming to his senses, Zhu Youjian quickly stood up and prostrated himself to Zhu Shenzhu to express his gratitude, his expression filled with great excitement and tears in his eyes.

"Okay, you can live in the capital with peace of mind from now on. Go to the clan house in a few days to get an errand. I heard that you often read history books in Fengyang? This is a good habit. You were once the king of Tang. Emperor Taizong of Tang said that it is important to learn from history. You should take this as an effort."

"Thank you, Your Majesty. I will listen to your Majesty..." Zhu Youjian prostrated himself and quickly agreed.

After a few more words of comfort, the meeting was over. After Zhu Youjian was led out of the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Shenzhu looked at the Crown Prince Zhu Minlan, who had been silent, and asked him with a smile what he thought of Zhu Youjian today.

As for Zhu Minlan, he was beside Zhu Youjian the whole time he met him today. When asked what he thought of this man, Zhu Minlan thought for a moment and said, "I think Prince An is indeed a talented person. There are very few people like Prince An in the royal family. It is a pity that Prince An, who was full of passion, ended up like this."

"But in my opinion, although Prince An is capable, he is not as good as you, Dad. You should know that he was the King of Tang, a dignified prince of our Ming Dynasty, and he actually ruled the land of Anyang. However, he became a commoner because of his mere loyalty to the king. And you, Dad, were able to enter the capital and control the world as an ordinary member of the royal family. Prince An can't be compared with you at all..." "You kid, I asked you to talk about Prince An, why did you bring it up with your father? How can they be compared?" Zhu Shenzhui felt something was wrong the more he listened, so he interrupted him and started scolding him with a smile.

Zhu Minlan chuckled, and then continued: "I am not flattering you. Prince An is indeed not as good as you are. Prince An was too rash and unprepared. He acted on his own accord, which led to the disaster later. In my opinion, this person is indeed capable and is considered outstanding among the royal family, but his ability is not that great. If you were the King of Tang, you would not have done the same thing. With your ability, you would have prepared in secret and seized the opportunity to launch the attack..."

At this point, Zhu Minlan glanced at his father and found that Zhu Shenzhui's expression was not unhappy, so he felt relieved and continued: "Dad, you let him out this time and gave him the title of Prince An. I'm afraid your real intention is to let him work in the clan house and let him stir up things within the clan, right?"

"Oh, why do you say that?" Zhu Shenzui raised his eyebrows and asked with a smile.

Zhu Minlan curled her lips and looked unconvinced: "How can this be hard to guess? How can I not know what kind of person you are? You have invited my uncle to the palace to discuss matters these days. Although I don't know what you and my uncle talked about, I understand your and my uncle's temperaments. The two of you secretly planned to hide it from everyone in the world. Even my mother and I were fooled by you. Do you really think you are going to punish my uncle severely?"

"Now the Jiangnan matter is almost over, but my uncle still dares not relax at all, and you are the same, father. I absolutely do not believe that you have no plans. In addition to some of the previous things, I think it is most likely related to the royal family. I also heard about the incident in the clan house before, and there are some other news. Putting these together, plus the fact that you gave Prince An preferential treatment this time and specially arranged for him to work in the clan house, how can I not figure it out?"

"Hahaha! Good boy!" Zhu Shenzhui laughed. He didn't expect Zhu Minlan to understand all this. He, the prince, had indeed matured a lot. Especially his acumen and sensitivity to politics made him feel gratified.

Although most of what Zhu Minlan said was speculation, and there were some real situations he would never know, he could guess them almost exactly based on these clues and speculation, which was really not easy.

Nodding slightly, Zhu Shencui did not hide it from him. The prince still needed to know this matter. After all, the prince was the heir to the throne, and Zhu Shencui was now gradually training the prince. This was the intention of bringing him to meet Zhu Youjian today.

Zhu Shenzhui told Zhu Minlan that his guess was correct, he really wanted to attack the royal family. The problem of the royal family of the Ming Dynasty has always been a big problem, especially the princes of the Ming Dynasty, including the top royal families such as princes and dukes.

During the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang, many princes were appointed to lead the army in the frontier to intimidate the local areas. Zhu Yuanzhang did this out of distrust of civil officials and military generals, intending to use his own people to consolidate military power and control the local areas. Although this was effective, it also laid the hidden danger of instability in the future of the dynasty. Zhu Di's Jingnan Campaign during the Jianwen period was a vivid example.

The reason why Emperor Jianwen ended up in such a mess was because of the princes. As an emperor, Emperor Jianwen began to reduce the power of the princes after he ascended the throne, intending to strengthen the control of the central government and return the military power of the whole country to the emperor instead of the situation where the princes led the army to threaten the central government as at that time.

In theory, there was nothing wrong with what Emperor Jianwen did. The practice of reducing the power of the princes was a long-standing tradition. The most famous case was the Rebellion of the Seven Princes during the reign of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty. The Rebellion of the Seven Princes almost split the Han Dynasty, which had just been established. It took a lot of effort to quell it. After that, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty implemented the Enfeoffment Order, which gradually weakened the power and fiefdoms of the princes. It took nearly a hundred years to gradually solve this problem.

But in fact, the problem of the vassal kings of the Han Dynasty was not truly solved until after the reign of Emperor Wu of Han. At that time, this contradiction was simply gradually weakened. In later dynasties, similar situations occurred many times, countless times.

Emperor Jianwen's intention was not a problem, and it was imperative to reduce the power of the princes in view of the situation in the Ming Dynasty at that time. Unfortunately, Emperor Jianwen was too idealistic, and the people he used were also incompetent. Moreover, Emperor Jianwen was hesitant and wanted to reduce the power of the princes, but was afraid of arousing strong opposition. He was not decisive enough and the means he used were not up to standard. This eventually led to the princes burning themselves to death, the royal family panicked, and finally forced Prince of Yan Zhu Di to rebel, leading to the serious consequences of the Jingnan Campaign.

Although Emperor Jianwen failed, Zhu Di ascended the throne with the success of the Jingnan Campaign. But after becoming emperor, he did the same thing as Emperor Jianwen, which was to continue to reduce the power of the feudal lords.

Using the military power in his hands as a deterrent and the fact that Emperor Jianwen had already done half of the job, Zhu Di's implementation of the policy of reducing the power of the princes was much smoother. Moreover, Zhu Di's methods were not comparable to those of the inexperienced Jianwen. His methods were extremely sophisticated and he basically achieved the result of reducing the power of the princes without much effort.

But even so, Zhu Di's policy of reducing the power of the princes did not really solve the problem. It only achieved the goal on the surface. Zhu Di had no choice but to do so. After all, as a prince, he did not dare to force the royal family and other brothers too much. In addition to taking back the military power and imposing a series of restrictions on the power of the princes, Zhu Di did not continue to do so.

(End of this chapter)