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

Chapter 921: Royal Family Issues
Although Zhu Di's approach solved the problem temporarily, the root cause remained unchanged. Moreover, his subsequent series of restrictions on the royal family led the problem from one extreme to another.

Before Zhu Di, the royal family of the Ming Dynasty had real power. They not only had fiefdoms but also armies. The princes in particular were equivalent to independent countries in the local areas. Except for the financial control by the central government, they had all the other rights they should have. Even if the princes really wanted to interfere in the finances, the central government could not do much to deal with them.

Otherwise, how did Zhu Di win the Jingnan Campaign? Even if Li Jinglong, Duke of Cao, deliberately let the enemy win, it would not be difficult to destroy Zhu Di given the military power and territory controlled by Emperor Jianwen at the time.

The way of thinking is determined by the buttocks. Before becoming emperor, Zhu Di promoted the court's suppression and coercion of the vassal kings in order to win over the vassal kings and make promises. However, after he became emperor, everything he did was no different from that of Jianwen.

Therefore, since Zhu Di, the princes of the Ming Dynasty, including all members of the royal family, lost their real power. They had no power and no soldiers, and even were restricted from leaving their fiefdoms. Although they had money, they could not do anything and had no choice but to stay at home, eating, drinking, having fun, and having sons.

This went on for generations, even generations. Even if the original princes were very capable, their descendants would be spoiled. This led to the fact that although there were many royal families in the Ming Dynasty, there were few talented people. Most of the top royal families lived a life of drunkenness and dreams, while the lower-level royal families lived worse than pigs and dogs. This situation was the reason why Zhu Di changed his royal family policy.

Historically, after Emperor Chongzhen committed suicide, although the Ming Dynasty had Prince Fu ascend the throne in the south and later Prince Tang, Prince Gui and Prince Lu continued to resist the Qing Dynasty, the Southern Ming Dynasty lasted for decades before it was finally destroyed.

But in reality, no matter who was on the throne, no one could achieve anything, even Zhu Youjian. First, he had no real power, second, he had no team, and third, his own ability was insufficient. Zhu Youjian was better, he had the will but not the strength, but the little Fu Wang and others were essentially good at eating, drinking and having fun, but they knew nothing about how to govern the country, and inevitably became puppets. The demise of the Southern Ming Dynasty was not only due to its military strength, but also due to its internal struggles and the lack of a strong monarch.

The problem of the royal family of the Ming Dynasty has reached a very serious point and must be changed. But how easy is it to change the situation of the royal family? After more than 200 years, these royal family members have become useless. The lower-level royal family members are still okay, and the policies formulated by Zhu Shenzhu before can be smoothly implemented, because many of these lower-level royal family members can no longer survive. It is better for the court to find a way out for them than to continue to live such a hard life with the status of royal family members, right?
But the middle and high-level royal family members are different. They have no shortage of food, clothing, or money. In this case, some of Zhu Shenzhui's policies are ineffective. Moreover, these high-level royal family members have lived like this for so many years, and it is very difficult for them to make changes. But no matter what, this problem must be solved. If it is not solved, these royal family members will not only be a burden to the empire, but also make the royal family of the Ming Dynasty become complete waste and unable to maintain their rule.

This kind of contradiction is actually a class contradiction, and when it develops to a certain extent, it will cause a qualitative change. Zhu Shenzhu was very clear about this. The previous emperors of the Ming Dynasty were on guard against the royal family because of Zhu Di's Jingnan Campaign. They were afraid that another person like Zhu Di would appear in the royal family and affect the imperial power.

Although their approach eliminated this hidden danger, it also ruined all the royal family members. Once a major event happens in the country, especially when it is a matter of life and death, what will they do if there is no one available in the royal family?
Moreover, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty after Zhu Di were all caught in a struggle with the civil service group. Initially, they adopted the method of winning over the nobles to balance the power of the civil service. However, after the Battle of Tumu, the nobles of the Ming Dynasty were almost useless. The emperor had no choice but to support the eunuchs around him and use the Silijian to fight against the cabinet, which eventually led to the emperor, eunuchs, and civil service groups in a three-way confrontation.

Although such an approach seemed balanced on the surface, it was inherently flawed. Even if the nobles were still there, they were still unable to compete with the civil service group. This was also the reason why the civil service group dominated the middle and late Ming Dynasty. The emperor could only rely on the help of eunuchs and mobilize the power of special departments such as the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the East Factory, and the West Factory to barely maintain his imperial power.

This situation became even more obvious during the Tianqi period. The Tianqi Emperor used Wei Zhongxian because he could no longer tolerate the loss of imperial power and the relentless pressure from the civil service group, so he directly used Wei Zhongxian, a "big killer", by overturning the table.

Unfortunately, although Emperor Tianqi had the upper hand for a while, he ultimately failed. As for Emperor Chongzhen, he was even worse. He had too many shortcomings, was incompetent and self-righteous, and the country became a mess in his hands.

The problem of the royal family must be solved, but Zhu Shenzhu also knew that this problem could not be solved all at once. Now there was a chance to take advantage of the issue, that is, Fan Yuyi privately contacted Prince Fu, Prince Lu and other princes, intending to stir up dissatisfaction within the royal family against the emperor, intending to split the country and cause rebellion.

Although according to the news from Zhou Anmin, Prince Fu and Prince Lu did not show any interest in Fan Yuwei's contact. Instead, they became cold to him after figuring out Fan Yuwei's purpose and stopped meeting him. From this point of view, neither Prince Fu nor Prince Lu actually had any idea, or perhaps they both felt that Fan Yuwei was unreliable. They were not sure at all to confront the imperial court as vassal kings, and was Zhu Shenzhu so easy to deal with? Don't forget that he was a person like Zhu Di, who relied on the Jingnan Campaign to rise to power and was a powerful emperor with military power. What else could these vassal kings have besides status, identity and money? Once they had a different mind, the local army could deal with them without the new army taking action, just an imperial decree.

They are not stupid. How could they risk their lives to do such a thing? Wouldn't it be better to be their own vassal kings in peace? Why take such a risk to eat, drink, play and have fun?

Although Prince Fu and Prince Lu both had this attitude, Zhu Shenzhui had not received any report from them to explain the matter to this day, and he did not take any action against Fan Yuwei. Not only did he not report or arrest him, but he gave him gifts of gold and silver and sent him out of the palace. Prince Fu and Prince Lu probably did not want to get involved in this matter, in order to avoid getting into trouble if the matter got out, and to make it difficult to explain. They intended to cover it up. But what they did was something Zhu Shenzhui could not tolerate, and it gave Zhu Shenzhui a perfect reason to act against them.

As a vassal king of the Ming Dynasty, who has been blessed by the country for generations, why didn't he take the initiative to report such a traitor? Instead, he covered up for the other party in private, intending to hide the truth. This behavior can't be explained in any way. Prince Fu and Prince Lu thought they were smart, but they were being smart with the wrong people. They didn't know that their every move was under the surveillance of the Jinyiwei. Now Zhu Shenzhu didn't take action against them not because of their status, but because he wanted to play the long game to catch a big fish. Although Fan Yuwei was sent by Huang Taiji, he is currently useful to him. He ran around in the Ming Dynasty, trying to find ways to contact vassal kings everywhere to make small moves, which gave Zhu Shenzhu a great opportunity and reason.

Zhu Shenzui planned to use this opportunity to take action within the royal family, first getting rid of the two vassal kings, Prince Fu and Prince Lu, and then dealing with the other vassal kings. In this way, he could achieve the goal of weakening the vassal kings and rectifying the royal family.

Now the preparations were going on. What was lacking was the right time and the right person to do the job. After Zhu Youjian was released from Fengyang and settled in the capital and given the title of Prince An, the best person to do the job was found.

Zhu Youjian was capable and courageous, and he knew the internal situation of the royal family very well. He was also a bold and daring person, which had a lot to do with his experiences back then.

When Zhu Youjian was young, his grandfather was the King of Tang, and his father was the Crown Prince of Tang. However, because the old King of Tang favored his two younger sons and disliked his eldest son, he did something unimaginable in order to give the throne of King of Tang to his favorite son.

The old Tang King secretly imprisoned his own son and grandson, that is, Zhu Youjian and his father. Not only did the father and son get locked up, the old Tang King also deliberately ordered his servants to abuse them, wishing to kill them all.

This stage lasted for several years, and Zhu Youjian and his son almost died at the hands of their own grandfather. If local officials had not realized that something was wrong and went directly to the old King of Tang to question why he treated the crown prince and his grandson in this way, the old King of Tang would not have taken harsh measures out of consideration for the attitude of the court, allowing Zhu Youjian and his son to survive by chance.

A few years later, the old King of Tang was seriously ill, and Zhu Youjian's father was also in poor health due to long-term imprisonment. At this time, the old King of Tang intended to depose the crown prince and replace him with other sons, but was still rejected by local officials. The situation was reported directly to the court. After the court learned about it, it issued an edict to reprimand the old King of Tang. Only then did he fail to depose the crown prince. After the crown prince died of illness first (rumored to be poisoned), the old King of Tang had to continue to establish Zhu Youjian as the crown prince under the coercion of the court. Not long after Zhu Youjian established the crown prince, the old King of Tang died. This led to Zhu Youjian's succession to the throne of King Tang.

After this ordeal, Zhu Youjian finally became the King of Tang, but he still had a deep hatred for his grandfather and two uncles. If it weren't for them, he and his father wouldn't have suffered so many years, and his father wouldn't have died early from torture. This was the revenge for killing his father! This hatred must be avenged!
So after becoming the King of Tang, Zhu Youjian decided to take revenge and made a shocking move. He arrested his two uncles and beat them to death with sticks. This move shocked the world. Not only were other members of the royal family scared, even Emperor Chongzhen was stunned when he heard about it.

Zhu Youjian dared to love and hate, and he always kept his word. It was because of his character that he later supported the king. Many people in the royal family called Zhu Youjian a "madman" and an alternative. How could there be such a person in the dignified Ming vassal king? Obviously, many things could be done more tactfully, without giving people a handle to attack secretly, but he insisted on taking revenge in this way, and even did the thing of supporting the king regardless of his title, which eventually led to his demotion to a commoner and being confined to Fengyang.

(End of this chapter)