Ming Dynasty: Ask Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 162: The Tyrannical King of Qin! Murderous Intentions Appear!

Qin Palace in Xi'an.

When the Ming Dynasty was first established, Zhu Yuanzhang listed Xi'an as a candidate city for the future capital based on the consideration that "among all the mountains and rivers in the world, Qinzhong is the most rugged and solid."

From the third year to the eleventh year of Hongwu, the Qin Palace and the new city of Xi'an were under construction.

Therefore, among the many princely palaces, the Qin Palace was the largest.

Compared with Zhu Di's Prince of Yan's Mansion in Beiping, it is several times larger.

The weather in Xi'an in the twelfth lunar month is extremely cold.

However, the bedroom in the Prince of Qin's mansion was very warm.

Outside the bedroom, a servant was burning charcoal in the corner.

There are two layers of pipes under the bedroom.

The first layer is the drainage pipe, which is used for cooling.

In the summer, servants would draw well water from deep underground and pour buckets of it into the drainage pipes, letting the icy cold water flow through the floor of the bedroom, making the bedroom extremely cool.

Another layer is the smoke exhaust duct, which is used for heating.

The hot air from the charcoal fire burning outside flows along the smoke exhaust duct, passes through the basement of the bedroom, and is discharged outside.

In this way, the heat will be transmitted through the floor tiles to the interior of the bedroom, making it warm as spring even in the cold winter.

King Qin Zhu Chong was sitting on a dragon bed carved with a five-clawed dragon, holding a beautiful concubine in each arms. He reached out his hands to explore the bodies of the two concubines, enjoyed the delicious food they fed him, and watched the dancers dance.

The five-clawed dragon bed was originally used exclusively by the emperor, but Zhu Chong didn't care about that.

The emperor can use it, and so can I, the King of Qin.

An official once reported this matter to Zhu Yuanzhang, who reprimanded him for "usurping his authority and being rude, which is a grave crime" and punished him severely.

But the next moment, Zhu Chong remade the destroyed five-clawed dragon bed.

He had long been accustomed to Lao Zhu's punishment and did not take it to heart at all.

"Damn it!" After Zhu Chong drank a few glasses of wine, he started cursing.

"Beiyuan bastards, why didn't you send troops to attack us this winter?"

"My father actually blamed me for leaving Jinling City without permission and sent the Royal Guards to arrest me."

"As a vassal king, I am supposed to guard the border. Should I stay in Jinling City and learn from my fourth brother, the shameless fellow, to shamelessly worship my nephew as his teacher?"

"If my father really wants me to stay in Jinling City, please make me the crown prince and let me inherit the Ming Dynasty!"

"This way I can stay in Jinling City forever and take care of the old man until his death!"

"He insisted on naming that little bastard Zhu Yunhuan as the crown prince."

"I'm furious!"

"Zhu Yunhuan even sent someone to plead for me hypocritically, hoping that I would be grateful to him."

"He's dreaming!"

"When my father dies, I will lead my soldiers to rebel."

"Anyway, all the soldiers under my command are good at fighting. How can Zhu Yunhuan, a little brat, know how to fight? Has he ever been on the battlefield?"

"I'll lead a large army and scare him to death!"

"Hahaha!"

Zhu Chong laughed triumphantly and at the same time pinched the beautiful maidservant in his arms hard.

"Ah!" The beautiful maid screamed in pain.

Zhu Chong was furious: "Don't scream! If you scream again, I'll dig out your tongue!"

After saying that, he squeezed harder again with even greater strength.

The beautiful maid could only grit her teeth and hold back, not letting herself scream.

Zhu Chong turned his head to look at the beautiful maid, and the maid immediately smiled again.

"That's how you behave!" Zhu Chong held the maid's chin with his hand, then kissed her on the face.

At the same time, the other hand squeezed hard again.

The beautiful maid was shaking with pain all over, but she dared not cry or scream in pain, and still had to put on a smile.

After the kiss, Zhu Chong turned to look at the dancers dancing in front of him.

"Why do you always do the same dance? Isn't there anything new?"

He grumbled in dissatisfaction.

Just then, a eunuch came in from outside: "Your Highness, it's snowing outside, and the servants have made a snowman in the garden."

"If your highness is interested, you may go and take a look!"

"Okay!" Zhu Chong became interested upon hearing it, got off the dragon bed and walked outside.

In the back garden of the Prince of Qin's Palace, a group of palace maids and eunuchs were shivering in the wind and snow, but they did not dare to slack off.

They carved dozens of snowmen in various shapes and looked lifelike.

Zhu Chong, wearing a thick fur coat, walked into the garden to see the snowman.

He had just drunk some wine and was still drunk.

"Who made this snowman? It's so ugly!"

thump!
A palace maid knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly.

"Your Highness, please forgive me! Your Highness, please forgive me!"

Zhu Chong looked down at the maid and sneered, "Since you can't make a snowman, then let your own body do it."

He ordered the guards beside him: "Come here, take off the clothes of this slave and let her freeze into an ice sculpture in the snow!"

The guards immediately stepped forward and the maid struggled hard, but how could she, a weak woman, struggle against the guards of the Prince of Qin's mansion?

After a while, all the clothes on his body were stripped off.

The cold wind was howling and snowflakes were falling, and in an instant my whole body turned purple and blue from the cold.

"Stand still for me and smile, so that the ice sculptures will look good."

Zhu Chong threatened: "If you dare to move again and don't cooperate, I will turn your whole family into ice sculptures of snowmen."

The maid didn't dare to struggle anymore.

She spread her arms and struck a dancing pose, moving with each movement.

The snowflakes fell on her and melted quickly at first, but soon the palace maid was frozen to death, her body lost heat, and the snowflakes stopped melting.

Soon, the palace maid turned into a snowman.

Zhu Chong, however, laughed loudly, pointing at the palace maid's body that had been frozen into an ice sculpture: "Beautiful! Really beautiful! Hahaha!"

"Look carefully, whoever doesn't carve a snowman well and satisfies me, I will make her into a snowman!"

All the palace maids around were trembling with fear, except Zhu Chong, who was in high spirits and laughing loudly in the wind and snow.

……

Outside the Prince of Qin’s Palace.

A new medicine shop opened right opposite the gate of the Prince Qin's Palace.

Whoops!

Braving the biting cold wind, a pedestrian broke into the pharmacy.

"Boss, please get me some medicine." He said, handing over a prescription.

The shopkeeper was a middle-aged man in his thirties or forties, with a gentle appearance and a kind smile. He took the prescription and said, "Old man, there is a stove over there. I'll get the medicine for you. Go over and warm yourself by the fire first."

"It's so cold, it must be hard to come here."

The first pedestrian to enter the drugstore was an old man in his sixties with white hair and beard. After hearing what the shopkeeper said, he immediately came to the stove and stretched out his hands to warm himself by the fire.

"is not that right?"

"If my wife wasn't sick, I wouldn't have come out in this cold weather to get medicine."

He turned to look at the shopkeeper who was dispensing medicine: "From your accent, you are not a local, right?"

A trace of surprise flashed across the shopkeeper's face, but he returned to normal in an instant and smiled, "I fled here when the world was in chaos. It's been a while."

"The old man has good hearing."

"Although I'm not a local, I've lived in the nearby countryside for many years, and most people really can't tell the difference."

The old man stroked his beard and said, "There are still some slight differences. If you don't listen carefully, you really can't hear it."

As he was speaking, the shopkeeper had already packed the medicine and handed it to the old man.

The old man took out a few new banknotes from his pocket.

Today, the new Ming Dynasty banknotes have been basically promoted throughout the country, and silver and copper coins are no longer used in various places.

He was about to pay, but the owner of the drugstore said, "Old man, I see from the clothes you are wearing that your family is not well off."

"My husband is ill, and it's not easy to get food."

"Let's not pay for the medicine today."

The old man got anxious when he heard this: "How can that be possible? We can't take your medicine for nothing!"

"Old man!" The shopkeeper pushed the money he handed over back and said, "Don't be polite with me. Keep this money and buy some supplements for your wife." The old man hesitated.

To be honest, the money to buy medicine today was raised by pawning a set of heirloom clothes in my family.

Right now, the family is barely able to make ends meet.

I don’t know how to get through this winter.

This money can buy a lot of food.

It’s not a big deal if I starve to death, but what about my spouse, children, and young grandchildren? What will happen to them?
Thinking of this, the old man finally stuffed the money back into his arms.

"Then I would like to thank you very much, old man! I cannot repay your kindness in this life, but I will repay you in the next life even if I have to work like a slave."

The old man bowed deeply to the shopkeeper.

The middle-aged shopkeeper quickly supported him and said, "Old man, you are too kind!"

"You can stay in the store and warm yourself up by the fire. Then go back."

The old man was filled with gratitude, and after thanking the owner repeatedly, he sat down on the stool brought by the middle-aged shopkeeper.

The middle-aged shopkeeper said, "I used to live in the nearby countryside, and recently moved to Xi'an. Why do I feel that this city is not very prosperous, but rather a bit depressed? I don't know why."

The old man sighed softly and looked at him, seeming to want to say something but stopping himself.

"Does the old man have any concerns?" asked the middle-aged shopkeeper.

The old man sighed and said, "There are some things you can't say carelessly, or you'll lose your head."

He lowered his voice unconsciously: "Boss, you are a kind person, so the old man will say a few more words."

"You can't open your medicine shop here. You have to move it away quickly."

"Otherwise, not only will you lose money, but you may even lose your life."

The middle-aged shopkeeper looked horrified: "Is it that serious? Is there anyone here that we can't afford to offend?"

The old man pointed outside the door and said, "It's the King of Qin in the King of Qin's Mansion opposite your medicine shop."

The middle-aged shopkeeper was stunned and said, "Old man, you are joking. The King of Qin is such a great man, so high and mighty that he would never even look at a commoner like me."

"He won't look at you, but he will hurt you!" The old man said in a deep voice: "Do you know why the streets of Xi'an are so deserted?"

"Most of this is thanks to King Qin. He is a living devil."

"You could even say he's scarier than the King of Hell."

"When the King of Qin has nothing to do, he takes his troops to the streets to arrest people."

"If I see a pretty girl, I'll take her to the Prince of Qin's palace to be a maid."

"Whenever I see a handsome boy, I capture him, castrate him, and send him to the Qin Palace to be a eunuch."

"As for not paying for things, arbitrarily levying taxes, or conscripting people to do hard labor, that's all commonplace."

"Your medicine shop is located opposite the Qin Palace."

"Tomorrow the King of Qin will send someone to ask you for money and ask you to pay hundreds or thousands of taels of silver in taxes. Will you pay it or not?"

"If you pay, you will go bankrupt."

"If you don't hand it over, he will immediately lock you up and put you in jail."

"Do you think this place can still do business?"

The middle-aged shopkeeper's expression changed: "The King of Qin is so absurd, isn't there anyone who will report him to the government?"

"Go to the government to sue the King of Qin?" The old man coughed twice and burst into laughter.

"This world belongs to the Zhu family. The King of Qin is your Majesty's second son. Who dares to sue him?"

"Besides, can the government control the King of Qin?"

"I have heard that even the governor, the provincial governor, and the king of Qin dared to whip them at will."

“Officials can’t even protect themselves.”

"Isn't it a huge joke to ask them to take care of the King of Qin?"

The middle-aged shopkeeper frowned and remained silent. After a moment, he said, "They dare not intervene themselves, but as long as they report it to the court, His Majesty, who always loves the people like his own children, will naturally intervene."

The old man shook his head: "Our Majesty is indeed quite good to the common people."

"There is no mercy for corrupt officials."

"But it's different for my own son!"

"The bad things that the King of Qin did have already been reported to Your Majesty."

"Last year, the imperial court sent people to arrest him and take him to Jinling City."

"Everyone applauded and thought the King of Qin would be severely punished."

"After the King of Qin was captured, Xi'an City quickly became much more prosperous."

"The streets are full of merchants and pedestrians."

"But these good days lasted for more than a year."

"Now, the King of Qin has returned safely, hasn't he?"

"As soon as they heard he was coming back, most of the shops on the street closed immediately."

"The peddlers dare not come out to hawk their wares anymore."

"Hasn't Xi'an become a depressed city?"

The middle-aged shopkeeper was slightly stunned, his eyes flickered, and his expression became more and more complicated.

"The King of Qin is so cruel and ruthless. Is there really nothing we can do about him?"

"What else can we do?" The old man spread his hands: "Can we still rebel?"

"The King of Qin has tens of thousands of troops at his disposal."

"They are all elite soldiers who have fought in hundreds of battles. They will kill people without blinking an eye."

"We ordinary people can't afford to offend them."

The middle-aged shopkeeper seemed to be lost in thought. After a while, he asked again, "Do the family members of the Qin Wang Mansion also look like the Qin Wang?"

"That's not bad." The old man said, "Except for Concubine Deng, whom the King of Qin used to favor, the family members of the King of Qin's mansion are quite nice to outsiders."

"Princess Deng was sentenced to death by His Majesty two years ago because she wore the Queen's clothes in private."

"This is also the news that the old man heard from people in the palace."

"The people in the palace are miserable too!"

"It turns out that the princess of the Qin Palace is the sister of Wang Baobao, a famous general of the Northern Yuan Dynasty."

"Your Majesty specially let the King of Qin marry her in order to win over Wang Baobao."

"But the King of Qin treated the princess very badly. He locked her up in a dungeon and fed her dog food."

"The princess has been tortured in the palace."

"After hearing this, His Majesty reprimanded the King of Qin and ordered him to release the princess."

"But the King of Qin let the pretense go for a few days."

"As soon as the envoy sent by His Majesty left, he locked the princess back in the dungeon and continued to abuse her."

"Not to mention the servants in the Qin Palace."

"The King of Qin abused private punishment in his palace. He would torture the palace maids and eunuchs to death if he was not satisfied with anything."

"Some were tied to trees and starved to death, some were burned to death, some were hanged alive, and some were stripped of their clothes and frozen to death..."

"This Qin Palace is like a hell. The people inside are so miserable!"

The middle-aged shopkeeper was stunned and said after a while: "King Qin is so cruel, isn't he afraid of being killed by the people around him?"

The old man smiled bitterly and said, "It would be great if that were true. The common people of Xi'an are also looking forward to seeing their fortunes come to them!"

The middle-aged shopkeeper's tone gradually became firm: "It's not that I won't take revenge, it's just that the time has not come yet. The King of Qin has committed many evil deeds, and he will not die a good death in the future."

"I hope so!" said the old man. "We should only talk about this in private. Don't say it outside."

"The old man is warm now, so I'll take my leave today."

"Next year, when my family has enough money and food, I will come to thank the shopkeeper for the gift of medicine today."

He stood up, bowed, and walked outside.

The middle-aged shopkeeper stood up to see him off.

Before leaving, the old man turned back and said, "Boss, what I said just now was not meant to scare you."

"It is absolutely not possible for your medicine shop to be opened opposite the Qin Palace."

"It's better to move out sooner."

"If the King of Qin comes out of the palace one day and sees your medicine shop, you will be in big trouble!"

The middle-aged shopkeeper smiled and said, "Thank you for reminding me, old man. I know what I am doing now."

After saying that, he sent the old man out the door.

After the old man's figure walked away, his gaze slowly turned to the gate of Qin Palace opposite.

The original smile disappeared, and murderous intent appeared in his eyes!
……

(End of this chapter)