The First Uncle of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 166 How can we live like this!
Now that we are back in Fengyang, we need to hurry up and get things done.

Ma Xun has a lot of tasks to do. Even if he wants to lie down, it seems that he does not have the conditions to do so now.

Not to mention the sacrificial ceremonies, it is also necessary to take Zhu Chong and others to visit relatives and friends. Now there is also a series of cases that need to be investigated.

So in Ma Xun's plan, Zhu Chong and others who observed people's livelihood and experienced life had to be put at the back of the list.

After he presided over the imperial examination, he returned to Fengyang and took his nephews to farm.

Ma Xun was also anxious, mainly because he actually didn't know how to farm.

I was a refugee before, and I had no chance to be a tenant for a landlord. I had no experience in planting rice seedlings or harvesting rice, and I didn't know when to weed or release water.

But he needed to be forced to do something, and Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to open up a piece of land in Fengyang.

At that time, the crops grown by the royal family members would be used to offer sacrifices to the imperial tomb, while the fields cultivated by Zhu Yuanzhang and others would be used to offer sacrifices to the country.

Zhu Yuanzhang attached great importance to the annual ploughing ceremony, which was also something that rulers of all dynasties attached great importance to.

One acre and three fen of land, that really is the area of one acre and three fen of land.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang took care of it himself, unlike some emperors who would just pretend to hold the plow during the ploughing ceremony and then leave it to others to take care of it.

Since fathers have to farm, it is natural for sons to farm as well. This is what Zhu Yuanzhang enjoys.

Ma Xiuying also had her own fun. Even though she was very unhappy about being given a vegetable garden in the palace to take care of, she now grew a lot of vegetables.

There is no way, Ma Xiuying is used to being frugal, and she can't sit idle.

Planting flowers looks beautiful, but it does not conform to the aesthetic tastes of Zhu Yuanzhang and Ma Xiuying.

Besides, since planting flowers is not allowed in the palace now, so we just plant vegetables, which suddenly makes sense.

If other concubines had any opinions, they had to keep them to themselves. Moreover, each of these concubines was very sensible. No one mentioned planting flowers. They were all thinking about how to help the queen take care of the vegetable garden.

After the etiquette arrangement was over, Ma Xun called Liu Ying and Wang Wen over, "Brother Liu, Brother Wang."

Liu Ying and Wang Wen quickly returned the greeting and said, "You are too polite, my Lord."

Ma Xun turned his head and looked behind him. Zhu Chong, Zhu Gang and Zhu Di immediately bowed, "Zhu Chong (Zhu Gang, Zhu Di), I pay my respects to you, uncle."

Both Liu Ying and Wang Wen deserve the title of "Uncle".

One was to use his own land to bury the ancestors of the Zhu family and give the Zhu family auspicious land, which was a great favor.

Wang Wen was Zhu Yuanzhang's godparent in all formality. After all, Zhu Yuanzhang never hesitated to respectfully call Wang Wen's mother "godmother".

Liu Ying said with some fear, "Your Highness, I dare not."

"Brother." Ma Xun said with a smile, "My brother-in-law has also set the rules. In the court, the emperor and his subjects should perform the etiquette first. When they arrive in the side hall, it is the family etiquette. They are the younger generation, so they should perform the etiquette."

That being said, times have changed. Who would have thought that the despised Zhu Yuanzhang would now become the emperor?

Even the so-called "family etiquette" is essentially a family etiquette within the Zhu family.

Now Liu Ying is a seventh-rank priest, and Wang Wen is an eighth-rank priest, both of whom are official positions under the Taichang Temple.

However, as long as the Liu and Wang families were not completely extinct, the two major officials of the Ming Imperial Mausoleum would be the eldest sons of these two families. This was a position that truly served the country.

Even in Fengyang, where there were many nobles, the status of these two families was very special and transcendent. Who would dare to argue with them about official positions?

Ma Xun looked at Wang Wen and said with a smile, "Brother, my brother-in-law asked me to ask you, is everything okay at home?"

"I'm fine." Wang Wen replied with a smile, "It's also my fault that I always cause trouble for my superiors."

Ma Xun also smiled and said, "That's not right. My brother-in-law asked me to go to the temple with you. If he does this, everyone in the world will know that I was a monk. I'm afraid that he will ask me to manage the monks one day."

Huangjue Temple was first built during the Northern Song Dynasty. It was the Yuhuang Temple where Zhu Yuanzhang became a monk. However, it was destroyed in war at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang intended to rebuild it, and it became the "Longxing Temple".

In the Ming Dynasty, there were Buddhist officials, including the Buddhist Records Office that managed Buddhism and the Taoist Records Office that managed Taoism.

Zhu Chong said, "Don't worry, uncle. Father said that you became a monk just to make a living. Although he doesn't study Buddhist scriptures much, he is better than you."

Ma Xun rolled his eyes at Zhu Chong, then looked at Liu Ying and asked, "Brother, I heard that you have a grandson?"

Liu Ying said with a smile, "It's all thanks to the position above me."

"A family that accumulates good deeds will surely have good fortune." Ma Xun smiled and praised, "My father was kind and benevolent, so he blessed his descendants. Her Majesty the Queen asked me to give you the longevity lock, so please don't despise it, brother, and be sure to accept it."

Liu Ying was also excited, but in fact, she felt a little dazed when she thought about it.

His uncle watched the Zhu family's disaster with cold eyes, and no matter how Zhu Chongba and Zhu Chongliu led Zhu Chongsi's widow and children to plead, he was unwilling to give up a piece of land for the Zhu family to bury. It was only because his father could not bear it anymore that he allowed the Zhu family to be buried in rags.

At that time, Liu Ying just watched coldly, perhaps because he felt a little bit reluctant.

But what happened later was that we heard that even Zhu Yuanzhang could no longer be a monk and had to wander around. Then Fengyang was hit by war and the Liu family was ruined.

At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to be in Chuzhou and occupied Hexian County. Who would have thought that he would cross the Yangtze River and occupy Nanjing, and now he has become the emperor.

His cousin sometimes still sighs that when Zhu Yuanzhang was a child, he thought she was dirty and filthy just by looking at her, and now she is just a country woman and has become vulgar.

Wang Wen looked at Ma Xun and asked with a smile, "Then I will be bold and call the Duke 'little brother'."

"It's my duty." Ma Xun said with a smile, "I only dare to speak in front of you two because of my sister's status. To be honest, my brother-in-law is also very grateful to you two."

Ma Xun said seriously, "Master Liu will definitely be posthumously conferred the title of Marquis, but this matter will have to wait. I hope Brother Liu will forgive me."

Liu Ying was anxious and really panicked. "My Lord, this is not a joke. Although my father did some good deeds, how can His Majesty confer the title of Marquis upon him?"

"It may seem like a small matter to you, but it is a huge matter for the Zhu family." Ma Xun said more seriously, "But the imperial mausoleum has not been built yet, so I have to inconvenience you, brother."

Wang Wen had nothing to envy, because the Liu family did use land to bury the Zhu family's ancestors, and all descendants of the Zhu family had to acknowledge this favor.

But Wang Wen was different. Back then, he just carried the gifts his mother prepared for Zhu Yuanzhang and knelt in front of the temple begging for shelter. Now, getting an official position was enough.

After all, Wang Wen changed his surname to his mother's. As for the Cao family, there were also brothers who inherited the family lineage, and the family had a lot of land granted to them.

Back then, the brothers Liu De and Liu Jizu seemed to have a lot of land, but compared with the current Cao family (Wang family), it was not worth mentioning at all.

Ma Xun pointed at Zhu Chong and the others and said, "You two are my uncles, and they are now staying in their hometown. Please take care of them. They grew up in the palace and are born into a wealthy family. Most of them don't know the sufferings of the people."

Zhu Chong and others immediately stood up and acted as if they were humbly seeking advice.

It has to be said that the royal elite education was relatively successful. The etiquette of Zhu Chong and others at critical moments was impeccable.

On the contrary, many people of Zhu Yuanzhang's generation didn't care about etiquette at all.

Ma Xun continued, "Your Majesty's ancestral home must have been abandoned, and many places have been included in the imperial mausoleum. But some places also need to be repaired so that His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin and others can live in peace."

Liu Ying nodded. The area of the Ming Imperial Mausoleum is not small, and it is all surrounded by the Huangjue Temple.

As for the buildings within the imperial mausoleum, there must be certain requirements. You cannot just build a house casually, otherwise it will affect the layout and feng shui.

Zhu Chong and others were stunned. They now had a place to live. Although it was not as good as the usual imperial palace, it was still habitable.

Liu Ying and Wang Wen were also stunned. It seemed that the king's uncle really didn't want these princes to have a comfortable life.

This is exactly "remembering the bitter past and thinking of the sweet present", and it is intended to give these princes a good training.

Zhu Chong and others did not know what the real suffering of the people was like, but Liu Ying and others knew it well and knew what such hard days were like.

Even if the Zhu family's previous life was 'restored', even if their life was doubled, I guess the princes would not be able to endure it.

Looking at his nephews with miserable faces, Ma Xun was helpless.

Some things are not decided by him, they are instructed by someone and he is just here to carry them out.

At most, he made some "improvements" based on those instructions and added a little of his own ideas.

But overall there is nothing to worry about. They are just following orders, and Zhu Chong and others can't complain even if they want to.

While chatting about family matters with Liu Ying and Wang Wen, I naturally would not forget the most important thing, which must be the series of arrangements for the sacrifice, which is a big deal.

After Liu Ying and Wang Wen left, Zhu Di asked pitifully, "Uncle, even if you asked us to observe people's livelihood, you don't have to treat us like this, right?"

Zhu Chong and Zhu Gang felt relieved. Since the fifth child was not around, the fourth child was now the youngest and could bargain with his uncle.

Everyone knows what kind of person their uncle is. He definitely loves the prince the most, and then he loves the youngest nephew present.

As for the second and third children, they were picked out by their uncle for education and were used as negative examples or role models to encourage them.

"How did I treat you?" Ma Xun said unhappily, "Did I let you farm in rags, or did I let you be self-reliant? It's nothing more than you live in a worse place, eat worse, and have to do some farm work. What's there to complain about?"

Zhu Chong and others were about to collapse, but it was arranged like this. Isn't it worth complaining?

It’s chilling to think about it. The kind of life my uncle described is unbearable to think about.

How am I going to live my life from now on?

Now I can only endure it. I can’t beat my uncle and I dare not say anything more. When my cousin is born, I can bully him back!
(End of this chapter)