The First Uncle of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 170: Can’t get off stage
As soon as he entered the palace, he saw the elegant gentleman Zhu Biao, "Meet uncle and aunt."

Ma Xun asked with a smile, "Why are you still waiting for us here?"

"I was originally doing some work in Wenhua Palace, but when I heard that my uncle was back, I thought he would definitely go to the palace, so I came here early." Zhu Biao said with a smile, "I made my mother angry the other day, so I'm waiting for you to help me put in a good word."

Ma Xun didn't quite believe it, but still asked, "What's wrong?"

Zhu Biao smiled and said, "They were arguing. She and Dad were arguing, and I was watching. In the end, they were fine, and they said that I, as a son, was unfilial and didn't know how to mediate."

Ma Xun was helpless. Sometimes Zhu Yuanzhang and Ma Xiuying were the typical example of 'parents are true love, children are an accident'.

Wangcai was led to the small courtyard, and Ma Xun and Liu Shuning followed Zhu Biao to chat and go to the Qianqing Palace.

As for why it was the Qianqing Palace and not the Kunning Palace, we can't expect Zhu Yuanzhang and Ma Xiuying to "live apart".

Ma Xiuying glanced at Ma Xun, then took Liu Shuning's hand with a smile on her face, "As long as you look good, you'll be able to hold your nephew by the end of the year!"

"Maybe it's a niece." Ma Xun said, so as not to put too much pressure on Liu Shuning, "I actually want a girl, so that I can discipline my younger brothers and sisters in the future."

Ma Xiuying rolled her eyes at Ma Xun, knowing what he meant. "I like both nephews and nieces. It's not like I only have one."

"Then can I go to the war next year?" Ma Xun became concerned. "If we really fight Wang Baobao, I want to join in the fun. Baoer previously fought Yingchang, but he didn't capture Emperor Yuan or retrieve the jade seal. It's a pity."

Ma Xiuying didn't answer directly. Ma Xun was a restless kid, or he liked to run around without any restrictions.

The huge capital city could not satisfy him at all, and he always wanted to travel around and have a look.

Seeing that the conversation was about to get awkward, Zhu Biao smiled and said, "Uncle, Duke Wei has sent a letter saying that he wants to invite you to Beiping for military training."

"Xu Tiande has bad intentions." Ma Xiuying said unhappily, "Since the year before last, he has been thinking about tricking your uncle into joining the army. He said that he values your uncle's medical skills and strict discipline of soldiers, but I think he is just overthinking it."

Zhu Biao also joked, "I'll settle down a girl for Uncle Xu in two years. Everyone says that his girl is good. I wonder if the fourth or fifth son will have this blessing."

Zhu Su said directly, "I won't marry the girl from the Xu family. She only studies. I'll find a doctor to help me identify the herbs."

Ma Xun looked at his nephew. This was not the right occasion. Otherwise, even if his butt wasn't bruised, it wouldn't be much better.

Ma Xiuying was not polite anymore. She grabbed Zhu Su and slapped him a few times.

However, in Ma Xun's opinion, it was the same as not hitting him at all. It looked fierce and the sound seemed loud, but it all hit the pants.

Not seeing that Zhu Su still had a calm face, he immediately ran away with a look of dissatisfaction on his face.

This is the youngest child in the family, and he is somewhat spoiled.

This child was also fearless, so in history he did things like privately exchanging letters with Feng Sheng and leaving his fiefdom without permission and running back to Fengyang.

As a result, nothing happened to Zhu Yuanzhang, but that bastard Zhu Yunwen locked up Zhu Su, first demoted him to a commoner, and then moved him to Yunnan.

Zhu Biao looked at Ma Xun and asked with a smile, "Uncle, are the second son and the others doing well in their hometown?"

"I feel okay. I thought they lacked kindness because they grew up in wealth." Ma Xun smiled and praised, "But at heart they are still passionate young men, and they still have some justice and kindness."

Ma Xiuying also praised him, "You are thoughtful. You were the one who asked people to investigate those cases, and you were the one who offended them. You also took great pains to help the second brother and the others distinguish right from wrong."

Ma Xun said, "They are of different status and not as kind as Biao'er. Sometimes they should be made aware of the difficulties faced by the common people."

Ma Xiuying also agreed with this statement. Zhu Chong and his brothers were standard prince templates and did not know much about the situation among the people.

But Zhu Biao was different, because he had been involved in many political affairs and had a basic understanding of what the people were like.

Sometimes if you stand too high, you may not be able to see the situation at the bottom. Zhu Chong and others had difficulty seeing the situation of the people clearly before.

Zhu Biao said with great approval, "The second sons are a bit overbearing after all. They need to gain experience in the next few years so that they can share the worries of their parents in the future."

Ma Xiuying looked at Zhu Biao with a smile and asked, "Do you need them to share your father's worries? I think your uncle should teach them well now, and then you will have less trouble."

Zhu Biao did not refute, "That is also to relieve my parents' worries. I can't discipline my brother in the future and make the family restless!"

Liu Shuning just sat there and listened with a smile. People outside said that Duke Zheng and his wife were raising Lan Yu's younger brother as their own child.

But her husband was not much better. To the Emperor and Empress, he was not just a younger brother, but sometimes he was really like a child to her.

After all, there is a 17-year age difference, which is two generations in this era. And the relationship between Ma Xun and Zhu Biao does seem like uncle and nephew most of the time. But sometimes, they also look like brothers.

Zhu Yuanzhang came, and with him came Li Zhen and Li Jinglong.

There is nothing strange about this. Whether Ma Xun comes back from a long journey, or Li Zhen comes back from a trip, they always have a reunion dinner with their family first.

Li Zhen didn't ask about official business, but looked at Ma Xun with some concern and said, "Little brother, you haven't celebrated your birthday in these years, right?"

This time, not to mention Zhu Yuanzhang and his wife, Liu Shuning also looked at Ma Xun.

Ma Xiuying also said quickly, "That's what happened. It's been two years since you came back. You were away the year before last and last year, so your birthday was delayed."

Ma Xun smiled and said, "Celebrate your birthday well this year, so I won't forget my own birthday."

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "It's different now than before. In the past, birthdays seemed desolate. Now it's lively and festive."

Ma Xun didn't want to talk about this, so he looked at Zhu Yuanzhang and said, "Brother-in-law, are you planning to move the capital back to Fengyang?"

Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned for a moment, and asked, "My hometown has no strategic location to defend, and it is not in the center of the world. How do you think it can be the capital?"

"Then why recruit more than 100,000 craftsmen for a large-scale construction?" Ma Xun said, "There is no problem with the construction, and the imperial mausoleum should be repaired. But Zhongdu is too large, is it necessary?"

Zhu Yuanzhang was unhappy. "Zhongdu is the imperial capital, so what's wrong with building it up?"

Zhu Biao immediately said, "No one says that cultivation is bad, but it's not good to be too much."

Ma Xiuying also said, "If you don't know, you would think that this is a prosperous era, so you are building so much. Your parents-in-law's mausoleum is not yet built, and your mausoleum has not yet started. The capital city is not yet built, and you want to build another capital city!"

Li Zhen also advised, "Chongba, it's not a good idea to start a large-scale construction project. In my opinion, we should just do some minor repairs, and the main thing is to repair the imperial mausoleum."

Zhu Yuanzhang was instantly annoyed, looked around and said, "I conquered the world, how could I be wrong?"

Facing the extremely confident Zhu Yuanzhang, Ma Xiuying bluntly retorted, "You have made fewer mistakes? You have a bad temper now that you are the emperor, and you won't listen to honest advice? If this is the case, you will definitely lose your country!"

Ma Xun said quickly, "Not really, not really, that's not the case."

"You are the one who started this trouble, and now you are pretending to be a good guy?" Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and looked at Ma Xun and said, "You said I was wasting money and grain by building a large-scale project, but I even made mistakes while building it?"

Zhu Biao stood up and said, "Dad, my uncle never meant not to repair Zhongdu, but there is no need to spend so much."

Zhu Su looked at the adults' table, and he, Zhu Jingru, and Zhu Jingxian lowered their heads and ate in silence. Anyway, these things were not their turn to worry about, and they couldn't understand them.

As for the loud noise at the adults' table, there's nothing to worry about. After seeing it so many times, you won't take it seriously anymore.

Isn't it just occasional bickering, isn't it just occasional loud noises? It's really nothing, and no one thinks that such quarrels mean a complete breakup among the family.

Ma Xiuying said directly, "I have said it before. If the capital is moved in the future, Yingtianfu will be the secondary capital. Just repair Yingtianfu and make Zhongdu look good!"

"What do you, a woman, know?" Zhu Yuanzhang became even more annoyed and said, "You Ma family are really a family of scholars. You know everything about the country and are good at poetry and songs. I, a novice monk, can't compare to you!"

This is the beginning of "personal attack", and it's time to start using the big move of using family background to make an argument.

Zhu Biao looked at Zhu Yuanzhang and saw his father's wink, and immediately understood. "Uncle knows poetry?"

"Your uncle is very capable, and he keeps all his skills to himself." Zhu Yuanzhang said sarcastically, "We are crossing the Yangtze River by boat to fight a war, but your uncle is standing on the bow of the boat reciting poems and songs, reminiscing about the past and lamenting the present."

Ma Xiuying was not happy, "Zhu Chongba, can you please speak properly?"

"Why don't you speak properly?" Zhu Yuanzhang said with some pride, "Don't you know how capable your brother is? The Yangtze River flows eastward, and you are so arrogant!"

Ma Xun was immediately embarrassed. He only read Romance of the Three Kingdoms and remembered those songs. He had no intention of plagiarizing Yang Shen’s lyrics.
Ma Xiuying looked at Ma Xun with some joy, "Did my little brother really write the lyrics?"

Liu Shuning's eyes also lit up. Who wouldn't want a husband who could be a general or a prime minister?
"The Yangtze River rolls eastward, its waves wash away all heroes. Success and failure are all in vain. The green mountains remain, the sunsets turn red again." Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head in a somewhat exaggerated manner, "Where is the second half? What's the point of writing a poem without the second half?"

Ma Xiuying was even happier, and then she said sarcastically, "Half a que is enough, it's better than 'The cock crows once and the cock sticks out its tail once, the cock crows twice and the cock sticks out its tail twice; the third crow summons Fusang and sweeps away the remaining stars and the dawn moon'!"

Zhu Yuanzhang was suddenly embarrassed. He had written quite a few poems. The one Ma Xiuying just mentioned was "The Golden Rooster Crows at the Crowing", which was Emperor Zhu's masterpiece.

After being embarrassed, Zhu Yuanzhang quickly said, "There are other poems, not all of them are like this. This kid is really good at hiding. I think the founding of the Ming Dynasty should also have literary talent!"

Ma Xun felt even more uneasy. A plagiarist could only copy a few poems. Don't put me on such a high pedestal, otherwise I will be embarrassed!
(End of this chapter)