Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 8 Zhu Biao: I died young? My son Xiongying died young?

After hearing Zhu Yuanzhang's question, Zhu Biao noticed that the name of the last Ming emperor mentioned by Liu Kuan contained more important information.

In the sixth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered people to compile the "Record of Ancestors' Instructions" for the first time, and began to compile a generational sequence for each prince who was granted the title of king.

As the crown prince of the Eastern Palace, he was given the best-sounding generation name sequence, which was: Yunwen respects the ancestral teachings, Qinwu is the great king, Shundao is suitable for meeting auspicious things, and Shiliang is good for using Sheng.

That is to say, there is no character "You" in the generation sequence of his lineage.

'Depend on···'

Zhu Biao subconsciously recalled the generation name sequence his father had compiled for his younger brothers, and quickly remembered the location of the character "You".

'High vision and Qi Jianyou, thick support and Changyou, kindness and harmony are equals, simple Jingdi is the first! '

"It's the generation name of my fourth brother's lineage!"

"Could it be that after many years, something unexpected happened to my lineage, and the descendants were cut off, or perhaps the prince was too young, so the throne was passed to my fourth brother's lineage?"

Although Zhu Biao was surprised by this incident, his first thought was not dark. He believed that the throne of the Ming Dynasty was peacefully transferred from his lineage to Zhu Di's lineage.

Then he couldn't help but look at Liu Kuan, thinking that Liu Kuan might be wrong.

However, under his gaze, Liu Kuan nodded, "Yes, it's Zhu Youjian."

"Is he from the fourth brother's lineage?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked.

Liu Kuan nodded again.

Zhu Biao let out a sigh and thought to himself: It has indeed been transferred to my fourth brother's lineage.

At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang asked again: "How did it pass to the fourth brother's lineage?"

Liu Kuan observed Zhu Yuanzhang's expression and found that Zhu Yuanzhang looked relatively calm.

In other words, although this result was beyond Zhu Yuanzhang's expectations, he could accept it. After all, Zhu Di was also his child, and one of his legitimate sons born to him and Empress Ma.

But since Zhu Yuanzhang inquired about the process of this matter, he must have expected that there would be a bloody storm involved.

However, when Liu Kuan thought about what he was going to say next, he was still afraid that it would be too stimulating and drive Old Zhu crazy, so he decided to lay the groundwork and explain it slowly.

Of course, this was also because he had a certain favorable impression of Zhu Di - in other words, it could prevent Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao from having preconceived "hostility" towards Zhu Di.

He then asked an irrelevant question, "Your Majesty, do you know what, in my opinion as a person of later generations, Your Majesty should pay most attention to right now?"

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't expect Liu Kuan to answer his question directly, but asked a question instead.

He guessed that this problem must be related to the transfer of the throne to the fourth brother's lineage, which further confirmed that the transfer of the throne was likely related to something very bad.

So, he reasoned along the lines of this incident, glanced at Zhu Biao beside him, and said thoughtfully, "Do you attach importance to Biao'er's training?"

Although Zhu Biao was already very outstanding, there was still a certain gap between him and the heir to the throne in Zhu Yuanzhang's mind.

What made him most dissatisfied was that Zhu Biao was too lenient and too close to and trusted scholars.

Zhu Biao finally reacted at this time and realized that the transfer of the throne to his fourth brother's lineage was not as peaceful as he had imagined.

So I got nervous.

As the eldest brother, the last thing he wanted to see was fighting among his own family.

Liu Kuan shook his head. "Although the Crown Prince is a bit lenient and kind, he is intelligent and wise, and can make decisions. Even compared with the Crown Princes of previous dynasties, his suitability for the throne can be ranked among the top five."

Adaptability is a new word for Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao, but it is not difficult to understand.

Hearing such comments from Liu Kuan, a later generation, even Zhu Biao, a person of his time, could not help but feel happy, proud, and a little embarrassed.

Zhu Yuanzhang was unabashedly happy.

He smiled and said, "Biao'er is the heir to the throne of the Ming Dynasty whom I have carefully nurtured for many years. He is naturally very suitable for the throne."

Liu Kuan asked, "Your Majesty, have you ever thought about the Crown Prince's untimely death?"

die young?!

The smile on Zhu Yuanzhang's face froze instantly, as if he had been struck by lightning. He fell into a rare state of being unable to think.

You know, even though he had seen the cross-river bridge before and heard that Liu Kuan came from the future, his mind had never been so blank.

Although the smile on Zhu Biao's face froze and he looked shocked, he came to his senses earlier than Zhu Yuanzhang.

He asked with a pale face, "Master Liu, are you saying that I will die young in later history?"

Liu Kuan nodded and continued as if reading from a history book, "In the 25th year of the Hongwu reign, His Highness returned to the capital from an inspection tour of Shaanxi and died of a cold. He was buried on the east side of the Xiaoling Mausoleum and was posthumously named 'Prince Yiwen'."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Biao's face turned even paler.

He muttered, "The twenty-fifth year of Hongwu... Does that mean I only have eleven years left to live?"

Liu Kuan didn't expect that Zhu Biao looked like he was about to be defeated by "fate".

He was about to say something when Zhu Yuanzhang shouted, "What are you dreaming about? Now that you know when you'll catch a cold and die, why don't you take precautions? As long as you take precautions, the King of Hell won't be able to kill you!"

Hearing this, Liu Kuan couldn't help but sigh that Zhu Yuanzhang was indeed a hero who could rise from a beggar to the founding emperor. Not only did he not believe in fate, but he also dared to fight against it.

After sighing, Liu Kuan also advised: "Your Highness, we in later generations almost do not believe in fate, at least we don't believe in the saying that 'life span is fixed'."

"As His Majesty has said, now that Your Highness knows this, as long as he takes care of his health and has adequate medical care, he will not die in his prime."

After listening to what Zhu Yuanzhang and Liu Kuan said, Zhu Biao's expression finally became less ugly, and he secretly reminded himself to take care of his health.

It's not that he was afraid of death, but he knew that if he died in his prime, it would be unfilial to his parents and irresponsible to his children.

It even became the cause of the struggle for the throne of the Ming Dynasty.

After coming to his senses, Zhu Biao asked, "Could it be that because I died young, my father passed the throne to my fourth brother?"

Liu Kuan did not answer this question, but looked at Zhu Yuanzhang, "Your Majesty, if Your Highness dies, to whom will you pass the throne?"

Zhu Yuanzhang thought for a moment and said, "We have already established a rule that the throne of the Ming Dynasty will be passed to the eldest son. This way, our descendants will not fight among themselves for the throne."

"So, if Biao'er dies, we will pass the throne to Xiongying. He has been named the Crown Prince, so he is the legitimate heir to the throne."

Zhu Biao was stunned for a moment, then said, "Father, if your son dies in eleven years, Xiong Ying will only be eighteen years old. Can he take on the heavy responsibility of the throne?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "At the age of eighteen, most ordinary families would have been married and had children. How could she not have assumed the heavy responsibility of the throne? Besides, if you die, will we also die?"

Zhu Biao was embarrassed and said quickly: "That is not my intention. I wish my father a long life."

After saying that, he looked at Liu Kuan, obviously wanting Liu Kuan to help him say something.

Liu Kuan smiled and said, "Historically, Your Majesty lived to be seventy, which is considered a long life among emperors."

seventy?

That means there are still sixteen or seventeen years left?

"Not bad." Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, seemingly satisfied with his age.

As for immortality, Zhu Yuanzhang had fantasized about it, but he was very rational - among the many emperors in history, none of them could live forever, and he, Zhu Yuanzhang, was naturally no exception.

In fact, by the Tang and Song dynasties, an emperor's pursuit of immortality was equated with being a tyrant.

Zhu Biao himself died young, but he hoped that his father could live longer. However, although he had this idea, he had no idea how to do it.

After all, seventy was indeed a long life for people at that time, especially for emperors.

After coming back to his senses, Zhu Biao recalled the previous question and couldn't help but ask curiously: "Since my father will pass the throne to Xiongying, how did the throne transfer to my fourth brother's lineage?"

"Could it be that my fourth brother rebelled and seized the throne of Uei?"

Zhu Biao became worried and was very unwilling to see this happen.

Among his adult brothers, he had the best relationship with Zhu Di.

Under Zhu Biao's gaze, Liu Kuan asked another question, "What if the crown prince dies young?"

Xiongying died young?!
This time, it was not only Zhu Yuanzhang who felt as if struck by lightning and his mind went blank, but also Zhu Biao.

He also understood Zhu Yuanzhang's feelings when he just learned that his son died before him.

This time, it was Zhu Yuanzhang who came to his senses. He stared at Liu Kuan with a dagger-like gaze and asked, "Why did Xiongying die so young? And when did he die so young?"

Liu Kuan said, "The historical records don't record why Zhu Xiongying died young, but they do record the date."

Liu Kuan then continued, as if reading from a history book, "On the first day of May in the fifteenth year of the Hongwu reign, the Crown Prince Zhu Xiongying passed away. Because he was not yet ten years old at the time of his death and had not yet been canonized, he was treated as the Crown Prince and posthumously named Prince Yu with the posthumous title 'Huai'. He was buried in Zhongshan."

After listening to Liu Kuan, Zhu Yuanzhang no longer had any doubts about the matter - because what Liu Kuan said was consistent with the situation of the Ming Dynasty at that time, and the possibility of errors in historical records was extremely small.

Then he frowned and said dissatisfiedly: "Xiong Ying is the crown prince after all, why don't the history books record the cause of his death?!"

As for Zhu Biao next to him, he still hadn't come to his senses.

It was obvious that he could not accept the fact that his eldest son might die next year.

Liu Kuan said, "There have been many speculations about the cause of Zhu Xiongying's death in later generations. Your Majesty and Your Highness may wish to listen to them."

These words brought Zhu Biao back to his senses and he stared at Liu Kuan.

"The mainstream view in later generations is that Zhu Xiongying died of illness. After all, in ancient times, well, at that time, medical conditions were extremely primitive, and the premature death of children was not uncommon. Even a prince could die from a common illness."

"As for the specific illness that killed Zhu Xiongying, there are many speculations. Some say it was smallpox, some say it was a cold, or a cold—again, there are too many diseases that can take a child's life at this time."

"Besides this, there's another conspiracy theory." Liu Kuan hesitated for a moment before finally speaking out, "Some people suspect that Zhu Xiongying's death is related to Crown Princess Lu."

"Mrs. Lu?!" Zhu Biao couldn't help but interrupt Liu Kuan, "How could it be her? How dare she?"

Liu Kuan said, "This is just a speculation by later generations, not a proven fact. So, Your Highness, will you listen to me?"

Zhu Biao took a deep breath, suppressed all his emotions, nodded and said, "Okay, go ahead."

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(End of this chapter)