Ming Dynasty: The Jingnan Rebellion has just been successful, and Zhu Yuanzhang has been resurrected

Chapter 123 What? Chongba is still alive?

Fang Xiaoru smiled bitterly and said, "If you hadn't come to see me, I would have been fine, but those young students would have been in trouble."

If the preferential treatment for gentry is abolished, someone will eventually get into trouble.

If something happens to him, he will just be cursed, but if something happens to the young students, they will literally lose their heads.

He knows clearly what is important and what is not.

Li Jinglong looked up at Fang Xiaoru, shook his head, and ended the conversation. "By the way, I heard that last night Your Majesty was in the Imperial Palace demanding the lands in the name of the princes. What do you think Your Majesty is planning to do?"

"I don't know!" Fang Xiaoru shook his head.

Seeing Li Jinglong's curious expression, he thought for a moment and said, "Duke Cao, no matter what His Majesty intends to do, since it involves land, it is no small matter. I advise you not to get involved."

Li Jinglong nodded and said, "I know. I just want to find out in case of emergency."

"Master, Lord Tie Xuan Tie wants to see you!" A servant's voice came from outside the door.

Li Jinglong was somewhat surprised. He looked at Fang Xiaoru and asked, "What's going on? Has your relationship with Tie Xuan reached this point?"

Fang Xiaoru became the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet. He subconsciously thought that Tie Xuan came to congratulate Fang Xiaoru. Of course, it was not to curry favor with him, but to express congratulations between good friends.

He knew Tie Xuan's character very well. Apart from Zhu Yunhuan, he had never seen Tie Xuan be nice to anyone. Therefore, he was very surprised that Fang Xiaoru allowed Tie Xuan to come to his house to congratulate him.

Fang Xiaoru shook his head and said with a wry smile, "Duke Cao, you misunderstood. I don't have that ability. Tie Xuan came here probably for your Majesty's marriage."

After saying that, he said to the outside of the door: "Bring the person over here!"

"Yes, sir!" The servant nodded and walked away.

Li Jinglong suddenly realized something and said, "Your Majesty has been in the palace for a few days now. The harem is so deserted and cold, it's really a bit inappropriate. You should hurry up."

"The procedures have been almost completed. Now all that's left is to visit the Duke of Wei's Mansion, the Zhao family, and the Zhang family." Fang Xiaoru said.

Then, as if he had thought of something, he looked up at Li Jinglong and said, "Duke Cao, you have a good relationship with His Majesty. Do you know what the situation is with the Zhao and Zhang families?"

Xu Miaojin was not very surprised. Three years ago, Zhu Yunhuan had a quarrel with him, but was finally suppressed by Zhu Yuanzhang and the matter came to nothing.

Now that Zhu Yunhuan sits on the throne, it is expected that he will marry Xu Miaojin.

But what is the situation with the Zhao family and the Zhang family?
Both families were ordinary small families, and they had no close connection with Zhu Yunhuan. So why were they chosen?

In Yingtian Prefecture, there are so many women who are ready to get married and have suitable status that even if they line up, it will not be the turn of the Zhao family or the Zhang family, especially the Zhang family.

Li Jinglong shook his head and said, "I am also very confused about this matter."

"Dang Dang Dang!"

There was a knock on the door.

Fang Xiaoru stopped chatting with Li Jinglong and said, "Please come in!"

"Squeak!" Tie Xuan pushed open the door and walked in. Seeing Li Jinglong there, he looked a little surprised and said with a bow, "Duke Cao!"

"Master Tie!" Li Jinglong smiled.

After Tie Xuan greeted Li Jinglong, he ignored him and turned to look at Fang Xiaoru beside him, saying, "Master Fang, let's go."

Li Jinglong's smile froze, and he felt depressed for a moment. However, he soon calmed down and gave a wry smile: "What am I expecting? Isn't Tie Xuan always like this?"

Fang Xiaoru stood up and looked at Li Jinglong with a smile on his face. "Duke Cao, let's stop here for today. Lord Tie and I have to go and take care of His Majesty's wedding. As you just said, the palace is deserted right now, so we need to finalize things as soon as possible."

Li Jinglong's expression straightened upon hearing this. He stood up and said, "This is serious business. You guys are busy. I'll take my leave now."

After saying that, he turned and walked away.

Tie Xuan looked at Li Jinglong's departing back with a puzzled look in his eyes and asked, "Master Fang, I remember your relationship with Duke Cao was pretty bad. When did it get better?"

He remembered very clearly that because Li Jinglong betrayed Zhu Yunwen, Fang Xiaoru, a loyal minister under Zhu Yunwen, was extremely hostile to him and even cursed Li Jinglong more than once.

However, now Li Jinglong and Fang Xiaoru were able to sit together, talking and laughing, and their relationship seemed to be very good, which surprised him a little.

Fang Xiaoru's expression froze when he heard this. Tie Xuan was bringing up something completely irrelevant.

Taking a deep breath, he explained, "Although Duke Cao has his shortcomings, he's generally a good person. As for the change in my relationship with him, it probably started a few days ago."

Afterwards, he told him that Li Jinglong had come to him and asked him to take the initiative to find Zhu Yunhuan and propose to abolish the preferential treatment for gentry.

After listening to this, Tie Xuan was silent for a while, and then he said in a deep voice: "Although Duke Cao has selfish motives in this matter, the scholars of the world should indeed owe him a favor."

He also came from a scholar background, reading books of sages.

A gentleman does not care about his deeds.

No matter what Li Jinglong's plan was, his action of finding Fang Xiaoru did save the lives of many young students.

He has to accept this favor!

Fang Xiaoru waved his hand and said, "Alright, let's not talk about this anymore. Let's go and try to set a date today. I've checked the dates and tomorrow and the day after tomorrow are both auspicious days for the wedding!"

Tie Xuan nodded and said, "Okay!"

Afterwards, the two left Fang Mansion and headed straight for Duke Wei's Mansion.

Although Zhu Yunhuan gave three targets and did not say who the queen was, both of them agreed that Xu Miaojin was the queen.

Royal study room!
Zhu Yunhuan sat at the desk, frowning and thinking, wondering how to boost the economy of the Ming Dynasty.

Without money, one can't move forward.

The same is true for dynasties.

Without sufficient financial support, nothing can be accomplished.

Although taxes can be collected, it is really wishful thinking to expect the economy to rise from that little bit of tax money.

As a time traveler, Zhu Yunhuan has many ways to make money in his mind. The problem now is which method to use.

Ma Sanbao brought Jiang Li into the hall, walked up to Zhu Yunhuan, and said respectfully, "Your Majesty, Jiang Li is here!"

Jiang Li bent down and knelt: "Your Majesty, I, Jiang Li, pay my respects to you!"

At this moment, he felt a little uneasy.

He was suddenly summoned by the emperor, and the emperor even sent the eunuch beside him to call him. He was very experienced in this kind of thing. When Zhu Yuanzhang punished court officials before, he was the one who called people.

Zhu Yunhuan came back to his senses from his deep thoughts, looked at Jiang Li, and smiled: "Commander Jiang, please stand up!"

Looking at Zhu Yunhuan's appearance, Jiang Lin was stunned, feeling a little unsure: "Am I overthinking it?"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Jiang Li calmed himself down and stood up.

Zhu Yunhuan waved his hand, the smile on his face becoming more intense, and said: "Commander Jiang, please take a seat!"

"This..." Jiang Li was surprised and confused, and found a place to sit down.

Zhu Yunhuan picked up the teapot beside him, poured a cup of tea for Jiang Li, and handed it to Jiang Li: "Come, Commander Jiang, have some tea!"

"Something's wrong, something's wrong!" Jiang Li could no longer sit still. His face turned slightly pale and he knelt on the ground trembling.

He didn't know what was happening, but he knew he was in great danger.

The emperor's heart is as deep as the abyss, unfathomable.

From Zhu Yuanzhang to Zhu Yunwen, he served as the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard for many years and had some basic understanding of the behavior of emperors.

The more casual the emperor is with you, the more it shows that you are highly valued by the emperor. On the contrary, if the emperor is very polite to you, he is probably preparing to kill you.

He didn't explain anything, just knelt quietly with his head lowered.

The smile on Zhu Yunhuan's face slowly disappeared.

Time passes minute by minute.

Every minute and every second was torture for Jiang Li. The cold sweat on his forehead was getting more and more, and he smelled the smell of death in his nostrils.

"No, I have to do something!" Jiang Li was very anxious, but then he was at a loss: "But, what did I do wrong?"

He didn't know what he had done wrong. In recent times, he had been working loyally for Zhu Yunhuan and had not done anything out of line. He really couldn't understand why Zhu Yunhuan wanted to kill him.

"Your Majesty, I am loyal to you. If you want me to die, I have to die. But before I die, please let me die with a clear conscience." Jiang Li said courageously.

Then he prostrated himself on the ground, respectfully waiting quietly for the verdict of fate.

"Tsk tsk. You are so loyal to me, Jiang Li, do you think I am a three-year-old child?" Zhu Yunhuan's eyes were cold. Jiang Li was a little confused and said in fear: "I dare not!"

Zhu Yunhuan's gaze fell on Jiang Lin, his eyes were cold, and he said calmly: "Raise your head!"

Jiang Li trembled and slowly looked up. He saw Zhu Yunhun's cold eyes and felt a little desperate. He knew that Zhu Yunhun was going to kill him, but he really didn't know what he had done wrong.

Zhu Yunhuan said: "Someone told me that you are hiding a secret from me!"

Jiang Li was stunned when he heard this, and then his eyes became complicated.

He knew what was wrong.

Zhu Yuanzhang's existence was discovered.

"What's going on?" Zhu Yunhuan noticed the change in Jiang Li's eyes and felt a little confused. Jiang Li's reaction was somewhat beyond his expectations.

Jiang Li's current expression could be one of terror, despair, danger, or madness, but Jiang Li unexpectedly had a complicated expression.

Jiang Li took a deep breath and looked at Zhu Yunhuan with a firm expression: "Your Majesty, I am loyal to you!"

Zhu Yunhuan frowned and said nothing.

He originally planned to kill Jiang Li directly, but the change in Jiang Li's eyes made him stop the murderous intent in his heart.

He intends to get to the bottom of the matter.

The atmosphere in the imperial study became quiet.

After an unknown amount of time, Jiang Li sighed inwardly, looked up at Zhu Yunhuan, and said, "Your Majesty, can I speak to you alone?"

Now that he had been discovered, he could no longer hide it, so after hesitating for a while, he chose to tell the truth.

Ma Sanbao's expression changed when he heard this, and he shouted, "Jiang Li, don't be so ungrateful!"

Jiang Li's face was calm, as if he didn't hear Ma Sanbao's scolding.

Zhu Yunhuan frowned, waved his hand at Ma Sanbao, and said, "Sanbao, you go out first!"

Ma Sanbao looked at Zhu Yunhuan with some worry in his eyes: "Your Majesty."

Zhu Yunhuan's face was calm, and he said, "Go out, I'm fine."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Ma Sanbao nodded, turned around and walked away.

After a while.

Only Zhu Yunhuan and Jiang Lin were left in the imperial study.

Jiang Li took a deep breath, looked up at Zhu Yunhuan, and said, "Your Majesty, Taizu is not dead!"

"What?" Zhu Yunhuan was stunned and a little surprised.

At first, he was a little slow to react to the meaning of Jiang Li's words.

Taizu? What Taizu?
"In order to test Emperor Yunwen's grandson and see if he is a qualified emperor, Taizu chose to fake his death after careful consideration." Jiang Li did not waste any time and directly told the cause and effect of the matter.

Zhu Yunhuan looked surprised and said, "Wait a minute, the Taizu you mentioned, could it be the Chongba Emperor? Is he still alive?"

"Yes!" Jiang Li nodded.

"This Zhu Yuanzhang is not dead?" Zhu Yunhuan was a little shocked.

He never expected that Zhu Yuanzhang would actually fake his death. What a talented person!
After the shock, Zhu Yunhuan calmed down and smiled bitterly in his heart: "I said it, how could history be biased?"

He had felt very strange before that Zhu Yuanzhang's death was two years earlier than in history.

It would have been fine if he had intervened, but he clearly did not intervene, and as a result, history underwent tremendous changes, which he struggled with for a long time.

I never expected that it was Lao Zhu who faked his death.

"No, Old Zhu's fake death may have something to do with me. Maybe he took some of my words to heart, which led him to do this." Zhu Yunheng's heart moved.

History is written clearly in black and white.

In history, Zhu Yuanzhang did not use fake death to test Zhu Yunwen, but he did it now. The problem is most likely with him.

After all, compared to history, there is one more him in the current timeline.

Although he was originally imprisoned in Fengyang by Zhu Yuanzhang, it is likely that some of his words caused Zhu Yuanzhang to overthink it. After all, Zhu Yuanzhang was famous for his suspicious nature in history.

Let alone Zhu Yunwen.

Even when facing the grown-up Zhu Biao, Zhu Yuanzhang still killed Li Shanchang without hesitation, for fear of any accidents.

For Zhu Yunwen, a large-scale purge of the Huaixi nobles was carried out.

In this situation, he told Zhu Yuanzhang so heartbreakingly. Who knows whether Zhu Yuanzhang would have the idea of ​​seeing Zhu Yunwen's ability?

If it were someone else, they might not have the idea of ​​faking their death, but Zhu Yuanzhang was different.

He was born a beggar, and he had really suffered a lot. Moreover, the process of conquering the Ming Dynasty must have been full of dangers and sorrows.

On his road to conquering the world, if he took even one wrong step, all his efforts would be wasted.

Later experts and professors who studied the history of the Ming Dynasty have studied Zhu Yuanzhang's character very clearly.

Zhu Yuanzhang was an outstanding person, but his character was full of small peasant mentality.

This can be clearly seen from the series of measures promulgated by Zhu Yuanzhang after he took the throne.

He ordered the construction of the Fengyang High Wall in order to leave a last retreat for the descendants of the Zhu family. No matter how big a mistake the descendants of the Zhu family made, they could save their lives as long as they were imprisoned in the Fengyang High Wall. This was simply impossible in other dynasties.

But considering Lao Zhu's small peasant mentality, everything seems so natural.

Looking at the feudal system implemented by Zhu Yuanzhang, perhaps this could stabilize the Ming Dynasty as soon as possible, but was this Zhu's purpose?

No, not at all. He wanted the descendants of the Zhu family to rule the Ming Dynasty for generations and to be the rulers of the Central Plains forever.

This can be clearly seen in conjunction with the "Emperor Ming Ancestor Instructions" written by Zhu himself. Zhu made all the descendants of the Zhu family kings, but did not issue any laws. The descendants of the Zhu family were not allowed to engage in any labor, and they enjoyed wealth and prosperity for generations.

Being crowned king means that no matter how much the Central Plains fight, the Zhu family will eventually rule.

There were also the abolition of the prime minister, preferential treatment for gentry, and many other actions, all of which were Zhu Yuanzhang's attempts to do everything he could to allow the Zhu family to control the Central Plains.

Zhu Yuanzhang was very afraid of losing the Ming Dynasty.

In particular, Zhu Biao's death further increased Zhu Yuanzhang's uneasiness.

Therefore, in his later years, he directly started a violent killing mode, killing and abolishing all people and things that he thought were dangerous to the Zhu family.

Here, let’s talk separately about the preferential treatment of gentry.

We have to praise Zhu Yuanzhang's excellence.

Zhu Yuanzhang could not have been unaware of the harm posed by the gentry. He rebelled because the Yuan Dynasty officials did not do their jobs.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang was very clear that the emperor needed to rely on these gentry to govern the country.

His Ming Dynasty gave preferential treatment to the gentry and used interests to bind the gentry tightly to the Ming Dynasty. Only by following the Ming Dynasty could the gentry protect their own interests.

This move is amazing.

History has proven that Zhu Yuanzhang did achieve his goal. The gentry sucked blood from the Ming Dynasty, but they also supported the Ming Dynasty for their own interests.

This is also the real reason why the Ming Dynasty was at its peak from the beginning and although it declined later, it was still able to survive for more than 200 years.

If you carefully study the history of the Ming Dynasty, you will discover a shocking truth.

During the more than 200 years of the Ming Dynasty, there have always been outstanding ministers who have emerged to patch up the Ming Dynasty, such as Yu Qian, Hai Rui, Zhang Juzheng, etc. The biggest factor among them was the cause laid by Zhu Yuanzhang in the beginning.

The rule of the Ming Dynasty, after the early Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di, completely entered a vicious circle, and the emperors of the Ming Dynasty seemed to have less and less presence.

But whenever a problem arises, someone will step forward and mend it for three years, then mend it for another three years.

As an emperor of a feudal dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang was really powerful.

Of course, Zhu Yuanzhang's series of decisions brought enough benefits to the Ming Dynasty, but at the same time they also laid the seeds for the Ming Dynasty's demise.

It’s simple, Zhu Yuanzhang underestimated human greed.

(End of this chapter)