Zhu Yuanzhang Returns from Modern Times

Chapter 197 Blood pressure soars

The fourth brother rebelled?!

Empress Ma was stunned upon hearing Zhu Yuanzhang's words.

"Zhongba, what did you say?!"

She couldn't help but look at Zhu Yuanzhang and ask again.

It wasn't that she hadn't heard clearly; it was just that what Chongba said was too unexpected and shocking enough.

For a moment, she couldn't believe it and wondered if she had misheard.

The fourth brother rebelled?
The fourth brother... he actually rebelled?!
How could a rebellion be related to the fourth prince?

No... how could the fourth brother do such a thing?

How could he do such a thing?

This is treason! How could he be so audacious?

So all the skills he learned from Tiande were used on his own family!
"Girl, you heard right, and we didn't say anything wrong, the fourth brother has rebelled."

Upon hearing this, Empress Ma experienced a momentary buzzing in her head.

Is this really true? How could he possibly rebel?!
How could someone be so disloyal and unjust?

"Girl, don't get excited. In our opinion, the fourth brother's rebellion is the right thing to do!"
It cannot be said that he rebelled; rather, it should be said that he was acting in accordance with the will of Heaven to quell the rebellion!

We're not beating up the fourth brother because he rebelled.

Empress Ma, who was in disbelief and deeply moved by the news of her fourth son's rebellion, was taken aback when she heard Zhu Yuanzhang's words.

The impact of what Chongba said on her was even greater than hearing that the fourth prince had rebelled!
Is this still Chongba?!
Empress Ma knew her son, Chongba,'s personality all too well.

They have always been staunch supporters of the primogeniture system.

I never intended for anyone from his faction to inherit the throne.

The crown prince is my own son, and the throne also belongs to my son.

However, given the relationship between the fourth brother and Biao'er, the fourth brother's rebellion should have been against Biao'er's son.

Even if it were the son of the rebel leader, given Chongba's personality, he would absolutely not tolerate such a thing happening!
But why is Chongba taking this attitude towards this matter now?

What the hell happened?

If that wasn't the reason for beating up the fourth brother, then what was it for?
What could possibly anger Chongba more than the Fourth Prince's rebellion?
"Is Chongba the son of Biao'er? After becoming emperor, he made a mess of things, just like Huhai and Yang Guang, causing widespread suffering and chaos. That's why the fourth prince rebelled?"

Empress Ma took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down, and looked at Zhu Yuanzhang to ask a question.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang gave his sister a thumbs up.

"Girl, you're so smart! You even managed to guess something like that!"

Even at this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang did not forget to flatter his sister.

Empress Ma ignored the praise she received from her son, Chongba.

This was obvious to her, and easy to figure out.

Given the relationship between Lao Si and Biao'er, it's impossible for Lao Si to rebel against Biao'er.

After Biao'er becomes emperor, he is unlikely to do things poorly, nor will he be too harsh on his younger brothers, such as the fourth son.

Therefore, this matter must have originated from Biao'er's son.

If it weren't for the fact that Biao'er's son became emperor and made a mess of things, given Chongba's personality, he would never have applauded Lao Si's rebellion.

Not only did they not blame the fourth son for rebelling, they even praised him for it.

"That boy, U.A., actually turned out to be a tyrant in the future?"

Empress Ma looked at Zhu Yuanzhang and spoke, her voice filled with disbelief.

She found it hard to connect her now robust and lovable grandson with this kind of person.

Zhu Yuanzhang sighed inwardly.

"Girl, it's not Xiong Ying, it's Zhu Yunwen."

Zhu Yunwen?
Empress Ma frowned slightly. Where did this come from?
Could this be the second child of the Biao family?

There was a poem that Chongba had set for the generational order of his sons. Just by hearing the character "Yun" in the name, one could tell that this guy named Zhu Yunwen was Biao'er's son.

"He was born to the eldest son's wife and Biao'er?"

Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head and said, "No, it's the son born to Biao'er and that poisonous woman Lü."

Girl, you have no idea how awful, malicious, and stupid this bastard is!
She was no different from Lady Lü—utterly stupid, stupid to the core! And wicked to the core!

Zhu Yuanzhang spoke faster, clearly frustrated with Zhu Yunwen.

The reason for this was that he was genuinely furious and utterly disdainful of what Zhu Yunwen had done.

On the other hand, it's also because talking about Zhu Yunwen becoming emperor easily reminds the girl of Xiong Ying, and even her own son, Biao'er.

There are too many things involved here, and it's too distressing.

He wanted to use this method to draw the girl's attention as much as possible to Zhu Yunwen's affairs.

He wouldn't let the girl ask about U.A. High.

"That damned bastard, before he ascended the throne, said that he would treat these vassal kings and his uncles with virtue and discipline."

But only a month after ascending the throne, he began to reduce the power of the princes!

They cut it to death, showing absolutely no mercy!
Our fifth son was such a good person. He devoted himself to medicine and didn't get involved in too many things. But in the end, because he and the fourth son were brothers from the same mother, and the fourth son had the most troops at the time.

In order to clip the wings of the fourth brother, they first took action against the fifth brother.

The reason given for taking action against the fifth son was that his son claimed he was rebelling.

Then they sent Li Jinglong to capture Lao Wu.

Furthermore, he exiled the entire family of the fifth prince to Yunnan, stripped him of his throne, and reduced him to a commoner.

The key point is that the fifth son is only eight years old!

It's unbelievable that they could use the words of an eighteen-year-old child as evidence to make the fifth prince, a vassal king, suffer such a miserable fate!

Tell me, can this kind of operation convince the world?

Zhu Yuanzhang was filled with rage whenever these things were mentioned.

"Furthermore, if we want to weaken the power of the princes, shouldn't the best way be to take advantage of the fourth prince's lack of preparedness and attack him, who was the most powerful at the time, and take him down in one fell swoop?"

But the result was that they deliberately made it easy first and then difficult, which was completely like stirring up trouble!

That's utterly stupid!

If Zhu Yuanzhang were alive today, seeing Jianwen's policy of reducing the power of the princes and the various foolish things Zhu Yunwen did after ascending the throne, his blood pressure would soar!
I just want to beat this piece of trash to death!

What a mess they've made of the once glorious Ming Dynasty!

This is a classic case of someone selling off their father's land without a second thought!

This is all an empire that I built with my own hard work.

He devoted himself wholeheartedly to managing the Ming Dynasty.

I don't know how much effort I put into paving the way for him.

But the moment he made a promise to me, the moment I closed my eyes, that bastard treated all my instructions and his promises as nothing!

"During the process of weakening the power of the feudal lords, this bastard did countless stupid things."

For example, the status of civil officials was drastically elevated, with the Ministers of the Six Ministries being promoted to the rank of first-grade officials.

They all obeyed the civil officials without question.

They regarded the words of civil officials as priceless treasures.

He believed whatever the civil officials told him.

If one wants to weaken the power of the regional military governors, then one should rely more on military generals.

But instead of improving the treatment of civil officials, he kept increasing the treatment of military officers and soldiers.

We've never seen such a stupid person!

Mentioning this matter made Zhu Yuanzhang extremely angry.

"Our Great Ming Dynasty is severely divided between the North and the South. Although we have been working hard to repair the gap between the North and the South in our previous life and wanted to bridge this chasm, we have never been able to truly resolve this issue completely."

It is an ironclad rule that no one from Jiangnan should be appointed as the Minister of Revenue.

We know these people all too well; they're all like this.

The prosperous south is the purse bag and granary of my great Ming Dynasty.

If the Minister of Revenue were a southerner, who knows how many troubles he would cause.

As a result, that scoundrel Zhu Yunwen completely ignored this ironclad rule and immediately promoted the person from the south to Minister of Revenue.

Not only that, but taxes in these wealthy areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang were also significantly reduced.

Tell me, isn't this just plain stupid?!

Zhu Yuanzhang was furious when he talked about this. How stupid could someone be to think that setting the taxes in the Jiangnan region too high was extremely unfair?

He believed that the heavy taxes imposed on the Jiangnan region were because these areas had supported Zhang Shicheng in the past, causing him a lot of suffering. He saw this as pure revenge.

When we were in school today, it was clearly stated in textbooks that taxation is an important means and tool for regulating income and achieving redistribution.

Even in ancient times, there was the same principle of Heaven: to take from the surplus and give to the deficiency. It can be said that the principles in all aspects have been clearly explained.

The Jiangnan region is prosperous, so isn't it only right to levy more taxes on these areas?

If the taxes levied on them were reduced to the level of those levied on the front lines or in the Northwest, then they would truly be considered to be mentally deficient and as stupid as pigs!

Border areas were not only impoverished and suffered from the hardships of war, but the people also had to bear many burdens.

For example, in terms of military service and corvée labor, why can't those who only focus on the high tax revenue of Jiangnan compare themselves in other aspects?

Why not mention the labor that people in border areas and other places undertook to support the front lines by transporting food and other supplies?

They remained silent about these matters.

They only focused on the heavy taxes they collected from the Jiangnan region, and kept shouting and complaining about it.

These people are either stupid or malicious!
Unfortunately, many people still believed in these beliefs, which left Zhu Yuanzhang somewhat helpless.

It can only be said that there are many bad people in this world, and just as many foolish people.

Another key element is the high ground of public opinion, which we must occupy and not relinquish.

Without the high ground of public opinion, many things become much more difficult to handle.

It's easy for many people to be stirred up...

The various things about the future had been weighing on Zhu Yuanzhang's mind for a long time.

Now that my sister has asked me about these things, I can finally vent to her about them.

Zhu Yuanzhang's only regret was that he returned too early; Zhu Yunwen, that bastard, hadn't even been born yet, and he had already dealt with that poisonous woman, Lady Lü.

He was denied the chance to be reborn, and I couldn't even properly smoke that damn dog.

Using this damned bastard as a punching bag for training is definitely one of the biggest regrets in life.

Otherwise, I will make him regret being born into this world, understand why flowers are so red, and know what it means to have a special bond with your grandparents!

Empress Ma's eyes widened as she listened to what her son, Chongba, had said.

I was deeply shocked and felt as if my eyes had been opened.

No way... there are emperors who act like this?
That's so stupid!
How could Biao'er's son be so stupid?
It seems that most of these people have inherited the traits of that vicious and utterly foolish woman, Lady Lü…

……

Chen Zhili, his face contorted with rage, roared and steered his fire ship straight toward the Ming warship.

He was determined to burn a ship and make the Ming Dynasty pay a price!
close!

We're closer now!
A ferocious and arrogant smile appeared on his face.

Ultimately, he was still able to accomplish something by risking his life!
At this distance, the cannons on this warship can no longer fire at us!

Because they were so close, they could only watch helplessly as they, in their fireboats, collided head-on with them.

Let them know they're not to be trifled with!
"put!"

Just as he was thinking this smugly, soldiers on the warship shouted out.

As soon as the sound faded, a heavy racket was lowered down with tremendous force.

With a bang, it slammed onto the burning ship.

In a single blow, the burning ship was broken in two.

The man standing at the back of the boat, nicknamed "Sea Loach," was slapped to death on the spot and fell into the water.

The fire on the fireboat was extinguished by the sea.

Chen Zhili's arrogant laughter vanished as he was swallowed by the sea.

This attack completely wiped it out.

Modern artillery is excellent for long-range attacks, but it's really ineffective at attacking ships up close.

If ships get too close, especially smaller ones, bombarding them with cannons alone won't be enough.

To solve this problem, Zhu Yuanzhang not only instructed Tao Chengdao and others in the artillery battalion to make certain improvements to the cannons, but also provided solutions.

That is to add some batons to this ship.

Chen Zhili used his own experience to prove that Zhu Yuanzhang's arrangement was quite good.

And just like that, Chen Zhili was slapped down in one fell swoop.

"What kind of bastard is this, trying to fight to the death using such methods? Fight my ass!"

"Now you'll behave, won't you?"

"Haha, bring on more idiots like this!"
"Seeing you guys firing away here, those of us operating the rackets are itching to get our hands dirty!"

Many Ming soldiers on the warship chatted and laughed, showing deep disdain for Chen Zhili and his men.

"Hey? Look! That thing is floating again!"

"He's still alive? Quick! Give him another whack with the pole! Kill this bastard!"

A sharp-eyed person noticed Chen Zhili emerging from the water, clutching a rotten plank, and spoke up.

It was like a cat playing with a mouse.

"Don't kill him yet. Get a grappling hook and go pull him up!"
I think this guy isn't an ordinary person; he seems to be of high status, like one of the leaders.

"If we bring him up, we might be able to get some information out of him!"

"Capturing someone like that alive would be a great achievement!"

Upon hearing this person's words, the person who was about to put down the racket stopped.

Then someone picked up an iron hook with a long pole, reached down, and hooked Chen Zhili directly.

The iron hook pierced his leg and clothes, and several people worked together to roughly pull him up.

After the hook was removed, Chen Zhili was in a terrible state, with blood gushing from his leg.

At this point, he was completely weak.

But after a brief pause, it suddenly leaped up, trying to grab one of the people on the Ming Dynasty's naval warship and bring them into the sea.

It's as if they're willing to risk their lives to drag someone down with them.

However, his plan failed. As soon as he moved, he was kicked to the ground.

Then, he picked up a hammer and smashed all four of the man's limbs.

"You son of a bitch, you pirate! You still won't behave at a time like this!"

“I…I am Chen Zhili! I am…I am the leader here.”

I...I want the Prince of Yan! Capturing me alive and seeing the Prince of Yan would be a great achievement!

It's unclear what Chen Zhili was thinking, but at this moment, he revealed his identity in a hoarse voice.

After understanding what he was saying, the naval officers and soldiers became excited.

Good, good, good! It was actually a big fish! They actually managed to catch it!
Make a fortune this time!

They immediately tied him up, and one of them, fearing he would die, even gave him some water to drink.

What an honor it would be to personally deliver such a large fish to His Highness the Prince of Yan! What a chance to gain prestige!
That is also a great achievement.

This pirate leader is extremely valuable right now.

We can't let him die so soon.

At the very least, he should be personally delivered to His Highness the Prince of Yan before he dies.

Since they were in the midst of battle and His Highness the Prince of Yan was not on their ship, it was naturally impossible to hand over such a prisoner to His Highness the Prince of Yan.

Their current mission remains the same: to continue pursuing the pirates.

Let's drown these arrogant and domineering bastards in the sea!

They could only suppress my burning desire and continue the pursuit...

"surrender!"

"We surrender!"

A fire broke out on the first two thousand ships, and the fire grew larger and larger, gradually spreading from the stern to the bow.

This is the one that Chen Zhili attacked and set on fire.

Because of his scheming, before disembarking and lighting the fire, he 'accidentally spilled the grease'.

The fire was not extinguished in the end; it grew stronger and stronger.

The pirates were forced to the bow of the ship by the fire, and they were all in a panic.

Seeing the Ming Dynasty's warships getting closer and closer to them, avoiding the fire ships, they hurriedly shouted to surrender and knelt down to kowtow.

They wanted the Ming navy's ships to get closer to them so they could be rescued; otherwise, if they stayed there, they would either be burned to death or drown after the ships sank.

There is no other way to go...

……

"Zhongbai, U.A....Did U.A....pass away a long time ago?"

(End of this chapter)