Zhu Yuanzhang Returns from Modern Times

Chapter 207 In his later years, Chongba lost his son, and even more surprisingly, he lost three more legitimate sons in succession?!
"Chongba, where are our second and third sons? Why haven't we heard any news about their efforts to reduce the power of the princes and to quell the rebellion?"

Inside the Kunning Palace, Empress Ma finally couldn't help but look at Zhu Yuanzhang and ask about the second and third sons.

Earlier, Empress Ma had felt that something was amiss.

Given the status of the second and third princes and the number of troops they commanded, Zhu Yunwen could not bypass them in his campaign to reduce the power of the princes.

Let's not talk about the second brother; he went too far with what he did later, but he was very good at fighting.

Most importantly, the third son was considered by Empress Ma to be on par with the fourth son.

In some instances, he was even more outstanding than the fourth son.

Based on Chongba's previous arrangements for his sons, there is no doubt that the second and third sons would also wield considerable military power and lead troops into battle.

Therefore, when Zhu Yunwen was reducing the power of the princes, he could not have only focused on dealing with the fourth prince while ignoring the second and third princes.

During the Jingnan Rebellion, it's impossible that the second and third sons wouldn't have remained silent.

Even if Zhu Yunwen truly ignored them when he was reducing the power of the princes, they remained on the sidelines during the Jingnan Rebellion, neither participating nor helping anyone.

However, when the fourth prince successfully seized power and became emperor, he couldn't avoid dealing with the second and third princes when he was trying to reduce the power of the princes.

It's impossible to target only the fifth son as an example and make him the one to set a precedent.

The second and third children should also set an example.

However, these things were not mentioned in what Chongba told him.

This made Empress Ma suspicious.

She had originally planned to wait until Chongba told her about how his fourth son had created the Yongle era before asking about the second and third sons.

But in the end, I couldn't resist anymore.

Which child doesn't tug at a mother's heartstrings? They are all the apple of their mother's eye.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang paused slightly, but after a moment he still spoke: "Sister, you...you need to be mentally prepared."

The second and third brothers had both passed away by then.

The King of Qin and the King of Jin at that time were their sons, and their power was not deeply rooted.

Therefore, Zhu Yunwen did not take him seriously.

As Zhu Yuanzhang spoke slowly, he embraced Empress Ma, constantly observing her expression, ready to make immediate preparations should his sister show any signs of weakness.

Zhu Yuanzhang could clearly feel that after he said those words, his sister's body trembled uncontrollably.

Empress Ma appeared dazed and flustered.

It's unbelievable... it's unbelievable that both the second and third brothers have passed away!
And they all died so young!

Even when asking this question, one may already have some bad thoughts in mind and have made the worst-case scenario plan.

But when Empress Ma actually heard Chongba say these words in person, she couldn't bear it for a moment.

How could this be?
Why are all my sons dying so young?
"Zhongba, what caused their deaths?"

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

Zhu Yuanzhang felt both heartache and anxiety as he looked at his sister's reaction.

But he had to say these things to his sister.

The girl had already guessed it, so the more he hid it from her, the more tormented she would feel about it.
It's better to have a short, sharp pain than a long, drawn-out one. Anyway, I've already told my sister so much bad news today.

There's no harm in saying a little more now!

Seeing his sister's reaction at this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang really wanted to summon all his sons and beat them one by one again.

So annoying!

"Girl, the second brother was drugged and died."

It's no wonder that this bastard was poisoned to death.

Who told him and Lady Deng to do absolutely nothing in their fiefdom, instead harming palace servants and killing people for pleasure?

Many palace servants lived in fear, so it was normal that they would eventually be killed by two old women who gave them poisoned food.

His approach is not a sustainable solution at all.

When Zhu Yuanzhang talked about these things, he was furious, with a sense of disappointment and frustration.

"Don't eat food from outside. When dealing with servants, either don't deal with them at all, or if you do deal with them, don't keep them around anymore."

We instilled these principles in them when they were young, through words and deeds.

But these bastards completely forgot what they said.

It's heartbreaking to see someone go through something like this!

Empress Ma was stunned upon hearing this, clearly not expecting her second son to die in such a way.

She originally thought that her second son had either been killed on the battlefield or died of illness.

Who would have thought that someone had poisoned them!

However, thinking back on what I learned from Chongba about the Second Prince's actions, it seems that the Second Prince's fate is not unreasonable.

While feeling distressed, Empress Ma immediately made up her mind to talk to the second prince more often and give him a good talking-to.

He must remember these lessons so that he will not repeat them in the future.

As long as the second son stops doing these things, he probably won't die so young again.

In the past, Empress Ma would not have been very confident in educating her second son.

But now, he is very confident.

Since my second son and Minmin reconciled, my second son seems like a completely different person.

Minmin is a reasonable and understanding person, and the two of them get along very well.

As long as I talk to Minmin more, with her around, the second son won't go astray and won't do those beastly things he did in his past life again.

And I won't be poisoned to death like I was in my previous life.

Empress Ma felt much better and was even more grateful that her son, Chongba, was blessed by heaven and had such a miraculous experience.

Otherwise, just thinking about all the terrible things that could happen in the future made Empress Ma feel like she was living in darkness.

In particular, it was a stroke of genius that his own son, Chongba, was able to get his second son to wholeheartedly accept Minmin.

Chongba is right. Given his second son's personality, instead of thinking about how to educate him well, he should think about how to find him a reliable and virtuous wife.

In this way, many problems are easily solved.

Chongba's move was truly brilliant!
"Zhongba, what about our third son?"

Empress Ma looked at Zhu Yuanzhang and asked again.

When she saw her younger sister, she was shocked to hear the news of the passing of her second and third children, but she recovered quickly and was in much better condition than expected.

Zhu Yuanzhang's worries were greatly relieved.

Then Bie continued, "The third brother is much better than the second brother; he doesn't suffer such humiliation and shame."

Our third son died of illness on the twelfth day of the third month of the thirty-first year of the Hongwu reign.

They're talking about "intestinal colic" over there.

The thought of his third son's death always brought Zhu Yuanzhang immense sorrow.

In his previous life, among his many sons, he valued Biao'er the most, and besides Biao'er, his third and fourth sons were also among them.

To be honest, the third brother holds a higher place in my heart than the fourth brother.

He had high hopes for his third child.

Unexpectedly, the third brother walked ahead of him!
When the devastating news of his third son arrived, he was deeply affected.

If it weren't for the sudden death of the third brother, given my own physical condition in my previous life, I could have lived for at least a little longer.

It's such a pity about the third child.

In modern times, Zhu Yuanzhang once heard a saying that if the third son said he was still alive, then the fourth son would not rebel.

Because the third brother was there to keep things in check.

Zhu Yuanzhang did not quite agree with this statement.

The person who made this statement clearly has no idea about the relationship between their third and fourth children.

We only saw the third and fourth brothers bickering, but we didn't see the brotherhood hidden behind their bickering.

Given the things Zhu Yunwen, a nobody, did, let alone the fact that his third son had passed away.

Even if the third brother hadn't died, the series of messes he did after taking power would most likely have driven him to rebellion, given his temperament.

It is highly likely that the third and fourth sons will rebel at the same time.

In this way, the Jingnan Rebellion will likely end even sooner.

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that the two might fight each other over the distribution of spoils after they raised their army, especially after the Jingnan Rebellion succeeded.

This caused things to spiral out of control, bringing even more suffering to the Ming Dynasty.

"Chongba, medicine must be developed well! We must not underestimate it in the slightest!" Empress Ma said repeatedly, holding Zhu Yuanzhang's hand tightly.

Illness is truly terrifying; it takes away countless precious lives.

Putting aside other things, many of our own family members have lost their lives to this disease.

They should have had a bright future and lived much longer.

But unfortunately, illness caused them to lose their lives prematurely, which is heartbreaking to think about.

In the past, Empress Ma didn't have any good solutions to this problem; many things like birth, aging, sickness, and death are beyond our control.

But now, after experiencing extraordinary events, he has actually been reborn!

I have witnessed so many extraordinary things.

In this situation, it is naturally something to look forward to in the medical field.

Smallpox can be overcome and eradicated, and tuberculosis can be controlled, so the number of people who die from it is far less than the number of people killed by typhoid fever.

This clearly demonstrates the wonders of later generations.

Even from the few words spoken by Chongba, she could see that medicine in later generations was very advanced, which gave her a glimmer of hope.

"Don't worry, girl. Since God has given us this opportunity and allowed us to be reborn, we're ready."

Having seen so many wonderful things, if we start over, many things will definitely be different.

Otherwise, wouldn't all our lives be wasted?
What a waste of such a great opportunity.

Medicine will definitely be developed vigorously. It is an extremely important discipline. Treating the sick and saving lives is the most sacred thing. It is related to the national economy and people's livelihood, and it is also related to ourselves.

Standing here, how can we succeed without increasing investment?

It's only the ninth year of the Hongwu reign; we're still young.

These brats are even younger, and with so much time, our Great Ming Dynasty can develop many things.

We won't be as helpless as before when faced with so many diseases.

Upon hearing what her son, Chongba, had said, Empress Ma nodded, and the anxiety she had felt immediately eased.

And I feel truly fortunate that my family has had such a miraculous experience, which has enabled us to make so many changes.

"The fourth prince was known as the Yongle Emperor. In addition to resolving the issues of the imperial clan relatively smoothly, he also accomplished many other things, such as the southern expedition against Annam."

In the first year of the Jianwen reign (also the thirty-second year of the Hongwu reign), Lê Quý Ly, the prime minister of Annam, killed his ruler, proclaimed himself Emperor Emeritus, and installed his son, Tương, as emperor, changing his name to Hồ Nhồ Nguyên.

The thirty-second year of the Hongwu reign?!
Empress Ma was taken aback when she heard Zhu Yuanzhang's words.

"How come the first year of Jianwen's reign is also called the thirty-second year of Hongwu's reign?"

Empress Ma remembered very clearly that her son, Chongba, had said more than once that he died in the thirty-first year of the Hongwu reign.

Why are they bringing up the 32nd year of Hongwu's reign again?
Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang seemed somewhat annoyed and said, "That's a question for that brat, the fourth son!"

After becoming emperor, this guy was determined to erase the traces that he had seized power through rebellion.

He publicly claimed that he inherited the throne from us, adding the four years of Jianwen's reign to our Hongwu reign.

This extends our Hongwu reign from the thirty-first year to the thirty-fifth year.

In another sense, this meant we lived four more years…

Is this even possible?!

Empress Ma was also somewhat dumbfounded upon hearing this.

My own fourth child really has a wild imagination; he actually came up with something like this!
"The fourth prince, believing that the Tran family of Annam had no heir, enfeoffed Lê Quý Ly as king."

Soon after, Trần Thiên Bình, grandson of the former King of Annam, came to join him. ọ Lý feigned an invitation for Trần Thiên Bình to return to Annam and become its ruler.

In the first month of the fourth year of the Yongle reign, the fourth prince sent Commander Huang Zhong with 5000 soldiers to escort Chen Tianping back.

In March, Huangzhong was ambushed by Ji Li's troops and retreated in defeat.

In July, the fourth prince appointed Zhu Neng as General Who Conquers the Barbarians, and Zhang Fu and Mu Sheng as his deputy generals, leading an army of 80 to conquer Annam.

At that time, the people from Annam were extremely hostile.

Their biggest goal is to get far away from our Great Ming.

The mountains are high and the forests are dense, with miasma and snakes and insects everywhere, making it difficult to conquer.

In addition, the Ming Dynasty had just experienced the Jingnan Rebellion, and its national strength was weaker than before, and it was internally unstable.

But I didn't expect that my fourth son would actually dare to mobilize so many troops to fight them and get serious with them at this time.

When there is no war, these people think they are very strong and can go against our Great Ming.

As soon as they made contact, the Ming soldiers beat them so badly they were practically shitting themselves, sweeping through the enemy lines as easily as cutting melons and vegetables.

Later, the fourth prince renamed Annam as Jiaozhi and established the Jiaozhi Provincial Administration Commission.

This war ended in victory for our Great Ming Dynasty and the demise of the Hu Dynasty.

The annexation of Annam into Ming Dynasty territory marked the beginning of Annam's period of subjugation by the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang's voice was filled with appreciation and satisfaction for his fourth son's expansion of territory.

“Chongba, I remember you told me before that these wild and desolate places are too far away from our Great Ming and too barren.”

There are no benefits to taking it; on the contrary, it could easily deplete our national strength. So, should we avoid attacking if possible?

He even planned to prevent his descendants from doing these things, lest they suffer the same fate as Yang Guang's three campaigns against Goguryeo, which ultimately led to his downfall.

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed and said, "Sister, that was before. Before, we hadn't seen much of the world and our horizons were limited."

After experiencing this journey in the future, we realized how wrong our previous ideas were.

One of the essential conditions for a powerful nation is that it must have a vast territory.

Only with a vast territory can there be sufficient strategic depth, enough people, and more opportunities for development.
Even if a small country is rich and powerful, it can never become a great power or control its own destiny.

Annam is a good place. It doesn't seem to be doing so well now, but its future development looks promising.

Putting everything else aside, the long coastline that stretches southward alone is something to behold.

If we can control it and integrate it into our Chinese civilization, it will become a powerful fist for our Great Ming Dynasty to extend into the Indochina Peninsula.

Controlling this vast territory will bring countless benefits for future overseas development.

Thinking back to his past life, Zhu Yuanzhang felt a surge of anger because he lacked self-awareness and was intentionally misled, which led to the maritime ban and the subsequent policy of not conquering any country.

Now that we're starting over, we absolutely have to change all of these things.

"Zhongba, from what you're saying, Annam ultimately failed to integrate into China?"

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded: "Yes, our Ming Dynasty has done a pretty good job in dealing with Yunnan and Guizhou, and they have been completely integrated."

In later generations, people from all over the world have felt that Yunnan and Guizhou have been an inseparable part of China's territory since ancient times.

But things are not so good here in Annam. It was easy for the fourth prince to fight, but it was not easy to occupy it.

In addition, the Ming Dynasty's governance model over that area was somewhat too extensive.

Therefore, the resistance never stopped later on.

There was constant trouble, and it got worse as time went on.

When the fourth prince was alive, things were generally alright; the Ming army was still able to maintain its foothold there.

But things changed after the fourth brother passed away.

When it came to Zhu Zhanji, the fourth son of the emperor, who was a great and prosperous grandson who could bring prosperity to three generations, he quickly abandoned Jiaozhi and withdrew his troops from there.

In reality, he abandoned all the hard work that the fourth brother had put into Jiaozhi.

"A classic case of a son selling his father's land without a second thought!"

When Zhu Yuanzhang said this, he was somewhat indignant.

Later, Zhu Zhanji was compared to a hexagonal warrior, saying he was good at everything from fighting and domestic affairs to painting.

But in Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes, he was truly incompetent, far from being good enough.

"By the way, during the time of the old Taoist priest, which was during the reign of Zhu Houcong, the people there wanted to change their names to Nanyue, but Jiajing did not agree and changed their names to Vietnam."

This decision is quite good. If we change it to Nanyue, those people might try to stir up trouble and compete with us for Guangdong and Guangxi.

The old Taoist priest remained quite clear-headed about this.

Zhu Yuanzhang was determined to seize control of Annam this time.

Not like the fourth brother, who held onto something for a while, only to have it snatched away by someone else.

Instead, it can maintain firm control!
As soon as this thought arose, he couldn't help but think of that exceptionally intelligent monk.

Dao Yan has been there for some time now, and I wonder how far he has come by...

……

In Annam, the monk Daoyan held a staff in one hand and a begging bowl in the other, his triangular eyes filled with kindness and compassion...

(End of this chapter)