Inheriting a Taoist temple, the story begins with Wu Zetian offering incense.

Chapter 412 Zhu Yuanzhang: Little Fourth Son is truly my offspring! [Seeking monthly votes]

The Ming Dynasty, Hongwu era, inside the Imperial Palace of Yingtian Prefecture.

Zhu Yuanzhang had just returned from court when Empress Ma approached carrying an exquisite bamboo basket covered with a cotton cloth. Behind the cloth were two freshly baked sesame cakes.

"You've worked hard, Chongba. Come and have some sesame seed cakes, they're still warm."

Zhu Yuanzhang hurriedly wiped his hands, took a sesame seed cake from the basket, and smelled the rich aroma of the dough, his face full of a satisfied smile.
“When the commander-in-chief confined me, you secretly brought me a sesame seed cake from your pocket. I will remember this for the rest of my life.”

After saying that, he took a bite and beckoned to the eunuch beside him. The eunuch quickly brought over a plate of finely shredded pickled vegetables, drizzled with sesame oil, which smelled delicious.

Old Zhu broke the sesame seed cake in half, added a piece of pickled vegetable shreds with his chopsticks, and ate while reminiscing:
"When I was a teenager, I saw other people eating like that and my mouth watered. I felt like I was going to starve to death, but I couldn't bear to die... I had never even eaten a sesame seed cake with pickled vegetable shreds, how could I die?"

Empress Ma, seeing Zhu Yuanzhang eating like this, lovingly wiped the sesame seeds from the corners of his mouth and thoughtfully poured him a cup of tea.
"Why did you suddenly punish Xiao Si'er by confining him to his home for a month after we returned from Jiming Mountain yesterday?"

Mentioning Zhu Di, Zhu Yuanzhang said angrily:

"This bastard rebelled against his own people. When I found out from the Immortal Master, I was so angry that my hands were shaking... Confucius and Empress Wu Zetian were both here, and this kid made me lose face for no reason."

Although Zhu Yuanzhang was the emperor, he was still a small landlord at heart. He felt that his son had embarrassed him outside, so he decided to teach him a lesson first.

Actually, the one who should be dealt with the most is Zhu Yunwen, but Zhu Biao is not married yet, and it will be several years before he marries Lady Lü.

If you can't handle your grandson, then you'll have to deal with your son first.

Empress Ma sat down next to Emperor Zhu, her voice still gentle and calm:

"Zhongba, when your whole family was wiped out and you were forced to beg for food in Henan, did you ever think about rebelling?"

Zhu Yuanzhang took a big bite of the sesame seed cake:
"No, at the time I was just thinking about having enough to eat. I never thought about rebelling. Even when someone tried to get me to rebel, I didn't go. That's a matter of life and death. We are an innocent family, we can't get involved."

Empress Ma, fearing he might choke, poured him a sip of tea and said softly:

“Look, you’re already at your wit’s end, yet you still don’t want to rebel. Although I don’t know why Xiao Si’er wants to rebel, I know that if there were even the slightest hope, he wouldn’t have gone down that path… Throughout history, has any prince who rebelled ever succeeded?”

This question really stumped Old Zhu:

"It seems that no one has ever succeeded. When I was watching that damn documentary, the immortal mentioned that since ancient times, only our little fourth son has succeeded in rebelling... Hey, as expected of my son Zhu Yuanzhang, he is really capable."

Thinking about it from this perspective, Old Zhu wasn't so angry with Zhu Di anymore:

"Even after becoming emperor, this kid still went to the northern deserts to fight the Northern Yuan royal family. He fought his way up to become the General Who Conquers the North... When he comes of age, I'll let him fight alongside Chang Yuchun. If he likes fighting, let him fight for the rest of his life."

Zhu Di was a very interesting emperor. After he ascended the throne, he spent half of his time personally leading military campaigns, either fighting against the Mongols or on his way to fight against the Mongols. As the crown prince, Zhu Gaochi became the emperor with real power.

Historically, it was always the emperor's son who became his general. Only Zhu Di, the emperor, made his son his general.

After Zhu Yuanzhang finished eating the sesame seed cake, Empress Ma asked worriedly:

Will they really turn against each other in the future?

Old Zhu waved his hand:

"As long as Biao'er is alright, they'll all have to behave like little kittens. They're still fighting each other. I'll see if Biao'er doesn't hang these brats up and whip them!"

Historically, Zhu Biao was praised for his benevolence, but many people misunderstood him as weak.

In fact, if we were to rank the crown princes throughout China's five thousand years of history, Zhu Biao would be in a league of his own; no crown prince of any dynasty could compare to him.

Other crown princes, whether it was Li Shimin, the Grand General of Heavenly Strategy, or Liu Qi, the Chess Saint of the Han Dynasty, all started by building their own teams. After ascending to the throne, the members of these teams would gradually assume important positions in the court and become the core of the court.

But Zhu Biao was different. Zhu Biao's team consisted of the core members of the court. He shared the same team with Zhu Yuanzhang and his son. All the ministers in the court obeyed both Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao... This was unique in the entire history.

As for weakness, Zhu Biao personally handled three of the four major cases during the Hongwu reign. The heads that Zhu Yuanzhang beheaded, such as those of Hu Weiyong's accomplices, were all marked by Zhu Biao with a red pen.

You call a prince like that weak?
It can be said that during the Hongwu era, Zhu Biao was the executive vice emperor in charge of the work. The military leaders and domineering dukes during the early stages of the dynasty all obeyed Zhu Biao. As for Lan Yu, who dared to bring the Northern Yuan imperial concubine to the military camp to serve him in bed, he was a big fan of Zhu Biao and listened to his every word.

Zhu Yuanzhang wiped his mouth and said to Empress Ma with emotion:

"The immortal has many good things, and I also have much to learn. There will be a lot of rumors in Yingtian Prefecture these days, and those scholars will probably cause some trouble. Don't get involved in this matter; I have my own way of handling it."

As the face of all scholars, Confucius would certainly not accept his fate. Old Zhu thought that more people would be struck down, and once those scholars who were used as pawns witnessed the divine thunder, they would wake up.

Empress Ma said:
"Next time you go, don't go empty-handed. Didn't your ministers prepare a precious sword inlaid with gold and jewels for you when you ascended the throne last year? Rather than letting it gather dust in the palace, you should present it to the immortal. It will serve as a declaration of your loyalty, letting the immortal know that the Zhu family are not the soft persimmons of the Song dynasty." Zhu Yuanzhang thought this made sense.

“This method is good. Madam is very thoughtful. Next time I go to Hunyuan Palace, I will bring the Hongwu Sword to present to the Immortal Master and strive to destroy the ten countries named by Confucius as soon as possible with the Immortal Master’s support.”

Meanwhile, inside the Hunyuan Palace, Zhou Yi had breakfast and drove to Liu Lei's gas station to buy a can of gasoline so that Huo Qubing could refuel when he returned.

On his way back, he passed a motorcycle shop and realized that his motorcycle was only suitable for riding on highways and not for muddy roads, so he bought an off-road motorcycle that could roll around in the mud and asked the shop owner to deliver it to the entrance of Hunyuan Palace.

Anyway, Huo Qubing likes to play, so let him drive it. As for safety... tie the peace plaques of Houtu Niangniang and Changsheng Dadi to the left and right sides of the motorcycle handlebars respectively. Not to mention accidents, even minor scratches will not happen. The safety level is directly maximized, and it will even radiate outwards.

Although the Book of Changes cannot govern science, it can exert its influence in metaphysics. In any case, there are many immortals in Hunyuan Palace, so it can provide a full range of protection for peace.

After the motorcycle shop owner left, Zhou Yi carried a gasoline can into Hunyuan Palace and saw Chen Tang and Zhao Xu measuring the data of the stack head while holding a 100-meter ruler.

Zhao Xu did a quick calculation and said:
"The base circumference is over ninety meters and the height is about ten meters. A single stack contains at least several thousand tons of grain. I don't know how big the gap was in the Battle of Hexi. If it's not enough, we can spare some grain from our side."

My second senior brother is about to launch the war in Hexi. As his junior brother, I naturally have to lend a hand. We can't let our brotherhood cool down.

If the gap is large, Zhao Xu could even try to lead his troops to raid the cities where Western Xia stockpiles grain. If he can break through, he can directly transport whole stacks of grain to Hunyuan Palace.

With transit stations, bulk logistics is no longer a dream.

Chen Tang scratched his chin, an idea popping into his head:
"Do you think that if we stockpile tens of thousands of tons of sand in Hunyuan Palace and then suddenly bring it over when we're fighting against the alien races, it might just bury an entire army alive?"

The Book of Changes: ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

Weren't you working on a research project on individual punishments?
Why are we suddenly researching group punishment again?

Upon seeing Zhou Yi return, Zhao Xu and Chen Tang came over to greet him.

Chen Tang brought another group of horses, deciding to give them all to Zhao Xu, hoping that some of the weapons captured on the Western Xia battlefield could be shared with the Yuan Emperor's world.

The Book of Changes asks:

"Have you captured the Left Wise King?"

Chen Tang sighed:

“That grandson escaped. I only found his four sons. Each of them had captured a lot of Han people as slaves. I burned them on the spot. The Western Commandant and the Northern Commandant, who were in charge of guarding the Xiongnu, were escorted to Chang'an for serious dereliction of duty. I request the court to deal with them.”

Although he was a Left General, he couldn't kill high-ranking officials; he still had to follow the proper procedures.

Anyway, with Lao Gan stationed in Chang'an, he could easily deal with anyone who pleaded for mercy, whether by confiscating their property or striking them with lightning... It can be said that Chen Tang and Lao Gan's division of labor, one to deal with external threats and the other to pacify internal affairs, could maximize the cleansing of the court.

With Wang Qiang lurking in the shadows, Chang'an will be safe from any problems.

Then, Zhou Yi inquired about Zhao Xu's progress:

Where are you?

"We've arrived in Jingzhou. We should be able to engage the Western Xia in battle within ten days at the latest... Recently, the Western Xia have been frequently mobilizing troops, as if they want to stop me. If the battle becomes intense, can I summon divine thunder to charge into the enemy lines?"

Zhou Yi nodded:

“Yes, restoring the homeland of China is a great merit. Don’t be polite to the Western Xia people. Kill them if they should. The more you kill, the more obedient they will be.”

The prisoners of Western Xia were to be taken to Luoyang to build the capital city; we couldn't afford not to intimidate them.

Back at the Sanqing Hall, Chen Tang was overjoyed to learn that the old master and Zhu Yuanzhang had arrived. He immediately set the date for their next visit to the Hunyuan Palace on his phone, intending to come and ask Old Zhu for some methods of tormenting people.

Having executed hundreds of thousands of corrupt officials, his iron-fisted approach alone made Chen Tang eagerly anticipate an academic exchange with him.

The Book of Changes reminds us:
"Zhu Yuanzhang had only been in power for a year and wasn't that bloodthirsty yet. It was only after Zhu Biao's death that he changed his mind and began to kill indiscriminately. At that time, the literati stirred up trouble and created the North-South Examination Case, which made Zhu Yuanzhang raise his butcher's knife and kill so many people that heads rolled and blood flowed like rivers."

The North-South Examination Case was a test of the emperor by the literati, and also a direct manifestation of the Southern literati banding together. They deceived their superiors and protected each other, making it increasingly difficult to collect taxes in Jiangnan.

Next time, we can have Old Zhu bring the exam papers to Hunyuan Palace to grade them... Let all those insidious schemes of the Southern and Northern lists die in the womb!

(End of this chapter)