Zhu Di: My fourth son is a great emperor of all time?

Chapter 22 Zhu Gaoxu ascends the throne, is the fourth prince the mastermind behind it?
Zhu Di suddenly opened his eyes.

When the sky descended this time, he focused all his attention on his second son.

All the memories are of the past.

But they overlooked the fourth brother.

Zhu Di discovered something very important: his fourth son was missing.

Previously, when the sky descended, the story of the Ming Dynasty was usually told mainly by the fourth prince.

But now, this emperor of all ages has not appeared.

That's right, that's right.

Zhu Di realized something extraordinary: this man named Wang Tianba seemed to have mentioned the "Emperor of a Thousand Ages" once in the celestial canopy.

This immediately put Zhu Di on alert.

In other words, the fourth prince did not become emperor this time.

On the contrary, it helped the second son ascend the throne!

Thinking of this, Zhu Di's face lit up with joy.

In his eyes, the fourth prince probably never had any intention of becoming emperor.

I was forced into it by my eldest grandson before.

Forced.

Presumably, things started to improve after the second son ascended the throne.

There was no civil war in the Ming Dynasty, and the second prince did not make things difficult for the fourth prince. The Ming Dynasty was thriving.

Everything is going in the right direction.

The fourth prince naturally wouldn't become emperor.

What excited Zhu Di even more was that his fourth son had helped his second son behind the scenes.

Although Zhu Di did not know why, if the second son had the help of the fourth son, his weakness of not knowing how to govern the country would no longer exist.

After Zhu Gaochi, the Prince of Han, ascended the throne, he also wrote a book about his life experiences, urging all scholars in the land to learn from it, and even using it as part of the imperial examinations.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Di stroked his beard and looked at Yang Shiqi with some embarrassment.

It has to be said that this is indeed very much in line with the second son's flamboyant personality.

What a bastard! He became emperor but still doesn't know how to change.

Such an flamboyant and ambitious personality actually made Zhu Di somewhat worried.

However, considering that the fourth brother is helping, nothing serious should happen.

[According to Zhu Gaochi's autobiography, in the second year after helping his father Zhu Di successfully ascend the throne, he made his eldest son Zhu Gaochi the crown prince, while he himself was enfeoffed as the Prince of Han, with the fiefdom of Yunnan.]

"At that moment, Zhu Gaochi finally understood that all the promises his father, Zhu Di, had made were actually lies."

Zhu Di felt a little guilty.

He did indeed lie to his second son at the time.

Even when the army lacked funds or when war was needed, Zhu Di would use this as an excuse to deceive his second son.

He himself never imagined that one day he would have to pass the throne to his second son.

According to his autobiography, after Crown Prince Zhu Gaochi moved into the Eastern Palace, Zhu Gaoxu actually considered rebelling. He wanted to lead troops into the palace, force his father to abdicate, and emulate the Xuanwu Gate Incident of Emperor Taizong of Tang to show his father, Zhu Di, who was the most suitable to be emperor.

However, Empress Xu later learned of this, which prevented the Xuanwu Gate Incident of the Ming Dynasty.

[If you're a true brother, come and chop me down!]
Although Zhu Gaochi abandoned his rebellion after being advised by Empress Xu, he remained determined to retain the position of crown prince and ultimately chose to stay in the capital instead of going to his fiefdom.

Zhu Di's expression remained calm, without the slightest change.

Clearly, he already knew that the second son had once considered rebellion.

In fact, as his wife, Xu Miaoyun did not hide the matter.

What she didn't know was that Zhu Di had actually known all along. At the time, he was so angry that he wanted to kill his second son.

But later, someone pleaded for the second son on his behalf, and Zhu Di pretended that the incident had never happened.

Not only did it not weaken the second son's military power, but it actually increased his power.

"In fact, in the first five years of Yongle's reign, Zhu Di was very fond of Zhu Gaochi. Until one day, the eldest son, Zhu Gaochi, discovered this. As regent, he felt very uncomfortable because his second son had too much power. Therefore, he took the initiative to resign from his position as regent."

"It was this incident that led to a complete falling out between the two brothers, Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Gaoxu. Zhu Di really began to be wary of Zhu Gaoxu because of what the Crown Prince Zhu Gaochi said."

"The military power held by the Prince of Han was gradually recalled by Zhu Di, and the troops directly under his command were also transferred away from the capital."

"Zhu Di didn't actually think too much about it. He wasn't afraid that the Prince of Han could successfully rebel, and he didn't care how much military power he gave him. But it was different for the Crown Prince Zhu Gaochi. If the second son had too much power, it would endanger the good grandson."

"But because of this, the second brother resented the eldest brother, feeling that he was no longer his brother, but a hypocritical prince!"

Yang Shiqi was on pins and needles at this moment.

After the sky revealed his true thoughts, he couldn't calm down.

But now, he suddenly realized that Zhu Di also seemed to be feeling uncomfortable because of Tianmu's speech.

Zhu Di was dumbfounded. He had been wondering how the relationship between his eldest and second sons had come to this point.

what is the reason.

But Zhu Di never expected that it was his own doing that caused this.

Despite the lessons learned from those who came before him, he still made the same mistake.

If he had revoked the power held by his father's sons right after ascending the throne, perhaps things would have been different.

Zhu Di increasingly felt that passing the throne to his second son was the right decision.

"This way, we can avoid fighting among ourselves."

"Originally, Zhu Gaoxu had no chance of ascending the throne, but the turning point came in the fourteenth year of Yongle. For some reason, Zhu Di suddenly began to value Zhu Gaoxu, who was the Prince of Han, and even gave him the position of regent."

"Not only that, even Zhu Zhanji, who was always revered as the great sage Sun Kewang for three generations, was gradually suppressed. Although we still don't know what happened, the court at the time seemed to understand that the power of the Crown Prince's lineage had been abandoned by Zhu Di."

"The Prince of Han, Zhu Gaoxu, has now become the heir apparent."

"But Zhu Gaochi, as the crown prince, didn't seem to care, nor did he intend to compete with Zhu Gaoxu for power. He slowly recuperated at home, gradually losing weight and his health improved."

Hearing that Zhu Gaochi's health had improved.

Yang Shiqi was the happiest.

He knew very well that the reason Zhu Di wanted to support the Prince of Han was because the Crown Prince was in poor health.

Otherwise, Zhu Gaoxu would have had no chance at all.

Zhu Di looked somewhat awkward at this moment.

Would the eldest son's health improve if he didn't oversee the country?

Then he thought of his eldest grandson, who was originally in good health, but whose health inexplicably deteriorated after he ascended the throne and died a few years later.

Zhu Di was suddenly startled and stood up. Could it be that the throne was truly cursed?

"On his way back to Beijing from the northern expedition in the twenty-second year of Yongle's reign, before his death, Zhu Di summoned Yang Shiqi alone to his tent and ordered that the throne be passed to Zhu Gaochi, and that Yang Shiqi be allowed to protect the lives of the Crown Prince's family and live peacefully in Nanjing."

"In the end, Zhu Gaochi ascended the throne as he wished and became the fourth emperor of the Ming Dynasty."

"The intriguing Yang Shiqi had already guessed that Zhu Di was going to die. From beginning to end, he felt that the Prince of Han was not a good ruler and had already ordered the troop deployment in various places. He had 20,000 anti-Japanese soldiers under his command and had a good chance to overthrow the Prince of Han and let Zhu Zhanji ascend the throne."

"But in the end, none of the three Yangs chose to take action; instead, they allowed Zhu Gaochi to ascend the throne!"

Zhu Di was not furious, seemingly having anticipated Yang Shiqi's choice.

Of course, the most important reason was that the second son successfully ascended the throne.

He now wants to know if the fourth brother is helping him behind the scenes.

　P.S.: There are two more chapters at 00:00. From now on, updates will be at 00:00.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)