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

Chapter 64 Zhu Gaoshuo, the Tyrant of All Time!
Upon hearing this, everyone present realized what was happening.

It turns out that it wasn't Crown Prince Zhu Gaochi who was reluctant to give up the throne and wanted to rebel, but rather Zhu Zhanji.

After all, he is the Crown Prince.

They hadn't realized it until now.

Zhu Gaochi lost his position as crown prince and could not become emperor, which also meant that Zhu Zhanji was also destined to be out of the running for emperor.

Especially since Zhu Di instilled in Zhu Zhanji from a young age the idea that he would be the future emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Zhanji was an extremely proud person by nature.

Now that he has no chance of ascending the throne, he is naturally unwilling to accept it.

At this moment, Zhu Di's face had darkened.

He never expected that his beloved grandson would actually trick his eldest son into rebellion.

"Why? Why can't a family love each other?"

Zhu Di's voice wasn't loud, but it could be heard throughout the entire Fengtian Hall.

The ministers dared not speak recklessly any further.

Because they could all see that the emperor was truly angry.

At this moment, Zhu Zhanji had already knelt down, sweating profusely, and dared not raise his head to look at his grandfather Zhu Di.

But Zhu Di still couldn't bring himself to blame him.

There was nothing that could be done; Zhu Zhanji wanted to rebel, and it was actually his fault.

From a young age, Zhu Zhanji was raised to be an emperor, with high hopes placed on him. However, in the end, he was told that he could only be a leisurely prince in Nanjing, or even be imprisoned. This was indeed difficult for Zhu Zhanji, who was not yet twenty years old, to accept.

Even while merely acting as regent, Zhu Gaoshuo had already begun various reforms, and these reforms were remarkably effective. Coupled with the successful completion of the new capital, which far exceeded expectations, Prince Qi, Zhu Gaoshuo, now enjoyed far greater popularity among the people and more support in the court than Zhu Gaochi.

Zhu Gaochi originally did not want to be enemies with Zhu Gaoshuo, until his son Zhu Zhanji confronted him and said that he wanted to become emperor.

Ultimately, for the sake of his son, Zhu Gaochi decided to take a gamble. He knew very well that with his physical condition, he wouldn't live long, and becoming emperor would be useless.

But Zhu Zhanji was different. He was still young and ambitious. Before Zhu Gaoshuo became regent, Zhu Zhanji was Zhu Di's best successor. Therefore, Zhu Gaochi wanted to reclaim everything that was rightfully his for his son.

"The eldest son did it all for his son!"

Zhu Di sighed softly. After thinking it over carefully, he realized that he really couldn't blame his eldest son.

The eldest son just wanted his son to have a better life.

What's wrong with that?
If only my father, Zhu Yuanzhang, could have been like my eldest son back then.

Zhu Di felt the same way.

He became emperor through rebellion, and the more he rebelled, the more he valued family ties.

Although the three brothers were always beaten and scolded by him as they grew up.

But it would be absolutely unacceptable for the three brothers to be bullied by others.

And of course, there's the fourth one.

Zhu Di's feelings toward his fourth son, Zhu Gaoshuo, were even more complicated. He wanted his son to live well, but he also didn't want him to be too outstanding.

Zhu Di was actually a person with an extremely complex inner world.

Suppressing his emotions, Zhu Di decided to continue listening to Tianmu's perspective on the clash between the eldest and fourth princes.

Zhu Gaochi quickly devised a plan to deal with Zhu Gaoshuo, which involved exploiting the tax payments made by officials and gentry. At that time, there were still many of the Crown Prince's protégés in the court.

Although many ministers had wavered, the remaining disciples of the crown prince were the most loyal. Some suggested uniting local officials and gentry to oppose taxation, but Zhu Gaochi felt that was not enough.

The officials and gentry could not cause any trouble in the end, and he was also very clear that the reforms by the officials and gentry must have been approved by Zhu Di. In that case, the uprisings of officials and gentry in various places were useless, and Zhu Di could send troops to suppress them!

Zhu Gaochi, who had served as regent for many years, always paid attention to the people's livelihood because he was well aware of the power of the people. Therefore, in order to oppose this reform, Zhu Gaochi sent people to incite public opinion, since the reform policy included tax increases.

It's too easy to incite public opinion. Zhu Gaochi bought off many scholars, or more accurately, deceived all the intellectuals in the land. These scholars, who considered themselves superior and couldn't bear to see human suffering, spoke out righteously.

Soon, unrest broke out among the people in various regions, and civil and military officials alike urged Zhu Gaoshuo to abandon the reforms. Even Zhu Di began to waver and oppose them. For a time, both the court and the people of the Ming Dynasty were opposed to the reforms.

The boss's move was ruthless.

Now how to do?
Zhu Di couldn't understand how his fourth son had managed to successfully implement the reforms under such dire circumstances.

Events unfolded exactly as Zhu Gaochi had predicted, but what he hadn't expected was that his ancestor, Zhu Gaoshuo, had already foreseen Zhu Gaochi's scheme.

When public resentment reached its peak, Zhu Gaoshuo directly dispatched troops to carry out a massacre in Nanjing, specifically targeting scholars. Frankly speaking, in the context of ancient times, the consequences of such a large-scale killing of scholars were severe!

"Tyrant! Tyrant!"

"Such a tyrant! Let's see how you handle this!"

"We scholars are the ministers of state; if we are all killed, who will govern the Ming Dynasty?"

The court was filled with the pronouncements of a tyrant, after all, most of the ministers were scholars.

On the contrary, Zhu Gaochi couldn't understand why the fourth prince dared to kill like that.

Through the previous instances of the Heavenly Screen, Zhu Gaochi discovered that Zhu Gaoshuo had a particular fondness for killing, or more accurately, for using killing to achieve certain goals.

Zhu Gaochi didn't understand, because at least in the books he had read, they all said that only benevolent emperors were wise rulers.

[If you kill scholars, who will govern the country? How to deal with scholars has always been the most troublesome problem for emperors throughout history. However, in Zhu Gaoshuo's eyes, scholars were completely worthless. Even if this group of scholars was killed, there would still be another group of scholars.]

He wanted to shatter the pride of intellectuals and make them willingly submit.

Not only did he kill scholars, Zhu Gaoshuo also slaughtered all the dissatisfied officials and gentry throughout the Ming Dynasty.

Crown Prince Zhu Gaochi originally only intended to use this incident to diminish Zhu Gaoshuo's prestige, but he never expected his fourth son to be so reckless.

Zhu Di was dumbfounded.

Even he had to admit that they were really going on a killing spree.

Is this still the same leader who revived the dynasty?

What happened to the previous policy of recuperation and development?

How did this lead the Ming Dynasty into chaos?

What exactly is the fourth brother doing?

"Fourth brother, are you crazy? Do you know what you're doing?"

Zhu Di's gaze sharpened, and he was so angry that he blew his beard and glared. He didn't care about what was happening in the sky right now.

All I know is that it is now the fourteenth year of the Yongle reign.

Zhu Gaoshuo's move would obviously offend officials, gentry, powerful families, and scholars across the land.

If these two were to join forces to launch an attack, it would certainly cause turmoil in the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Di was also helpless. He thought that he had killed enough people in his life, so he would no longer be afraid of killing.

The thought of someone killing so recklessly as the fourth brother filled him with dread.

Zhu Zhanji was overjoyed, as he had assumed that his fourth uncle's regency was a foregone conclusion.

Unexpectedly, Fourth Uncle, the emperor who had never made a mistake in the past, made a grave error when he officially took over the reins of the country.

He still thought it was because the reform had been successful.

It turns out that the goal was to kill all those who opposed them.

Zhu Zhanji looked at Zhu Gaoshuo: "A great emperor for all time? Fourth Uncle, I think you're more like a tyrant for all time!"

(End of this chapter)