He even went so far as to say that Zhu Yunwen was not the foundation of the Ming Dynasty.

Does this mean that Zhu Yunwen will not be made crown prince?

As we all know, the crown prince is the future and foundation of the nation.

Zhu Yuanzhang calmed his anger, took a deep breath, and at that moment, the Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices slowly walked in, knelt down, and said:

"Your Majesty, I am Huang Zicheng, the Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. I beg Your Majesty to calm your anger."

Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at Huang Zicheng, then at Qi Tai; both ministers were part of Zhu Yunwen's faction.

It's not surprising that they defended Zhu Yunwen, especially Huang Zicheng, who had previously been appointed as Zhu Yunwen's tutor.

Therefore, it is absolutely understandable for Huang Zicheng to defend his students.

At this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang was furious when he saw Huang Zicheng. According to the history book, after Zhu Yunwen became emperor, it was precisely because of officials like Huang Zicheng that Zhu Yunwen made mistakes one after another.

One pig met another pig. What they did was utterly inhuman.

"You two get out of here immediately, before I vent my anger on you."

Upon hearing Zhu Yuanzhang's words, the two officials were quite frightened. Although they held important positions, they were still very afraid of the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, he really didn't dare to say anything more, quickly kowtowed, and then obediently withdrew.

After they left, Zhu Yuanzhang frowned:

"Keep fighting! What's the point of stopping?"

The Imperial Guards outside had no choice but to continue wielding their rattan canes, whipping Zhu Yunwen's back mercilessly.

Zhu Yunwen lay there in despair, while Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng, who had retreated, could only glance helplessly at Zhu Yunwen before slinking away in disgrace.

The news that Zhu Yuanzhang had ordered Zhu Yunwen to be whipped outside the imperial study quickly spread among the officials.

The military officers were delighted, but the civil officials were alarmed.

After all, they didn't see this as a good thing.

As a result, many civil officials gathered privately to discuss the matter.

Meanwhile, at the Duke of Liang's residence, Duke Lan Yu, whose leg was injured, was laughing heartily in bed.

Chang Sheng, the Duke of Kaiguo, and Chang Sen, the Marquis of Wude, who came to visit him, were both puzzled and did not understand what Lan Yu was laughing about.

Lan Yu, however, made no attempt to hide anything from his two nephews, saying:

"This is a good thing! Do you know why Zhu Yunwen was beaten?"

Chang Sheng and Chang Sen both shook their heads, indicating that they did not know.

Lan Yu paused for a moment, then said:

"Actually, I don't know either, but anyway, it's a good thing. It means that Yun-hu has achieved great success."

Chang Sheng immediately became interested and asked, "Uncle, what do you mean by that? How is this related to Yun Tong?"

Lan Yu smiled and said, "Do you know how I injured my leg?"

The honest-looking Chang Sen said, "Didn't you fall off your horse and get injured?"

Lan Yu glared at him and said, "I thought I was naive enough, but I didn't expect you two to be even more naive than me. Do you think falling off a horse will give you a scar?"

Chang Sen and Chang Sheng exchanged glances, and then Lan Yu said:

“He is my good grand-nephew, and you two are good grand-nephews. Zhu Yunwen made me deliberately injure myself and lie in bed pretending to be sick.”

This puzzled both of his nephews.

Chang Sheng and Chang Sen were the sons of Chang Yuchun, the Prince of Kaiping, and Zhu Yunwen's mother, Lady Chang, was Chang Yuchun's daughter.

Therefore, the Chang brothers were Zhu Yunwen's maternal uncles.

Lan Yu's sister was Chang Yuchun's wife, so Lan Yu was also the maternal uncle of the Chang brothers and the Chang family.

At this moment, Chang Sen asked in confusion, "Why would Yun Tuo ask you to do this?"

Lan Yu sighed and said:

"Yun Tong analyzed that since my nephew-in-law, the former crown prince, has died, our emperor is worried that after his death, the next emperor will not be able to control me. Therefore, he will certainly not let me remain in the world and become a threat."

So, Yunwen had me, this tiger, have my teeth pulled, turning me into a sick cat, perhaps so I could escape this calamity.

Upon hearing this, Chang Sheng and Chang Sen immediately showed expressions of shock.

Chang Sheng then said, "Yun Tong actually had such foresight? It's astonishing."

Lan Yu smiled and said, "More than that. Didn't His Majesty send him to handle the disaster relief issue before? It's said that he did a very good job. But Zhu Yunwen, who went with him, didn't show any talent at all."

After Zhu Yunwen returned, he was severely reprimanded by our Emperor. It seems that Yunwen performed exceptionally well in this disaster relief effort, while Zhu Yunwen performed extremely poorly.

If we view this as a struggle between two people, then it means Yun-tong has the upper hand. Don't you think that's a good thing?

The Chang brothers, realizing what was happening, immediately laughed. Then, the perceptive Chang Sheng suddenly realized something and said to Lan Yu:

"Does Uncle mean that Yun-teng has awakened and joined the struggle for that position?"

Lan Yu nodded and said, "Not only have we participated, but it seems we've gained the upper hand. In my opinion, we, the nobles of Huaixi, have a chance to continue our glory."

"If Yunwen ascends the throne, our lives will only get better. Conversely, if Zhu Yunwen comes to power, we brothers will probably be bullied and humiliated by those civil officials."

He was actually right about what he said.

Historically, after Zhu Yunwen became emperor, he severely suppressed military officers.

Civil officials, on the other hand, were highly regarded.

It granted civil servants unprecedented power.

This also led to a situation where, when Zhu Di rebelled, Zhu Yunwen had no one to rely on.

There were many civil officials in the court, but few capable military generals.

Perhaps the military officers at the time didn't necessarily not want to fight, but they were simply too oppressed and didn't want to work for Zhu Yunwen, their boss, anymore, so they let Zhu Di off the hook.

This also severely led to Zhu Yunwen's army's utter defeat.

He clearly had the upper hand and there was no way he could lose.

After all, the wealth left by my grandfather Zhu Yuanzhang was quite substantial.

Unfortunately, it ended in a dismal failure.

At this moment, both Chang brothers were extremely excited.

They looked at Lan Yu and said:

"So, how can we help Yuntong?"

Lan Yu thought for a moment and said, "The way we can help him is to keep a low profile so that His Majesty doesn't see us as a threat and thus attack us. As long as he doesn't attack us, we are Yun Tong, a strong shield."

The Chang brothers immediately realized what was going on and both thought it made a lot of sense.

Meanwhile, Zhu Yunwen was beaten unconscious several times. After the beating was finally over, he was carried back to the Eastern Palace by eunuchs.

When Madam Lü saw her son's back covered in blood and flesh, and he had fainted, she immediately rushed forward and cried.

She didn't know why her son had been beaten to this extent.

But she knew it must be related to Zhu Yunwen.