Let little Zhu get to know more about martial arts. Zhu Yunying is really not sensitive to such things, nor does he need to care about them.

Ultimately, the rule of primogeniture in the Ming Dynasty seemed to be becoming increasingly clear, and many people could see some signs of it. Whether it was the first Zhu, the second Zhu, or the current young Zhu, their identities as successors were determined long ago.

The other princes shouldn't even entertain any other thoughts; that would be utterly laughable, or rather, courting death. As for the court officials, they shouldn't expect to form any "teams" either; the concept of meritorious officials from the prince's pre-departure residence was practically nonexistent in the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, many people clearly understand that resolutely supporting the eldest son of the legitimate wife is the rule of the Ming Dynasty, and it is something that can never go wrong. To try to side with other princes is simply asking for trouble.

Moreover, this time, Zhu Yunying was very clear that the children of military merits he was sent to evaluate were actually second, third, or even fourth-generation military meritors, none of whom were truly prominent figures and had not yet made any significant contributions to the Ming court.

In fact, Xu Miaoqing understood this principle very well, but she was still very happy. After all, even if the emperor was intentionally letting the crown prince appear in court, he was constantly giving the crown prince opportunities to increase his prestige.

Inside the Qianqing Palace, Little Zhu was somewhat displeased. "Great-grandfather, if we're talking about Goryeo, then it should be given to our second and third uncles. If that's not possible, then it should be given to Wen Jin or Wen Kun. If that's still not possible, then Wen Geng can be given to him when he grows up!"

Old Zhu tapped Little Zhu's head and said with a smile, "What's wrong? You know those places are good places, but you're reluctant to give them away? Your second uncle and the others are your grandfather's brothers, so aren't they our sons?"

Little Zhu kept his head down. Even though Old Zhu had just nodded at him, the boy wouldn't back down an inch and remained standing in front of Old Zhu.

"As the old saying goes, the first generation is close, the second generation is distant, and the third and fourth generations are over." Old Zhu sighed and said, "It hasn't been that long, and many people have probably forgotten that we are a large family. That's true, not to mention you, even your father can't recognize all the people in our clan."

Little Zhu had something to say, and said confidently, "We definitely can't recognize them all. Our royal grandfather was so prolific, and many of our princes were also prolific. We didn't even know we had so many prince uncles. If you ask me, our father is probably like us, recognizing all his royal uncles but not his brothers."

Old Zhu laughed and said, "Your father is the eldest, our first grandson. Otherwise, why would we dote on him so much? As for you, you're not our first great-grandson, but we still cherish you. It's true, there are more and more members of the imperial clan now, and we don't recognize many of them. We have to look at the roster to find out which family's offspring you belong to."

Little Zhu nodded hurriedly and said, "Actually, we can't recognize them all. Fortunately, our great-grandfather arranged the generational names, so we can know. We don't speak, but they tell us the order of generations, so we know whether we are juniors or not, and how many generations behind us we are."

At this point, Little Zhu looked at Old Zhu with a childlike innocence and said, "Great-grandfather, although many of our princes are not very old, we acknowledge them. But many of our uncles are not even as old as us!"

Old Zhu didn't care about these things and said with pride and smugness, "There's no such thing as seniority. It's all set in stone. Your father even held your prince in his arms a few years ago. Your father didn't care about these things. He only recognized seniority and called people by their proper titles. He didn't care about status."

This is absolutely true. Although Zhu Yunying had resigned himself to the fact that he used to occasionally hug his uncle, there was really nothing he could do about it. After all, Zhu Yunying had so many children, and they lasted for so long, that Zhu Yunying had even come to accept that some of his uncles were not as old as little Zhu Yunying.

“Good things should be given to those close to us. We know it’s reasonable,” Old Zhu said slowly to Little Zhu. “In the end, we are all family. Your father is considerate of us. We know he’s not close to many of his imperial uncles, but we should still take care of him. After all, he is the emperor.”

Looking at little Zhu, old Zhu said earnestly, "You've grown up. It's fine for you to be close to Wenkun, and it's only right that you take care of him. Even for the sake of your grandfather and for our sake, you should still look after the imperial clan. After all, they are all our bloodline."

Little Zhu suddenly remembered something and whispered, "Our father said that he has the blood of the Zhu family flowing in his veins, and also the blood of the Ma family..."

"He thinks we've lived long enough and wants to drive us crazy!" Old Zhu gritted his teeth and quickly corrected, "Listen carefully, you are all of Zhu family blood in your bones, no one else is related to you. Your father is still not close to us. We love him so much, but he is always thinking about his grandmother."

Although his words carried a hint of complaint, Old Zhu was mostly happy. Of course, he could only secretly rejoice in his heart; he couldn't be happy in front of Little Zhu, especially since he needed to make Little Zhu understand that he was inherently of the Old Zhu family, and no one else should try to take advantage of him.

Little Zhu continued his chatter. After all, he had studied 'world geography', taught by Zhu Yunying, so Little Zhu could be considered to have a relatively broad perspective. He knew truths that many people in the world did not.

Besides the 'common knowledge' that Zhu Yunying knew, as the Crown Prince and Emperor, Zhu Yunying had also been his eyes and ears all these years. Whether it was the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the Eastern Depot, or the Imperial Academy's Hongwen Hall, which Zhu Yunying had been cultivating 'public intellectuals' in earlier years, they had all brought him a lot of information.

While he wouldn't claim to know all the major events in the world during that period, Zhu Yunying was quite knowledgeable about some of the countries and events surrounding the Ming Dynasty.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!