This Dragon Boat Festival was quite different for the people of the Ming Dynasty. One explosive piece of news after another, deliberately spread by certain individuals, gave them plenty of gossip to enjoy.
Although they didn't even know how many sons the emperor had, they talked animatedly about it.
Each of them transformed into a court official, offering advice on the affairs of the country.
One argument is that the crown prince must succeed to the throne, as he is the legitimate heir. The only solution is to prevent that spendthrift imperial grandson from succeeding to the throne.
Another indignant person argued that Emperor Chengzu was clearly the wise ruler, and historical records say he was very capable, so why did he have to take such a risk?
People before me have accused Emperor Chengzu of starting his reign through rebellion, which is not legitimate!
Others disagreed, arguing that it was not legitimate. They only knew that under Emperor Chengzu's rule, the people had a good life, and the crown prince might not even die young!
If the crown prince dies and the imperial grandson succeeds to the throne, they will be in trouble.
That's right, the people discussing this thought that Crown Prince Zhu Biao only had one son.
After much arguing, they came up with an absurd solution: the crown prince would ascend the throne first, and then pass it on to his younger brother, "Emperor Chengzu."
The public was making a great fuss, but it was all just talk. The real drama was the infighting among the ministers, where they risked the lives of their families and even clans to take sides with real guns and bullets.
Unlike the common people who subtly favored "Emperor Chengzu," most officials sided with Crown Prince Zhu Biao.
There was nothing they could do; they had already invested too much. The Crown Prince had been in power for many years, and countless officials had been implicated with him.
Furthermore, due to Zhu Yuanzhang's favoritism, almost all officials were nominally registered in the Eastern Palace.
Even so, Prince Yan, Zhu Di, was no less desirable. There were always opportunists who wanted to scramble for him, and as the only "unpopular" candidate, he was quite sought after in some ways.
Furthermore, Princess Xu was born into the Xu family, a founding meritorious family; her father was Xu Da!
Princess Xu naturally wanted to fight for this huge political capital for her husband, and she visited her family home frequently to maintain their relationship.
All of this fell into Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes, and he recorded it all.
Unnoticed, troops from all over the country began to move, and famous Taoist temples and halls were surrounded.
Three days passed quickly, and on the morning of that day, those who were still alive and breathing crawled to the court.
For some reason, there were no arguments among the ministers this morning, nor were there any natural or man-made disasters for His Majesty to decide, and it ended exceptionally early.
Looking at the eager eyes of his ministers below, Zhu Yuanzhang became a little irritated and tapped the armrest of the dragon throne:
"What use is it to look at me? We need to see when Liu Xian arrives."
No sooner had he finished speaking than a seductive and beautiful voice drifted from afar:
"I always keep my promises, so I arrived quite early."
While everyone else was still in a daze, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly remembered that during Empress Ma's birthday celebration, this enchanting fairy had been hiding nearby and eating for a long time without anyone noticing, and his heart skipped a beat.
Looking up and down, left and right, I looked up and sure enough, on the roof beam of the main hall, there was no one there, but a snake's tail was swaying back and forth.
Following his gaze, the others looked up and also noticed the flexible snake tail. Its unbridled audacity had completely broken through their mental defenses.
Some people thought to themselves, "The demon immortal is indeed still too demonic."
Suddenly, a long white hair drifted down and twisted before everyone's eyes, transforming into a magnificent white throne.
Liu Xian sat down, and her snake tail transformed into human legs, making her look less terrifying and eerie.
He said, half-jokingly, "What kind of person invites guests over but doesn't even prepare seats?"
To be honest, Zhu Yuanzhang hadn't thought of that at all, but he glanced at the white throne—
Not far from the dragon throne, he also sat high above it, looking down at the officials below.
Zhu Yuanzhang gave a fake smile: "It was my oversight. How can something so mundane compare to something transformed from Liu Xian's hair? This can be considered a lucky accident."
Liu Xian gave an ambiguous laugh, and the others lowered their heads, sensing the strange atmosphere from their pores, and dared not disturb her.
"My time is very precious, and I don't want to waste it here. Let's get started."
With those words spoken coldly, Liu Xian, without waiting for them to reply, gave a strange, upturned smile that sent chills down the spines of any ministers who happened to catch a glimpse of it.
"This clip is quite interesting. I was very happy to see it, and maybe you will be happy to see it too."
This statement piqued the curiosity of many, including Zhu Yuanzhang, who wondered why Liu Xian would say such a thing.
Could this future emperor of the Ming Dynasty be a wise ruler?
No, that's not right, Zhu Yuanzhang instinctively denied.
Sure enough, the next second Liu Xian slowly revealed the answer:
"Daoist Emperor, that's a good title. I remember there was once an emperor who was called Bodhisattva Emperor. The Daoist sect has finally won back some ground."
A commotion arose among the officials. Some looked up at the emperor, but were so frightened by his ashen face that they quickly lowered their heads.
The "Bodhisattva Emperor" refers to Emperor Wu of Liang. How devout was this emperor? He sold himself into servitude at a Buddhist temple, and his ministers had to pay money to redeem him.
They even sold it three times!
His ministers were truly in love with him, and each time they managed to raise enough money to redeem him.
The first time it was 100 million coins, the second time it was 200 million coins, and the third time it was also 100 million coins.
It was through such a feat that Emperor Wu of Liang earned the title of "Bodhisattva Emperor".
Zhu Yuanzhang asked himself, if someone gave him that much money, he could have bestowed the title of Buddha upon someone on the spot.
But his own descendants became some worthless emperors, utterly humiliated, their Ming Dynasty, their entire fortune...
No wonder Liu Xian said she was happy to see this. With this example right in front of him, not to mention anything else, he now wishes he could devour the Taoist disciple.
Zhu Yuanzhang looked around, his gaze finally settling on one of his timid sons, and he found an outlet for his pent-up anger.
"Fourth brother, how did you raise your descendants to produce such a mentally unstable beast..."
Zhu Di was so scolded that he couldn't even lift his head, his face flushed red, and he was cursing inwardly as well.
This scene may seem like a disgrace to the Prince of Yan, but to those with a discerning eye, it carries a deeper meaning: it signifies that the emperor has acknowledged the Prince of Yan's descendants' right to inherit the throne.
At this moment, Liu Xian lightly interrupted the emperor:
"Your Majesty is mistaken. This emperor's intelligence is among the best in history."
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