Since returning to the palace from the Xiaoling Mausoleum, Zhu Yuanzhang has never closed his mouth.

After seeing the situation inside the mausoleum, Zhu Yuanzhang finally felt relieved.

"Liu He, Jiang Li, you two have been following us all the time. You two know the situation of our eldest grandson best."

"Let's talk about it. We need to choose an auspicious day to bring our grandson to the palace."

After arriving at the Huagai Hall, Zhu Yuanzhang said to Liu He and Jiang Lin with a smile on his face.

One of them was a personal guard and the other was a personal eunuch. As Zhu Yuanzhang's personal servants, they knew Zhu Ying's affairs very thoroughly.

Including the identity of the eldest grandson is also very clear.

Not like others, such as Tang He and Ru Rong.

When he talked to them about his eldest grandson, their first reaction was distrust and they thought it was a conspiracy. Although he knew that the story about his eldest grandson was a bit bizarre, Zhu Yuanzhang was still very unhappy.

Now that there was no old friend around to discuss things with, Zhu Yuanzhang could only talk to Jiang Lin and Liu He.

"Your Majesty, since the identity of His Royal Highness Chang Sun has been confirmed, in my opinion, he should be brought back to the palace to live as soon as possible."

The two looked at each other and Liu He spoke first.

In Liu He's opinion, as long as His Royal Highness Changsun returns to the palace and waits for His Majesty to decide on his status, there will not be much difference in the position of the Crown Prince.

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said, "I also want my grandson to come to the palace to accompany me soon. Living outside the palace like this, it's very troublesome to even see him."

"My eldest grandson grew up in Kunning Palace. Maybe he came back to live here and was reminded of the past."

Zhu Yuanzhang's tone was very happy. He had already started thinking about the happy days when his eldest grandson would live in the palace and review memorials with him every day.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang continued to talk to himself: "Our eldest grandson has built up some power outside, and now he is starting to get lazy."

"It's terrible to get up at noon. When our eldest grandson moves in, we have to wake him up every day to see if he dares to sleep in again."

As he spoke, Zhu Yuanzhang began to laugh. It sounded like he was blaming him, but in fact he was proud of his eldest grandson's abilities.

Liu He and Jiang Li also laughed along.

"No, I can't wait any longer. Liu He, prepare the car. I want to go see my grandson right now and explain everything to him. He has to sleep with me in the palace tonight."

In his mind, Zhu Yuanzhang kept imagining the scene of his eldest grandson living with him, and suddenly he became impatient.

As for today's memorials, he had no mind to review them. He only wanted to bring his eldest grandson back to be with him.

When Jiang Li heard this, a trace of deep thought and hesitation flashed across his face. Seeing His Majesty like this, he hesitated for a moment, gritted his teeth and reported:

"Your Majesty, I dare to say that now is not the best time to announce His Royal Highness the Grandson."

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, his relaxed brows suddenly frowned, and he looked at Jiang Li with sharp eyes, and said in a slightly cold voice:

"Oh, tell me, when is the best time?"

Hearing this, Jiang Li understood that His Majesty was in a bad mood.

As the saying goes, serving the emperor is like serving a tiger. If one gives a bad answer, not only will he not be able to continue his job as the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, but he will also not know whether he can keep his life.

With sweat on his forehead, Jiang Li knelt on one knee and said, "Your Majesty, I am as loyal to Your Highness Changsun as I am to Your Majesty. This is obvious to all."

"But I think that His Royal Highness Changsun is now full of doubts in the eyes of the civil and military officials. It would be better for us to understand the whole story."

"Just like Minister Ru, the Minister of War, when he heard the news, his first reaction was to think someone was deceiving His Majesty."

"Even if Your Majesty tells the story in person, this is too bizarre to be believed."

"Besides...besides, His Majesty has just recently decided that His Royal Highness Yunwen will be the Crown Prince. Now, the ministers in the court are leaning towards His Royal Highness Yunwen. If His Royal Highness Changsun returns to the palace, it will definitely cause a stir."

"If rumors like these spread, many generals stationed in various places will be in a state of panic when they hear about it. This will cause instability in the Ming Dynasty."

Jiang Li's thinking was clear and his speech was rapid. He was afraid that if he spoke a little slower, he would be interrupted by His Majesty and be dragged out and executed.

After finishing speaking in one breath, he took a deep breath. Fortunately, he was a warrior with a large lung capacity, otherwise he would have been suffocated.

After listening to this, Zhu Yuanzhang looked thoughtful.

After returning from Xiaoling Mausoleum, he has been in a state of excitement, with the image of his eldest grandson imprinted in his mind.

After hearing Jiang Li's words, I thought about the current situation.

Zhu Yuanzhang did not think the civil officials' ideas were a big deal. The civil officials in the court had been replaced several times after several rounds of purges.

There is no way they would be able to oppose him, or their eldest grandson.

But military generals are different.

Currently, the noble military generals, dukes, marquises, and earls control almost 90% of the military forces in the world.

Zhu Yuanzhang understood the minds of military generals best. Except for a few, almost all of them were reckless men.

To put it nicely, it is generosity and loyalty; to put it bluntly, it is courage without strategy.

Even among the so-called Twenty-Four Generals of Huaixi, most of them were illiterate, and a few of them started to teach themselves later.

Unlike the Three Kingdoms wars at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, warfare here required great strategy.

At the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, all the thousand-year-old families and inherited noble families were almost completely destroyed by the Mongols.

The larger the family, the harder it was hit, and the entire Han ethnic group suffered a great blow.

When Zhu Yuanzhang started his rebellion, the Mongols were already somewhat fragmented, and the remaining forces were not able to make a difference.

The Chen Youliang he faced was just a minor official earlier, and Zhang Shicheng was a salt merchant.

The troops he led were all authentic peasant uprising troops.

When everyone first started fighting, they just rushed in together, without any regard for tactics, battle formations, or strategies.

It just spells the word "fierce".

That's why only a reckless man like Chang Yuchun can keep going.

The more battles you fight, the more experience you gain.

However, in terms of personal character, as the saying goes, it is easy to change the country but difficult to change one's nature, it is almost still the same.

Bandits' mistakes are like combing, soldiers' mistakes are like combing, and officials' mistakes are like shaving. This situation was a real social phenomenon in ancient times.

Military discipline mainly lies in obedience to superiors and laws, and does not include affinity with the people.

In fact, large-scale looting was considered a normal benefit of the army most of the time, and brutal but well-disciplined armies were common in ancient times.

This was the case with Zhu Yuanzhang's first Huaixi noble generals.

The Ming Dynasty's practice of killing innocent people to claim credit was extremely famous in later generations, and this trend was passed down from the early Ming Dynasty.

The most cruel person in the early Ming Dynasty was Chang Yuchun. Massacres in cities, killing prisoners and surrendered soldiers were common and had become the norm.

Zhu Yuanzhang never punished Chang Yuchun for these things, but only advised him not to carry out large-scale killings in every city he arrived at.

Even if the city has a large population and a vast land, if there are no people in it, it will just be a deserted city.

As to whether Chang Yuchun took it to heart, I'm afraid he didn't.

Even a top general like Chang Yuchun is like this, let alone other generals.

Now all the military generals in the early Ming Dynasty do not look like an army, but more like a huge underworld organization.

He drank wine and ate meat with big mouthfuls, took revenge at will, and killed enemies.

And now that Big Brother Zhu Yuanzhang has become emperor, it seems like he is on the path of whitewashing himself.

He formulated policies to allow the people to recuperate and regain their peace, reduced taxes and corvee labor, punished corrupt officials, and promoted education, in the hope of truly building the Ming Empire and making it prosperous and powerful.

But he knew better in his heart what kind of temperament the generals who once followed him had.

Jiang Li was right. If a large number of rumors appeared, it would be very detrimental to the eldest grandson's accession to the throne.

Zhu Yuanzhang was most aware of the horror of rumors. Once the generals in the world had the impression that he had moved in first, the future Ming Empire would be precarious and uneasy after his death.

The only way is to do as he had arranged before.

Only if the eldest grandson gains the support of the top military generals first can the succession of the Ming Emperor be orderly and stable.

Even if there are some rumors, with the methods used by the eldest grandson, it will not be a big deal.

After understanding these things, Zhu Yuanzhang sighed with melancholy:

"Can't we even recognize our own grandson?"

Hearing this, Jiang Li panicked and knelt on one knee, saying, "I am guilty of death."

Zhu Yuanzhang turned his head and looked, as if he was talking to Jiang Lin, or to himself: "We have waited so long, even if it means damaging the feng shui of the Xiaoling Mausoleum, we must find out the identity of our eldest grandson."

"However, today, everything has finally come to an end, but you told me that we cannot let our eldest grandson enter the palace yet, and cannot let him accompany us all the time to enjoy our old age."

"I can only watch my eldest grandson wandering in the wild, but I can't even reveal his identity."

"Why? Why? He is the grandson we raised with our own hands. We miss him day and night."

"Ten years, a full ten years. My eldest grandson passed away, and my eldest sister passed away. Do you know how we got through these ten years? Ah!"

As he spoke, Zhu Yuanzhang became more and more agitated as he recalled the past, and he almost roared at Jiang Lin.

Jiang Li, who was originally kneeling on one knee, suddenly knelt on both knees and bowed his head.

Even Liu He, who was standing by, was frightened by Zhu Yuanzhang's somewhat crazy look. He dared not stand and knelt down with Jiang Lin.

After a long time, Zhu Yuanzhang's mood gradually calmed down.

He had no intention of punishing Jiang Li, he was just venting his dissatisfaction.

"Get up, you are right about this, and I know it in my heart. But I just can't help it. Our eldest grandson finally came back, but I can't recognize him right away."

"I feel really bad in my heart."

Zhu Yuanzhang spoke slowly, expressing the depression in his heart.

"Your Majesty, I dare to say that the Imperial Palace is not far from His Royal Highness Chang Sun, and Your Majesty can go there often. The Duke of Liang, the Duke of Song, the Duke of Ying and others have all seen His Royal Highness Chang Sun when he was a child."

"Your Majesty will definitely support His Royal Highness Changsun once you explain the whole story. In my opinion, His Royal Highness Changsun will be able to celebrate the New Year's Day with Your Majesty by the end of this year at the latest."

After Liu He stood up, he saw that His Majesty's emotions were gradually stabilizing, so he began to comfort him.

After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang obviously felt better.

After a moment's silence, Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Let's take advantage of our birthday to let our grandson meet these generals. I think with the support of Lan Yu and the others, he should be able to seize the opportunity."

After he finished speaking, Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes flashed with ruthlessness, and he added: "If there are any who are blind, don't blame me for being rude."

"Your Majesty is wise."

Liu He and Jiang Li hurriedly flattered him.

The military generals had been stationed in various parts of the Ming Dynasty for a long time. For some things, even Zhu Yuanzhang had to summon them to the capital before they could be dealt with.

Just like the original Lan Yu case.

Lan Yu was originally suppressing a rebellion in Handong. When the rebellion was almost suppressed, he was summoned to the capital in February of the following year.

When returning to Beijing, Lan Yu never thought that Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to kill him. After all, he was the one who made the contribution to suppressing the rebellion.

When Zhu Yuanzhang killed Lan Yu, he also arranged it secretly. If Lan Yu got the news in advance, it would have been difficult to deal with.

Not every general is like Yue Fei. When someone like Lan Yu knew that His Majesty wanted to kill him, his first thought would definitely be to run away. He would not come to the capital to die.

When Lan Yu returned to Beijing, Zhu Yuanzhang did not take any action immediately. Instead, he summoned back the Huaixi nobles and generals, led by Lan Yu.

Then Jiang Li launched an attack at the morning court session, and the Jinyiwei, who had been prepared, captured and killed him directly without giving him any chance.

After killing the first batch, Zhu Yuanzhang directly charged them with treason.

Then it stopped for a while, giving many generals the illusion that only the main culprit was being executed.

In fact, it didn't take long before he continued killing.

From February of the 26th year of Hongwu to the 28th year of Hongwu, Feng Sheng was sentenced to death, and the Lan Yu case was finally over.

It took two full years to kill.

Most of the famous generals were implicated and sentenced to death.

Not to mention those who had no names or surnames, including those implicated, there were a total of more than 15,000 people involved in the entire Lan Yu case.

Zhu Yuanzhang made precise arrangements for the military generals before killing them.

The attack is swift and ruthless at first, and then it is like boiling a frog in warm water, slowly working until the root is uprooted and completely eradicated.

Of course, I can’t kill him now.

These military generals will be reserved for Zhu Ying. With Zhu Ying's methods and Zhu Yuanzhang's assistance, it will be like creating another first-class team of military generals like Crown Prince Zhu Biao: the Changsun Party.

As for those generals who cannot join the Changsun Party or have doubts about the identity of the Dasun, there is no need to keep them.

Whoever controls the military power controls the world. As for the civil officials, if they disobey, they can be killed.

The scholar's rebellion failed in three years.

It is impossible for the current civil officials to fight against the military generals.

Liu Bowen and Hu Weiyong, who were more famous earlier, are no longer with us. After the abolition of the prime minister system, the power of civil officials has been further divided.

Every year on Zhu Yuanzhang’s birthday, most of the military generals would come back to celebrate. At that time, the Changsun Party was established.

"Your Majesty, the enthronement of His Highness Yunwen was originally scheduled for September, but..." Jiang Li's eyes moved slightly, as if he was reminding him unintentionally.

After all, it had been decided earlier that September would be the time for the ceremony to enthrone Zhu Yunwen as the Crown Prince, and Zhu Yuanzhang's birthday would be at the end of October.

Zhu Yuanzhang heard this and said casually: "We almost forgot about this. We can only let Yunwen suffer."

Then he added: "When the time comes, let the Imperial Observatory come up with a solution and postpone the enthronement for a few months."

After saying this, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly frowned, as if he had thought of something.

After a moment, he walked to the desk and ordered, "Liu He, draft the edict."

Upon hearing this, Liu He hurriedly brought a blank imperial edict to His Majesty and ground it for him.

Zhu Yuanzhang's imperial edicts were all written by himself.

The reason why Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly thought of issuing the edict was because he was afraid of any accidents. After all, he was already over sixty years old and had suffered a serious illness not long ago.

It would be bad if he suddenly died of illness one day and his eldest grandson had not returned to the palace.

Now Zhu Yuanzhang is preparing to write his will first. If such an accident really happens, the will will be the greatest support for his eldest grandson.

Even if the eldest grandson has less support by then, at least he can ascend the throne first with full legitimacy.