The practice of identifying kinship by dropping blood was established during the Three Kingdoms period and has been regarded as a golden rule ever since, with no one doubting it.

In the Ming Dynasty today, this is the most convincing paternity test.

Especially for people like Zhu Yuanzhang, who had risen from the bottom of poverty to where he is today, needless to say.

It's not that Zhu Yuanzhang had never thought about using blood to identify his kinship, but before that, from a romantic perspective, the relationship between him and his eldest grandson had always been one in which the eldest grandson was resistant.

For both Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Ying, the matter of recognizing each other as relatives was completely Zhu Yuanzhang's wishful thinking.

At that time, Zhu Ying was interested in Annan. He had already sent his subordinates there and the situation was very good. He did not come to the capital to look for his relatives.

He was semi-coerced by Zhu Di, and then because Zhu Gaochi mentioned firearms, Zhu Ying's interest was aroused, so he chose to stay in the capital for a while.

The relationship between Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Ying was recently clarified, and it was discovered less than half a month ago, and the matter has been delayed like this.

Some people may think that it can actually be verified from records on Zhu Ying, such as birthmarks.

In fact, in the royal family, if there is no particularly obvious birthmark, it will not be recorded, especially in the early Ming Dynasty. When Zhu Xiongying was born, it was only the seventh year of the Ming Dynasty.

Due to external and internal troubles, the entire territory of the Ming Dynasty was in chaos, and some of the detailed layouts in the palace were not so important.

The key point is that the royal succession of the Ming Empire mainly originated from the Han system of the Tang and Song dynasties, rather than the Mongols.

The Mongol Yuan Dynasty ruled for ninety-eight years, and the aristocratic families were basically massacred. There was a gap in the generations, and no one came to tell Zhu Yuanzhang how to be the emperor.

The restoration of the Han people's etiquette system was mostly based on Confucian culture, and then Zhu Yuanzhang added his own research and thinking and re-enacted it.

It is actually impossible to completely revive the entire Ming Han culture in just 25 years, especially for most of the elderly, including those who are currently in their 40s and 50s.

In fact, he grew up under the influence of Mongolian and Yuan culture.

At the beginning of the chaos at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, neither Zhu Yuanzhang, Chen Youliang, Zhang Shicheng and others had the intention to revive Han culture.

Even now, Zhu Yuanzhang recognizes the Mongols as the orthodox.

This extremely official recognition actually caused dissatisfaction among many Han people. In the eyes of most Han people, the Mongols were outsiders and barbarians who did not even have a hundred years of national destiny. How could they be orthodox?

Many people even privately discussed that Zhu Yuanzhang was like this because he was influenced by Mongolian culture.

However, was it really true that Zhu Yuanzhang was influenced by Mongolian culture?

If you look into it carefully, there is no culture to speak of regarding the Mongols and Yuan Dynasty. Apart from the invasion, did the nomadic peoples' powerful cavalry invade the Han culture?

More importantly, with the dominance of the Mongols, many cultures from other regions joined in, and the Mongols themselves were assimilated into Han culture after ruling the land of China.

Apart from anything else, at least the etiquette of the Mongol Yuan royal family was basically borrowed from the Song Dynasty. It seemed a bit inappropriate to put such a large tent in the city of China.

The reason why Zhu Yuanzhang recognized the legitimacy of the Yuan Dynasty was actually the result of careful consideration over a long period of time, rather than a rash decision.

The first and most direct benefit is that it can allow Zhu Yuanzhang to get rid of the influence of the Han Song court. Zhu Yuanzhang once served as the King of Wu of the Song Dynasty.

Han Song denied the legitimacy of the Mongols.

After that, it was to recognize the orthodoxy of the Mongols, which was more conducive to accepting the legacy of the Mongols, and even the entire Mongol Empire, including the other four Khanates.

You should know that Zhu Yuanzhang's proclamation had reached as far as Chagatai in the Western Regions, but that place had never belonged to the Tang or Song dynasties.

On a deeper level, the Ming Dynasty's recognition of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty's legitimacy could also strengthen the legitimacy of its regional rule.

This established a legitimate basis for taking over territories and people that belonged to the Mongols but not to the Song Dynasty.

The territory of the Ming Dynasty not only includes the former territories of the two Song Dynasties. If it directly succeeds the Song Dynasty instead of the Yuan Dynasty, it will weaken the legitimacy of the Ming Dynasty's rule over Liaoning, Gansu, Yunnan, Guizhou and other places.

At the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, who was in his prime, had great ambitions. He wanted to take over not only the former territories of the Northern Song Dynasty, but even the former territories of the Han and Tang Dynasties. He wanted to take over the entire Mongol Empire.

Moreover, the problem of the Huization of the Central Plains could be solved very well. You must know that the division between the Han people in the south and the Han people in the north was already very serious at that time.

That is no longer a question of conflict between the North and the South. Instead, many people believe that the Han people in the north and the south already belong to two ethnic groups.

Especially for the court of Zhu Yuanzhang, which was composed of "Southerners", there was a huge identity crisis in its rule over the northern Han areas.

It is generally believed in later generations that it was the Mongols who conquered the Han people and established the Yuan Dynasty.

But it was generally believed at the time that the Mongols led the northern Han people to conquer the southern Han people.

In particular, the north-south confrontation between the Liao Dynasty and the Northern Song Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms of the Jin Dynasty, the Southern Song Dynasty, and the Western Xia Dynasty caused a break in the historical memory of the Chinese nation about great unification.

The Chinese ethnic groups that once lived under different regimes had their own different historical memories.

This has the most profound influence on the culture of great unification, and Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to eliminate such influence from a deep level.

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang directly denied the orthodoxy of Liao and Jin, and established the imperial genealogy of Han, Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming, so that all the descendants of China could trace their own historical orthodoxy more clearly.

Zhu Yuanzhang's move not only had an impact on the time at that time, but also had a profound impact on future generations. Even in the minds of time-travelers like Zhu Ying, the Han, Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties have become indelible memories.

Many people will subconsciously ignore the influence of the Liao, Jin and Western Xia kingdoms, giving people the feeling of being remote small countries, and no one would think they are orthodox.

From this perspective, although Zhu Yuanzhang's recognition of the Mongol orthodoxy has been criticized by some, its deeper significance is extremely huge, especially for the rule of the Ming Dynasty.

The biggest advantage is that it means that the Ming Dynasty has legal reasons to reclaim all the areas once ruled by the Mongol Empire. This is called: having a legitimate reason to do so.

How big was the Mongol Empire?

Just talking about its stable period, the territory covered an area of ​​more than 35 million square kilometers, stretching from the Korean Peninsula in the east to Poland and Hungary in the west, from the Russian principalities in Siberia in the north to Java and Indochina in the south.

At its largest period, the territory even exceeded 45 million square kilometers, more than four times the current territory and accounting for more than four-fifths of the entire human world at that time.

You should know that the entire land area of ​​Asia, including all islands, is only 44 million square kilometers.

This means that after Zhu Yuanzhang recognized the legitimacy of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty, as the subsequent successor dynasty, had the legal reason to rule over all the territories conquered by the Mongol Yuan Empire.

When sending troops to fight, it is not called invasion, it is called recovering territory, and it is very beneficial for ruling other ethnic minorities.

Under the rule of Zhu Yuanzhang, the goal is to achieve national unity. All ethnic groups, regardless of their status, belong to the Ming Dynasty, and all countries that have paid tribute to the Mongols must also pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty.

For example, if Zhu Yuanzhang went to attack Annan, he would tell his soldiers that Annan originally belonged to the territory of our Ming Dynasty, and that we are going to conquer Annan and rescue the people there.

For Chinese culture, such a legitimate reason is very necessary. Random invasion will only be denied by its own Han culture, and the invader will be labeled as a tyrant, which will be opposed in many aspects.

It is precisely because of Zhu Yuanzhang's behavior that in the original history, even the later Qing emperors, Shunzhi and Kangxi, regarded Zhu Yuanzhang as their idol.

Kangxi was a huge fan of Zhu Yuanzhang. He not only went to Nanjing Xiaoling Mausoleum six times to pay homage to Zhu Yuanzhang in person, but also erected a monument for him that read "Governance surpasses Tang and Song!"

Even in later generations, the monument still exists.

It was not an ordinary worship. As the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, Kangxi himself knelt three times and kowtowed nine times in front of Zhu Yuanzhang's tomb.

There is certainly an element of showmanship in this, but it also shows that even in the Qing Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang's position in the hearts of the people was still extremely strong.

Since ancient times, those who killed loyal ministers of the founding of a country have been cursed. Only Zhu Yuanzhang has been highly admired by everyone living in China, whether they are Han people or other nationalities.

In Zhu Yuanzhang's opinion, Concubine Ning's idea of ​​using blood to identify relatives was also a good idea.

This will help the eldest grandson to inherit his throne legitimately.

As for the result of the blood test, Zhu Yuanzhang believed it was a foregone conclusion and there was no problem at all.

There are two ways of identifying relatives by dropping blood. One is called the blood mixing method, which is to drop two drops of blood into a bowl of water, and when they mix, they become relatives.

There is also a method called bone dripping, which involves dripping blood on the bones of the ancestor. If the blood can seep into the bones, then the ancestor is his closest relative.

Zhu Biao's body is now kept in the Renzhi Hall, and it is obvious that dripping blood or bones will not work.

After death, the blood coagulates, so it is obviously impossible to reunite the blood. It would be extremely unfilial to remove the flesh and blood and expose the bones.

Perhaps Chang's remains could be used, but digging up my late mother's body was not a good idea either.

Since ancient times, only fathers and sons could recognize their relationship through blood test, and there seems to be no precedent for grandfather and grandson. Fortunately, there are brothers and sisters like Zhu Yunhuan and Zhu Mingyue, so there is no one to verify it.

…

Late at night, Zhu Di sat in the big tent and discussed the strategy for wiping out the Japanese pirates with his two generals.

The traces of Japanese pirates in the Ming Dynasty were mainly along the Shandong coast, followed by Jiangsu and Zhejiang. At present, the activities of Japanese pirates in the coastal areas of Fujian and Guangdong are still relatively rare.

The areas that Zhu Di was in charge of were mainly Shandong, which was the place most severely invaded by Japanese pirates. After all, Zhu Di had made great achievements in military exploits, so it was natural for him to be in charge of Shandong.

Zhu Di had three major helpers, one of whom was the well-known Yao Guangxiao. In fact, as far as the Ming Dynasty was concerned, Yao Guangxiao was not well-known. He became known to many people only after the Jingnan Campaign.

Now Zhu Di's true right-hand men are Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng.

Among the generals under the command of the Prince of Yan, "Zhang Yu is good at planning, and Zhu Neng is good at fighting."

Li Jinglong was the first meritorious official in the Jingnan Campaign, while Zhang Yu, Zhu Neng and Yao Guangxiao were the second meritorious officials.

"Your Highness, we have roughly figured out the whereabouts of the Japanese pirates along the Shandong coast. Please tell us what to do next."

Zhu Neng asked.

Although his surname is also Zhu, it is not the same Zhu as Zhu Yuanzhang. However, his father's hometown is Huaiyuan, so he and Zhu Yuanzhang can be considered half-fellow townsman.

Zhu Neng was a tall and strong man, and he spoke in a loud voice, but in front of Zhu Di, he deliberately lowered his voice.

Zhu Di heard this and said, "Now I am not the only one fighting against the Japanese pirates. My third brother is also here. And the Zhejiang area that my third brother is in charge of is much easier than Shandong."

"We can't just sit there and wait for death. We must take the initiative. Zhang Yu, what do you think?"

Later on, Zhu Di asked Zhang Yu in a casual tone, without putting on airs as a prince.

The two people in front of him are both confidants, like Yao Guangxiao, and even in terms of loyalty alone, they are much stronger than Yao Guangxiao.

Zhang Yu is already fifty years old this year, with white hair on his temples. He is completely different from Zhu Neng, a strong young man of only twenty-two years old.

After hearing the question, he did not rush to answer. He hesitated for a moment before saying, "Your Highness is right. I think the King of Jin has been holding back a lot of anger and is eager to prove himself."

"If we can pacify the Japanese pirates in Zhejiang before Your Highness, people all over the world will think that Your Highness's military achievements were nothing but luck."

"Only by pacifying the Japanese pirates before the King of Jin can we maintain your highness's prestige."

After hearing this analysis, Zhu Di nodded. In many aspects, Zhang Yu thought the same as he did.

Zhang Yu is not an unknown person.

In the early days at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, he was the director of the Privy Council. The Privy Council was the highest military institution, just like the Five Military Commissions of the Ming Dynasty today.

Now it is the twenty-fifth year of Hongwu, and Zhang Yu is exactly fifty years old. It can be seen that when he was around twenty years old, he had already entered the highest military institution of the Mongols.

After surrendering to the Ming Dynasty in the 18th year of Hongwu, Zhang Yu participated in the Battle of Buir Lake, and later followed Lan Yu in various campaigns. Until last year, after Zhu Di's famous battle, he served as a deputy commander under Zhu Di.

Zhu Di was very open-hearted to Zhang Yu and won Zhang Yu's loyalty.

Although Zhang Yu was very capable, he was still somewhat marginalized by Lan Yu because he had served in the Mongol Yuan Dynasty.

In other words, he was squeezed out by the Huaixi military generals group.

"But these Japanese pirates are really too difficult to deal with. They are like a bunch of rats. It's easy to beat them, but too difficult to find them." Zhu Neng said with some annoyance.

After Zhu Neng finished speaking, Zhu Di and Zhang Yu looked at each other, as if they had some kind of tacit understanding.

Why was the 22-year-old Zhu Neng appreciated by Zhu Di and even became Zhu Di's confidant?

In fact, this guy is only 22 years old, but he looks very anxious. No one would believe him if he said he was 40 years old. But if he said he was in 30, few would disbelieve him.

With his sturdy and strong physique, and having practiced martial arts since childhood, he is the best single-handed fighter in the entire army under Zhu Di's command.

He doesn’t have a big beard, otherwise he would be no different from Zhang Fei in Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Zhu Di realized very early that Zhu Neng was a man who could get along with others and would really help when there was a problem.

In the Jingnan Campaign of the original history, this guy led thirty people and charged directly against the army led by Geng Bingwen, capturing more than three thousand people.

When Zhu Di was besieged by Licheng Hou Sheng Yong in the Battle of Dongchang, it was he who rushed into the army and rescued Zhu Di.

Just when Zhu Neng was at a loss for a solution, Zhang Yu said indifferently: "Fortify the walls and clear the fields."

Zhu Di nodded slightly. Zhu Neng hadn't reacted to what he said yet. He was slow for a moment before he applauded loudly, "What a good idea! Those who say they are pirates are mostly unruly people in disguise. It's not unfair to kill nine out of ten of them."

Zhu Di was not a benevolent monarch. Having grown up in a military camp, he had no scruples about things like killing.

Zhang Yu has some of the temperament of a Confucian general, but as a general who has risen from the end of the Yuan Dynasty to the present day, as the saying goes, one general's success is the result of the sacrifices of hundreds of soldiers, so he is not a simple person either.

There is no need to say more about Zhu Neng. He has been fighting with his father since he was a child and has already gotten used to it.

In a sense, Zhu Neng now is like Zhang Yu's disciple, learning strategies from him.

No one knew how many real Japanese pirates would appear. In previous anti-Japanese wars, there were many coastal civilians who pretended to be pirates. Zhu Di naturally would not care about this.

After clearing the countryside, the Japanese pirates had no contact persons to contact, so it was of course much easier to deal with them. If one wanted to quickly pacify the Japanese pirates, especially before the King of Jin, this was indeed the best way.

After discussing the strategy to pacify the Japanese pirates, Zhu Neng and Zhang Yu left, and Zhu Di was alone in the big tent.

Zhu Di set out directly from the capital to the Shandong coast, heading towards Japan, which was Jiaoao, which is Qingdao in later generations.

The area from Haizhou (later Lianyungang) to Dengzhou Prefecture (later Yantai) was the main target of invasion by Japanese pirates.

His son Zhu Gaoxu is now twelve years old, so naturally he will not go with the army.

At this moment, Zhu Di suddenly felt a little lonely.

"Dad, I'm your son too. Why don't you believe me? Is there something I haven't done well enough?"

"Everyone says I'm the most like you, but Dad, you have to give me a chance."

"My eldest brother has already gone, why can't I go?"

Zhu Di sat at his desk, thinking about the current situation and his father in the capital, and felt extremely depressed.

Zhu Yuanzhang was the person Zhu Di admired the most. In many ways, Zhu Di even subconsciously imitated his father.

Every time he encountered difficulties, he would wonder how his father would solve them if he were here.

However, Zhu Di, who came here to suppress the Japanese pirates, felt abandoned while leading his troops outside.

After a long time, Zhu Di's eyes began to become resolute. He said coldly: "Dad, just watch. I will definitely let you see your son's ability. Third brother lost to me once, and there will be a second time."

"They are just a group of Japanese pirates. If I am right, this time the suppression of the Japanese invasion is just the beginning. The real drama should be on the Japanese side."

Thinking of this, Zhu Di walked out of the big tent, feeling the salty breath of the sea breeze, his eyes gradually became sharper.

"Dad, if I conquer Japan, what will you do? In the end, the world depends on military merit."