Zhu Di wanted to be emperor in his dreams.

He is also a human being, so naturally he also longed for that position.

But he knew clearly that as long as his elder brother was around, he could only bury this delusion deep in his heart.

It's just a dream like this occasionally.

However, no matter how deeply he hid, he was discovered by someone who was interested. This person was the current abbot of Qingshou Temple, Yao Guangxiao.

In the 15th year of Hongwu, Empress Ma died. Zhu Yuanzhang selected eminent monks from the people to serve the kings and chant scriptures to pray for blessings.

At that time, Yao Guangxiao was recommended by the Zuoshan Shizong Le of the Buddhist Affairs Bureau and successfully accompanied Zhu Di.

"Why did you come to me specifically?" Zhu Di asked curiously at the time.

"I have a great gift for you." Yao Guangxiao replied calmly.

"What can you, a monk, give to me?" Zhu Di said with a smile, not caring too much. He had no shortage of gold, silver and treasures. As the King of Yan, he was second only to the emperor.

"If Your Highness chooses me, I would like to give You a white hat in the future." Yao Guangxiao said quietly.

When Zhu Di heard this, he was shocked, his face changed drastically, and he was about to get angry.

However, when meeting Yao Guangxiao's deep eyes, all the words seemed to be stuck in his throat.

Finally, he just whispered, "Come with me."

Although Zhu Di had little education, he still understood clearly what "王上加白" meant.

Even though he knew that Yao Guangxiao could say such things and was definitely not a serious monk, Zhu Di still brought him back to Beiping and appointed him as the abbot of Qingshou Temple.

Perhaps only Zhu Di himself knew what he was thinking.

"Notify the prince to follow me to the capital to offer condolences."

After the postman left, Zhu Di took a long time to recover, and then he gave the order.

Such a major event as the death of the crown prince naturally cannot be delayed. It is already late today, and Zhu Di will set out early tomorrow morning.

"Yes, Your Highness." Upon hearing this, Ma Sanbao immediately went to look for the Crown Prince Zhu Gaochi.

After the others left, Yao Guangxiao saw that Zhu Di's expression had recovered, so he walked up to Zhu Di and whispered in his ear:

"Your Highness, this is a godsend."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Di frowned and looked at Yao Guangxiao and said, "What do you mean by that?"

Yao Guangxiao was not afraid of saying something outrageous, and said directly:

"Now that the Crown Prince has passed away, Your Majesty will naturally choose another person from among the many princes and grandchildren to inherit the throne."

"In my opinion, given your Majesty's temperament, it is most likely that you will choose one of the emperor's grandchildren."

"Given Zhu Ying's appearance and temperament, if he appeared in the capital city or was seen by His Majesty, he would definitely be considered as the eldest grandson who died young."

"In this way, Your Highness will have a chance."

The meaning of Yao Guangxiao's words was very clear. He wanted to take this opportunity to bring Zhu Ying to the capital and even arrange an encounter between him and Zhu Yuanzhang.

Once Zhu Ying is identified as the former eldest grandson of the emperor, Zhu Xiongying, he is very likely to be designated as the heir.

Zhu Di and Yao Guangxiao naturally knew Zhu Ying's identity.

Zhu Yuanzhang was over sixty years old, which was considered a long life in the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, if Zhu Ying could really be pushed to the throne at that time, it would definitely be a bloody storm.

But does Yao Guangxiao care about these?

All he cares about is whether the situation can become more chaotic.

Only in a chaotic situation can he realize his ambitions.

"Why do you think that Father will not choose me?"

Zhu Di said this with some pride, with a fierce aura emanating from the depths of his eyes.

Apparently, the position of emperor made him a little irritable. After all, this was a possibility he had been thinking about day and night.

Now that he finally saw the hope of his dream coming true, Yao Guangxiao came to shatter it. Zhu Di couldn't help but feel a sense of cruelty.

He was the King of Yan. He grew up in a war-torn military camp and showed excellent military talent at a young age.

In the third year of Hongwu, Zhu Di was ten years old and was named King of Yan.

In the ninth year of Hongwu, Zhu Di married Xu, the daughter of Xu Da, the first meritorious minister of the Ming Dynasty and the first of the "Six Kings" of the founding of the country, as his wife.

In the 13th year of Hongwu, Zhu Di, who was 21 years old, was enfeoffed in Beiping, Yanjing.

In the 23rd year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang, because the former Yuan Prime Minister Yaozhu, the Grand Marshal Nairbuhua, the Minister of the Court Aruttemur and others had repeatedly caused border troubles, ordered Prince of Jin Zhu Gang and Prince of Yan Zhu Di to divide their troops into two routes and attack the Northern Yuan again.

In this expedition, Fu Youde, Duke of Ying, was appointed as the vanguard general; Zhao Yong, Marquis of Nanxiong, and Cao Xing, Marquis of Huaiyuan, were appointed as the left and right deputy generals; Wang Bi, Marquis of Dingyuan, and Sun Ke, Marquis of Quanning, were appointed as the left and right lieutenant generals, supervising the troops.

He ordered Wang Bi to lead the Shanxi troops under the command of Prince of Jin, and the rest to be under the command of Prince of Yan Zhu Di.

At the age of thirty, Zhu Di became the commander-in-chief of the army.

Zhu Di was granted the fiefdom of Beiping, which was the capital of the previous dynasty. As the fourth son of Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Di was undoubtedly trusted.

During the ten years in Peking, famous generals Fu Youde, Feng Sheng and Lan Yu all used Peking as a starting point to conquer the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

For Zhu Di, these famous generals were his admirers in his heart. In every battle, Zhu Di would learn from them humbly. When asked by Prince Yan, many famous generals would teach him everything they knew.

The most difficult part of this expedition was not defeating the enemy, but finding the enemy.

The Ming Dynasty had a strong military force and was in a position to crush the enemy, but the climate in the Mongolian hinterland was harsh and the area was extremely vast. If they rushed in rashly, they would be in great danger over time.

Zhu Di gritted his teeth and ventured in. He knew that this time was extremely important to him and he had no choice but to give it a try.

Just like Lan Yu fishing in the fish lake once, Zhu Di finally found the remnants of the Northern Yuan army after some hardships.

Later, Prince of Yan Zhu Di surrendered Nairbuhua without any soldiers.

Although Zhu Gang, the Prince of Jin, was a fierce warrior, he was afraid of suffering heavy losses and did not dare to advance deep into the Mongolian hinterland.

This makes Zhu Di's military achievements even more outstanding.

As for the current situation, in Zhu Di's view, as long as his father makes a fair choice, his competitiveness will be the strongest.

Zhu Yunhuan and Zhu Yunwen were just two little brats.

Looking at all his brothers, Zhu Di found that his second brother Zhu Chong was extremely extravagant and extravagant, not to mention his third brother, Prince of Jin Zhu Gang, who was outdone by himself in the past two years and had long since become a foil.

The fifth brother, Zhu Su, King Ding of Zhou, was Zhu Di's younger brother. Not to mention his ability, he would not have been in line with the throne in terms of position.

It seems that the throne of emperor is mine!

Yao Guangxiao looked at Zhu Di's extremely confident face and felt that there was no need to pour a basin of cold water on him and make himself unhappy.

He said, "Your Highness currently has a great advantage, but no one can guess what His Majesty is thinking. In my opinion, it would be better to place Zhu Ying in the capital, which can also be regarded as a hidden chess piece."

"It would be great if everything goes well, but if something goes wrong there is no need to panic."

When Zhu Di heard this, the hostility in his eyes disappeared and a look of deep thought flashed across his eyes.

He felt that what Yao Guangxiao said made a lot of sense.

Just like a cunning rabbit has three burrows, he was not sure what his father was thinking.

The throne of the emperor is too big, so it is extremely necessary to keep a hidden chess piece.

Thinking of this, Zhu Di called the guards.

"Pass on my order, and have the merchant Zhu Ying prepare his luggage and set out with me tomorrow morning to go south to the capital to pay his respects."