Feng Sheng finally made it through.

When he received the document that he would be dispatched to Japan as one of the generals for the expedition, he immediately became excited.

Fighting is one thing, but the most important thing is that he is no longer suspected by His Majesty.

Now that his son-in-law Zhu Su is in charge of the medical school established by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, he has completely escaped from the royal disputes, and he has also benefited from it.

Feng Sheng's most glorious moments all came in the early Ming Dynasty.

At that time, Feng Sheng was concurrently serving as the Right Secretary of the Crown Prince. He was demoted for committing a minor crime and became the Associate Governor of the Metropolitan Government.

At that time, Feng Sheng led his army up the Yellow River, captured Bian and Luo, went down to Shanzhou, and headed straight for Tongguan. The defending general fled at night, so he captured Tongguan and Huazhou.

When conquering Shanxi, he captured Huaiqing from Wuzhi, crossed the Taihang Mountains, conquered Wanzicheng, took Ze and Lu, and captured Yuan Youcheng Jia Cheng in Yishi.

He also conquered Pingyang and Jiangzhou, captured Yuan Zuo Cheng Tian Baobao and others, and captured more than 500 soldiers.

In the second year of Hongwu, Feng Sheng led his army across the Yellow River, headed straight for Shaanxi, and captured Fengxiang. Then he crossed the Longshui River, captured Gongchang, approached Lintao, and subdued Li Siqi. He then returned to follow General Xu Da to besiege Qingyang.

Kuokuo sent his generals to attack Yuanzhou to support Qingyang. Feng Sheng held Yimaguan and defeated his generals, and then he captured Qingyang and captured Zhang Liangchen, thus pacifying all of Shaanxi.

In September, Zhu Yuanzhang summoned the general back to Beijing and ordered Feng Sheng to garrison in Qingyang and command all the troops.

However, Feng Sheng believed that Guanzhong had been conquered, and he led his entire army back without authorization.

Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and severely criticized Feng Sheng, but because of his great contribution, he pardoned him and did not punish him. However, the money he rewarded was less than half of what General Xu Da had given him.

After the death of General Xu Da and Left Deputy General Li Wenzhong, Feng Sheng was most famous for the Battle of Jinshan in Liaodong and Nurgan.

It was also at that time that someone revealed that Feng Sheng had hidden many good horses and sent his followers to offer wine to Nahachu's wives one by one in order to obtain precious pearls and treasures. He forced the prince to marry his daughter just two days after his death, which led to the loss of Feng Sheng's willingness to surrender and the loss of Pu Ying's 3,000 cavalrymen. Chang Mao also took the opportunity to criticize Feng Sheng for his mistakes.

Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and confiscated Feng Sheng's seal of the general. He ordered him to build a house in Fengyang and go to Beijing to pay homage to the emperor regularly. He also did not give any rewards to the generals.

Feng Sheng never commanded a large army again after that.

Touching the tiger talisman brought by the eunuch, Feng Sheng felt mixed emotions.

Why hide good horses, seek rare treasures, and forcefully marry their daughters?

Feng Sheng knew why these things happened, and there was no possibility of any excuse.

In the 20th year of Hongwu, Feng Sheng was the general who controlled the military power of the world. Although the imperial power was supreme, when it came to military power, even Lan Yu was just a minor general under him.

"Old buddy, you are back after all. This time, let's fight together again."

There is no doubt that Feng Sheng himself was a man who loved fighting, and his great achievements made Zhu Yuanzhang extremely wary of him.

Feng Sheng was always at war throughout his life.

At the beginning, when Zhu Yuanzhang had just captured Dingyuan, Feng Guoyong came to surrender with his younger brother Feng Sheng. Zhu Yuanzhang saw that Feng Guoyong's brother was wearing Confucian scholars' clothes and thought he was a weak scholar.

Unexpectedly, Feng Guoyong showed off a few simple tricks and shocked Zhu Yuanzhang. The Chronicle of the Ming Dynasty says:

Taizu was very pleased and allowed his brothers to sit in the tent and take charge of the secrets.

From this we can see that when Zhu Yuanzhang first met the Feng brothers, he was overjoyed and from then on he treated them as his confidants.

At that time, Li Shanchang, Chang Yuchun, Li Wenzhong and Deng Yu had not yet defected to Zhu Yuanzhang. Feng Guoyong was a rare talent as he was both civil and military.

When Zhu Yuanzhang was marching and fighting in the wild, he would not allow other generals to get close to him when he slept at night. He only kept Feng Guoyong in the tent to guard him, and the two had a deep relationship.

Unfortunately, Feng Guoyong only followed Zhu Yuanzhang for seven years and died of illness during the Battle of Shaoxing.

Zhu Yuanzhang was very sad. After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang was the first to posthumously confer the title of Duke of Ying on Feng Guoyong. Wang Shizhen once said: If Feng Guoyong had not died, would he be on par with Han Gong and Qi Yang?

This means that if Feng Guoyong had not died so early, his status after the founding of the Ming Dynasty would not be lower than that of Li Shanchang and Li Wenzhong.

Events of previous years kept flashing through Feng Sheng’s mind.

He held the general's seal tightly as if he were holding his own life.

Without His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, he would never have such an opportunity.

When Feng Sheng first learned that the crown prince had passed away, he was filled with fear.

Originally Feng Sheng was hoping that he could live to see the day when the crown prince ascended the throne. Now that the crown prince is gone, will His Majesty still keep him?

Fortunately, the appearance of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince eased the situation.

But Feng Sheng was also very clear that even His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was not someone who could be easily talked to.

The founding hero is the most embarrassed.

In fact, Feng Sheng was not very outstanding at the beginning. Some people like Xu Da and Chang Yuchun had never been defeated in their lives, while Feng Sheng had experienced several failures and fled in disarray.

But he had a strong ability to learn, and he became more and more outstanding later on, and gradually his contributions to victory increased.

When I first made some achievements, I became complacent and got scolded.

However, in the third year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang still gave him the highest reward.

He was granted the title of Duke of Song, with an official salary of 3,000 dan and a hereditary certificate.

The imperial edict said that Sheng and his brothers were as close as blood. Over the past ten years, they had eliminated the threat from their elbows and internal organs, established meritorious services, pacified the Central Plains, and helped achieve unification.

Zhu Yuanzhang said that the Feng Sheng brothers were like his own flesh and blood.

Since ancient times, the best way for founding emperors to win over meritorious officials, besides rewarding them, is through marriage.

Zhu Yuanzhang betrothed Feng Sheng's eldest daughter to Chang Yuchun's son Chang Mao, his second daughter to Zhou Zhusu, and Feng Sheng's niece, Feng Guoyong's daughter, to Mu Ying.

You should know that Zhu Su was the fifth son of Zhu Yuanzhang, Chang Mao was the brother-in-law of Crown Prince Zhu Biao, and Mu Ying was Zhu Yuanzhang's adopted son.

These three marriages meant that the interests of Feng Sheng and Zhu Yuanzhang were firmly tied together and indestructible.

However, facts have proved that Zhu Yuanzhang really did not take marriage seriously. Not to mention Feng Sheng, even King Zhou Zhu Su would be demoted and punished.

Feng Sheng stroked the general's seal for a long time before carefully putting it back into the brocade box and putting it away.

Then he opened the door, and a cold wind howled outside.

When the door opened, a servant came over immediately.

In this kind of weather, it is naturally impossible to stand guard at the door. Usually, you just stay in the house to keep warm and wait, and come out immediately when you hear any noise.

Feng Sheng said to his servants, "Prepare the horses. This general needs to go to the palace."

Feng Sheng's temperament at this time was completely different. His vigorous and energetic appearance made his already gray temples less noticeable. Instead, his bright eyes made him look more spirited.

…

"Drag him out and chop him up!"

"Your Majesty, please spare my life!!! Ah!!!"

A small episode took place during the morning court session.

As the Chinese New Year was just a few days away, Zhu Yuanzhang could not hold back his murderous intent and chose to kill on the spot.

Zhu Ying didn't say a word of advice, just watched coldly.

Just now, Zhu Ying proposed that, taking advantage of the New Year, the Qunying Chamber of Commerce should build 36 schools for the enlightenment education of children around ten years old.

Most importantly, it’s free!

Not only are they exempt from tuition fees, but they are also provided with a meal at noon every day.

The school does not discriminate between men and women, and does not ask about their backgrounds. Anyone of similar age can enroll.

This means that even if a child is a refugee without a registered permanent residence, or is a refugee beggar himself, as long as the age difference is not too big, he can go directly here to school.

There are also some scholarships, which means that those with excellent academic performance can receive money or physical rewards from the school.

Scholarships aside.

The mere fact that the rituals are not collected will attract countless people to bring their children there, not to mention that there will be a meal, which will greatly reduce the burden on the family.

How to settle the bill?

In those years, when the Ming Dynasty was first established, the government encouraged childbirth.

Even the lowest class of people usually have several sons and daughters in their families.

In those days, as long as children had something to eat, there were not so many requirements as in later generations. In addition, there were many children who died young, and even the royal family could not avoid the occurrence of this phenomenon, let alone ordinary people.

So that means just keep having children, especially if you have many sons, because that means there will be more labor force in the family.

In ancient times, if a man had many sons, he would speak more confidently and stand up straighter when he went out.

For example, you have three children and your neighbor has one child.

It is inevitable that there will be some conflicts between the neighbors over the paddy fields, such as how to irrigate the paddy fields and many other issues.

Once a dispute occurred, he would call his three sons to that side, and the other side would have no choice but to leave in disappointment.

On the contrary, if you feel aggrieved and unhappy, you will become yourself.

This is the true portrayal.

After Zhu Ying proposed a meal, all the children of these common people were raised by Zhu Ying.

Because in most people's opinion, children have small appetites, so one meal is enough.

Especially girls.

In theory this is a good thing.

After all, this money is not paid by the Ministry of Revenue or the imperial treasury, but is entirely borne by the Qunying Chamber of Commerce.

From an external perspective, this should be a very good thing, and it will truly benefit the people.

Why did Zhu Ying just stand by and watch? Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and ordered him to be executed.

Because someone stood up to oppose it: The people can be made to follow it, but they cannot be made to understand it.

Zhu Ying's behavior of enlightening the people touches the interests of all scholars today.

This group of scholars includes civil and military officials, noble landlords, and wealthy gentry and businessmen.

The only ones not included are the common people at the bottom of society.

The Hanlin Academy, in particular, has the most objections. They guard the channel to learning, and if one wants to learn advanced knowledge, one can only go to the Imperial College and the Hanlin Academy.

In other places, only the most common scriptures are circulated.

On the other hand, the foundation of the Hanlin Academy and the Imperial College lies in the imperial examination.

It is basically impossible for a commoner in the countryside to become the top scholar, because political thought is the content and understanding of classics such as "Four Books", "Spring and Autumn Annals" and "Book of Songs", and only they know what they think is the correct answer.

In this way, the promotion channel for officials was controlled by a small number of so-called scholars.

The so-called noble sons from poor families, that only happens in novels.

The Mongol Yuan Dynasty cleansed the world, leaving the Central Plains dynasty without the so-called thousand-year-old families, but it was still a clan-based dynasty.

In many places, one village represents one surname, or one clan.

This is unavoidable.

In this clan, the main line led by the clan leader controls the most advanced talents.

Those ordinary members of the tribe don’t even have the opportunity to learn to read, and they have to rely on the clan.

Because whether inside or outside, if one is separated from his clan, he is a refugee.

The Ming Dynasty was still a patriarchal society.

According to the current Ming Dynasty, there are no laws below the county level, and everything is governed mainly by the clans themselves.

In ancient times, punishments such as immersing in a pig cage were derived from the patriarchal system.

In ancient times, most officials relied on people from the same hometown or clan to take care of and promote them. If you were kicked out of the family tree, no one would promote you.

The patriarchal system was very strict. Sometimes, when a successful imperial examination candidate went to the capital to serve as an official, a poor relative from his hometown who was not related to him at all would come to the capital to do business and would eat and sleep at the official's house.

Moreover, the official dared not complain at all, and had to treat the poor relatives with good food and drink. When the poor relatives had stayed long enough and were ready to go home, the official would even give them some money for travel expenses.

The behavior of looking down on poor relatives in the novel is actually an isolated case in the entire Ming Dynasty.

The vast majority of people cherish their reputation very much, especially their reputation within the clan.

The clan leader's words are much more effective than those of a boss.

To a large extent, offending your boss means just making things difficult for you. No one wants to make a big deal out of it, and everyone will be affected.

But offending the patriarch is a completely different matter.

The mere crime of being unfilial is enough to make you step down immediately and return to your hometown to accept punishment according to the clan rules.

This is just a metaphor. Generally speaking, those who can become officials and the high-level members of the clan are basically in the same boat.

But now, what Zhu Ying is doing is to forcibly interrupt this class relationship.

Scholars are not stupid, especially when it comes to their own interests.

Even if His Royal Highness the Crown Prince showed a lot of favors, it was useless. A large number of officials began to discuss, and finally some officials stood up straight and spoke loudly about Confucius's teachings, and vaguely rebuked His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, saying that this was not the way of an emperor.

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he was so angry that he laughed. He didn't care that there were still a few days before the New Year, so he just executed him first.

Two months later, His Majesty once again directly executed the person in the Fengtian Hall.

It was naturally impossible for Zhu Ying to persuade him, as that would make him an easy target.

Moreover, the official who spoke was of a fairly high rank, and it was unclear whether he was thinking this way himself or someone was secretly instructing him.

Obviously, the effect is very good.

After he was dragged away for execution, there was total silence in the Fengtian Hall. No one wanted to be the first to make an example of him.

No one would doubt that at the moment, Your Majesty would not hesitate at all even if all the civil and military officials stood up.

The generals were killed so hard that the blood flowed like a river in the Fengtian Palace.

Therefore, only a fool would die in vain.

Some who were familiar with the beheaded official shook their heads secretly.

He knew that the official who was beheaded had been transferred to the capital in recent months and had been in the local area before that.

It just so happened that Zhu Yuanzhang was in a good mood in recent months and did not kill many people, so this created an illusion.