According to the rules originally established by Zhu Yuanzhang, this was the procedure for princes to pay homage when they entered the court. However, considering the young Zhu Yuanzhang's age and status, Zhu Yuanzhang specially elevated his status, requiring the princes of his grandfather's generation to pay their respects in accordance with proper etiquette.
There's no way around it; this is the imperial family. Although they are family members, they are also ruler and subject, and the rules must be clearly defined.
"I just saw your twenty-first brother. The Crown Prince and I both told him to have an heir soon," Old Zhu said to Zhu Ying. "You should also pay more attention to this and not do anything foolish. Think about your eighth brother; we can only eliminate his kingdom."
Zhu Zi, the Prince of Bazitan, died in 1389 because his wife's family was implicated in the Hu Weiyong case. Feeling deeply uneasy, he and his wife committed suicide by self-immolation at the young age of 22. Having no heirs, the title was naturally abolished. He didn't even receive a posthumous title, which wasn't even a definitive conclusion.
Zhu Ying actually knew that the self-immolation of the myna bird was not so simple. Although it seemed that the princess's family was involved in the Hu Weiyong case, there were many other intricacies involved.
There were also rumors within the imperial clan that the mothers of Prince Qi, Zhu Fu, and Prince Tan, Zhu Zi, were both Consort Dading. Years earlier, Prince Qi, Zhu Fu, had been negligent when the then-Crown Prince was ordered to inspect the border, which led to Consort Dading falling out of favor and Prince Qi, Zhu Fu, being neglected for many years.
How much truth is behind this is hard to say, but many members of the royal family believe this version of events.
Old Zhu gave his twenty-two sons a word of encouragement and a gentle reminder. Even though Old Zhu never hid his preference for the eldest son's lineage, he treated his other sons and grandsons well, especially those sons without heirs, who needed his care even more.
When it was the turn of the twenty-third prince, Zhu Jing, the young Zhu immediately said after paying his respects, "Your Highness, the Emperor just said that he would be holding a coming-of-age ceremony for you."
Old Zhu glared at Little Zhu. His twenty-third son, Zhu Jing, was only fifteen years old (by the traditional Chinese age reckoning), so there was no problem with him undergoing the coming-of-age ceremony.
In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang's youngest son who is still alive is his twenty-fifth son, Zhu Yi, who has not yet established his own household because he is only thirteen years old (by the traditional Chinese age reckoning).
If Zhu Nan, the 26th prince, hadn't died before his full month, then little Zhu would have been two years older than his 26th prince.
It can only be said that Old Zhu was still vigorous despite his advanced age, and the generational gap in the Zhu family suddenly widened, simply because Old Zhu was so prolific. Zhu Yunying, this nephew, was older than many of his uncles, while little Zhu was almost older than his grandfather.
He encouraged his sons who had not yet established their own households or reached adulthood. What Zhu meant was that he hoped these sons would be more ambitious, but he did not expect them to become wise and virtuous kings, nor did he expect them to cause trouble for the emperor.
"I'm afraid we won't see these princes of yours get married and have children. You and your father will have to keep an eye on these things," Old Zhu said earnestly to Little Zhu. "We don't have the energy to keep up right now, and we can't take care of them too much."
Little Zhu was very straightforward and didn't shy away from the topic at all. "We know, and our father knows these principles too. As long as there's no rebellion or anything that would anger the heavens and the people, we'll take care of it."
Old Zhu couldn't help but laugh, and said with immense pride, "They are indeed the descendants of Biao'er, with broad minds. It is a blessing for our Ming Dynasty's imperial family to have emperors like you who care about their relatives."
"We're the sons of the Zhu family, we can't be bothered with other people's affairs." Little Zhu said halfway through, then realized something was wrong. "We should still care, we should also care about the affairs of the Wu Xun family. Our father said that in the early days of the founding of the country, the military was valued more than the civil, but gradually the civil became valued more than the military. We have to mediate the conflict, we'll help whoever is weaker."
This made Zhu Yuanzhang even more proud and happy, after all, he was the crown prince whom he had carefully nurtured. Although his knowledge was limited and his methods were still immature, he had all the necessary intelligence and knew how to maintain balance at such a young age.
Seeing that it was almost time, Old Zhu said, "Let's go, we'll take you to see your younger brother. I heard he's a troublemaker and likes to cause trouble at night."
“We’re not going back to Chunhe Palace,” Little Zhu immediately complained. “We still prefer Qianqing Palace; it’s quiet here. Our little brother is the most noisy and disruptive.”
Old Zhu found it amusing and said, "Wenjin has been forced to study at the main hall by your father. You don't like going to the main hall, and you haven't been going these past few days either. If your father really checks your studies, we definitely can't help you."
Little Zhu immediately became smug and said, "We put our seal on the 'Shangyangtai Post' and wrote a postscript for Zhao Ji's flower and bird paintings. If Dad says we don't study, we'll say we need to be more cultured now, since Dad can write poetry."
“That shouldn’t be Zhao Ji either, your father didn’t think much of him.” Old Zhu laughed and said, “But you shouldn’t just use a seal on Li Bai’s ‘Shangyangtai Post’. You are Ying’er’s son after all, and you have literary talent. We see quite a few people using seals and inscriptions on it, you should write a postscript too.”
Little Zhu seemed to agree with what Old Zhu said. "Our father doesn't think much of Zhao Ji, saying he wasn't a good emperor and did a lot of foolish things. The calligraphy our father likes is by Yan Zhenqing and Liu Gongquan, and he seems to think Zhao Mengfu is just as good."
“Your father has a strong personality. As the saying goes, appearance reflects the heart, and one’s handwriting can also reveal a person’s character,” Old Zhu continued. “Why didn’t we let your father’s handwriting circulate in the past? Your father was precocious. It would have been a good thing if his handwriting had circulated, as others would have said that our Zhu family’s legacy had been passed down. But we were also afraid that his handwriting was too strong.”
Little Zhu chuckled and said, "It doesn't matter if my handwriting is bad. It's just scribbles, no different from any other child's. But everyone says my dad's handwriting is too sharp."
Remembering something, Old Zhu reminded him, "Don't let your sister do your homework anymore. There are some things that you can only see, not others, and you definitely can't let others critique them. Even if you give instructions, you should review them afterwards. Don't let anyone fool you."
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