To be fair, neither Zhu Yuanzhang nor Zhu De completely disliked Confucianism. In fact, both of them had a lot of merit with Confucianism.
Leaving aside the profound influence of Confucianism on Chinese civilization, even its moral norms and other principles were actually beneficial to the rulers. This is one of the reasons why Zhu Yuanzhang (Emperor Zhu De) favored the eight-legged essay system for selecting officials, because Confucian thought indeed contained a great deal of loyalty to the emperor.
Even if he acknowledged these views, it didn't mean that Emperor Zhu fully accepted Confucian culture, especially the Confucian scholars of the Song Dynasty, whom he often looked down upon. Those Confucian emperors whom they admired were, in Emperor Zhu's eyes, weak, and even those scholar-officials who sought to weaken imperial power.
Old Zhu naturally couldn't tolerate such a thing. In fact, it wasn't just Old Zhu who couldn't tolerate it; Little Zhu certainly couldn't tolerate it either.
Anyone who dares to smuggle their own ideas into the education of young Zhu, thinking they can mold him into an "Emperor Renzong," will immediately face strong opposition from both the old and young Zhu families. Forget about tutors and lecturers; even those from the Hanlin Academy, or even ministers of the Six Ministries, could be dealt with without mercy.
Simply put, anyone who dared to hinder the growth of the Ming Dynasty's crown prince would be considered an enemy of the Hongwu Emperor and the Ying Shi Emperor.
Old Zhu and Little Zhu would naturally show no mercy to these people. However, there were some things that didn't need to be said in front of Little Zhu, even though the child already knew some things, he was still a 'child' after all.
It's obvious that some things can be done privately, and Xiao Zhu might not even realize that some things are happening.
Zhu Yunying was in a good mood and was very happy about the arrival of his two younger cousins.
It's not necessarily true that the emperor cared much about his cousins; in fact, even Zhu Yunying himself didn't know how many cousins he had. The old emperor was prolific, and his sons were also very prolific. However, someone like the eldest Zhu (Zhu Yunying) wasn't considered 'outstanding' among the emperor's offspring, and neither was Zhu Yunying, who had three sons and one daughter.
The reason for his happiness was actually quite simple: his plan to grant fiefdoms overseas seemed to be progressing quite well, and some results were already visible. This was the reason why Zhu Yunying was happiest.
This is not just about the Zhu family expanding its branches and leaves; it is also a crucial link in the stability of the country and the nation.
Little Zhu helped Old Zhu arrive, calling out from afar, "Dad, Great-Grandfather and Uncle Wang are here. They're all happy today. Can we have a drink too? If not, a small cup will do."
"Grandfather!" Zhu Yunying gritted his teeth and said to the old Zhu, "This is all because you spoiled him!"
Old Zhu seemed a little short of breath; Little Zhu was a bit of a drinker, which seemed to be something Old Zhu had spoiled him with. Or perhaps Old Zhu hadn't expected his parenting to be so successful.
Simply put, when Little Zhu couldn't speak yet, Old Zhu was very reluctant to part with him. Sometimes he wouldn't let go even during meals, and when he was in a good mood, he would occasionally dip the tip of his chopsticks in wine and let Little Zhu lick it.
This turned out well. Although Zhu Yunying didn't like little Zhu drinking, the kid still occasionally had a small glass. And it seems quite possible that he's even surpassing his master in this regard.
The Zhu family is now in its fourth generation, and perhaps only young Zhu has shown the greatest potential to be a heavy drinker.
Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Mengwan, who were following behind Zhu, dared not speak. They didn't dare to raise their voices in front of Zhu, and naturally, whatever Zhu said went. They wouldn't dare to object in the slightest. But their cousin was different. He not only dared to object and speak loudly, but he also dared to express his dissatisfaction without any attempt to hide it.
"Your subject, Zhu Gaochi, pays respects to Your Majesty the Emperor."
"Your subject, Zhu Mengwan, pays his respects to Your Majesty the Emperor."
Zhu Yunying smiled and said, "No need for formalities, we're all family. Meng Wan hasn't met us much, but Gao Chi is quite different. I remember when you were studying in Yingtian Prefecture, I often took you out to play."
While it's a slight exaggeration, it's true. Zhu Yunying had met most of his younger brothers before. He was particularly curious about his chubby brother, Zhu Gaochi, and had indeed teased him a bit.
Old Zhu sat down and looked around. "Where's your fifth uncle? Didn't he say he was coming? Why hasn't he arrived yet? Are we supposed to wait for him?"
"Grandpa is right. We should have sent someone to invite Fifth Uncle sooner," Zhu Yunying said, both amused and exasperated. "When we sent someone to the Prince of Zhou's residence, they said Fifth Uncle was hosting a banquet for the Crown Prince. He might still be boating on Xuanwu Lake right now. We should have thought of that. We asked Yunhu to come too, and he said he wanted to go boating with Fifth Uncle and the others."
Old Zhu immediately retorted in an annoyed tone, "That good-for-nothing Yuntong is always hanging out with his fifth uncles. I bet when they go boating, it's not some poetry gathering, they're just embracing women on the pleasure boats. You dealt with a lot of officials who frequented prostitutes the other day, so it's time to keep an eye on these members of the imperial clan."
"That's beyond our control. Grandfather didn't say that members of the imperial family can't frequent prostitutes," Zhu Yunying said with a smile. "We just have people keep an eye on things. We can't let our Zhu family bloodline run wild. Over the years, everyone in our imperial family knows about it. It's fine to seek pleasure, but we can't bring back a child with questionable lineage and try to get him into the imperial genealogy."
Hearing Zhu Yunying say this, Old Zhu nodded with satisfaction. He naturally hoped that his descendants would continue to flourish.
This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
