Little Zhu was very curious and asked, "Great-grandfather, many people say that the feng shui here is good, but we can't see it."
Old Zhu didn't hide anything and said, "We can't really explain those intricacies, but some people do. During the Warring States period, the State of Chu built Jinlingyi here, and during the Han Dynasty, it was called Zhongshan. People used to say that this place had a dragon vein and was a place where royal energy was concentrated and accumulated."
Little Zhu hurriedly added, "Our Yingtian Prefecture is a place where imperial aura gathers. The Eastern Wu, Eastern Jin, Southern Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen dynasties all established their capitals here. But none of them are as good as our Great Ming. Our Great Ming is a unified empire, while they are all confined to a corner of the country."
Old Zhu proudly said, "That makes sense, so we moved Sun Quan's tomb. You often travel around Jinling, so you know that the people love to make wild guesses. We just wanted to monopolize the dragon vein, but they insisted that we thought Sun Quan was a decent man and could only guard our gate."
Little Zhu chuckled and said, "Sun Zhongmou is indeed quite capable, but he's far inferior to my great-grandfather. He has the family fortune left by his father and brothers, but he can only keep it. Besides, even though he clearly inherited the family business from his brother, he was incredibly stingy with the posthumous honors bestowed upon him by his brother!"
Old Zhu smiled and said to Little Zhu, "That's why we always say: the most ruthless family is the imperial family. Once it's associated with the dragon throne, humanity becomes indifferent. If we hadn't taken precautions against these things years ago, our Ming Dynasty would inevitably have suffered from fratricide and brothers turning against each other."
Little Zhu thought about it and realized it made sense. "It seems so. No one dared to covet our grandfather's position, but our father was coveted years ago. We can all see that, so why can't others?! If you ask me, it's because the throne is there that people lose their minds!"
Old Zhu smiled and said to Little Zhu, "Only your father and you dare to say these things, worthy of being the legitimate rulers of our Great Ming. Your father said in his early years that some things should belong to him, and others cannot touch or take them. You should do the same. When your younger brother is older, you should make them understand these things even more. It's better to have less brotherly affection than to kill each other."
The distinction between ruler and subject needs to be clarified as early as possible, which can actually prevent some human tragedy from occurring.
Turning the pages of history, there are far too many bloody stories about the throne, so the emperors of the Ming Dynasty also hoped to avoid such things.
Little Zhu nodded, seemingly understanding but not quite. He didn't really have any sense of crisis. His younger brother was still drinking milk, and being chubby was quite amusing. As for his second brother, all he did all day was eat and play, and he had no other thoughts.
The position of Crown Prince, and even the Dragon Throne, were naturally his, and there was no room for doubt.
Old Zhu pointed out the window and said, "This is Dulongfu. A monk from the Liang Dynasty was buried here before. We moved him away too. This dragon vein can only benefit one person, so we had to let him go."
Just as Old Zhu and Little Zhu were chatting, the emperor's carriage suddenly stopped. The next moment, Zhu Yunying carried Zhu Wenkun onto the carriage, and Xu Miaoqing naturally followed.
Zhu Yunying didn't stand on ceremony and said, "Grandfather, we've arrived at the Great Golden Gate. After you're buried here, we'll definitely erect a monument for you. Since you're here today, what should we inscribe on the monument?"
A stele commemorating his divine merits and virtues, along with its pavilion, would be appropriate. However, since Zhu Yuanzhang is still alive, there's no need to erect a stele; otherwise, it would be seen as cursing him.
Old Zhu thought for a moment and said, "We don't care much about reputation. You can decide how to inscribe it yourself. Our merits and demerits are there for us to judge. Even if you inscribe it, others may not necessarily accept it. And if others want to inscribe it, they don't have the good fortune to do so."
This really is Old Zhu's personality. Coming from a humble background, Old Zhu never minded people talking about his origins, nor did he care about the gossip surrounding him. But in Old Zhu's eyes, those who showed off their writing skills had no right to judge him.
Zhu Yunying thought for a moment and said, "That makes sense. We won't follow Wu Zetian's example and create a blank stele for posterity to comment on. We'll just recount our Emperor's merits in detail, talk about his background, his ambitions, his rise to power, and how he established the capital, founding the Ming Dynasty, driving out the Tartars, and upholding the rightful Han Chinese lineage!"
Little Zhu immediately said, "That's right. The Yuan dynasty has ruled China for nearly a century, and the custom of wearing clothes with the left lapel over the right has changed, and the traditional moral order has been ruined! Our great-grandfather rectified the world and eliminated the deep-rooted evils. His great achievements and virtues are known to heaven and earth and to all people! Even if our father were the emperor, he would not be qualified to comment on this!"
Old Zhu nodded with satisfaction and said, "Remember to engrave our offspring on it later, then it will be about the same."
Zhu Yunying smiled and nodded. These things really did need to be handled by him. It was only natural that the responsibility for Old Zhu's funeral arrangements would fall on Zhu Yunying's shoulders, and of course, they needed to be handled perfectly.
The stele commemorating divine achievements and virtues is naturally of paramount importance, serving as a kind of final assessment, and therefore cannot be taken lightly. Careful consideration of every word and phrase is essential.
Even if Old Zhu doesn't seem to care much about certain opinions, it doesn't mean that Zhu Yunying can be careless.
There's no need for excessive sycophancy or deliberate flattery. Nor is it necessary to emphasize one's own identity or status; simply presenting Zhu Yuanzhang's life objectively as the grandson of the Hongwu Emperor, a great emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
This also fits Lao Zhu's personality; he's not the type to get carried away by praise.
Upon arriving at the Hall of Offerings, Emperor Zhu looked at Empress Ma's memorial tablet and said, "All irrelevant people, please leave. The Emperor, the Crown Prince, and the Empress shall remain."
Several princes, including Prince Zhu Su of Zhou and Prince Zhu Yunwen of Wu, were driven out before they even entered the ancestral hall to offer sacrifices.
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