Chapter 5: The Underworld (Part 5)
Zhu Yuanzhang only took a quick look at Zhu Qizhen's performance in handling logistical affairs in Beijing, and he became a little impatient, urging Zhu Yunwen to turn his attention to Luchuan.
Judging from Zhu Qizhen's appearance, it is obvious that he does not intend to simply drive out the invaders, but to scare the enemy away completely through a strong counterattack. Just by looking at the scale of logistics operations and the number of troops dispatched, it can be known that Zhu Qizhen is "serious".
But it is not easy to achieve this, and Zhu Yuanzhang now has no trust in Zhu Qizhen at all, not to mention that this kid's words imply that Wang Ji should "act according to the circumstances." Although it gives Wang Ji control of the army, it also has other meanings. If the expedition is unsuccessful, the emperor can also hold Wang Ji, or even Princess Shunde, accountable.
Rather than watching Zhu Qizhen's stupid performance and making himself unhappy, Zhu Yuanzhang would rather watch Zhu Yuhuan's performance on the front line.
Although Zhu Yuanzhang had bad suspicions about Zhu Yuhuan's intentions, he himself still recognized Zhu Yuhuan's strength.
If Zhu Yuhuan were a man, Zhu Yuanzhang would probably capture Zhu Zhanji, force him to resurrect, depose Zhu Qizhen, and pass the throne to Zhu Yuhuan.
But now they are all completely dead ghosts, and there is no point in saying these things anymore. We can only watch them for fun through the projection.
Zhu Yuhuan's performance did not disappoint Zhu Yuanzhang. If she were compared with the famous generals of the Hongwu Dynasty, she would certainly not be as good as them. However, Zhu Yuhuan's advantage was her diligence and curiosity. She did not have the condescending habit of Zhu Qizhen. Instead, she was able to learn from others and listen to their opinions.
Although Zhu Yuhuan knew how to use people and was good at accepting advice, he was not indecisive. Instead, he was able to make his own judgments decisively. He could also use his personal charm to unite his generals and assign them to suitable positions. He also knew how to promise benefits. He was an excellent combination of power and strategy.
Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di were both emperors who led armies in many wars and were outstanding among soldiers. They naturally understood that an army needed such people. Although such people did not have obvious abilities, they were very suitable for commanding a team.
The leader of a team can certainly be outstanding, but not all outstanding people can sit at the head of the army.
"I think Zhu Yuhuan is well taken care of."
Hearing that Zhu Yuanzhang did not scold Zhu Qizhen because of Zhu Yuhuan's performance, Zhu Zhanji secretly breathed a sigh of relief and said, "After all, Huanhuan was also taught by the emperor."
This time he didn't dare to take credit for himself, otherwise Zhu Yuanzhang would drag Zhu Qizhen out again and mock him together with Zhu Yunwen.
Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at Zhu Di, who had sat up straight, and said, "What are you so proud of? Besides giving her the title of 'great-grandfather', how many years have you taught her? Has she started to imitate your good grandson's nonsense?"
Zhu Di was forced to lean back, adjust his sitting position, and cough a few times out of habit.
Although Zhu Yuanzhang was no longer as furious as he was before, he still looked ambiguous. However, for them, as long as this great ancestor did not continue to take action, it would be fine.
With Zhu Yuhuan, the military supervisor, coordinating and commanding, the expedition to Luchuan went smoothly. It not only demonstrated the combat capability of the Ming army, but also achieved the goal of capturing the thief and the leader, and dealt with the thief completely, eliminating the trouble forever.
Even Zhu Yuanzhang felt refreshed after reading it, let alone Zhu Di.
When he sent people to conquer Annan, it was not so successful. His precious great-granddaughter really gave him peace of mind.
Zhu Di immediately said to Zhu Yunwen in a boastful tone, "My good nephew, look at this. This is the difference. You want to find a woman to disrupt the government, but do you have it? You don't have the ability, do you understand?"
Zhu Gaochi couldn't help wiping his sweat as he looked at his own father's sarcastic expression.
It seemed that he was so happy that he even forgot that Zhu Yuanzhang, who loved his grandson very much, was still sitting here.
Unexpectedly, Zhu Yuanzhang did not get angry. He just looked at Zhu Yuhuan in the projection, who was still very calm and even started writing at the desk, and seemed to be thinking about something.
This girl was more patient than he had imagined.
"Huanhuan, what's this?"
Zhu Yuanzhang snorted and said, "I saw in her article that she wanted to 'reform the native people and return them to the Han people' in Yunnan."
"Reform the land and return it to the people? What does that mean?"
"While the army is still in Yunnan, replace the local native officials with officials appointed by the imperial court and take charge of the local people."
Zhu Di's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he said, "Really? If Yunnan can be handed over to the court for management, there is no need to worry about not being able to use Yunnan as a base to march south again and reclaim Annan."
Zhu Zhanji just frowned and said, "Yunnan is just a wild and barbaric land. The people living there are just uncivilized barbarians. Why waste your time on such a place?"
"I think her writing is very organized, and she can quote classics. She writes very quickly. I guess she had this idea shortly after arriving in Yunnan."
Although Zhu Yuanzhang felt that it was against the rules for a woman to behave like this, if one could transcend the boundaries between men and women, Zhu Yuhuan was no less outstanding in character and ability than others, and she was also a good writer. If she were one of his subjects, Zhu Yuanzhang would have to promote her.
But Zhu Yuhuan had too big an idea in his mind. People like him often had to be disposed of immediately after being used, otherwise it would only cause endless troubles. Especially since Zhu Yuhuan was born in the royal family, it was inevitable that he would cause even greater troubles.
At this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang understood why Zhu Zhanji used Zhu Yuhuan in so many ways.
The so-called emperor is one who makes the most of things that are beneficial to him.
"Zhenping..."
Zhu Yuanzhang chuckled and said, "It's one thing to flatter her, but this guy is also warning her not to repeat the mistakes of Princess Taiping."
Zhu Gaochi wondered if Zhu Yuhuan really became Princess Taiping, and it wouldn't be Zhu Qizhen's turn to become Li Sanlang. It was hard to say whether this guy had such thoughts in his mind.
However, since Zhu Yuanzhang was the first to start talking about this, Zhu Gaochi would certainly not refute it in public.
What happened later was obviously similar to what Zhu Gaochi had guessed. Zhu Qizhen obviously did not think too much about it and gave Zhu Yuhuan a lot of face, even allowing her to go to Nanjing to pay homage to Zhu Yuanzhang.
There has never been a reason for a woman to preside over a royal sacrifice. At the very least, the prince consort would go. Now a princess was asked to offer sacrifices. If it were some time ago, Zhu Yuanzhang would definitely be furious, but now Zhu Yuanzhang's anger level has been raised a lot under Zhu Qizhen's manipulation. Seeing this scene, he was not only not angry, but even wanted to laugh.
He would not be surprised at what this kid Zhu Qizhen did next.
Zhu Yuhuan's previous small-scale land reform in Yunnan had already shown initial success. With the ready-made results, Zhu Qizhen could use this to place some of his own people to monitor Zhu Yuhuan. Zhu Qizhen did not hesitate and quickly began to look for candidates to follow Zhu Yuhuan to Yunnan.
Zhu Di noticed Zhu Qizhen's subtle exclusion of Zhu Yuhuan and snorted coldly, "He is greedy. He wants the credit but cannot take any risks. It's just that Huanhuan has a good temper and doesn't bother with him."
Zhu Yunwen scoffed, "Good temper? Everyone praises the eldest princess for having 'the style of Emperor Taizong.' Fourth uncle, if it were you, you would have overthrown the emperor and established your own faction long ago, right?"
Zhu Di noticed Zhu Yuanzhang's glance and immediately said in defense: "I'm not a princess!"
"snort."
Reforming the system of native officials was no small project, and it seemed a bit boring. Zhu Yuanzhang then shifted his focus to Zhu Qizhen. This guy had indeed become more stable after getting married, at least not as childish as before. Apart from doting on several concubines, he began to think about when he could conquer the Tatars like Zhu Di did.
Zhu Di saw everyone looking at him and said, "Why are you looking at me? I've been fighting wars since I was no longer the emperor. This kid is daydreaming and you're blaming me?"
Zhu Gaochi followed his words and said, "Father can't be blamed for that."
Zhu Zhanji did not have the good mentality of these people. No one knows a son better than his father. Seeing Zhu Qizhen's eager look, Zhu Zhanji could guess that he probably really wanted to lead the army in battle at such a young age.
Even Zhu Zhanji himself had to fight alongside Zhu Di, learn continuously, and had experience in leading troops to suppress rebellions and patrol the borders. Only then could he claim to be knowledgeable about military affairs.
But if he were to lead hundreds of thousands of people to the desert to fight the Tatars like Zhu Di, Zhu Zhanji would have to think twice.
In other words, Zhu Qizhen was young and energetic, and like a newborn calf that is not afraid of a tiger, he was eager to try his luck in fighting.
"Don't worry, Taizu. Zhen'er knows what's going on. He has no children, so how could he rashly lead an expedition at this time?"
If an accident really happened, the throne would most likely fall on Zhu Qiyu.
Although Zhu Qizhen was impulsive, he was not so stupid.
"It's not surprising that a kid with high aspirations but low skills can do anything."
Zhu Zhanji was so upset by this remark that he just lowered his head and stopped talking.
Soon, Concubine Zhou in the palace gave birth to a son and a daughter for Zhu Qizhen. Although the son was a little weak, he proved Zhu Qizhen's fertility and made a significant contribution to the succession to the throne of the Ming Dynasty. Concubine Zhou was promoted to Concubine Zhou De and received countless rewards. For a time, she was extremely powerful in the palace and could even be said to be domineering.
Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't stand this kind of woman the most. He snorted coldly, "Birds of a feather flock together. Look, she's exactly like your Zhu Qizhen! Both are high-minded but incompetent! No wonder that girl Zhu Yuhuan offered her to Zhu Qizhen. She must have been attracted by her vulgarity and ignorance, which suited Zhu Qizhen's taste perfectly!"
Zhu Zhanji was somewhat helpless and said, "This Concubine Zhou De is a bit overbearing, but after all, she has contributed to the birth of a child. Besides, Zhen'er usually handles a lot of government affairs, so it's inevitable that he wants to relax..."
Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at him and asked, "Are you defending your good son or yourself?"
Zhu Gaochi quickly tried to smooth things over, saying, "Grandpa Emperor, please don't bother with these youngsters. They were born in peaceful times, how could they possibly understand these things? They just treat whoever is pretty or eloquent as a treasure."
Zhu Di glanced at him and said nothing.
Did he really think he didn't know about Zhang and Guo's affairs? He had only seen that the two hadn't caused any major trouble in the Crown Prince's Palace, and Zhu Gaochi hadn't listened to or believed either of them, so he hadn't intervened. But if any of them dared to make things worse, Zhu Di would not turn a blind eye.
The thing the royal family has the most is concubines.
To be fair, Zhu Qizhen was still somewhat scheming and had made some achievements as emperor. In addition, his ministers were capable enough, so he did not end up harming the country.
In particular, Zhu Qizhen was not completely confident in old ministers such as Yang Pu and Yang Shiqi, and even knew how to seize power and share it, but his methods were too petty. If it were any other emperor present, they would either be as decisive as Zhu Yuanzhang and kill Yang Pu and Yang Shiqi directly, or boil the frog in warm water like Zhu Gaochi, giving the old men a decent gift, using the power of others to remove them from their posts, and allowing them to go home to retire. In this way, they could also maintain the dignity of a relationship between the monarch and his ministers.
It just so happened that Zhu Qizhen relied too much on Wang Zhen, which made things go out of control and ended up in an extremely embarrassing situation.
Zhu Yunwen was enjoying the fun and said, "It's strange, though. This guy named Li Chu just jumped out at this very moment. It looks like someone is deliberately trying to instigate something."
Zhu Zhanji shared the same idea and said, "I'm afraid someone deliberately arranged this, perhaps Yang Pu. By making the matter bigger, they can save his life and allow him to step down peacefully from his position as Prime Minister."
Zhu Yuanzhang narrowed his eyes slightly and said, "Why do I feel that this little girl Zhu Yuhuan deliberately arranged this? She was trying to make trouble for the emperor and Wang Zhen."
Everyone was stunned when they heard this, and felt that it made some sense. However, Zhu Yuhuan was far away in Yunnan at the time, and intervening in this matter would only serve to "vent her anger", so why would she deliberately cause such a scene?
Besides, her relationship with Yang Pu and Yang Shiqi was not bad, and Yang Pu was still alive. Why should she make a big deal out of the scandal in Yang Shiqi's family? It would be better for her to stand up and say a few words for Yang Shiqi, which would give the emperor a decent way out and make Yang Pu feel at ease.
The suspicion of this matter had not yet passed when court officials began to accuse Princess Shunde Zhu Yuhuan of abusing her power and being arbitrary. The simple reason was that Zhu Yuhuan's movements in Yunnan were too loud, exceeding the power of a princess. Some rigid-minded censors could not accept this, so they impeached Zhu Yuhuan.
This matter could have been a big deal or a small one, and in today's era, there was no need to hold on to it. However, Wang Zhen had been suffering from such people for a long time, so he took the opportunity and, under the banner of the emperor, arrested Liu Qiu and others and tortured them severely in the imperial prison. In the end, he simply killed Liu Qiu in prison, leaving no intact body.
The emperors were accustomed to such things and were not surprised. They were just "indignant" at Wang Zhen's audacity.
Zhu Yuanzhang narrowed his eyes slightly and said, "This Wang Zhen is quite courageous. He acts in the name of the emperor, but he has made the emperor a knife in his hand."
At that time, if anyone dared to do things in his name, he would have been beheaded long ago. He would never have been allowed to stay alive for so long.
Zhu Zhanji knew what would happen if the eunuchs' status rose, but he never expected that Wang Zhen would become so arrogant. He frowned and even forgot that Zhu Yuanzhang next to him would most likely "take action" against him.
Zhu Yuanzhang had already used the projection to check Wang Zhen's reason for entering the palace. He angrily said, "A scholar who doesn't prioritize passing the imperial examinations, but instead castrates himself to enter the palace. How dare you employ such a man? And let him accompany the future emperor as a 'companion'? What's the point of those eyes under your eyebrows?"
Zhu Zhanji felt more aggrieved than anyone else because of his poor judgment of people. However, he was suppressed by his seniority and status and could not retort. He could only say, "Taizu is right..."
Zhu Yuanzhang could not fail to see his intentions. He snorted, "Wang Zhen dares not become emperor, but if this kind of person acts on behalf of the emperor for one day longer, the country will suffer a day less. Fourth Brother, is this the good grandson you chose for the Ming Dynasty?"
Zhu Di was speechless. Zhu Yunwen sneered and said, "Of course. This is the descendant of the good and holy grandson that Fourth Uncle dreamed of, and that the emperor grandfather referred to as the great scepter."
Zhu Di couldn't help but think that Zhu Yunwen was not good at anything except being sarcastic and mean.
But he couldn't say anything, so he could only say: "It's not the fault of one person that Zhu Qizhen has become what he is now..."
"If you weren't from the Zhu family, I would have chopped you off long ago!"
As they were talking, they heard the news in the capital that Princess Shunde was in a coma. The reason was that someone deliberately haunted the princess.
Everyone was a little puzzled and turned the projection to Zhu Yuhuan. They didn't expect that she was actually sick in bed and could only survive on rice soup. Looking at the few close friends around her, they all had serious expressions, which showed that Zhu Yuhuan was indeed seriously ill.
Zhu Yuanzhang did not doubt him and said, "With your two broken bodies and her tossing around like this, it would be strange if you could live to be a hundred years old!"
Zhu Gaochi was a little confused. "Why did this child become ill when he was fine? Could it be that he was really intimidated?"
Zhu Zhanji showed an uneasy expression on his face. He said, "This is... Huanhuan has been practicing Taoism for some time. Liu Yuanran said that she has a high level of understanding. How could she be harmed so easily?"
Zhu Di couldn't help but stand up and walk to the ghost messenger, and couldn't help but ask about Zhu Yuhuan's life span and other things.
Could it be that his family really has a short lifespan?
"Hey, it's not waking up!"
Everyone looked in the direction Zhu Gaochi pointed, only to see Zhu Yuhuan, barefoot and with his hair loose, holding a dagger. He showed no fear, facing the wind and snow, he cut his palm and said with a solemn oath:
"Since I came into this world, I will never regret anything I have done! Even if you let me see more, I will never take a step back!"
The four people who were originally observing Zhu Yuhuan through the projection at this moment were all stunned. They almost subconsciously regarded the "you" Zhu Yuhuan said as them. But when they thought about it carefully, how could Zhu Yuhuan know that there were so-called "projections" and "backtracking" in the underworld?
Finally, Zhu Gaochi sighed and said, "This child... He's been in the palace for so many years, and I don't know how many things he's suppressed in his heart. And then he was impeached. No wonder he's so sick. I'm afraid he can't even rest in his dreams..."
He knew his son's thoughts very well. He didn't like Hu Shanxiang, the Crown Prince's Consort, from the beginning. After giving birth to two daughters, Zhu Zhanji neglected Hu Shanxiang even more. It would be strange if Zhu Yuhuan could grow up heartless in such an environment, not to mention that she was also very meticulous and knew how to protect her family, otherwise Zhu Youtong would not have always been so careless.
Zhu Gaochi could guess how much hardship it would take to achieve this.
"Seeing how crazy she was, you can tell what life is like in the palace," Zhu Yuanzhang said indifferently. "It's a good thing no one else saw her. Otherwise, she would have been a disgrace to the royal family."
Seeing that Zhu Yuhuan had "resurrected", Zhu Di stopped pestering the ghost messenger and walked back to the projection to observe carefully. He saw that Zhu Yuhuan had no other abnormalities except that he was a little thin and his face was pale. He then breathed a sigh of relief.
In any case, he still didn't want his children and grandchildren to die young.
Seeing Zhu Di still watching, Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Have you seen enough? If you have, I will go back to the capital to see what has become of that bastard Zhu Qizhen."
Zhu Di smiled awkwardly and said, "Okay, okay... Dad, just look at it. I don't want to watch it anymore..."
Zhu Yuanzhang changed the projection back, but heard Zhu Qizhen's angry face in the projection. It turned out that there was a large-scale uprising of miners in Fujian, and the appointed officials failed to suppress it effectively, resulting in the uprising being unable to be quelled and huge losses.
Zhu Qizhen's furious look was somewhat like that of an emperor, but he had no good solution. He could only attribute the problem to improper personnel allocation. He decided to send Wang Ji, who had been "assisting" Zhu Yuhuan in the transformation of the native system in Yunnan, to recruit soldiers and go to Fujian to suppress the rebellion.
Isn't this just "taking money from one place to pay for another"? They suppress refugees in one area and then conscript soldiers from elsewhere. With the farming season approaching, the areas where the conscripts were recruited are left with no labor. Any natural or man-made disaster would likely spark new rebellions.
As expected, just as everyone guessed, the rebellion in Fujian had not been completely ended under Wang Ji's suppression, and rebellions broke out again in Huguang, Guizhou and other places where soldiers were conscripted, blocking the way of Zhu Yuhuan, who had completed the land reform in Yunnan and was planning to return to Beijing. Zhu Yuhuan, who had originally brought craftsmen to develop some rare gadgets and planned to "present treasures" to Zhu Qizhen, had to continue to stay in Yunnan.
Fortunately, Wang Ji was not incompetent, and the rebellion in Huguang and other places was not as serious as that in Fujian and other places, so the local officers and soldiers were able to resolve it.
Seeing that the situation was gradually stabilizing, news suddenly came that the Oirat Mongols were looting in the south. Zhu Qizhen obviously had other ideas, which was to personally lead the troops to patrol the border in order to intimidate the Oirat Mongols.
Zhu Yuanzhang saw through Zhu Qizhen's thoughts immediately and sneered, saying, "He has high expectations but low skills. Seeing Zhu Yuhuan's 'great achievements' and becoming the 'object of admiration' among officials, he is unwilling to see his reputation, as the emperor in a high position, fall below his, so he came up with such a fuss! As expected, they are father and son, both with high expectations and low skills!"
Zhu Zhanji's ears had long been calloused and automatically filtered out Zhu Yuanzhang's words, but a sense of worry arose in his heart.
Zhu Qizhen had never had any experience in border patrols. Based on his last hunting experience in Changping, he was completely inadequate to cope with border patrols, not to mention the possibility of facing the Oirat Mongols. However, Zhu Qizhen was young and hot-tempered, and he could not contain himself when he heard the news. The court was also demoralized because of the affairs of Yang Shiqi and Liu Qiu, and with Wang Zhen encouraging Zhu Qizhen to "achieve great achievements" day and night, it was likely that he would have to patrol the borders this time.
If only Huanhuan were in the capital at this time...
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