The First Gongsheng of Ming Dynasty

Inside the Wenhua Hall.

Zhu Houzhao crossed his legs and listened to Gao Feng telling him a story. There was a map hanging in front of him. He occasionally picked up an apple and took a bite, not forgetting to spit out the skin.

"These apples in the ice cellar are really good. They haven't gone bad in the winter."

While eating, Zhu Houzhao pointed at Gao Feng beside him and asked, "Why don't you say anything?"

Gao Feng put down the story collection in his hand and said, "Your Highness, I have finished my story."

"That's all?" Zhu Houzhao looked very dissatisfied and said, "Send someone to the city to find a few storytellers. I want to listen to stories told by professional storytellers. You are not very good at telling stories."

"This……"

Gao Feng seemed very embarrassed.

There are no tigers in the mountains, and the monkeys are kings.

This naughty child has been acting like a spoiled brat recently. He doesn't pay attention in class and likes to make trouble when he has nothing to do. Even the lecturer of the Eastern Palace can't do anything about him. Today, he even claimed in the Wenhua Palace that he wanted to be the regent, but he didn't care about anything and just made fun of this group of eunuchs.

……

Not long after Gao Feng left, Qiu Ju rushed in with something in his hand, which was the latest official bulletin from the capital.

"What are you doing?" Zhu Houzhao looked back and asked.

Qiu Ju said: "Your Highness, the battle report just came back from the northwest. It has spread to the capital. It is said that the Ming Dynasty has won a great victory on the grassland."

"What? A great victory? It's only been a few days, how could it happen so quickly?" Zhu Houzhao's face did not show any joy, but instead a look of worry.

At this time, Gao Feng heard the noise and looked inside the palace door. When he saw the prince's grief-stricken expression, he quickly retracted his head.

Qiu Ju said helplessly: "It is like this. I heard that not only did they annihilate more than half of the Tatars' troops, probably more than 100,000, but they also captured the Tatar prince Batu Mongke alive."

"Pfft."

Zhu Houzhao lost his grip on the apple and it fell to the ground.

Just listening to the sound, it sounded like a broken heart. At this moment, the young heart seemed to have its windows closed. That feeling was more difficult for him to accept than overturning his outlook on life.

"Your Highness, are you okay?" Qiu Ju asked in a concerned tone.

He quickly looked around and found a serious problem. There were a bunch of people when he came in, but now there was not a single figure to be seen. It seemed that everyone had hidden away.

Zhu Houzhao asked: "When did it happen? Who did it? The one with the surname Zhang? How many troops did he bring with him?"

Qiu Ju said: "Your Highness, it's all recorded here, would you like to take a look?"

"No, you tell me." Zhu Houzhao no longer had the heart to read the court reports. He just wanted to hear the answer from someone else.

Qiu Ju then said, "It should have happened a few days ago. Specifically, Duke Cai led the troops there three years ago. I heard that after a fierce battle, they won the battle. Oh, the report also mentioned the contribution of Tang Yin, the commander of the three borders. He was trapped for more than a month, but he was able to hold on. After the reinforcements arrived, he led the troops to cooperate in the battle and completed the subsequent pursuit."

"The sky is falling!"

Zhu Houzhao raised his head, and finally let his tears fall after trying to hold them back. "God is blind and unfair."

Qiu Ju quickly persuaded, "Your Highness, are you crying for joy?"

"I love your mother!" Zhu Houzhao seemed to have finally found an outlet for his anger. He first went up and tore the map hanging there, then took it down, rolled it up, and hit Qiu Ju with it.

Now all the eunuchs in the Eastern Palace came running in and kept persuading the prince to stay calm.

In recent years, they have indeed not seen the prince lose his temper like this... Although Zhu Houzhao is usually unreliable, he will not vent his anger on the people around him, which means that he is reasonable and not a violent child.

But this time...

Zhu Houzhao cried loudly, as if he had suffered a great injustice, and sobbed and complained: "I trusted him so much, called him sir, and hoped that he would help me pacify the grassland in the future. Oh, now he is playing tricks on my father and leading the army in person. He brought a few thousand soldiers and pacified the Tartars! I didn't even have a sip of soup."

At this time, Gao Feng had already run over, knelt on the ground and kowtowed, saying: "Your Highness, calm down. Think about it, now that the Tartars have been pacified, there will be no more trouble from the north. Didn't you say that you wanted to conquer the earth?"

"Bah! Is the Earth so easy to conquer?" Zhu Houzhao continued to cry and curse, "I just said that, and you really believed it? Not only is the Zhang family ruthless, but even my father is ruthless. He wants to become the greatest emperor in history, and he doesn't even care about his son's face! No, prepare carriages and horses for me, I want to go to the battlefield, give me a hundred soldiers and horses, I want to flatten the grassland."

The eunuchs present had only one thought in their minds.

It's over, it's over, this kid is crazy.

Where on earth did this kid get such a strong obsession? He had to pacify the grassland? What did this mean? Was this the ideal that a thirteen-year-old boy should have?

Just when Zhu Houzhao was about to rush out, a group of people hugged him. No matter how Zhu Houzhao struggled, it was in vain.

"Your Highness." Gao Feng also cried, "Have you forgotten? When His Majesty left, he did not allow you to leave the palace, and sent people to guard the East Palace. If anything happens to you, we will all be dead! And those Jinyiwei and palace guards will not sit idly by. Now everyone who enters and leaves the palace will be checked. You can't leave."

"Who said that? I was able to go out before, so why can't I go out now? You guys want to favor that tyrant, right?"

At this time, Zhu Houzhao seemed to not even want to live anymore, let alone speak wildly to his old father.

Gao Feng said, "I want to help the prince, but there is really no other way. Your Highness... please calm down. When you conquer the earth in the future, I will serve you... You have to wait until you come of age. There are still a few years left... You must be patient. Even the grasslands have not been completely pacified. There are still many remnant tribes of the Tatars. It will take several years... or even decades to pacify them."

……

……

Zhu Houzhao was very persistent and insisted on leaving the palace and going to the northwest.

But the eunuchs present also knew that the consequence of letting him go would be the end of their own lives... This was not a problem for Zhu Houzhao alone, but the emperor was not in Beijing now. If the prince also left and the emperor found out, there would be no room for them to survive.

In the end, Zhu Houzhao was carried back to his chair and sat down.

Zhu Houzhao lay there crying for a long time, like a big child who felt wronged and no one loved him.

More than two hours had passed, and when it was almost dark, Zhu Houzhao seemed to have recovered a little. He raised his head and said, "Forget it, I shouldn't cry. I've thought it through. I need to be strong." The eunuchs present did not dare to take it lightly.

Who knows if this kid is just pretending to let their guard down and then run away from home?
"I have absolutely no chance of getting any credit for pacifying the grassland. I had originally planned that when I became emperor, I would be the Wu Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, but now it seems... all has been snatched away by that tyrant," said Zhu Houzhao.

Gao Feng and the others thought, "You still think you've let it go? Your determination to scold your father as a tyrant seems to be stronger than before."

This is going to cause a rift between father and son.

And you are just a little kid now. Even if your father doesn't bother with you and you still keep your position as the crown prince, your relationship with your father will definitely be greatly affected.

"I can't conquer the grassland, but I must conquer the earth. I will write a memorial now, asking that tyrant to give me a quick death. Either let me lead the troops to the sea to pacify Asia, Africa and Europe, or send me to an island to wait for death... There is no third way." Zhu Houzhao said firmly.

Gao Feng said: "Prince, please think twice. His Majesty will not agree to such a memorial."

Zhu Houzhao said, "In fact, I had expected this to happen. I originally thought that if the Tatars were fighting for their dignity, it would not be so easy to completely pacify them. Who knew that I still miscalculated. Zhang went to the battlefield in person. He dared to bring 3,000 soldiers and horses, which means that these 3,000 soldiers and horses can overturn the entire earth. Even if he wants to be the emperor, it is just a matter of a word."

The eunuchs present all looked at the young prince and wondered, what do you mean by saying these words?
"So, I also want to impeach Zhang Bingkuan! He is a traitor and has the intention of treason!" Zhu Houzhao said something shocking again.

"what?"

Gao Feng was shocked and quickly persuaded: "Your Highness, you can't say such things. This is a false accusation against a loyal and meritorious official. Now that His Majesty trusts Duke Cai so much, after this battle, Duke Cai will become the number one meritorious official of the Ming Dynasty. You know that, don't you?"

"I know."

Zhu Houzhao said calmly, "But haven't you heard that? When the birds are gone, the bows are put away, and when the rabbits die, the dogs are cooked. No matter how powerful Zhang Bingkuan is, he is just the second Han Xin. When father needed him to accomplish his imperial cause, he would naturally give him face. But now the north has been pacified, and the Ming Dynasty has no more external threats. Why should father spare his life?"

"..."

Everyone present felt that what the prince said was not impossible.

But will the emperor kill Zhang Zhou?

Are you kidding? These two brothers are like one family, and you go to impeach them and sow discord between them. It seems that you really don't want to be the crown prince anymore.

Zhu Houzhao said, "Only in this way can I alienate them. Then my father will know what he should do. He should be the second Emperor Gaozu of Han. Even if he doesn't kill the second Han Xin, he will exile him. In the future, he will be a king who maintains the status quo. He only needs someone like Tang Yin. Giving him a Zhang Bingkuan is a waste."

“……” The audience continued to be confused.

Is this something we can listen to?
Just now we were telling you a story, now it’s your turn to tell us a story?

Your story sounds sensational.

Zhu Houzhao sneered and said, "When the time comes, Zhang Bingkuan will feel insecure and will want to leave the Ming Dynasty. I will just need to get on his ship and go out to sea with him. When he wants to conquer the earth, he must take me with him."

Gao Feng said: "Your Highness, you are the crown prince. You cannot take risks."

"It's this body of the crown prince that is such a burden to me. If I were not the crown prince and I wanted to join the army, would anyone stop me?" Zhu Houzhao felt extremely annoyed.

Obviously, the position of crown prince that everyone in the world envies is not what this kid likes. He seems to be the kind of person who would rather give up the country than fail to fulfill his ambitions.

To put it bluntly, his ideal is definitely not to be a crown prince or to become an emperor in the future.

Zhu Houzhao said: "Everyone has his own ambitions. Don't try to persuade me. If I were your only son, I would have to be the crown prince. But now I have a younger brother. You can give the crown prince position to Zhu Houxuan. What I want to do is to conquer the stars and the sea... That is the good life I pursue."

Gao Feng asked, "Your Highness, what are you talking about? We don't understand."

"That's right, you don't understand." Zhu Houzhao said, "Bring me a pen and paper! Didn't you hear what I said? I want to kill someone right now! You should know that I'm not kidding you! From now on, you'd better do what I say, otherwise I might rebel next, and then you will be killed along with me, and your entire clan will be exterminated!"

"..."

The people present felt it was very dangerous.

But... do you dare to report this truthfully?
If the emperor knew that his son had said such outrageous words, how would he deal with them?

"I only need to do one thing in my life, and that is to surpass that unreasonable and incompetent emperor and let him know that he is not the only one who can be the greatest emperor of all time. Even if I have to go out to sea as a sailor, it is better than being bullied here today!"

……

……

Zhu Houzhao really did what he said.

As expected, he wrote a memorial according to his own ideas. This memorial was sent to the northwest, but it would not be delivered to Zhu Youtang for a while.

Because at this time, Zhu Youtang was still on his way to the north. This person who was about to become the greatest emperor in history was preparing to seal the wolf and live in the Xu, and travel to the grassland as a king to become a role model admired by all generations...

To a certain extent, the personalities of Zhu Youtang and Zhu Houzhao are actually similar.

It’s just that Zhu Youtang was suppressed too much in the first half of his life and never had the opportunity to express himself.

It was Zhang Zhou who opened the dam in his heart, allowing his ambition to begin to emerge and become uncontrollable.

"Your Majesty, more than seventy miles ahead is Guanshan. We can already see the top of Guanshan."

Zhu Feng was Zhu Youtang's general in front of the palace.

This time, Zhu Youtang sent Zhu Fu as the vanguard, and Wang Shouren did not follow the army north or west. This was because Zhu Youtang planned to use Wang Shouren as a solid barrier in the rear to deter the remaining small and medium-sized tribes, especially the Doyan Three Guards who had not participated in the grassland alliance before.

Zhu Youtang said: "Spring is here and flowers are blooming. There is a different scenery on this grassland."

Zhu Feng said: "But according to the established deadline, Duke Cai's troops should be arriving soon. It should be a matter of a few days."

"Ah."

Zhu Youtang nodded and said, "It is not surprising that Bingkuan has not yet reached Guanshan since he wants to send troops to pursue the Tatars. Besides, this grassland is vast, so it is possible that they got separated. It is really refreshing to have such a peaceful journey."

As he was speaking, a messenger came over to report: "Your Majesty, Tatar tribesmen have appeared. They are not riding horses. There are several thousand of them. They say they want to submit to the Ming Dynasty." (End of this chapter)