Rebirth of Zhu Di's son

Chapter 293 Did Zhu Yuanzhang kill Zhu Wenzheng?
In the second year of Qianxi's reign, it was the 21st day of the first lunar month.

In the evening, the west coast of Peacock Peninsula.

The treasure ship Grand General was moored quietly near the coast, surrounded by hundreds of Ming warships, large and small.

Fifty miles away from the seaside, there is a huge temporary military camp.

At this time, in the front hall of the Chinese army's tent, Emperor Zhu Di of the Ming Dynasty and Zhu Zhantang, the beautiful king of the Ming Dynasty, gathered around a heater, drinking hot Guilin Xiuren tea and chatting.

"Grandpa, my grandson is a little confused. Why did dad allow Zuo Jing (Zhu Zuojing, King of Jingjiang) and his uncle (Zhu Gaochi, King of Han) to sign a tea sales contract privately?"

Zhu Zhantang first glanced at the tea cubes piled neatly on the table next to him, then took a sip of hot tea, and then asked slowly.

Zhu Zuojing is the third generation King of Jingjiang, the son of the second King of Jingjiang Zhu Zanyi, and the grandson of the first King of Jingjiang Zhu Shouqian.

As the most special clan of the Ming Dynasty, the Jingjiang clan was not the direct descendants of Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, but the descendants of Zhu Yuanzhang's eldest brother Zhu Xinglong.

In terms of seniority, the current Jingjiang King Zhu Zuojing is Zhu Gaoxu's grandnephew, that is, Zhu Zhantang's nephew.

Because of this, Zhu Zhantang called King Jingjiang by his first name.

Zhu Di did not answer but asked: "Do you know who Zuo Jing's great-grandfather is?"

"My grandson knows that Zuo Jing's great-grandfather is your cousin, and his name is Wenzheng."

Zhu Zhantang did not pretend not to know, but answered respectfully.

Since going to sea, in order to train his grandsons, Zhu Di would take time out every evening to "make up lessons" for his grandsons, unless there was something special to deal with.

Considering that there are eight grandsons accompanying him this time, for the sake of fairness and to improve the timeliness of answering questions for his grandsons, he provides one-on-one "make-up lessons" every time.

Because it was Zhu Zhantang's turn today, the situation of the grandfather and grandson sharing the same tent appeared.

As for the Empress Dowager Xu Miaoyun of the Ming Dynasty, she was wearing reading glasses and sitting on the bed behind the big tent doing embroidery.

"Since you know the name of Grandpa Zuo Jing, do you know who the father of Grandpa Zuo Jing is?"

Zhu Di asked again.

After Zhu Zhantang thought for a while, he replied seriously: "My grandson doesn't know."

Zhu Di stroked his beard and said, "Listen carefully, I will test you later."

"Yes." Zhu Zhantang nodded vigorously.

Zhu Di said slowly: "The father of Grandpa Zuo Jing is the King of Nanchang, whose name is Xinglong. He is the eldest son of Emperor Renzu of the Ming Dynasty and the eldest brother of Emperor Taizu. He is also your grandfather and my uncle."

"Of course, the name of the King of Nanchang was taken after Taizu became emperor. It is said that he was originally called Chongsi, and some said he was called Chongwu, but this is not the most important thing."

"As for Zuo Jing's great-grandfather (Zhu Wenzheng), he is the second son of the King of Nanchang and the nephew of Emperor Taizu. He is also your grandfather and my cousin. He is the most important person in our old Zhu family in the troubled times of the late Yuan Dynasty, besides Taizu. The only male who survived."

Zhu Zhantang answered: "Grandpa, this grandson knows that my father once told me the story before the founding of the Ming Dynasty."

Back then, when Zhu Yuanzhang was just making his fortune in the Red Scarf Army, his widowed sister-in-law Wang took Zhu Wenzheng to join him.

At first, Zhu Yuanzhang really raised his nephew as his own son. He not only taught him how to read and write, but also taught him step by step how to lead troops to fight.

Zhu Wenzheng grew up quickly under the careful guidance of his fourth uncle Zhu Yuanzhang, and became famous throughout the world for his use of inferior troops to withstand the "Hongdu Defense Battle" in which Chen Youliang's hundreds of thousands of troops attacked in turns.

Soon after, Zhu Yuanzhang established the Governor's Office and appointed Zhu Wenzheng as the Governor.

"Grandpa, my grandson heard rumors that Emperor Taizu executed Zuo Jing's great-grandfather back then. I wonder if this rumor is true or false?"

Zhu Zhantang asked in a low voice.Zhu Di frowned slightly and whispered helplessly: "Tang'er, grandpa can responsibly tell you that this rumor is false. And the reason why this rumor appears is mainly related to the identity of my cousin."

After Chen Youliang was destroyed, Zhang Shicheng's defeat was only a matter of time. Zhu Yuanzhang's next step was naturally to found the Yuan Dynasty and establish the country and ascend the throne and proclaim himself emperor.

However, at this time he discovered a problem, that was Zhu Wenzheng's special identity.

Before Zhu Zhantang could ask questions, Zhu Di immediately explained: "I just told you that King Nanchang is the eldest son of Emperor Renzu of the Ming Dynasty, and my cousin is the only legitimate son of King Nanchang still alive."

"Through this calculation, he is the de facto eldest grandson of Emperor Renzu of the Ming Dynasty. In terms of his patriarchal status at that time, he was far above the eldest son of Emperor Taizu, who was also my eldest brother."

Even though Emperor Renzu of the Ming Dynasty was later named posthumously by Zhu Yuanzhang, no one can change Zhu Wenzheng's status as the de facto eldest grandson of the eldest son of Emperor Renzu.

Zhu Di looked at Zhu Zhantang and continued: "Think about it. At that time, my cousin was still serving as the governor of the governor's mansion. He had a lot of troops and a high position. If he had ambitions in the future, , that would be a huge disaster.”

Zhu Zhantang said: "Grandpa, when my grandson heard what you said, he remembered the great chaos that occurred after the deaths of Shi Jingtang and Chen Baxian in the history books."

"Yes, of course Emperor Taizu must find a way to avoid causing trouble to Xiao Qiang!"

Zhu Di said with emotion: "Taizu, considering the special status of my cousin, will definitely not continue to reuse him. Besides, he has made great achievements in Hongdu. If he is directly captured, everyone will be disappointed."

"Therefore, after Taizu rewarded his merits, he did not reward my cousin. From now on, you should have heard your father tell you what my cousin did."

Zhu Zhantang nodded seriously.

At that time, Zhu Wenzheng had achieved merit, but had not yet received a reward. He was dissatisfied and became abnormal.

He actually hooked up with Zhang Shicheng in private, but because he leaked the information, he was reported to Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang was so angry that he asked Zhu Wenzheng what he wanted, and even threatened to kill his unfaithful and unfilial nephew.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang thought that Zhu Wenzheng was the only surviving member of his eldest brother's lineage, and Empress Ma persuaded him: "He just has a strong personality and nothing else."

In the end, Zhu Yuanzhang removed Zhu Wenzheng from his official position and placed him under house arrest in Tongcheng.

Later, Zhu Wenzheng died in depression.

"Grandpa, grandson understands."

Zhu Zhantang looked stunned and whispered: "If Emperor Taizu really wanted to kill Zuo Jing's great-grandfather, he could justifiably kill him for having liaison with foreign enemies, but Emperor Taizu did not To do that would just be to put him under house arrest."

Zhu Di nodded and said: "This is also true. After my cousin was placed under house arrest, he was like a sick tiger with his claws removed and locked in a cage. At that time, Taizu had no reason or need to kill him again. "

When Zhu Wenzheng was under house arrest, his son Zhu Shouqian (formerly known as Tiezhu) knew what had happened.

According to historical records, Zhu Yuanzhang was worried that he would frighten Tiezhu, so he stroked his head and said: "My son has nothing to be afraid of. Your father does not lead the way, forgets the hardships of the past, and is wanton and evil, so as to cause trouble to me. When you grow up one day, I will make you a knight." "You, don't let your father dethrone you. You should cultivate your virtues and practice good deeds, and cover up the mistakes of those who came before you, then you will live up to my expectations."

In the first year of Wu, Zhu Yuanzhang changed Tiezhu's name to Wei, and later changed his name to Shouqian.

On the seventh day of April in the third year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang ennobled various princes as kings. At the same time, he named Zhu Shouqian the King of Jingjiang and established a vassal in Jingjiang (it was renamed Guilin in the fifth year of Hongwu).

In order to make up for the guilt he felt towards his eldest brother Zhu Xinglong and nephew Zhu Wenzheng, Zhu Yuanzhang also issued a special decree: "Jingjiang Fan has King Nanchang as its first ancestor and Wenzheng as its second ancestor."

Zhu Yuanzhang's move was tantamount to conferring the title of king on Zhu Wenzheng in disguise.

Of course, I am afraid only the person involved knows best what the truth is and whether Zhu Yuanzhang secretly ordered others to poison Zhu Wenzheng.

"Tang'er, I have just told you so much, and now I have a question for you."

Zhu Di stroked his beard and said: "During the Yongle period, according to Taizu's orders, I changed the title of kings to founding countries outside China, but I did not change the title of King Jingjiang and King Wu (Zhu Yunxuan) to overseas countries. Do you know why? ?”

(End of this chapter)