King Luhuang of the Ming Dynasty: My father, Ming Taizu

Under a willow tree not far away, Zhu Tan sat on a stone, holding a book in his hand, but his eyes kept glancing towards the moat.

"Your Highness, look at these nobles. They don't take your instructions to heart at all. They just slack off and act lazy!"

A guard stood behind Zhu Tan, pointed at the group of students in the distance, and spoke in a low voice.

"No hurry, let's wait and see."

Zhu Tan waved his hand, signaling the guards not to say anything more.

He wanted to see if Zhang Tieniu had any way to make these little ancestors study obediently.

However, things obviously did not develop in the direction Zhu Tan expected.

Although Zhang Tieniu tried his best to explain, this group of students simply did not cooperate.

No one complains about being tired.

They were just looking for excuses to be lazy, and some even sneaked away to sleep when Zhang Tieniu wasn't paying attention.

Zhu Tan saw it all, and his smiling face gradually turned gloomy.

"It seems that Zhang Tieniu is still too honest. To deal with this group of little ancestors, we have to use some extraordinary means!" Zhu Tan said in his heart.

He closed the book in his hand, stood up and walked towards the moat.

Seeing this, the guards hurriedly followed.

"Your Highness, what are you..."

"Go meet these young men from the aristocratic families." Zhu Tan said without turning his head.

The students were having a great time and had no idea that danger was coming.

"Mr. Zhang, can't we just estimate the width of the moat with our eyes? Why bother calculating it so much?" A young man in a brocade robe said as he threw the plumb line in his hand to the ground and stretched.

"That's right. The sun is about to set. We might as well go back early so we can still make it in time for dinner!" another young man echoed.

Zhang Tieniu looked at the group of students in front of him and was so angry that his beard was about to stand up.

"You little bastards, why did His Highness ask you to come here? Did he ask you to come here to travel?"

"Mr. Zhang, what you said is true. We haven't started sightseeing yet, have we?" a young man said with a grin.

"You..." Zhang Tieniu was so angry that he couldn't speak.

At this moment, a majestic voice suddenly sounded in everyone's ears.

"What? You're already slacking off before you even start sightseeing?"

When the students heard the voice, they turned pale with fright and remained silent.

They slowly turned their heads and saw Zhu Tan standing behind them, looking at them with a sullen face.

"Your Highness..." The students were so frightened that they stammered and couldn't even speak clearly.

Zhu Tan ignored them, walked straight to Zhang Tieniu, patted him on the shoulder, and said in a deep voice:
"Mr. Zhang, thank you for your hard work."

Zhang Tieniu bowed quickly and said:
"Your Highness, these students are disobedient. It's all because I failed to discipline them properly..."

"It's not your fault. I was negligent and forgot to tell you the pros and cons of these little ancestors." Zhu Tan said as he took a stick as thick as his wrist from the guard and handed it to Zhang Tieniu.

"Your Highness, what are you doing..." Zhang Tieniu looked at the stick, somewhat confused.

"A good son is born under the stick, and a man becomes a talent without beating. To deal with these little bastards, it is not enough to just talk, we have to let them taste the stick!"

Zhu Tan said this and looked at Zhang Tieniu meaningfully.

Zhang Tieniu looked at the stick in his hand, then looked at the group of students in front of him, and a look of embarrassment appeared on his face.

How could he dare to beat these people! These little ancestors were all royal relatives. If he really beat them up, he couldn't afford it!

"What's the matter? Mr. Zhang, you can't do it?" Zhu Tan looked at Zhang Tieniu with a smile.

"Your Highness, this... this is not good, right?" Zhang Tieniu wiped the sweat from his forehead and said hesitantly.

"What's wrong with that? I'm going to make this clear today. Just go ahead and do it. If anything goes wrong, I'll take responsibility for it!"

Zhu Tan said this, patted Zhang Tieniu on the shoulder, then turned and walked to the side, sat down on a rock, looking like he was watching a good show.

Zhang Tieniu looked at Zhu Tan's back and groaned inwardly.

What kind of thing is this! How can he, a teacher, become a thug?

However, he did not dare to disobey Zhu Tan's order, so he had to bite the bullet and walk up to the students with a stick in hand.

"You...what do you want to do?"

The students looked at the stick in Zhang Tieniu's hand, turned pale with fear, and retreated one after another.

"Hey, what are you doing? Of course I'm teaching you to study hard!"

As Zhang Tieniu spoke, he waved the stick in his hand and walked towards the students.

"Ah! Help!" Seeing this, the students were so scared that they pissed their pants and ran away in all directions.

However, how could they outrun Zhang Tieniu?

Zhang Tieniu took two steps at a time and caught up with a student, and the stick in his hand mercilessly hit the student's buttocks.

"Snapped!"

With a crisp sound, the student suddenly let out a scream like a pig being slaughtered.

Zhang Tieniu felt mixed emotions as he looked at the group of noble descendants who lived a life of luxury.

On normal days, he wouldn't even dare to speak loudly, let alone hit them. But now a stick was stuffed in his hand, and he was asked to teach these little ancestors a "good" lesson.

"Pa!" Zhang Tieniu gritted his teeth and hit the butt of the student closest to him hard with a stick.

The student was caught off guard and was hit so hard that he staggered and fell to the ground.

"Ouch! It hurts me so much!"

The student covered his buttocks, almost crying in pain, and began to curse:
"Zhang Tieniu, you old bastard, how dare you hit me! Do you know who I am?"

"I don't care who you are!"

Zhang Tieniu was enraged by the student's arrogance and raised his stick to hit him again:
"His Highness asked me to teach you a lesson. If you don't study hard, you deserve a beating!"

"You...you dare to hit me? I am a noble! You dog slave, I will kill you!" The noble roared in frustration when he saw that Zhang Tieniu really dared to hit him.

"What's wrong with being aristocrat? Can aristocrats be ignorant? Can aristocrats be disrespectful to their teachers?" Zhang Tieniu was furious and attacked even more fiercely. "Today I will teach you a lesson on behalf of your father!"

"Pa! Pa! Pa!" The sticks fell on the noble again and again, making him scream like a ghost. The other students were so scared that they ran away one by one.

"Run? Let's see where you can run!"

Zhang Tieniu waved a stick and chased the students around the yard like an angry tiger, beating them.

"Ouch! Stop hitting me! Stop hitting me! I was wrong! I won't do it again!" "Please spare my life! Mr. Zhang, please spare my life! I will study hard in the future!"

The students cried out for help and their voices begging for mercy echoed throughout the entire yard.

The chaotic scene in the yard finally died down gradually. The students covered their buttocks and gathered together like frost-bitten eggplants with their heads drooped.

Zhu Tan looked at the funny scene in front of him, suppressed his laughter, and sighed in sorrow.

"Look at you, what are you like! You don't study hard every day, but only know how to eat, drink, play, fight cocks and run dogs. You are really a disgrace to scholars!"

Zhu Tan's voice was not loud, but it carried an aura of majesty without even being angry.

The students were silent, no one dared to say a word.

Normally, relying on his prominent family background, he was used to bullying in the academy. How could they have ever seen Zhu Tan get so angry? Everyone was so scared that they dared not breathe, for fear of angering the young prince.

"You know, right now, our Ming Dynasty is facing internal and external troubles. The Yuan Dynasty in the north is eyeing us covetously. Disasters are constantly happening in various parts of the country, and the people are displaced."

"I work hard day and night to make the people of the world live a stable life. As the children of officials, you not only do not think about serving the court, but also idle away the whole day and do not do your job. Are you worthy of the protection of your ancestors?"

Zhu Tan became more and more excited, and his tone became stern:
"As a prince, I have the responsibility to urge you to study and become the pillars of the country in the future. I will report today's events to your fathers truthfully. As for how to deal with it, it depends on your own luck!"

After hearing what Zhu Tan said, the students were so frightened that their faces turned pale.

They usually rely on their family power to act arrogantly in Shandong, so they have never thought about these national affairs.

Now that Zhu Tan said this, I couldn’t help but feel a little scared.

Zhang Tieniu saw that the fire was almost ready, so he took the opportunity to put down the stick in his hand, cleared his throat, and said:
"Your Highness has taught me that the students will definitely remember your teachings and study hard in the future to live up to your Highness's high expectations."

After hearing this, the students immediately knelt down and said in unison:

"I will remember your highness's teachings and will correct my past mistakes and study hard in the future to live up to your highness's high expectations!"

"Okay, everyone get up." Zhu Tan waved his hand, then turned and walked out of the yard.

When he reached the door, he suddenly stopped, looked back at the students, and a sly smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"By the way, tomorrow morning, I will personally check your homework. If anyone dares to slack off, they will bear the consequences!"

After saying that, he left the yard without looking back, leaving the students looking at each other in bewilderment, each of them wanting to cry but unable to.

……

The next day, Zhu Tan arrived at the school early in the morning as expected.

The students originally thought that Zhu Tan was just trying to scare them.

Unexpectedly, he actually did what he said. Everyone panicked and hurriedly took out their books to cram for the exam.

Seeing this, Zhu Tan just smiled slightly and didn't say much.

He walked to his seat and sat down, then picked up a book on mathematics and began to read it slowly.

Zhu Tan took a sip of tea slowly and glanced at the group of lawless students in front of him.

Now, everyone is like a quail drenched by the rain, shrinking timidly and not daring to make a sound.

A playful arc appeared on the corner of his mouth, and he gently closed the "Mathematics" in his hand.

The pages of the book made a crisp sound, which was particularly clear in the silent classroom and startled several students.

"Wang Fugui, answer this question. There are chickens and rabbits in the same cage. There are thirty-five chickens and rabbits on top and ninety-four legs on the bottom. How many chickens and rabbits are there?"

Wang Fugui was one of the students who took the lead in cockfighting yesterday and was chased around the yard by Zhang Tieniu.

His family was a well-known wealthy businessman in Jinan Prefecture. He relied on his family's wealth to act arrogantly in the academy.

He never listens to the teacher's lectures and just eats, drinks and has fun all day.

Being called out by Zhu Tan at this time, he was immediately frightened and turned pale. He stammered for a long time and couldn't say anything.

"What? Where's the momentum from yesterday's cockfight? Are all your chickens three-legged?"

Zhu Tan looked at him with a smile, a hint of sarcasm in his tone.

Wang Fugui's face flushed, sweat poured down his face, and he stammered, "I...I...I don't know how to do it."

"No? I guess you haven't learned anything at all!"

Zhu Tan's face darkened and his tone became stern, "Come here, bring paper and pen, and ask him to copy the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art ten times and hand it in by this time tomorrow!"

When Wang Fugui heard that he had to copy the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art ten times, he immediately wailed. That was a thick book!
After copying it ten times, his hands were about to break.

But facing Zhu Tan's cold gaze, he didn't dare to say anything. He could only take the paper and pen obediently and began to copy hard.

Zhu Tan ignored Wang Fugui's wailing and continued to call on him to ask questions.

From poetry and songs to classics, from astronomy and geography to arithmetic and the study of things, each question is more tricky than the last.

The students were sweating profusely after being asked these questions, but no one could answer all of them correctly.

"It seems that you don't study seriously on weekdays."

Zhu Tan looked at the group of students in front of him who usually boasted of their talents, but now all showed embarrassed expressions, and he couldn't help feeling a little disappointed.

He sighed and said seriously:
"Although our Ming Dynasty has been established for a hundred years, it has always faced internal and external troubles."

"In the north, the remnants of the Mongolian forces are ready to make a move, and in the southeastern coast, Japanese pirates have repeatedly invaded and harassed the people. The people are living in misery."

"As children of officials, you will shoulder the responsibility of governing the country in the future. If you can't even endure this little hardship, how can you serve the country in the future?"

Although Zhu Tan's words were harsh, every word made sense. The students felt ashamed and lowered their heads one by one.

"I don't want what happened today to happen again."

Zhu Tan glanced at everyone and softened his tone:
You are all the future of our Ming Dynasty. I hope you can cherish your time, study hard, and become the pillars of the country in the future, instead of just eating, drinking and having fun like you are now, and not doing your job properly! "

After Zhu Tan left the school.

"Your Highness."

The guard Zhang Meng, who had been following behind him in silence, scratched his head and asked in a muffled voice:

"Why are you so polite to these young masters today? If it were in the past, anyone who dared to be so presumptuous under your nose would have been dragged out and beaten with a stick long ago."

Zhu Tan stopped, looked back at Zhang Meng, and asked, "Do you think they should fight?"

Zhang Meng was stunned for a moment, then replied: "Of course they deserve to be beaten! Instead of studying hard, they only know how to fight cocks and run dogs. This is simply a disgrace to scholars!"

"That's true," Zhu Tan said calmly, "but they are students, not enemies. We need to be reasonable when dealing with students. Beating and scolding them will only make them more disgusted and more resistant to learning."

He paused and then said:

"Also, although they made a mistake today, it is not unforgivable."

"Look at them. After I scolded them, they were all ashamed. This shows that they are not stubborn. It's just that I didn't discipline them on a daily basis, so they developed bad habits." (End of this chapter)