Ming Dynasty: A hundred-year-old immortal cultivator, Zhu Yuanzhang’s biological father

Lan Yu looked at Zhu Xiongying's departing back in the rain, sighed quietly, and said to Zhan Hui: "Peaceful days are not easy. We have lived in peace for too long. Now I have come to realize that our Ming Dynasty is not as stable as we imagined!"

"There are also many powerful opponents who have been coveting the beautiful land of Ming Dynasty!"

Lan Yu had some hidden worries.

Zhan Hui's face was not very good either. He looked at Lan Yu and said, "Let's go! Let's inform the old man!"

Zhu Xiongying was walking on Yingtian Street. The night wind was cold and the rain was still drizzling. Several people wearing straw raincoats were anxiously rushing home. There were also three or five scholars shouting various things as they walked.

In Yingtian City at night, many people still go out without having to worry about public security issues.

This is the peaceful Ming Dynasty!

However, outside of peace, the Ming Dynasty still has many rivals who are eyeing this powerful dragon from the East with greedy eyes!
The sun is still shining brightly.

It rained last night, and today the sky is as blue as a painting, beautiful and magnificent.

Early in the morning, the old man came over with his hands behind his back and a smile on his face, and carefully looked Zhu Xiongying up and down.

That doting look made Zhu Xiongying feel numb.

"What's wrong?"

Zhu Yuanzhang sat in the yard with a smile on his face: "You did a good job last night!"

Zhu Xiongying suddenly realized, "Grandpa, you know everything?"

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded: "Yes, I know everything."

Zhu Xiongying smiled, waved his hand and said, "In fact, it's just that group of Mongolians are not very sensitive. It will be the same no matter who goes."

Zhu Yuanzhang squinted his eyes and shook his head: "It's different."

"It's not that they are incapable of stimulation, it's that you are capable. If you are capable, you are capable. Don't be modest!"

"They represent a country. No country would send useless envoys here. Unless you provoke their pain points, they will say so much."

Zhu Yuanzhang looked up at Zhu Xiongying and said, "Boy, did you do a lot of homework before you left?"

Zhu Xiongying smiled shyly: "I thought about it a little bit."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said: "Good boy, you have done a good job.

Slowly, a trace of anger appeared in the old man's eyes, and he said to Zhu Xiongying: "Do you know what these envoys said to the emperor in Fengtian Hall?"

Zhu Xiongying was puzzled: "What's wrong?"

"Our emperor asked them whether their country was peaceful or whether there were wars. They answered very humbly, saying that their country was peaceful and there were no wars."

"They even asked the Ming Dynasty to protect them."

"These words of lowering one's posture made the court officials extremely excited."

"All officials believed that this was the power of the Ming Dynasty, shocking people thousands of miles away!"

"Haha, little did they know that they were making fun of our Ming emperor and his ministers! How dare the officials be so proud!"

Zhu Xiongying listened to the old man's sarcastic and self-deprecating words, and his face showed a hint of anger.

He said to Zhu Yuanzhang seriously: "Grandpa, this Timurid Khanate definitely has great ambitions."

Zhu Yuanzhang snorted, "It's already obvious! You still tell me that the Ming Dynasty will be theirs sooner or later? These dogs are really ambitious!"

"If we let go and fight them hard, I guarantee that the Ming cavalry will beat them to a pulp!"

"But we can't!"

There was a hint of frustration in the old man's eyes.

Zhu Xiongying understood everything, and also understood the old man's thoughts.

The old man was worried about the harm that war would do to the people, and he also knew the damage that war would do to the country's strength.

He cannot start a war at will just for the sake of a little face or to swallow up more territory. This is irresponsible to a country!

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the angry Zhu Xiongying and asked, "Are you angry?"

Zhu Xiongying nodded: "A little bit. Anyone who hears an envoy from another country blatantly humiliating the emperor and ministers of our Han family will not tolerate it!"

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said: "You kid, you always have a sincere heart! That's right! This is also the determination that all my fellow countrymen in the Ming Dynasty should have!"

"You have to hold back your anger."

"What's the point of arguing? A war between great powers is not like a shrew scolding in the street. After the scolding, nothing will happen."

"In a duel between men, we either don't fight, or if we do, we will destroy the country and drink their blood!"

"Grandson! Let me tell you! Our Ming Dynasty has never been weak and cowardly. The Ming Dynasty that our emperor wants to build will definitely be a tough one in the future!"

"But now, even if we know the purpose of Timurid Khanate, we have to turn a blind eye. We can't learn from them, let alone that idiot Genghis Khan!"

When mentioning Genghis Khan, Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes showed deep disdain, which was the greatest contempt of an emperor for the emperor of the previous dynasty!

"When we say Genghis Khan was ruined, it's not because he was not good at fighting. He was a good fighter, but why did the Yuan Dynasty fall in just ninety years?"

"As the old saying goes, conquering the world is easy, but ruling the world is hard!"

"Genghis Khan has been annexing other countries and pushing his army to the west and even further, but what's the point? What's the point if he can't govern? What's the point if he can't defend?"

"Why is the Ming Dynasty so cautious when attacking any country? And why did it take so many people to work so hard to conquer Jiaozhi?"

"Ha, maybe you can find a scholar who can raise his hands in indignation and shout, 'Fight, fight! Great Ming will win! Our Great Ming cannot be insulted! Whoever humiliates us, we will destroy the country…'"

The old man danced and sang with great emotion, which made Zhu Huai laugh secretly.

The old man smiled and said, "That's nonsense! A war between great powers is not a fight between neighbors! There are too many factors to consider!"

"A war that has destroyed the finances of our Central Plains is not worth the cost. Will the people praise you or scold you?"

"We can't be bookish and can't stand any grievance. A strong person doesn't care how hard your fists are, but how strong the power you burst out after forbearance is!"

Compared with emperors like Emperor Taizong of Tang and Emperor Wu of Han, Zhu Yuanzhang had a different strategic vision.

This has to do with his birth.

Emperors like Emperor Tang and Emperor Wu of Han were born into aristocratic families. They considered the interests of the upper class and emphasized the aggressiveness of the aristocracy!
Zhu Yuanzhang was born into a small peasant family. He first considered whether the people lived well before considering how to launch an aggressive war.

Governing a country is the foundation, war is the appearance.

Zhu Xiongying sighed: "But I still want to kill them!"

"Especially when I heard you say just now that this group of people are making fun of us, the emperor and his subjects, I can't stand it!"

Zhu Xiongying rubbed his hands, looked at Zhu Yuanzhang and said: "Old man, do you think we can create an 'accident' to keep these envoys here and then pry out more information?"

"I promise to let them know everything they know!"

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed angrily and rolled his eyes at Zhu Xiongying: "Are you talking nonsense to me? What you just said was in vain?" "We are a great country, the Celestial Empire. The Celestial Empire should behave like a Celestial Empire. Only by being gracious and convincing can the people from all over the world be won over! A great country should have the bearing of a great country!"

Zhu Xiongying shook his head and retorted: "I don't think so."

"I think we shouldn't pursue the vague notion of broad-mindedness and tolerance. When you are strong, it is a virtue, but when you are weak, others will not remember it, but laugh at you instead."

This is how it is in later generations. In the thousands of years of East Asian civilization, we have always been far ahead. It was only a hundred years of stagnation, a drop in the ocean, that made us laugh at being backward by those small countries that have risen.

And when we became strong again, they were inexplicably surprised, as if they had seen something extraordinary.

People and countries are the same, they all remember to be beaten but not to eat.

"Ha! You can always tell us a lot of truths."

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said softly: "I tell you this just to make you understand a truth. Don't be brave for a moment. It's not a bad idea to retreat and be patient for a short time."

Zhu Xiongying nodded: "Oh, I understand the reason."

Zhu Yuanzhang asked: "But you just can't bear it?"

"They are humiliating the emperor and the ministers, not you. If anyone is angry, we are the most angry. Why are you making a fuss?"

Zhu Xiongying smiled and corrected the old man: "You are my grandfather. I think what makes you most angry is that your sword may be thirsty for fire!"

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes widened and he angrily said, "Nonsense! Are we so bad? If we can't even bear this little bit of grievance, how can we be emperor?"

The old man smacked his lips, a trace of memories flashed in his eyes, and he sighed, "But you, kid, do have a point."

"When our emperor was young, he was just like you. He was impatient and never afraid of anyone. But in the end, Liu Bowen taught us a lesson."

"That was the time I regretted the most."

Zhu Xiongying looked at the old man in confusion, helped Zhu Yuanzhang sit down, and poured him a pot of tea: "What's wrong?"

Zhu Yuanzhang sighed: "At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, in the Chuzhou Road Zhongshu Province, Chen Youliang handed over a letter, asking our emperor to pay homage to him."

"The whole court is angry, and so are we."

"But Liu Bowen insisted on telling our emperor that the Northern Yuan army was insignificant and not to be feared. If we want Chen Youliang in the south not to attack us and want to focus on defeating the Northern Yuan Tartars, we must pretend to surrender like Chen Youliang did and concentrate on attacking the Northern Yuan."

"I was furious when I heard that! How can a man surrender on the battlefield? Even a false surrender is not acceptable!"

"So we just drove Liu Bowen away."

When he said this, the old man's face was full of regret.

"Well, the facts have proved that Liu Bowen was right. At that time, the Northern Yuan Dynasty and Chen Youliang attacked us from both north and south, and more than 30,000 of our volunteers died. If our emperor had not found Liu Bowen, the Ming Dynasty might have been gone."

"Thirty thousand brothers! Because we wanted to save face and refused to surrender, we are gone, all dead..."

The old man's eyes turned red.

"My child, the facts prove that when it is time to admit defeat, you still have to admit defeat, and when it is time to keep a low profile, you have to keep a low profile."

"If you are in power in the future, you will find that every impulsive decision you make will bring disaster to the people under you."

"Remember, don't be a hero for a short time."

After hearing what the old man said, Zhu Xiongying was stunned. It took him a long time to nod: "I understand."

After thinking for a while, the old man continued: "Child, you said something that makes me a little worried."

"They said that their muskets had a range of one mile or more."

At this point, the old man's face became a little serious, "How credible do you think it is?"

After hearing this, Zhu Xiongying's expression also became solemn.

He had heard his master talk about the other side, but he didn't know how advanced the firearms there were.

But he can guarantee one thing: war will drive their demand for weapons!
The West has been in chaos and war. They have a great demand for weapons and must have been constantly improving their weapons in actual combat.

Zhu Huai had no idea how firearms had developed over there.

But one thing can prove that the Portuguese invented the Portuguese cannon before the Qing Dynasty.

It is hard to imagine that these two Western countries, which are still being crushed by the Ottoman Empire, will invent such powerful weapons a hundred years later.

Again, war drives their demand for weapons.

There is no doubt that their country is backward, and there is a huge economic gap between them and the Ming Dynasty!
The reason why they are powerful is because of their naval convenience, and the reason why they are developed is because of plunder and invasion!
Armaments and weapons are the key, and even in later generations, they have always been the guarantee of a country's safety!

Zhu Xiongying shook his head, looked at the old man seriously, and said: "Whether what they said is true or just bragging, I think we should invest in weapons research and development as soon as possible."

"Our two-barreled and three-barreled muskets have too many disadvantages on the battlefield. The range of our tiger squat cannon is only 500 meters."

In addition, the height of the Tiger Crouching Gun cannot be adjusted, and the loading process takes a long time.

Many of the drawbacks of firearms need to be improved.

The Qing dynasty did not pay much attention to firearms because there were fewer wars and Zhu Yuanzhang did not care much about the construction of weapons.

But after listening to Zhu Xiongying's words today, the old man still became a little serious. He frowned and said: "That's the truth..."

It does make sense, but the country’s lack of money is always a topic that cannot be avoided.

"It's done."

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand and said, "After talking so much, I'm hungry. Let's go eat!"

Zhu Xiongying nodded with a heavy heart, "Okay!"

The old man smiled and said, "Don't worry too much. No matter what you do, you have to do it slowly. Only by slowing down can you do a good job."

"Although we must be prepared for crisis, national development and construction cannot be achieved overnight."

"Developing too fast will ultimately hurt the people. Their Timurid state relies on war to support war, plundering, killing, and war. We cannot do the same."

"We still need to explore a path that is suitable for the development and growth of the Ming Dynasty."

The old man looked at Zhu Xiongying with satisfaction.

The boy's status has risen, but he was still thinking about having enough food and clothing, repaying his gratitude, and doing business to make money.

In the blink of an eye...hey!

The eldest grandson has also begun to worry about national affairs for his grandfather!
The old man felt a little proud. This was his eldest grandson whom he had personally brought up, and this was the future monarch for whom he had personally built the kingdom!
He has a sense of accomplishment.

Biaoer, your eldest son is very similar to you!

You are so great to have given us such an outstanding grandson!

We are happy! (End of this chapter)