Ming Dynasty: Zhu Biao's younger brother, the most rebellious son in history

"Good horse!"

Although Zhu Kai didn't know how to judge horses, this red horse was so beautiful that he fell in love with it at first sight: "Brother Wen Zhong, I'll take a walk first. Haha... this horse is mine!" Zhu Kai said, and ran towards the horse.

Horses understand human nature. When they see someone running towards them, they know that the person wants to ride them.

It sneezed in disdain at this.

Many people want to ride it, but how many succeed?

The man was quite big, but Ma didn't think he could subdue him.

But the other party opened the stable, rushed towards him directly, flipped over with his feet off the ground, and rode directly on his back.

"唏伦~"

The horse immediately rushed out of the stable, suddenly stopped, and raised its front hooves violently, trying to throw Zhu Kai off its back, but Zhu Kai's arms around his arms were like iron clamps. As it stood up, Zhu Kai shouted excitedly:
"Oh my god! Great! What a great horse!"

Zhu Kai held the horse's neck with one hand and the horse's mane with the other, and clamped his legs hard on the horse's belly: "Come on, beast, take me out for a run."

It seemed to have a spirit and flew out with Zhu Kai.

Li Wenzhong watched from the side and laughed, happy that he had given Zhu Kai a gift that he liked.

As for whether Zhu Kai would fall off the horse, Li Wenzhong didn't even think about it. He didn't even think there was anything wrong with falling off. As a man...scars are a man's medal. Isn't it normal to get injured?

After a while, Zhu Kai came back riding a Ferghana horse. When he saw Li Wenzhong, he shouted, "Brother Wenzhong, this horse is my Red Hare. What do you think? Haha, I have the courage of Lu Bu, and now I have Red Hare. Isn't it..."

"Brother Kai, don't talk nonsense."

Li Wenzhong quickly stopped Zhu Kai from speaking. If Zhu Yuanzhang knew what Zhu Kai said, he would let Zhu Kai know what a father is. He ran over and pulled Zhu Kai off the horse, and said to him, "Brother Kai, you can call me whatever you want. Don't go against His Majesty. You are such a grown-up, and you are always beaten by His Majesty. It won't sound good if it gets out, right?"

"Yes, yes, Brother Wen Zhong is right. Whatever you say is right."

Zhu Kai, who received the gift he wanted, didn't care what Li Wenzhong said. All his attention was on the Red Hare. He pulled Li Wenzhong and said, "Brother, help me put on the saddle and horseshoes. I want to ride it to the Western Regions. Haha... Those little royal courts in the Western Regions, won't they kneel down when they see me?"

Li Wenzhong didn't take the various royal courts in the Western Regions too seriously. He agreed to Zhu Kai's request and took Zhu Kai to dinner. "You can go to the Western Regions. I won't stop you, but you have to stay with me for a few days before leaving. Lan Yu is a good fighter. Let him deal with the people in the Western Regions. You can drink with me for two days first."

No matter what Zhu Kai said, Li Wenzhong refused to let him go.

He took Zhu Kai to stay in Zhangye for three days before letting him leave.

It was necessary to see him off. Zhu Kai was a heavy drinker. He and Li Wenzhong drank from morning to night and still felt unsatisfied.

Li Wenzhong felt that if he didn't let Zhu Kai leave, he would faint to death in Zhangye.

When sending Zhu Kai away, Li Wenzhong was still dizzy, but he still pulled Zhu Kai to remind him: "Brother Kai, you are not a child anymore, don't run to dangerous places all the time. Mother loves you the most. What will mother do if something happens to you?"

Li Wenzhong was Zhu Yuanzhang's nephew, but when he first came to Zhu Yuanzhang, he was adopted as his son by Zhu Yuanzhang. So he was very respectful to Ma Xiuying, and sincerely hoped that Zhu Kai would cause less trouble and be honest and not make Ma Xiuying sad.

"How could that be? Mom loves me the most." Zhu Kai said that he was Ma Xiuying's most beloved child, and then said to Li Wenzhong: "It's Dad. He often makes Mom angry..."

"Okay, okay, I know what kind of person my uncle is better than you."

He slapped Zhu Kai on the head, "Alright, go now... Come by my place when you go back in a few days, and we can have a couple of drinks together."

"it is good!"

Zhu Kai led Chitu and climbed onto the horse: "Take care, Brother Wenzhong. When I come back, we will celebrate the New Year together in Tianfu."

It has to be said that being the son of Zhu Yuanzhang makes one the happiest person among all the descendants of founding emperors.

Looking through history books, almost all the sons of founding emperors were unlucky... But this was not the case with Zhu Yuanzhang. He was in his prime and had unconditional trust in his son. The warmth of home, which was difficult to enjoy in an imperial family, magically appeared here. Moreover, Zhu Yuanzhang was not on guard against his own sons, and was even willing to hand over military power to his sons, and shared the same court team with his sons...

All we can say is that Zhu Yuanzhang was a weirdo, but this also caused many people to misunderstand the Ming Dynasty and think that Zhu Yuanzhang was not worthy of being an emperor of all ages. But only by living in the Ming Dynasty can you know how great what Zhu Yuanzhang did was. He conquered the northern desert, controlled Ryukyu and Siam in the south, and suppressed Goryeo and Japan in the east, and all the countries in the Western Regions surrendered to him.

Zhu Yuanzhang used his 31 years in power to establish a powerful empire for the Ming Dynasty.

How many people would vie to spread the praises of such great achievements? All they remember is Zhu Yuanzhang's reputation for being a ruthless killer.

In this world, Zhu Yuanzhang had Zhu Kai, which smoothed out his violent temper. Under Zhu Kai's guidance, Zhu Yuanzhang no longer regarded his subjects as enemies. He paid more attention to his family and Zhu Biao's growth. Zhu Yuanzhang often said: I have Zhu Kai and Zhu Biao, so what if the Ming Dynasty goes through another war? He was not afraid at all.

Zhu Yuanzhang's trust made Zhu Kai speechless and also made him feel very pressured. The Zhu Yuanzhang he knew was not the same as he is now. Countless times, Zhu Kai thought he had traveled to the wrong place, but he didn't expect that he was softer than he imagined.

It was Zhu Yuanzhang's unconditional trust and doting on Zhu Kai that allowed Zhu Kai to do anything without considering the consequences. He could do anything according to his own ideas. Zhu Kai did not let Zhu Yuanzhang down. He helped Zhu Yuanzhang resolve the remnants of the Mongols in the northern border of the Ming Dynasty more than ten years in advance, and is now expanding the territory westward for the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Kai knew that since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, its control over the areas north of the Great Wall was very weak. Even when Zhu Di became emperor, he made many expeditions to the desert, but failed to completely incorporate the grassland tribes into the Ming Dynasty's sphere of influence. He merely made the grassland tribes submit. This was why later generations did not recognize Zhu Yuanzhang as an emperor of all ages, and it was also one of the reasons why the Ming Dynasty gradually went to destruction.

The actual control area of ​​the Ming Dynasty was too small. After unifying the Central Plains, Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to inherit the territory of the Yuan Dynasty, so he sent troops to the north and sent envoys to Qinghai-Tibet, Northeast China and other regions to recruit people. At that time, the tribes in these places saw that the Ming Dynasty could overturn such a behemoth as the Mongols and Yuan Dynasty. They were frightened by the military force of the Ming Dynasty, so they chose to surrender and sent envoys to Yingtian Prefecture to accept Zhu Yuanzhang's canonization. However, Zhu Yuanzhang did not station troops in these frontier areas, nor did he send officials to manage these places, which made the jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty over these areas in a state of name only. The same was true for Zhu Di, who later won the throne. His expedition to the grassland was more like showing off the military force of the Ming Dynasty. He fought all his life, but he only emptied the treasury and did not get any other benefits.

This is fucked up!
But now with Zhu Kai, things are completely different. When Zhu Kai conquers a piece of land, he will tell everyone that the land is now his. Even if there are some places he cannot manage yet, Zhu Kai is very domineering. You are not allowed to touch the land I have conquered, even if there is grass there!

Whoever dares to cross the line will be dealt with directly!
Moreover, Zhu Kai was not satisfied with this, and continued to fight to expand his base.

Lan Yu, who is eager to make a contribution, is Zhu Kai's most useful weapon.

Lan Yu had already captured Anding and Quxian at this time, and was attacking a small country called Arui in the southeast of East Chagatai.

These countries were once under the influence of the Mongols, but later on, after a series of defeats in battles in the Central Plains, the Mongols wanted to reoccupy the Central Plains, so their dominance over the tribes in the Western Regions became increasingly weak. The people of the grasslands and the Western Regions believe that strength is king, and if they see that you are not strong enough, they will rebel. In the past, they served the Mongols like dogs, sucking their blood, but when they saw that the Mongols were no match for them, they immediately showed their fangs, broke away from the Mongols' sphere of influence, and then declared themselves kings.

However, the fate of these traitors was not very good.

After proclaiming himself king, Wang Baobao, who was forced to flee westward after being beaten by Zhu Kai, first led his army across their land and dealt with the tribes that had proclaimed themselves kings. Before they could get a chance to catch their breath, Lan Yu came again.

Lan Yu was even more domineering. When he saw them, he would say directly: Your home is gone.

Not only did they lose their homes, but they also lost their people. The people of Anding and Quxian were directly taken away by Lan Yu, and he said to the tribal leaders of these two places: "From today on, you are servants of the Ming Dynasty. Work hard for the Ming Dynasty. The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty and His Highness the Second Prince are kind-hearted. As long as you do a good job, we will give you the opportunity to become citizens of the Ming Dynasty..."

Become a citizen of the Ming Dynasty?
When the kings of Anding and Quxian heard that they could become citizens of the Ming Dynasty, they immediately raised their hands in agreement.

He also stated that all of Lan Yu's subjects could be taken away, and whatever Lan Yu said was the final word.

Lan Yu was very satisfied with their cooperation, and then asked them to cooperate with his troops to register the population. When everything was done, the kings of Anding and Quxian asked when they could become subjects of the Ming Dynasty. Lan Yu heard it and said: "You haven't done anything, but you want to become subjects of the Ming Dynasty? What are you thinking?"

The king of Quxian immediately panicked: "Haven't we already given all our subjects and wealth to Marshal Lan? Isn't this our credit?"

“Can this be considered a credit?”

Lan Yu smiled, stared at Qu Xian and Anding Wang and said: "With or without you, the wealth and the people of your tribe belong to the Ming Dynasty. If you don't accept it, I can return the troops to you. Let's fight once. If you can beat me, I will immediately let you join the Ming nationality."

Come on, aren't you talking about your own merits?

I don't want the credit now, how about we fight again?
Lan Yu used this unreasonable method to confuse Qu Xian and Wang Anding. Are all the generals of the Ming Dynasty so unethical? Look at your troops. Can we defeat them?

Can't be bothered, can't be bothered.

Qu Xian and King Anding immediately knelt down before Lan Yu and obediently followed Lan Yu's arrangements. Then they were arranged by Lan Yu to dig stones in the mountains.

There's no point staying here, so let's hurry up and dig stones to pave the road. The Ming Dynasty never keeps idle people.

After dealing with Qu Xian and Anding, Lan Yu turned his attention to Dong Chagatai.

East Chagatai is also known as Beshbaliq. It was built by the noble Dugrat tribe under Genghis Khan's command after he conquered it during his western expedition. East Chagatai is now the biggest threat on the Ming Dynasty's border. Wang Baobao leads an army of 150,000 and is currently in the East Chagatai tribe.

This is a tough bone.

After Lan Yu investigated the enemy and our own situation, he had a certain understanding. After the death of Tukhar Timur, the Great Khan of the Eastern Chagatai tribe, the tribe fell into chaos. Tukhar Timur's 33-year-old son, Hederhuozer, was elected as the new Khan because he had the blood of Temujin. But before he could unify the tribe, Wang Baobao emerged and controlled Hederhuozer, and thereby controlled the entire Eastern Chagatai nobility.

Some people in the Eastern Chagatai tribe supported Wang Baobao's sudden appearance, while others opposed it. The nobles in the tribe claimed to be descendants of the Mongol and Yuan Dynasty nobles. Wang Baobao was just a pariah with Han Chinese blood. What rights did he have to command us?
disagree!
Firmly disagree!
But some people were afraid of the 150,000 troops under Wang Baobao's command. In addition, they had heard of Wang Baobao's abilities, so due to Wang Baobao's strength, they had no choice but to surrender.

If someone is dissatisfied, it will be easy to find a breakthrough.

After capturing Quxian and Anding, Lan Yu did not rush to advance further. Instead, he pretended to be out of food and grass, stationed in Quxian and Anding, pretending to target Arei, and secretly began to conduct a detailed investigation and understanding of the Eastern Chagatai tribe.

Before the troops move, intelligence must be obtained first. Lan Yu needs to investigate the intelligence clearly before taking the next step.

……

At this time, in Yili, the capital of the Eastern Chagatai tribe, Wang Baobao was talking with the son of Heihuozhe, the nominal king of the Eastern Chagatai tribe.

Hei'erhuoze had great ambitions. After Wang Baobao arrived, he told Hei'erhuoze that he was willing to assist him and make him the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, but he wanted to hand over the entire Eastern Chagatai tribe to Wang Baobao for management. How could Hei'erhuoze agree?
But Wang Baobao was completely unreasonable. You had to listen to him whether you wanted to or not. After a not-so-fierce resistance, Heide'erhuozhe became a puppet. Wang Baobao nominally went to him to report on his work, but in fact Heide'erhuozhe was just a tool who helped Wang Baobao give orders to other generals.

"Lan Yu...is not scary. We don't need to worry about him."

Wang Baobao didn't think Lan Yu would be a threat to him. The two sides had fought more than once, so Wang Baobao felt that Lan Yu's level was slightly lower than his, but what made him wary was Zhu Kai.

He said to Tian Bao Nu: "If Zhu Kai doesn't come to the West Territory, we will have more opportunities to prepare."

Thinking of the horrible weapon Zhu Kai took out, Wang Baobao felt fear from the bottom of his heart.

But he felt that what he said was very unsafe, so he added: "We must be prepared to leave from the East Chagatai and continue to the west... Your Majesty, what is the relationship between the Golden Horde and the Timurid Khanate and you? Which one is richer?" (End of this chapter)