I open a history tutorial class in Daming

Chapter 111 Zhu Yuanzhang, why are you so lucky?

After a long silence.

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand tiredly at Zhu Biao:
"Go and talk to him clearly. Anyway, you have been taking care of these brothers in the past, so you are more suitable to speak than us."

It’s not about whether it works or not.

As Zhu Di's father, Zhu Yuanzhang certainly possesses absolute majesty, even for Zhu Di who is now in his forties.

No matter what age, can a son still surpass his father? Their Zhu family is not the Li family. Forcing the father to abdicate has become an ancestral custom.

The most important issue is what Zhu Yuanzhang just said -

When it comes to majesty, Zhu Yuanzhang has it in spades, but his brothers like Zhu Di only give "respect and love" to Zhu Biao.

It is said that the eldest brother is like a father. When Zhu Yuanzhang was busy fighting outside and dealing with state affairs, it was Zhu Biao who took care of his younger brothers and sisters on his behalf. Empress Ma would sometimes get angry and want to beat the children, but as long as the matter was not too serious, Zhu Biao would either stop her or even take the punishment for his brothers and sisters and take the beatings for them.

It was for this reason that Zhu Yuanzhang was very sure that if Zhu Biao was the one who ascended the throne after his death, then even if there were more vassal kings and even if they gained more power, they would never rebel against Zhu Biao.

If Zhu Yuanzhang really had a son who did such a thing, he would be the first one to kill him.

That can no longer be called a human being, that's a beast.

Zhu Biao also knew very well why his father did this, so he nodded silently, took two steps forward, and helped Zhu Di up.

Then, Zhu Biao took his fourth brother, who was twice his age, and walked towards -

Zhang Liang.

"Student Zhang Liang, this is my fourth brother, the one the teacher mentioned in class before, Zhu Di, who seized the throne through the Jingnan Campaign."

Zhu Biao said sincerely:
"I can explain some things to him later, but you have talked to Liu Che once before, so you should have more experience than me. Can you help me explain the reasons to him?"

Zhang Liang's expression was a little subtle.

They had heard about this incident in class before. Zhu Yuanzhang reacted very strongly at the time and kept muttering that he would beat Zhu Di up when he got home.

After Zhu Qizhen arrived, this anger reached its peak.

He didn't know what Zhu Di had become in the real world. Perhaps in the real world, Zhu Biao could calmly explain the situation to Zhu Di, but now as the eldest brother, it was normal for Zhu Biao to find some things difficult to say to his fourth brother who was much older than him.

Zhang Liang was a good student who was willing to help his classmates. In addition, given his age and good personality, it was reasonable and smart for Zhu Biao to ask him for help.

After pondering for a moment, Zhang Liang nodded.

"it is good."

He looked at Zhu Di and smiled friendly, imitating the way Song Shen introduced his new classmates:
"Emperor Yongle Zhu Di, right? Nice to meet you. I am Zhang Liang, also known as Zhang Zifang, one of the Three Great Men of the Early Han Dynasty."

"Besides me, there are many emperors and generals from different dynasties in this classroom. Over there is the First Emperor Ying Zheng and General Meng Tian. Over here is Emperor Wu of Han Liu Che. On the other side is Emperor Taizong of Tang and his four ministers. The two in the back row are Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and Emperor Yingzong of Ming who are isolated by everyone. By the way, Emperor Yingzong of Ming is your grandson, meaning he is the son of your grandson. Your father has already beaten him. Remember to beat him again later."

"The current situation is..."

Zhang Liang gave a general description of what happened in the tutoring class.

Zhu Di's eyes became visibly dazed.

Especially when I heard about Emperor Yingzong of Ming.

Anyone who has read history books probably has an idea of ​​what kind of person Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, Li Longji, was. But judging from Zhang Liang's attitude, it seems that that damn Emperor Yingzong of Ming, Zhu Qizhen, was even worse than Li Longji.

What is this concept?
Among this group of emperors and generals, except for the First Emperor, everyone was actually not bad in terms of reputation or achievements. Only Li Longji created the prosperous Tang Dynasty and then destroyed it. In addition, this person had a corrupt moral character. Zhu Di could hardly imagine what kind of emperor could be worse than him.

Could it be that this guy caused the Ming Dynasty to fall? !

My own grandson... is like this?!
There was an almost tangible fire burning in his eyes.

If it were when he was younger, Zhu Di might have jumped up on the spot and dragged Zhu Qizhen out to give him a severe beating, but now there were more important things he needed to know, and he had no time for the moment, so the matter of cleaning up the family would be put off until later.

After a long explanation, Zhang Liang finally made himself clear.

Zhu Biao then added:

"Fourth brother, it is still the late autumn of the tenth year of Hongwu in our place. Dad has long known from the teacher that you would participate in the Jingnan Rebellion, so you should be able to imagine how you were beaten in the tenth year of Hongwu. It was my mother and I who called the imperial physician to treat your wounds yesterday."

"If you don't want your 17 or 18-year-old self to continue to be beaten like this, then you'd better behave in front of Dad."

"First, be respectful to the teacher. Second, don't quibble. Admit your mistakes when you make them."

"Zhu Qizhen yelled at the teacher and refused to admit his fault, so Dad beat him for half a class. Do you understand what I mean?"

Zhu Di looked at his elder brother's young and serious face and was stunned for a long time.

He never thought that he would have the chance to see his elder brother at the age of twenty.

The voice, appearance and smile are still in front of my eyes, it really feels more like a dream than a dream.

After a long while, Zhu Di came back to his senses and nodded hurriedly:
"I understand, I understand, big brother. Don't worry, I'm not a child anymore. I will definitely not mess it up."

An old man in his forties or fifties calls a young man in his twenties "big brother". This scene is weird no matter how you look at it.

But others didn't think so.

Ying Zheng rarely sat with Li Shimin, and said with emotion:
"Li Shimin, if I met Hu Hai and you met your son Li Zhi, would you be able to talk to them so calmly?"

Li Shimin was silent for a while before shaking his head:
"I'm afraid he's ready to kill someone with a sword."

It was natural for the First Emperor to want to kill the Second Emperor of Qin. Although Li Shimin had never heard of Li Zhi doing anything absurd, the fact that his son had an affair with his concubine was enough to make any emperor furious.

Regardless of whether Wu Zetian was favored or not later, it had nothing to do with Li Zhi. Although they had some barbarian blood, the Li family claimed that their ancestor was Li Er, and they wanted to enter the orthodox Chinese family, even though Li Shimin himself had a brother-to-brother relationship... Forget it, I won't quibble, he is just double-standard!
Ying Zheng sighed as he watched Zhu Biao giving instructions seriously and Zhu Di listening attentively to his elder brother.

"They both usurped the throne, but how friendly were Zhu Biao and Zhu Di?"

"And from the way Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao get along, I know that he must have been prepared for Zhu Biao to take the throne at any time. Otherwise, he would not have handed over government affairs to Zhu Biao. He even advised me to do the same with Fusu."

"If Zhu Biao had ascended the throne, who would have rebelled, let alone Zhu Di?"

"Let's take a step back and say that even if Zhu Di had usurped the throne and rebelled, you never said anything bad about him when you talked about him in the past, which shows that Zhu Di was a good emperor."

"hiss……"

"How come Zhu Yuanzhang has such a good life? Both of his sons are so promising?" Li Shimin's mouth twitched. He deliberately glanced at Ying Zheng's expression. Seeing that he was truly envious and not sarcastic, he silently retracted his gaze.

Yes, this guy may be a bit mean, but the sons he gave birth to are more outstanding than each other.

Why!
…………

The time for the explanation passed very quickly.

Ten minutes passed in the blink of an eye.

As the class bell rang, the door leading to the lecture hall from the office opened on time, and Song Shen walked out leisurely.

He walked up to the podium, tapped the table lightly, and said:

"Hello, students. When I looked inside, I noticed that you have been communicating with each other for a while. This time, I think there is no need for me to introduce anything more, right?"

No one knew what was going on in his mind, perhaps he was still thinking about the bad idea Zhu Yuanzhang had given him before, or maybe he simply didn't want to make things easy for this foul-mouthed guy, Li Shimin suddenly raised his hand.

Song Shen was a little surprised, but still pointed in his direction:
"Student Li Shimin, do you have any questions?"

Li Shimin stood up, feeling that the Zhu family's glares were about to pierce through his body, but he remained motionless and said calmly:

"Sir, I heard you say before that Zheng He's voyages to the West took place during the Yongle reign. Now that my new classmate, the Yongle Emperor Zhu Di himself, is here, why don't you tell us more about the events during the Yongle reign?"

"After all, the latest person in the world is Zhu Qizhen, but what Zhu Qizhen did makes it difficult for everyone to trust him. You can only believe 50% of what he says. If Emperor Yongle is a trustworthy person, it will be more convenient for you to discuss in class in the future."

Zhu Di's face turned two shades paler in an instant.

He was just thinking about how he should listen to his elder brother and get through this first class so that the teacher would have a good impression of him...

Why is someone targeting me right now? !

"This is all my father's fault..."

Zhu Biao sat next to him and whispered to comfort him:
"It's okay. Li Shimin is not coming for you. Dad has offended too many people with his mouth. Although he won't be in big trouble, everyone in this class should want to see him get humiliated."

"If you can help him get his revenge, you will be fine in the 10th year of Hongwu. If the opposite happens and you make him lose face... Well, take care."

It’s okay not to be comforted.

After this comfort, Zhu Di could hardly stop sweating on his forehead.

He tried desperately to recall all the bad things he had done in his life, from the Jingnan Rebellion to bed-wetting at the age of three. He was already in his forties, and he wished he were on the verge of death right now so that he could think of a revolving door to respond in advance.

But before Zhu Di could finish his recollections, Song Shen on the podium had already laughed.

Song Shen waved his hand:
"You want me to introduce the life story of Emperor Yongle?"

"Then I have to ask clearly, classmate Zhu Di, which year of Yongle are you from, or which year of Jianwen?"

Zhu Di was confused, but he remembered Zhu Biao's reminder and stood up respectfully like Li Shimin, bowing and saying:
"Sir, I...ah no, I, I am from the second year of Yongle."

Song Shen raised his eyebrows slightly.

When he first ascended the throne, there was nothing much worth mentioning.

But this does not have any impact. After all, Zhu Di is not Emperor Minghuang of Tang, and there is no obvious dividing line during the Yongle period. It does not really matter which specific year this virtual consciousness comes from.

He nodded and said:
"In fact, everyone should have some understanding of Zhu Di's first half of his life."

"He was the fourth son of Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, and was named Prince of Yan and given a fiefdom in Beiping. Later, when Zhu Yuanzhang died, Zhu Yunwen ascended the throne and changed the reign title to Jianwen. He was known in history as Emperor Jianwen."

"But Zhu Yunwen was in office for only four years before Zhu Di successfully rebelled against him. Speaking of this, there is a question I have always been curious about. Now that I have met the real master, I would like to ask him."

"Student Zhu Di, when you attacked the palace, there were many different theories about the whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen. For example, you killed him on the spot, or your people searched the palace and couldn't find Zhu Yunwen because he escaped through a tunnel, or you burned the palace because you couldn't find him, or he fled overseas and you sent Zheng He to the West to find him that way."

"Because I also make judgments based on historical materials, I want to ask, what exactly was the situation at that time?"

Of course, Song Shen's explanation was relatively simple, because there were too many versions of Zhu Yunwen's fate.

There are theories about self-immolation, fleeing far away, becoming a monk, Zheng He's release... and so on.

The real person just happened to be here, so he might as well ask a few questions to satisfy his curiosity about the gossip about unofficial history!
Zhu Di was stuck. He didn't expect that the gentleman's first question would be so tricky.

He felt Zhu Yuanzhang's extremely cold gaze beside him, as if if he dared to harm his nephew, his father would do it in class... Zhu Di couldn't help but shiver.

"I didn't set the fire! When I entered Yingtian, Emperor Jianwen saw that the situation was hopeless, so he set fire to the entire palace himself, trying to burn all the treasures and documents. My people put out the fire for several days before they were able to save some of it."

"While putting out the fire, they also searched for the whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen, and found that there was indeed a secret passage in the palace. Only an emperor who ascended the throne normally would know about it, but I didn't know about it. My soldiers followed the secret passage all the way and found Emperor Jianwen near Jiming Temple. He kept begging for mercy, and I couldn't bear it, so I asked him to become a monk and gave him some money so that he would never show up again."

"With his status, becoming a monk can be considered... a good destination for him."

Song Shen nodded without comment.

He just wanted to satisfy his curiosity. As for whether Zhu Di killed Zhu Yunwen or whether he would tell such a thing in front of Zhu Yuanzhang, he had no idea.

After asking clearly, Song Shen paused before continuing:
"In fact, whether it is historical records or my own opinion, Zhu Di's rebellion was inevitable."

"Even if it's not him, it could be another prince."

"Because Zhu Yunwen was too anxious and too cruel."

"You can't say it's cruel..."

"If you want to say he was ruthless, in the first year of Jianwen, Zhu Di's three sons were in Yingtian Prefecture. He could have taken them hostage, but he didn't. Instead, he let them go."

"To say that he is soft-hearted is not true. He first demoted the entire family of King Zhou to commoners and banished them to Menghua, Yunnan. He then demoted the three princes of Qi, Xiang, and Dai, forcing the King of Xiang to commit suicide by burning himself. He placed Qi and Dai under house arrest. Two months later, he demoted the King of Min to a commoner and banished him to Zhangzhou. They are all his uncles. Even a soft-hearted person would not do such a thing, right?"

Except for Zhu Di himself who witnessed it, all the emperors and generals below looked at each other in bewilderment.

They kind of couldn't understand it.

It is normal to be ruthless when being an emperor. Without ruthlessness, one cannot keep the throne.

It is normal to be kind, as human hearts are made of flesh.

But I’ve never seen one that is both cruel and soft… What kind of new kind of emperor is this???
(End of this chapter)