I open a history tutorial class in Daming

Chapter 136 Chongzhen
Everyone's eyes turned to the source of the sound.

The tiered classroom is very large. Although there are quite a few students in the class, everyone is used to sitting in the middle during lectures, so they are basically sitting in the middle of the classroom.

The newcomer was very different, he didn't get involved with the crowd at all, he sat quietly in the corner of the classroom by himself, and he didn't ask questions everywhere like the previous newcomers did, he just observed quietly and only said a word when he knew something.

Zhu Di came to his senses from his previous rage, calmed himself down, and waved to the man:

"Are you the new Emperor Chongzhen? Come over here and talk."

Although Zhu Di's temper was almost the same as Zhu Yuanzhang's, in fact, Zhu Di was much more emotionally stable than Zhu Yuanzhang.

Even now, Zhu Di quickly restrained his anger, tried his best to act more amiable, and planned to ask the new Chongzhen some questions.

Emperor Chongzhen stood up and slowly approached the group of people who were staring at him.

He was wearing a dragon robe. He was not short and looked no more than eighteen or nineteen years old. However, he looked tired and thin, and did not look like a teenager at all.

Thinking of the voice he just made, everyone felt a little strange.

He is obviously not very old, but his voice sounds like that of a young man... Is he tired?

When Chongzhen came up to them, Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao and Zhu Di looked him up and down. Even Zhu Qizhen stared at him with an air of respect, because Zhu Qizhen was sure that there had not been an Emperor Chongzhen before him, and the other party knew about Zhu Di, so he was obviously a younger generation.

However, since the system prompt only mentioned Emperor Chongzhen and did not tell his name, they were unable to judge his seniority from the name.

"You are from the Zhu family, right? What's your name?"

Zhu Yuanzhang, as the head of the family, spoke first.

Emperor Chongzhen looked at them and seemed to have known about it for a long time, so he bowed and said:
"I, the unworthy descendant Zhu Youjian, greet my ancestors."

Zhu Di said in surprise:

"Hey, you just got here, how do you know we are your ancestors?"

Zhu Youjian was silent for a moment, then confessed:

"I heard the system's prompt the day before. I heard that ancestors would appear in this tutoring class, so I went to find the portraits of the ancestors in advance to observe. They look very similar to your current appearance, so I can recognize them at once."

After hearing his name, Zhu Yuanzhang silently calculated the ranking of the fourth brother's family in his mind.

He also knew in his heart that seeing as how people called him Taizong after the fourth brother's death, it was obviously impossible to count Zhu Yunwen as an emperor, so he did some calculations, and found that with Gaozhan, Qi Jianyou, Houzai, Yichangyou, Zhu Youjian was the tenth generation.

"Are you the twelfth emperor of the Ming Dynasty?"

Zhu Yuanzhang asked.

But Zhu Youjian was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and said:

"If you count Emperor Jianwen and Emperor Jingtai, I am the sixteenth."

Except for Zhu Qizhen, everyone in the Zhu family was stunned.

They all knew that Jianwen was Zhu Yunwen, but who was Emperor Jingtai?
Seeing that Zhu Youjian seemed to want to explain, Zhu Qizhen quickly coughed twice and said:

"What Emperor Jingtai... Isn't he just the King of Qingli? He didn't have a temple name or a posthumous title. Who told you to call him the emperor?"

Now, not only the people of the Zhu family, but even the other emperors and generals who were watching the fun on the sidelines knew what was going on.

Isn’t that Zhu Qiyu, Zhu Qizhen’s evil brother, whom Mr. Song mentioned before?
My goodness, he was the emperor for a few years after all and made many political achievements. Apart from anything else, when Zhu Qizhen, the so-called Emperor, came with the Oirat people, Zhu Qiuyu also helped win the battle to defend the capital. In the end, he didn't even have a posthumous title or temple name, and his identity as emperor was not recognized.

This thing is done!
Zhu Qizhen saw that his three ancestors clenched their fists and quickly changed the subject:
"No, Zhu Youjian, your generation name is You, even if you count them, you should be the fourteenth emperor. Why are you the sixteenth?"

Hearing this, Zhu Youjian did not keep the secret and said:

"When Emperor Wuzong Zhu Houzhao died at the age of 31, he had no children, and the throne was later inherited by his cousin, Emperor Shizong Zhu Houcong."

"My elder brother was Emperor Xizong Zhu Youxiao, who died of illness at the age of 22 and had no children. In addition, due to various reasons, I was unable to go to the vassal state and lived in the capital. So when he died, he urgently summoned me to the palace, and the throne came into my hands."

"When I ascended the throne, I was only sixteen years old."

Zhu Di's expression was uncertain.

It seems like...something's not right with the body of my family.

There are a total of ten generations, and there are three short-lived ones: Zhu Qiyu, Zhu Houzhao, and Zhu Youxiao. It is not known whether the latter two were good emperors, but Zhu Qiyu was definitely more capable than Zhu Qizhen. Can't a good emperor live two more years?
What's more, how can the education of the prince be the same as that of ordinary princes and princes?

Zhu Di himself had the deepest understanding of this.

Although everyone studied and attended classes in the main hall when he was young, it was obvious that his eldest brother was too busy every day. He had to handle memorials for his father, practice riding and archery, and review many lessons. He was the only one who had to bear such high-pressure education.

Now, Zhu Di has become the emperor. He urgently appointed a crown prince two days ago, and he has also figured out that Zhu Gaochi is definitely a more suitable candidate to inherit the throne.

Zhu Gaochi had always been a quiet person, calm, bookish, and generous. Even if Zhu Gaoxu was stronger than him and could charge into battle, what would that matter? Zhu Gaoxu was not even as good as himself when he was young. At least his academic performance in his youth was acceptable, and he had never done anything to bully men or women.

The best way to inherit the throne is for the eldest son to inherit. If the eldest son is a useless person like Zhu Qizhen, then have more sons and train the second and third sons. You can always find a good candidate.

But there is no need to teach other princes so well. Otherwise, if they train up to become another Prince of Yan who led the Jingnan Rebellion, there will be chaos again.

I believe that future generations will understand this idea, so -

Can the person who is temporarily found to take the blame do a good job as the emperor?
Zhu Yuanzhang's train of thought strangely collided with the fourth brother's.

He glanced at Zhu Di and said quietly:
"It seems that the descendants of your lineage don't live long. Too many of them died in their twenties or thirties. They didn't even have time to give birth to sons. Even if they were born, they would only be child emperors. How could they be good emperors?"

Zhu Di's face turned red from holding back his thoughts, and it took him a while to remember what he was about to ask.

He turned to Zhu Youjian and asked:

"Which bastard changed my temple name to Chengzu?!"

Zhu Youjian didn't think too much about it when he answered just now, but now Zhu Di himself was standing in front of him, and this matter was outrageous, so Zhu Youjian was silent for a while before answering hesitantly.

"Yes...it's the Emperor Shizong Zhu Houcong I just mentioned, whose reign title is Jiajing."

"Because he ascended the throne according to the ancestral precept that the younger brother succeeds the elder brother, but he and Emperor Wuzong were not brothers, but were a younger clan member of a larger clan, so he and Emperor Wuzong did not have the same father. Do you understand this?"

The veins on Zhu Di's forehead were throbbing.

He could no longer control his temper:
"What's so hard to understand about this? Just say it directly, don't beat around the bush. We are short on time!" Zhu Youjian didn't dare to say more, and could only try to keep it simple and straightforward:

"At that time, he wanted his biological father, King Xingxian, to be enshrined in the imperial temple, but the court officials disagreed. This was probably because according to the rules, he was considered to have inherited the throne of Emperor Xiaozong, the father of Emperor Wuzong, so he should have been adopted by Emperor Xiaozong."

"And Sejong disagreed with this statement. At that time, the court could not find anyone to inherit the throne. He was asked to come, not because he wanted to..."

"As a result, a major etiquette incident broke out between the two sides, and finally the court officials compromised."

"The Imperial Ancestral Temple was already full at that time, and he could not add King Xingxian in, so he changed the temple name of Emperor Taizong to Chengzu, and then removed the tablet of Emperor Renzong, that is, Zhu Gaochi."

"That's just the way it is."

Zhu Di held the table next to him tightly with both hands.

He was a military general who had fought in battles. If this was an ordinary table, it would have been crushed by him.

But this is the system space, so Zhu Di couldn't crush it. He could only grit his teeth secretly and almost broke them.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at him with a half-smile:
"This Zhu Houcong is both smart and filial...?"

"I changed your temple name from Taizong to Chengzu, and compared your achievements to ours. It's a great flattery, and it can be regarded as an apology for moving your son's tablet away."

Zhu Di just wanted to vomit blood.

But the person in front of him was his biological father, so he couldn't lose his temper.

He covered his forehead, suppressed his anger, and explained:
"Father, please listen to me. I don't think he is a filial son. I wish I could kill him..."

Zhu Biao found it funny watching from the side.

The rest of the students wanted to laugh as well.

Even Ying Zheng and Liu Che, who lived in distant times and did not care about temple names or posthumous titles, had some understanding of the morals of these people in later generations after experiencing so many lessons.

When an emperor cares about two things, he cares about the fate of the country and his face.

In the Qin and Han dynasties, reputation was about achievements, expansion of territory, and prosperity under the rule, all of which would be recorded in history books. As for temple names, posthumous titles, and other things, they did care about their affairs after death, but they were not so fussy about even a title. As arrogant as Ying Zheng was, he even felt that no one was qualified to judge him with such things.

However, after the Tang Dynasty, everyone began to attach great importance to this thing.

Look, before Zhu Biao even heard Song Shen talk about Zhu Qizhen's glorious deeds, he could already see clues from the temple name of Yingzong. This temple name can represent so many things that it can almost encompass the posthumous judgment of an emperor!

Zhu Biao stopped his brother from explaining and said with a smile:

"I know, I know. We all know that you didn't mean that. It's all the fault of these unworthy descendants."

"It's not too late to talk about these later. Since Zhu Youjian is the last one present, why not ask him more questions? There is still some time before the class starts. I'll listen to him talk about the general development of the Ming Dynasty. If there are omissions in the answers, it should be in time to supplement them."

Everyone in the Zhu family's eyes immediately lit up!
Yes, this is the serious matter!
Zhu Yuanzhang no longer cared about his son's trivial matters, and quickly pulled Zhu Youjian aside to ask:
"How old are you now? How long have you been on the throne? How is the government going? Have you been beaten by barbarians like Zhu Qizhen, that idiot?"

"Are the people still able to eat enough? Are there many corrupt officials?"

Zhu Youjian:......

You can ask, but he won't say a word.

He had seen portraits of his ancestors beforehand, so he naturally knew who was who. The man in front of him, with gray hair, a majestic presence, and someone who cared deeply about these matters, could be none other than the founding ancestor Zhu Yuanzhang.

The two people next to him, one young and the other old, the latter must be Emperor Chengzu Zhu Di, and the former, judging by his closeness to Zhu Yuanzhang, is definitely Prince Yiwen Zhu Biao.

Zhu Youjian certainly knew that if he put the problem that was bothering him now in front of these people, it would probably be solved easily.

But when he looked at the person next to him who was shrinking his neck like a quail and dared not say a word, he also felt a little scared.

Zhu Qizhen was scolded like this, probably because he lost the battle...

However, what his elder brother had done, as well as what had happened in the two years since he ascended the throne, were probably even more serious than what Zhu Qizhen had done.

half an hour.

Zhu Youjian sighed and said briefly:

"I have been on the throne for only two years, and I am now eighteen years old."

"Since I took over the throne, there have been bloody factional struggles in the court, and the Jin people outside have been knocking on the borders and plundering our Ming Dynasty. We can't defeat them or catch up."

"Internal and external troubles, the situation is precarious."

"The only good thing is that I killed the eunuch Wei Zhongxian after I ascended the throne, but other problems have not been solved."

Zhu Yuanzhang's brows furrowed more and more as he listened.

But what he cares about most is this:

"What about the harvest? You haven't told me whether the people have enough to eat."

Zhu Youjian was stunned for a moment, then lowered his head in shame:

"I...I don't know."

Old Zhu was furious!
It's right for an emperor to care about state affairs and to worry about foreign enemies. This kid is eighteen years old this year and has been on the throne for two years. He became emperor at the age of sixteen, and he became emperor suddenly. No matter what he does, no one can say anything about him.

But you don’t even know how to keep your people well fed and clothed. Isn’t that a bit too much?
What's more, according to what Zhu Youjian said just now, he was originally a prince and inherited the throne because of his elder brother's sudden death. He had been staying in the capital before that. He should not have grown up in the deep palace and be ignorant of the sufferings of the people. Why didn't he even know the simplest thing?

Crown Prince Zhu Biao often went out with him to visit the people, not to mention that other princes had to be sent to Fengyang one by one for hard training!

Just when Zhu Yuanzhang was about to lose his temper, Zhu Biao smoothed things over:
"Dad, how old is he? He's the youngest here. Don't be so anxious about some things. I think he's a decent and honest person. Why don't you just ask the master later? Why are you so anxious?"

Zhu Yuanzhang took a deep breath, snorted coldly, and returned to his seat without saying anything more.

Also.

Anyway, Song Shen will be here soon, and it won't be too late to ask what kind of emperor Zhu Youjian is then. From what he said, the Ming Dynasty is in turmoil. If he is a man who can be saved, he can still be taught at this age. If he is a waste like Zhu Qizhen...

Then let him die!
(End of this chapter)