I open a history tutorial class in Daming

Chapter 145 Yongle does not move the capital

Winter of the second year of Yongle.

In the East Palace, Crown Prince Zhu Gaochi, who was supposed to be the owner of this palace, did not sit down. Instead, he gave the main seat to another person and stood on the side, not daring to move.

Of course, the only person in the world who can make the prince bow his head and serve him is the emperor.

Zhu Di drank a sip of hot tea, slowly exhaled a white mist with steaming hot air, and waved to Zhu Gaochi:
"You are fat and always standing there. Even if you are not tired, I am tired for you. Sit down!"

Zhu Gaochi hurriedly bowed and then carefully sat down in his seat without saying much.

He knew that his father's favorite child had never been him, but Zhu Gaoxu, who was more like his father. He was good at literature but not martial arts, so in his father's heart, he was naturally inferior to his brother who could charge into battle.

Now that he is able to sit on the throne of the crown prince, although the title of the eldest son has helped a lot, if it were not for the mysterious so-called tutoring class, he would not be able to be so stable in the position of crown prince.

Therefore, the older he became as the crown prince, the calmer and more low-key Zhu Gaochi became, for fear that if he made even the slightest mistake he would be caught and even the tutoring class and the mysterious teacher could not save him.

Zhu Di glanced at him and said:
"Mr. Song spoke highly of you in the future. He said that I have been fighting abroad for so many years. If you hadn't been the regent for me, I would have lost all my wealth after decades of fighting."

"It seems that I have to thank you first."

He had only told Zhu Gaochi a little about the course content before. The top priority in the past two days was to finalize the national policy. Only today was Zhu Di ready to say more.

They discussed the answers to the test paper together, but only Zhu Di himself knew what was filled in on the test paper in the end.

After all, that was his exam question, and only he could choose what to write and what not to write on it. Zhu Gaochi only gave an opinion, and the decision-making power still lay with Zhu Di.

After handing in the papers today, Zhu Di finally felt a little relieved and could talk more with his eldest son and the newly appointed crown prince.

Hearing this, Zhu Gaochi was shocked and frightened, and quickly declined:

"Father, I have only done some ordinary things. This is my duty. Please..."

Zhu Di raised his hand to interrupt, signaling him to stop talking about these nonsense.

"I admit that you have done a good job, but you have a short life in history."

He glanced at his son's figure, and for a moment, he didn't know whether to say that he was fat and had a good heart, or that it was a bit too much to say that he could barely move for a whole day:

"It's not just you. Many of our descendants have big problems. Either their brains are not good, or their bodies are not good. Some of them are not good at both. They died early. That's because God has mercy on the Ming Dynasty. I even asked you privately, sir, if it's because of my efforts to quell the rebellion that God has punished us, causing all of our descendants to have such a miserable fate."

"But sir, tell me that instead of thinking about God, it is better to think about my own problems."

"For example, you—"

"Prince, the master said that you are too fat, which can easily lead to many diseases. In history, you died suddenly in your forties or less than fifty. After my death, you had an accident in the second year after you ascended the throne. It must be related to your body!"

"I will tell your people in the East Palace clearly later. From now on, the amount of sweets you eat will be halved. You should eat less and walk in the garden for at least an hour every day. When you lose weight, you can start practicing martial arts again with Zhanji."

"Do you understand?"

Zhu Gaochi was sweating profusely.

He was tall and broad, but his body was all flabby flesh, with almost no solid flesh. He was not as strong as his two younger brothers, and he was out of breath after taking two steps. Most of the time he had to rely on people to carry him in a sedan chair when he traveled.

Just taking an hour's walk was enough for him, and he also had to practice martial arts with his son. Zhu Gaochi really couldn't bear it.

It’s not that it’s shameful to practice martial arts with my son who is only a few years old.

The main reason is that his eldest son Zhu Zhanji, who is only six years old this year, has already started to learn martial arts and literacy. Zhu Zhanji has been loved by his father since he was born, so the intensity of all his studies is aimed at becoming an emperor in the future.

This intensity might be tiring for an energetic child, but for Zhu Gaochi now, he has to handle government affairs for his father, take walks, reduce his sweets intake, and practice martial arts...

It would be better for him to die suddenly in his forties than to suffer so much!

"Father, you know my condition. If I were younger, it would be fine, but now I am busy with affairs. I have too many political affairs to handle. I have to waste time here. I am really too busy to handle it."

Zhu Gaochi faced his father's deathly gaze and still gritted his teeth to refute.

But this reason is a bit far-fetched.

Zhu Di sneered:

"Then you let Zhanji lose his father at the age of 27, and you are so busy now?"

"This is an imperial decree. It is not up to you. I have not yet gone out to fight. It will take at least a few years. During this period, I can also do some of the government affairs in your hands. Don't say that it is useless. Strengthen your body. When you die of old age in the future, your children can take over the throne!"

Otherwise, why do we say that generations are close to each other.

Zhu Gaochi recalled in despair that when he and his younger brother were studying in Yingtian Prefecture, the emperor had loved him very much and rewarded and praised him constantly; now, his father liked his son Zhu Zhanji very much and often brought the child to his side to educate him, and even Zhu Zhanji's time in the Eastern Palace and in front of the emperor was divided equally.

So even though his father liked his younger brother Zhu Gaoxu very much, he could not resist the fact that there was an emperor in front of him and a good grandson behind him, so he had to make himself the crown prince.

I thought this was a good thing, but now the boomerang has stabbed me.

It was precisely because he wanted to leave a great kingdom to Zhanji as a father that he had to live well, lest his son was too young to control it...

God!
Zhu Gaochi has worked diligently all his life. He spent the first half of his life taking care of the family for his father, and the second half of his life working for his son. Now he is exercising so that he can work for more years in the future...

What a hard life!
Without waiting for Zhu Gaochi to continue his rebuttal, Zhu Di took a sip of tea and continued:

"Besides this, there is one more thing."

"I have decided to set a rule that all the princes and grandchildren must abide by in the future."

"The emperor conquered the country with his cavalry, and I also conquered this country with my cavalry. We must not let future generations forget this. Now that I think about it, the emperor ordered all the princes to go to Fengyang for training, which was a good rule. Most of my skills were acquired at that time." "Do you know that many emperors of the Ming Dynasty died young in their twenties or thirties? Like that damn Zhu Qizhen, I hope he can die earlier, so that he would not have single-handedly defeated 300,000 elite soldiers of the Ming Dynasty in his twenties, resulting in huge losses of military generals."

"Some of them are in poor health, and when they die they don't even leave any descendants. We can only look for them among their brothers. If they can't find them among their brothers, they will go to other branches to look for them. The civil officials will naturally choose one who is more suitable for them to control, which also leaves many hidden dangers."

"So, in the future, all the royal children will have to go to military training when they grow up. It doesn't matter where they go, whether it's the border or Fengyang, or training the navy at the seaside. I don't need them to be very good at training, and I don't need them to command troops every day. I just want them to read military books, understand military affairs, and be able to go to the battlefield when I need them!"

"Besides, a fat kid like you will definitely be able to recover after enduring this for a while. Ask the imperial physician to prescribe one when you go. If you still can't make it, then it's your fate."

"I still don't believe it. After all this screening, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty can still be easily dissolved in water, die from the elixir, and die from the reckless deployment of troops as you said!"

Zhu Gaochi's mouth slowly opened.

As the prince of Yan, he may be one of the people who knows his father's character best.

My father was the most knowledgeable military officer among the princes. Otherwise, he would not have been able to succeed in the Jingnan Rebellion. There was even a lot of luck involved. If Zhu Yunwen had done things even a little bit like my grandfather, this would not have been possible.

Because of this, my father was particularly wary of the royal family's knowledge of military affairs. After he ascended the throne, he also vigorously reduced the power of the princes like Zhu Yunwen, but his methods were much gentler.

But Zhu Gaochi did not expect that it was precisely because he treated the royal family like fools that the situation became chaotic once the emperor died prematurely, or that a random prince or royal family member he picked did not have the ability to be emperor.

half an hour.

Zhu Gaochi hesitated and said:

"Father, one of the national policies we discussed earlier was to have all direct descendants of the royal family stay in the capital and not go to their fiefdoms. This matter..."

Since he wanted to train the royal family, the feudal system established by his grandfather was actually the most suitable one.

The princes guarded the frontiers and took root in their fiefdoms. This could, on the one hand, avoid disputes over the throne, and on the other hand, allow the royal children to work together and keep an eye on the military generals for the future emperor, thus avoiding a situation where the military generals would become too powerful and would not obey the emperor's orders when he was away from home.

Logically speaking, it would have been very difficult for my father to succeed in his rebellion - no, the Jingnan Campaign - because my grandfather also had comprehensive countermeasures for this situation. If Emperor Jianwen had not been too stupid and his methods too naive, if any one of the nine vassal kings had come to power, the rebellion of others would not have been successful.

"Are you trying to say that our success in the Jingnan Campaign was just a coincidence, and that the feudal system established by the Emperor was very suitable?"

Zhu Di glanced at him and snorted:
"But how do you know if there will be a character more stupid than Zhu Yunwen in the royal family in the future?"

"Among the descendants I have heard of, there is already a famous emperor called Zhu Qizhen, and two lazy emperors who have not attended court for decades. Jiajing is still good, but Wanli really makes me want to slap him twice."

"Oh, there was also Emperor Wuzong who was addicted to pleasure and died at the age of 30. I guess he was powerless and wanted to fight against the civil officials but failed and was killed; there was Emperor Tianqi Zhu Youxiao who reigned for seven years and had no sons. When he died, he could only pass the throne to his only surviving brother Zhu Youjian, who was the last emperor of our Ming Dynasty."

"And you yourself, you died suddenly a year after ascending the throne. You are not stupid and you have talent, but didn't you live long either?"

"Too many. Just look at it yourself. If any of the vassal kings on the border were a little smarter, wouldn't it be easy to cause chaos?"

Zhu Gaochi:...

Zhu Gaochi's silence was deafening.

It was the first time he heard the complete version of the Sixteen Emperors of the Ming Dynasty, each of whom was a freak.

This is really shocking.

"It is precisely because I have heard so many things that I must let the princes and grandchildren go through training, but they cannot be given fiefdoms."

"First, to avoid war, and second, to train more crown princes for the future Ming Dynasty."

"I now understand that factional strife is inevitable at any time. You have done so much for me over the years, but I must admit that from the perspective of a father, the second son is more like me than you, and bias is inevitable. But when it comes to being an emperor and doing practical things, he is definitely not as good as you, and I know this better than anyone else."

"So, since we have to fight no matter what, we might as well fight for both and compete!"

"It's the same as the cricket fight. The person who wins in the end will always cherish the throne more than anyone else and work hard to govern the country and love the people. If he becomes lazy like Emperor Xuanzong after ascending the throne, will others let him go?"

"I have already written this into the national policy for you, sir, and have also planned it out. In the next five years, the primary goal is that you, the Crown Prince Zhu Gaochi, must train your body to be as good as your two younger brothers. In five years, if you can't even run around the imperial city in one breath, I will be the first to beat you!"

Zhu Di looked at Zhu Gaochi with a smile.

The sweat from Zhu Gaochi's forehead had already dripped onto the carpet.

What does it mean to run around the imperial city?
No need to search, the circumference of the Nanjing Palace Museum is 10.23 kilometers, which is equivalent to a ten-kilometer march.

Although Zhu Gaochi had never run, he had eyes and had lived in the palace for two years, so he naturally knew how big the palace was and how long it took to walk around the imperial city.

When Zhu Gaochi thought about his future goal, he felt that his future was dark.

Will he become an emperor or a military commander in the future... Can the crown prince be given to the second son? !

Zhu Di did not feel sorry for his big son who weighed over 200 pounds. He had long felt that his fat son should lose weight, but he had never found a suitable opportunity. Later, he felt that there was no need to do so. Now is the perfect time.

He coughed lightly and said:
"There is one more thing. The day before yesterday, you suggested that I could set up two capitals, one in the south and one in the north, but all government affairs would still be handled in the south. I have considered this and agreed to it, and I have also written it down in the answer sheet."

Zhu Gaochi suddenly looked up and looked at his father with shock in his eyes, unable to believe that he actually agreed to this.

Everyone knows that my father has been thinking about moving the capital back to the north since the success of the Jingnan Campaign. Now he is considering who should go to the north to build the palace. It is obvious that he has made up his mind.

But now he even agreed to this.

It's really unbelievable!

Zhu Di coughed twice again in embarrassment and only explained:
"We have to prepare to develop towards the sea... Besides, Zhu Qizhen had his people attack him at his doorstep, and Zhu Youjian was directly killed by hanging after his city was breached. I think the emperor really cannot stay in the north."

(End of this chapter)